Jiang Ke’er was helping escort the bodies of the Void Night God and Wing Ruin Deity, walking with a large group on the road to the depths of the Demon Race territory.
However, Qiao Xiaoxian had been speaking very little along the way, which made Jiang Ke’er feel a bit unaccustomed.
In the past, this girl might seem cold and aloof, but when by her side, she’d always unexpectedly take advantage of her… but not today.
Suddenly, Jiang Ke’er found it a bit strange.
But then she thought about it carefully.
‘Isn’t this exactly what I wanted? Like strangers, leaving each other alone. Hey, perfect! I should enjoy and celebrate this! Might as well take this opportunity to make Qiao Xiaoxian completely give up on me. That would be good for both of us.’
So, the angrier Qiao Xiaoxian got, the happier Jiang Ke’er appeared. She even hummed a little tune.
Qiao Xiaoxian didn’t react to any of Jiang Ke’er’s actions, only sighing from time to time.
“We can rest when we reach the city ahead, and hand over the bodies of Wing Ruin Deity and Void Night God to them,” Fei Ling said.
“Hmm, and then?”
“Then it’s up to you,” Fei Ling said with a slight smile. “Now that your goal in joining the rescue team has been achieved, you can leave at any time. We have no reason to stop you.”
“Rescue team?” Qiao Xiaoxian was slightly startled, suddenly seeming to revive. “You joined the rescue team?”
“Don’t overthink it. I joined the rescue team not for you, just to accumulate some good karma,” Jiang Ke’er pursed her lips.
Qiao Xiaoxian laughed. “I didn’t say you did it for me. Why are you so anxious?”
“I’m afraid you’ll misunderstand, afraid you’ll keep acting like a stupid adolescent brat, entertaining fantasies like ‘Is she secretly in love with me?’ “
“Really?”
“Of course.” Jiang Ke’er sneered.
Qiao Xiaoxian frowned slightly, then fell silent again.
“I’ll continue to stay in the rescue team,” Jiang Ke’er said to Fei Ling, “until my cultivation base reaches the Seven Luminaries Realm.”
“I’m honored.”
After arriving at the town and completing the handover of the bodies, Jiang Ke’er directly followed Fei Ling back to East Sun City without a moment’s pause.
Qiao Xiaoxian silently followed behind.
Perhaps because the Void Night God had died, the area around East Sun City was unprecedentedly peaceful, and no distress messages had been received for a long time.
“La la la~”
Looking at Qiao Xiaoxian’s dejected expression, Jiang Ke’er deliberately intensified her act, putting on an extremely cheerful appearance.
She even lounged leisurely in a rocking chair in the courtyard, with a radio crystal beside her playing poor-quality old-style tunes.
The rocking chair swayed gently.
Jiang Ke’er held the crystal in one hand and a yellow cattail leaf fan in the other. She was practically screaming “I’m in a great mood right now!”
She stole a glance at Qiao Xiaoxian and found her staring intently at a mirror.
Jiang Ke’er couldn’t help feeling curious and asked, “What are you staring at the mirror for? Did the mirror offend you?”
“I’m staring at myself,” Qiao Xiaoxian said indifferently.
“Staring at yourself?”
“I must be too ugly.”
“…Are you trying to piss people off? If you’re ugly, then every woman in the world would be ashamed of herself.”
“Is that so?” Qiao Xiaoxian turned her head woodenly and looked at Jiang Ke’er in confusion. “Then why don’t you like me?”
“We’re not suited.”
“Where are we not suited?”
Jiang Ke’er slapped her face. “We’re different species, sis! Reproductive isolation! Have you ever seen a cat and a snake make babies?”
Qiao Xiaoxian was stunned for a moment, suddenly realizing that seemed to be true.
“No, we’re the Demon Race. As long as we’re both transformed demons, there’s no distinction between species,” Qiao Xiaoxian shook her head. “That’s not an excuse.”
“I just don’t like you,” Jiang Ke’er said bluntly.
Qiao Xiaoxian was stunned.
“Let me be clear. Our relationship is limited to the contract. In every other aspect, I absolutely do not want any relationship with you.”
“That’s not your true feelings.”
“It is my true feelings,” Jiang Ke’er said. “If possible, please stay as far away from me as possible.”
This was not the first time Jiang Ke’er had said this to her.
In the past, every time, Qiao Xiaoxian would treat these words like hot air, never taking them seriously, and continue doing whatever she did.
But this time… she suddenly couldn’t see through Jiang Ke’er’s true thoughts, unsure whether to take it seriously.
“You’re great. You’ll find a lover suited for you. That person won’t be me,” Jiang Ke’er continued.
“I’m just a toy you picked up on the roadside to experience a love game and leave no regrets before death… In fact, there’s nothing between us except the contract. All feelings are just illusions created by the contract.”
“Is that how you see it?”
“Yes, I’ve always thought so,” Jiang Ke’er said calmly.
Her tone was so calm that Qiao Xiaoxian felt she was very rational at the moment, and everything she said was from the bottom of her heart.
Qiao Xiaoxian closed her eyes, silently shut the door, and locked herself in her room.
She felt a bit unwell and needed to calm down and think.
She didn’t want to lose her composure in front of Jiang Ke’er.
Jiang Ke’er still lay in the rocking chair in the courtyard, fanning gently, but the song had finished, leaving things quiet.
A flash of bright yellow arc flickered across the corner of her eye, and a few snake scales involuntarily flashed on her body, the characteristics of the Xu God appearing and disappearing.
‘How many times is this?’
Jiang Ke’er stared blankly at the rapidly fading features on the back of her hand.
‘Heh… If this were a book, Qiao Aotian would be the male lead, and I’d be the most annoying, ungrateful bitch female lead in history… If I were a reader, I’d give this book a one-star review for being so pretentious…’
Standing up and stretching, Jiang Ke’er returned to the bedroom, lay down, and entered a cultivation state.
In the middle of the night, there were sudden rustling sounds beside her.
Jiang Ke’er was slightly startled and opened her eyes.
She saw Qiao Xiaoxian sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed, very properly.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing, just cultivating.”
“If you’re cultivating, go to your own room!”
“I’m not used to it.”
Come to think of it, every day when she woke from cultivation state, she did see Qiao Xiaoxian sitting on the edge of her bed. It had been like that since the day they met.
Even when sleeping, Qiao Xiaoxian slept on the outside, and she slept on the inside.
“What’s wrong with you?! Go, go, go! Get out!”
“No.”
She had turned back into that stubborn, impenetrable person. It was as if a forced follow switch had been turned on.
“Why do you insist on cultivating on my bed?” Jiang Ke’er said helplessly.
Qiao Xiaoxian opened her eyes and glanced at Jiang Ke’er’s forehead. “I’m afraid you’ll fall off the bed.”
“What are you thinking? How could I be that stupid?!” Jiang Ke’er was both amused and exasperated.
Qiao Xiaoxian suddenly blushed slightly and said seriously, “I fell off when I was little.”
“Hahaha, what? The dignified Blue Shadow, Number One Assassin Under Heaven, legendary genius Qiao Xiaoxian actually…” Jiang Ke’er instinctively wanted to laugh, but the image of Qiao Xiaoxian’s stubborn and careful back every morning when she woke up appeared in her mind, and suddenly she couldn’t laugh.
Qiao Xiaoxian closed her eyes again and sat upright, just as Jiang Ke’er saw every day when she woke up.
“So I don’t want you to fall either. It hurts,” she said softly.