Chapter 157: Fighting for a Guide on Merit

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Fighting for a Guide on Merit

Hearing the oppressive voice, Bai Ye didn’t let go of Yun Sheng. He just slowly raised his head.

He let out a soft snort, his tone carrying an unreadable emotion. "You got here quick."

The next second, a tall, slender figure emerged from the darkness beside the giant wolf.

It was Si Jin.

Furious Dark Power swirled around him. His eyes pierced through the transparent spiritual power barrier, staring deadly at the two people inside.

His gaze was fixed on Bai Ye’s hand still clasped around Yun Sheng’s waist, on her slightly swollen, red lips, and on the tangled traces of spiritual power between them.

His expression was terrifyingly dark.

"Bai Ye!"

The two words were practically squeezed through his teeth, carrying an irrepressible killing intent.

Si Jin’s furious shout had shocked Yun Sheng back to her senses. She tried to break free from Bai Ye’s embrace, but he held her firmly in place.

Now, seeing Si Jin, a wave of shame, guilt, and an indescribable sense of unease washed over her.

She pushed against Bai Ye again with all her strength, but his arm didn’t move an inch. Instead, he pulled her even closer into his embrace.

Yun Sheng glared at Bai Ye, her voice tinged with anger. "You... let me go!"

"You’re the one who agreed to help me." Bai Ye finally lowered his head to look at her. His gaze was light, yet it held something she couldn’t understand. "What, now that he’s here, you’re going back on your word?"

Yun Sheng was at a loss for words. She opened her mouth but found she couldn’t say anything.

’That’s right. It was her own idea, her own promise.’

’But... but she never expected it to turn out like this, and she certainly never expected Si Jin to see it with his own eyes!’

Bai Ye didn’t look at her again. Instead, he raised his head to meet Si Jin’s eyes, which were practically shooting fire, and spoke unhurriedly.

"Five S-Class. I thought you’d be held up for a while, but you got here surprisingly fast. Si Jin, you’ve gotten stronger since you recovered."

Earlier, while intercepting the contaminants at the canyon entrance, he had sensed the sudden, violent energy fluctuation coming from the path through the dense forest.

The auras of five S-Class contaminants were completely blocked over there. In the entire dense forest, the only person who could single-handedly hold them back was Si Jin.

Hearing this, the fury in Si Jin’s eyes intensified. The Dark Power surging around him nearly slammed into the spiritual power barrier.

"Bai Ye! I was in the back holding off those five S-Class for you, and you took the opportunity to take advantage of Yun Sheng?!

The great Star Alliance War God, acting so despicably! Have you no shame?"

’Faking an injury to get Yun Sheng’s sympathy was one thing, but to actually use this chance to do *this* to her!’

’Absolutely shameless and despicable!’

Bai Ye listened to Si Jin’s furious tirade without a hint of shame on his face.

"’Take advantage?’" he repeated the phrase, glanced down at Yun Sheng in his arms, then looked up to meet Si Jin’s eyes. "She agreed to help me herself. How can you call that ’taking advantage’?"

When Yun Sheng heard this, she wished she could find a hole to crawl into and disappear.

’She had agreed to help him stabilize his spiritual landscape and hold out until Qi Yao’s reinforcements arrived, but she hadn’t agreed to let him... let him do *that*!’

But she couldn’t bring herself to say that now.

Especially under Si Jin’s gaze, which looked like he was about to eat someone alive, she didn’t even have the courage to look up.

Si Jin’s fists clenched so tightly they creaked.

"She agreed to help you? Bai Ye, do you take me for a fool? Do you really think I can’t see what’s going on? The spiritual power fluctuations coming from you, the state you’re in right now... it’s obviously a spiritual power overload. You’re about to lose control.

Even if Yun Sheng said she’d help, it was only to protect her teammates and stabilize your spiritual landscape so you could deal with those contaminants.

But what did you do? You took the chance to take advantage of Yun Sheng. You’re despicable!"

Bai Ye was silent for a moment.

Then, he suddenly laughed.

"And what about you? What did you do to Yun Sheng in the cave?"

Si Jin’s pupils contracted sharply.

"You..."

"Me what?" Bai Ye cut him off. "Si Jin, neither of us is any nobler than the other. You like her, and I like her. You use your methods, I use mine. That’s all there is to it."

The air seemed to freeze.

The Dark Power surging around Si Jin suddenly faltered.

He looked at Bai Ye, at those calm, almost brazenly honest eyes, and suddenly found that he had no rebuttal.

’That’s right. What right did he have to call Bai Ye despicable?’

’He had also taken advantage of the moment Yun Sheng’s heart softened and she nodded, and just directly...’

’But...’

’But that was different!’

’Yun Sheng was willing!’

’In the cave, she was willing!’

’And Bai Ye?’

’Bai Ye had exploited her soft heart, exploited the fact that she couldn’t bear to see him lose control, and then...’

"Don’t compare me to you." Si Jin’s voice turned cold, each word as if tempered in ice. "With me, Yun Sheng was more than willing. With you... she just couldn’t bear to watch you die."

A flicker of emotion passed through Bai Ye’s eyes.

Those words were like a knife, plunging precisely into the softest part of his heart.

He knew, of course. He knew that when Yun Sheng offered to help, it was because she couldn’t bear to see him lose control and degenerate into a Dark Sentinel, couldn’t bear to watch him die.

’But so what?’

’Pity is still a feeling.’

’As long as it made her look at him, made her come a little closer—even if it was out of pity, he would... gladly accept it.’

Bai Ye said nothing, simply lowering his head to look at Yun Sheng in his arms.

In his gaze, there was tenderness, longing, and a trace of something she couldn’t understand... humility.

He suddenly let go.

The moment his grip loosened, Yun Sheng felt a strange daze.

He had held her so tightly just now that his sudden release felt... unfamiliar.

"Yun Sheng, when you agreed to help me, you already knew my identity, didn’t you?"

Bai Ye said her name and casually took off his mask, revealing the face so familiar to Yun Sheng.

But Yun Sheng didn’t know what he meant by suddenly admitting all this now.

"I admit, I approached you on purpose."

Bai Ye paid no mind to her reaction and continued speaking.

"But if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have even had the chance to prove that the person from my dreams was you."

Yun Sheng opened her mouth to say something, but Bai Ye’s next words stopped her.

"Yun Sheng, I want to say, I like you. A moment ago, I took advantage of a loophole in your words. I apologize for that. But I don’t regret it!"

The moment he finished speaking, Si Jin’s voice erupted from outside the barrier, seething with uncontrollable rage.

"Bai Ye, what is the meaning of this? You know full well that Yun Sheng is already my guide!"

Bai Ye calmly met Si Jin’s murderous gaze, the corner of his mouth curving into an almost provocative arc.

"In our world, it’s never been a rule that a guide can only have one Sentinel, has it?"

Si Jin froze for a second, then began to laugh from sheer fury.

"Good... Good!"

He said the word "good" twice, each one carrying a monstrous rage and irrepressible killing intent.

The next second, the Abyssal Giant Wolf, wreathed in terrifying, ghostly blue fire, slammed viciously into the spiritual power barrier once more.

The spiritual power around Si Jin also surged to its absolute peak, and a tsunami of Dark Power came crashing down!

"BOOM!"

The barrier trembled violently. Its silver light flickered madly as cracks spread across it like a spiderweb.

Bai Ye’s eyes sharpened. He raised a hand and gently pulled Yun Sheng behind him.

Then, the phantom of a snow-white White Tiger, wreathed in Holy Light, materialized behind him with a thunderous roar!

The White Tiger threw its head back and let out a long roar, a sound so powerful it made the entire canyon tremble.

Paws treading on air, it lunged fiercely toward the ghostly blue Abyssal Giant Wolf.

At the same time, the figures of Bai Ye and Si Jin also moved.

The two of them vanished from their spots almost simultaneously, and in the blink of an eye, they collided violently in mid-air.