Chapter 163: Like You, Only You

Chapter 163: Chapter 163: Like You, Only You

Yun Sheng froze for a moment. Before she could say anything, another commotion started by her feet.

The White Tiger seemed to understand what Si Jin had said. It let out a dissatisfied whimper, its golden eyes filled with a sense of injustice.

It nudged Yun Sheng’s calf with its head, as if pleading its owner’s case: ’I wanted to come, but I couldn’t...’

Seeing its chance, the Abyssal Giant Wolf immediately squeezed in, shouldering the White Tiger aside. It claimed the prime spot by Yun Sheng’s feet for itself, even giving its tail a smug sweep.

Shoved aside, the White Tiger refused to be outdone and squeezed its way back.

The two spiritual bodies started jostling again, tumbling over each other in a heap by Yun Sheng’s feet.

Si Jin watched the scene unfold, his brow twitching.

"Every single one of them flocks to you," he said coolly. "And the spiritual bodies are no exception."

Yun Sheng blinked innocently and said nothing.

Si Jin didn’t say anything more, simply lowering his head to give her a gentle bite on the lip.

It wasn’t hard, but it was tinged with jealousy.

Seeing him act like this, Yun Sheng was both exasperated and amused. She reached out and poked his cheek.

"And what about you?" she retorted. "Aren’t you always sticking close to me?"

Si Jin raised an eyebrow.

"Me?" he said, completely justified. "I’m your Sentinel. I have every right to be close to you."

The words had barely left his lips when he tightened his arms, sweeping Yun Sheng up off her feet.

Caught off guard, Yun Sheng instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. "What are you doing?"

Si Jin didn’t answer, merely glancing down at her with a slight curl of his lips.

A moment later, in a flash of movement, he shot out of the valley with her in his arms.

His speed was astonishing!

Yun Sheng was stunned by his maneuver for a second before she realized what he was doing.

’He was trying to ditch their two spiritual bodies!’

She looked back and, just as she’d thought, the White Tiger and the giant wolf had been left far behind.

But a moment later, two figures burst from the darkness almost simultaneously, steadily keeping pace!

The White Tiger trod on air, shimmering with Holy Light as it ran with speed and grace. The Abyssal Giant Wolf, wreathed in leaping, ethereal blue flames, was no slower.

The two spiritual bodies flanked Si Jin, one on his left and one on his right, keeping up without falling a single step behind.

The White Tiger even flicked its tail smugly at the giant wolf, as if to say: ’Is that all you’ve got? You think you can lose us?’

Not to be outdone, the giant wolf sped up, squeezed in on Yun Sheng’s other side, and nuzzled her dangling hand with its head.

Si Jin: "..."

Yun Sheng couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing with a snort.

Si Jin looked down at her, his eyes a mixture of exasperation and indulgence.

"Still laughing?" he murmured. "A pair of clingy pests!"

In his complaint, he had just insulted his own spiritual body.

Yun Sheng’s eyes crinkled with amusement. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, her shoulders trembling with laughter.

"Insulting your own spiritual body now, are you?"

Watching her laugh, her eyes crinkling into happy crescents, any trace of frustration in Si Jin’s heart vanished completely.

"So what if I did? What’s it doing getting in on the action?"

The words had barely left his mouth when the Abyssal Giant Wolf lifted its head, its ethereal blue eyes filled with accusation.

The White Tiger, which had been gloatingly wagging its tail nearby, promptly got a paw smacked across its face by the giant wolf.

The two spiritual bodies were once again a chaotic, tumbling heap.

Yun Sheng peeked over and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

"They’re so cute."

"Cute?" Si Jin grumbled. "So, do you like them more, or me?"

Yun Sheng was taken aback by the sudden question.

She looked up, meeting his dark, somber blue eyes, and couldn’t resist reaching out to gently pinch his cheek.

"You’re so childish."

Si Jin didn’t pull away. He just watched her, waiting for his answer.

Seeing how earnest he was, Yun Sheng’s heart completely melted.

She tilted her head up slightly and gave him a gentle peck on the corner of his mouth.

"I like you. It’s only you I like."

Si Jin’s gaze trembled violently.

The next second, he tightened his arms, pulling her even closer into his embrace.

"That’s more like it."

...

「At the canyon entrance.」

Bai Ye stood alone, several barriers formed from immense spiritual power shimmering behind him.

Moonlight spilled over him, casting a solitary figure as proud as a pine. His back was ramrod straight, like a blade that would never bend.

But on closer inspection, his breathing was clearly much heavier.

The pollutants that had been stunned by the aftershocks of his fight with Si Jin were now stirring, ready to make their move.

Countless eerie green and scarlet eyes lit up, staring at him with greed. Suppressed, low growls rumbled from their throats.

Bai Ye tightened his grip on his blade.

He had overexerted his spiritual power during his battle with Si Jin.

After that, he had to maintain these barriers. Now, deep within his spiritual landscape, the cracks that Yun Sheng had worked so hard to stabilize were beginning to widen again.

One after another.

A fine web of cracks spread, each one leaking violent spiritual power.

The familiar feeling of losing control surged through him again, like countless sharp claws tearing at his consciousness, trying to drag him into a dark abyss.

Bai Ye’s brows knitted tightly.

’He knew that if the pollutants charged, he would have to unleash his spiritual power again. The cracks in his spiritual landscape would continue to expand, and he might truly fall and become a Dark Sentinel this very night.’

But even so, he did not retreat a single step.

In the distance, an S-Class pollutant seemed unable to hold back any longer. With a low roar, it pounced!

Bai Ye’s eyes turned cold as he raised his blade to meet the charge.

A sickening thud echoed as the blade sank into flesh.

Black blood splattered.

The S-Class pollutant’s body crashed heavily to the ground. It twitched twice, then lay still.

The other pollutants, which had been stirring restlessly, all froze in unison.

Their eerie green and scarlet eyes stared intently at the corpse on the ground before shifting warily to Bai Ye, clear fear and apprehension surfacing within them.

They seemed to hesitate.

But after a brief moment of deterrence, greed once again overwhelmed fear.

Another S-Class pollutant let out a low roar and charged toward the canyon.

Its action was like flipping a switch.

One, two, ten, twenty...

More pollutants surged forward like a tidal wave!

Bai Ye’s face was expressionless as he raised his blade and began to slash.

With flashes of his blade, the first few pollutants in the charge fell. Black blood splattered onto his combat fatigues, but he didn’t even blink.

His figure weaved through the horde of pollutants—dodging, parrying, and counter-attacking. Every slash was precise and ruthless.

The sickening thud of blade meeting flesh sounded again and again as the pile of corpses at his feet grew ever higher.

But the creatures seemed endless.

For every ten that fell, twenty more surged forward. For every twenty that fell, fifty more appeared...

The stench of blood grew thicker, and the roars of the pollutants grew closer.

As time passed, second by second, Bai Ye’s movements gradually began to slow.

His blade lost its vicious edge, and his footwork its former swiftness.

His breathing grew heavier, his chest heaving violently. Sweat mixed with blood dripped from his temples, blurring his vision.

Yet, the aura around him grew increasingly savage.

An irrepressible frenzy emanated from him, so palpable it made the very air around him tremble.

His eyes were a solid crimson, as if they had been steeped in blood until their original color was lost forever.

Bai Ye’s gaze swept over the surging pollutants, his eyes holding nothing but the instinct to kill, the desire to tear everything to pieces.

That familiar urge to destroy everything was furiously consuming his sanity.