Chapter 322 - 188: Conflict of Personalities

Chapter 322: Chapter 188: Conflict of Personalities

Zheng Xiu wrapped Xie Luohe in a tight bear hug from behind.

For a moment, Zheng Xiu felt as if he were submerged in the deep sea.

A series of chaotic fragments flashed through Zheng Xiu’s mind.

But Zheng Xiu couldn’t make out what any of the fragments were depicting.

Thick veins bulged on Zheng Xiu’s forehead.

From Cheng Xiao and Bai Xiaosheng’s perspective, they watched in astonishment. The dashing Gongsun Mo approached the monster like a fearless, solitary warrior, stepping into the terrifying mass of shadows.

A single word surfaced in both their minds: Heroic.

「Meanwhile.」

Coldness, brutality, hatred, jealousy...

In an instant, countless stray thoughts flooded Zheng Xiu’s mind.

"Xie Luohe! That’s enough!"

Zheng Xiu bit his tongue hard, the pain restoring a sliver of clarity. He roared.

DRIP.

Xie Luohe stopped drawing her bow. The taut string went slack, and a cold drop of liquid landed on the back of Zheng Xiu’s hand.

At first, Zheng Xiu thought it was her blood, but its icy touch told him otherwise.

Her floating hair settled, and her tense body suddenly went limp.

After a moment of silence, Xie Luohe snorted coldly. "Just where do you think you’re grabbing?"

Zheng Xiu froze, and the chaotic noise in his mind receded like a tide.

Only then did he notice the soft, supple handfuls beneath his palms.

Master Zheng expressionlessly released his grip and slid his hands lower.

"Calmed down?" Zheng Xiu asked.

"How long are you going to hold me?" Xie Luohe’s voice was icy.

"Ahem, I was worried you’d lose it."

"Get lost. You’re the one who’s losing it. If there’s a next time, I’ll chop off both your paws."

Xie Luohe turned and kicked Zheng Xiu away.

The kick seemed forceful, but it landed on Zheng Xiu with barely any strength behind it.

Xie Luohe wasn’t some coy, melodramatic girl who’d act like she was dying just because Zheng Xiu had copped a feel.

If it had been anyone else—setting aside the fact they’d never get close in the first place—who’d accidentally touched her, Xie Luohe would have killed them without a second thought.

But if it was Zheng Xiu...

...never mind.

Xie Luohe slung the Longbow back over her shoulder.

Zheng Xiu raised his hands innocently, a gesture to show it wasn’t intentional. Just then, he noticed her hands were still bleeding. RRRIP! Tearing a strip from his own clothes, he stepped forward, took her hand, and began to carefully bandage the wound.

Xie Luohe’s first instinct was to lash out when Zheng Xiu grabbed her hand. But then she looked down and saw his focused expression, and she fell silent. She let him continue, her downcast eyes filled with a complex, bitter anguish.

While bandaging her, Zheng Xiu pretended to ask casually, "You were... crying just now?"

"I wasn’t." Xie Luohe pointed to her left eye. "Not at all."

The rims of her eyes were red; she was clearly lying. Zheng Xiu, who had been focused on her hands, happened to glance up and was taken aback by her expression.

Feng Bei’s image overlapped with Xie Luohe’s, and for a dazed moment, he thought he saw Feng Bei. Zheng Xiu subconsciously reached out and tucked away the strand of long hair that deliberately covered Xie Luohe’s right eye.

The action was a bit presumptuous, but Xie Luohe knew what he was doing. Her gaze hardened. "What are you doing?"

"You have something in your eye. I’ll blow it out for you. Phew..." And with that, Zheng Xiu actually did blow a puff of warm air toward her face.

"You..."

’How the hell would you know if I have something in my eye and I don’t?’

Xie Luohe suddenly clenched her fists.

Blood seeped through the bandages again.

When Zheng Xiu saw the bandages turning red, he quickly finished the job.

"Done."

Zheng Xiu dusted off his hands, his work complete.

He had torn off both of his sleeves to bandage Xie Luohe’s wounds.

Xie Luohe expressionlessly held up her hands, which were now wrapped up like dumplings. All her fingers were bundled inside the cloth. After a moment, she understood Zheng Xiu’s little trick and didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.

’This guy... he wrapped my hands like this so I can’t draw my bow again.’

Pfft.

Looking at her two ridiculously bandaged hands, Xie Luohe couldn’t help but chuckle.

The black markings on her face faded completely.

With her hands wrapped up like that, there was nothing Xie Luohe could do even if she wanted to flare up. She took a couple of steps back and glared at the solid cliff face, sulking.

Cheng Xiao recovered from the shock of Xie Luohe’s "Demonization."

He didn’t press the issue.

Gazing doubtfully at the "demoness" whom Zheng Xiu had so deftly placated, Cheng Xiao turned to him and asked, "Gongsun Mo, can you cleave this mountain?"

"In your dreams."

Zheng Xiu’s reply was dismissive at first, but then he reconsidered. At full strength, if his [Prisoner] Path managed to roll the right combination of Deceitful Object Forms, it might just be possible. He had, after all, once performed the incredible feat of leveling one of Feng Bei’s mountains with a single strike.

However, here in the world of the Cannibal Painting, his Main Body was still suffering the aftereffects of the Crow Fosterer’s Miracle Technique. He was caught in a Life and Death Struggle, and his connection to the [Prisoner] Path was faint. Zheng Xiu wasn’t confident he could pull it off.

Besides, when Xie Luohe had just recklessly unleashed her Miracle Technique, for the instant he’d held her, Zheng Xiu had the distinct impression he was submerged in the "Darkness."

’No, that might not have been just an impression.’

If the Cannibal Painting was equivalent to a "Ghostly Realm," a space situated between the "Common World" and the "Darkness"... He had no idea how the Gongsun Mo of the past had managed to create such a deceptively real Ghostly Realm with a mere painting. But since it was a Ghostly Realm, the path ahead could conceivably lead to either the Darkness or the Common World.

Zheng Xiu knew full well how terrifying the "Darkness" was; almost no one who was dragged into it ever left alive.

Perhaps Xie Luohe had also vaguely sensed this, which was why she had been suppressing her power all these years, not daring to reveal it to others.