Chapter 422 - Roiling Grudge (1/2)

Xiao Chen groaned, his gaze lowering to see blood flowing unstamped from where Li Muxue’s hand was planted into him. He managed a weak smile and made no attempt to strike nor push away the Desecrated Li Muxue. Gasps and cries of shock chorused from behind him. But no one else was more startled by Luo Shangyan and her companions. Yu Yifeng was lurching with distress and anxiety, but he did not dare come closer. “Lil Chen! Come back here!” He cried.

If Xiao Chen had heard him, he made no sign of it. He merely raised a head to look at everyone around him; the frightened eyes of the now-daunted invaders, the concerned and worried looks from his companions of the Jade Qing Sect, but he did nothing. He did not make any move to defend himself nor did he channel any of his spiritual powers, afraid that he might in turn injure Li Muxue. Whoever she was, Hua Weiyang or Li Muxue, he would never be able to raise a finger against her.

With a stare so blank and lost that she almost seemed like trapped in a distant dream, the Desecrated Li Muxue gasped huskily, “W-why… Why did you… not defend yourself?”

Xiao Chen smiled. His hand, the outstretched one, reached for Li Muxue’s face and caressed gently on the smooth skin of her cheek, feeling only a tinge of coldness.

Li Muxue hardly flinched nor winced; she held Xiao Chen in her hollow stare, her gaze like an innocent little child as she continued in her sweet and soft voice, “I-I recognize not… not the name you say… B-but… there’s a force in you… a force that I wish for… Can you… can you give it to me?”

Amidst the consternation and trepidation all around them, the Great Immortal and Ye Wuxin heaved a sigh of relief, sharing the very same thought, What a relief. So she is only after the powerful Malicious Grudge in Xiao Chen… The primal urges as a Desecrated… Like the Walking Corpses’ thirst for blood…

“Whatever you want,” Xiao Chen breathed, still wearing a benign smile, “I’ll give it to you. Whatever you want. My powers, my life. Everything.”

A crooked smile broke across Li Muxue’s face. A smile that mirrored his. “T-thank you… Thank you…” She spoke. As soon as she was finished, Xiao Chen could feel his powers roiling inside him, flowing through his wound and into her arm.

With his powers, so went his life force. Li Muxue continued her ingestion of Xiao Chen’s power and life, right before the terrified and alarmed looks of Yu Yifeng and the rest of the invaders and even Su Lianyue, from her hiding spot, drew a deep, long, and anxious breath.

Xiao Chen felt the fatigue slowly taking its toll as more of his life force was sapped away. His eyelids weighed like lead and he felt like collapsing into deep sleep. The Desecrated Li Muxue asked softly, “A-are… are you in pain?”

His lips were as pale as the cheeks of his, as white as curdling milk. He smiled and shook his head. Li Muxue smiled at him like a child, “I-I… I thought you are in pain… That’s why I had not tried harder…” Then he felt her hand moving when she had finished, burrowing deeper into him with more blood leaking out profusely.

Xiao Chen groaned. A drizzle of blood escaped the edges of his lips and the loss of his life force made him more and more tired. This must be death, he reflected, It was the first time he felt this way; he had never once felt life ebbing swiftly from him no matter how badly wounded he was in the past. Perhaps the end was coming for him.

“Take my powers, take my life. But please. Kill no more. Please…” Xiao Chen begged with his hand still feeling the cheek of the woman before him. He was still dour by the blood she spilled and the lives she had taken. Hua Weiyang or Li Muxue, he would never want either of them to become a mindless abomination capable only of killing and slaughter.

Li Muxue peered at him. Gingerly, she said, “A-are you dying? I don’t want you to die…” But Xiao Chen shook his head, “It’s fine… I have the Undead Body… I will never die…”

“B-but I get the feeling that you’d die once I’ve finished absorbing your powers… I don’t want you to die…”

No one could hear them. No one knew what they were talking about. There were only curious and dubious stares from both sides of the battlefield, watching the pair of man and woman in a tender moment at the center of the chaos. Yu Yifeng could see that Xiao Chen’s health was failing. Making several hand seals, he turned himself into a bolt of lightning that zipped across the distance towards Xiao Chen. But before he could come near, Li Muxue’s sleeves flapped like banners in the wind and she sent a magical bolt that slammed into Yu Yifeng and he crashed off several yards away.

A mouthful of froth and blood poured out of Yu Yifeng’s mouth as he yelled with all his might, “WAKE UP, LIL CHEN! THAT’S NOT MUXUE!”

But Xiao Chen merely smiled, making no signs of having heard Yu Yifeng’s words. Then he heard himself muttering, “Ofttimes flowers have petals of five, with the exception for the bloom of snow, which is known as Weiyang (Yet-ending flowers)… This is what you told me before… Do you remember these words…”

“The bloom of snow… Yet-ending Flowers…” Li Muxue murmured delicately as if searching through her mind for a long, distant memory. Xiao Chen grinned, “That’s what you told me. You love Yet-ending Flowers. Do you remember this?”

“X-Xiao Chen… Is that you…” The look on Li Muxue’s face looked more bewildered than she was seconds ago and her hand slowly drew out. The Great Immortal and Ye Wuxin standing opposite yelped with surprise, “What in the world?! Something must have gone wrong!”

“I-I… I’m…” Li Muxue held her head, her footsteps wobbling as if she was feeling thousands of needles pricking at her mind. Xiao Chen extended an arm to hold her, keeping her still. Softly, he whispered, “We should leave. Leave all this behind. Whatever they want, whatever the world wants, I won’t even care. Why should we even care?! Come, let us leave.”

In a throaty voice, each and every word heaved from his throat as if they weighed like iron. His heart was as much as dour as the words that passed his lips; he would not have even batted an eye for whatever these people do. But why!? He almost wanted to scream aloud. Why involve Muxue into all these?! At this very moment, bringing Muxue away from all the senseless killing and slaughter was the only thing he wanted to do, vengeance and fury be damned. To distance her from the many distractions of this world and to protect her from the cruel barbs of reality.

“Leave this place… All right… I’ll go with you…” The Desecrated Li Muxue nodded and touched at the blood-sodden wound on Xiao Chen’s chest. “A-are you… are you still in pain? I-I’m… I’m sorry.”