Chapter 368: Assimilation
Just as a tingling sensation danced at her fingertips, Shi Qingyan’s eyes widened slightly.
Memories flickered before her like a strobe light.
She saw a breathtakingly handsome couple trudging through a snowstorm, cradling a petite baby girl in their arms.
She watched as they hid at the bottom of a gorge, building a wooden shack, surviving solely on the beast blood they brought from the outside world.
At first, this little family led a rather happy and peaceful life. But as time passed, their stored beast blood dwindled, and their meals became scarcer.
When the beast blood ran completely dry, the now-grown Little Blood Demon would wail inconsolably each day.
“…You two wait here, I’ll go find some food.”
“No! The Ancestor Dragon clan is likely still guarding the ice field. If you go out there, it’s certain death!”
“Staying here is just waiting to die. Maybe they’ve already given up on us.”
And then the male Blood Demon went out.
He never returned.
When only one bag of beast blood remained, the female Blood Demon gently stroked the Little Blood Demon’s hair, whispering softly:
“Sweetie, Mom is going out to find you something to eat. Save that bag for later, I’ll be back soon.”
The Little Blood Demon nodded obediently.
And then the female Blood Demon went out.
…And did not return either.
The scene froze with the Little Blood Demon living all alone around the little wooden house. At first, she would often run around the gorge, but eventually, hunger rendered her immobile, so she curled up in the basement, licking the blood pouch every day.
She was always waiting for her parents to return.
“When will Mommy and Daddy come back… I’m hungry.”
“Mommy… I’m really hungry, I can’t see anything anymore…”
“No… I’m not hungry anymore, will you come back, please…”
“I didn’t tell you, I secretly saved a chicken bone… I’m not hungry, when you come back, I’ll share it with you, okay…”
……
——
——
When Shi Qingyan came back to her senses, Sang Zhe had been shaking her shoulder for quite a while.
“Senior Sister Shi? Are you okay? You’ve been staring off into space for so long, I thought something happened to you; you scared me to death.”
Just as Shi Qingyan meant to speak, she noticed her cheeks were strangely warm and damp. Gently touching them, she found her eyes had unknowingly filled with tears.
“…Huh? I… just now…”
“Who knows what’s going on with you, suddenly zoning out and crying.” Sang Zhe let out a sigh of relief and sat down beside her. “I thought you had been possessed by the Blood Demon.”
“Little Blood Demon…”
Shi Qingyan jolted back into awareness, turning to see that the Little Blood Demon who was previously sitting next to the skeleton had vanished without a trace.
“She disappeared after biting you, Senior Sister Shi.”
Sang Zhe explained, noticing her bewildered gaze: “She was just a trace of a soul; perhaps her wishes have been fulfilled and she just disappeared.”
“Fulfilled… her wishes?”
Shi Qingyan stared blankly at her fingertips.
It seemed that they still held a lingering warmth, as if a sweet and obedient little girl had been licking her fingers, sweetly calling her mother.
…So that’s it.
In the end, she mistook me for her mother.
“I’m so sorry.”
Shi Qingyan gently caressed the head of the skeleton and softly said, “I’m not your mother.”
“I hope in the next life, you can be reunited with your parents.”
She didn’t even know if the Little Blood Demon could hear her.
In the end, Shi Qingyan only knew her name was Tingting.
She didn’t even get to learn her full name.
But whenever she gazed at the small figure curled up in the corner of the basement, Shi Qingyan couldn’t help but think back to that little girl who scavenged for food in the corner of the brothel.
Just like her, starving and crouched against the wall.
Always waiting every day and night for her parents to find her.
The skeleton in that corner seemed like the shadow of her past.
If in another world, she hadn’t been sent to the immortal mountain by her mother, hadn’t become a shadow guard of the Water Moon Sect, and hadn’t met Sang Zhe.
Maybe her fate wouldn’t have been any better.
“Senior Sister Shi?”
“I’m fine.”
Shi Qingyan quietly wiped her eyes, turning to Sang Zhe with a smile: “Let’s… give her a proper burial.”
——
——
The Little Blood Demon’s grave lay right in front of the wooden house.
Sang Zhe couldn’t find anything suitable for a tombstone, so he casually broke off a few pieces of spirit stone crystal and engraved “Tingting’s Grave” on it before sticking it into the ground.
Shi Qingyan stood silently in front of the stone for a long time.
“…Isn’t it ridiculous to feel sympathy for a foreign Blood Demon?”
She suddenly laughed at herself: “Clearly, our circumstances are completely different. Compared to her, I’ve been so much luckier.”
“I can understand, Senior Sister Shi.”
Sang Zhe suddenly said, “You were reminded of your own childhood, right?”
Shi Qingyan paused for a moment, and after a while, her beautiful eyes lowered, but her lips couldn’t help but curve up.
“…Looks like you haven’t forgotten.”
Well, it’s hard to forget such things.
Mainly because that time playing house had left too deep an impression.
“Thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?”
Thank you for understanding me.
Shi Qingyan didn’t voice those words.
She simply stretched lazily and turned her head mischievously, winking: “So, what’s next?”
“With the last Blood Demon gone, this trip feels like a waste of time.”
Sang Zhe looked at Shi Qingyan with a rather strange expression.
“Uh, Senior Sister Shi?”
“What is it?”
“Do you remember when you were bitten by the Blood Demon?”
“Yes, I saw she was hungry, so I thought to give her something to eat.” Shi Qingyan replied, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
“Did you forget something?”
“Forget something? Forget wha—”
Halfway through her sentence, Shi Qingyan suddenly froze.
Ah.
Oh no.
People bitten by Blood Demons tend to be assimilated into Blood Demons.
“…I seem to have actually forgotten.”
Sang Zhe: “…I thought you chose this voluntarily, so I didn’t stop you.”
Shi Qingyan: “…”
In the next moment, Shi Qingyan suddenly felt her body temperature rising.
The blood coursing through her veins inexplicably began to heat up, creating a scalding and tingling sensation that turned her cheeks crimson, and beads of sweat began to gather on her neck.
“Ah… it’s so hot…” Her cherry lips unintentionally emitted hazy breaths, her gaze gradually becoming dreamy.
“Hey, Senior Sister Shi, are you okay?”
Sang Zhe leaned in with concern, carefully asking: “You don’t look too good.”
Shi Qingyan remained silent.
She unconsciously loosened her collar, revealing a large area of fair skin and shallow crevices, causing Sang Zhe to awkwardly divert his gaze.
“I feel… something’s not right…”
Shi Qingyan’s voice held a hint of unease as she slowly knelt on the ground, gasping and letting out soft whimpers.
Oh no.
So being assimilated by a Blood Demon feels this torturous?
But unfortunately, Sang Zhe didn’t know how to help her.
“Senior Sister Shi, should I take you out first—”
Just as he touched Shi Qingyan’s shoulder,
He suddenly noticed that her eyes had turned a deep crimson.
