Chapter 234
Chapter 234
What exactly had changed?
I stared hard at Feng Lishu, forcibly suppressing the urge to throw myself at her.
After watching her for a while, I finally realized what was wrong.
Although the Feng Lishu before me had been looking at me the entire time, there was no emotion in her eyes.
Feng Lishu was proud, and she hated me.
Every time we crossed paths, she could hardly wait to seize control of me — or even replace me!
Her desire to possess me was overwhelming.
Yet this time, she was unnaturally calm.
No, it wasn’t calmness.
She simply had no emotions whatsoever. It felt as though… she had no soul.
Yes. That was it. She felt soulless.
The moment Feng Lishu appeared, my first thought had been that she hadn’t been completely destroyed in the underground palace. Brother Qiu must have taken what remained of her Souls back to the Phoenix Clan and placed them into a new body, bringing her back to life.
But now, it seemed things weren’t as I’d imagined.
Or perhaps something had gone wrong when her Souls were placed into the new body, leaving Feng Lishu like this?
Under my watchful gaze, Feng Lishu suddenly raised a foot and started walking toward me.
With every step she took, the distance between us shrank, and the pull she exerted on me grew stronger.
My heart pounded as I looked at her. It was as if I were seeing the missing half of my own fractured soul.
I couldn’t help wanting to merge with her and become one.
Just then, Red Banner Child rushed over and planted himself in front of me. Gripping the Red Banner, he assumed a defensive stance against Feng Lishu and shouted, “Big Sister, hurry back to the Pawnshop!”
The chanting continued without pause. It wasn’t as though I could return to the Pawnshop simply because I wanted to.
My body was completely beyond my control.
Feng Lishu advanced one step at a time, while my body involuntarily moved toward her.
Red Banner Child had to brace his back against me to keep me from moving while remaining on guard against Feng Lishu.
The little guy finally exploded in frustration. “Big Sister, what’s wrong with you?!”
He suddenly swung the Red Banner, pushed off hard with his two bare feet, and abandoned his attempt to hold me back. Instead, he launched himself straight at Feng Lishu with a kick.
Bang!
Feng Lishu was sent flying and slammed into a utility pole by the roadside.
At the exact same moment, pain shot through my back. It felt as though someone had punched all my internal organs at once, leaving me dazed for an instant.
The ‘Slave’ mark on my right cheek throbbed violently.
That tremor originating from my soul was something I had never experienced with Feng Lishu before.
She had changed.
She really had changed.
The old Feng Lishu had controlled me with a forbidden curse. This one, however, seemed to exist on the exact same frequency as my soul!
To put it more plainly, the woman before me felt like the twin sister who had truly formed the Symbiotic Curse with me.
Was she… really the same Feng Lishu as before?
If not, then who was she?
At that thought, I fought through the discomfort wracking my body and the curse’s control, then shouted at Red Banner Child, “Capture her!”
That tremor just now had made me almost certain that the woman before me wasn’t Feng Lishu.
At the very least, there was something wrong with whoever was inside that body.
Only by capturing her and thoroughly figuring out what she was could I keep Brother Qiu from controlling me so easily again.
Red Banner Child immediately ran over and pressed the tip of the Red Banner against her throat.
Feng Lishu didn’t resist. She stood there woodenly, as though she had no strength to fight back at all.
But when Red Banner Child grabbed Feng Lishu by the collar and started dragging her toward me, the chanting in my head suddenly grew deafening, and searing pain tore through my right cheek.
Unable to stop myself, I reached up to touch it. The moment my fingertips brushed my cheek, they came away wet and sticky.
At some point, that patch of skin had festered without me noticing. When my fingers brushed it, they came away bloody…
“Stop!”
Clop… clop…
Two sounds rang out at the same time, one from the east and the other from the west.
From the West Street Entrance came the familiar sound of hoofbeats.
The warhorse thundered down the street with a shrill neigh.
The Red Banner Child cried out excitedly, “Zhao Zixun! General Zhao is here!”
The chanting in my head abruptly stopped, and all the tension drained from my body. I turned and saw Zhao Zixun at the West Street Entrance, mounted on his warhorse and swinging his saber as he fought Brother Qiu.
The Black Cat was still battling the birds.
I never expected Zhao Zixun to come.
Much less that he would step in to help me under these circumstances.
As for the person in the east who had shouted “Stop!”-it was Tang Xun!
Dressed entirely in black with her hair tied back, Tang Xun strode toward us with a crossbow in her right hand.
Startled by her shout, the Red Banner Child instinctively released his grip.
Yet Feng Lishu made no attempt to escape.
Only when Tang Xun aimed the crossbow at her and snapped, “Get lost!” did Feng Lishu slowly begin to retreat, her eyes fixed on me the entire time.
Seizing the opportunity, the Red Banner Child grabbed my hand. “Sister, hurry! Come back inside with me.”
I glanced at Tang Xun, then back toward the West Street Entrance, before following the Red Banner Child toward the Pawnshop.
I intended to head straight for the West Room. It should be able to shelter me for the time being.
But the instant I took a step, a voice seething with hatred rang out from the West Street Entrance.
“Ah Li, you can never escape my grasp! You’ll come back and beg me!”
The moment he finished speaking, it felt as though countless insects were gnawing through my entire body. Every inch of flesh hurt so badly that I couldn’t stop trembling.
The Ice Silkworm’s Gu Poison had flared up.
I clenched my back teeth so hard they nearly shattered. Enduring the excruciating pain, I dragged myself step by step toward the Pawnshop’s entrance.
The moment I crossed the threshold, I crashed to the floor and curled into a ball.
The Red Banner Child tried to help me up, but the instant he touched my skin, he cried out, “Sister, what’s happening to you? Why are you freezing cold and burning hot at the same time?”
The cold came from the Ice Silkworm’s Gu Poison.
It seemed determined to freeze every last drop of blood in my body. A thin layer of white frost had even formed over my skin.
Yet the colder I became, the more it felt as though a flame were blazing inside me.
At that moment, I was truly caught between fire and ice, tormented by both extremes at once.
Before long, my consciousness began to blur. The sensation that I was about to leave my body had never been stronger.
The West Street Entrance had fallen silent, and the hoofbeats faded into the distance.
Brother Qiu had retreated with Feng Lishu.
Li Qingying still hadn’t returned.
I wasn’t sure I could hold on until she did.
When Gu Yan gave me the Ice Silkworm, she had warned me that the onset of the Gu Poison would be excruciating.
I hadn’t been too afraid at the time, because I hadn’t anticipated that my Souls would still be incomplete when the Gu Poison flared up.
Under that double blow, I might not survive even if I were made of iron.
Just as I felt I could no longer hold on, I seemed to see Tang Xun approaching.
Squinting up at her, I weakly murmured, “Aunt Tang…”
Perhaps my voice was too faint. Tang Xun gave no response, as though she hadn’t heard me.
I felt her lift me up and carry me back to the bed in my own room.
I lost consciousness almost the instant my head touched the bed.
Just before my eyes closed, through the haze, I seemed to see an enormous butterfly alight upon my lips…