Chapter 105: The Echoes of a Kiss

Xiu Qingcheng “used” Meng Yingxing’s body…

He had been thrown into the surging river by Meng Yingxing’s body.

And the moment Xiu Qingcheng left Meng Yingxing’s body, he once again clearly felt his consciousness regain control.

But it was also at the instant his consciousness returned to his body that he first felt the icy river water flood into his mouth.

The river water poured into Meng Yingxing’s mouth, piercingly cold. It pierced through Meng Yingxing’s internal organs. After several intense battles, he was utterly unable to adapt to this fierce cold, and in an instant, he lost the strength to control his body.

Meng Yingxing’s vision began to blur. He could only see the surging flow of the river, and the indistinct shadows of the sky’s light reflected in the water.

He almost thought he was truly going to die.

However, the black-haired woman he had been longing for in his heart, as he had hoped, appeared in his field of vision.

His Master, in white robes, her sleeves billowed in the current, like a blooming flower.

Her frost-white arm reached out to him, like the delicate pistil of a flower.

But it was precisely this seemingly slender and powerless arm that, amidst the mighty river waves, firmly grasped Meng Yingxing’s arm.

Meng Yingxing couldn’t hear what Xiu Qingcheng was shouting, but he knew that Xiu Qingcheng was calling his name.

His Master still pulled him out of the water.

Meng Yingxing lay on the hard, reliable ground, knowing he had been saved.

He wanted to smile at Xiu Qingcheng before him, but due to his exhausted and frozen body, he couldn’t control any muscle on his face to show Xiu Qingcheng a smile.

Meng Yingxing merely half-closed his eyes, seeing the anxious expression on Xiu Qingcheng’s face.

‘So Master would actually show such an expression for him.’

He had thought Master would always be contradictory, insincere, proud, conceited, and as hard-hearted as iron.

But no matter what kind of Master she was, he thought she was wonderful. Just thinking about it felt like a small stove had been lit in his heart, making him feel warm all over.

Meng Yingxing could feel Xiu Qingcheng patting his face, her mouth continuously muttering some unfamiliar terms.

‘What “Fa”? Was it some powerful spell?’

Meng Yingxing’s ears were buzzing, and he couldn’t quite make out what Xiu Qingcheng was saying.

“Artificial respiration!”

He heard his master’s last sentence, and a fire suddenly erupted in the small stove in his heart.

Meng Yingxing had heard of artificial respiration. Wasn’t that… mouth-to-mouth?

It was as if Meng Yingxing himself was uncontrollably setting a raging fire in his own heart.

Meng Yingxing saw his master cradle his head on her lap, propping up his face as she lowered her knees.

Time, at this moment, stretched out long.

Meng Yingxing saw Xiu Qingcheng’s incredibly delicate and beautiful face, her features like a painting, her crimson lips like blood.

Meng Yingxing saw Xiu Qingcheng’s slender, soft, and snow-white neck, with her collarbone delicate and clear below, making one want to leave something on it.

Xiu Qingcheng’s lips touched Meng Yingxing’s lips.

The time Meng Yingxing experienced was not only stretched but also muted, as if the mute button had been pressed.

The other sounds suddenly vanished from his ears, leaving everything silent. The furious waves were soundless. Only his sense of touch was constantly amplified—

He could feel the contact of four lips meeting, and the softness of Xiu Qingcheng’s hair brushing against his cheek.

Xiu Qingcheng, who considered her actions merely lifesaving, at this moment, was like a sharp sword, engraving new marks into the young man’s heart, one by one.

Xiu Qingcheng pinched Meng Yingxing’s nose and forcefully blew air into Meng Yingxing’s mouth.

Xiu Qingcheng’s breath continuously surged into Meng Yingxing’s body, but Meng Yingxing was not drowning; her actions actually had no practical effect whatsoever.

However, Meng Yingxing felt perfectly fine right now.

Perhaps Meng Yingxing’s body had somewhat recovered. After Xiu Qingcheng blew air for a while, Meng Yingxing suddenly sprang up like a shrapnel fragment, his forehead forcefully colliding with Xiu Qingcheng’s face.

Xiu Qingcheng was struck in the face and fell to the ground.

After falling, Xiu Qingcheng bounced up from the ground even faster than Meng Yingxing just now.

“Hey, Disciple, you’re awake? You almost scared me to death!”

Xiu Qingcheng said, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed, and she slapped Meng Yingxing’s head.

“Next time, without my command, you are not allowed to charge forward!”

‘Well, well, well, Meng Yingxing almost felt like he had been hallucinating Xiu Qingcheng’s anxious expression just now.’

Meng Yingxing thought for a moment, still not planning to tell his master that he actually hadn’t charged forward.

“Yes…”

Meng Yingxing’s voice was extremely weak, his entire throat aching when he spoke.

Seeing this, Xiu Qingcheng quickly searched for and pulled out Meng Yingxing’s Qiankun Bag, then again took out ointment and bandages to carefully treat the more serious wounds on Meng Yingxing’s body.

He didn’t know until he looked, and when he did, he was startled.

Meng Yingxing’s body was covered in wounds of various sizes, with hardly a patch of intact skin. It was a shocking sight.

Xiu Qingcheng’s movements while bandaging him were such that her fair fingertips would occasionally touch Meng Yingxing’s unblemished skin, then immediately retract. Her face flushed, and she lowered her head, not letting Meng Yingxing see her expression.

‘I told you not to charge forward, not to charge forward, why didn’t you listen? You almost killed yourself!’

Xiu Qingcheng was incredibly stubborn, still not forgetting to reprimand her disobedient disciple.

“I cannot bear to leave Master in danger alone. Master, I want to fight with you.”

Meng Yingxing’s voice was weak, but his tone held no hesitation.

“You fellow!”

Xiu Qingcheng poked Meng Yingxing’s small wound with a bit of force, watching him wince and gasp for cold air from the pain.

But Xiu Qingcheng’s heart felt warm because of Meng Yingxing’s words.

‘Indeed, as expected of her good disciple, truly filial, practically a considerate little cotton jacket that understands her.’

Xiu Qingcheng felt smug.

After turning Meng Yingxing into a mummy, Xiu Qingcheng helped him to his feet.

They were now on the opposite bank of the river next to the barren land, gazing at the distant opposite bank where the ground had collapsed into the river, leaving a missing section. The roaring sound of the river was incredibly clear in their ears.

“Master… this, should all be over now, right?”

Meng Yingxing asked in a faint and weary voice.

“It’s over.”

Xiu Qingcheng’s gaze turned towards the river. All the absurdity and so-called calamities of Zhongyang Town had been swept into this ceaseless, raging river.

The river witnessed everything, and swallowed everything.

The gears of fate began to turn from a girl waiting for her beloved to return.

She quietly stayed at the ferry, all her beautiful years kept for one person, year after year, day after day.

Her longing, like the ceaseless river, eventually condensed into that unfathomable obsession.

The Calamity Tree was actually a seal guarding the so-called World-Devouring Heavenly General.

Hua Bukai needed female souls and human obsessions to serve as the power to break the seal. That was when she encountered He Xueluo, who was already critically ill but whose obsession remained.

Although it was unknown how Hua Bukai communicated with He Xueluo, she still reached a cooperation agreement with He Xueluo under the name of the Tree God.

As long as He Xueluo brought her female souls to activate the Soul-Siphoning Array, she could grant He Xueluo a body free from illness and pain, with infinite time, on the condition that He Xueluo could not leave this area.

Perhaps He Xueluo had died long ago. The current He Xueluo was merely a zombie bound to this area by Hua Bukai, a solitary ghost in the human world.

However, what Xiu Qingcheng found interesting was that He Xueluo was very clever.

She allowed the Xu family to also come into contact with the so-called Tree God, using their desire for immortality to make them actively seek female souls for sacrifice.

This was the relationship of… contractors, middlemen, suppliers.

If Young Miss Xu hadn’t conceived the idea of sacrificing He Xueluo, and instead was sacrificed by He Xueluo to the Tree God and disappeared, and the Xu family hadn’t sought help from the Tianfeng Sect, then perhaps the supply chain of Zhongyang Town wouldn’t have broken like this.

At that time, both He Xueluo and Xu would have gained time, and Hua Bukai’s unknown ambition.

Thinking about it this way… perhaps it was all Meng Yingxing’s fault? Disrupting the cycle of this town’s evil workshop?

No, Meng Yingxing was not wrong at all.

Meng Yingxing resolved a major concern near Zhongyang Town. No more women would disappear from Zhongyang Town. He was truly a hero of Zhongyang Town.

Xiu Qingcheng’s gaze turned to Meng Yingxing’s face. She nudged the silent Meng Yingxing with her shoulder.

“Cheer up, you’re the great hero of Zhongyang Town.”

Xiu Qingcheng showed a few pearly white teeth, her hands behind her back, smiling brightly.

Meng Yingxing flinched from Xiu Qingcheng’s nudge, and immediately covered his face with his hand.

“What… what hero? It’s all Master’s credit!”

“Hmm, I think so too. Just teasing you, and you actually believed it?”

“…Master is naturally invincible in the world.”

The river water crashed against the bank, and suddenly a figure was washed ashore.

Meng Yingxing looked closely. The figure washed ashore was a battered He Xueluo.

Xiu Qingcheng leaned over, stooping to check He Xueluo’s breathing.

“She’s still alive.”

Xiu Qingcheng said, her gaze turning to Meng Yingxing.

“You, do you want to give her artificial respiration?”

Xiu Qingcheng suddenly realized that she seemed to be able to accept giving Meng Yingxing artificial respiration, but not to Hua Bukai.

She found herself quite strange.

Hearing this, Meng Yingxing trembled in panic, his entire body rejecting the idea.

Fortunately, He Xueluo herself put up a fight, coughing violently a few times and spitting out all the water from her mouth and nose.

She breathed deeply, seemingly about to awaken.

Perhaps there wasn’t enough time, and the seal was broken too hastily. Hua Bukai wasn’t able to completely devour He Xueluo, which is why He Xueluo was still alive.

But her remaining life relied on Hua Bukai to live. Now that Hua Bukai was dead, how long could He Xueluo… live?

After He Xueluo awakened, Xiu Qingcheng only took Meng Yingxing and hid.

It was probably better for the current He Xueluo not to meet them.