Chapter 608: Chapter 553: Blood Collection

The winds of Chang Feng had stilled with the space around, yet the sound of cloth rustling came from behind Baili An.

He turned around, facing a pair of eyes that were lowered in a shallow smile full of affection.

Standing under the moonlight, Ning Feiyan, though wearing a smile, had a face as pale as if it were made of paper. Her grave injuries had brought her to this state, yet somehow, she had managed to overcome the illusion and appear here. One couldn’t help but wonder what methods she had used.

Baili An’s gaze swept downwards and noticed a few inconspicuous deep red bloodstains on the edge of her sleeve. Keeping his expression unchanged, he furrowed his brows and asked, “How come you’re here?”

Ning Feiyan placed the Xiangsi Punishment sword in the crook of her arm and sized him up, “Why can’t I be here?”

Baili An asked, “In the other end of the illusion, you must have also encountered Wang Yi presenting you with a sword.”

Ning Feiyan looked at him with a smile that was not quite a smile and said, “Does Young Master Si Chen think I would choose to kill you with this sword and leave this place?”

Baili An did not speak, accepting by default.

Ning Feiyan sighed lightly and said, “Originally, when I was entering and exiting the illusion, I had guessed that this was Wang Yi’s doing, and I understood his purpose. Indeed, I planned to sacrifice you and leave on my own, but ah, Young Master Si Chen’s past stories are rather interesting. After seeing more, it really does make one reluctant to proceed.”

Baili An frowned. Being a corpse demon, he had no memories of his past, “Wang Yi’s methods are so strange, to be able to peer into everyone’s past. With this, isn’t it so that we no longer have any secrets before him?”

Ning Feiyan replied, “That’s not necessarily the case. What he set up is a Dual Illusion Realm. Once people enter, as they step into the sea of flowers, an invisible array is formed between the two, allowing them to see each other’s significant past events. But as the River Lord, Wang Yi is not able to see what we see.”

Relieved by her words, Baili An grew curious and asked, “What was my past like?”

Ning Feiyan smiled leisurely and said, “Instead of probing into these things, shouldn’t we think about how to leave here as soon as possible? The night-blooming cereus outside the boundary is about to wither. If we cannot leave this place, by tomorrow, you and I will both become remnants among the wilted flowers.”

Clearly, getting anything she knew for free from this woman was impossible.

Ning Feiyan lifted her feet, gracefully gathering her robes, and her slender, graceful figure slowly walked into the meandering river. She held her sword lightly against her own neck within the illusion.

Baili An’s expression shifted slightly, and he furrowed his brows, “Ning Feiyan…”

“Alright now…” Ning Feiyan turned back to look at him with a shallow smile, her tone light as if to coax, “Remember to take me out of this sea of flowers, and I won’t die here.”

The truly terrifying and deadly aspect of the Xiangsi Realm lay in the suspicion of hearts. To survive within the illusion, one needed to take the other’s life in order to preserve their own; one of the two must be sacrificed.

The dawn at the edge of the sky devoured a corner of the night. Eternal night would pass, and the dreams of the night-blooming cereus would wither with the night.

The Blood Pearls hanging from Ning Feiyan’s earlobes shimmered with a soft, lustrous beauty. She sighed faintly, saying, “In those years, play was like reality, tonight reality is like play, twice a bystander, heaven remains a cold-eyed onlooker.”

The sword tip glided across, creating a fine, deep red wound on her fair neck, spraying out a plume of Blood Pearls.

Blood splattered on the river, and in an instant, flames of bright red fire engulfed the entire forest.

The illusion’s Ning Feiyan was devoured by the river’s flames in an instant, and her slender and beautiful silhouette amidst the raging fire had an indescribable air of desolation and grace.

The scent of fire and blood faded away.

The waning moon hung lonely in the sky, the wind was clear, and the flowers were withering, with light spreading faintly across the horizon.

A heavy, decaying scent seemed to linger in the air, as Ning Feiyan lay in a meadow damp with dew, slowly lifting her heavy eyelids.

Baili An was standing not far from her side, his dark eyes, like ink, stared unwavering at her, as if intending to see a flower bloom from her face.

Somewhere along the way, his pale cheeks had acquired several crisscrossing fine red cuts, as if he had been scratched by some sharp plant. His normally neat hair and clothes were now in disarray. His sleeve was torn, making him look as if he had just crawled out of a grave.

Ning Feiyan lay in a daze for a long time before attempting to rise, propping herself up on her arms. However, a tearing pain emanated from her neck. She furrowed her brows and felt her neck, finding her fingertips touching a layer of soft gauze that had been bandaged as a hemostatic over the wound.

“Lie down a while longer. It was not easy to stop the bleeding. In the illusion, you killed your past self with the sword, and just like that, you also get hurt, even to the point of death. You’re well aware of this.”

Yet she still drew the sword against herself.

This woman was harsh to the world, harsh to her enemies, and even harsher to herself.

Ning Feiyan weakly closed her eyes and smiled, saying, “But if you can take me out of that sea of flowers in time, this wound will not be fatal.”

Baili An didn’t understand where her confidence and assurance came from. When he awoke from the illusion, the night-blooming cereus all around had begun to wither. The withered Demon Flowers would then treat the people within the flowers as nourishment, crazily tightening around them and dragging them down into the underworld.

When Baili An found Ning Feiyan, more than half of her body had been wrapped into the dust and petals of the flower buds. To say the situation was critical was an understatement; had Baili An been just half a step slower, they both would have died there.

Seeing his silence, Ning Feiyan opened her eyes. Her fingertips grazed his hand back lightly as she spoke with an inexplicable tone, “Under the circumstances just now, every extra minute spent in the sea of flowers was a minute more dangerous. Young Master Si Chen, you must have gone through much trouble to save me, right?”