Chapter 24

Inside an unnamed cave somewhere in the Devil Domain.

Li Jiangying furrowed her brows tightly and leaned back slightly: “Cough, cough… wait.”

Her throat was parched, dry, and burning with pain. Her stomach felt like it was on fire. There wasn’t a single part of her body that didn’t ache, especially her head. Although the deep sleep had somewhat relieved the headache, the mysterious poisonous smoke hadn’t been purged and was still affecting her.

Li Jiangying relied on sheer willpower to push through, knowing she couldn’t keep sleeping. In her current state, continuing to sleep was no different from seeking death.

She looked around. The dim, murky darkness made it impossible to tell where she was. She instinctively raised her hand to look at it and only then truly realized the tearing, fracture-like pain in her right palm. Looking closely, she found that she had been gripping that Short Sword tightly the entire way, her subconscious controlling her body to never abandon her only weapon.

But her hand was already wounded. Gripping the sword hilt directly without treating the injury, for so long without moving, the bones couldn’t take it, and the wounds had adhered to the hilt.

“Hiss—” This hiss came from Li Jiangying. She slowly opened her hand, and the Short Sword clattered to the ground. She pressed down on her hand, softly exhaling to ease the pain: “Yueying, where is this? It’s so dark.”

As soon as she heard Li Jiangying speak, Li Yueying opened her mouth and suddenly spat out a small orb of light. A flame burned within the orb, illuminating a decent area. Only then did Li Jiangying realize this place was a cave.

But the light orb flickered and died in an instant. The giant black python coiled inside the cave trembled slightly. Even though she didn’t want to show it, her body inevitably brushed against the stone wall, causing dust and small stones to fall.

Li Jiangying couldn’t help but ask with concern: “Are you alright?”

The giant python slowly nodded.

Li Jiangying hadn’t yet noticed if anything was particularly wrong with the little madwoman, for example, that she was quieter than usual. What limited brainpower she could spare from the pain and exhaustion was only enough to determine her most urgent task right now: eating.

She had to eat something to replenish her energy; otherwise, her body would definitely not hold up. Because her right hand hurt too much, Li Jiangying used her left hand to pick up the Short Sword and stabbed at the massive cow corpse in front of her.

Clatter. The Short Sword hit the ground again. Li Jiangying smiled bitterly: “I have no strength left.”

And of course, even if she had the strength, she probably couldn’t cut through this cowhide.

Seeing her like this, Li Yueying’s massive body writhed. She said nothing, but suddenly opened her mouth, revealing her fangs, ready to bite down on the cow corpse—and immediately saw a hard-to-describe expression on her beloved’s face.

A bit of surprise, and also a bit of distaste.

Li Yueying silently closed her mouth. After a moment’s thought, her serpentine form suddenly began to shrink. After a series of transformations, a snake-tailed beauty with disheveled long hair appeared before Li Jiangying.

Li Jiangying’s throat was so dry and painful she couldn’t speak for a long moment.

“Jiangying… hiss…” The snake-tailed beauty’s messy ink-black hair cascaded down. Below her pale jaw was an elegantly curved neck and smooth shoulders. But further down, below her collarbones and starting from her elbows, patches of black scales densely covered her skin—the garment of a beast.

The scales varied in size, growing on her body in a harmonious, regular pattern. She was pure and natural, unadorned by any man-made cloth or decoration. She was straightforward and frank, yet possessed a strangely alluring, heretical beauty.

She stared intensely at her, face innocent and naive, yet eyes wild with paranoia and obsession. She had certainly never been a holy maiden, yet she was inexplicably touched with the tragic beauty of a fallen deity.

Li Yueying’s hands bore sharp nails, like the talons of a hawk. She extended her claws, viciously tore into the cow corpse, and ripped off a bloody slab of beef tenderloin.

Li Jiangying didn’t refuse. She took it, gritted her teeth, and bit down into it. A raw, bloody smell filled her mouth, slightly nauseating. The texture was acceptable; she could bite through it.

Li Jiangying forced herself to swallow most of it. The burning pain in her stomach from hunger eased. She put the meat down, not forcing herself to eat more, afraid she might throw it up if she did.

Li Jiangying leaned back against the stone wall and closed her eyes, lifting her left hand to massage her temples to ease the headache, thinking about what to do next.

Suddenly, she felt her right hand being lifted by something cool and hard. Opening her eyes, she saw Li Yueying sitting before her, holding her right hand with a dazed and heartbroken expression.

“Jiangying… Jiangying…” She repeated her name over and over, raising Li Jiangying’s right hand to her mouth and extending her scarlet forked tongue to slowly lick the wounds.

Li Jiangying looked at her in surprise, trying to persuade her that it wasn’t necessary, but after calling her name a few times, she received no response.

Seeing this, Li Jiangying’s heart couldn’t help but sink. Damn it. The little madwoman’s state was becoming unstable again.

But there was a silver lining: the wounds on her right hand that Li Yueying licked had healed! Li Jiangying happily raised her right hand and clenched it. Indeed, the sharp stinging pain was gone.

Come to think of it, her left hand hadn’t been hurting much either. Had she secretly licked it while she was unconscious? Li Jiangying sank into puzzled contemplation.

But Li Yueying hadn’t. She had no such superfluous thoughts. Parting her somewhat pale lips, she stuck out her bright red forked tongue and slowly slithered closer to her.

Li Yueying reached out her sharp claws and cupped Li Jiangying’s face, then raised her hand and removed the mask, revealing the true face beneath.

It was wounded here too. Li Yueying stared blankly at the swelling and small scrapes on Li Jiangying’s forehead.

And Li Yueying, because of the overly close distance, had already stopped breathing.

This is way too close… And although the scales on her body could serve as covering, they weren’t clothing after all. The woman’s graceful curves were vividly apparent, giving Li Jiangying a disorienting feeling—was she taking advantage of her, or was she being taken advantage of?

Thankfully, it was dim here. With her chin held up by Li Yueying, Li Jiangying focused her gaze upwards: “What are you doing?”

Li Yueying placed a light kiss on her forehead.

Li Jiangying was startled. A tiny flicker of awkward shyness darted through her heart, but she quickly told herself that this was just the little madwoman giving her treatment. It was completely innocent!

The cooling sensation eased the feverish heat on her forehead considerably. Li Jiangying slowly closed her eyes, refusing to look at the elegant shoulders and neck so close to her.

The unstable little madwoman reminded her of the paranoid, terrifying executioner she had first met. But luckily, she wasn’t as agitated as back then.

Li Yueying slowly licked downwards, tending to the small cuts on Li Jiangying’s face. Her loose, disheveled hair gently brushed over Li Jiangying’s skin with each movement. The slight ticklish sensation made Li Jiangying shift uncomfortably.

A moment later, Li Jiangying snapped her eyes open and raised her hand to block Li Yueying’s mouth.

Her face was heating up, flushing red. She was simultaneously angry, embarrassed, and a little flustered: “What are you doing?! That’s too low! You’ve already passed the no-go zone at the collar!”

Li Yueying blinked slowly, grasped her hand instead, and placed it by her mouth to lick it: “Jiangying is hurt, needs treatment. Jiangying, I will heal you.”

Flustered and exasperated, Li Jiangying tried to pull her hand back but realized she wasn’t stronger: “No need for you to heal there!”

“No.” At this moment, Li Yueying was nothing like her silly, easy-to-handle state. She was domineering and unreasonable. She pulled Li Jiangying’s hand closer and whispered darkly:

“All wounds… must be treated.”