Chapter 49: Stimulation: The Seal! She Didn’t Want Any of Them! Part 2

“Sister, up there.”

Ye Xi pointed out the direction for Shen Mingjin. Shen Mingjin agilely dodged the heavy objects one by one and leaped toward the ceiling.

She revealed her tail and whipped it at the ceiling.

Unfortunately, she failed to smash through the ceiling. Instead, Shao Yan seized the opportunity, grabbed her tail, coiled around Shen Mingjin’s tail, and slammed it forcefully toward the floor. Even when Shen Mingjin’s scales cut her hand in self-defense, she didn’t let go. She allowed the red scales to grind against her bones, screaming several times but still stubbornly holding onto Shen Mingjin.

Ye Xi pounced forward. She used her body to catch Shen Mingjin’s tail and kicked toward Shao Li’s wrist.

Her aim was precise, and she soon heard the sound of bones cracking. She snatched Shen Mingjin’s tail back from Shao Yan’s severed hand, but Shao Yan took advantage of the moment to bite her calf, tearing off a chunk of flesh. Her leg, which hadn’t fully healed, was injured again.

“Ye Xi!”

Shen Mingjin was so tense her heart trembled. Looking at Ye Xi’s bloody leg, she felt more pain than if it had been her own.

The worry at a life-or-death moment couldn’t be faked.

Shen Mingjin cared about Ye Xi even more than herself. She fell back into self-blame for failing to protect Ye Xi. “Sorry, it’s me… I didn’t protect you.”

“Sister, throw me up.” Ye Xi forcibly pulled Shen Mingjin out of her sorrow. She pointed at the ceiling, making her intent clear before urging Shen Mingjin to act.

Shen Mingjin didn’t throw Ye Xi. Instead, her fingers touched the scales, intending to undo the seal.

Ye Xi quickly grabbed Shen Mingjin. “Sister, let me do it. I don’t want you to lose control here.”

“I can.”

Ye Xi could see Shen Mingjin’s stubbornness at that moment. She was touched by how much Shen Mingjin cared about her. If it had been a sunny afternoon with no crises, and Shen Mingjin showed such strong emotions, she definitely would have kissed her. But not now.

Ye Xi’s rationality allowed her to make the best judgment. Her strength was greater than Shen Mingjin’s with the seal in place; she could smash through that ceiling.

“Sister, you can’t.” While controlling the pink fur rabbit to barely block Shao Yan and Yin Erou from approaching, Ye Xi diverted Shen Mingjin’s attention. “There are too many people here. How stunning you look when you lose control—only I need to know that.”

Shen Mingjin was thin-skinned, and her face flushed easily. “What time is it, and you’re still coaxing me here.”

No helping it.

Who could resist Shen Mingjin’s tendency to overthink?

Ye Xi touched her waist, pulled Shen Mingjin’s tail over, and wrapped it around her own waist. “Sister, throw me quickly.”

Shen Mingjin still couldn’t bear to throw Ye Xi. She cradled Ye Xi in both hands and slammed her tail against the floor for leverage.

Using the force to launch her body into the air, she brought Ye Xi close to the ceiling.

Ye Xi swung her fist and smashed it forcefully into the ceiling.

“Boom!”

The ceiling cracked open, and chunks of broken bricks fell down, but it wasn’t fully breached yet.

In the instant her body began to fall, she extended her foot and kicked the ceiling again.

The pain in her leg worsened, but the ceiling fully shattered. The ceiling and several people tumbled down together. Inside, there were surprisingly three corpses: two people and one fish demon.

As the ceiling fell, the living room’s layout changed dramatically. The currents connecting the entire room vanished, and the oppressive feeling lightened considerably. Only the few currents behind Yin Erou remained active. Shao Yan stared at the falling corpses and descended into madness, while Yin Erou gathered her strength anew.

They didn’t continue attacking, giving Ye Xi and Shen Mingjin time to recover from the numbness caused by the currents invading their bodies. They could also properly examine the fallen corpses.

The two people appeared to be quite old, around seventy years of age.

Their eyes had been gouged out. The slightly older woman tightly clutched the other in her arms.

The older woman’s body was severely mutilated—her legs violently destroyed, her neck slightly twisted out of shape. The woman she protected in her embrace showed no obvious deformities or major wounds, except for Shao Yan’s name carved into her face, as if declaring ownership.

But that name wasn’t clear; it was crossed with dense scratch marks.

The younger of the two old women had blood and flesh fragments under her nails, as if she had clawed at her own face.

They wore matching diamond rings and similar styles of clothing. They looked like a loving couple.

Ye Xi quickly realized their identities. The protected one was likely Shao Yan’s former lover, and the older one was her current partner.

Seeing the two embracing in death, Shao Yan suddenly glared viciously at Yin Erou. “Was it you? When I left the bodies with you, I had clearly separated them. Did you make them hug each other?”

“When you left, they were still alive.”

“Impossible. They were in so much pain; I was so ruthless. How could they still be alive?”

Yin Erou, having her wife-killing secret exposed by Shao Yan, didn’t want Shao Yan to feel any comfort now. She pointed at the embracing old women, deliberately provoking her. “Maybe they wanted to die together. Even without eyes and with such severe injuries, their first reaction wasn’t self-preservation but finding each other. No matter how you look at it, their love runs deeper than yours.”

“You’re lying!” Shao Yan refused to believe Yin Erou. “It must be your doing. How could that woman compare to me? Shao Xian is blind. Fifty years ago, she rejected me because of her; fifty years later, she dies for her. But look closely—how is Ren Ping that old hag prettier than me? Her looks have aged, her skin withered. She can’t compare to me! Shao Xian… Little Xian loves me. She only died with that old hag out of pity! It must be that! She should be in my arms. She should…”

Shao Yan ignored even Ye Xi and Shen Mingjin. She approached the two, wanting to separate their corpses.

Ye Xi charged forward first and shoved Shao Yan away, glaring at her hostilely.

She could roughly guess the truth that Shao Yan had concealed.

Shao Yan was an outcast in both the human and demon worlds, surviving alone as a demon, making it hard to make friends. By chance, a girl named Shao Xian saved her during an accident, and she latched onto her. But Shao Xian already had someone she loved, so she rejected Shao Yan.

Enraged, Shao Yan used demon arts to bewitch Shao Xian and forced her into a relationship. Later, when Shao Xian’s body couldn’t withstand the demon poison, she took her to the General Hospital for treatment. Ye Tan not only neutralized the demon poison in Shao Xian but also broke the demon arts she had cast. She learned the truth from Shao Xian.

Shao Yan deserved punishment for harming humans with demon arts; imprisonment was lenient.

She wasn’t torn from her marriage because it had never been hers to begin with.

With such strong jealousy, Shao Yan couldn’t tolerate a rival. While controlling Shao Xian, she must have made her hurt Ren Ping. Yet Ren Ping still ended up with Shao Xian after the control lifted. Perhaps they had loved each other from the start, only missing years together because of Shao Yan’s interference, enduring so much suffering.

How many people only cared for themselves at death’s door? Yet they remained inseparable in crisis.

The meddling rival hadn’t broken them, lost time hadn’t faded their feelings, and white hair hadn’t stolen their love. Now, a demon heartlessly took their lives and carved such a filthy name on her face. Losing their eyes might even be a mercy.

“Shao Yan, you’re the one who deserves to die most!”

Ye Xi hadn’t expected such intense anger toward strangers. This fury even diminished her fondness for Shao Li. She couldn’t understand why Shao Li would save a beast like Shao Yan. She doubted such an ungrateful Shao Yan would treat her own sister well.

Unlike Ye Xi, Shen Mingjin’s attention fell on the fish-tailed demon that had fallen with the two old women.

She recognized this demon.

Shen Mingjin looked incredulously at Yin Erou. “You killed your mediator too?”

The Qingdu Clan’s mediator had arrived even earlier than Shen Mingjin this time. She was still so devoted to her work and clan, hoping to outperform Shen Mingjin within her abilities. She never imagined dying at the hands of a demon in her own jurisdiction.

In Yin Erou’s eyes, the mediator’s death and Mao Xinqing’s weren’t on the same level. She didn’t deny her involvement and admitted it openly. “She wouldn’t listen. I clearly messaged her to come later. As long as she arrived after you and Ye Xi, she wouldn’t have died. She ignored my advice.”

“In my memory, she was always good to you.” Shen Mingjin disliked Yin Erou’s disdain for the mediator. Suddenly, her thoughts circled to a key point. “You were lying to me just now.”

She wasn’t too foolish.

These people had exploited the mediator’s work and their relationship with Ye Xi to lure her here.

One could say that without Shen Mingjin coming, Ye Xi wouldn’t have appeared. So Yin Erou’s claim of not wanting to harm her and telling her to leave was all lies.

“Miss Mingjin, you’re so easy to fool.”

Shen Mingjin stared fixedly at Yin Erou. She hadn’t expected their acting to be so good that it controlled her heart, preventing negative emotions from surfacing. Until the masks were fully torn off, she hadn’t sensed a thing. Her desire to protect Ye Xi seemed like empty talk.

Her strength wasn’t enough, her senses not sharp enough.

She wasn’t even qualified as a bodyguard like this.

Shen Mingjin rubbed her arm, feeling the seal on the red scales. For the first time, she regretted sealing her power.

Ye Xi vaguely sensed Shen Mingjin’s mood was off and walked to her side. “Sister.”

Shen Mingjin heard the voice and slightly raised her head.

Her gaze passed through Ye Xi and landed on the sofa.

With the room’s layout altered, Yin Erou’s demon arts no longer worked. The house revealed its true appearance, and the people inside showed their real faces. Shen Mingjin finally saw Mao Xinqing’s condition—her beautiful almond eyes reduced to bloody sockets, more and more corpse spots spreading across her skin.

Pain instantly enveloped her, making even her breaths taste bitter.

She withdrew her gaze and stared deeply at Ye Xi. “Ye Xi, it seems I can’t protect you. I can’t protect… I have no power. I have nothing. I’m useless. I’m the weakest snake the Spirit-Devouring Snake Clan has ever produced. I…”

Yin Erou was more rational than Shao Yan at this moment. She watched Shen Mingjin. “Miss Mingjin, since you know you have no power, why not hand her over to us? I only want to kill her. For Xinqing’s sake, I really will let you go.”

“I won’t hand Ye Xi over to you.”

Shen Mingjin suddenly hugged Ye Xi, shielding all her vulnerable spots with her body. “Not even over my dead body!”

The body lacking much warmth made Ye Xi feel incredibly cozy. Such overt affection diluted her fear of the crisis. For a fleeting moment, she thought dying in Shen Mingjin’s embrace wouldn’t be so bad. Of course, that feeling vanished quickly. She still wanted to live.

Only the living had the right to kiss Shen Mingjin.

Only the living could dream of a future with her.

Ye Tan’s delay in arriving was a bit odd, but with Ni Yueying’s power activated in her body now, she could hold her own against two great demons even without rescue.

“Sister, neither of us will die.”

Ye Xi softly comforted Shen Mingjin, trying to make her believe in her abilities. “I can protect you too. Do you believe I have that capability?”

Shen Mingjin shook her head, her low and muffled voice drifting into Ye Xi’s ear. “Ye Xi, I don’t want these seals anymore. Not a single one.”