The light grew brighter and brighter.
Xia Ji’s eyebrows twitched lightly.
After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes.
The lazy midday sun spilled over her eyelids, pricking her eyes with a faint ache.
Xia Ji instinctively squinted again.
As time passed, the blurry scene before her gradually became clear.
It was Chu You.
Her face was a bit pale, eyes tightly shut, standing face-to-face with Xia Ji.
That fox tail, once flamboyant and lively, was now shrunk to half a person’s size, hanging limply behind her, as if all its strength had been drained.
“You-jie…” Xia Ji instinctively raised her hand, wanting to reach out and touch the close-at-hand Chu You, to make sure she was all right.
But as her fingertips moved, the black veins coiling and parasitizing her arm stabbed painfully into her vision.
Panic and inferiority seized Xia Ji in an instant—this grotesque, neither-human-nor-ghost form of hers, would it… make You-jie feel disgusted?
Her raised hand froze awkwardly in midair—unable to go forward or back, lingering with a pitiful uncertainty and cautious probing.
For some reason, although the black veins forming the cage around her had withered and vanished, the ones parasitizing her, entangled more deeply with her life source, remained stubbornly alive, like an incurable disease clinging to her bones.
“Mm.”
The next moment, Chu You suddenly frowned, letting out a muffled, pained groan.
Then, her lashes quivered, and she slowly opened her eyes.
The sunlight was just right, a gentle breeze brushed her face, dispersing some of the gloom in the air.
The blurry boundaries before Chu You’s eyes gradually sharpened, her gaze finally focusing on Xia Ji’s face, so close at hand—
There were too many emotions tangled there: dazed relief after surviving disaster, guilt for causing trouble, regret and confusion for the future, and, above all, a deep worry of being abandoned, as well as a bone-deep timidity and self-doubt.
Chu You’s gaze instinctively followed Xia Ji’s down to the hand hanging frozen mid-air, caught between advance and retreat.
That arm was still covered in twisted black veins, bizarre and frightening, but what Chu You saw was the hesitation and timidity behind the motion, and a faint, fragile hope to reach out, yet afraid to be rejected.
Chu You blinked, as if she hadn’t seen the hideous black veins or noticed the abnormality of that arm at all.
She almost didn’t pause—reaching out decisively, firmly clasping Xia Ji’s stiff, slightly trembling hand in her own.
What she felt was an unusual, slightly cold temperature, different from normal people, and the strange sensation of the veins writhing under her palm.
Huh?
Chu You’s brow lifted ever so slightly.
Why did the aura within these black veins give her a faint sense of familiarity…?
Yet, faced with Chu You’s gesture, Xia Ji’s pupils shrank sharply and her whole body went rigid, as if under a petrifying spell.
She stared in disbelief at Chu You’s warm, powerful hand holding hers tightly—her mind blank.
But Chu You seemed unable to sense her stiffness or see any abnormality at all.
…
Instead, Chu You’s lips curled in a gentle, slightly tired but bright and relaxed smile, her tone as familiar as if she were just complaining to her best friend about a small secret.
“Oh, so you hid something this big from me,” she even squeezed Xia Ji’s black-veined hand on purpose, her eyes glinting with playful reproach and warmth.
“You little brat, you really know how to keep things under wraps!”
At that, Xia Ji hung her head, unable to meet Chu You’s eyes, her voice a mere whisper, full of guilt and remorse.
“I—I’m sorry, You-jie, I… I didn’t mean to hide it from you, I just… I…”
She stumbled over her words, not knowing how to explain or how to face this sudden care.
The heavy weight of guilt nearly overwhelmed her.
But before she could finish, a familiar, warm touch fell on her head—Chu You’s other hand gently resting atop, softly stroking her hair.
The strength, the warmth—it was as if all the pain of separation and darkness had never happened, and they were still as close as ever.
This long-lost, unreserved touch was like a key, instantly unlocking the floodgates in Xia Ji’s heart.
She jerked her head up, tears brimming in her eyes as she met Chu You’s gaze—still holding a faint smile, as if filled with the sunlight of summer.
There was no disgust, no fear, no pity in those eyes—only the same gentle warmth and a trace of imperceptible exhaustion.
Chu You’s voice was as soft as ever, yet unshakeably firm: “I promised to bring you out. I did it.”
She tilted her head slightly, her smile deepening, both teasing and utterly sincere.
“So, the things you promised me—you have to keep them too.”
Tears instantly filled Xia Ji’s eyes.
She stared at Chu You, forgetting how to react, her heart filled with a bittersweet and burning emotion.
“Go out and have fun together, watch the sunset in the park, watch the clouds…”
Chu You went on, her gaze clear and earnest, as if painting a picture of the most ordinary yet precious future.
“You promised me, you can’t go back on it.”
Looking at Chu You’s eyes, full of sincerity and expectation despite the reflection of her own disheveled self, hearing her say those simple but beautiful promises, the taut string Xia Ji had held inside finally snapped.
She could no longer hold back.
Tears she had held back spilled over, like broken beads, rolling down her pale cheeks onto their clasped hands—warm, yet cool.
Then, as if using the last of her strength, she nodded heavily, as if making a vow.
Choking, she uttered a single word: “Mm!”
That one word contained too much—relief, a promise, rekindled hope, and a response to that enduring gentleness.
Sunlight shone through the fading gloom, quietly enveloping the two as they faced each other, and their tightly clasped hands that would never let go.
“Hey, hey, are you done being sentimental?”
At that moment, an ill-timed voice rang out.
Chu You and Xia Ji turned in unison—Gu Qiancheng was approaching with one hand in his pocket, face expressionless.
“So, the junior is a demon—I’ll turn a blind eye for now…”
His red hair fluttered in the wind, and the other hand at his side brewed with twisted ripples.
His tone was flat, “But this Xia classmate, she should count as an Abnormal, right?”
With that, Gu Qiancheng slowly raised his hand, and his divine power instantly locked onto the still-stunned Xia Ji.
“I might not follow every rule, but there are some lines I can’t ignore.”
At this, Chu You frowned and almost instinctively stepped forward.
She shielded Xia Ji tightly behind her, meeting Gu Qiancheng’s gaze head-on, her voice serious and urgent.
“Gu Qiancheng, you don’t understand… Xia Ji isn’t what you think. She’s still rational, and she’s saved me more than once.”
Gu Qiancheng remained unmoved, but the ripples in his palm grew even clearer.
Seeing this, Chu You spoke faster, trying to persuade the seemingly easygoing but principled Gu Qiancheng with facts: “Back at the amusement park, during the explosion—if she hadn’t come back secretly and risked her life to shield me from most of the blast, I wouldn’t be standing here, let alone alive. And at the hospital…”
She took a deep breath, continuing, “When Lin Mo left, Xu Guangming was on the rooftop of the building across from the hospital. If Xia Ji hadn’t protected me, who knows what might have happened. You—”
“Mm,” Gu Qiancheng cut her off, his gaze still sharp as a knife, locked onto Xia Ji behind Chu You.
“Maybe she really is kind at heart, but unfortunately—”
“The standard of judgment has never been about what she’s done, but what she is.”
Gu Qiancheng’s voice was icy.
“Rules are rules, lines are lines. I… can’t pretend I don’t see.”
As his words fell, the atmosphere dropped to freezing.
A flush of peach pink silently tinged Chu You’s eyes.
She bit her lip, her tone heavy, “Does it have to be like this… Senior?”
Gu Qiancheng said nothing, but his expression grew even more serious.
“Um, can I say something?”
Just as the tension between Chu You and Gu Qiancheng was about to snap, Lin Mo’s voice sounded from the side.
The two of them turned to look at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo glanced at Gu Qiancheng, then at Chu You, then slowly raised his hand under their gaze, flipping it over to point at the ground.
Chu You and Gu Qiancheng both looked down.
Their expressions froze.
A dense web of golden talisman patterns covered the ground beneath their feet, stretching out into the distance, far as the eye could see.
“Stop arguing, don’t start fighting—let’s talk this out,” Lin Mo strode confidently to Chu You’s side and smiled at Gu Qiancheng.
“Especially you, senior—what’s with this sudden character reversal?”
At this, Gu Qiancheng’s breath hitched, and he looked at Lin Mo with disbelief.
“Junior, you…!”
He knew Lin Mo’s little tricks.
But he hadn’t expected Lin Mo would abandon all principle for the sake of a junior.
After all the trust he’d placed in him?
You really used Domain Expansion and then turned on me, are you even human?!!
“Calm down, senior.”
Lin Mo smiled, then turned to look at Xia Ji behind Chu You.
“Before you and Xia Ji woke up, my divine power was already covering the whole school.”
He gently grabbed Chu You’s hand, ignoring her confused look, and pulled her aside a bit.
“See for yourself—”
He released Chu You’s hand and pointed at where Xia Ji stood.
Gu Qiancheng, Xia Ji, and Chu You all looked down—and instantly, their faces froze in unison.
“This, this is… How can this be?!”
Gu Qiancheng took a few steps forward in disbelief, staring at the ground—the golden talisman lines and the black veins twining around Xia Ji’s feet were locked in direct confrontation.
But that wasn’t the main point.
What truly baffled him was that within the black veins, there seemed to be faint white sparks.
Like… a kind of burning white flame.
Beside Lin Mo, Chu You stared in shock at the faint white glow, murmuring, “Qihu Tong… That’s my little white fire…”
At this moment, the gold in Lin Mo’s pupils faded, and the talisman lines across the ground slowly disappeared.
“I heard that when senior joined the Swordbearers, even the chief commander called Vice Commander Qin in person—” Lin Mo’s tone was unhurried, each word landing firmly, “Both are S-class divine powers, but senior’s [Qihu Tong] has a higher security classification than ours. Don’t you find that suspicious?”
The moment he finished, Gu Qiancheng abruptly looked up at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo’s smile remained, faint as ever.
“My guess is… perhaps senior’s divine power isn’t what we think it is.”
Purification, cleansing—returning things to their essence, even death can be cleansed, allowing rebirth.
So—can mutation and corruption be purified as well?
Lin Mo didn’t say this last thought, but he was fairly certain of the answer in his heart.
“If you don’t believe me, senior, feel it for yourself,” Lin Mo changed the subject, “Can you sense any… ‘corruption’ on Xia Ji?”
At his words, Gu Qiancheng’s gaze shifted to Xia Ji.
After a moment, his pupils suddenly shrank.
He really couldn’t sense anything…
Before he could process this, Lin Mo spoke again: “If there’s no trace of corruption on Xia Ji, then—senior, on what grounds can you call her an Abnormal?”
“A pure mind, a body free of corruption, with powers beyond the ordinary—”
“In my memory, only divine power wielders and demons fit that description.”
At this, Lin Mo’s smile grew even more relaxed, and he finished the match at his own pace: “But she doesn’t have any demon clan essence in her at all, so…”
“Are you really going to strike down a high schooler who just awakened her divine power, senior?”
With that, he fell silent.
Gu Qiancheng’s expression stiffened, and he stumbled back half a step.
No, no way?!
How did I end up sounding like the heartless villain here?
At this moment, Chu You, seizing the opportunity, turned to the still-bewildered Xia Ji.
“Xia Ji, cry for him!”
Xia Ji’s mind was spinning from all of Lin Mo’s talk, completely muddled.
But she knew one thing for sure—listen to You-jie in times of trouble, because You-jie would never harm her.
“Mm.”
Eyes—they turn red easily.
Xia Ji bit her lip hard, tears welling up as she stared straight at the now extremely conflicted Gu Qiancheng.
“Don’t look at me like that!” Gu Qiancheng exploded.
“I’m only sixteen.”
“You, I…”
Gu Qiancheng kept retreating, stammering and at a loss.
Seeing this, Xia Ji mustered her courage and took a few steps forward.
“Stay back,” Gu Qiancheng looked nervous.
“Even if Lin Mo is a smooth talker, you’re still complicit in the professor case and have to take responsibility!”
“I’m only sixteen.”
Xia Ji stepped forward again.
Gu Qiancheng kept backing away, “If you take another step, I’m really gonna snap!”
“I’m just a high school student.”
“Damn, can’t you understand human speech?!”
“Sir, I’m a high schooler, sixteen.”
“…..”