Hearing Su Zhiyun’s shout, A Ran snapped awake as if from a dream, her small face flushing bright red.
Flustered, she hurriedly bent down with Xiao Mu to help Jiu Baiyun, who had rolled off the stretcher.
Her fingertips inevitably brushed against that fluffy tail again.
Jiu Baiyun’s body trembled violently once more, a whimper escaping his throat.
An overwhelming sense of shame mixed with that damnable tingling sensation nearly drowned him.
“S-Sorry, Big Brother Jiu!”
A Ran was all in a fluster, momentarily unsure what to do.
Su Zhiyun, frantic with worry, kept the corner of her eye locked on what was behind them.
The mountain sparrows that Jiu Baiyun had confused with those deep blue sparks were having the bewildered blue light in their eyes fade at a visible rate.
Their scarlet murderous intent was rekindling.
The sharp, chaotic chorus of chirps unified again, locking back onto the four of them.
“They’re waking up! Quick! Lift him! Run!!!”
Not willing to wait for A Ran and Xiao Mu to slowly lift him any longer, Su Zhiyun simply lunged forward and, practically dragging and hauling, tossed Jiu Baiyun back onto the stretcher.
The rough canvas scraped against the exposed base of Jiu Baiyun’s tail, sending a sharp, piercing pain mixed with an indescribable, maddening itch.
“Run!!!”
The moment Jiu Baiyun was settled, Su Zhiyun immediately shouted at A Ran and Xiao Mu, then lifted the stretcher.
Xiao Mu and A Ran quickly snapped out of their daze.
Seeing the mountain sparrows charging toward them, they didn’t hesitate.
They picked up the front of the stretcher and started running.
Su Zhiyun also sped up, keeping the stretcher steady.
“High Danger”…
The scarlet words on Su Zhiyun’s system panel seemed to pulse unceasingly.
She didn’t even dare to glance away to confirm whether the “High Danger” had already turned into “Extreme Danger.”
The mountain sparrows drew closer.
The one who sensed them most clearly was Jiu Baiyun.
Moving his fingers, Jiu Baiyun squinted slightly, trying to imitate the Yao Fox Demon Venerable and use that ability.
But even though he had just clearly felt the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s ability, using it now wasn’t so easy.
He only possessed the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s demon power; that didn’t mean he had all of her abilities.
Some skills could be mastered after practicing once, but most weren’t so easily stolen.
Still, there was good news.
The side effects of “Qi Stillness” were now noticeably receding.
Besides his fingers, several other parts of his body could move too.
“Jiu Baiyun! Are you done yet?”
Su Zhiyun, worn out by the grating sound of the sparrows closing in behind her, couldn’t help herself and shouted at Jiu Baiyun.
Hearing this, Jiu Baiyun forced a bitter smile.
If he were done, wouldn’t he have gotten up by now?
He tried to turn his head to look back.
Quite a few mountain sparrows were already closing in.
“Yao Fox Demon Venerable, can you do that again?”
He had no other options, so he could only beg the Yao Fox Demon Venerable.
But unfortunately, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable didn’t react at all—clearly still in a state of being blocked out.
This made Jiu Baiyun’s teeth ache.
If the Yao Fox Demon Venerable wouldn’t come out, he really had no way!
His spiritual energy was almost completely drained, and he had demon power he could barely use!
The abilities he did know how to use all required hand seals.
And converting demon power to spiritual energy, as the Yao Fox Demon Venerable had mentioned, would have to wait until the side effects of “Qi Stillness” wore off.
If they kept dragging things out, Jiu Baiyun figured they wouldn’t make it in time.
So, gritting his teeth, he used his barely movable elbows to prop up his limp body.
“Jiu Baiyun… you…”
Before Su Zhiyun could finish asking, Jiu Baiyun had already parted his lips slightly.
His fingers twitched, and from his mouth, he spat out a wisp of ghostly blue fox flame behind him.
The fox flame shot past Su Zhiyun at breakneck speed toward the mountain sparrows, but it quickly died out because it couldn’t be sustained.
Only the two sparrows closest to them were caught by the flame, burned to ashes by the ghostly blue fire.
Looking at the mountain sparrows that had quickly filled the gap, Jiu Baiyun was truly out of tricks.
After a pause, his gaze shifted to the tail behind him.
He refused to believe it! The Yao Fox Demon Venerable and he shared the same body.
If he didn’t block his own perception, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable absolutely couldn’t completely block out all sensation!
If she couldn’t feel it, it was simply because the stimulus wasn’t strong enough!
But… if he actually grabbed it…
Given how sensitive his tail was, he couldn’t handle it either… but at this point, he couldn’t care about that anymore.
With that thought, Jiu Baiyun’s five fingers suddenly curled!
That barely functional hand viciously grabbed the exposed base of his tail.
Rip—
The dull sound of nails tearing through flesh was masked by the rustle of fabric, but the pain that erupted in its wake was like a red-hot branding iron stabbed into his spine.
“Ugh—”
A stifled groan escaped him.
Jiu Baiyun’s body arched like a dying shrimp, veins bulging at his temples.
The sharp agony at the base of his tail, mixed with the humiliation of being forcibly violated, instantly flooded Jiu Baiyun’s mind, fogging his consciousness.
Then, in his mind, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s angry, embarrassed voice rang out.
“Jiu Baiyun!!! Are you trying to die!!!”
Clearly, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable couldn’t completely block out sensation.
The combination of pain and stimulation often magnified perceptions manifold, and this had successfully affected her.
It felt like being violently intruded upon, forcibly having her first time taken away.
The last time she had experienced something like this was when Jiu Baiyun had cut off all six of his tails at once…
But soon, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable sensed the mountain sparrows relentlessly chasing Su Zhiyun and couldn’t help but let out a “Tch.”
She understood why Jiu Baiyun had suddenly done that.
Only this way could he force her to feel the stimulus…
Hearing Jiu Baiyun’s muffled groans in her ears, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s fists clenched tighter and tighter.
She almost wanted to punch him.
He was the one who had done something so stupid, yet he was the one groaning.
She hadn’t even let out a sound.
This made the Yao Fox Demon Venerable extremely annoyed.
But in the end, she suppressed her anger.
With a tone of exasperation, she spoke through gritted teeth in Jiu Baiyun’s mind.
“Enough! Stop groaning! I’m already starting to convert it into spiritual energy! Bear with it!”
Biting back the pain radiating from her tail, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable carefully assessed Jiu Baiyun’s current internal state.
The main effects of the “Qi Stillness” side effects had almost completely faded.
Spiritual energy and demon power could barely begin to circulate with each other.
She estimated that his body would be able to move soon.
Jiu Baiyun was already in so much pain that his vision was going dark.
The spot at the base of his tail, torn by his own nails, burned fiercely, mixed with that lingering, maddening itch that threatened to make him pass out.
But then, an extremely faint yet unmistakably warm current struggled to flow slowly through his parched, depleted meridians.
It was spiritual energy!
This secretly delighted Jiu Baiyun.
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable had finally started doing her job!