Chapter 4: Mutual

Su Heng remembered that the voice’s request was for him to suffer all the hardships of life, and emotional tribulations were naturally included. As she understood the voice’s meaning, she should not let Tan Ye have it easy. Even if he had it good, she should make him miserable. Turn a lucky emperor into an unlucky commoner, and even a playboy should become a single dog.

In any case, all kinds of torment, from beginning to end, he should experience it all, turning Tan Ye into a pitiful little thing.

She was full of enthusiasm, but now before she even started, she discovered that Tan Ye seemed to dislike women?

This was a big problem.

“What?” The voice that was playing dead in her head popped out, sounding surprised.

Su Heng repeated what she just said, while squatting down and poking Tan Ye.

Even though he was disoriented, Tan Ye still didn’t forget to avoid her touch. He rolled to the side, not wanting her to touch him.

“You see, even like this.” She clicked her tongue twice, “If I wanted to take advantage of him, that would be one thing, but I’m saving his life here. In that case, the problem lies with him.”

“And the more beautiful the woman, the more he avoids them.” As she said this, she used a bit more force with her fingers, poking harder.

“He has a problem, it seems emotional entanglements will be difficult.”

“Should I find him a man when the time comes?”

“No need!”

Before she could finish, the voice was even more agitated than her.

“The Divine Lord absolutely will not…”

The rest went unsaid, but there was a sense of frustration.

Su Heng didn’t wait for him to finish. She poked again, as if to confirm her words. The person on the ground struggled to roll to the side, trying to avoid her.

“No need.” The voice sounded a bit faint, but became adamant at the end, “You don’t need to…”

“Really?” Su Heng asked back. She thought for a bit, “That’s right, if what I said is correct, in any case it will be a heart-wrenching bitter love. If he doesn’t get beaten black and blue, he can consider himself lucky.”

“Then I won’t make a move either. Just going with the flow is enough.”

She made so much sense that the voice fell silent for a good while, at a loss for words.

“I’ll save him first.” Su Heng turned the person over.

Su Heng pinched Tan Ye’s chin. He had bitten his lower lip until it bled.

“Hey, I’m doing this to save your life, not to take advantage of you. You don’t like women, and I’m not very interested in men either. Rest assured.” Ignoring his resistance, she leaned down.

The soft touch on his lips made his whole body stiffen. He desperately wanted to push her away, but the cool herbal spiritual power that followed made all his pain and agitation instantly calm down.

The pain was soothed and comforted, and he returned to a rare tranquility.

After a good while, when Su Heng felt he was about right, she left him.

“How is it, much better right?”

Tan Ye touched his chest, feeling the coolness in his meridians.

He looked up at her fixedly. Su Heng held a red string in her hand, casually swinging it a couple times. Her face was casual, expression normal, eyes not evading at all. Indeed, she didn’t completely take to heart what had just happened.

“Many thanks.”

“Just verbal thanks?”

Su Heng asked with a smile.

“I will remember the life-saving grace. As long as I can do it without violating morality, just say the word.”

Su Heng glanced at Tan Ye, seeing his complete seriousness. She pretended to ponder for a bit. “I can’t think of anything right now. How about I tell you when I remember? It’s just that I’ve heard people’s hearts change very quickly, especially men who change faces faster than the weather. Although you’re sincere now, what if you don’t acknowledge me later?”

This spirit spoke self-righteously, but her eyes held more mischief.

“If you don’t believe me, I can swear an oath.”

Seeing him really raise his hand, Su Heng shushed him. “No need for that.”

“Human conventions are meaningless to me.” She smiled at him, her beautiful face so lively it made one’s heart beat. She sat back down. “Don’t use your spiritual power anymore. Although I can detoxify you, that devilish poison is very troublesome. As long as a bit remains uncleared, if you’re unlucky, it will rage like wildfire, unstoppable.”

Hearing this, Tan Ye’s fingertips on his chest curled up.

“Are you wondering why I didn’t completely detoxify you?”

Tan Ye shook his head slightly. “No, we are strangers who met by chance. You were willing to extend a helping hand, which is already worthy of endless gratitude. How could I make demands?”

Su Heng looked at him a few times. “So you owe me?”

Tan Ye looked at her and nodded. “Yes.”

Su Heng laughed out loud. She was never restrained, always doing what she wanted without reservation.

He looked over, seeing her smile bringing spring to her brows and eyes.

“Why did you save me?”

Meeting by chance, extending a helping hand once was already the limit, yet she went out of her way to save him twice.

“Because I think you’re good-looking.” Su Heng propped her chin.

The scene instantly turned eerily quiet. Tan Ye stared straight at her, and she looked back with pure innocence.

“Just for that?”

“Of course, what else?”

Su Heng tilted her head, looking at Tan Ye. “Don’t tell me you thought I fell in love at first sight, and seeing you injured, my heart ached like being cut by a knife, so I rushed to save you from fire and water without regard for my own safety?” Su Heng’s expression became even more innocent. “Did you really think that?”

Tan Ye turned his head away from her especially pure eyes. “I didn’t, you’re overthinking it.”

“That’s good then. I said before, I’m not human, so naturally I don’t follow human rules. Human conventions don’t apply to me.”

Tan Ye nodded. “Alright.”

Su Heng propped her head, a bit puzzled. “You’re not shouting to attack me now? I remember you were going to make a move against me before. Now that you know I’m not human, aren’t you going to immediately eliminate the unorthodox?”

This spirit, hard to say if she had a poor memory, forgetting what was said before, or because she was formed from plants and trees, her mind was especially simple, thinking cultivators would either attack or kill a non-human like her.

Tan Ye saw the spirit’s eyes were like a mountain stream – pure and clean to the extreme. One glance was enough to see to the bottom.

Her body also exuded a clean aura.

Hearing this, Su Heng smiled without answering. She stretched out her hand, and the red string that had been tied up immediately came to life again, squirming into her hand.

Tan Ye stared at the wriggling red string in her palm. The bloody sweet scent and soul aura on the string immediately changed his expression.

“You used flesh, blood and souls to nourish this thing?!”

Su Heng still had an innocent face. “This red string of mine is top-notch. It’s made from thin strands taken from thousand-year-old vines in my original old forest. It was originally spiritually aware, then nourished with fresh blood and souls to achieve its current form.”

As she spoke, the red string in her fair palm seemed to understand her words, rubbing against her palm like a kitten.

Tan Ye’s eyes suddenly became still, his joy and anger completely unreadable, the edges that had softened a bit due to her earlier rescue sharpening again.

“Is that so? You do this kind of thing too?”

The youth spoke calmly, eyes lowered, the firelight not reflecting his current expression.

“I’m much more particular than them!” Su Heng emphasized, “I’m very picky about the goods, unlike those folks who don’t discriminate at all.” She casually pulled out a section.

“This one, I encountered an evil old Daoist in Qingzhou back then. In a town, relying on his bit of spiritual power, he tricked the town’s people into providing him pure Yin boys and girls. He hung them up and drilled holes in their skulls while they were alive, drawing out their souls for him to command. I was passing by there at the time. That old Daoist saw I was different and wanted me to be his servant too. So I skinned him alive and fed his flesh and blood to my little darling.”

“As for his soul, it wasn’t wasted either. I directly used it to make him my servant.”

She cut off that section of red string and handed it to Tan Ye. “I’m not indiscriminate. To nourish my darling, I naturally have to carefully select.”

Tan Ye sensed the endless evil intent filling the cut section of red string.

It was evil from the primordial spirit.

This soul was indeed, as she said, evil and committed many wicked deeds when alive.

He was about to speak when suddenly an abrupt growling sound interrupted.

The two instantly froze. Su Heng exclaimed, “You’re hungry?”

Tan Ye turned his head away, his current expression hidden. Only his ears were slightly red.

“That’s right, you can’t circulate spiritual power now. Do you have fasting pellets on you?”

Tan Ye naturally had already checked without her saying so. “The pellets I had on me… are gone.”

Of course they were gone. When Su Heng rescued him, she had groped him all over, taking out and discarding anything she thought his fellow disciples could use to find him.

Now he couldn’t use spiritual power and also lost the fasting pellets and other medicines that could quickly replenish energy. Naturally, he was no different from a mortal.

“Since the injury has greatly improved, I dare not trouble you further, Miss.”

Su Heng wanted to say more, but Tan Ye pulled out a talisman paper from his collar and handed it to her. “This is a voice transmission talisman exclusive to me. Miss, you saved my life, and I am truly endlessly grateful. If you ever need to find me, just use the talisman spell, and I will know.”

With that, he began teaching her the talisman spell for the voice transmission talisman. These voice transmission talismans were all exclusive, and could not be used without the spell he set himself.

After teaching Su Heng, Tan Ye raised his hand in salute. “Until we meet again.”

Having said that, he truly turned to leave.

Su Heng held the voice transmission talisman he had just given her between two fingers, flicking her fingers. She turned her head back, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile on her beautiful face.

With a slight movement of her fingers in her sleeve, a section of red string immediately slithered over and stretched across Tan Ye’s feet. At most, Tan Ye was only slightly more perceptive than mortals. Caught off guard, he was tripped by the red string at his feet and fell straight to the ground.

This place had been cleared by her beforehand, so there wasn’t even any grass to cushion him. Hearing the sound of him hitting the ground, Su Heng felt her teeth ache.

The red string, at her behest, showed no mercy, so the fall was especially heavy.

Thud. Her teeth ached.

It is said that a good deed should be seen through to the end. However, she didn’t have the slightest intention of helping others. Finding this person had cost her quite some effort. That voice, she didn’t know what it was, and it couldn’t clearly explain to her what kind of person to look for, causing her to scurry about here and there for a long time.

Just finding the person had taken a lot of effort. She didn’t know how many of her precious red strings had crawled out, and some had even been intercepted halfway by those chivalrous disciples of immortal sects. She had put in so much effort, if she let him leave now, it would be a disservice to the little darlings she had sacrificed.

Especially given his dislike for women, she felt that if she just let him go, who knows when she would see him again. Although he said nice things, men are all dogs, either already dogs or on the path to becoming dogs. By then, if he pretended to know nothing, what could she do to him?

The words of men, whether they were already dogs or on the path to becoming dogs, couldn’t be trusted at all.

Seeing Tan Ye take a terrible fall, Su Heng raised an eyebrow at the red string that slithered back, expressing her appreciation. The red string stood upright, seeming to sense her praise, and even bowed as if saluting a person before slithering back.

“Are you alright?!” Su Heng ran to Tan Ye’s side. She remembered he had an innate aversion to others’ touch, so she only squatted down to look at him.

The lotus-colored hair ribbon on his topknot had fallen to his shoulder, and the long black silky hair draped over his shoulder emitted a faint, gentle indigo luster under the bonfire’s light.

Even though he was a man, not only was he exceptionally good-looking, but his hair was also so beautiful, which made her a bit uncomfortable. However, she quickly became happy again. No matter how good-looking, he couldn’t compare to her beauty.

Tan Ye raised his head. His forehead had hit a rock, leaving a bruise.

“Why don’t you rest for a bit? Tell me where your sect is located, and I’ll go inform your master and senior brother to come get you. You’re too weak now, I’m afraid you can’t make it back on your own.”

She saw Tan Ye’s eyelashes suddenly tremble when she mentioned his senior brother and master.

She keenly captured this subtle emotion of his.

“Don’t move, just stay here. I’ll go find someone to come.”

Tan Ye shook his head. “No need, there’s no need to trouble Master and Senior Brother on my behalf.”

He lowered his eyes, making it impossible to clearly see the true emotions and color in his eyes at this moment.

“So you mean to say, you want to stay with me for a few more days, and leave after your injuries have fully healed?”

Hearing the spirit’s lighthearted words, Tan Ye looked up at her and saw her clapping her hands together. “That would be wonderful.”

“I get to stay with you a while longer.”