The Light of the Righteous Path Has Gone Offline - Chapter 11

Murong Chi’s expression froze.

She remained motionless, staring blankly ahead.

Ming Jing had called her miss many times before, but this was the first time she had addressed her as Miss Murong.

It seemed those words had not been spoken to her in a very long time.

So long that she had almost forgotten that, many years ago, there had also been someone who smiled as brilliantly and dazzlingly as Ming Jing and called her that with tender affection.

Compared with Ming Jing’s affection that touched only the body and never the heart, that person’s smile had seemed far more sincere.

Unfortunately, in the end, all of it had been false.

At the thought, violent hostility surged like black storm clouds through Murong Chi’s eyes.

The ruthless sharpness between her brows instantly replaced her previous confusion and amusement, making her seem like an entirely different person.

Her hand clenched tightly.

Her fingertips sank into her flesh, easily drawing blood from her palm and staining Ming Jing’s clothes.

Ming Jing frowned.

After thinking for a moment, she reached out and drew Murong Chi into her arms, some unreadable emotion flashing through her eyes.

She paused, then used her thumb to wipe away the blood and grease from Murong Chi’s lips.

This time, it was Ming Jing who bent down and captured those lips, slowly licking away every trace of blood.

Her other hand stroked Murong Chi’s back.

The motion seemed both comforting and encouraging, rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

Ming Jing had personally roasted the Silver Dragonfish.

Over the past nine years, she had prepared countless fish, yet she had never tasted one herself.

She had no idea what flavor could make Murong Chi yearn for them so much.

Now Ming Jing finally knew.

There was none of the fishy taste she had expected.

Instead, it was fresh and faintly sweet.

Spiritual energy seeped into her meridians through their joined lips, mingling with Murong Chi’s medicinal fragrance.

It tasted quite good.

Unfortunately, she could not savor it for long.

Ming Jing released Murong Chi.

With one hand, she lifted Murong Chi’s mangled palm, spread it open, and lowered it.

Her other hand brushed across Murong Chi’s brows and eyes.

Her voice was gentle.

“It’s all right. I don’t find you disgusting.”

Disgusted by what?

Murong Chi was utterly confused.

The emotions in her heart had only just begun to settle, but when she heard that, her gaze changed.

Then she remembered Ming Jing’s earlier, clear declaration that she had not wiped her mouth.

Those emotions instantly surged up again.

Murong Chi: “…”

Grinding her teeth, she resentfully picked up another skewer of fish.

She took a bite, but before she could swallow, she lunged at Ming Jing and dragged her back by the hair.

When Ming Jing tried to evade her, Murong Chi became even more displeased.

She pinned Ming Jing down and kissed her directly, going so far as to breathe deliberately into her mouth.

“As if you have any right to dislike this sovereign!”

Only after a long while did Murong Chi release her.

The memories stirred by the words Miss Murong had been forgotten completely, and she lifted her brows with a triumphant smile.

Ming Jing lay half-reclined against the mountain rock without moving for a long time.

Her uneven gasps rose and fell, echoing throughout the entire cavern dwelling.

“It wasn’t that dramatic, was it?” Murong Chi muttered quietly.

Then Ming Jing suddenly sat up.

Her face was frighteningly pale, and blood spilled from the corner of her lips.

She looked at Murong Chi.

Before the curve of her smile could disappear, she doubled over and vomited a mouthful of blood.

It struck the smooth floor, spreading into a shocking pool of red.

The splattered blood even stained the roasted fish.

Ming Jing lowered her eyes toward the skewer, her expression obscure.

Only after a long silence did she look up at Murong Chi and politely lower her lashes.

“My apologies. I ruined your roasted fish, miss.”

Murong Chi stared at her.

Her voice was clear and cold.

“It doesn’t matter.”

She hesitated, then spoke again.

“Ming Jing, you…”

“Yes.”

Ming Jing smiled cheerfully and nodded with lowered eyes.

“I cannot touch Silver Dragonfish.”

Murong Chi’s expression changed.

“Is—is it because of the Ancient Asura Art?”

“Yes.”

Ming Jing nodded.

She stood, tidied the stone rack, and threw the bloodied skewer outside the cavern dwelling.

Only then did she return and sit down.

She paused.

Seeing Murong Chi staring at her without blinking, she said leisurely, “Do you not understand what demonic cultivation methods are like, miss?”

After entering the Asura demonic path, everything in the world—righteous and evil, yin and yang, spiritual and impure—had reversed its meaning for her.

Spiritual treasures were now no different from deadly poison.

And true deadly poisons might instead become the very assistance she needed for cultivation.

Silver Dragonfish were spiritual creatures born from heaven and earth.

They brought tremendous benefits to cultivators, but that did not include demonic cultivators.

For those cultivating the Asura demonic path, spiritual treasures could be refined or used externally, but they could not be consumed.

Ming Jing had not yet reached a realm where she could refine everything.

Therefore, she could not touch them.

She had caught Silver Dragonfish for Murong Chi for nine years without ever eating or tasting them because she could not afford the consequences of allowing such a spiritual creature into her body.

But Ming Jing could not afford to endure Murong Chi’s earlier near-mad, violently unstable state either.

She did not know what Murong Chi’s past had been.

She only vaguely sensed that the words Miss Murong had touched something and reminded her of someone or something.

In that moment, Murong Chi had been in danger of suffering cultivation deviation and losing all recognition of friend and foe.

She might have died herself.

Or she might have killed Ming Jing.

Ming Jing could not gamble on the outcome.

When forced to choose between two harms, one should choose the lesser.

Therefore, she had chosen to sacrifice herself.

At worst, her energy flow would be thrown into disorder, costing her several years of cultivation.

However, judging by her current condition, the consequences were clearly more serious than that.

Ming Jing gasped as she supported herself.

That small trace of spiritual energy had stirred the Asura energy within her body, sending it crashing through her meridians and raising a violent storm.

Darkness repeatedly flooded her vision.

The cavern dwelling began spinning on its own.

Amid the dizzying rotation, blood seeped from the corner of Ming Jing’s lips.

She relaxed her body and leaned weakly into Murong Chi’s arms.

Her voice was feeble.

“Miss, may I lean against you for a while?”

“Only for a little while.”

By the end, no sound emerged.

Murong Chi could only determine her words by watching the movement of her lips.

Ming Jing.

The former chief disciple of the Wanxiang Dao Sect.

Murong Chi looked at her.

Her gaze passed over her own palm, where the blood had already dried, and her eyes deepened.

She reached out, wrapped an arm around Ming Jing, and drew her into her embrace.

Then she curled her fingers, circulated the spiritual energy within her body, and pressed one finger against Ming Jing’s heart.

Light flickered.

Pure spiritual energy surrounded them both.

Lying in Murong Chi’s arms, Ming Jing felt dense, pure spiritual energy flow through her meridians.

With an overbearing and arrogant force, it suppressed every chaotic current within her body as effortlessly as a breeze passing through.

She struggled to open her eyes.

Through Murong Chi’s flying white hair, she saw an exquisite face, partly shadowed and partly solemn.

An unusual seriousness flowed between Murong Chi’s brows.

The eyes that usually wore only a superficial smile were now fixed upon her without blinking, dim light moving within them.

Murong Chi was actually expending spiritual energy for her sake!

Feeling the vast current that had appeared within her body, astonishment rose in Ming Jing’s eyes.

She stared blankly at the devastatingly beautiful woman above her, her thoughts coming to a complete halt.

In the next moment, her body shifted.

Murong Chi grabbed her by the collar and lifted her, placing her on the soft, comfortable white-jade couch.

Ming Jing rested upon Murong Chi’s pillow and lay where Murong Chi herself usually slept.

“Now it truly doesn’t matter.”

Murong Chi lifted the hem of her robe and sat at the edge of the couch.

Looking down at the woman whose face was as pale as paper, she spoke in an even tone.

“Consider this a thank-you gift for not finding this sovereign disgusting.”

Toward the end, a trace of amusement crossed her cool, crystalline eyes.

After all, Ming Jing had vomited blood like this because of her.

Had Murong Chi not been determined to win and recover her dignity, there would not have been that rather deep kiss afterward.

Ming Jing would not have ended up in such a condition.

Therefore, Murong Chi had sacrificed a portion of her spiritual energy and removed the hidden danger for her.

Of course, anyone expecting Murong Chi to feel guilty would undoubtedly be naïve.

Ming Jing was not naïve.

Therefore, she had never expected Murong Chi to intervene.

She had assumed that the best outcome would be to lean against Murong Chi until the dizziness passed and then find some way to resolve the problem herself.

After all, their relationship was merely a transaction.

Nine years were enough to change many things.

Yet for Ming Jing, it seemed nothing had changed at all.

Neither the resentment nor hatred within her heart had diminished or increased.

Her relationship with Murong Chi had not changed in the slightest either.

Even though they had dual-cultivated countless times.

Even though Ming Jing knew Murong Chi’s body intimately and knew exactly how many deep, bone-reaching scars lay across her smooth, delicate back.

She still could not claim to see through that body and understand the soul within.

Perhaps the only thing that had changed was Ming Jing herself.

With that thought, Ming Jing glanced at Murong Chi.

She pulled the smooth, satin-like brocade blanket over herself, concealing both her body and its miserable state.

Then she stared blankly at the cavern wall overhead.

Murong Chi watched her.

Lowering her lashes, her gaze became distant.

After a long while, she parted her lips and spoke.

“I personally obtained the Ancient Asura Art, but I have never cultivated it.”

“So I do not know exactly how it works.”

Countless demonic cultivation methods existed in the world.

Only the Ancient Asura Art was entirely different and unique.

Murong Chi truly had not known that once someone entered the Asura demonic path, they could no longer touch spiritual creatures such as Silver Dragonfish.

Of course, she had known that Ming Jing had caught Silver Dragonfish for her for nine years without ever tasting one.

But knowing was merely knowing.

Why should it have mattered?

Silver Dragonfish lived within the cold pool.

Every day, some would swim into the circular pool along with the undercurrent.

Murong Chi had never particularly cared how Ming Jing caught them, how she roasted them, or whether she ate any herself.

When Murong Chi emerged from the stone chamber, it was enough to see that Ming Jing had prepared everything according to her instructions.

Ming Jing closed her eyes.

Three thousand strands of black hair spread around her.

Her deathly pale face, brilliant red clothing, and dark blanket created a striking visual contrast.

She resembled both a sickly beauty and someone recklessly intoxicated by wine.

She murmured softly, “It’s all right,” then adjusted her breathing.

Murong Chi’s expression shifted.

As she walked, her palm brushed through the air.

She stopped and lowered her gaze.

The sight before her was her palm, covered in dried blood.

The image of Ming Jing from that moment instantly appeared within her mind.

Gentle and soft.

A side of Ming Jing rarely seen either in bed or outside it.

So unfamiliar that it felt like their first meeting.

Murong Chi’s emotions became complicated.

She glanced at Ming Jing once more, then suddenly asked softly, “Do you want to go back?”

“Boom!”

Something seemed to explode within Ming Jing’s mind.

She abruptly opened her eyes.

Suppressing the emotions surging within her heart, she asked Murong Chi, her voice uncontrollably hoarse.

“What did you say?”

“This sovereign said—”

Murong Chi blinked.

Looking at Ming Jing, she smiled.

“Regulate your breathing first. I have something to discuss with you afterward.”

Her red robes fluttered as Murong Chi walked lightly into the stone chamber.

Her retreating figure resembled that of an immortal, while her heart was more ruthless than a demon’s.

Ming Jing’s breathing stopped.

An urge to hit someone spread through her heart.

She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath.

When she opened them again, she peered through the distant, heavy stone door at the woman inside.

After remaining silent for a long time, she resigned herself to her fate and closed her eyes.

Then she stirred the Asura energy within her body and began refining the vast spiritual power Murong Chi had given her.