Chapter 22

◎Hastily Hiding Personal Feelings◎

The two people in the room were in a strange position, one on top of the other.

The man on top closed his eyes and pursed his lips, his face flushed like a blooming flower, and he clenched his teeth to pull his hand back.

The girl who seemed to be pressed under him, however, was excited, pulling his hand straight to her face.

She was still chattering incessantly, “Touching it won’t make you lose a piece of meat, I’m not ugly, you definitely won’t have nightmares at night.”

Chi Lu spoke in a soft and sweet tone, tempting Jing Shuxing, which made him unconsciously led by her, and his fingers lightly falling like feathers.

Jing Shuxing’s fingers were tense, and his knuckles faintly showed a pale color. His eyes were pitch black, and he was completely led by her, touching a bit of her delicate and smooth skin.

Like a peeled egg.

A small face as big as a palm, below the forehead were the eyebrows, in the middle was the tall nose bridge, and then a shallow philtrum.

Further down…

“No, no, I can’t touch there.” 

Jing Shuxing felt as if he was holding a hot potato, he didn’t care whether Chi Lu minded or not, he used all his strength to pull his hand back.

Chi Lu: “Ah?”

“What?”

Chi Lu didn’t understand Jing Shuxing’s meaning. Wasn’t it just touching faces and holding hands? This kind of thing happens every day in Linghua Sect, why isn’t he used to it?

But on second thought, most of the people in Linghua Sect who were close to her were female cultivators, and the male cultivators in the sect were much older than her.

Like Jing Shuxing, there was not a single man of similar age to her. Could it be that there was some unspeakable secret?

Never mind, since he said so, she would follow his idea.

“If it’s not okay, then it’s not okay. I won’t do it.” She let go of Jing Shuxing’s wrist, circled his waist with her other hand, and prepared to use her strength to get up from the ground.

Jing Shuxing suddenly groaned, the corner of his mouth twitched violently, he tried hard to control his stiff body, and grabbed Chi Lu’s wrist with his other hand: “This too!”

“Is this also not okay?” Chi Lu’s tone was filled with clear disappointment.

“…I was wrong.” She said softly, preparing to crawl out from under Jing Shuxing, she crawled carefully, trying not to touch him. 

The tone was full of grievance and loss, which made Jing Shuxing at a loss.

The girl in front of him was simple-minded and didn’t know about love. It seemed that she was well protected by the powerful force behind her, hoping that she could do whatever she wanted, not bound by the worldly rules.

His criticism only caused more problems. Moreover… he suddenly became a little infatuated with Chi Lu’s voice and didn’t want her to leave.

Jing Shuxing was startled and quickly hid his personal feelings.

“That’s not the case.” He lowered his tone and said softly.

The person struggling beneath him stopped moving.

Chi Lu lay on the ground, looking up, and listened to Jing Shuxing’s words in a daze.

Jing Shuxing coughed a few times, adjusted his facial expression, trying to make his speaking appearance less guilty, “It’s my fault. I’m naturally more sensitive than ordinary people, so I have some resistance. Please don’t mind.”

The blush on his face gradually faded, and he looked completely unashamed. As he spoke, he also straightened his body to make it easier for Chi Lu to move.

Chi Lu looked up at Jing Shuxing’s face in a daze, blinked, and blinked again, “So, this is your problem, it has nothing to do with me?”

Jing Shuxing had a struggle in his heart, “Hmm!” 

Chi Lu: “So you said you can’t touch my face…”

Jing Shuxing: “I lied to you.”

Chi Lu let out an “Oh”, realizing that she had been worrying for nothing, and it was all Jing Shuxing deceiving her.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She couldn’t help but raise her hand and fiercely poke Jing Shuxing’s forehead, and said angrily, “I knew it, how come there are so many restrictions every time I go out?”

She stood up from the ground in a huff, her gaze sweeping over the bloodstains on the ground that had long since disappeared. Chi Lu patted the dust off her body, “Why don’t you just go back to Linghua Sect with me?”

Thinking of her current identity as a “mysterious expert”, she added, “Whether you believe it or not, I still have some say in Linghua Sect, even the Young sect leader has to give me some face.”

She turned her back to him, pretending to be profound, gently turning the jade bracelet on her wrist, waiting patiently for Jing Shuxing’s reply. But she waited and waited, and didn’t hear him speak. Just as she was feeling curious, a “thud” sound came from behind her.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Chi Lu suddenly turned around, just in time to see Jing Shuxing kneeling on one knee, one hand clutching his left chest, his face pale and panting heavily.

He looked like a verdant bamboo that had been subjected to wind, frost, and snow, withering under continuous blows, breaking and decaying, as if he had entered a state of near death in an instant. 

“Jing Shuxing?” Chi Lu took a step forward, and supported him by his shoulders, “What exactly happened?”

Seeing that Jing Shuxing didn’t answer, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed tightly, “Speak, you just said you would trust me.”

Jing Shuxing wanted to lift his head to reply, to say he was fine, but his lips were trembling uncontrollably. And every movement caused a tearing pain throughout his body.

He was in so much pain that his face was as white as paper, and his forehead was covered in fine sweat. Even with all his strength, all he could convey was a very light groan of pain.

Chi Lu knelt in front of him, spinning in vain anxiously.

From the outside, she couldn’t tell at all what had happened to Jing Shuxing, but the expression on his handsome face was cracking inch by inch, clearly suffering from extreme torment.

What he had experienced, perhaps it’s not that Jing Shuxing didn’t want to tell her, but he was in too much pain to speak.

“Even if you don’t speak, I have a way to know.” Chi Lu lowered her gaze, murmuring softly.

She knelt in front of Jing Shuxing, took a deep breath, as if she had made a great determination. She pulled Jing Shuxing’s left hand, freed the system-possessed bracelet, and leaned her body against it.

Pain!

Pain pain!!

Pain pain pain!!!

Chi Lu’s brain went blank in an instant, from the physical body to the spiritual platform in the void of consciousness, all were screaming the word “pain” crazily. 

It felt as if her entire body was being pierced by thousands of needles, and the spiritual power at the end of the needles hooked onto her flesh, not letting her life force slip away. It was a repetitive process, in and out, clearly painful to the bone marrow, yet it never touched the root of her spiritual platform.

Time was like a thread of silk, being stretched long in the tearing of every inch of her skin. In an instant, Chi Lu’s thoughts seemed to leap across the expansive starry sea, circulating between the stars and the vast galaxy again and again.

She thought of the punishment of the mortal emperor, which should be called the Lingchi punishment. But Lingchi was no more than three thousand cuts, this pain seemed to have tens of millions of cuts, wanting to cut her alive, and then chop her into meat paste.

When her consciousness returned, she had unconsciously let go of Jing Shuxing, shrunk her left hand, covered the bracelet, and a thunderous drum sound came from her eardrum.

Chi Lu didn’t even have time to open her mouth, she just slightly lifted her eyes, and tears rolled out from her eyes and fell to the ground.

She was in extreme pain. In a short moment, Chi Lu even gave birth to the idea of ending herself to avoid continuing to suffer the torment.

Chi Lu forcefully wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. When she finally calmed down, she suddenly felt a slight weight on her shoulder.

Even Jing Shuxing seemed unable to bear this kind of pain of thousands of cuts. He was in so much pain that he leaned his body to one side and leaned on Chi Lu.

Chi Lu reached out to stop him by his shoulder, and comforted softly, “It’s okay, you don’t have to do anything, I’ll take you back to the palace.”

As her words fell, she hit Jing Shuxing’s back of the head with a heavy karate chop, knocking out the slender and handsome young man on the spot. His body, like a kite with a broken string, sank deeply into her arms.