The moon was bright and the stars were sparse.
“Alright, alright, stop crying.”
After finally calming her down, Ye Shu held Xia Hanmo in his arms, sitting in a grove of withered leaves, comforting her as if coaxing a child: “If you keep crying, dawn will break.”
“Mmm...”
Xia Hanmo finally let go, but she still looked a little wronged, pouting with tearful eyes, the kind of sight that could melt anyone’s heart.
“So, why did you run away?”
Ye Shu gently tapped her nose, asking with some confusion: “Shouldn’t a reunion be a happy thing?”
Upon hearing this, Xia Hanmo lowered her head and murmured softly.
“I... I was afraid you would despise me...”
“Why would I despise you?”
“Because... because...”
When it came to this, Xia Hanmo couldn’t help but lower her head, not daring to look at him, as if she had done something shameful, her voice growing softer: “I’ve killed a lot of people... my hands are now stained with blood.”
“I’m... no longer a good person anymore.”
As she spoke, her voice turned tearful again, as if she feared he would despise her and push her away.
Ye Shu was taken aback.
He couldn’t help but smile wryly.
He thought it was something major, but that was the reason?
With his wisdom, he could naturally see that the reason the Little Fairy Doctor left him wasn’t that she feared his disgust—it was that she loathed herself.
She felt she was no longer the same person.
No longer that pure, untainted little white flower, afraid of soiling the image she held in his memory, giving rise to a sense of unworthiness.
At its core, it was still that feeling of unworthiness.
People always feel self-conscious when facing something they truly cherish, producing a sense of unworthiness.
This wasn’t her fault.
Looking at Xia Hanmo, who acted like a guilty child awaiting judgment with trepidation, Ye Shu felt pity rise in his heart.
“Silly girl, it’s just a few people you killed.”
He cupped her tear-streaked face, gently wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said softly: “What’s there to blame yourself for? I’m the Holy Son of the Demon Path now—I kill all the time too. It’s an unavoidable part of cultivation.”
“But... but I’ve killed a lot, a lot of people...”
The Little Fairy Doctor shook her head, her eyes blurred with tears.
“A lot, like how many?” Ye Shu held her hand and asked tenderly.
“Just a lot, a whole lot.”
Xia Hanmo lowered her head, her voice choked with sobs. She was a little afraid, but still reached out and began counting carefully on her fingers.
After a long moment, she finally figured it out.
She hung her head, not daring to look at him.
“How many?”
“O... one hundred...” The Little Fairy Doctor lifted her head with difficulty, holding up one finger.
“One million?”
Ye Shu frowned.
One million lives—that was indeed ruthless. No wonder this silly girl was so scared.
But it made sense. She dealt with poisons.
With such a devastating weapon, slaughtering an entire city would be a small task.
“But it doesn’t matter.”
Ye Shu took her soft hand, his expression suddenly turning serious, and said in a deep voice: “From today onward, all the karma from everyone Xia Hanmo has ever killed shall be placed upon me. Let every sin and guilt belong to me, Ye Shu.”
His voice was low but carried a strange resonance.
Xia Hanmo suddenly felt a lightness all over her body, as if some heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
She stared blankly at Ye Shu, her eyes full of disbelief.
“You! What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Ye Shu gently stroked her head, offering a warm, gentle smile: “Now you’re that pure and spotless Little Fairy Doctor again.”
With that, he looked expectantly at the little figures on his shoulders.
A million lives’ worth of slaughter!
Even if the karmic weight was heavy and would have to be repaid in the future, the karma and merit it provided would still be terrifying!
Maybe it would even be enough to reach six leaves!
But reality was...
The left little figure showed no reaction at all, while the right merit figure simply opened its eyes, scratched its butt, closed them again, and rolled over to continue sleeping.
As for the one on top of his head, it just rolled its eyes.
A tiny matter like this wasn’t worth its effort. It had thought it was a big order.
What a fuss over nothing.
“Seriously, guys?” Ye Shu chuckled in exasperation. Every one of them was rebelling.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Seeing his expression sour, the Little Fairy Doctor asked cautiously.
“Nothing. Did you really kill a million people?”
Ye Shu shook his head and asked casually.
“No,” Xia Hanmo said, looking bewildered at him, holding up one finger. “It was a hundred—I meant a hundred!”
“A hundred??”
“Wait a minute!”
This time, Ye Shu was the dumbfounded one: “Didn’t you say it was a lot, a whole lot? And it’s only a hundred??”
“A hundred... isn’t that a lot?”
Seeing his reaction, Xia Hanmo shrank her neck in fear, trying to make excuses: “I also killed lots and lots of magical beasts to make paper puppets.”
Ye Shu looked at her, both amused and exasperated.
All that fuss over nothing.
He thought it was something major, but it turned out she hadn’t even killed many people from the Mo family.
“Alright,” he sighed helplessly, hugging the bewildered girl. “A hundred it is. It’s still fine.”
“Hehe...”
Seeing that he didn’t mind, the Little Fairy Doctor finally relaxed.
She happily wrapped her arms around his neck, narrowed her eyes like a kitten that had found its owner, and softly poured out her longing.
“You know, I missed you so, so much.”
“From the day we parted, I’ve been thinking about you. I was waiting for you to come back, but all I got was a cold brocade box and a poison pill.”
“My whole world nearly collapsed!”
When she said this, the girl trembled, as if reliving the day she learned of his death.
Ye Shu rested his chin on the top of her head, listening quietly.
“Sorry... I got carried away.”
“Not at all.”
The Little Fairy Doctor turned around, embraced him, closed her eyes, and whispered: “As long as you’re alive, that’s enough.”
The two held each other in silence for a very, very long time.
Until the moon reached its zenith.
The girl in his arms suddenly looked up, her eyes sparkling like brilliant stars, carrying both hesitation and courage.
“Ye Shu, I like you.”
“I know.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t know.”
Whish—
Before the words faded, Xia Hanmo flipped over sharply, her robe tracing a graceful arc through the air. In an instant, she had pinned Ye Shu beneath her.
She stared firmly into his eyes, speaking each word deliberately:
“You know, after you died, I kept regretting.”
“Regretting what?”
“Regretting that back in Yuanyang Town, I didn’t give you everything I had.” With that, the girl leaned down, mustering her courage to kiss his lips, while her hands roughly tore open his clothes.
The moonlight was silent.
Meanwhile, far away at the Mo family’s branch compound.
In Mo Shisan’s courtyard, Jiang Xin plucked a green leaf from her hair and frowned slightly.
“There’s no tree around here. Where did this leaf come from?”
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
