TBWE Chapter 34

Initiative

Chu Li desperately tried to shake off that hand.

It was like an iron hoop, gripping her reddened palm. Xi Chu’s eyes were like an unfathomably deep, cold pond.

He repeated. “Isn’t it good to stay here?”

This calm rhetorical question chilled Chu Li’s heart more than rage would have.

Xi Chu didn’t take her resistance seriously. He was certain she couldn’t escape, and certain she wasn’t sincere.

When she had entered the shrine, there was still one day until the sacrificial ceremony.

She didn’t know how much time had passed outside—perhaps the ceremony was about to begin, or perhaps it had already started.

What would happen to Chu Ruoying if she was caught after betraying the main family? And those dozens of branch family members, including Chu Queling—they were to be sacrificed.

Chu Li’s heart tightened, suppressing the choking sensation in her throat. She couldn’t be trapped here for a hundred years, helplessly watching her last remaining relatives die and her enemies go unpunished.

She needed power, needed to leave this place—she needed it now!

“No!” Chu Li stared directly into those deep, pond-like eyes. “Not good at all! My little aunt is still in their hands. She’ll die when the ceremony ends! And the Grand Nuo—she killed my parents. How can she not pay the price? I can’t wait even one day, let alone a hundred years!”

She trembled with agitation, but her eyes were unusually stubborn, like two flames that refused to be extinguished.

The life and death of the Chu family was not within Xi Chu’s consideration, nor could He understand humans’ attachment to their relatives.

His face showed no expression. “You go out, and then what? Bring another group of people to kill me, like during the engagement ceremony last time?”

These words made Chu Li’s body stiffen.

“I won’t!” she immediately retorted, her nails digging into her palms. “This time is different! I swear, as long as I get my revenge and save my little aunt and those people, I’ll definitely come back. I’ll find a way to break the seal and return forever…”

Xi Chu chuckled softly, interrupting her words. His palm pressed against her heart, the rapid beating transmitted through the rising curve to his palm.

“Li Li, even you can’t fool yourself with your own words.”

“The first time, you promised to come and give thanks with a gift—you didn’t come. The second time, you said you wanted to give me a gift, but instead joined forces with the Chu family. The third time, you agreed to the engagement but deliberately set a trap. This time, you actively entered the shrine, saying you want to borrow power for revenge, and after success, you’ll break the shrine’s seal and stay with me forever.” His hand moved from her heart to her slender white neck, lightly caressing the ambiguous crimson marks. “Tell me, should I trust you?”

Each of his words struck Chu Li’s heart like a heavy hammer. She couldn’t refute it—she had indeed been deceiving and using Him all along.

Chu Li’s body tensed slightly, enduring the touch of cold fingers. She gripped the corner of His robe, looking up at Him with misty eyes. “This time is real… the Grand Nuo has done so much evil, she must die, but those innocent people shouldn’t die.”

“Xi Chu…” Her voice lowered and softened, carrying a barely perceptible tremor. “Help me, let me go out to avenge my parents. After I finish these things… I…”

The rest of the words stuck in her throat. Meeting His gaze, she found them somehow difficult to voice.

The accumulated mist in her eyes formed a tear at the corner.

“And then?” Xi Chu wiped away that tear, his eyes seeming to deepen as he raised an eyebrow, waiting for more.

Chu Li bit her lower lip tightly, tasting a hint of blood. Meeting His gaze, her voice was weak but clear as she spoke. “I’ll come back. Stay by your side forever, whatever you want to do… you can.”

The last two words were spoken with exceptional difficulty.

The bedroom fell into deathly silence.

The sound of rain outside seemed isolated, leaving only Chu Li’s breathing. Her heart pounded like drums; she could even hear the blood rushing through her vessels.

Xi Chu didn’t answer immediately. His gaze moved from Chu Li’s face, slowly sweeping over her sweat-dampened hair, trembling eyelashes, finally settling on her tightly pressed lips that still bore redness, swelling, and teeth marks.

His eyes were like those examining a treasure about to be obtained, but still requiring final confirmation.

“Forever?” He finally spoke, his voice low and slow. “Li Li, is your ‘forever’ worthy of trust?”

His fingers slid up along Chu Li’s neck, brushing past her sensitive ear, raising goosebumps, finally stopping at her lips.

“You just hit me.” His fingertip gently brushed the corner of Chu Li’s lips, where a bit of dried blood still remained. “Toward me, you’re always disgusted, fearful, wanting to stay away.”

“Your promises are like the ring on your hand,” Xi Chu’s gaze swept over the couple’s ring on her middle finger, “they look beautiful, but can be removed at any time, can be discarded at will.”

His tone was very calm, like an ice pick piercing Chu Li’s heart.

Xi Chu simply didn’t believe her. He was observing her struggle and temporary submission, seeing through all pretense and insincerity at a glance.

Humiliation and despair instantly overwhelmed Chu Li.

“Then what do you want me to do?” She was nearly broken, her voice trailing with a sob. “What must I do for you to believe, to help me?”

Tears surged up uncontrollably, blurring her vision. She bit down hard on her teeth, not letting them fall. She couldn’t show complete weakness—prey that was too soft would make the hunter lose interest.

Struggle and resistance were indispensable elements.

Chu Li gripped her palms tightly, lifted her face, and looked at Him with eyes full of tears.

Tears were effective—this was the conclusion she had reached after multiple observations. But she wasn’t sure exactly how effective they were.

Xi Chu stroked her lips, suddenly leaning down, his cold breath close at hand.

Just a little closer, and their lips would be entangled.

“Prove it to me.” He said unhurriedly. “Prove that your ‘sincerity,’ your ‘forever’… is worth my trusting and waiting here again.”

Dark pupils churned with viscous, shadowy greed, completely unmasked.

This distance was too close—so close that Chu Li instinctively wanted to retreat. She forcibly restrained the impulse to avoid him.

Chu Li understood this gaze. Promises alone were not enough.

The air became thick and heavy.

The sound of rain outside became clear again, pattering against the glass.

The face so close to hers possessed inhuman beauty, the red mole on his left eyelid like a drop of congealed blood. Xi Chu was extremely patient, silently and calmly watching her without urging.

After a quiet moment, Chu Li slowly raised her hand.

The face beneath her fingers had no warmth, inevitably reminding her of reptiles.

Her fingertips trembled slightly, moving slowly upward along the defined jawline, finally stopping at that crimson mole.

Xi Chu’s pupils contracted almost imperceptibly the instant Chu Li touched the red mole.

Like the surface of a calm abyss being struck by a stone, ripples spread. The viscous possessiveness churning within became even more intense, even more unfathomably deep.

Chu Li grasped the hand that lingered on her lips, her fingers pressing tightly against the broad, slender palm, sliding between his fingers to interlock their hands.

The two rings nestled closely together.

Long eyelashes fluttered like butterflies’ wings as she tilted her head up, leaning slightly forward.

The last bit of distance disappeared.

Warm sensation landed on Xi Chu’s lips. His Adam’s apple rolled several times, unable to resist gripping their interlocked hands tighter.

The person before him had her eyes tightly closed, head tilted up, softly and clumsily kissing Him.

She wore a pure white nightgown, her black hair scattered over her neck and chest, contrasting starkly with those unfaded crimson marks.

A soft, moist tongue swept across thin lips.

Chu Li kept her eyes closed, unable to see His expression, but clearly felt his momentary stiffness.

Just as she was about to go further, a hand forcefully gripped the back of her neck. Chu Li felt pain on her lips and instinctively opened her eyes.

Beneath the handsome face, something alien writhed, as if ready to tear through the disguising skin at any moment and spill out to completely devour her.

Chu Li met His eyes.

These were absolutely not eyes that humans would possess—beneath the coldness hid near-mad hunger.

His tongue roughly invaded, plundering her saliva in an out-of-control manner, sucking until her tongue root went numb.

Chu Li’s instincts screamed wildly, reminding her to flee. Fear coiled around her heart like a noose. Meeting those terrifying eyes, she went against her physiological resistance, gently wrapping her arms around His neck, closing her eyes and beginning to respond.

Xi Chu’s movements paused briefly, then became even more turbulent as he sucked, licked, and bit.

The bedroom suddenly darkened.

Slippery tentacles emerged from the shadows, coiling around Chu Li’s ankles. Gradually, more tentacles crawled over, as if competing for territory, occupying exposed skin.

The air in her lungs rapidly decreased; she couldn’t breathe, and physiological tears overflowed. Cold sensations piled and coiled; she couldn’t control her trembling and instinctively tightened her arms around his neck.

Even so, Chu Li still didn’t avoid him.

Feeling the tentacles sliding up along her thighs, she had prepared for the worst.

This kiss ended without warning.

The shadows receded like a tide. Xi Chu pressed Chu Li into his embrace with such force that her waist ached.

His voice was tense and suppressed. “The last time. Li Li, don’t break your promise again.”

Her suspended heart fell back into place with a “thump.” Chu Li felt almost dizzy, unable to believe that this monster had so easily agreed, when she had clearly sensed his intense greed.

It was just a kiss.

Chu Li was momentarily dazed, her heart tightening as strange emotions arose.

The mark half an inch below her heart suddenly burned.

An indescribable feeling swept through her entire body, like being reborn, like a leaf instantly growing into a towering tree.

Every minute movement could not escape her observation.

Xi Chu slowly withdrew his hand, wiping away the remaining moisture at the corner of her eyes, his tone heavy. “If you don’t fulfill the agreement within three days, they will backfire.”

The scene before her eyes quickly dissolved and scattered.

Chu Li was once again standing on the shrine’s floor, wearing the same buttoned long dress she had entered in.

“Creak—“

The shrine’s great door was forcibly torn open by some power. Dim daylight flooded in along with the faint sound of solemn music.

The sacrificial ceremony was about to begin.

Chu Li walked step by step toward the great door. Just as she was about to cross the high threshold, she turned back for a glance. Xi Chu stood in the thick darkness, his face and expression unclear.

“I’m leaving.”

Her voice was as light as morning mist in the mountains, scattered by the wind.

The slender figure squeezed through the door gap and completely disappeared from Xi Chu’s sight.

The shrine’s great door slammed shut with a thunderous sound.

Chu Li looked up at the sky tinged with duck-shell green. Behind her, the shrine resumed its common daytime appearance, standing solemnly.

She had stayed inside for a full day and night.

After taking a deep breath of the cold, moist air, Chu Li’s gaze fell on the mountain below. Beyond the fir forest, she “saw”—clan members dressed in mysterious, ancient clothing, her little aunt bound on the sacrificial altar, branch family members gathered like lambs in the sacrificial square, including the anxious Chu Queling…

It was time for revenge.

The long stone steps passed by in an instant. Chu Li channeled the strange, powerful force flowing through her body, moving as if through an empty land, passing through the continuous buildings, through the sacrificial square crowded with Chu clan members, directly reaching the sacrificial hall where the Grand Nuo was located.

Inside the sacrificial hall was not only the Grand Nuo but also a main family member—a middle-aged man.

The Grand Nuo, who should have been kneeling in worship, sat to one side wearing a black-gold ritual mask, the complex, heavy sacrificial robes draped over her withered frame. Her voice was aged. “No movement from the shrine?”

The man was somewhat restless and anxious. “Grand Nuo, still no movement. Without Chu Li, there’s no vessel. The plan probably won’t succeed. Should the ceremony continue?”

The walking stick tapped on the ground several times. The Grand Nuo slowly spoke, “She’s probably already dead. The ceremony proceeds as normal. Go arrange it.”

The man didn’t dare object, bowing his head as he retreated from the sacrificial hall.

The great door closed, leaving only the Grand Nuo in the sacrificial hall. She seemed to be pondering, remaining motionless for a long while.

Suddenly, the Grand Nuo looked directly toward the entrance, placing her walking stick horizontally in front of her, sharp light shooting from behind the ritual mask.

The air rippled invisibly, and a figure seemed to emerge from nothingness.

Seeing that familiar face that overlapped with her memories, the Grand Nuo nearly thought she was seeing Chu Ruoxian, whom she had personally raised years ago. But quickly, she realized that the person who had suddenly appeared before her was Chu Li.

“You…” She stood up in alarm, her aged voice distorting, “You’ve inherited the divine power!”

Chu Li smiled slightly. “Yes, I’ve come to kill you.”