Chapter 12
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Nie Yinzhi still held the deadly hairpin in her hand. Thoughts raced through her mind - the "damage transfer" ability couldn't be hidden; as soon as she used it, Gu Jiang would notice.
If they ever encountered a dangerous situation where damage transfer was needed, it would be better for Gu Jiang to be mentally prepared than caught off guard.
Nie Yinzhi believed he would understand. After all, she only had Golden Core cultivation level now, and her ability to withstand damage was too weak. Any Nascent Soul Stage righteous cultivator out there could easily kill her. Only by staying alive could they both survive.
Telling him in advance would be better for both of them, and it would show her honesty.
Nie Yinzhi stood up calmly and sat on the edge of the bed. "I've learned a new derivative technique that involves you, so I thought it would be better to inform you and get your consent."
Gu Jiang wiped the blood from his little finger, grumpy from being woken up. His eyes were dark, with wisps of demonic energy swirling around him. His aura was extremely gloomy, as if he might snap and kill someone at any moment.
Nie Yinzhi wasn't really afraid of him anymore. Instead, she found him somewhat adorable sitting there with his disheveled hair, looking all puffy with anger.
She stopped the "damage transfer" technique and, frowning in pain, cut a deep wound on her finger and pressed it to his lips. "I'm sorry, don't be angry."
To appease the demon lord and pave the way for what she needed to say, she made the cut deep enough that blood flowed freely without needing to squeeze, staining Gu Jiang's lips and trickling down from the corner of his mouth.
Gu Jiang's reaction was slow, as if he hadn't fully awakened. While Nie Yinzhi whimpered in pain, she pressed harder, actively pushing her finger into his mouth.
"We can't waste food. I still haven't recovered all the blood I lost during the sacrifice ritual." So every drop of her blood was precious.
Gu Jiang finally grabbed her wrist. The blood trail that had reached his jaw trembled and dropped, but before it could fall, a tendril of demonic energy caught it and crept upward, consuming the blood stains on his chin.
His lips moved, and Nie Yinzhi felt her fingertip enveloped in a soft sensation as his tongue gently licked her fingertip.
A peculiar feeling spread from her fingertip. Nie Yinzhi's eyes widened slightly, her wrist trembling suddenly as she instinctively tried to pull back, but Gu Jiang gripped her wrist more firmly, controlling her like an iron vise.
The sound of swallowing seemed particularly clear in the quiet night.
Her heart skipped a beat as her gaze fell on his moving Adam's apple, and she felt an inexplicable urge to pounce forward and bite it.
Gu Jiang kept his eyes lowered, completely focused on licking the wound on her fingertip, his lips and tongue nimble, appearing to have no other thoughts.
Nie Yinzhi only dazed out for a brief moment before quickly suppressing her romantic thoughts and regaining her composure. As the great young lady of the Nie family, she had seen all sorts of situations and wouldn't show weakness so easily.
She leaned forward, supporting herself on the bed, raising her delicate eyebrows with a slight smirk. Her fingertip moved deliberately playfully, pressing against his tongue and brushing past his teeth.
Gu Jiang looked up to meet her gaze, startled for a moment, and released her wrist.
"Done already?" Nie Yinzhi asked in a disappointed tone.
She withdrew her hand and, thanks to the unusually bright moonlight and cultivators' keen vision, clearly saw the suspicious silver thread that stretched and broke between her fingertip and his lips.
What was she doing?
Though her mind was buzzing and her heart was in a daze, Nie Yinzhi maintained a composed expression. She held up her hand before him - her delicate fingers glistening with moisture, fingertip slightly red, the wound already healed by his tongue. Her fair wrist appeared even more translucent like jade in the moonlight.
With her usual commanding arrogance, Nie Yinzhi said, "It's all your saliva, wipe it clean for me."
Gu Jiang wasn't annoyed by her tone at all and obediently grabbed his sleeve to wrap around her hand.
That wouldn't spread it evenly at all.
"Ah, never mind, I'll do it myself," Nie Yinzhi said with slight disgust, hurriedly pulling her hand back and taking out a handkerchief to wipe it herself.
Having tasted her blood, Gu Jiang's gloomy aura had completely dissipated, his grumpiness gone. He narrowed his eyes in satisfaction and asked, "What new technique did you say you learned?"
Right, she came here for business, not to tease the demon lord.
"Damage transfer is one of the derivative techniques under the symbiotic curse. If I activate this technique, during that period, all damage I receive can be transferred to you."
Gu Jiang rubbed the healed wound on his left little finger and said helplessly, "Why am I always the one at a disadvantage?"
Nie Yinzhi secretly thought that there would be many more disadvantages for him in the future. But her expression remained sincere as she said, "This curse itself isn't equal, but don't worry, I'll bear normal injuries myself. Only when it's life-threatening..."
Gu Jiang waved his hand, falling back onto the bed with a strange, dreamy expression. "Whatever you want."
Nie Yinzhi was speechless. All the explanations she had prepared became useless, stuck in her throat, neither able to speak them out nor swallow them back, leaving her feeling somewhat choked.
"If everything is fine, then is it okay if I eat you?" she challenged provocatively.
Gu Jiang snorted, completely unconcerned.
Nie Yinzhi was annoyed by him and poked his arm. "Are you going to sleep again? Cultivators don't need this much sleep. Are you really sleeping every time?"
Gu Jiang ignored her.
Nie Yinzhi didn't want to leave yet. Being alone would be boring, and although being with Gu Jiang was also boring, it was better than being alone.
She poked from his arm up to his shoulder, collarbone, then hesitated before gently touching his Adam's apple.
Gu Jiang's Adam's apple moved under her fingertip. He opened his eyes, glanced at her, then rolled toward the inner side of the bed, making space for her.
Nie Yinzhi sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, brushed aside his long hair, and lay down.
After a while, she covered her face with her hands. What was going on? Dawn was approaching, why sleep now? Why did she lie down?
Laziness was truly contagious.
Nie Yinzhi glanced at the faint light showing through the window lattice, her eyes half-closed, feeling somewhat sleepy.
Suddenly, streams of bullet comments rushed into her peripheral vision. Her thick eyelashes trembled, and her drowsy eyes became clear again.
[The guy peeping from the garden must have his worldview shattered into pieces]
[Holy crap! Finger licking and sleeping together? What are they doing? Isn't this developing too fast!]
[Sister above is a prophet, the days of dual cultivation day and night are probably not far off]
[I'm shocked, isn't the demon lord too submissive? He doesn't resist anything Nie Yinzhi does to him, he's so zen he's almost ascending to heaven. Is this really the person who almost destroyed the cultivation world?]
[This must be some programmer's fetish, after all, Gu Jiang was just a background character mentioned in one line in the original work, so it's hard to set AI personality traits.]
[Even with just one line, this is too different from the feeling in the original work]
[Yes! Hit my weak spot, I want to see Nie Yinzhi take him now! Come on, eat him! Nie Yinzhi, are you up for it or not?]
Nie Yinzhi quickly scanned the bullet comments, her mind completely occupied by "someone peeping from the garden."
She hadn't noticed the person's presence at all, which meant their cultivation level was higher than hers, but it didn't make sense that Gu Jiang couldn't detect them either.
Gu Jiang had just drunk her blood, more than the previous one or two drops - was that why he was careless?
For the moment, Nie Yinzhi didn't dare to act rashly. She turned over, dug out the demon lord who was pressed against the inner side of the bed, and pulled his head close to herself - a very intimate position from an outsider's perspective, as if she was deliberately acting coquettish.
Because the bullet comments had already started screaming.
[Ahhhhh is it starting? Is this content we're allowed to watch? Don't we need to fade to black?]
[Shut up, what fade to black? We're all paying customers here, speak with more authority!]
[These two must have done it before, they're too practiced]
[Why, why can the female supporting character's storyline be so sweet and progress so fast?? I'm crying]
Then they started discussing whether Gu Jiang could perform, and if she should get on top and move herself.
It was absolutely ridiculous.
Gu Jiang kept his eyes closed, letting her move him around - it seemed the blood she had just fed him was indeed effective.
Nie Yinzhi remained indifferent to the filthy remarks floating through the air. With her spiritual consciousness still wounded from the sword injury, she couldn't communicate telepathically, making private conversations rather inconvenient.
However, she guessed that the people outside must be wary of Gu Jiang and wouldn't dare to extend their spiritual sense here. So she leaned close to Gu Jiang's ear and whispered very softly, "Gu Jiang, I think there's someone outside."
"Mm." Gu Jiang responded vaguely, clearly already aware.
Nie Yinzhi's lips brushed against his ear as she spoke, making her so frustrated she wanted to bite him, "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"
Gu Jiang felt ticklish from her breath on his ear and raised his hand to push her face away, "You're the host here. If you want to entertain guests, feel free to do so yourself."
Nie Yinzhi: "???" Did she look like someone who enjoyed having guests?
Nie Yinzhi wanted to strangle him, and persisted in muttering, "Your Excellency, entering Pill-Forming Peak at this crucial moment means they definitely have ill intentions. They must be here to gather intelligence. Are we just going to let them spy on us? What if they refuse to leave? That person's cultivation level is higher than mine, I can't detect them. What if they kill me when you're not around? It's better to kill them first."
"They wouldn't dare to make a move. If they did, I would know." Gu Jiang sighed, regretting letting her share his bed, "You're supposed to be a righteous disciple, why are you always so quick to talk about killing?"
Nie Yinzhi was speechless and wanted to ask: you're supposed to be a great demon lord, yet someone's brazenly sneaking up to your doorstep to watch you sleep, why are you so unbothered?
"Even if they don't attack, what if they lurk in the shadows? What if they peek at me while I'm bathing?"
Gu Jiang let out an ambiguous snort through his nose, clearly finding the question unworthy of a verbal response.
Nie Yinzhi sat up abruptly, too angry to sleep anymore.
Aliali: 67489351c4f3f33ac47ae5ed[Damn, I was careless, they must still be innocent.]
[Gu Jiang is so infuriating, I suspect he drove both the righteous and demonic sects to death with anger a thousand years ago]
[How did Nie Yinzhi notice someone outside? With her Golden Core cultivation level, she shouldn't be able to detect a Divine Soul master's presence]
[I'm curious, with the demon lord being so zen, what would it take to force him to take action?]
[He did act when killing Sang Wumian before, maybe only in life-or-death situations? Back then, if Nie Yinzhi had died, he would have died too.]
[This kind of person who seems indifferent to everything is hard to deal with. They appear to go along with whatever you want and never get angry, but it's just because they don't really care. They can accommodate you just as easily as they can accommodate others. My ex-boyfriend was exactly like this, impossible to hold onto]
Nie Yinzhi turned her head to look at the person lying quietly beside her. She tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing a mischievous smile.
She straddled Gu Jiang, gripped his chin, and leaned down to kiss him.
Now let's see if he still says everything is fine, whatever you want.
Let's see if he can still sleep.