Chapter 250

Chapter 250

The sun dipped low on the horizon, its afterglow spreading across the sky, blending seamlessly with the yellow earth and ravines below. The lush green oasis nestled within seemed like a painting mistakenly dropped there by the heavens.

Gu Jiang rose from beneath the tree and stretched out his hand. "Pickled cabbage."

The Red Leaf Blade let out a mournful hum, rising from the ground and landing in his palm. The barrier of blade light shattered, mingling with the twilight. The dark figure beneath the tree vanished like a wisp of smoke scattered by the wind.

His figure tore through the void, reappearing on a small rocky hill dozens of miles away from the oasis, where he encountered a cultivator who had just arrived.

The cultivator, sensing the spatial disturbance, immediately summoned his artifact, balancing offense and defense. The spiritual energy of a Nascent Soul cultivator stirred the surrounding yellow sand into a frenzy, and countless talisman lights shot out from within. Without hesitation, Gu Jiang slashed through the incoming talismans with brutal efficiency.

The shattered talismans ignited spontaneously, their smoke forming a massive array in midair, instantly drawing Gu Jiang into it.

Gu Jiang found himself in a confined space filled with the glowing inscriptions of the Demon Sealing Mark. As someone intimately familiar with this array, he noticed subtle changes in its details at a glance.

From the moment he entered, spiritual mist began to dissipate from his body.

"Heh." He tilted his head and chuckled softly.

The yellow sand on the rocky hill settled as dozens of high-level cultivators closed in. The cultivator who had trapped Gu Jiang showed no signs of relief, for the array had only held him for a brief moment before it was shattered from within.

A black-red shadow of a blood moon and dense, milky-white spiritual mist exploded outward, repelling each other and scattering in opposite directions. The blood moon's shadow sliced through the air like a blade, clashing with various artifacts in the thick mist, producing sharp metallic sounds. Blood rained down from the sky.

Gu Jiang's long blade rested on a cultivator's shoulder, halting the half-formed hand seal in its tracks. The cultivator dared not move. Gu Jiang wiped the blood off the Red Leaf Blade on the cultivator's robe but didn’t look at him. Instead, his gaze fixed on a point in the void. "Could you all stop bothering me? Killing a few Nascent Soul cultivators is as easy as snapping my fingers for me."

The members of the Hidden Wings Butterfly Sect felt a chill run down their spines under his gaze, a long-forgotten fear rising in their hearts. They involuntarily severed their connection with the Hidden Wings Butterfly and averted their eyes.

Gu Jiang turned back, glancing at the fallen cultivators, some of whom were gravely injured or on the brink of death. "I accidentally went a bit too hard. My apologies." He rubbed his temples uncomfortably, sheathed his blade, and the crescent-shaped dark-red blade light around him retracted into the weapon.

A few wisps of demonic energy drifted away, escaping his control.

Gu Jiang paid it no mind. Sensing Nie Yinzhi touching the leaves, he paused for a moment before his figure dispersed like smoke in the wind.

It took a while for the cultivators on the rocky hill to recover from the bone-chilling pressure. They hurried to aid their severely injured comrades.

Gu Jiang returned to the oasis, sending a strand of his consciousness into the secret realm. "Stop touching them."

Nie Yinzhi immediately brightened, her usual vitality returning as she addressed the source of the voice. "Gu Jiang, come in."

"I can't. The secret realm can't handle the spiritual energy leaking from me right now."

Nie Yinzhi quickly said, "Then let me out."

As soon as she spoke, the space around her rippled, and she was pulled out of the secret realm by a hand around her waist. Nie Yinzhi found herself surrounded by greenery and asked in surprise, "I thought it was a barren forest before?"

Gu Jiang didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked, "Are you done with your work?"

"Yes." Nie Yinzhi smiled with relief. She looked around, plucking a small flower from a shrub, already guessing that this oasis was nourished by the spiritual energy evaporating from Gu Jiang.

She took out a small table and two cushions from her storage pouch, placing them on the grass and gesturing for him to sit. She adopted the demeanor of a diplomat negotiating between two nations, speaking seriously, "Brother, you said you’d agree to whatever I wanted, that I should make more demands of you, that whatever I say is right, and that—"

Gu Jiang interrupted her, exasperated. "Just get to the point. What do you want now?"

"One of the derivative spells of the Symbiosis Curse, the Lock on Seven Emotions. I want to temporarily seal one of your emotions—love." Nie Yinzhi stared at him unblinkingly. "You must know why, right? It’s the same amount of blood, but before, my blood had little effect on you. Now, it’s constantly consuming you."

"So, you’ve been researching this during your seclusion." Gu Jiang frowned, visibly irritated. "What happens after it’s sealed?"

Nie Yinzhi replied calmly, "You won’t be able to feel love from others or love anyone. It’s just the emotion of love. All other emotions and desires will remain normal."

"So, I just won’t like you anymore?" Gu Jiang asked.

Nie Yinzhi pursed her lips. "You’ve never said you liked me anyway."

"Have you considered that the Goddess descending to the mortal world to nurture a demon is a destiny decreed by heaven? Your blood will always affect me. So, are you going to lock away my ability to love forever, so I can never love you?"

It wouldn’t need to be forever.

The fire in the ice wouldn’t burn for long. Gu Jiang’s budding love was like a small candle flame. Once sealed, without nourishment, it would quickly extinguish.

Perhaps it wouldn’t even take a century.

But she didn’t care about that. If there was no solution to this problem between them, she would keep him by her side like this until her death. Then, she would release the Symbiosis Curse, and the spell locking his love would also dissolve, restoring his ability to love.

Nie Yinzhi’s fingers tightened around the hem of her skirt hidden beneath the table, but her expression remained calm. She had already made up her mind before speaking. "Don’t be so absolute. We’ll find another solution. But first, you need to stay alive."

Gu Jiang laughed in frustration, pinching her chin. "Do you really think your blood can burn me to death?"

Nie Yinzhi’s eyes reddened. She held his hand, leaning her cheek into his palm and gently nuzzling it. "I want you to feel joy when you kiss me, not the pain of burning."

The veins on Gu Jiang’s hand bulged, his entire arm tensing. He sighed helplessly, "You still want me to kiss you after this?"

Nie Yinzhi released his hand, pulling out a piece of silk from her sleeve and unfolding it. "Regarding this, I’ve drafted a contract. I hope you’ll sign it with me."

Gu Jiang lowered his gaze, quickly scanning the delicate handwriting.

**Gu Jiang’s Obligations:**

- Every morning, he must assist Nie Yinzhi in choosing her attire and makeup, including both ordinary and demonic patterns.

- He must initiate at least one kiss with Nie Yinzhi daily.

- He must compliment Nie Yinzhi at least once a day.

- Every morning after waking and every night before sleeping, he must think of Nie Yinzhi for half an hour.

...

He must cherish, protect, and never frighten, scold, deceive, reject, or allow others to mistreat Nie Yinzhi...

"A contract without a trace of spiritual energy, something even mortals wouldn’t be bound by. You want to bind me with this?" Gu Jiang shook out his sleeve, revealing the curse mark on his wrist. "Why not just write these rules into the Symbiosis Curse? There should be penalties for disobedience."

Nie Yinzhi looked at him with hurt eyes, her breath quickening with a trembling voice. "Gu Jiang, if you keep talking like this, I’m going to get angry."

Gu Jiang: "..."

Nie Yinzhi sniffled, taking out a brush and adding another line to the contract: He must not make Nie Yinzhi angry, and if he does, he must take responsibility for making her happy again.

Gu Jiang was silent for a moment before moving the table between them aside and opening his arms. "Come here."