Journey to the End of the Night
Chapter 66 - 66 66 Darkness and Embrace

66: Chapter 66: Darkness and Embrace 66: Chapter 66: Darkness and Embrace Reason wavered but for an instant before being submerged by the vampiric instinctual craving to feed.

From deep within his throat, a low growl of despair, like that of a solitary beast, escaped him as his tusks finally pierced her skin.

He greedily and frantically sucked the fresh blood flowing beneath her veins.

From passive to active.

His initially restive arms, under the drive of the bloodsucking desire, tightly embraced the shoulders of the woman in front of him as if wanting to meld her into his very marrow.

Under the sounds of voracious gulping, the wound on Baili An’s back healed at an astonishing pace, and his skin regained its original pale hue.

Even the corners of his eyes, split open by streaks of blood, returned to normal as his pupils shifted from red to black.

As his consciousness returned, Baili An suddenly stopped, still holding a mouthful of cold, sweet blood.

Indeed, the blood of Si Li was so temptingly sweet to him.

With a clear mind, he swallowed the last drop of blood and only then realized he was holding her tightly, while his own waist was firmly encircled by her slender, icy arms.

The two embraced each other in the darkness, and though it was their first meeting, her hug felt so natural, as if they were mingling blood and it had become a habit.

Baili An hurriedly loosened his grip on her body and readjusted her collar.

Si Li gave a soft smile, brushed her hand across the blood at her neck, and the wound vanished instantly.

She glanced at the headless corpse behind Baili An, and the smile on her lips gained a hint of sarcasm, “Just a dead body, and you risk your life to save it?”

At this moment, she sat unabashedly on top of Baili An, their faces extremely close.

Embarrassed, Baili An touched his nose and said, “He saved my life from the Shebi Corpse.”

As if amused, she said, “Just a wastrel.

Even without his two arrows back then, with me there, you wouldn’t have perished under the Battle Axe of the Shebi Corpse.”

Baili An’s eyes suddenly widened, “So you were always lurking in the shadows?!”

Why didn’t she show herself during those crises but waited until now?

Si Li delivered a light karate chop to Baili An’s head, not too hard, since a serious blow could have killed him.

Her Phoenix Eyes were cold and nearly emotionless, “Show some respect, call me ‘sister’,” but there was an unusual warmth in her words.

Baili An clutched his head in pain but still couldn’t believe that he had a sister.

Suddenly, he remembered something, his expression somber, “Sister?”

“Mhm.”

“Are you dead too?” Her body was ice, her blood was cold, her eyes were red, and her heart did not beat.

Every characteristic told him that Si Li, like him, was a corpse demon.

This question seemed to amuse her, and she laughed softly, “Don’t misunderstand.

I have no connection to your previous identity.

Your relation to me as my brother happened after you became a descendant of a corpse demon after death.”

Because they were descendants of the same corpse demon, they shared this bond of blood.

With sudden clarity, Baili An looked up, realizing he hadn’t evolved into a corpse demon by himself.

He stared intently into her elongated eyes.

When Si Li was in a calm state, the crimson glow in her eyes would fade away, and the color would turn to dark red.

He earnestly asked, “Then…

who is the one who turned me into a corpse demon?”

Si Li narrowed her eyes, then slowly rose from Baili An’s body, brushing her clothes, her face again neutral, “You do not need to know who he is right now, do you?”

With that, she took out the dark purple Corpse Pearl of the Shebi Corpse, gently tapped her palm, and drove the pearl into Baili An’s Dantian.

The Corpse Pearl, like a ethereal object, quickly merged with the Yin Yang Tao Fish within Baili An.

The originally slowly rotating Yin Yang Tao Fish stopped moving altogether with the intrusion of the Corpse Pearl.

Baili An looked down at his belly in astonishment.

Upon introspection, the blood he had just consumed was crazily absorbed by the Corpse Pearl in an instant.

The dark purple gradually faded, and under the influence of the fresh blood and the energy of the Yin Yang Tao Fish, the malevolent aura disappeared, transforming into a transparent bead-like entity.

Within the transparent Corpse Pearl, there lay a wisp of nascent Qing Xuan Energy.

“Indeed, it is so,” Si Li nodded slightly, her gaze thoughtful.

Baili An touched his stomach and said, “This…

should be the spoils of war for you, sister?”

Si Li looked at Baili An with her cool, emotionless Phoenix Eyes, “The light of a grain cannot fill the Abyss, what use to me is a mere Corpse Pearl from the Shebi Corpse?

You are so weak, who knows how many years you would need to condense your own Corpse Pearl.

I am not known for my patience.”

Baili An suddenly realized that his newly found sister was not only arrogant but immensely vain.

Grains and Abysses, what a stunning and fitting metaphor.

But from her tone, Baili An wondered why she seemed more anxious than he did for him to condense his own Corpse Pearl.

While pondering, Si Li’s uniquely pleasant voice drifted again, “The Shebi Corpse was an Absolute Corpse of three thousand years.

Even though it perished in the Mortal World, its Corpse Pearl could be left behind, invaluable to you.

You must refine this Corpse Pearl for your own use quickly so that I can…”

She stopped herself right there.

Baili An asked, “So that you can?

What do you want to do?”

Another chop fell on his head.

“Call me ‘sister’!”

Si Li seemed to place great emphasis on propriety and etiquette, intolerant of Baili An addressing her directly.

“Oh, sister,” Baili An touched his head, bowed, and compliantly gave in.

Si Li casually withdrew her hand and said, “Are you curious about when I started following you?”

Baili An nodded.

“Since you awoke, I have been by your side.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t appear during the crises you’ve faced, it’s because those were just minor problems.

If you couldn’t overcome such small difficulties, then you wouldn’t be worthy of being my brother.

Now that the Shebi Corpse is eliminated, and you have its Corpse Pearl, whatever you intend to do next, whether to protect the mountain or save people, that’s your own matter.

I will not intervene further…

Take care of yourself.”

When an eaglet learns to fly, the mother eagle will toss it off a Snow Cliff, coldly indifferent to the fierce Astral Wind of the precipice.

For it is only in life-and-death crises that one can grow the fastest.

After the words “take care of yourself” settled, the blood-red King’s Robe vanished into the mists of the mountain.

She came without warning.

She left without a trace.

Baili An stared blankly into the forest fog, the coolness of the blood still lingering on his lips.

With pale fingers, he wiped away the bloodstain at the corner of his mouth and looked at the red on his fingertips, murmuring, “Sister?”

He wasn’t alone after all.

He too had kin.

It was as though in a path forward shrouded in confusion, he suddenly saw a clear silhouette, pointing him in the right direction.

This feeling was not half bad at all.