The Change

Bai Lingmiao laughed. She laughed with such unbridled joy, as if she were venting everything she had bottled up inside through the sound alone. In all the time he had spent with her, Li Huowang had never seen that expression on her face before.

“Give me the sword! Give me the sword now!” Li Huowang’s voice trembled as he walked toward the Bai Lingmiao who held the blade.

But just as he reached her, he saw the white-haired girl raise her right hand and drive the long sword straight into her own chest.

With a flick of the blade, Li Huowang’s chest was laid wide open, exposing his still-beating heart to the freezing air.

The next moment, Bai Lingmiao pressed herself against him, close, tight. The blood gushing from his wound quickly soaked through her light-colored clothes.

“Ah…” A look of relief spread across Bai Lingmiao’s face.

Staring at this unfamiliar version of her, Li Huowang opened his mouth to speak, only to see her tilt her head and kiss him.

A few breaths later, Bai Lingmiao slowly pulled back, taking him in again. The corners of her mouth lifted, and she laughed once more.

Li Huowang cupped her face with trembling hands, his expression a mask of unbearable conflict. “Miao Miao… don’t be like this, okay?”

Just as it had with Lü Xiucai before her, the killing intent of the Purple-Tasseled Sword had altered Bai Lingmiao’s nature.

Her expression gradually softened, as if she were once again the gentle girl she had been. With a shy look, she asked, “Like this, Senior Brother Li?”

A flicker of hope lit up Li Huowang’s eyes.

Then the shyness on Bai Lingmiao’s face was instantly replaced by manic excitement. “Hahaha! As if! What kind of daydream are you having?”

“I don’t want to go back to that pitiful, whining version of me! I don’t care about anything now! Nothing matters! Truth is, I’ve never felt more free!”

“If I’d known it was this easy, I’d have grabbed your sword ages ago! And besides—look at you, now look at me. We match! Hahaha!!”

As she spoke these wild, reckless words, traces of something otherworldly flickered across Bai Lingmiao’s face: a furry ear here, a patch of snake scales there.

His face twisted in agony, Li Huowang pulled her into his arms. “Miao Miao… I’m sorry…”

Bai Lingmiao leaned against him, closed her eyes, and breathed in the thick smell of blood. A look of contentment spread across her features. “Li Huowang, you can go back to Niuxin Village now. Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Li Huowang released her, his expression a tangle of confusion as he studied her face—so familiar, yet so alien.

After a long, painful internal struggle, he said, “Don’t worry. This happened because of me. I’ll find a way to turn you back.”

But the moment the words left his mouth, Bai Lingmiao’s expression twisted into something ferocious. She raised her slender, delicate right hand and thrust it straight into his open chest, gripping his burning heart.

“Did you hear a single word I said? I told you—I like feeling this way! Who are you to decide what I should be?” She bared her sharp black nails, pressing one sharpened tip gently into his heart.

In the next instant, over a dozen tentacles burst from Li Huowang’s body, wrapping tightly around her arm and stopping her from going any further.

“Li Sui… don’t.” At Li Huowang’s pained command, his daughter’s tentacles slowly withdrew.

A strange half-smile on her face, Bai Lingmiao pulled her hand from his chest and wiped the blood on his clothes.

Then she leaned back in, pressing herself against him with the familiar, affectionate intimacy of a lover.

But her words were thorns wrapped in silk. “Don’t act like I’m stuck with you for life. We’re not even married yet. I’m my own person, Li Huowang. I’m not some accessory hanging off you.”

Li Huowang looked at her, his face a storm of emotion. He was no longer as agitated as before. Since it had already happened, the question now was how to deal with the aftermath.

As he wrestled with this dilemma, the others arrived. They took a moment to stare at the Heart-Turbid corpse on the ground, then shifted their attention to Bai Lingmiao.

She met their gazes boldly, showing no sign of intimidation.

“Ah, Brother Er,” Tuoba Danqing said in the tone of a man who had been through it all before. “As they say, a good wife brings peace to the home. But your lady here doesn’t seem the peaceful type. If you two actually settle down together, it’ll be nothing but chaos every single day.”

Bai Lingmiao opened her mouth to retort, but Li Huowang held her back.

His Honor the Chief Recorder clearly thought this was no time for such talk. “Ai, Danqing… do you really think now’s the moment for that? Let’s get moving. I’m exhausted.”

The earlier exertion had left His Honor swaying, weak, as though he might collapse at any moment. The ragged group trudged forward.

Supported by Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang’s mind kept replaying every smile, every look she had ever given him.

“No. I can’t let her stay like this. There has to be a way to turn her back,” he swore to himself.

If he was willing to search for a way to achieve the impossible with his Heart-Element condition, how could he be afraid of something as simple as cleansing sha qi?

Steeling himself, he glanced around at the others. If he had once been groping in the dark, maybe the people around him now could help. But with Bai Lingmiao right beside him, it wasn’t the time to ask.

No one spoke on the walk back. Each person was lost in their own thoughts.

They moved slowly, and with the earlier delay, night had fallen before they reached the nearest village. That was that. They gathered firewood, lit a campfire, and settled in around it to rest.

Bai Lingmiao and Li Huowang fell asleep clinging to each other, just as they used to. It had been a long time since they had done that.

But neither of them could truly sleep. Under the flickering firelight, they lay face to face, staring at each other.

Seeing Li Huowang’s fixed gaze, Bai Lingmiao’s lips curled into a sly smile. She leaned close, her voice a whisper by his ear. “What are you staring at? What, you want to consummate the marriage even with a wound like that?”

Li Huowang let out a deep sigh, and pulled her into his arms with a pang of sorrow.

Bai Lingmiao peeled back the torn flesh of his chest and pressed her lips to the still-beating heart beneath. “Don’t worry. I’m still the same Bai Lingmiao who went through life and death with you.”

“I haven’t forgotten a single thing we’ve been through. Almost nothing has changed. The only difference is the way I think about things.”

“But… it has changed…” There was guilt and helplessness in Li Huowang’s voice.

“Oh? Then can you honestly say you haven’t changed at all, Li Huowang? You’ve changed too, you know.”

“I’ve changed?” The thought flashed through his mind, and he shook his head fiercely. “No. I haven’t changed. I’m still Li Huowang.”

“Does it even mean anything, lying to yourself like that?” Bai Lingmiao shot him a glare.

“You’ve changed far more than I have. The old Li Huowang wouldn’t have chopped off his own fingers or gouged out his own eye without a second thought.”

“If the old Li Huowang was Li Huowang, then isn’t the current Li Huowang still Li Huowang?”