Chapter 97: Dungeon Talk
[Is… is that the man you've been talking about?]
'Yeah, why?'
[...]
'Hey, say something! What's wrong?'
[N-nothing it's just that he's… a little better looking than I anticipated, t-that's all.]
'Hey, what are you thinking about?!'
[You wanted that man, right? Now that I've seen him I think he's grown a little on me as well.]
'You've seen him for only a few dozen breaths at most! How can he grow on you so quickly!
[S-shut up! You want my help right?! That new woman behind his right must be your enemy, isn't that right? I can still feel some of that deathly flame of decay within her body.
What I really want is for you to get that stud- I mean your man. I may not have a corporeal body, but I could experience it through you, I think.]
'Huh? Like what, inheriting my senses?'
[I don't know, maybe more like temporarily possessing your body? Hey, this is the first time I've been awake as some spirit, okay?]
'Wait did you just say you were going to possess me? Like, as in taking over my body?!'
[I don't know, okay!? A-anyway, let's focus a bit more on what's in front of us.]
'I think that would be for the best.'
From the moment they arrived to now not a word was really spoken. They only stood in front of the bars peering in at me. It was an awkward silence, one that I really didn't like. But just before I could start speaking, someone on the other side Initiated the conversation.
"Miss Yi Feng, do you have anything to say for yourself?"
[Whoa! His voice is so pleasant to hear too!]
'What am I supposed to say?'
[You're asking me about this? I think you basically already lost much of your own standing from those actions.]
'That's not helpful.'
[You deal with this situation on your own, I'll help you with other tasks after.]
'What! You're useless!'
[Hey! You don't know how useful I can be!]
'Yeah, I really don't!'
"You're not going to say anything to defend yourself?"
'What am I supposed to say? Sorry? I didn't mean to?'
"I see, well at least you didn't try to make any excuses or anything of the like. Could you tell me why you attempted to kill her? Was it because of some other sect? Did they send you here?"
"No, it has nothing to do with others. It was entirely personal."
I saw that demon make a confused expression before speaking out.
"Me? You have a grudge against me? For what reason? I don't think I've ever truly met you before have I?"
My lover held up a hand which stopped that demon from speaking another word. Then Li Daji spoke up a little.
"Master, if I may, when could she have possibly made that grudge?"
"Good call, Little Daji."
'Is that good? Uh, should I reveal what I know about that massacre? …yes.'
[So you're going all out? You're prepared to spill everything you know?]
He placed his hand over her head and rubbed it for a bit.
"Hehe"
While those two weren't paying attention the demon had quite a chilly expression on her face as she looked over, but it returned back to normal when he finished.
'Yes, I thought I was going to die back in that basement to be honest, but now I have the chance to tell the truth to my love there may still be a little bit of a chance for me to live. Besides I don't want to really lie to my lover, I kind of suck at it anyway.'
[Well I hope you picked right, it's not like I can really make you do otherwise or have any other plan in the first place.]
"My wife doesn't meet strangers often, can you specify a time perhaps when this grudge formed?"
'Alright, I t's time to start.'
"It was around 10 years ago when we first met each other in Baohu city."
At that point both my love and the demon had a confused expression. My love tilted his head a little to the side as he thought and that demon's expression became a little colder as they contemplated.
My love spoke with a confused tone.
"You knew her 10 years ago? You seem quite young though, what reason could you two possibly have to have such a longstanding grudge?"
The demon interjected.
"There's no way we've met each other! I think I would remember a woman such as you. Especially if we had some kind of interaction to start a grudge. Are you just making things up to stall for time or something?"
And Li Daji defended me.
"Hey, what's the point in her stalling? To gain strength? Even with her strength she wouldn't be able to escape from here right now with us in front of her. From her sneak attack earlier she shouldn't have held back right? Why would anyone waste their chance on a sneak attack by only putting in half the effort?"
Though the whole argument was just stating that I was weak, I accepted it since she was trying to help me. But it still hurt a little.
"I can tell you how, but she can't be here when I do so."
I motioned with my eyes toward the demon.
One of his eyebrows went up as he looked at me with a slightly suspicious gaze.
"What? Why can't I be around here? If this is a grudge against me then I should at least know why you're so angry, right? How could I right my wrongs if I don't even know what they are?"
"Alright, I'll humor you a little. Ying'er do you mind leaving us for a while?"
"What? You'll really go with it?"
"Yeah, why not? Besides, it's not like she said you won't be able to know. I'll just tell you afterwards what it is, alright?"
"O-okay Darling, but be careful of her okay? Who knows what she can do, I'm worried for you. I'd love for you to reconsider, but if you've made your choice then so be it!"
"It'll be fine, you know how quick my reaction speed is to danger, if she tries anything then that's it for her."
She left the area as I could hear the taps of her shoes slowly fading into the distance; but the noise was cut out by my love's sound barrier before it could fade away entirely.
"So what is it? You only had my Ying'er leave, but Li Daji got to stay. You're not gonna have Li Daji jab me from behind with some drug are you?"
"What!? No! I-It's something else, something you might not want to hear."
"Something I don't want to hear? What could that possibly be? You're not gonna tell me that the Upper Realm has invaded and killing my Ying'er is the only solution, now are you?"
"No! But… it does have something to do about her."
"Of course it does, that's why you made her leave isn't it?"
[Wow, my host likes stating the obvious huh?]
'Shut up! You're ruining my confession!'
***
(Jing Xiuying POV)
I leaned against the entrance of the dungeon, but pouted as I did so. Darling had actually put up sound barriers to block me out of the conversation.
'There's something about that girl that feels off. She's clearly too young to cause much trouble for me in the past as I would clearly remember if I had started some kind of hatred with a little girl.
Is it possible that I had unknowingly done something to a citizen in that city without remembering it?
The time is the part that causes havoc to my memories though. 10 years ago the only people I should have been dealing with are those desperate females that tried to cling onto my Darling. I seldom went to the city except for when I went to go meet with my Darling.
She can't possibly be any of them right? No, it's not possible, I had even triple checked the bodies to make sure I had gotten all of them!
Is it possible for her to be a relative of those I killed? A little sister perhaps? I never accounted for any of their families at the time.
Maybe it was even one of their children from a previous marriage or something. A few of those women looked quite mature after all.'
As I ruminate about who that person could have possibly been I already decided her fate within my mind.
'I should let her go, at least on the surface. It wouldn't be like the image I've built up for myself if I decide to execute her. I just have to have a few conditions for her before she freely "leaves," such as removing whatever she had injected into me.
She's potentially quite the threat though, if she really knew what happened back then I may be in a bit of trouble. Once she leaves I'll have to find a good time to isolate her and make her "disappear."'
My eyes furrowed a bit as a troublesome thought came to me.
What should I do if my Darling actually finds out why all of his pursuers in the past stopped coming?
Is there a logical reason I could think of as to why I had to kill them, not just a few either, but every single one?
Perhaps what happened in the past simply won't matter either since we've been bonding for 10 years straight. Those other women were only obstacles to our love after all!
They clearly weren't making any good progress anyways, so why not just stop and let me take over? Those creatures had no reason to continue living if they were only going to block our love from blossoming!
"Tch!"
I kicked a rock away in agitation as I slightly relieved that time within my memories.
***
(Yi Feng POV)
'Alright, I think I've mentally prepared myself!'
[Think again, just to make sure.]
'Hey! Whatever, I'm ready! However this outcome may play out, I hope it works well.'
I looked directly into the eyes of the man who I had chased for the remainder of my last life. His dark and void-like pupils contrasted a bit with his warm and gentle look at the moment.
Just looking at the face made me relax a bit as I took in a deep breath.
"Ip Cheng, you may not believe this, but I'm actually Yi Feng."
"Uh? Yeah I know, what about it? Was that your big reveal?"
Realizing my mistake I could feel a faint blush start to adorn my cheeks.
[Hey, when both of your names are the exact same, do you think just saying your name will do anything in this situation?]
'A-ah! I was so focused on trying not to mess up that I didn't explain anything!'
"No, I'm not just Yi Feng, I'm Yi Feng from 10 years ago. The one who used to pursue you before."
His eyes widened for a moment before his brows furrowed. It was clear he was still very suspicious of my words as he crossed his arms.
"Yi Feng of the past? Do you have any way to actually prove that?"
His eyes shifted to Li Daji for a moment. He must've suspected that Li Daji was feeding me information or something.
"You can ask me anything from the moments we had together, I'll tell you anything you want!"
I thought about immediately telling him about the bodies and their location, but I would've had to immediately pin the blame on the demon too.
I need to build at least a basic level of trust before we get to the part where I'll be pitted against that demon. If I don't there might not be any doubt that I'll be alone without him even hesitating in his choice.
Someone claiming to be a person of the past before immediately pointing their finger at your wife or, well of course, your wife of several years? At the very least I need him to know that I'm truthful with my words.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
RoosterLop
RoosterLop Sorry it was so late, I got into a car collision.
Anyway I'ma go back to my other book now, but I'll leave a discord if anyone cares.
https://discord.gg/tknmhuxaTe
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