Chapter 134: Brother Ding Is A Man Of Principle

The winter rain was dreary and misty.

The dense forest was dark, but two figures stood out, pale against the gloom.

Beneath a tall yew tree, upon the dark green moss.

The warm breath they exhaled turned into mist in the cold, creating a hazy, ethereal vapor deep in the wilderness.

The night passed in silence.

The next day.

Although the rain had stopped, the weather remained overcast.

In the gloomy forest, the smell of damp earth and decaying leaves permeated the air.

Yi Yiyi sat on the ground, her head slightly tilted, her gaze fixed on the muddy, trampled moss beside her.

As if that mess held some secret worth studying, her long, thick eyelashes drooped, her fragrant shoulders were slightly tensed, and her hand resting on her thigh was unconsciously curled into a small fist.

Her brows were lightly furrowed, her thin lips pressed tight, wearing her usual cold and aloof expression.

Ding Suian sat two feet away and said earnestly, “That’s how things are. You kept asking me to help you. Look, I’m still injured.”

It was indeed not easy; his left arm was broken, and there was a knife wound on his thigh.

Carrying such injuries, yet still exerting every ounce of effort. What kind of spirit was this?

Helping those in distress, providing timely assistance in a crisis, being generous with one’s wealth, and being charitable—none of these were enough to describe it.

Yi Yiyi still kept her head turned, refusing to look at him, but the first thing she said was, “I’m sorry.”

Her voice was very soft, catching Ding Suian off guard. Shouldn’t that be a man’s line after such an event?

After a brief silence, Yi Yiyi said with deliberate calmness, “Once we reach Yunzhou, I will find a way to compensate you.”

That’s a strange thing to say.

“That doesn’t seem right, does it? If you give me money or goods, it would make last night seem like a transaction, and that violates my principles as a person!”

“Brother Ding is truly righteous.”

“How about you get me a few rare Magical Artifacts instead?”

“…”

Yi Yiyi finally turned her head, casting her gaze upon Ding Suian for the first time today, finding it hard to fathom this young man, who was about her age.

If one were to say he was greedy and lustful, he had voluntarily stayed in the most dangerous place at the critical moment and dragged her, a burden, while escaping for three days and three nights.

Even in that desperate situation yesterday afternoon, he had never thought of escaping on his own.

If one were to call him an upright gentleman, he was brazen and shameless when asking for things, truly greedy. As for being lustful, there was no need to doubt that; she had verified it herself.

“Can you still walk?” Yi Yiyi’s voice was extremely low, as if afraid of revealing too much emotion.

“It’s alright, but my arm needs to be splinted.”

Yesterday, Ding Suian had taken a hit from an iron mace just to create an opportunity to kill the one-eyed man.

Although he didn’t block it head-on, the glancing blow had still broken his forearm.

“Wait here, I’ll go find some pine branches.”

Yi Yiyi stood up after speaking, her brow suddenly furrowing, and she let out a muffled groan of pain.

Perhaps realizing Ding Suian was still there, the look of pain vanished in a flash. She immediately pressed her lips tight, forcing herself to suppress the discomfort.

Gripping the wooden staff in her hand, she tried hard to stand straight and walk steadily, but every step was stiff and cautious, her stride extremely small and awkward. The inconvenience and pain she had intended to hide were now displayed even more clearly.

“…”

Ding Suian was a rough man.

Yesterday, Yi Yiyi had been like someone possessed, exceptionally wild.

It must have been a bit painful.

In the past, the little fox had explained things to him, so he could roughly guess the reason.

Yi Yiyi returned quickly, holding a few suitable pine branches.

She crouched down beside him extremely slowly, the entire process cautious, trying her best to avoid any movement.

Yet her face still wore an expression as calm as usual, perhaps even too calm.

Only her delicate brows would occasionally twitch uncontrollably.

“Rip.”

She tore a few strips of cloth from her robe, used them to secure the three pine branches to his left forearm, and then tied the sling around her neck.

Her face was focused, avoiding any eye contact.

After dealing with the left arm, Yi Yiyi glanced at the knife wound at the base of Ding Suian’s thigh. She didn’t show the excessive shyness of an ordinary woman, but simply lifted his lower robe carefully, leaned over, and wrapped it a few times with cloth strips.

Leaning over at such close range, her robe was loose, inevitably revealing a glimpse of her charms.

Loose hair hung down the side of her cheeks, her lowered eyelashes fluttered slightly, and the tips of her ears turned red.

A lingering fragrance surrounded them.

Huh? That’s not right.

Ding Suian lowered his head and sniffed himself. Ugh.

After days of fleeing, sweating, getting rained on, and letting his body heat dry him off, he smelled sour.

Why was she still smelling so fragrant?

“Yi Yiyis childhood nickname, why don’t you smell like sour sweat?”

Hearing Ding Suian call her childhood nickname, her hands, which were busy binding the wound, paused slightly, then immediately resumed. She just lowered her head and said, “Among the six realms of the Holy Sect, the sixth introductory realm, the Painted Skin Realm, allows a woman to have a beautiful appearance and a unique fragrance emanating from her body.”

As she said this, Ding Suian remembered that Zhao Yan seemed to have mentioned it too.

“Are all the Disciple of the Jile Sect women?”

Ding Suian had originally wanted to ask why the Jile Sect only cultivated skills for seducing people, but thinking that might hurt her self-esteem, he changed his phrasing.

“Yes.”

“Yesterday, what kind of curse did you use on Hou San? Why did he suddenly go crazy?”

“Illusionary Desire Eyes.”

“Tell me about it.”

“When our eyes meet, it makes him fall into an illusion of the sea of desire.”

“So he started acting lewdly toward a man?”

“No. I used his hair and a remnant of the mace-wielding assassin’s clothing to bind them in a karmic bond of passion. It couldn’t last long, at most ten or twenty breaths. It’s fortunate you killed them.”

“Where did you get his hair and the clothing remnants?”

“Yesterday, you cut off the hair of the dual-blade wielder and shattered the clothes of the mace-wielder with an ice bead. Fearing you wouldn’t be able to hold on, I picked them up while you were fighting.”

“Is this spell of yours… could it be called Fate Weaving?”

Zhao Yan had said that the Fate Weaving Realm of the Jile Sect could create love, hate, and enmity between two completely unrelated people.

Yi Yiyi cast a surprised glance at Ding Suian, seemingly not expecting him to know so much about the Holy Sect. She pondered for a moment before saying, “That’s not the case. The Fate Weaving Realm only requires a horoscope doll to cast a spell, creating love, hate, resentment, and loathing. The Illusionary Desire Eyes, however, must be cast face-to-face and can only stimulate desire, not love, nor can it plant the roots of affection.”

Desire is fleeting.

Love and the roots of affection, those could potentially last a lifetime.

Comparing the two, Illusionary Desire Eyes and Fate Weaving are far apart in terms of prestige and power.

Ding Suian had an idea and suddenly asked, “Have you entered the Desire Abyss Realm?”

“…”

Yi Yiyi, who had been struggling to maintain her cold expression, was shocked once again and blurted out, “Who exactly are you?”

Ding Suian slowly straightened his back, wearing a peaceful and holy smile, “Me? I am also a Disciple of the Holy Sect, and a Saint at that!”

Yi Yiyi’s small mouth opened slightly, her alluring eyes lingering on his face for a full five or six breaths, then she shook her head seriously, “I don’t believe you!”

It’s good that you don’t believe it.

Naturally, it was just nonsense. Guessing that Yi Yiyi was in the Desire Abyss Realm wasn’t difficult.

After all, the little fox had described those symptoms: if the accumulated desire could not be released, it would cause the Bloodline to boil and the bones to melt.

Yesterday, Yi Yiyi was as hot as a fireball.

At one point, Young Master Ding even thought he would end up with burns on all five limbs.

“It’s said that all Jile Sect Disciple must find… find a husband before entering the Desire Abyss Realm. Why didn’t you prepare in advance?”

“…”

Yi Yiyi lowered her head and thought for a moment. Perhaps feeling that since they had already done that, there was nothing she couldn’t say, she replied, “I only entered the Desire Abyss at the beginning of the year. Actually, after entering the Desire Abyss Realm, as long as I don’t cast spells, I won’t be backlashed by desire. Yesterday, if you couldn’t hold on, I would have died anyway, so I took the risk to cast the spell to help you.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Having learned the depth of Yi Yiyi’s situation, Ding Suian leaned on a tree to stand up, “Let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“To Yunzhou, of course.”

“Oh.” Yi Yiyi leaned on her staff and stood up, looking toward the vast mountain forest under the gloomy weather.

The post-event panic and the anxiety about the uncertain future surged into her heart. Her frosty, aloof expression finally cracked, revealing a hint of confusion and vulnerability, “Will we… be able to walk out of here?”

“I don’t know, but every step we take brings us a step closer.”

After speaking, Ding Suian limped forward, taking the lead.

“Every step we take brings us a step closer.”

Yi Yiyi chewed on these words carefully, then walked a few steps quickly to catch up, “Let me support you.”

“Mm.”

Two figures, in tattered clothes, the woman with an awkward gait, the man with a limp and a broken arm, supporting each other, gradually disappeared into the depths of the forest.

“Wuwuwu~”

November 17th, around the Si hour of the morning.

It was broad daylight, but the forest was dark. The sudden, hoarse sound of sobbing scared Yi Yiyi so much that she didn’t dare to continue forward for a moment.

Ding Suian listened carefully for a moment and didn’t sense anything unusual; it was just the sobbing of an ordinary old man.

“Let’s go take a look.”

Today was the fourth day of trekking through the mountains; meeting a living person meant they were about to walk out.

Yi Yiyi pulled him slightly, the meaning likely being that she wanted to go around, but Ding Suian didn’t stop, so she had to follow.

After walking a few dozen more steps, the view suddenly opened up. The tall trees were gone, replaced by low shrubs and lush, overgrown grass.

The sobbing was coming from within that patch of overgrown grass.

They saw an old man with white hair, around sixty years old, sitting in front of a lone grave, weeping bitterly.

In front of the grave were offerings such as dried fruit and pastries.

Ding Suian and Yi Yiyi couldn’t help but look at each other, both seeing a trace of pleasant surprise in each other’s eyes.

“Gurgle~”

Yi Yiyi’s sunken little belly growled right on cue.

It had been four days and four nights!

Ding Suian had only eaten a few nuts, and Yi Yiyi had eaten a few nut crumbs.

“The two of us, we can beat him, right?”

Perhaps seeing that Ding Suian was seriously injured, Yi Yiyi didn’t even have that bit of confidence.

Even with injuries, two young people couldn’t bully an old man?

“Let’s wait a while. After he finishes crying and leaves, we’ll eat.”

Being able to win was one thing, but for Young Master Ding to just go and beat up an old man, he felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Alright.”

Yi Yiyi helped Ding Suian sit down behind the grass, waiting quietly for the old man to finish crying and leave.

“Oh, Huahua, you just up and left, leaving me, an old man, all alone. That unfilial son doesn’t care about me either. Living all alone like this, it’s meaningless.”

This old man, his crying was endless.

He hadn’t left after half an hour.

Ding Suian patiently listened to a family drama: the old man’s wife had died early, he had worked hard to raise his son, but the son was unfilial and was hiding from him because of a woman.

Another widower who raised his son alone!

Ding Suian felt a little touched. He couldn’t let Old Ding be so miserable in his old age. Old Ding, just wait to enjoy your life.

“Hey! Hey! He’s taking them away!”

Yi Yiyi stared straight at the old man who was packing up the offerings, tugging on Ding Suian’s sleeve anxiously.

Ding Suian turned to look at her and almost laughed. A few days ago, she was still a cold and aloof princess who didn’t care about anything. In just a few short days, she was now so anxious for a bite to eat that her eyes were red.

“Let’s rob him!”

Yi Yiyi pressed her lips tight, her eyes firm.

Ding Suian, however, said, “Robbing an old man violates my principles as a person! Let me go up and say a few nice words. This old man looks kind, maybe he’ll give us something to eat.”

“And if he doesn’t give us any?”

“If he doesn’t, then we rob him!”

“Good! Courtesy first, force later! Brother Ding is a man of principle!”