Free Web NovelChapter 80: Chapter 80: Cracked Spiritual Sea
The system continued in its emotionless tone.
[Host, do not get too emotionally attached to these villains. They are villains for a reason. Their actions are unpredictable and dangerous. Your priority must be the mission and survival. If you fail to complete missions, your life timer will run out.]
Yue Yue bit her lip. She had been treating this like a game or a drama, but the system was reminding her that her life was on the line.
[Notice:] the system added, [The Host’s life-limit countdown will pause during the pregnancy. Your remaining days will not count down until the child is born. This is a grace period provided for the health of the offspring.]
And then, the system went offline.
Yue Yue sat in the silence of her room, stunned. She had so many questions, but there was no one left to answer them.
She realized the system was right; she had been taking things too lightly. She didn’t want to die.
She wanted to go back to her real home, her real life. The only way to do that was to fix these five villains and bring their "villain mode" down to zero.
And now, she was pregnant. She touched her belly again. Han Soi’s cub was inside her. He would be so happy if he knew, but she had no way to contact him. Her terminal was nowhere to be found, and she was stuck in this white jade cage.
She couldn’t be careless anymore. She had to play the role of the perfect, obedient servant for a while.
She had to hide her secret and protect her baby from the man living right across the hall.
"I’ll protect you," she whispered to her stomach, her gemstone blue eyes turning determined. "And I’ll find a way back to your father."
Yue Yue was exhausted. Between the shock of the pregnancy, the system’s warnings, and the fear of the High Priest, her brain felt like it was going to melt. freewebnøvel.com
She curled up on the very edge of the large bed, her eyes fighting to stay open. Just as she was drifting off, a final semi-transparent notification flickered in her vision.
[Stealth Shroud Activated. The cub’s presence is now hidden.]
With that last bit of security, Yue Yue finally let go and fell into a deep, heavy sleep. She had no idea that the moment her breathing became steady, the heavy door to her room slid open without a sound.
A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Feng Yanshen.
He didn’t look like a holy priest right now. His white hair was loose, flowing over his shoulders like a silver waterfall, and his eyes were that terrifying, bleeding red again.
He looked like a man who hadn’t slept in a thousand years. For centuries, Feng Yanshen had lived with a constant, agonizing pounding in his head.
His spiritual sea, the source of his power, was cracked and broken, filled with the howling sounds of ghosts and the urge to destroy everything in sight. He lived in a world of constant pain and noise.
But as he walked toward the bed, he stopped.
The closer he got to Yue Yue, the quieter the voices in his head became. It was strange.
She was like a cooling balm on a burning wound. He looked down at her and saw her curled up uncomfortably on the very corner of the mattress, looking like she might fall off at any moment.
A frown crossed his pale face. He reached down and, with surprising gentleness, lifted her small body.
He moved her to the middle of the bed, where it was soft and safe. Then, he pulled the thick, silken blanket over her shoulders, tucking her in.
In her sleep, Yue Yue felt the warmth. She felt a familiar sense of being cared for, and, in her dreams, she thought she was back with her husband.
"Thank you... husband..." she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep as she nuzzled into the pillow.
Feng Yanshen froze. His long, pale fingers, which were still near her cheek, jerked back as if he had touched a blazing fire.
His face turned cold, and for a second, the bloodlust in his eyes flared so bright it lit up the dark room. He wanted to wake her up and scream at her. He wanted to demand who she was talking about. freewёbnoνel.com
But then, the gentle, sweet aura coming from her body wrapped around him again. It was so peaceful. It was so quiet.
He felt the cracks in his spiritual sea...the ones that caused him constant torture slowly beginning to mend.
The pounding in his head, which usually felt like a hammer, softened into a dull thrum. It was the first time in his life he felt a sense of relief.
He couldn’t leave. He was like a starving man who had finally found a drop of water.
Driven by an instinct he didn’t understand, the High Priest sat on the edge of the bed. Then, slowly, he lay down on the other side.
He made sure to stay far away from her; a whole person could have fit in the space between them. He just wanted to be near her, not close.
He closed his eyes, listening to the rhythmic sound of her breathing. It was like music. He couldn’t remember the last time he had actually slept.
He usually just meditated in the dark, fighting the ghosts in his mind. But now, his eyelids felt heavy.
The howling in his mind stopped, replaced by the scent of the white flowers and the warmth of the woman beside him.
Without realizing it, he shifted just an inch closer. He didn’t touch her, but he let his spiritual energy tangle with hers.
"So quiet..." he whispered to himself.
For the first time in hundreds of years, the most dangerous man in the Temple fell into a dreamless, peaceful sleep.
As the moon climbed high over the Inner Sanctum, the two of them slept in a strange, silent truce.
The "purification" the priest wanted for her was happening in reverse; she was the one purifying him.
