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墨書 Inktalez
The fire has ignited!
Liu Ming was laughing and cursing madly in the glow of the flames.
He seemed truly insane!
But a madman would not fear being burned alive, nor would he cry and plead for mercy from Sister Tiger when the High Heat was scorching him, completely forgetting how he had just scorned her, calling her a monster.
"Save me! For the sake of our past as husband and wife, save me! Sister Tiger, aren't you a monster? Don't you have spells? Can't you burrow underground? Hurry up and save me! Do you really want to see your husband, the father of your son, burned alive by this High Heat?"
Liu Ming shouted hoarsely, while Sister Tiger suddenly calmed down. She looked at Liu Ming as if she were staring at a complete stranger.
"Liu Ming, look at me. Am I your wife? Am I the mother of Tiger Child? If so, then why—my husband, the father of my child—do you repeatedly put me in danger? You want me to save you? On what grounds do you think I should save you?"
"You are a monster! You are a monster!" Liu Ming glared with eyes even redder from the flames. "If I don't kill you, you'll kill me! Besides, you're a monster; you have powers, you can save me."
"How ridiculous, Liu Ming! Don't you find your words laughable? You want to kill me because I'm a monster; you're afraid that if you don't kill me, I'll eat you. Now you want me to save you for the same reason—that I'm a monster. So tell me, is it good or bad that you've married a monster as your wife?"
"It's your fault! It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, would I be trapped here? Would I be burned alive?"
The fiery serpent coiled up Liu Ming's pant leg, and he began to moan and scream in pain. Sister Tiger's gaze flickered for a moment; she ultimately felt some compassion. She leaned against the iron cage and slowly stood up, looking at Liu Ming's pained and resentful face and said, "I'll help you one last time; after this, we are done!"
With that, Sister Tiger used all her strength to tear open the iron cage and saved Liu Ming, who was already wrapped in flames. Sister Tiger was also scorched by the fire serpent but endured the pain and the imminent danger of being killed by the crowd at the execution site to rescue Liu Ming.
Just as Sister Tiger was about to faint and the crowd was about to swarm in on them, a fox used a spell to take away Sister Tiger and Liu Ming, who was on the verge of becoming roasted.
Mountain God Temple remained as it had been.
Liu Ming looked at the man before him who appeared like an immortal and the charming woman beside him with lingering fear. He pointed at them: "You... monsters?"
"Monsters my foot!" Xing Ruyi angrily stepped forward and slapped Liu Ming's pointing hand away, then gave him another slap across the face. "This slap is for Sister Tiger. She is a monster, but she is also your wife, your partner in bed, and the mother of your son. Yet here you are, scheming for her death. Tell me, what benefit do you gain from her death? Will the court reward you with a badge for exterminating monsters or will they give you bounty money at the Yamen?"
"I..."
"I what? Let me tell you, Sister Tiger is dead, and all you can gain are the identity of a widower and a broken family. Do you still have the heart for it? If you do, then take a good look and ask yourself, as your Wife, was Sister Tiger qualified? Did she treat you well? If she wasn't a monster, would she have ever looked at a useless person like you?"
"You’re not me, how do you know what I feel!" Liu Ming's face flushed with anger. "She’s a monster, a man-eating monster, do you understand? You don’t know what it’s like to live with a monster! You don’t understand the fear that grips your heart when you wake up in the middle of the night and see that person lying next to you. You think about how she might suddenly change her form and open her bloody mouth to devour you whole. I’m just an ordinary person; I just want to live a normal life without fear. But you don’t understand this, which is why you dare to criticize and insult me. Am I, Liu Ming, a useless person? I am not! If it were someone else, they might be worse off than me." Liu Ming forced a strange smile.
"At least... at least I dare to pick up the knife at home and strike this monster hard. Do you dare? Do you dare?"
Xing Ruyi gritted her teeth. She wanted to hold back but couldn’t resist; she slapped Liu Ming hard across the face.
"I don’t dare! Because I can’t do something cowardly like that. You, Liu Ming, if you're not useless, then what are you? If it weren't for my Sister Tiger being blind and falling for you, you'd probably have starved to death in some corner by now."
"Consort Rui!" Sister Tiger weakly opened her eyes. "Let him go! I... never want to see him again. My poor Tiger..."
"Tiger is fine; we’ve placed him in a very safe place!"
Xing Ruyi spoke softly to Sister Tiger, then turned around and shot Liu Ming a fierce glare.
"You, get lost!"
Liu Ming glanced back at Xing Ruyi, and when his gaze met Sister Tiger, his expression grew more complex. He seemed to want something but ultimately left empty-handed, gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg as he limped out.
"Wait!"
Xing Ruyi chased after him.
"What... what do you want?"
Liu Ming turned back, looking timidly at Xing Ruyi.
"I know you're also a monster. Because just now, she is your Sister Tiger. Are you going to eat me?"
"Do you think monsters would want to eat you? With someone like you who kills their wife and children, your flesh must be rotten. Not even Sister Tiger, nor any ordinary monster would have any interest in you. Just relax; time will take care of your demise."
"Then why are you chasing after me?"
"I spit! Who would want to chase you?" Xing Ruyi shot him a sideways glance. "I'm just here to give you an answer. Earlier, I didn't understand what it felt like to live with a monster. Now I can clearly tell you that I do understand. Not only do I understand, but I understand very well. Do you see that man who is a thousand times more beautiful than you, a million times more capable, and better in every way? He is Sister Tiger's cousin, from Qingqiu. Qingqiu, you must have heard of it? Looking at your attire, you at least seem like someone who has read a few books; even if they aren't serious ones, you've probably come across some historical tales, right? Do you know what kind of place Qingqiu is?"
Liu Ming nodded.
"He is a fox, Sister Tiger's cousin, from the same place as Sister Tiger. And I, like you, am just an ordinary person in this mundane world. Yes, that's right. I'm not a monster; I'm just like you—an ordinary human being made of flesh and blood, needing food and water, and susceptible to illness that could easily take my life. But he is my husband. Our relationship is just like yours with Sister Tiger—a combination of mortal and monster.
You were scared earlier because the one sharing your bed is a monster!
I am also afraid, but my fear isn't about sharing a bed with a monster; it's about how little time we have together. So I wish I could be by his side every moment.
Compared to sharing a bed with a monster, I fear even more encountering someone like you—human yet dark-hearted and cowardly. You know the reason better than anyone else. When disaster strikes and life hangs in the balance, your monster wife did not abandon you, yet as a human, not only did you wish to harm her wholeheartedly, but you also left her behind.
Liu Ming, the human heart is not only scarier than ghosts; it is more complex than monsters.
Do you know? You were once as lucky as I am in this world. Unfortunately, you gave up and missed out! Go on! Your remaining life will no longer have monsters but will also have nothing to do with happiness."
Liu Ming's eyes shimmered slightly before he slowly raised his head to glance at Sister Tiger.
This time, he saw clearly—not only her pale face and weak body but also the wounds she suffered from the fire snake while saving him. His heart tightened for a moment before he stubbornly turned away and murmured softly.
"Sister Tiger, forgive me! I was just too scared!"
Monsters' ears are always more sensitive than humans'. Sister Tiger heard Liu Ming's words and turned her face away, tears falling uncontrollably.
She remembered when they got married; she had whispered in his ear: "Husband, will you take care of Sister Tiger for a lifetime? Will you hold Sister Tiger's hand through anything that happens and never leave her?"
How did he respond back then?
He said: "Hmm! The wedding chamber is filled with flowers and candles; spring nights are fleeting—why bother with such disheartening words?"
It turned out... at that time, she should have understood that the calamity of today would come, and she should have realized that Liu Ming was not the good man she had been desperately searching for.
A gust of wind rose, blowing away the cobwebs that enveloped the Mountain Deity. The wind in this mountain was always cooler than that in the town, but no matter how cool it was, it could not compare to the chill in her lover's heart.
At this moment, Sister Tiger finally let go of the bond between her and Liu Ming, as well as the last trace of attachment she had for him.
She raised her gaze and looked into the fox's eyes, softly murmuring, "Brother Chen, Sister Tiger is tired. Sister Tiger wants to have a good sleep. Tiger Child, please help me watch over things for a while longer."
The fox nodded.
Xing Ruyi slightly shrugged her shoulders and stood beside the fox, gently resting her head on his shoulder. "Should we tell her?"
"What?"
"That Liu Ming probably won't live long! The fire poison has invaded his body, and he doesn't have enough double silver coins to hire a doctor for treatment. In six months at most, or half a month at least, the Ghost Messenger from the underworld will come knocking."
"Does this... concern us?"
Xing Ruyi looked up at the fox and added, "It has nothing to do with us!"
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