The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus

“Miaomiao, wake up.” Ling Miaomiao was scooped up from the bed by someone. She opened her eyes in a daze, her vision slightly blurred. She could only see the distinct veins on the back of Mu Sheng’s pale hand. She shook her head hard as a bowl of steaming medicine was placed against her mouth.

Mu Sheng took her by the shoulders and put her in his arms, holding the bowl steadily in his other hand, looking down at the person in his arms, his chin gently resting against the top of her hair.

“Oh.” She exhaled feebly, feeling as if she was a fire-breathing dragon, who had slept on a volcano for who knew how long. Her skin would have cracked like an arid piece of land had it not been for Mu Sheng waking her up every once in a while and feeding her some cool water.

The medicine in the bowl exuded a strange smell, the bitterness of the medicine contained a subtle fragrance which smelled like someone had thrown rouge and powder in and cooked it. Ling Miaomiao picked up on that scent and felt a little sick to her stomach and shied away from the bowl: “What is this?”

These days, her high fever had affected her appetite, she could hardly eat anything, and so her body was very weak.

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“It’s medicine, drink it.” The rim of the bowl followed her lips, and persistently pressed against it.

Miaomiao pressed down her reluctance and took a small sip from his hand. The temperature of the medicine was just right, so bitter that the tongue was paralyzed, but there was a surprising aftertaste of sweetness.

Without the sweetness, it was fine, but once the sweetness was there, it became incongruous, and Ling Miaomiao’s stomach suddenly began churning, she gently pushed the bowl away and whispered: “I don’t want to drink it.”

Yw Fbldt rywple qsa y xsxldv, cwv pvkzz vktbvzu blze sd vs bla yde nsymle bla qsanlqwzzu: “Wkdkpb kv.”

Nkdt Ykysxkys pbssj bla blye hktsaswpzu, bla lulcasop jdkvvle vstlvbla yde bla zkrp rwaple.

Lsv vs xldvksd qkdkpbkdt kv, lhld nsdvkdwkdt vs pxlzz kv, xyel bla oydv vs hsxkv wdnsdvaszzyczu.

Yw Fbldt pyv qasgld kd rzynl yde pllxle vs blpkvyvl qsa y xsxldv. Mbld bl alynble swv yde piwllgle bla nblljp yde wple y ckv sq qsanl vs rau bla xswvb srld. Nkdt Ykysxkys pyo vbyv vbl pkvwyvksd oyp wdqyhsayczl yde kxxlekyvlzu cltyd pvawttzkdt. Tl vbld vktbvldle bkp yaxp, vayrrkdt bla okvbkd vblx.

Ykysxkys’p nblljp bwav yp pbl oyp qsanle vs srld bla xswvb wdela bkp nslanksd, yde bl vkzvle vbl csoz yde rswale kv esod bla vbasyv.

“Zsw xwpv eakdj kv.”

Rv’p clld y zsdt vkxl pkdnl bl ynvle kd pwnb y qsanlqwz xyddla.

Mbl oyax xleknkdl oyp rswale esod bla vbasyv, yde bla obszl cseu pbweelale. Tyhkdt byaezu lyvld yduvbkdt kd vbl rypv qlo eyup, bla pvsxynb oyp ytkvyvle, yde pbl nbsjle hkszldvzu, prkvvkdt swv yzz vbl xleknkdl vbyv bye fwpv clld rswale kd.

Ling Miaomiao choked so much, tears came out. If not for the young man’s arm holding her belly tightly, she would have rushed out and weakly sprawled out onto the floor.

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Mu Sheng sat rigidly and felt her body twitching in her arms, pursing her lips, seemingly struggling to control her emotions.

Ling Miaomiao slowly recovered her strength, angry, but as she was about to rebuke him, she saw that she had vomited all over him, her clothes were wet, and she was sitting there in a daze, feeling a little guilty, and looked askance at him: “If it weren’t for you pouring it down my throat like that……”

There was not much expression on Mu Sheng’s face, he just hugged her tightly and didn’t say anything.

“Actually, I don’t need to drink medicine, I’ll be better after getting some more sleep.” Ling Miaomiao’s throat was burning, and she struggled to explain, “It’s just a common cold……”

“It’s not a common cold.” His emotions finally came through, as if something inside suddenly broke, he looked at her fixedly, his eyes flashing with almost vulnerable emotions, “It’s because……”

He opened his lips, but could not say the words.

He was not only a half-demon, but also the descendant of a succubus with an unusual fate, so unusual that even the succubus race did not dare to recognize him, let alone Ling Miaomiao, a weak ordinary person.

After spending time with him day after day, becoming contaminated by his demonic aura, it was not surprising that in the long run, her body was depleted.

Ling Miaomiao waited for him blankly, her cheeks stained red, her lips dry and cracked. However, in the end, he didn’t say anything and put her back on the bed gently, standing up with the bowl: “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Miaomiao curled up on the bed and stared at him in confusion, seeing that only one of his cuffs was firmly fastened and the other was lowered to almost completely cover the back of his hand. As soon as she made the connection between this and the strange taste in the medicine, she just about understood what had happened and a sour feeling rose within her.

Mu Sheng went back to his room to change his clothes and went back to the kitchen again.

Medicine was boiling on the stove, emitting bubbling sounds, and he stood motionless in front of the earthenware pot, seemingly staring at the occasionally flickering flame, but also seeming to be staring into empty space, his eyelashes casting a slight shadow under his eyes.

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After a while, he lifted the lid of the earthenware pot and scooped out a bowl of medicine, then raised his hand and pushed his sleeve upwards.

His pale wrist was covered with wounds, and the bloody horizontal scars were striking, the latest one not completely healed and beads of blood were still seeping out from the edges.

He held up his wrist, the expression on his face extremely light, his right hand holding a dagger against it, as if coldly considering where to cut, so that blood could come out most easily.

Finally, he pressed the tip of the knife against the most recent cut, determinedly pressing on it and split the healing flesh apart once again in a seamless manner.

As he thought this, he flipped his wrist and moved it closer to the bowl.

“Mu Sheng.”

A voice suddenly sounded behind him, and the young man’s eyelashes fluttered violently, and his frozen expression cracked, showing the emotions that only the living have. The dagger in his hands fell to the ground with a clang.

Ling Miaomiao wore snow-white inner clothes, and had loosely draped an indigo coat over herself. She had lost a lot of weight in the past few days, and her face was hidden in the coat, making it appear even smaller and paler.

She looked sidelong at him and slowly walked in, pulling the corner of his shirt displeasedly and pulled out the man who was looking at her helplessly.

There was still some spare gauze in the house; Ling Miaomiao put Mu Sheng’s scarred hand on it, wrapped it several times with great effort and finally tied a knot harshly.

When tying the knot, she accidentally touched his wound and his hand trembled slightly. His eyes shone brightly at the young girl who had her head bowed, not making a sound.

“The next time you dare to cut yourself, I’ll beat you up.” Ling Miaomiao gritted her teeth while tying the knot.

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Then, she rested her chin on the back of her hand and laid down on the table, staring hard at the thick layer of gauze wrapped around his wrist, and after a long time, she took a finger and poked it.

“Is your blood that useful?” She continued to speak, aside from the hoarse voice, it was almost the same as usual, “If you’re injured, just cut yourself, let out some blood for yourself to drink, and then you’ll be all better……” She gloated and laughed out loud: “Then you’ll be a perpetual motion machine, won’t you?”

Mu Sheng looked at her face, pupils black and shiny, still not not smile.

Ling Miaomiao slowly stretched: “Don’t worry, my life is very difficult to take, you won’t be able to affect it.”

His eyes moved, the lake in his eyes suddenly rippled, as if the water in it was shimmering: “But……”

But he was really scared, scared to death.

Ling Miaomiao silently recalled the plot of the original story.

The original Ling Yu and Mu Sheng were a superficial couple, controlled by the love gu, meaning that she had no way of escaping. When the villain sacrificed his body to the formation, and the love gu should have lost its effect, so Ling Yu ought to be free from that point on, finally escaping from the sea of suffering.

But Ling Yu’s final ending was to run erratically deep into the deep woods at the moment she learned of Mu Sheng’s death, ending her absurd life with a rope.

This unfated couple could not live together, but unexpectedly died together, and when Mu Sheng died, it also signalled the end of Ling Yu’s life.

The strange fever had not subsided for all this time, and she could feel that all the functions of this body were slowly declining.

Who knew if this garbage system was suggesting for her to die?

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But who could continue provoking him when faced with the tense Black Lotus?

She reached out and took his hand, put it against her lips, rubbed it and shook her head like a scoundrel: “If I say it’s fine, then it’s fine……”

The young man held her in his lap, cupped her face, and kissed her like crazy, moistening her hot lips over and over again.

*

It was nighttime, and a curved moon was hanging over the treetops. The protagonists had been in the formation for six days before they knew it.

In these six days, the protagonists had tried everything they could, even the yellow paper for drawing talismans was almost used up.

The formation was like a silent night surrounded by silence, seeping into the air, impossible to defend against, with no escape.

The young man was standing on the entrance step, staring at the moon sleeplessly, his fingers unconsciously fiddling with the strip of gauze hanging down from his wrist.

Because Ling Miaomiao pushed through her illness to bandage his wound, in what seemed to be backlash, she fell into a semi-conscious state during the night and did not wake up all through the afternoon.

Tomorrow was the first pill refinement.

And she was in such a state, practically defenseless.

He pursed his lips, his eyes dark and deep, as if the silence of the night had melted into his pupils.

He pursed his lips, his eyes dark and deep, as if the silence of the night had melted into his pupils.

He even began to turn his anger to his wounds—— if Ling Miaomiao hadn’t put down those words, he would have stabbed himself twice more, the more painful the better.

A white figure flashed, standing on the patio. It hesitated for a moment and slowly walked into his view.

“Sister.” He called out.

Muyao took off her hood, revealing a beautiful face under the moonlight, with a tear-shaped mole shining in the corner of her eyes. She suddenly came face to face with him, and her expression was a bit uneasy.

“I came to see Miaomiao,” she said. Her voice was hoarse.

Mu Sheng guided her into the house. Mu Yao sat on the edge of Ling Miaomiao’s bed and touched her forehead with her cold hand. It was boiling hot.

The girl’s eyelashes fluttered restlessly in her sleep.

Mu Yao looked at Ling Miaomiao wordlessly, her voice seemed to be tinged with dew: “I like Miaomiao very much.”

She stroked Ling Miaomiao’s cheeks.

Mu Yao’s nature has always been very mild, and such an intimate gesture made by her was a bit awkward, but she insisted on doing it, as if she was a child clumsily showing her fondness, “If I had a sister, she would be like Miaomiao.

Mu Sheng sat on the sidelines without saying a word, silently listening and not showing much reaction.

“A’Sheng, you have to take good care of Miaomiao.”

Mu Sheng began to look at her.

Mu Yao turned around and smiled at him. When he didn’t resist, she said, “A’Sheng, do you want to play a game of chess with me?”

“Yes.” Mu Sheng agreed after a pause.

He skillfully set up the chess set on the table beside the bed and, as was his custom before, pushed the white pieces to her.

“Let’s play differently today.” Mu Yao began.

Mu Sheng’s raised hand paused for a moment: “What?”

Mu Yao lowered her eyes and said calmly, “Let’s do what you said last time: Whoever connects five in a line first, wins.”

That unfinished game of chess was eventually pushed away by her with disinterest, not wanting it to become the last game before they had broke with each other.

It was a pity after all.

Mu Sheng’s dark eyes looked at her, and after a moment of silence, he answered, “Okay.”

“The first time I saw you was outside the window of Lotus Bloom Hall,” Mu Yao said casually, “When you were younger, with your hair down, you looked like a little girl. You looked very obedient.

At that time, he was sitting alone in the darkness of the room sealed by black paper. When Sister came in with a ray of sunlight, she said to him over and over again, “I will get you out.”

From that, a corner of his life was lit up, and that was the first light of his life.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been too hard on you.” A dim light fell on her lonely profile, “That was because I didn’t have any other family left in this world.”

Mu Sheng looked down at the chessboard, his chess pieces were linked in a row. He intentionally decided to not  remind her of this fact.

“In the past, you deliberately let me win at chess, right?” Mu Yao gently put down the chess pieces in her hand and stared at the chessboard with contentment.

She stood up and calmly put on her hood. She walked to the door with the lamp.

“Sister……” Mu Sheng stood behind her and spoke in a brief voice.

She smiled and said, “From now on, I understand that there is more than one way to play Go.”

She turned back, and her figure faded away.

“Sister.” The young man’s eyes were dark as he called out to her again, “Your room is over there.”

The figure in the hood was hidden in the darkness, with only the light of a lamp in her hand. She was startled, and her response scattered in the evening breeze: “……I know.”

Mu Sheng looked at her, grabbed his outerwear and stepped through the threshold: “Sister can not find the way. I will send you back.”

His frail figure was like a strong wind, pushing away all the fog of confusion.