Chapter 229: Your Punishment from Now On

The sword light came too suddenly and swiftly.

The enemy didn’t even have time to react before it was already upon him.

With the sound of flesh being sliced away, Ling Xiaoyou, who was still somewhat drowsy, felt something land beside her.

She sensed it and discovered it was an arm.

This arm had undergone who-knows-what kind of transformation—it was covered in sharp spikes and grotesque tumors.

The blood-red skin made one involuntarily think of muscles stripped of their skin.

It was utterly horrifying and repulsive.

Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou immediately snapped awake.

Her watery body hurriedly squirmed away from the arm, not wanting to get anywhere near that thing.

But before she could squirm very far, she felt a soft, delicate hand—slightly cool to the touch—cup her and lift her up.

Because her vision was currently blocked by the magic arts, and even her spiritual sense was affected, Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t see who had come.

But that familiar hand immediately told her exactly who was holding her.

Ling Xiaoyou numbly felt the coolness of the palm and subconsciously said:

“Bai Shuanglian?”

“Mhm, it’s me.”

That clear, cold, and familiar voice sounded from above her head.

The tone was as gentle as always.

However, Ling Xiaoyou, who knew her well, could also vaguely sense beneath that gentleness a surging undercurrent, like a hidden current beneath a calm sea surface.

Xiaoyou’s body trembled.

At the same time, a soft voice asked beside her ear:

“Why did you suddenly push me away?”

Ling Xiaoyou felt her body gently patted by Bai Shuanglian’s hand.

This soothing, elder-like gesture made Ling Xiaoyou feel like a little girl who had done something wrong.

Her entire water form wilted as she said:

“It’s just… I wanted to stay behind myself, but I knew you would definitely choose to stay with me, so…”

“So because you were worried about my safety, you took advantage of my inattention and pushed me into the teleportation passage?”

Bai Shuanglian’s voice sounded from above again, causing Ling Xiaoyou to shrink into an even smaller ball.

“Mhm…”

Ling Xiaoyou softly murmured in acknowledgment.

Even though she had been caught by Bai Shuanglian and was now being interrogated, Ling Xiaoyou still didn’t regret her decision.

She only regretted that she was still too weak.

If she were strong enough, she could probably let Bai Shuanglian leave with peace of mind… probably.

After Ling Xiaoyou responded, Bai Shuanglian didn’t continue speaking.

She simply cast a spell in her hand, sealing the enemy in place so he couldn’t escape.

Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou felt even more guilty.

The wordless silence pressed down on her like pressure, compressing her small form even smaller.

Finally, unable to bear the strange silence any longer, Ling Xiaoyou spoke up:

“Bai Shuanglian…”

But the moment her words left her mouth, she heard Bai Shuanglian suddenly speak as well:

“Do you know, Xiaoyou? I’m actually really angry this time.”

Hearing this, Ling Xiaoyou was stunned.

Then she weakly lowered her head and responded:

“But wasn’t it because I was worried about your safety? I didn’t want you to take risks with me…”

“And what about now?”

Bai Shuanglian directly cut off Ling Xiaoyou’s words, pointing at the enemy ahead who had completely lost all human form, and said:

“You were worried about me taking risks with you. But do you think fighting this kind of thing alone isn’t taking a risk? Have you ever considered that I would worry about you?”

Bai Shuanglian’s tone was extremely severe.

She was clearly furious about what Ling Xiaoyou had done earlier.

Ling Xiaoyou didn’t dare speak anymore.

She could only use silence as her answer.

Even though Bai Shuanglian said all these things, Ling Xiaoyou’s resolve would never change no matter what.

She was simply worried about Bai Shuanglian.

Even if she was far weaker than Bai Shuanglian, that still wouldn’t change!

As if sensing the girl’s stubbornness, Bai Shuanglian let out a soft sigh.

She pinched Ling Xiaoyou’s current water-ball form and kneaded it vigorously as she said:

“Since you would want me to leave because you worry about me, then I would also come back again because I worry about you. No matter what happens along the way, I will always return to your side!”

In a certain sense, the two of them were equally stubborn.

Hearing Bai Shuanglian’s words, Ling Xiaoyou would be lying if she said she wasn’t moved.

But she wouldn’t change her mind just because of such words either.

“Hmph! Even so, I won’t change! If this situation ever happens again, I’ll still do the same thing!”

Ling Xiaoyou deliberately pretended to look unconcerned, letting out a light snort as she spoke.

“Is that so? Well, that’ll have to wait until after this incident is over and you’ve received your proper punishment.”

Hearing Ling Xiaoyou’s words, Bai Shuanglian suddenly smiled and spoke to her again.

“Punishment?”

Hearing this word, Ling Xiaoyou blankly repeated it.

“That’s right.”

Bai Shuanglian revealed a radiant smile at Ling Xiaoyou.

Even though she knew Xiaoyou couldn’t see her expression right now, she still couldn’t help but show such a smile.

“Afterwards, once this incident is over, the matter between us will only just be beginning.”

Listening to Bai Shuanglian’s words, the more Ling Xiaoyou heard, the more anxious she felt.

“You’re not going to just scold me verbally for something like this, are you?”

“How could that be? Naturally, there’s a more significant punishment waiting.”

The more she listened, the smaller her water-ball body shrunk.

In the end, it even became the size of a marble.

“I protest! This is tyranny! Punishment is something that at the very least needs to be discussed between the two of us first!”

Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t help but say.

“Protest denied. I’ve already discussed it. Although it was with the Ling Xiaoyou in my heart—she agreed.”

Bai Shuanglian said with a beaming smile.

“What the heck is the Ling Xiaoyou in your heart?! Discussing something with that mental impression is completely wrong!”

Just as the two were conversing, the enemy trapped by Bai Shuanglian seemed to finally lose patience from being ignored by his opponent the entire time.

With some unknown magic art, the blood-red muscles on his body rapidly turned pale.

But his aura climbed higher and higher, quickly rising to a truly terrifying level.

The enemy slammed his fist against the spell binding him.

Even though he was only using physical attacks, the strike had a destructive effect on the magic arts.

Feeling the spell being rapidly broken apart, Bai Shuanglian retracted her smile and furrowed her delicate brows slightly.

She glanced in the enemy’s direction, then turned back to Ling Xiaoyou and said:

“I’ve roughly heard the details from the Huanlin Team outside. Leave this enemy to me. The Earth Vein Heart inside is yours to handle, Xiaoyou.”

Although she still wanted to talk with Ling Xiaoyou a bit longer, the enemy had now used some kind of life-burning magic art and had become an opponent Bai Shuanglian had to take seriously.

“Mhm, leave it to me!”

Ling Xiaoyou also understood the urgency of the situation.

Her small water ball immediately transformed back into Ling Xiaoyou’s form and charged toward the inside.

Seeing this, the enemy instinctively tried to block her path.

But a ice-blue longsword burning with golden flames stood in his way.

Bai Shuanglian looked at this monster-like enemy with a solemn expression and said:

“This road is closed!”