“She fainted,” she said.
“I know she fainted! Put her down, or I’m really going to start swinging!”
Wing-Fire Snake lowered her head, looking at Nie Chaoxi in her arms.
A snow-white face, snow-white hair, snow-white skin—she was so pale she was almost transparent.
Large beads of sweat were still bubbling up, sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto the ground.
“What is her nam—”
“None of your business! Give her to me!”
Plague Rat rushed forward and snatched Nie Chaoxi from Wing-Fire Snake’s arms. Clutching her, it retreated a few steps warily.
Wing-Fire Snake did not resist; she simply let it take her.
She stood where she was, staring at her own hands.
Where she had just been holding Nie Chaoxi, a faint coolness remained.
Very light.
Very soft.
Like what?
Like rain.
She suddenly gave a small smile, then looked up at Plague Rat and asked, “Are you here for that thing?”
Plague Rat was taken aback, then sneered. “What if we are? Do you plan to stop us?”
Wing-Fire Snake shook her head, and her left eye turned cold once more.
“What are you doing?! You’re letting them in? Have you lost your mind?!”
Wing-Fire Snake raised a charred hand and pressed it against the left side of her face.
“Let go!”
“I will not.”
“You—”
“Let me have some peace for a moment.”
“Just a moment.”
“Once I am dead, you can be as mad as you like.”
The left side of her face struggled for a few moments, but the hand pressed down firmly, and she could not break free.
Finally, she went still.
Wing-Fire Snake lowered her hand and looked at Plague Rat.
“You are too weak,” she said. “You cannot kill me.”
Plague Rat’s nose flared in anger. “Dammit! Who the hell are you looking down on?!”
Wing-Fire Snake shook her head. “I am not looking down on you. I am merely stating a fact.”
“You—”
“But if you wish to go in...” She paused, looking toward the stone door. “Go ahead.”
Plague Rat was stunned. “What?”
“If you want that thing, go in.” Wing-Fire Snake turned her gaze toward the stone door. “I will not stop you.”
Plague Rat’s brow furrowed. “What kind of scheme are you cooking up now?”
Wing-Fire Snake did not turn back. “I have no schemes. Go, quickly. I do not have much time left before I lose my lucidity again.”
“However, once you are inside, promise me one thing.”
“What is it?”
Wing-Fire Snake looked at the stone door, specifically at the half-segment of a charred snake body upon it.
“Destroy that thing,” she said. “Or destroy this prison.”
“As long as it exists, I can never leave.”
“As long as this prison exists, I will forever be Zhu Pan’s jailer.”
“I do not want to be it anymore.”
“I want to go home.”
Wu Gou looked at her, pressed his palms together, and bowed.
“This monk promises you.”
Wing-Fire Snake returned the bow, her movements stiff and unfamiliar, as if she had not performed the gesture in a very long time.
“Thank you.”
Plague Rat watched from the side, its brow deeply furrowed.
“Baldy, you actually believe her?” It pointed at Wing-Fire Snake. “This woman’s origins are unknown. She was trying to kill us just a moment ago, and now she’s suddenly lucid and letting us through? What if it’s a trap?”
Wu Gou shook his head. “It is not a trap.”
“How do you know?”
“This monk can see it.” Wu Gou looked at Wing-Fire Snake. “The female benefactor has sorrow in her eyes and obsession in her heart. Now that she has found a sliver of lucidity to seek liberation, how could I not fulfill her wish?”
Plague Rat rolled its eyes. “Fine, fine, you’re the high monk, you call the shots. But if anything goes wrong, it’s on you.”
It then gently handed the unconscious Nie Chaoxi over to Wu Gou and strode toward the stone door.
With just a few strikes, the stone door collapsed with a thunderous boom, crashing to the ground and sending clouds of dust into the air.
Plague Rat was momentarily stunned. How could a stone door that was supposed to have a very strong seal be so fragile?
If it was this weak, why hadn't the madwoman broken it herself?
Plague Rat didn't dwell on it. Following the guidance of the plague origin within its body, it entered the room.
The moment the door broke, Wing-Fire Snake felt her body grow light, as if something had snapped.
She looked at Wu Gou and softly said, “Thank you.”
Wu Gou pressed his palms together and bowed. “The female benefactor is too kind.”
Wing-Fire Snake looked at him and suddenly asked, “Are you not afraid I am lying to you?”
Wu Gou smiled. “Your strength is far greater than ours. If you wanted to, you could simply strike us down; there is no need for such petty tricks.”
Wing-Fire Snake fell silent for a moment, then she also smiled. “You truly are an interesting monk.”
She turned and looked up at the ceiling. Above was a thick layer of rock; the outside world was invisible.
“I want to go up,” she said.
Wu Gou was slightly startled. “Female benefactor, you cannot leave, can you? Your true form is still here, is it not?”
Wing-Fire Snake turned back to look at him, her expression surprised. “How do you know everything?”
“In the previous levels, this monk read the diaries the female benefactor left behind.”
Wing-Fire Snake sighed. “So you saw all of that.”
“My true form is sealed within the formation eye’s gate. If I leave this place, I will crumble.”
“But I do not want to guard it anymore.”
“While I still have some lucidity left, I want to go up and see.”
“I have killed many people—the old citizens of Jiao Mu Kingdom, the former subordinates of the True Lord of Purity and Filth, the innocent people imprisoned here... I burned them all with my own hands.”
“I am an executioner.”
“I have failed them.”
“I do not deserve to live.”
“But I want to die on the surface.”
“I do not want to live underground anymore.”
Wing-Fire Snake gave a faint smile and walked toward the collapsed stone door.
She stood at the entrance, looking at the half-segment of the charred snake body on the door.
That was a part of her true form.
Sealed here for ten thousand years, it had long since been burned to charcoal.
She reached out and gently touched the half-segment of the snake body.
It was very hot.
But it felt familiar.
“I am sorry,” she whispered. “I have made you suffer.”
Then she raised her hand and released a great fire.
Transparent flames surged from her palm, instantly engulfing the half-segment of the snake body.
The snake body burned in the flames, making a hissing sound, and was soon reduced to ash.
The ashes drifted down, piling into a small heap on the ground.
Wing-Fire Snake knelt down, gathered the heap of ashes, and pressed them against her face.
“Let us go,” she whispered. “Let us go home.”
Then she stood up and began to walk upward.
With the first step, her ankle began to disintegrate.
Charred skin turned to ash, drifting away in flakes.
Revealing the flesh beneath.
Then the flesh also began to disintegrate.
But she did not stop.
She kept walking.
Ash drifted from her body, scattering across the stairs, the passage, and every inch of ground she crossed.
But she did not look back. She simply kept moving forward, moving upward.
Wu Gou, holding the unconscious Nie Chaoxi, followed behind her.
He watched the falling ash and the increasingly broken body, and softly began to chant sutras.
Wing-Fire Snake heard him and turned back to look at him.
“Monk, are you transcending me?”
Wu Gou nodded. “This monk is seeing the female benefactor off.”
Wing-Fire Snake smiled. “Thank you.”
Then she continued to walk upward.
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