Chapter 87: The Continuation of the Ancient Tree's Stirring

The ancient talisman in Shen Yan’s palm burned as if about to ignite. Without pausing his steps, he continued forward, pulling Luo Li along by her wrist. The ground beneath their feet began to glow faintly, light patterns spreading in circles from the tree roots like awakened pulses.

“We’re here,” he whispered. “Don’t look back.”

Luo Li was panting heavily, her fox tail dragging limply behind her. At his words, she only sneered coldly, “Now you tell me not to look? You should’ve known from the start you couldn’t escape.”

Before she finished speaking, her knees buckled, and she collapsed toward the ground. Shen Yan reacted swiftly, catching her by the waist and leaning back against the towering ancient tree. The rough bark dug into his back, but he ignored the pain, focusing only on her pale face.

“Hey, still awake?” He shook her shoulder gently.

She forced her eyes open, her pupils already somewhat unfocused. “The poison on the arrow… it’s not ordinary Yin malevolence. It’s Xie Wujiu’s ‘Soul-Severing Lure,’ refined from resentment… I can’t suppress it anymore.”

Shen Yan’s brow furrowed. He immediately summoned the Terminal Interface in his mind. A blue-background window with green text appeared, lines of Commands scrolling rapidly. He opened the “Medical Module,” loaded the meridian diagrams Pei Yue had taught him, and combined them with the Spiritual Energy regulation algorithm he had written himself, beginning to code a Program to extract the toxin.

A faint blue glow emanated from his fingertips as he pressed one hand against her chest, over her heart.

“Bear with it. This Patch hasn’t been fully tested yet,” he said.

The moment the Code was injected, Luo Li convulsed violently, spitting a mouthful of black blood onto his shoulder.

A System Notice popped up: 【Warning: High-Level Obsession interference Detected in the target’s body. Conventional purification failed. Recommend introducing Emotional Resonance Parameters to enhance Spiritual Power coupling efficiency.】

Shen Yan gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. He knew what this meant—technology alone wouldn’t suffice. He had to weave his own emotions into the Program.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and quietly added a hidden Command at the end of the Code: “If bond level reaches Soul Binding, Initiate deep repair Protocol.”

Then, he opened his eyes, looking at the person in his arms, his voice soft. “Do you remember? I once wrote a Function in the System called ‘Guard Luo Li, Never Crash.’”

Luo Li’s eyelashes trembled as she struggled to lift her gaze. “When… did you write that?”

“Practiced it three hundred times,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Afraid it would crash as soon as it Ran, embarrassing.”

She suddenly smiled, weak as it was, yet for the first time without her usual guardedness. “Then… do you dare to click ‘Run’ now?”

“Already did,” he replied, staring at the Terminal. “Deploying online, lifetime maintenance.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire ancient tree suddenly trembled.

Countless points of light rose from the earth, spiraling up along the trunk. In a single breath, thousands of flower buds that had not bloomed for a millennium burst open all at once, thousands of pure white sacred flowers falling like snow. Along the edges of each petal, tiny binary characters appeared, linking together into a sentence that scrolled in a Loop:

“Love → Execute perpetually, never terminate.”

A new prompt popped up on Shen Yan’s Terminal: 【Notice: Cross-species spiritual tree empathy Protocol automatically loaded. Recommend immediately saving current session and backing up emotional Data.】

He froze.

“Did you do this?” Luo Li lifted a hand to catch a drifting petal, her voice hoarse and strained.

“Not me,” he shook his head. “Maybe… the tree read that Code itself.”

“So you really wrote the variable ‘love’?” She glanced sideways at him, a smile in her eyes.

“That’s a core parameter!” His ears flushed red. “Without it, the whole program won’t run!”

She didn’t say anything more, only sighed softly. Her tail, without her noticing, had wrapped around his wrist, its warmth seeping through the fabric. The nine fox tails slowly began to glow faintly, as if finally regaining their power.

Shen Yan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to withdraw the Spiritual Power from his hand when he noticed the System had frozen.

【Warning: Mental Power overdraft threshold breakthrough. Source Code Spiritual Root entering dormant state.】

“Damn…” he cursed under his breath, his vision darkening.

Luo Li sensed something was wrong and grabbed his wrist sharply. “Why are you pushing yourself so hard?”

“What else was I supposed to do?” he gasped, leaning against the tree trunk. “Let you die here? Wait for the Demon Clan to use your corpse as a sacrifice tomorrow?”

“I’m not someone who needs saving,” she said, her voice cooling.

“I know,” he cut her off. “But I’m not trying to be a hero either. I just… don’t want to see anyone fall because I was too slow again.”

The wind brushed through the treetops, petals still drifting down.

She stared at him for a long time, then suddenly reached out and wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Next time,” she said, “don’t carry it alone.”

“That depends on whether you can keep up with my compilation speed,” he grinned, though his eyes were full of exhaustion.

She didn’t retort, just rested her head lightly on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Shen Yan stiffened for a moment but didn’t move.

The Terminal was still flashing: 【Emotional Synchronization Rate has reached 97%. Create shared Memory region?】

He silently tapped “No.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t dare—he was afraid that if something happened to him one day, this Code would be completely deleted.

He adjusted his posture to let her lean more comfortably, while his other hand quietly traced a few Runes in the air, setting up a three-zhang perimeter as a warning zone. Just as he finished the last stroke, the ancient symbol in his palm grew hot again.

He frowned and looked up.

The leaves at the top of the ancient tree rustled without wind, and a gentle pillar of light descended from the canopy, enveloping the two of them. The falling petals turned into specks of starlight upon touching the light, merging into their shadows.

Another System Notice popped up: 【Sacred Tree has activated a protective domain. Duration unknown. Friendly reminder: This service is a one-time gift. Please cherish the present.】

“Quite considerate,” he muttered.

“Who are you talking about?” Luo Li opened one eye.

“The tree.”

She hummed softly, tightening her tails around him.

In the distance, the alarm from the dungeon had long since ceased. This Forbidden Land was so quiet you could hear the petals landing on the ground. But Shen Yan knew the peace wouldn’t last long.

He looked down at his hand, still pressed against her chest, where Spiritual Energy continued to flow slowly. Seventy percent of the poison had been cleared; the remaining thirty percent would need to be metabolized by her own Demon Power. The Blood Pact fluctuations had also calmed, meaning the binding hadn’t been broken.

They had narrowly escaped death.

He recalled the earlier scene—her blocking the arrow for him, nearly crushing him with her full weight when she fell, saying “don’t touch my tail,” yet her tail had come over on its own.

Truly stubborn on the outside but soft on the inside.

“Hey,” he suddenly spoke up.

“Hmm?”

“Do you think… this counts as… mutual devotion?”

She opened her eyes, narrowing her vertical pupils at him. “If you dare write that into the System Log, I’ll throw you into the demon-refining furnace.”

“Threatening me?” He laughed. “Then let go of my tail first.”

She ignored him, burying her face even deeper.

Shen Yan didn’t say anything more, just gently took her hand that hung by her side.

Their fingers intertwined.

Petals continued to drift, light patterns still pulsed. The Sacred Tree seemed to be asleep, yet also as if waiting.

Until a moment when Shen Yan caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing at the base of the tree from the corner of his eye.

He immediately tensed, about to stand up—

But Luo Li pressed him down.

“Don’t move,” she whispered. “It’s here.”

(End of Chapter)