There is still some time before the end of the trial. After everyone's unanimous deliberation, they decided to wait until dawn tomorrow to find other fox tribes in the secret realm, and then bring them to the outside world to cultivate.
Qiao Yan brought Yan Qing and the rest of the clan into the room for healing, and then stayed behind closed doors.
As the only sober descendant of the fox clan, she will definitely not feel good when she learns the truth and thinks about the little things of the past few years. He Zhizhou, who is the thickest line of Rao, is also well aware of this, so he didn't bother.
It was getting late now, and everyone found a room to rest temporarily.
Pei Ji deliberately chose a quiet hut for Ningning, and after carefully cleaning it with a dust removal technique and a broom towel, she took out a quilt from the storage bag and spread it on the bed.
When she was picked up from the wooden chair next to her and placed on the bed carefully, Pei Ji lowered her head subconsciously.
Ning Ning is very light.
Before that, he had very few impressions of other people's bodies. Whether it was the fights on his way home when he was a child, or the provocations of his fellow disciples after he entered the school, the people he met were always tough, even if he punched them hard with his fists. On the body, Pei Ji will not feel distressed at all.
But when he hugged Ning Ning, he didn't dare to use any extra strength, the palm on her shoulder was soft and hot, making him feel at a loss as never before.
The little girl in her arms was sleepy and her body was so soft that she couldn't touch her bones. When Pei Ji stood still, she could hear her shallow, regular breathing.
He didn't feel it when he was next to the noisy waterfall before, but now the sound seemed to have a bit of heat, and when it gently passed by his ear, it made him feel a little dry for no reason.
… it's wired.
Pei Ji pursed her lips and looked away from her face, laid Ning Ning flat on the bed, and unskilledly tucked the quilt for her.
He was top-notch in fighting and swordsmanship, but it was the first time he did this for someone else, so he looked very clumsy, and his cautious look even made Chengying laugh out loud.
"Hey, I said Pei Xiaoji, you're just tucked in a quilt, you don't need to be so formal, right? Those who don't know think you're serving the emperor."
Cheng Ying's laughter never stopped: "Why, you are so cautious, you dare not touch her?"
When it said this, Pei Ji was flattening the quilt near Ning Ning's neck, and he replied coldly: "What kind of thing is the emperor."
"Yo yo yo! You have the backbone, it's incredible!"
Its laughter sank a little, and it became a bit scheming and malicious: "I know I know, no one can compare to Ning Ning, if you think she is important, just say it directly, what is the relationship between our brothers? Is it so roundabout?"
Want to come to Chengying in order to build relationships, really do anything. I used to call myself an old lady, but now I'm a brother again. I don't know what to call it in a different way in the future.
Pei Ji turned a deaf ear to it, her long eyelashes cast a shadow on the bottom of her eyes, and looked down at Ning Ning again.
Mingming deliberately looked away from her not long ago, and he felt that his heart was really weak.
When she was lying on the bed, her whole head was slightly sunk into the pillow, and her long scattered hair gathered on both sides of her cheeks, reflecting her white skin like beautiful jade.
Roughly swept the line of sight, you can see the slender eyelashes like a small fan, the delicate bridge of the nose and the rose-colored lips in turn. Ning Ning is the opposite of him. Whether he is awake or asleep, he exudes approachable from the inside out. The gentle breath makes people want to get closer.
Unlike him, he has always been cold and dry, he doesn't know how to interact with people, and he doesn't know any taste. There are only two things in life, "being alive" and "practicing swordsmanship", which is completely boring.
Pei Ji has seriously thought many times about why Ning Ning is willing to approach him again and again.
Obviously he can't give her anything, and has no use value, and she always has many friends around her, and he is not lacking in any case. Even so, Ning Ning would go to the yard every once in a while to look for him, standing at the door smiling and waving his hand: "Little Junior Brother!"
Later, Pei Ji thought, maybe Ningning was nice to him because she was nice to everyone.
- But he didn't want her to be so nice to everyone.
Pei Ji was startled by this strange thought, and frowned in confusion. Just as he frowned, Ning Ning, who was lying on the bed, also moved his brows and shook his head gently.
It turned out that a few strands of hair fell on her face, and when the night wind blew, it swayed like a tickling.
Pei Ji's fingertips moved slightly.
His right hand fell down quickly and lightly, and when his fingertips just touched Ning Ning's cheek, there was an obvious pause in his entire back.
When the fingers brushed those hairs, they also brushed the delicate skin of the girl's face at the same time.
… bumped into.
Ning Ning's cheeks were unbelievably soft, but with a flick of the hand, her fingers would slide down with force. Even if he quickly moved his hand away, the faint, gentle and soft touch still remained on his fingertips.
Pei Ji has always hated the touch of others, but for some reason, he doesn't hate this feeling.
Even... Even if you have more, you won't feel troublesome.
He suddenly felt a little confused.
"Does this count as you?" Chengying didn't notice Pei Ji's abnormality, and tried her best to consider her words, "quietly touched Ning Ning's face?"
Pei Ji finally responded to it this time, her tone full of impatience: "Shut up."
Cheng Ying didn't understand why the young master was suddenly in a bad mood, and watched him walk out of the room with a sullen face, closing the door as quietly as possible.
It wasn't until he caught a glimpse of his thumb tightly pressed against his index finger that he burst into laughter: "No, Pei Xiaoji! Ning Ning is still sleeping, you can make yourself shy, if you wait for her to wake up, you What should I do!"
Pei Ji paused word by word, with a murderous look in his eyes: "Shut up."
=====
Perhaps thinking of Mother Qin, Ningning dreamed of her parents in another world.
She was pampered and grew up since she was a child, and later became seriously ill, and her parents were even more worried. It's a pity that they paid so much for her, but in the end they didn't enjoy the filial piety that a daughter should do, and they separated from each other early.
The more Ning Ning thought about it, the more saddened she became. When she woke up, she burst into tears, her eyes were swollen like walnuts, and she couldn't go back to sleep anyway.
She didn't know how long she had slept, but she could only see through the window that it was still late at night—
Wait, windows.
Didn't she stay by the waterfall with Pei Ji before? Could it be that he shifted positions? By the way, when next to the waterfall...
Was she picked up by Pei Jiheng and sleeping with her head resting on his shoulder
No, no, the movement of the head resting on the shoulders seems to be the initiative of Pei Ji... right
At that time, she was delirious, half-dream, half-awake, and had no idea what was real and what was dream. However, whether the rest of the memory is true or not, that involuntary hug is absolutely true.
If Pei Ji really put her head on her shoulder—
Ah, that's too, too ambiguous!
The more Ning Ning thought about it, the more panic he became, so he simply shrunk into the quilt, rolled around on the bed with his eyes closed, and wrapped himself into a round ball that was no different from a silkworm cocoon.
She looks beautiful and has a good personality. She has received many confessions since she was a child, but she has never been in love. Not only because of the strict control of the family, but more importantly, it seems that it is difficult for Ning Ning to have a good impression of those boys—
He doesn't like too close contact between the opposite sex, and he also resists the purposeful provocation and courtship. He is immune to all rhetoric and bombardment.
However, when I remembered the incident with Pei Ji by the waterfall before, unexpectedly, I didn't seem to hate it.
Ning Ning got his head out of the quilt and stared at the ceiling in a daze.
There must be a reasonable explanation for this.
Maybe it was because life was at stake at the time, and these actions could be left behind, maybe it was because she and Pei Ji had a deadly friendship, maybe it was the openness of folk customs in the world of self-cultivation, and between men and women—
Pooh.
Can the world of self-cultivation be re-opened, can it compare to the 21st century
The more Ning Ning thought about it, the more upset she became. Seeing that sleep had become a luxury, she got up from the bed with her messy black hair on her head.
The water mirror array was broken by her. Now the two secret realms should have been merged into one, and the place where this house is located must be the village where the fox tribe once lived together.
The village has been abandoned for a long time, and it should be dusty and dirty, but it is clean and tidy, and there is not even a trace of dust on the bed; the shoes are placed on the ground in an upright manner, not like her usual kicks. The habit of kicking away.
Until then, Ning Ning tried to think very seriously: Pei Ji should be the one who brought her here, the one who cleaned up the house, took off her shoes and tucked the quilt for her...
Shouldn't it be him
Probably not.
Ning Ning tried to imagine the scene at that time, and always felt very awkward. Pei Ji went his own way in the original book, just like a killing god who proves the Tao with a sword, how can he be patient to do such a thing.
But... the quilt did have a smell that belonged to him, and Ningning smelled it when she wrapped herself in it.
She couldn't think of a reason, because that dream was extraordinarily boring, and she decided to go out for a walk alone with nothing to do.
When you open the door, you will see a courtyard. The yard is square and upright, surrounded by several other houses, and in the center is a large tree that has withered, and beside the trunk—
Ning Ning was slightly taken aback.
There was a tall and tall figure standing beside the tree trunk, it was Pei Ji.
It should be very late now.
The sky was dark, and even the moon was nowhere to be seen. Only an ever-bright light at the door was still on, but it set off the scenery even more eerily, like a wisp of ghost fire in the abyss.
She never expected that she would see Pei Ji at this moment, and called out a little hesitantly: "Pei Ji, are you still asleep?"
After speaking, he smiled softly, and asked in a joking tone, "Wait for me to wake up, right?"
Ning Ning was indeed joking, and Pei Ji was not as expected, holding the sword and answering lightly, "No."
After a short pause, he added in a deep voice, "I can't sleep, so come out for a walk."
"Bah! Still 'no'! You don't even blink your eyes when you lie!"
A middle-aged male's strong voice sounded in his ear, full of bitterness and indignation, like a small report: "Ning Ning, listen to me! This kid is obviously worried that you will wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, or you don't know the moment. Because of the situation, or there is something wrong with the exhaustion of spiritual energy, so he has been staying here - he still dare not enter your house, saying 'men and women can't kiss each other', bah!"
It's a pity that Ning Ning couldn't hear a word.
Pei Ji's face was expressionless, and she heard Chengying continue to shout indignantly: "Have you seen the sword he is holding in his hand! This kid is afraid of the dark, so he can stay outside alone without holding it! Damn it! I can't even sleep. Feel, how many hours have you waited? The old man also needs to rest, okay?"
"You can't sleep either?"
Ning Ning smiled: "How about we go out for a walk together?"
Pei was silent for a moment, seemingly reluctantly: "Well."
Chengying: Haha.
=====
The real secret realm was much more gloomy than the previous one. It was as dark as a horror movie set. There were only a few ever-bright lights hanging in front of the courtyard gate.
Walking side by side in this atmosphere, there is not much romance at all, but it is like a dog and a man and a woman who are about to finish their lunch in a horror movie.
Pei Ji has been holding the sword in her hand, occasionally looking down at her without a trace.
The two were far apart before, and with the darkness all around, he couldn't see Ning Ning's appearance very clearly. Now walking together side by side, only to realize that she may have cried, her eyes are dizzy with light red.
He couldn't comfort people, and he couldn't understand why the little girl beside him was crying. Although he pondered for a long time how to speak, in the end he just told her coldly: "If someone makes you unhappy, you can tell me."
Ning Ning stared at him blankly, listening to Pei Jiyun's calm explanation, as if he didn't care: "I will fight."
She originally felt a little depressed, but when she heard this sentence, she burst out laughing and asked him with her eyes bent: "Junior Brother, do you usually use this trick to deal with people?"
Ning Ning seldom called him "Junior Brother", but now he bites the two words very clearly, more or less with a sense of ridicule.
Pei Ji has an extraordinary tenacity in her heart, no matter what kind of danger she encounters or how badly she suffers, she can always bear it silently and secretly. However, in the way of dealing with people and things, sometimes they are childish.
He can't speak, let alone people's favor. If something goes wrong, he will fight. The rest of the time, he will be silent. Even comforting people is stupid.
Pei Ji frowned, and for the first time expressed dissatisfaction with this title: "I'm older than you."
"Good good."
She put her hands behind her back and used the light to see the road ahead. She pursed her lips and smiled: "Actually, I think of my father and mother. I haven't seen them for a long time."
The practitioners are beyond the ordinary, and their lifespan is much longer than that of ordinary people. Therefore, they often cut off the karmic relationship and do not deliberately contact their parents.
Pei Ji didn't hear anything wrong, she made a low "um", and then hesitantly said: "If you are thinking about your parents, when you have a little free time-"
He paused for a while, turned his eyes to the opposite side of Ning Ning, and said casually: "I can barely spare time and accompany you down the mountain."
"Yo, you're still 'reluctantly taking time', then you are really reluctant enough, and your heart has long been happy."
Cheng Ying sneered and said sarcastically: "I'm so anxious to see my father-in-law and mother-in-law, I can't see it, Pei Xiaoji, let's be a little more reserved."
"Actually, it's not a matter of not going down the mountain..."
Ning Ning sighed softly and changed the subject: "Does Qiao Yan know the truth?"
"Yeah." Pei Ji said, "But the fox clan can still be saved. We have discussed it. When the secret realm opens, we will take them all out."
That girl Qiao Yan has lived for her clan for many years. When she learns that the clan she thinks is full of demons, she must be in pain. Fortunately, the spirit fox lineage has not yet gone extinct, so she can regain some hope that is damaged.
The village is not big, and the two quickly reached the end. They wanted to go home, but unexpectedly, there was a sudden thunder in the sky.
Ning Ning looked up blankly, and as soon as he raised his face, he was hit by the crackling raindrops.
"… It's raining?"
She was still staring at the raindrops in a daze, and her sleeves were suddenly pulled, and a thin layer of fabric suddenly covered her head.
It turned out that Pei Ji took a jacket from the storage bag, put it on top of her head, grabbed Ning Ning's sleeve, and led her straight to the nearest house.
This place is remote and there are no lights. Due to the war, only the ruins of the house are left, and the only remaining eaves are so narrow that they can only cover less than five people.
The night flowed slowly like flowing water, when Ningning looked forward, he saw the vague shadow of the young man.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but when the surroundings were completely shrouded in darkness, Pei Ji clenched the fingers of her sleeve slightly, causing Ning Ning to take another step forward.
"What's wrong?"
After a while, Pei Ji's voice came from the darkness, as dull as the night: "It's okay."
Entering the dilapidated house, he loosened Ning Ning's sleeves, walked to the corner with his sword in his arms, and leaned against the wall; Ning Ning had a big heart and stood not far away to look at the landscape outside the house.
It should have not rained for a long time in the secret realm, the ground cracked with fine marks, and transparent small bubbles appeared under the rain. A light was lit in the distance, and there was only a very faint light, dyeing the rain threads into turbid white.
"It seems to have cooled down."
Only half of the house collapsed, without doors and windows and most of the walls. The rain flew in obliquely from the front, and Ning Ning's eyes were sore from the night wind. He closed his shirt and turned to look at Pei Ji: "Are you cold?"
When she turned her head, a flash of lightning happened to pass from the sky.
The dazzling white light illuminated the boy's stern face, and Ning Ning was a little surprised to find that Pei Jizheng was biting his lip, and his face was abnormally pale.
The residual power of the demons is wandering around here... Is he affected by this, and has the demonic energy attacked again
But there was no black gas beside Pei Ji, which was not the same as the previous few times.
Ning Ning just glanced at it for a short time, and then it darkened again. Confused, she suddenly remembered a few narrations in the original book.
Pei Ji was locked in the cellar by her mother when she was a child.
By the way, the original text did say that he would often turn on a light when he slept.
When Ning Ning saw this, he was still puzzled by this move. Now that he thinks about it carefully, Pei Ji, he wouldn't be, is he afraid of the dark
Another flash of light flashed, and the black-clothed youth standing in the corner noticed her gaze and turned his head to the other side with a stern face.
His black hair was soaked by the rain that flew in diagonally, and his body was stretched straight, holding the sword tightly in his hand.
Ning Ning guessed a rough idea, and after a brief hesitation, he took a few steps forward and slowly approached him.
Pei Ji moved quietly to the corner, her voice stiff: "What's wrong?"
"I'm afraid of the dark."
She smiled a little when she spoke, walked to him like a gust of wind, and brought the gentle fragrance of gardenia: "I want to talk to you."
"Ningning is afraid of the dark? Why didn't I find out before - she also said that she couldn't sleep because of being shaken by spirit mushrooms."
Chengying thief whispered to him, and suddenly burst into laughter in the middle of speaking: "Pei Xiaoji, she doesn't see that you are afraid of the dark, but she doesn't want to say it directly to hurt your face, so she used it like this. An excuse!"
Pei Ji just wanted to punch it in the face.
"I'm not afraid of the dark."
He took another step to the corner, this time there was absolutely no way out, and he came to the icy corner: "I just don't like it."
Ning Ning was slightly taken aback.
This person's brain circuit is really strange, she has come up with a foolproof excuse to get close to Pei Ji and not let him be afraid. Unexpectedly, he not only saw her intentions, but also exploded on the spot, which was too awkward.
She glanced sideways and saw the angular outline of Pei Ji's side face. He probably felt embarrassed, and lowered his head and stared at the ground in the corner.
Ning Ning held back a smile and asked him in a light voice, "Don't like the dark, and go out alone at night when you can't sleep?"
She just said it casually before, but now she is really suspicious. The reason why he is standing alone in the dark yard is to wait for her to wake up.
"Hahahaha Ningning is worthy of you!"
Chengying was so happy that she rolled around in the sea of consciousness, her body twisting around like a bug: "Pei Ji, this stinky boy, not only did he wait for you outside the door to wake up, but he also quietly poked you in the face when you were asleep!"
Pei Ji closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her hand holding the sword tighter.
The heavy rain in the sky diluted all the light, the house was filled with dust and hot air, and a dull thunder sounded unexpectedly. Ning Ning's heart moved, and he looked at Pei Ji again.
He actually frowned subconsciously, and the long sword in his hand swayed.
If the relationship between them is closer, maybe they can hug and hug like the hero and heroine in a love movie, but she can't just move forward without saying a word—
The dark night, the violent storm, the empty old house and the woman who suddenly approached, this is clearly a horror movie or a legal documentary, the kind of nightmare that can be recalled in the middle of the night.
The atmosphere froze for a while.
Suddenly Pei Ji heard her voice, scratching her ear like a cat's paw: "Pei Ji."
He suddenly looked up and saw Ning Ning's bright eyes.
She seemed to hook her finger at him, with a mysterious look: "Come here a little bit."
Seeing his confused look, Ning Ning chuckled: "I won't eat you again, what are you afraid of?"
So Pei Ji stiffened her back and took a step closer to her.
The familiar fresh aroma enveloped the tip of his nose again, and he was unprepared, feeling that something was covering his head.
Ning Ning put the coat back on him.
Pei Ji couldn't understand her intention, so she shook her head in the fabric, and suddenly she noticed that the jacket had been lifted, and another small head was poked into her side.
Ning Ning and he stood under the jacket together, the thin fabric swayed and fell, blocking the raindrops flying diagonally, creating an extremely narrow space beside them.
There is only room for the two of them.
Pei Ji hates darkness and crampedness, but at this moment, having both, makes him feel more at ease than ever before.
Maybe it's because there are more than them, there is one more Ning Ning here, who was with him for the first time.
Although they didn't touch, they were close at hand, and this small space was filled with the warmth and aura that belonged to a girl, completely shrouding him.
"That way I won't be afraid."
Ning Ning smiled softly: "I can know that you are by my side."
She paused for a while and suddenly asked, "Pei Ji, what kind of girl do you like?"
Cheng Ying, who had been chattering and rolling around, suddenly stopped, and did not make a sound at all.
"Don't think too much, just, just ask casually, nothing else."
Her voice was getting smaller and smaller, almost engulfed by the pattering rain: "Because you don't seem to have much contact with the girls in the sect, I'm kinda-"
The last word "Qi" was stuck in his throat, and Ning Ning couldn't go on.
No, no, even if Pei Ji has been a bachelor all his life like in the original book, it has nothing to do with her. What is she curious about? This explanation makes it even more strange.
Ning Ning didn't know why she asked that sentence in a confused way, her ears blushed a little for a while, she subconsciously tightened her shirt, pursed her lips and raised her eyes.
Seeing this, he couldn't help being stunned.
Pei Ji's eyes were dark and deep, and she was staring at her without blinking.