He quickly recovered his innocent and harmless demeanor, that of world peace.
"Hua Mi saved me, I just want to repay her kindness, I won't have any obsessive thoughts of her..." He paused, then said in a low voice, "I won't have any infatuated or delusional thoughts about her."
"Oh, really?"
Xiao Sijun eyed him suspiciously.
The way he looked at her mother earlier was not as pure as he claimed.
Li Sheng blinked his long, delicate eyelashes. Having a precocious and overly intelligent child was also a sweet burden.
He quickly said, "Really, I only see her as a benefactor. I just want to stay by her side, be good to her, and do things for her..." As he spoke, a faint watery sheen appeared on his lashes, threatening to fall but not quite, making his eyes incredibly lustrous.
"But I also know I'm not worthy of her, so, Xiao Sijun, after you go back, please don't mention me to Hua Mi's fiancé. I'm afraid he might misunderstand our relationship."
Such thinly veiled "tea talk" was something only a naive child could fail to grasp its deeper meaning.
Gu Sijun, seeing that he seemed hurt by what he said but was still trying hard to explain himself and worried about the Human Emperor misunderstanding, felt a pang of guilt in his not-so-sound conscience.
What ill intentions could a child have? He was just worried that the mother he finally found would be snatched away.
So, even though his conscience might ache a little, he had to continue the lie.
However, since the other party had clearly stated his intentions, Gu Sijun wouldn't deliberately target him.
At this time, Gu Sijun was still just a six-year-old child. He didn't understand that there existed men called "green tea bitches" in this world.
These men excelled at feigning a pitiable, harmless, serene, yet sickly and sentimental appearance in front of others, but behind their backs, they were scheming and manipulated everyone else at their fingertips.
"As long as you behave yourself and don't have any thoughts about my mother, I won't say anything."
Not say anything? That wouldn't do.
Li Sheng's face again showed a worried and dim expression, "You should say something. After all, what I have with my benefactor is pure and clear. Why should we fear misunderstanding? I was overthinking earlier. I shouldn't have judged others with a small mind and kept silent. It would rather make others suspect us of having something to hide."
No, your relationship with my mother was perfectly normal. No, wait, I'm being led astray by him. You had no relationship with my mother at all. How did it come out of your mouth sounding like there was a significant connection?
Gu Sijun was somewhat bewildered.
But when Li Sheng looked at him quietly, Gu Sijun swallowed and, for some reason, found it hard to resist his current gaze, which was like flowing water and blooming flowers.
"Then say, say it," he said, annoyed.
Li Sheng's face finally broke into a smile. He asked gently, "Does Xiao Sijun know how to say it?"
How to say it? Just say it as it is. Does that even need teaching?
However, Gu Sijun was curious about how this two-faced pear-blossom man intended for him to say it, so he asked, "Tell the truth?"
Li Sheng immediately sighed, "Silly child, if you tell the truth, he might get jealous and make a fuss. Wouldn't that annoy your mother greatly? So you should tell him that the person by your mother's side is merely someone repaying a debt of gratitude. Your mother saved him and kept him by her side out of pure kindness, not because she fell for a man like him. He should be more magnanimous..."
Wait!
Although Gu Sijun had only met his mother recently, he knew she was somewhat different from the word "kindness." If he told the Human Emperor this, would he believe it?
Although Xiao Sijun was young and didn't understand the complexities of adult relationships, he felt that what this Li Sheng was teaching him to say sounded inexplicably... bitchy?
He was sure that saying it this way would only make the Yin-Yang Emperor and his mother quarrel even more fiercely?
As if seeing through Gu Sijun's thoughts at that moment, Li Sheng's ears turned red. In a shy, maidenly tone, he said, "If it were me, I would absolutely not cause trouble with Hua Mi. She's already exhausted from managing important matters outside. When she returns home, she should enjoy the peace and warmth of home. For trivial matters and jealousy, if I can handle it myself, why bother her?"
Gu Sijun: "..."
Well, you are quite considerate and virtuous.
But you probably don't know that these words have completely exposed your intentions!
—
Meanwhile, as Gu Junshi took action, Mercy City also implemented city-wide emergency measures.
Mercy City was, after all, an ancient city with a long history, located near the eerie and ghost-ridden Fengdu. Besides the ancient traces left by time, it possessed its own enduring methods of self-preservation.
Once most of the survivors in the city had fled into the barrier of the "Su Tong Zhao Jian Array," Guanghui Zen Monastery, Jizhao Nun Monastery, and Jingxu Nun Convent prepared to activate the offensive array. The "Su Tong Zhao Jian Array" not only had defensive capabilities but also offensive power.
They intended to drive all the reanimated corpses in the city to the central area of Mercy City, and then activate the "Su Tong Zhao Jian Array" to annihilate them completely.
The offensive range of the "Su Tong Zhao Jian Array" encompassed the entire Mercy City. Apart from the protective barrier of the "Su Tong Zhao Jian Array," everything else in the city would be destroyed by this formation.
One could imagine the immense power of this "Su Tong Zhao Jian Array," but it also required a massive spiritual energy to power it. If it weren't for a dire emergency, the nuns of Guanghui Zen Monastery, Jizhao Nun Monastery, and Jingxu Nun Convent would not have activated it at the cost of depleting their cultivation.
Of all this, Gu Junshi was unaware. She saw that the reanimated corpses, influenced by the pervasive ghost energy in the city, were all rushing towards the surroundings of the divine nun statue.
Why were these monsters increasing?
Le Bao bit his lower lip, unable to stop his body from trembling. What should he do? He seemed to be surrounded and couldn't escape.
Earlier, he had planned to fly on his sword, but as soon as he ascended, he was almost pulled into another dimension by the strange red vortexes in the sky. Fortunately, the "Bai Luo" sword exerted its spiritual energy to sever those red thorny tendrils, otherwise, he would have been dragged in.
However, "Bai Luo" had exhausted its spiritual energy saving him and could no longer protect him. He was not "Bai Luo's" sword master; he couldn't restore its power.
Only when his father arrived could he and "Bai Luo" escape their current predicament.
But why hadn't his father arrived yet?
The wind at high altitude made him dizzy. He sniffled, his fair ten fingers digging tightly into the statue's earlobes.
He had encased the lower half of the statue with an ice talisman, creating a slippery surface. These clumsy reanimated corpses couldn't fly. They could only jump to a certain height and then climb up slowly, but because the stone statue was too slippery, they fell back down halfway.
Le Bao still held a handful of fire talismans. As soon as one climbed a bit higher, he would use the fire talismans to burn them.
Reanimated corpses were different from ghosts, but they had similarities. For instance, they were both malevolent beings, fearing strong light and intense fire.
When Le Bao was escaping from these reanimated corpses that relentlessly pursued the scent of flesh and blood, he had already used many powerful magical artifacts. But there were too many of them, and he couldn't hide or avoid them. Finally, his spiritual energy could no longer sustain him, so he climbed onto this.
He thought that if he stood higher and was more visible, his father would be able to see him at a glance if he arrived.
As the reanimated corpses persistently climbed and clawed, the ice skin on the surface of the statue was peeled off and chipped away by them. With cracks and friction, they climbed higher and higher by stepping on the bodies and heads of other reanimated corpses, like a human pyramid.
Seen from behind, hundreds of reanimated corpses piled up like black ants on the statue's torso, the immense weight causing the statue to sway precariously.
Le Bao stared down below, growing anxious.
What should he do?!
If they exerted more pressure, this humanoid statue would collapse!
He simply threw the handful of fire talismans down. Instantly, the fire talismans erupted into a dense flame upon contact with the air. The smell of scorching and burning wafted from below.
Roar, roar—
But this only eliminated the first wave of reanimated corpses. With more and more reanimated corpses following from below, the stone base connecting the statue's legs began to tilt.
Le Bao was at his wit's end. He hugged the statue tightly and searched the city with tears in his eyes, "Dad—"
Dad, can't you find Le Bao?
If you don't come soon, Le Bao might never see you again.
As the statue completely collapsed, Le Bao could no longer stand. His arms opened limply. He saw below a crowd of hungry reanimated corpses, panting with foul breath, their faces ferocious and ugly, with white teeth stained with red flesh, all waiting for him to fall, then pounce, and tear him, this tender body, apart to eat.
Wuwu...
With a sob, Le Bao wished he could remain strong until the end, not cry, not be afraid, not scream. He knew he was doomed this time, but he was so unwilling to accept it.
He still had a wish, a wish hidden deep in his heart that had not yet been fulfilled.
Mom, Le Bao misses you so much.
Mom... Le Bao misses you so, so much.
Le Bao wants his mother, wants to find his mother. Le Bao wants to see what his mother looks like.
Le Bao is going to die.
But Le Bao won't see his mother even in death.
So Le Bao doesn't want to die.
Who can save Le Bao... wuwu...
He closed his eyes tightly, and tears like pearls slid down his cheeks. He cried so pitifully. He wailed... His little face was crumpled like a bun, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't fall into the pile of reanimated corpses. He was intercepted in mid-air.
Bang—
With a loud thud, the fallen divine nun statue was righted, and Le Bao fell into a warm and fragrant embrace.
He trembled, his heart pounding as if it would leap out of his throat. He felt that he had survived a disaster and slowly opened his tightly shut eyes.
Pale light entered his pupils. His vision was blurry and wet from crying so hard, making everything indistinct, but he could feel himself being held securely in someone's arms.
It was so reassuring, and it made him want to cry.
"Dad—"
His first thought was that his father had finally come to save him.
But soon, he realized he had called out to the wrong person.
Because his father's chest was broader and firmer, while this person's embrace was soft and fragrant.
He blinked his eyelashes, trying to clear the residual tears from his eyes, then raised his face. At that moment, the other person also lowered her head to look at him.
He could finally see clearly.
But Le Bao's expression was one of utter shock.
Gu Junshi looked at this small face that felt both familiar and strange, and couldn't help but soften her voice, "Don't be afraid."
A tear rolled down Le Bao's eye.
From being rescued until now, he had been trembling uncontrollably. No one was unafraid of death. Facing death so closely, let alone a child like him, even adults would be so scared their legs would go weak.
Le Bao stared into her ink-dark eyes, as if falling into a vast starry sky, "I, I'm not afraid..."
The other person chuckled upon hearing this.
"As expected, they are siblings."
When Xiao Sijun had been scared before, he had also looked so pitiful yet so stubborn.
She reached out and stroked his little head, generously praising him, "You did very well, both brave and smart. But you are still young, you don't have to be so strong."
Hearing her say that, Le Bao's nose suddenly felt sore.
For some reason, from the first moment he saw her, he felt a special closeness. He really liked how she spoke to him so gently.
His pale little face, which had been ashen from fear, now finally regained some color.
"Thank, thank you, sister, for saving me just now."
Even at this moment, he didn't forget to thank her for saving him.
Gu Junshi could tell that this little pampered child had good upbringing. The corners of her eyes slightly raised.
"What is your name?"
He replied, "My name is Le Bao. I don't have a formal name; this is a nickname my father gave me."
"Then, Le Bao, can you close your eyes for a moment?"
Le Bao blinked his eyes, like twinkling stars. He didn't understand why she wanted him to close his eyes.
Then he heard her say, in a calm tone, a sentence that made his whole body feel as warm as if he were soaking in a hot spring.
"Little Le Bao, be good?"
His little face instantly flushed red, and he quickly and obediently closed his eyes.
His little heart was beating thump-thump.
"Le, Le Bao is obedient."
Seeing the little fellow's shy demeanor, Gu Junshi couldn't help but smile.
She floated in mid-air from the statue. This time, those red vortexes dared not attack her, so she remained steadily suspended in the air.
These reanimated corpses might be a big problem for others, but for Gu Junshi, it was hardly anything.
She pressed a palm downwards, and the dark sphere formed in her palm enlarged, creating a vortex-like mass. The wind raged.
The reanimated corpses seemed to sense a great threat. Although they had no brains, having consumed so much flesh and blood, some had gained a semblance of intellect and felt fear, but it was too late to retreat. The strong airflow sucked them in.
They were blown up and formed into a whirlwind.
These corpses, which had no souls, had no reason to exist.
The next second, they spread out from the center and instantly exploded.
Le Bao opened his eyes at the last moment. When he saw the large explosion, when he saw all the reanimated corpses in the city turn to ashes, he was stunned.
A cool, slender finger lifted his chin, "Didn't I tell you not to look?"
"Are you scared?"
He looked at her with a pale face.
She picked him up. Perhaps accustomed to holding Sijun, she patted his back, "Don't be afraid."
"You just called out 'Dad'..."
Suddenly, Gu Junshi thought of the man in the white cloak outside the city, "Your dad, does he wear a white cloak?"