Chapter 203 – Snowflakes Drifting, the North Wind Blowing

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The glow of the spatial gate gradually faded. Lin Xi staggered and slid from Thor’s back.

“W-where are we?” She looked around. “Are we safe?”

“Of course you’re safe.”

The Queen of Lust’s voice came from directly behind her, so close that every hair on the back of Lin Xi’s neck stood on end.

Lin Xi whirled around, but the sudden movement sent her vision swimming.

A hand caught and steadied her.

At some point, Yang Shanshan had appeared half a step behind her. Her purple-black skirt moved without wind, gleaming strangely in the sunset.

“You-” Lin Xi stared at her.

Yang Shanshan narrowed her mismatched eyes. The pinkish purple of her left eye flowed through the twilight like a melting gemstone.

“Stubborn Little Flame,” she murmured with a sigh. “You can’t even stand, yet you’re still forcing yourself to look strong?”

Lin Xi opened her mouth to argue, only for the words to catch in her throat.

“What did you do to me?”

A mysterious smile curved Yang Shanshan’s lips. “I merely eased your exhaustion.”

Thor gave a low whine and struggled to stand so she could protect her Master, but her strength was almost completely spent. All she could do was watch their exchange in agitation.

Yang Shanshan turned toward the Giant Dragon. A complicated emotion flashed through her dark-gold right eye.

“Don’t worry, big girl,” she said gently, with unexpected sincerity. “If I meant to hurt either of you, I wouldn’t have stepped in back there.”

Lin Xi drew a deep breath and fought to recover her usual composure.

“Why did you save us? We’ve never had anything to do with each other, have we?”

“Nothing to do with each other?” Yang Shanshan laughed, the sound like wind chimes colliding. “Oh, we have plenty to do with each other. We go back quite a long way.”

“Since when?” Lin Xi demanded.

Yang Shanshan suddenly leaned closer.

Lin Xi went still.

At this distance, her heart began racing beyond her control.

“This makes no sense…”

Lin Xi forced herself to concentrate, but her thoughts had gone sluggish, as if they were soaking in warm water.

Yang Shanshan did not answer her question.

Lin Xi held her breath.

Wait. What was this woman trying to do?!

How could she possibly act this familiar with someone she had just met?!

“What are you-“

“Shh…” Yang Shanshan said. “The Seven Monarchs of Desire can see the desires within a soul… and yours-“

Her mismatched eyes seemed bottomless.

“-burns so beautifully.”

For one second, time itself seemed to freeze.

While Lin Xi’s thoughts were still in disarray, Yang Shanshan gave a quiet laugh.

“It’s time to say goodbye, Little Flame.”

She withdrew her hand and took half a step back.

An inexplicable sense of loss washed over Lin Xi, followed immediately by anger at herself for feeling it.

“You’re leaving?” She tried to make the question sound purely vigilant, with no other emotion behind it whatsoever.

Yang Shanshan tilted her head, amusement playing across her face.

“Reluctant to see me go?”

Before Lin Xi could protest, Yang Shanshan stepped close again.

Mwah.

“Th-this-” Lin Xi’s eyes flew wide. She was about to demand an explanation, but Yang Shanshan had already drawn back with a satisfied smile. The pinkish purple of her left eye shone brighter than before.

“Consider it payment for saving you,” she said. “And… a mark.”

“Noooo!”

Thor threw back her head and howled. The BGM from A Spray of Plum Blossoms seemed to start playing in her ears: “Snowflakes drifting, the north wind blowing.”

“Nooo, Master!”

Her Master had just been stolen right in front of her. Thor growled a warning and struggled to intervene.

Yang Shanshan merely glanced at her. The Giant Dragon went rigid, as if pinned down by an invisible hand.

“Don’t be nervous, big girl.” Yang Shanshan casually smoothed her skirt. “It’s only a harmless tracking mark.”

“What do you actually want?” Lin Xi murmured.

The Queen of Lust was already dissolving into drifting petals, her purple-black silhouette gradually turning translucent.

“Right now? Only to make sure you stay alive.” Countless petals spiraled around her. “As for what comes later…”

Her voice faded into the distance.

“We’ll talk the next time we meet.”

The last trace of violet fragrance scattered on the wind. The Queen of Lust vanished completely, leaving Lin Xi frozen where she stood.

A mark? What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

They had only just met!

For the first time, Lin Xi wondered whether she was really the Blazing Blast Witch-or actually some kind of Blazing Flame Succubus.

Thor nudged Lin Xi’s back with her nose, her draconic eyes full of fury. Lin Xi finally came back to herself and shook her head, trying to dispel the chaos in her mind.

“I’m fine,” she told Thor. “We need to get out of here.”

She surveyed their surroundings and recognized the place as a secluded platform in the mountains.

As Lin Xi climbed onto Thor’s back, something left on the rocky ground caught her eye: several purple-black petals arranged in a distinct heart.

Most unsettling of all, when she stared at them, the petals seemed to pulse faintly-like the beating of a living heart.

“That damned woman from the Seven Monarchs of Desire…” Thor snarled. “She is my mortal enemy!”

Lin Xi said nothing.

“Let’s hurry back. I don’t know how Qin Ling and the others are doing…”

The Giant Dragon took to the sky. Lin Xi looked back at the platform one last time.

The sunset had stained the rocks bloodred, but the heart-shaped petals had vanished without a trace, as if everything had been nothing more than her imagination.

Footnote:

• Snowflakes Drifting, the North Wind Blowing(雪花飘飘北风萧萧): “Snowflakes drifting, the north wind blowing” is a famous line from Fei Yu-ching’s song A Spray of Plum Blossoms, later popularized online as a meme for bleak, awkward, or dramatically failed moments.