Chapter 11: Red-Haired Girl

If it were anyone else, even a cultivator of considerable profound strength, they might not have dared to venture forward so recklessly under such circumstances. Yet Xiao Che did not hesitate for even a fraction of a second, walking straight toward that anomalous, pale white silhouette.

As he drew closer, he suddenly realized that it was actually a person! A person lying there in complete tranquility!

"Who are you?" Having caught a blurry glimpse of a human form, Xiao Che halted his steps and called out tentatively.

The figure in his line of sight remained entirely unresponsive, devoid of the slightest movement or breath.

Had they fainted? Or perhaps... were they dead?

Who could this be? Why would they collapse here? Wait! If they had collapsed here during the day, they would surely have been discovered long ago. As it stood, he was clearly the first to find them, which meant this person must have only just appeared not long ago... at the earliest, after night had fully fallen.

Xiao Che hesitated no longer and walked over with swift strides.

The moment he stood before the figure and saw her clearly beneath the moonlight, he was instantly rooted to the spot.

It was actually a... girl!

The girl appeared to be only twelve or thirteen years old, her petite and exquisite frame curled there like a startled kitten, her white dress in utter disarray. The hem of her skirt exposed a pair of slender, snow-white calves, which, upon closer inspection, were marred by a dense scattering of fine wounds. One of her feet wore a black shoe, while the other was nowhere to be found, leaving bare a delicate, pink foot that resembled an ice lotus—each exquisite toe crystal clear, as if carved from jade.

What drew the eye most of all was her hair, which was of an unearthly, vivid crimson! The cold glint that had flashed across the corner of his eye earlier was the reflection from her tresses.

A girl? How could a girl be out here? And she seemed to be covered in wounds.

What was the matter with her hair color? Did people with red hair even exist on the Profound Sky Continent?

Xiao Che bent down, reaching out to gently shake the girl's shoulder. "Little sister? Little..."

He had barely called out once when his voice stopped abruptly, and the hand shaking her shoulder snapped back like lightning. For through the thin fabric of her clothes, what met his palm was an absolute, piercing cold, without a single shred of the warmth a living soul ought to possess. But what shocked him most was that the very instant he touched her body, he distinctly felt a breath of profound toxicity!

Indeed! It was poison... a terrifying toxic aura the likes of which he had never encountered, its virulence far surpassing any poison he knew! It was so dreadful that the moment his palm made contact, every hair on his body stood on end.

It was only then that Xiao Che suddenly noticed with a jolt of horror that the weeds and vegetation surrounding the girl, which appeared dark under the moonlight, were not ink-green at all... but a terrifying, scorched black! Even the earth beneath had turned pitch black.

A sudden shiver ran through Xiao Che's heart. Had he not possessed the Sky Poison Pearl, rendering him immune to all toxins, he would have been poisoned to death the very instant he touched her body just now.

How could such a terrifying poison exist in this world? Was the ultimate toxic artifact of the world not the Sky Poison Pearl? Yet back then, even when he unleashed the Sky Poison Pearl, he had never been able to release a poison so horrifying! In fact, it was nowhere near this level!

Could there truly be something even more poisonous than the Sky Poison Pearl in this world?

Why would a little girl be afflicted with such a dreadful poison? And why was she lying in a place like this?

Countless enigmas surfaced in Xiao Che's mind. But there was no doubt that this little girl was already dead. A poison of this magnitude would instantly seal the throat of even a super powerhouse of the Earth Profound Realm, let alone a young girl.

Xiao Che exhaled heavily. After a brief hesitation, he reached out once more, pressing his hand against the girl's shoulder to slowly roll her lifeless body over. The girl's features were thus laid bare to his sight beneath the radiance of the moon, causing him to freeze once more, staring at her blankly, unable to recover his senses for a long time, as if his very soul had been lost...

"How can there be... such a beautiful girl..." Xiao Che's soul cried out in an uncontrollable tremor.

This girl was incredibly beautiful—beautiful to the point of being demonic, beautiful enough to steal one's soul. If one had not seen her with their own eyes, it would be utterly impossible to believe that a maiden who appeared so young could exude such breathtaking allure.

Her red hair was like a phantom, her face like white jade, and every single one of her features was beautiful to the absolute extreme, blending together into an unbelievable perfection. The exquisite nature of this girl's countenance caused Xiao Che to rummage through all the memories of his life, yet he could find no words to adorn it. Even though he was looking at her from such a close distance, a deep sense of unreality resided in his heart... because in his subconscious, he simply could not believe that a face so flawless, so peerlessly beautiful, could exist in this world.

Xia Qingyue was the number one beauty of Floating Cloud City, and even within the entire Blue Wind Empire, there was hardly any woman who could compare to her. Upon seeing her true face, Xiao Che had only lost himself for a brief moment. Yet upon beholding this girl's countenance, he felt as though his soul had been struck an immense blow. He had never imagined that there would come a day when he would experience such a violent, overwhelming emotional upheaval just from a person's appearance.

She was still just a little girl who looked twelve or thirteen years old; if she were to grow to Xia Qingyue's age... it was simply unimaginable! Perhaps at that time, a single frown or smile from her would be enough to ignite the flames of war across a chaotic world.

Yet such a peerlessly beautiful maiden had been poisoned to death by a toxin unseen even by a master of poisons like himself, and she had died on the territory of the Xiao Clan. What Xiao Che thought of now was not what poison she had swallowed, nor why she was here... but a profound sense of pity. Pity that something of such consummate beauty had been cruelly destroyed.

What kind of person could be so heartless as to lay a hand on such a beautiful girl!

Glancing at the surrounding vegetation and soil that had already turned to scorched black, Xiao Che hesitated for a moment before stretching out his left hand, pressing his palm against the maiden's icy chest. The Sky Poison Pearl flashed with light, beginning to rapidly purify the deadly poison upon her body. This was the back mountain of the Xiao Clan, after all; given how terrifying the poison on the girl was, if it were allowed to spread like this, it was entirely possible for the entire back mountain to be turned into a dead mountain. Although the toxic power of the Sky Poison Pearl had almost completely vanished, its ability to detoxify remained.

The light of the Sky Poison Pearl in his palm persisted, purifying the dreadful poison on the girl bit by bit. Right at that moment, Xiao Che suddenly noticed a minute rise and fall upon the girl's icy chest. Following that, he actually saw the girl's eyes... slowly opening, bit by bit...

These were a pair of extraordinarily abyssal eyes, flickering with a dangerous, demonic black light along with the faint ripples of her gaze. The moment Xiao Che's eyes met hers, he actually felt a horrific sensation as though his entire body were plunging into a bottomless abyss... His heart was filled with stark terror! This girl was clearly riddled with deadly poison, devoid of breath, her body freezing cold, obviously entirely dead... yet now she had actually opened her eyes!

The girl's right hand slowly extended at this moment, firmly gripping Xiao Che's left wrist amidst his shock. Her lips parted slightly, emitting a faint sound, and the content of that voice was distinctly...

"Sky... Poison... Pearl..." Xiao Che's heart jolted once more, nearly unable to believe his own ears! The Sky Poison Pearl was something he had brought over from the Azure Cloud Continent, something that did not belong to the Profound Sky Continent at all... yet this girl had actually called out its name in a single breath! Had he misheard? Or was it a coincidence?

"Little sister, you... Ah!!"

Accompanied by a cry of pain from Xiao Che, the girl opened her deathly pale lips, her teeth biting down savagely upon the finger of his left hand.

Blood instantly gushed like a torrent from the pads of Xiao Che's middle and index fingers, and every drop of the flowing blood was sucked into the girl's mouth, with not a single drop falling to the ground. Palpable alarm coloring his face, Xiao Che pulled back with all his might... yet the girl's small, snow-white, and delicate hand gripped his wrist like an iron shackle. Even utilizing the entirety of his strength, Xiao Che could not break free in the slightest. Within his widening pupils, he felt as though the blood of his entire body was frantically surging toward his left hand under an irresistible suction, devoured into the girl's mouth.

She is... drinking my... blood?!

The girl's dark pupils had already closed, and she suckled greedily upon Xiao Che's fingers, like an infant receiving nourishment.

Just what on earth is this girl...

She was clearly a maiden riddled with deadly poison, yet she made it utterly impossible for him to struggle or break free. After trying his utmost a few times, he finally gave up, forced to watch helplessly as she drank his blood.

Xiao Che's body was weak to begin with, and with the massive loss of blood, a brief wave of dizziness began to plague his brain. Just as he was wondering if the blood in his body would be sucked completely dry by this girl, the sensation of suction from his left finger suddenly vanished, and the small hand that had been gripping his wrist slowly loosened.

Xiao Che swiftly retreated several steps, his expression dark as he looked at this peerlessly flawless girl who had clearly been drinking his blood just moments ago. Yet after a long time, the girl made no movement whatsoever. She lay there quietly just as she had when Xiao Che first found her, her eyes closed, silent and breathless.

Whoosh...

A gust of chilly night wind swept past, brushing against Xiao Che's back and blowing over the girl's quietly resting form. Amidst the cold wind, the girl's body suddenly dispersed with the wind like mist, completely vanishing from the spot, leaving behind only a white dress torn in multiple places, a single black princess shoe, and a red butterfly hair clip.

Xiao Che: "!!!!"

Vanished?!

A sensation of abnormality also transmitted from the palm of his left hand at this moment. His heart stirred, an expression of astonishment appearing in his eyes, and he immediately closed his eyes, centering his mind to enter his consciousness into the space of the Sky Poison Pearl.

The jade-green space of the Sky Poison Pearl was originally entirely empty.

Yet upon this entry, he beheld a snow-white body, looking as though it were carved from fine jade, floating quietly right before his eyes.

Xiao Che's eyes widened, and he immediately reached out to clamp his nose tightly shut.

This was undoubtedly the girl who had suddenly sucked his blood and then vanished before him just now.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her snowy countenance serene. Her crimson hair draped down naturally, dancing lightly without any wind.

Exerting an immense amount of willpower, Xiao Che forced his gaze away, turning around while holding his nose. The moment he saw the girl's body, a rush of blood surged rapidly upward; he believed that if he continued to look, this rush of blood would absolutely burst forth from his body...

Why is she not wearing any clothes...

No! That's not the point!!

She had clearly vanished just now, so how could she appear inside the Sky Poison Pearl! The Sky Poison Pearl has clearly fused with my body and can only be controlled by me. Without my permission, how could she appear here...

Could it be... because she drank my blood?

Just what in the world is going on?

Xiao Che's mind was in utter chaos. Even with the experiences of his two lifetimes, he was entirely unable to comprehend exactly what had transpired.