Song Changming's words struck Zhao Zhao's eardrums one by one. She turned around and looked at the black bead, as if she could still see Song Changming's arrogant and complacent look through its surface.
"How do you know? Who told you?"
"Does it matter? What you should worry about now is how to keep your secret. Don't worry. As long as you take me out, I guarantee I'll never show up in front of you again and will absolutely keep my mouth shut about this."
Seeing Zhao Zhao looking a bit flustered, Song Changming thought he had won.
"If you're not willing to talk, then shut up forever."
A sudden flame appeared in Zhao Zhao's palm. She looked at the black bead, her eyes calm, with a completely different aura from usual.
Song Changming had seriously injured her and now was threatening her with her identity. Zhao Zhao simply didn't believe that such a person would really keep his promise after leaving. Moreover, her cousin Song Yao hated him so much, and Zhao Zhao didn't want to let him go either.
She was naive, but she wasn't stupid. There was no reason for her to save someone who had harmed her. Otherwise, how was she different from the so - called "Mary Sue" that her third senior brother always talked about after secretly reading those storybooks?
"You! How dare you!" The fire reflected on the bead, and Song Changming finally got scared.
He had made a mistake. His previous judgment was completely wrong!
"Why wouldn't I dare? You're heartless and unrighteous. You betrayed the sect, didn't care about the lives of mortals, and delved into evil arts. As a member of the Monster Administration Bureau, I have the right to deal with you. Moreover, you seriously injured me, my cousin, and Taotie in the Chen family. Why can't I do this?"
As soon as the words fell, the flame in Zhao Zhao's hand instantly devoured Song Changming's broken soul, and he vanished into thin air.
This was the first time Zhao Zhao had ended someone's life. She stared blankly at her hand and wondered if her master would blame her for using the divine fire passed down by him to kill someone.
She was clearly a tree spirit, but had chosen the divine fire. She wasn't as calm as she claimed to be.
Zhao Zhao stood there for a long time. Then, suddenly, she squatted down, hugging her arms, and secretly buried her face in her knees. She didn't make a sound for a long time.
She had killed someone. Even if it was a bad person, it was still her first time. She felt a bit at a loss and confused.
It wasn't that she had never seen a dead person. A Man had died in her arms back then, but this was different...
Su Yuan, who was guarding outside the door, felt Song Changming's complete disappearance. Worried that something had happened to Zhao Zhao, he immediately rushed in.
"Zhao Zhao!" As soon as he entered, he saw Zhao Zhao huddled in a small ball, squatting there. Su Yuan's heart tightened, as if it was being kneaded repeatedly.
"What's wrong?" He carefully squatted down, held Zhao Zhao's shoulders, and asked softly, as if he was afraid of scaring her.
"Song Changming's soul has vanished into thin air." Hearing Su Yuan's voice, Zhao Zhao lifted her head from her knees and looked at him.
Su Yuan brushed aside the stray hairs on her forehead. "I know. It's fine that his soul has vanished. It's what he deserved."
"I did it. I'm the one who did it." She admitted it on her own initiative, as if she was testing Su Yuan's attitude in this way.
However, Su Yuan only cared about how she was feeling and didn't care at all about what happened to Song Changming. "I know, I know. It's okay."
"Is it really okay?"
Su Yuan helped her up, then squatted down again to pat the dust on her skirt.
"Really. As long as you don't over - think this and feel bad, it's okay."
He said this as if nothing in the world was more important than the happiness of the girl in front of him. He only cared about her.
This absolute favoritism made Zhao Zhao relax a lot. She shook her head like a rattle - drum. "I'm not unhappy. I just did this for the first time and I'm still a bit unaccustomed."
Su Yuan knew. He understood.
Her world was too simple. Su Yuan wanted to protect her innocence and happiness, but she had to learn the necessary means of self - protection and the rules of survival. Otherwise, what happened in the Chen family might happen a second or third time.
People who were too kind and soft were actually not suitable for the Monster Administration Bureau, which dealt with both humans and monsters.
Su Yuan certainly had the ability to always protect Zhao Zhao under his wings and keep her away from those intrigues and disputes. But how long could that last?
If one day the sins became too much for him to bear, what would Zhao Zhao do then?
Who would protect her?
"I'm glad that you were merciless to those who had hurt you today. It's the right thing to do. Our Zhao Zhao did it right." He guided her little by little to correctly understand and view this matter, hoping not to bring her any psychological burden.
"As the saying goes among humans, 'To be merciful to the enemy is to be cruel to oneself'. If you easily let those who have hurt you go, most people will think you're weak and easy to bully. I don't want you to just keep retreating. Do you understand?"
Zhao Zhao looked at Su Yuan's peerless face that was famous in both the human and monster worlds. Suddenly, she felt relaxed. "I understand. I just haven't done this kind of thing before and I'm a bit unaccustomed. I won't feel like this after I do it more times!"
"..." Sometimes, being too naive wasn't a good thing. Su Yuan coughed twice and added with a headache, "You don't really need to do it more. This kind of thing isn't about getting used to it or not."
"Okay." Zhao Zhao nodded, half - understanding.
Looking at Zhao Zhao like this, Su Yuan thought he had to let her take some language courses. Her comprehension ability and her often - astonishing way of expression sometimes really made the dragon doubt his own life.
"I said you two have been here for a long time. Why aren't you coming out yet?" Fu Feng's somewhat wretched figure appeared at the entrance.
"Ah! We'll come out soon." Reminded by Fu Feng, Zhao Zhao suddenly realized that she had indeed stayed here for too long.
Thinking of her cousin's phone call, no, she couldn't waste any more time here. She had to hurry back.
Chen Jin was dead, the soul of Yu Chu's mother was nowhere to be found, and there was also the soul - swapping formation that Song Changming had mentioned.
All these were so strange!
"Su Yuan, let's go back. Let's go to the Xuanmen. My cousin said Chen Jin's body is there."
Su Yuan had been beside Zhao Zhao. From her scattered words before, he had already roughly figured out what had happened. Now, hearing Zhao Zhao say that they should go back, he nodded and led her away.
Just before leaving, he glanced at the eighteen levels of hell behind him. A hot wave blew by, bringing up the dust on the ground.
Song Changming had died too easily. He should have suffered all kinds of torture and died in pain.
But since his death was still a bit useful, Su Yuan let it go.
Fu Feng behind saw Su Yuan's cold look and couldn't help shivering, as if the warm - blooded, talkative, and smiling Su Yuan he had seen during this period was just an illusion.
But the next second, Zhao Zhao said something, and Su Yuan immediately smiled, his eyes filled with tenderness.
Sure enough, tenderness was only for the beloved.