259 You Passed

One would think that after witnessing the demise of one's enemy, a euphoric sense of satisfaction, or even triumphant pleasure would emerge, but all that Li Meirong felt at that moment was a strange sort of helplessness.

It wasn't a feeling bred from having been stabbed or struck by lightning. Rather, she felt this way for her lack of understanding… for being unable to prevent this inevitable outcome.

'Don't mourn what was bound to happen. Compassion is the key. Your power is to give. You passed the test. You passed.' The bell's words suddenly rang in her ears. It had a joyful tune, filled with happiness.

Li Meirong's willowy eyebrows wrinkled into a frown. What was that bell gibbering about now? Didn't he tell her to kill Liang Rou Yan only seconds ago?!

The bell tinkled. It was a peal of laughter, a mocking tune. 'Still too trusting. Keep kindness. Be cautious.'

"Enough of you!" Li Meirong muttered under her breath, trying to ignore this newfound, annoying addition to her crew.

The bell had ceased uttering any further melodies. It provided her with the reprieve from receiving its 'wise' guidance.

She sighed gratefully and placed Chou down, then went to kneel by Liang Rou Yan's corpse, plucking out the mushrooms sticking from her open eye sockets and sliding her eyelids closed. Then she stretched out her hand in invitation for Ben Mo to jump on her palm. "I'm glad to see you're safe."

Ben Mo remained on Liang Rou Yan's stilled back, tipped his cap up and faced Li Meirong directly.

Although he had no eyes, his stance compelled Li Meirong to stay in place, to listen to him.

'Master, I killed her.' Ben Mo confessed.

"I know, but you saved me. If you hadn't, she would have killed me while my spirit was away." Li Meirong stated, reaching with her forefinger to tap lightly and lovingly on Ben Mo's cap.

He narrowly avoided her touch. His speech sounded heavy with guilt. 'No, Master. I want to appear selfless and say that I did it for you, but that's a lie. All I could think of was revenge. I did it for myself. I had to kill her.'

Li Meirong's rosy lips pursed slightly. "Do you want to tell me why?" She asked at length.

There was no answer. Ben Mo's little fungus frame started trembling. His spirit was somewhere else, dreaming about never-ending nightmares borne from his earlier actions.

In an instant, Li Meirong grabbed Ben Mo and held him protectively with both hands as she stepped away from Liang Rou Yan's corpse, heading out of the clearing and back into the encircling jungle terrain, while Chou silently followed behind.

She sat down and rested her back against a wide tree trunk. The mushroom in her palms hadn't stopped shaking all the while.

Li Meirong gently patted Ben Mo's cap in a continuous motion and murmured soothingly, speaking in a soft voice as a mother would to her child. "It's going to be alright. You're safe now."

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the sky above began to gradually shift colours from obsidian to a crisp grey, until eventually, a melancholy blue peeked from between the tree branches that formed a ceiling of dense foliage inside the jungle.

After a while, Li Meirong turned to Chou who dutifully stood nearby, no more than a few inches away from her side. Since they had left the clearing, Chou hadn't so much as moved more than a foot away from her.

"Little Chou, I think Mo Jing is hidden somewhere on this island. Possibly inside the cave. Can you go and scout for his whereabouts? If he hadn't been here, then we would have detected a lie when Shu Qianqian had first spoken. I think the plan was crafted well enough that they did in fact bring him, and hid him somewhere nearby."

Chou blinked a pair of watery eyes at Li Meirong and shook his head. "Not leaving!"