Bound to Mary Sue, I am against involution in the world of immortal cultivation

Ling You pointed at himself, his eyes widening.

"Me?" He didn't break free from the small hand, and subconsciously looked at Fan Ning who stood up. "Only me?"

What's the situation?

Shen Shuzhi refused to speak again.

The little one bit his lips tightly, leaning against the corner, like a lonely black mushroom.

"Is it because he gave you food?"

Fan Ning squatted on the ground, poked the little girl's back nonchalantly, and asked, "Or is it because he can protect you?"

The little girl shook her head and looked at Ling You several times.

"Isn't it because he's a man?"

The little mushroom-like head popped out from the crack in the wall and nodded timidly.

Fanning: ...

Fan Ning found the blind spot: "If I only remember it now... Ling You, it doesn't seem obvious that you are a man."

Ling You: “…”

Ling You glanced at the dim atmosphere coming through the crack in the door, and suddenly remembered the pairs of wary and strange eyes he had seen when passing through other houses.

"I want to go out and take a look," he looked at Fan Ning who was thinking about something. Although he was still asking for advice, his raised hand had already pressed the lock accurately.

"Yeah," Fan Ning's voice was calm.

Even though she had just been treated differently because of her gender, she didn't seem to want to get to the bottom of it.

Instead, he leaned lazily on the haystack behind him, and stopped the still panicked Shen Shuzhi with one hand.

A door separates two worlds.

Ling You was facing the foggy sky, but heard two unrelated conversations in his ears.

It was Fan Ning who was asking the child.

"Is this fruit sweet?"

The girl's voice was intermittent and seemed to break at the slightest fold. "...I don't know."

----

In the dim village, time is the most unreliable thing.

The shabby door closed and opened again. After a night of waiting for Shen Shuzhi to verify it, Ling You, who seemed to be marinated by the gloom outside, appeared.

Following closely was a monk who looked extremely disheveled.

Judging from the token hanging on his waist, he is a disciple sent by Yueli Sect to provide support.

But no one knew what he had been through. He was in a daze and opened his mouth for a long time but couldn't utter a word.

"...It seems that I will hear a very sad story."

Fan Ning stood up from the haystack, crossed his arms, and ignored Shen Shuzhi's behavior of hiding in the corner again, "Only one left?"

"Only one was found," Ling You closed the door. There were traces of blood on the hand that stretched out from the sleeve, which looked like it was scratched by fingernails.

To reach this point, he must have exerted a lot of effort.

"So, what exactly happened?" Fan Ning threw the prepared medicine bottle to him and rubbed his temple, realizing that things might be worse than he imagined. "Are the others alive or dead?"

"I don't know," Ling You swallowed hard. After he dealt with the powder himself and handed it to the person next to him, he was once again attacked by dull and lifeless eyes.

He was suddenly deflated and felt a little depressed.

"There were too many people. I only saw the monks and villagers arguing, and then a bell rang."

“…When I came to my senses, all I saw was this one lying on the ground.”

He seemed to be completely bewitched and unconscious, and it was impossible to dig anything out.

"How do you feel? Can you remember anything?" Fan Ning asked again.

Ling You looked at her, his gaze slowly shifting to Shen Shuzhi, who had been facing them without him noticing, and suddenly remembered those fierce eyes.

...It felt so familiar, but it wasn't directed at him.

Fan Ning had really stumbled upon something by accident when he was trying to coax the child. Why did he think that way at that time?

Because that was a look directed at outsiders, and by some strange coincidence, he was not included in the group that needed to be confronted.

The three words "different" are expressed vividly.

"I feel like the spiritual energy in my body is less... This is not normal, but the magic weapon that was transmitted seems to be unable to do this. It is so real that it knocked down several monks in a row."

Ling You suppressed his still trembling fingers and tried to analyze calmly: "That seed only has two functions: realm suppression and hallucination induction. How could the reactions to it be so uniform?"

"—It's like being a puppet, is that what you mean?"

Fan Ning's expression remained unchanged. He raised his hand and searched the body of the bewitched monk. The moment he touched something, his expression grew colder and colder.

It was a branch that had broken off.

It was clearly just split into two halves, but there was no vitality left inside.

But the one on Ling You's body was intact.

"It's broken," the half branch that fell to the ground was picked up by a pair of small hands.

Shen Shuzhi looked at the other piece in Fan Ning's hand and tried to put them together, but always failed.

"What will happen if it breaks?" Ling You squatted down and looked at her at eye level.

Shen Shuzhi's movements were clumsy. He held the broken half of the branch in one hand and covered the other gap with the other hand, repeatedly trying to press them together.

“…Once it’s broken, there’s no going back.”

boom--

It started to rain heavily outside the door, and a burst of thunder reflected the extremely pale expression on the girl's face.

Like a piece of pressed gold foil.

"This is really not good," Fan Ning said, "Are we really going to see no one return? That would be the same as being extinct."

She lifted the monk's eyelids, and not surprisingly, the pupils hidden inside had begun to dissipate.

"Continuing to look at me like that isn't very kind to my heart."

Fan Ning raised the handle of the dagger and hit the monk with it. His expression remained calm throughout, as if he had anticipated what would happen next.

"Do you want to go find someone?" Ling You looked at the fallen monk and asked her.

"Of course, that's the easiest step."

Fan Ning took the broken branch from Shen Shuzhi's hand and curled his lips, "You must follow me."

It rained heavily again.

Ling You half leaned against the door, never letting go of the dagger he held tightly.

He followed Fan Ning's gaze and saw eyes peeking out from the crack in the door, and was instantly horrified.

...It's getting colder, Ling You thought, and then he kicked away the monk who was almost seen, pressed down the door that was almost pushed open with both hands, and glared back with an even more fierce look.

Fan Ning was right. Facing those eyes really made him feel bad.

It's too easy to be aroused by the violent desires in your heart.

Calm down, calm down, calm down... Twisting the head off will cause trouble, at least not now... Then when will it be, those eyes...

"Come back to your senses!" Fan Ning patted his shoulder, raising his voice a little.

"Oh, you knew it, but you still got fooled? Are you not even as good as a little girl?" She pressed against Ling You's chest. Even though there was clothing between them, the temperature of her fingertips was surprisingly clear.

Down below, there is a beating heart.

Looking up, there are Fan Ning’s always calm eyes.

Dark, still waters run deep.