Volume One, Chapter Thirty-Nine: I cannot stand by and watch you die, either.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Stop following me. We’re not people from the same world.”

“Chong Li, I’m not a playboy. I just happen to have a bit of money.” Li Jingzhou was on the verge of tears; ever since he left Jiang Chen and returned to school, his crush had barely acknowledged him.

Chong Li stood beneath the sunlight, delicate and strikingly beautiful. Her voice was soft, “Li, being with me is dangerous—truly dangerous. There’s real risk to your life, do you understand?”

Li Jingzhou was puzzled. He felt that even if she wanted to reject him, this couldn’t possibly be the reason. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just say she didn’t like him? “This world is so safe. Can’t you just be direct and say it’s impossible?”

Chong Li merely shook her head, “Forget it. You shouldn’t step into this world—a real world.”

Watching her walk away, Li Jingzhou squatted on the ground. He didn’t cry; it wasn’t his first heartbreak, but this one felt inexplicably odd, without rhyme or reason.

He wasn’t the kind of man who begged for affection. From the moment he met Chong Li at university, they became friends, and since then, he’d reserved all his care for her alone.

But gradually, Chong Li began to distance herself, until today, when her words—‘we’re not people from the same world’—utterly crushed him.

“No, I have to find out what she means by ‘not people from the same world’!”

Despite being rejected, Li Jingzhou felt he couldn’t give up so easily. Either she should say directly that she didn’t like him, or explain the true reason.

A man with a purpose often succeeds; after suffering this blow in the morning, Li Jingzhou spent the afternoon asking every classmate who knew Chong Li. The conclusion: she’d never even spoken to another male student.

She hadn’t talked to anyone.

Li Jingzhou decided it was time to call his elder brother.

When he dialed the number, a crisp female voice answered, “Hello? Little Zhou?” Jiang Chen was cooking, and Ning Rou happened to be holding the phone for him.

Li Jingzhou, face contorted with misery, said, “Brother, I’m having trouble with my feelings. Can you give me some advice?”

Jiang Chen replied directly, “There are only two reasons a girl doesn’t like you. One, she truly doesn’t like you, in which case, don’t pester her. The other is either something about you, or something about her. Find the cause, and you’ll know where the problem lies. I’m hanging up, cooking now.”

After ending the call, Jiang Chen grinned, “The most important thing for Beggar’s Chicken is the heat…”

“You seem quite experienced, Jiang Chen. You must have charmed plenty of girls,” Ning Rou said, arms folded, smiling brightly.

Jiang Chen scratched his head awkwardly, “Not at all. I barely know a handful of girls. What I said just now—I read it online, so don’t take it seriously.”

Only a few hundred, not many.

Ning Rou pinched Jiang Chen’s waist fiercely, finally feeling satisfied.

Having received advice, Li Jingzhou changed clothes and resolved to stake out Chong Li today, play the detective, and see why she insisted they weren’t from the same world.

He followed Chong Li the entire day: to meals, and even waited outside the dormitory near a trash can when she went to sleep.

But until nightfall, Chong Li never left the dorm again.

At nine o’clock that evening, Li Jingzhou yawned, ready to head home for some rest after a long day’s vigil.

Just as he turned to leave, the bathroom window on the fifth floor of the girls’ dormitory suddenly opened.

A shadow slipped from the window, ghostlike, moving swiftly along the wall. The figure was nimble and quick, stepping lightly onto the air-conditioner units outside, barely touching them, easily shedding all momentum.

Li Jingzhou frowned, recognizing that silhouette instantly. He couldn’t understand why Chong Li would leave like this, rather than simply walk out the door.

“When something’s amiss, there’s always a reason,” Li Jingzhou murmured, stealthily following. Not too far behind, as the lights illuminated her, he saw that Chong Li wasn’t dressed normally, but wore a Taoist robe.

Chong Li scanned the surroundings, the compass in her hand spinning ceaselessly.

“Evil spirits are lurking.”

She whispered, then slipped into a corridor.

Li Jingzhou dared not follow too closely; it was a dead end, hardly anyone ever came here.

He found a trash can, emptied the rubbish, and crouched inside, using it as cover.

In the dark corridor, Chong Li held a talisman in her left hand, an iron sword in her right, with the compass slung over her back.

“Demon, do you know your crime?” Chong Li called.

Before her stood a tree demon, its body thick with branches and exuding sinister energy. Vines whipped through the air, quickly crawling up every wall of the corridor.

“You Maoshan priests are quick to arrive. I heard even the purple-robed celestial master from Dragon Tiger Mountain hasn’t dared harm anyone lately. Did you come for me just to earn some merit?”

The tree demon had almost taken on a human form, though not yet a century old, unable to fully transform, still showing itself as a tree.

Chong Li held a fire talisman cautiously, “You needed thirty more years to transform, but you’ve killed so many to hasten your power. If I don’t destroy you, I can’t answer to Maoshan.”

The tree demon said little; as it spoke, its vines, lying in wait, lashed out from every direction, each like a spear.

The fire talisman in her hand burst into flames, turning into sparks that ignited the incoming vines.

In that instant, the tree demon, using the branches clinging to the wall, hurled itself bodily at her.

Its massive form collided with Chong Li’s slender body like a train hitting a railing, sending her flying from the corridor.

But she was a true Maoshan priest. Though she couldn’t win, she made it difficult for the demon—her iron sword, inscribed with runes, plunged into the demon’s massive body, and sparks erupted as it exploded.

Li Jingzhou, hidden in the trash can, witnessed everything, cold sweat pouring from his forehead. Reason told him to stay hidden; this was pure, primal fear. Humans instinctively dread the unknown, and he, a rich kid who’d done nothing for eighteen years, was no exception.

Yet his emotions screamed that if he didn’t act, Chong Li would surely die—and he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Li Jingzhou grabbed Chong Li, pulling her into the trash can while the tree demon hadn’t noticed.

“How are you here?!” Chong Li whispered.

Li Jingzhou clamped her mouth, “Don’t speak. You can’t defeat it. Wait until it leaves, then we’ll come out.”

Chong Li shook her head, “No. If it escapes tonight, many innocent people will die. I can’t stand by and watch!”

Li Jingzhou replied fiercely, “I can’t stand by and watch you die, either!”