Alone, Beautifully – Chapter 79

Your Preference (13)

“I want to drink something else.”

The snake woman’s vertical pupils still convey the merciless feeling of a cold-blooded animal.

It’s said that looking directly into such eyes would only make people feel scared and horrified. However, it’s quite strange that she can use such eyes to express desire, causing Xu Jiao to involuntarily imagine those enchanting scenes when looking into her eyes.

Of course…

What actually works is her voice.

In mythological stories, there are many accounts of demons using their voices to bewitch humans. For example, sea demons are said to sing, and sailors at sea who hear this singing become entranced by it and are then dragged into the depths of the sea.

Noticing that this fellow is again secretly disturbing her peace of mind, Xu Jiao feels she cannot relax for even a second around this person. She summons the wind element, and a small white whirlpool appears beside her ear, a condensed wind mass.

Then—

With one hand, she presses the snake woman Lilith’s head against the bed’s edge. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Lilith, caught off guard by this sudden action, futilely patting the ground with the tip of her tail raised. Xu Jiao’s temple twitches as she bends down, maintaining a very close distance.

Her voice softens slightly, as she doesn’t want to wake the little friend who was previously asleep.

Xu Jiao’s voice carries a hint of laughter, but her eyes remain cold. Unlike the warmth she shows to the blonde little friend, she has no warmth for the snake woman. Slowly, mimicking the other’s teasing tone, she says lightly:

“Benefit?”

“The benefit is, I cut off your tail and make you a nourishing soup to taste, how about that?”

“Although my cooking skills aren’t considered excellent, they are definitely edible.”

Snake woman Lilith: “…”

She swallowed once, her tail pressed against the bedpost, trying to use force to retreat, but she didn’t expect the saint’s strength to be surprisingly and ridiculously strong. After a moment, the black snake tail angrily pats the ground lightly, and she dryly and timidly says:

“This benefit… I think, actually, I don’t really want it…”

Xu Jiao, as if petting a dog’s head, runs her fingertips through her soft hair and lightly pats her head, praising: “Good girl.”

As soon as she notices Xu Jiao let go, the snake woman immediately retreats a considerable distance. Her orange-yellow pupils stare at Xu Jiao for a couple of glances, then she uses her tail to pat the ground, because she can’t win in words or fight, she can only vent her anger on the innocent floor.

As a result, Lilith, sleeping on the small bed, notices the movement, uneasily furrows her brow in her sleep, turns over, and falls back asleep.

Xu Jiao smooths the blanket covering herself, glances at the movement from the small bed, and her cold gaze sweeps toward the snake woman. The woman standing in the shadows glances aside, her originally raised tail already swinging in the air, but no matter what, she doesn’t dare to pat it down.

She quietly muttered, “Clearly we are one person, yet you just like cute things… no taste…”

The wind element faithfully conveyed her thoughts to Xu Jiao’s ear.

Xu Jiao pretended not to hear, lay on the soft pillow, pulled up the blanket, and closed her eyes.

The candle, burning to its last segment, flickered once, and the candlelight flickered for a long time in the night, never willing to extinguish. Wax, like tears, piled on the candlestick.

The snake-bodied woman leaned in a place where the fireplace and candlelight were both relatively dim, glanced at Xu Jiao on the big bed, and also glanced at the blonde girl on the small bed. Her yellow eyes, seemingly without emotion, finally stopped motionless on Xu Jiao’s body.

Very strange.

Clearly just an incarnation of God…

But perhaps because of their physical intimacy, for a moment, Lilith felt she was crazy, because she actually wanted to capture those few greedy, stupid humans for this person, even seeking to please this person without expecting anything in return.

Initially, she just wanted to devour this incarnation.

After all, this person is so hateful, so vicious, and not like God at all. She should be a poor incarnation, and by destroying such an existence, she shouldn’t feel even a bit of heartache or regret.

However, a corner of her heart is always so unwilling.

Not to mention hurting this person, just even seeing her unhappy or seeing her frown makes her feel uncomfortable, as if something is stirring inside her chest, making her very uneasy.

It’s as if she desperately wishes for this person to have no more sorrow in this world, for those worries and concerns to gently disperse like the wind.

Lilith silently raised her hand, touched her chest area, and immediately turned her gaze away—

Is it because she is influenced by this little friend?

She originally didn’t need to have such abundant emotions. Everything she did was just to see Them again, but now…

……

Xu Jiao woke up very early.

In this world, aside from the time when the snake woman dragged her to mess around in the forest for many days, she rarely encounters anything that makes her physically and mentally exhausted, so her need for rest is not very high.

It might be because of her divine bone constitution, allowing her to recover her physical strength in a very short time compared to others who need a long time. She only needs a little bit of sleep each day to rest well.

The same goes for her diet. Xu Jiao doesn’t eat much; a very small amount of food can sustain her body’s daily needs for two or three days. If it weren’t for little friend Lilith strictly following the two meals a day routine to intake nutrition, just relying on her and the snake woman, they would absolutely forget to eat for three or four days.

At the moment, she got up from bed, preparing to help the host family make breakfast, and also to use her labor reward to exchange for some usable money, so as to walk in the human world.

As a result, the room no longer had the little girl’s presence.

That stupid snake was also not there.

Xu Jiao turned around inside and outside the house, not seeing anyone, until after she finished helping, she returned to the house and saw a black snake with a mass of black demonic energy coiled in the corner, hardly moving.

She hadn’t planned to bother with this fellow, but after waiting for a long time without Lilith appearing, she finally threw a glance in the corner’s direction and briefly asked:

“Where did she go?”

The black snake opened its eyes and glanced in Xu Jiao’s direction, lazily saying after a while: “Too troublesome, I killed.”

The indoor air stagnated for a moment.

Afterward, Xu Jiao walked step by step toward the corner, with sunlight streaming in from the window and the door, stretching her shadow long until she half-squatted down, her shadow covering the black snake in front of her.

Xu Jiao didn’t waste words, simply extended her hand, intending to directly grab the black snake’s vulnerable spot.

Threads of black demonic energy met her movement, and the eroding power momentarily blocked her action. The black snake lazily opened its eyes again, and in the next moment, the snake’s shadow on the wall elongated and deformed—

The blonde little girl appeared in front of Xu Jiao.

Without the snake tail, she was in the form Xu Jiao was accustomed to seeing, cute and lovely, with no extra freckles.

However, her pupils were vertical.

As expected, in the next moment, the little girl placed her hand on Xu Jiao’s shoulder, pretending to show a sweet smile, revealing two sharp fangs. Then, her lips touched Xu Jiao’s ear, with a slightly cold and moist breath falling.

“You like me in this form, right?”

“Since you have special tastes, doing it in this form is not impossible…”

Teased by such a cute little sister, Xu Jiao, like an emotionless stone figure, didn’t even twitch an eyelid, then she raised her hand, spread her fingers, and pushed the approaching face away, her voice cold as she said:

“Change back.”

Lilith, with a look of not understanding, blinked her long eyelashes, making Xu Jiao’s finger gaps slightly itchy:

“Change back? This is originally my form too. I have so many lifetimes of experiences; I am them, and they are me. Don’t you like this appearance the most? Why do you want me to change back?”

Xu Jiao, too lazy to waste words with her, started the countdown: “Three, two…”

Just as “one” was about to be said.

The person in front suddenly broke into a smile, and the black mist that had been hovering around her body surged towards Xu Jiao. Xu Jiao had already understood the lethality of this demonic energy early on, and immediately stepped back half a step.

The wind and ice elements in the air were both mobilized by her, making the atmosphere tense and ready to explode!

As a result…

The blonde, vertical-pupiled girl innocently tilted her head, and immediately, the mass of demonic energy in front of Xu Jiao acted like a large magical pocket, from which several things plopped out.

Xu Jiao focused her eyes to see.

These old men, covered in bloodstains and seemingly devoid of divine power, were unrecognizable to her by face, but then she noticed the eye color of these three people.

This is…

“Pope Henry?”

“Pope Karina?”

“Pope William?”

Xu Jiao’s voice carried a strong sense of doubt.

On one hand, she was surprised and uncertain about these three people’s appearance. After all, associating these white-haired fellows, with skin full of wrinkles and age spots, with the previously young, handsome, and beautiful popes was a bit difficult. On the other hand, she couldn’t comprehend how Lilith managed to pass through the layers of guards outside the temple and travel thousands of miles to capture these people back.

Either way, it was a bit hard to imagine.

Hearing Xu Jiao’s voice, the three people on the ground hastily sat up, their faces showing immense emotion, “Saintess! We finally met you! May God bless you! May the light forever favor you and protect you from being deceived by demons!”

Henry was the first to flatter.

His ability to adapt to the situation is truly exceptional.

The Temple of Fate and the Temple of War were not far behind and were just about to follow suit when they suddenly heard the door closing. The blonde girl smiled at them cutely, but her ruthless vertical pupils showed no emotion, giving an extra sense of coldness:

“Shh—”

“Be a bit quiet, if others hear any noise here, I’ll directly kill you, how about that?”

The three people immediately looked like silly geese with their necks choked, shifting their gaze from Xu Jiao to the witch. Then, in unison, they swallowed and made a zipper motion on their mouths.

They didn’t want to be this embarrassed either!

But who could have guessed!

This demon doesn’t play by the usual rules!

Henry and Karina still remain puzzled, not understanding how they were simply sleeping, and yet in the middle of the night, this demonic energy appeared in the holy temple. Before they could even call for help, their entire body’s pure divine power was completely eroded.

Even their eternally youthful appearances, maintained by this strong divine power, changed in an instant due to the exhaustion of their divine power…

Now.

Karina no longer dares to look at anything reflective.

The pope from the Temple of War, being the most straightforward, now glanced between Xu Jiao and Lilith, and suddenly asked in a rough voice: “Henry, didn’t you say this witch is something we created, and as long as your holy sun formation is laid in the temple, we wouldn’t need to worry about her power backfiring?”

Henry was wheezing heavily, with his hands tied behind his back, preventing him from making any large movements. Although his mouth was free, he couldn’t speak about this matter.

Everyone was staring at Xu Jiao and Lilith.

The blonde girl, noticing the attention on her, couldn’t help but smile slightly: “Why don’t you all take a guess?”

“But I can first solve one of your doubts. In exchange, whatever our great Saintess wants to ask later, you all must answer honestly.”

“Want to know why I won’t be trapped by your formation? Because I know all the formations you understand. The things that can be learned in the temple exceed your imagination. Besides… before, I was just bored, so I let you modify things a bit. Thanks to you, I now have this nearly immortal existence.”

After speaking, she lifted the hem of her skirt to the people, performing a very ladylike gesture. Without looking into her eyes and just seeing her sweet smile, anyone would think she was a polite, well-mannered child.

Henry and the others had trembling lips, as if wanting to say something, yet were so shocked that they couldn’t speak.

Once they had captured Lilith and brought her to the temple’s underground, this girl only gave them a disheartened look. Whether injected with demonic energy brought back from beneath the Zake Mountains or placed among hundreds of venomous snakes, she made not a sound.

At that time, they thought the girl had been deprived of her vocal cords by God, thus unable to make a sound.

Until now…

They only then realized that it was not they who created the demon.

Rather, this darkness, this demon, had always existed, merely borrowing a bit of their help.

Humans, having borrowed God’s power, stood at the pinnacle of this continent for a long time and gradually learned arrogance. When they conceived the thought of killing God, they had to be prepared to pay the corresponding price.

……

“When will God wake up?”

As Lilith casually shattered the popes’ mental defenses with a few words, Xu Jiao slowly followed her speech rhythm and casually voiced her question.

The popes’ faces were ashen, unsure how to answer the saintess’s question.

Xu Jiao patiently waited for two seconds, pretending to be friendly: “Then I’ll change the topic, let’s talk about something light — when did you start your plan? I mean, the plan to kill God.”

“Talk about it, perhaps this is your last chance to speak, isn’t it?”

She smiled while half-crouching there, her hands overlapped together in a very relaxed posture.

But…

People who heard her words wouldn’t think she was much easier to provoke than Lilith.

After all.

She is the incarnation of God.

When God feels anger, the entire world will fall into endless darkness, all creatures will be annihilated once more, and the universe… will collapse.

Henry and Karina exchanged a glance, their eyes flickering slightly.

However, it was the pope of the Temple of War who spoke first: “Fifty years ago.”

He looked at those beside him, struggled for a moment, but ultimately his reverence for God surpassed everything, leading him to speak openly and confess his sins: “We deciphered a language left by God. It said that every time darkness descends upon the world, God will send an incarnation to eliminate that darkness.”

“Initially, we did not intend to be so bold, but in the depths of the Zake Mountains… we discovered a cave that leaks demonic energy, a bottomless cave that seemed like the entrance to an abyss sealing a demon.”

“No matter what divine power, magic formation, or element, when it encounters that demonic energy, it will be directly absorbed, leaving no trace.”

“Henry brought Lilith back to the temple at that time… because someone in the Sun Temple recognized Lilith and knew she was originally chosen to serve as God’s divine messenger. Once the divine messenger returns to the human world, people will know they are beings expelled by God and will execute these betrayed divine messengers.”

“Since she was destined to die, we just used her for a small experiment… who knew it would succeed. She can corrode all divine power, and only the Sun Temple’s light power can suppress her. At this time, Karina accidentally glimpsed during a heavy rain that God would incarnate again in the human world… just a reflection of God’s incarnation, and from then, Karina injured one eye…”

“The Wisdom Temple recorded many stories about God. They said that every time God’s incarnation comes to the human world, God wants to fully experience this world, so They will fall asleep and awaken when the incarnation encounters fatal danger, or… after the mission is completed.”

“We wanted to corrode God’s incarnation to obtain the divine bone, and at the moment God awakens, use this divine bone to kill Them.”

Use one’s spear to attack one’s shield.

A very simple and crude plan, but Xu Jiao thought for a moment and felt there was still a bit of feasibility.

After saying all this, the pope of the Temple of War looked at Xu Jiao, with a somewhat strange expression in his eyes: “I know that all we have done has already betrayed God, and even after death, our souls are dirty. I cannot seek your forgiveness…”

Xu Jiao did not speak.

Because she felt she was not yet truly God, she was unable to respond to the words the Temple of War pope said to God.

Instead, Lilith smiled and praised him with a sentence: “You answered very well.”

She dragged out her tone: “I can let you be the last to die—”

As her words fell.

Henry and Karina’s bodies, which had only hesitated for a moment, were suddenly enveloped by that black demonic energy. Only two sounds, like a ball being squeezed and burst, were heard, and afterward, all traces disappeared.

They didn’t even leave a corner of their clothes behind.

Xu Jiao lowered her eyes, as if not seeing any of this, stood up ready to walk out. Just as she turned her back at that moment, the wind already carried the suddenly ceased breath of the Temple of War’s pope into her ears.

The high-spirited appearance of these popes seemed like it was just not long ago. Xu Jiao even remembered meeting Henry, with his polite, crown-wearing demeanor.

In the blink of an eye.

These temple supremes, who dominated the Miracle Continent, had just turned into dust.

This is still Lilith’s power…

What would an omniscient and omnipotent God be like?

Xu Jiao was only distracted for a moment because Lilith quickly caught up with her pace, walking together with her toward the open courtyard outside. They had stayed long enough in this snow village, and Xu Jiao wanted to go to the cave in the Zake Mountains to take a look.

The blond girl followed behind her until they left the village, entered the mountains, and both of their figures were submerged by the forest with only branches remaining. Then Lilith suddenly jumped onto Xu Jiao’s back, reaching her hands from behind, her fingertips brushed across Xu Jiao’s face, removing the obstructive disguises.

Pressing against Xu Jiao’s soft black hair, she asked: “Why did you have no reaction when I killed that little girl? It seems like your love for her is fake?”

Xu Jiao pried open her embrace without even a frown: “You did not kill her.”

Lilith was thrown off her body and quickly followed up to ask: “How do you know?”

Xu Jiao saw her move to the front, glanced at her, and evenly replied: “Because if you had killed her, I would have killed you.”

Lilith: “…”

Lilith: “?”

She found it hard to believe that in this world, someone would kill the master for the sake of a split-off personality.

Lilith was frustrated.

She was unhappy, and therefore didn’t want Xu Jiao to be happy either. Even though the road was flat, she insisted on dragging and pulling Xu Jiao along, making her take her with her, like a sticky toffee that can’t be shaken off once it sticks.

Just as Xu Jiao didn’t know how many times she’d shaken her off, a coolness suddenly appeared on her wrist.

Xu Jiao turned back to look and saw Lilith quickly wipe the corner of her lips, but it was useless; a drop of red blood had already fallen on Xu Jiao’s wrist, blooming like a bright and eye-catching small flower.

Xu Jiao then remembered that the person in front of her had battled with three almost demigod-level humans:

“Are you injured?”

Lilith, maintaining her blonde appearance, stretched out her hand to her: “Then do you want to hug me?”

Xu Jiao’s eyelashes fluttered slightly: “Return to your original form, and I’ll consider it.”

Lilith tilted her head.

Then.

She turned into a giant black snake.

Xu Jiao then noticed that several of her scales were somewhat falling off and intended to use the Sun God’s power to heal her. However, as soon as her palm touched her, there was a sizzling barbecue sound.

The black snake flicked its tongue: “…Did you do it on purpose? Knowing I can’t accept these divine powers, you still deliberately used the Sun God’s power to heal me? You actually want to kill me, right?”

Xu Jiao, rarely embarrassed, after a while said: “Before, I used this method on Lilith…”

The snake’s tongue brushed under her chin.

Xu Jiao inexplicably saw a bit of amusement in her eyes: “That is because at that time I was asleep, and she was still in an ordinary mortal body. Now it is different; we have already fused.”

“If you want to help me heal, you must use a different method, my saintess.”

The giant black snake unknowingly coiled around her.

Xu Jiao looked at the snake’s body surrounding her like towering city walls and faced the central pair of large yellow eyes. She remained calm for two seconds and then raised her hand to extend her wrist over.

She knew her blood had an effect on Lilith.

“I can only give you a little.”

The black snake’s tongue brushed over her wrist, leaving a wet coolness. Then, the giant snake pressed its large head onto Xu Jiao’s shoulder and said:

“But I want to drink something else.”

“Something else, a more delicious liquid.”

The snake’s tongue slipped into her back neck collar, bringing a chilling sense of coldness. In the icy air, Xu Jiao unconsciously tensed her body, every hair standing on end.