Originated from mountains and seas, life never ends

Chapter 156 Difference

"Uh……"

Meng Liyun twitched the corners of her mouth slightly and looked at Xiao hesitantly.

"What's wrong?" Xiao noticed her gaze and turned to look at her.

At the same time, the noise in the forest became louder, as if a chase was taking place. The woman's voice became sharper, revealing a strong sense of despair.

"Help—is there anyone?!"

Meng Liyun scratched her cheek, stretched out her finger, pointed her fingertips toward the forest, and signaled with her eyes.

Xiao glanced at Lin Zhong calmly, then retracted his gaze: "Don't pay attention to it."

Meng Liyun was a little surprised by what he said. She looked at Qingyi and found that he also had a calm expression on his face and didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it.

"But...leaving like this, isn't it a bit——"

Before Meng Liyun could finish her words, a figure rushed out from the woods, was suddenly tripped by something, and fell heavily to the ground.

When I looked closely, I found that it was a girl with a dishevelled figure, dirty and messy hair, and simple clothes.

The girl was lying on the ground, her body covered with dirt. It was obvious from the fall that she had just suffered a heavy fall. But she quickly got up from the ground and looked around hurriedly. When she saw the few people, her eyes lit up and she waved at them and ran over.

"Please, help me!"

As the woman spoke, she took a step and stumbled, as if she had sprained her foot, and she limped over.

Meng Liyun looked at Xiao and saw that he was frowning slightly, as if he was reluctant, but he didn't say anything in the end.

A low roar came into her ears, and Meng Liyun turned her head suddenly, just in time to meet a pair of round eyes in the forest. The eyes were glowing red, staring at them murderously, and the patterns on the face were weird and ferocious, as if they would pounce on them at any time and tear them into pieces.

"tiger?"

Meng Liyun just let out a cry, and saw a black shadow flashing out of the corner of her eye. The woman rushed towards Xiao, looking panicked.

Xiao moved slightly and dodged. The woman lost her balance and fell to the ground.

But she quickly got up, huddled behind Xiao, held onto his arms, and begged him tremblingly: "Please... I don't want to die here... I——"

As he was speaking, the tiger suddenly stretched out its claws and walked out of the forest.

As he walked, he stared at them with his fierce eyes.

Xiao frowned, glanced at the woman, and withdrew his hand calmly.

The tiger had a strong body, but its belly was sunken, and it was obviously very hungry.

Meng Liyun looked at the tiger whose claw was about to hit her face, and looked at the owl hesitantly.

Just as he was about to ask something, his eyes fell on the arm that the woman had grabbed again.

Meng Liyun paused and watched Xiao pull his hand out again.

Xiao noticed that she was looking at him. Just as he was about to turn his head to say something, he heard a roar from the tiger in front of him. He looked over suddenly and saw the tiger bending down, as if ready to pounce.

Xiao frowned slightly, stretched out his long arms, and embraced Meng Liyun.

"Go back to the car."

Xiao instructed, glancing at the woman calmly. There was no other emotion in his black pupils, as if it was just a pure glance.

"Ah?" Meng Liyun was stunned. She didn't expect Xiao to make such a decision. "What about you guys?"

"No problem." Xiao said calmly, looking at the woman, as if he wanted to say something. He opened his mouth but didn't say anything. He turned his head and looked at Qingyi, "How is it?"

This nonsensical question made Meng Liyun and the woman stunned. Meng Liyun looked at Qingyi and found that he was looking at the tiger with the eyes of a commodity. His pale pupils trembled slightly, as if he was measuring something.

Finally, Qing Yi shook her head: "No."

Meng Liyun:?

Meng Liyun didn't understand what they were talking about. Xiao saw that she had no intention of listening, so he didn't say much, but just looked at her helplessly and looked at Tiger again.

It seemed like just a casual glance. Clearly, her aura hadn't changed at all. She was clearly right beside him, but she couldn't even sense the most basic murderous intent...

But the tiger shuddered violently, bent its knees and waist, with its chest almost touching the ground, and stared at him as if it sensed some fatal threat.

The tiger uttered a low growl, as if it was still unwilling to give up. Its front paws rubbed the ground, instantly grinding a shallow pit.

The woman next to Xiao was frightened and trembled, and tried to stretch her hand to Xiao's arm again. This time Xiao was obviously prepared and dodged without leaving a trace.

Finally, the tiger walked away, gnashing its teeth.

The woman breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.

Xiao and Qingyi just looked at her coldly, with no intention of helping her at all.

It was Meng Liyun who pulled her up.

"Thank you so much..." The woman caught her breath and smiled at Xiao.

Xiao didn't say anything, but looked at Meng Liyun, seeming a little dissatisfied.

Meng Liyun met his eyes and immediately knew what he wanted to say. She chuckled twice and laughed out loud.

"Oh... that's not——"

Before Meng Liyun finished speaking, Xiao sighed and shook his head: "Forget it, you never listened."

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun felt a little guilty and forced an explanation: "I have my own judgment. Didn't I trust you just now? Hehe..."

As he said this, he smiled ingratiatingly.

Xiao looked at her helplessly, not dwelling on this topic. He turned his eyes to the woman and said to Meng Liyun, "Let's go."

When Meng Liyun first heard this, she thought that she wanted to be with this woman, but Xiao did not mean that.

"Why? Did my behavior just now cause you to be disgusted?" The woman asked in panic, with trembling voice.

"No." Xiao looked at her without any emotion in his eyes.

"Then..." The woman's face turned pale and her lips trembled because of fear. "Why?"

As she spoke, she seemed to have thought of something, her expression became extremely grim. She lifted her hair, rubbed her face, revealing her beautiful face.

"I, I..." The woman was thinking about something. Her face turned red. She seemed to have made up her mind. She said, "I can serve you, sir. Please... don't abandon me. I am willing to be your concubine."

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun: ???

Meng Liyun suddenly stopped watching the show, stared at her face sharply, and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

...it does look good.

Meng Liyun gritted her teeth secretly.

Especially now, because of the great panic, those affectionate eyes were filled with sparkling tears, and she looked so fragile, like a pear blossom in the rain.

Like a fragile flower with swaying twigs and covered with water droplets.

In such a situation, a kind-hearted person might feel sorry for it and show some sympathy.

But more often than not, it will make people have evil thoughts and can't help but want to run over it hard just to see the flowers shattered to the ground.

Meng Liyun's eyes dimmed as she looked towards Xiao.

"I didn't intend to save you." Xiao said without any hesitation.

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun saw something strange in his eyes and couldn't help but close her eyes.

How come his straightforward speaking habits haven't changed at all over the years?

"...Ah?" The woman uttered helplessly.

"You ran here by yourself. If you hadn't led the tiger here, I would have planned to just leave." Xiao said to her without any intention of concealing anything.

"So you don't need to repay me. After all, I didn't intend to save you." Xiao said bluntly, not wavering at all because of the woman's increasingly desperate eyes. "Also, if I just saved you, you have to pledge your love to me and entrust the rest of your life to a man casually, don't you think it's too casual and too simple?"

"Then...what should we do?" The woman murmured with a twitching eyebrow.

"Just be like a slave." said Xiao.

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun really couldn't help it for a moment, so she sighed and looked away, just in time to meet Qingyi's disdainful eyes.

The two looked at each other and then looked away with mixed feelings.

"Then, then I am willing to work like a slave for you--"

"Ah, that's not necessary." Xiao rejected her mercilessly again, "You are so weak and fragile that you can't do anything."

woman:……

He almost had disgust written all over his face...

Meng Liyun held her forehead and twitched the corners of her mouth.

In the end, Meng Liyun gave the woman a map and asked her to hurry to the nearest town.

As soon as Meng Liyun gave her the map, Xiao lost his patience, whipped her by the back of her collar and pulled her into the car.

Before Meng Liyun could sit down properly, the carriage started moving.

Meng Liyun: ...

Looking back at the woman who was still standing there in a daze, Meng Liyun suddenly felt a little pity.

"...It's not easy for her either." Meng Liyun sat back in her original position and looked at Xiao, "Why don't you take her with you?"

"Why did you bring her?" Xiao looked at her in confusion, "I didn't intend to save her in the first place."

"...Why?" Meng Liyun was a little surprised when talking about this.

"Because it has nothing to do with me." Xiao replied, "I don't know her, and she doesn't know me, so why should I save her?"

"Because she is being chased by a tiger? She will die if we don't save her?" Meng Liyun hesitated.

"Then die." Xiao's words were full of indifference, as if it didn't matter at all. "How dare you come here alone? Aren't you prepared for this? To be honest, the tiger is also hungry. Even if you save her, the tiger may starve to death."

"But... tigers are not human?" Meng Liyun frowned. She suddenly realized that Xiao's thoughts were somewhat different from hers.

"...If one of the two is going to survive, of course it should be the relatively stronger one." Xiao paused, but still finished his words.

Meng Liyun looked at him with a frown.

At this moment, Qing Yi suddenly sneered, lowered his eyes to look at Xiao, supported his chin with one hand, and gently spread his hands with the other.

"She won't understand if you tell her this." Qingyi's voice was very light, it had always been like this.

"She is different from you." Qing Yi's lips curled slightly, and she looked up at Meng Liyun, "She is very kind-hearted..."

Meng Liyun could hear a hint of sarcasm in the second half of the whisper.

"I--" Meng Liyun wanted to say something, but saw Xiao shook his head.

"Forget it, let's stop talking." Xiao obviously didn't want them to have a conflict, so he interrupted the conversation.

Meng Liyun pursed her lips, somewhat unwillingly, but still closed her mouth.

Because of this episode, at night, Meng Liyun had completely forgotten her plans for the early morning and was still struggling with the differences between them.

Why did Qing Yi say that she and Xiao were different? Was it because of their views on the matter? Although they were indeed different, she couldn't understand him, right? Did he look down on her? Or was there really an unbridgeable gap between them?

Meng Liyun didn’t know, and she didn’t have the chance to ask Qingyi.

The next morning, Qingyi left, and this journey together came to an end.

After saying goodbye to Qingyi, Meng Liyun was in a daze for the whole morning before she started talking to Xiao again.

"Is he... blind?" Meng Liyun asked, thinking of Qingyi's eyes, although she didn't think that someone who could express so much contempt in his eyes was a blind person.

"No."

Sure enough, Xiao shook his head.

"The way his eyes look like, it seems like something happened in his childhood." Xiao recalled, "I don't know what it is, but he should be able to see. I think everything in his life is going well."

"Should?" Meng Liyun questioned, "...what if he is used to it?"

"..." Xiao was silent for a moment, "It is indeed possible."

"Didn't you ask him?"

"Why would I ask him such a question?" Xiao was puzzled, "I don't have the ability to help him return to normal."

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun twitched her lips, then thought about it and realized that this was indeed Xiao's style, so she didn't say anything more.

but……

"Why did he say we are different?" Meng Liyun was still confused about this and looked at Xiao, "Although I had some feelings before... when we were in Xiong'er Mountain."

Xiao was silent for a moment, lowering his eyes: "Although I am not sure, but... maybe it's because of different experiences."

Meng Liyun was stunned, her fingers slightly tightened: "Then what is the difference between us?"

Speaking of which, in the past few years when they were together, she would tell Xiao about her things when she was bored, almost telling him everything that had happened in the more than ten years since they separated, but Xiao had never taken the initiative to talk to her about his own affairs.

Facing Meng Liyun's gaze, Xiao hesitated.

Just when Meng Liyun thought he wouldn't say anything, Xiao spoke.

"When I was a child... I forgot how old I was, but as far as I can remember, I was in a cage..."

Xiao talked about his childhood and what happened in that dim room.

Meng Liyun was terrified when she heard this, but he spoke so calmly, as if it was not worth mentioning.

"...So, I was taught a lot of things by the souls on the mountain, as well as by my master." Xiao said, and seemed to pause, "The same goes for Mo Ze. I am very grateful to him for taking me out of Mangshan for those two years... Although I don't know if he feels the same way."

Because the focus of the topic was on the two people's growing environment, Xiao just glanced over Mo Ze's matter and did not go into detail, just mentioned it briefly.

"... Later, when I was in my teens, my master thought I could return alive from the outside world, so he let me leave the mountain."

"In fact, at first, I thought all mothers were similar to hers, but after going out and seeing some people's attitudes towards their children, I felt that... it wasn't the case."

"My sister and I just seem to have bad luck."

"That day, it was actually the bandits on the mountain who tricked me, so I rushed over and wanted to ask what was going on. I didn't intend to care about you, but because those people wanted to kill me, I let you go after killing them."

Xiao looked at her, his dark pupils without any light, and his gloomy gaze did not seem to be fixed on Meng Liyun, but he was indeed looking at her.

"I saw that you didn't run away, but walked inside. Out of curiosity, I followed you to see..."

Xiao looked at Meng Liyun's obviously worsening expression, paused, and passed over the matter.

"You also know what happened afterwards. I followed the instructions of that courtesan and found my biological father. After seeing how the three of them got along, I was sure that my sister and I were just... unlucky."

"...After parting with you, I went to many places and met many people, including those so-called spirits and gods..."

“I feel like there’s no difference between humans and them.”

"Just because I am a human, should I have some preference for others?"

"If the woman being chased by a tiger was replaced by a hare or a wild boar, would you still want to save her?"

“…I don’t agree with this concept, so I won’t take the initiative to save people who have nothing to do with me.”

"I won't interfere with anyone's choice, because in my opinion it's their life. Since they have made the choice, whether they think about the risks behind it or not, they should be responsible for it, right?"