Chapter 392 - 162: Bai Ling’s Sacrifice

The two of them brought the demon down using the Lotus Drill and the Flying Sword.

They came away with two Demon Cores — one each, no splitting required. Clean and convenient.

"Not bad at all."

Xu Lei smiled. "Worth every day we spent waiting."

"Let’s head into the city then. The last one — we’ll just leave it."

Bai Ling added, "Once we’re in, I’ll take a bath. And tonight, Ling’er will give you her complete, undivided devotion."

"Sounds good."

Xu Lei said warmly, "Don’t worry. When I give you my Charitable Giving, I’ll be gentle."

"Mm-hmm."

Bai Ling said, "Ling’er trusts you. Do whatever you like — Ling’er is entirely yours. Just don’t give so much Charitable Giving that Ling’er ends up dead, and anything goes."

"That’s never going to happen. We’re partners — the only way this works is if we both win."

Xu Lei said, "We’ll attain the Dao and live forever — together."

Even with Bai Ling completely letting her guard down around him, Xu Lei had no intention of turning her into a Furnace Cauldron and draining her dry.

After all, he had no control over the Creepy Spirit. A living Bai Ling was worth far more to him than a dead one.

After that, Xu Lei and Bai Ling made their way into the city.

What neither of them expected was that the moment they passed through the border-town gates, they ran straight into that middle-aged Daoist man from before.

Apparently he hadn’t given up. He’d been here all this time, waiting for Bai Ling.

He immediately sidled up and tried to strike up a conversation with her, insisting on traveling together with the two of them.

"I really do have a Dao Companion now — and it’s him."

Bai Ling looked mildly exasperated as she reached over and took Xu Lei’s hand. "Senior Brother, stop thinking about me."

"Impossible. This fellow Daoist already told me himself — he has another Dao Companion. You two aren’t like that."

The middle-aged Daoist pressed on, shaking his head. "Junior Sister, I know your heart is set on cultivation right now. But my feelings for you are real. I’m willing to wait by your side until the day you’re ready to find a Dao Companion. I’ll prove my love to you. One day, you’ll come around."

"It’s true that I have another Dao Companion — but Bai Ling has genuinely become my Dao Companion as well."

Xu Lei spoke up as well. "We’re together now. That’s the reality of it."

"You’re just playing along with Bai Ling, aren’t you?"

The middle-aged Daoist scoffed. "Brother, you’re not fooling me."

Xu Lei was at a loss for words. So was Bai Ling.

Neither of them had any idea how to prove it.

Xu Lei even considered pulling Bai Ling into his arms and kissing her right there on the street — just to get this guy to finally give it up.

But they were in the middle of a busy road with people passing in every direction, and Bai Ling would probably be too embarrassed, so he let the thought go.

"I’ve said what I needed to say. Believe it or don’t. You’d honestly be better off setting your sights on some other Female Cultivator."

Bai Ling added, "As far as I’m concerned, you never had a chance."

Then she pulled Xu Lei along, and they walked away.

The two of them went straight to an inn in the city and checked into a top-floor room.

What surprised Xu Lei was that the middle-aged Daoist had followed them to the very same inn — and taken the room right next door.

Xu Lei was about to say something to the man, but Bai Ling had already yanked him inside the room.

The door clicked shut behind them.

"When Ling’er was little, you used to give her baths."

Bai Ling’s cheeks flushed pink. "Would you... give Ling’er another one?"

The bathing tub and everything else had already been prepared by the inn’s attendants.

Bai Ling began undressing, peeling off her garments one by one, revealing the soft white curves of her collarbones, her slender arms, her smooth long legs, and her delicate little feet.

In the end, only a red dudou remained, barely covering what mattered most.

Her long hair tumbled loose and fell around her — silky white, luminous, carrying a warmth that made her impossible to look away from.

"Back then you were just this tiny little thing. Hard to believe you’ve grown into such a woman."

Xu Lei couldn’t help but murmur it aloud. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her, ran a hand along her slender waist, savoring the softness of her skin. He pressed his lips to the curve of her neck and said, "Alright. Just like when you were small — let me give you that bath."

"Ling’er will wash you too."

Bai Ling said softly, "Ling’er has grown up now. It’s time Ling’er started taking care of you."

Another hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Xu Lei had, of course, given Bai Ling his full Charitable Giving.

Bai Ling’s figure was even more voluptuous than Qing Lian’s.

Yet she was still impossibly tender — after all, she was essentially still in the form of a college girl from Earth.

Meanwhile, in the room right next door, the middle-aged Daoist lay listening to the sounds drifting through the wall — sounds from Bai Ling that he could never have imagined, had never heard before, rising and falling without end.

The color drained from his face. He didn’t sleep a wink all night.

And yet he didn’t leave. He simply lay there in the dark, listening in silence until morning.

The next day, around noon.

Xu Lei walked out hand-in-hand with Bai Ling and found the middle-aged Daoist waiting at their door, a pair of deep dark circles under his eyes.

"Bai Ling — are you really his Dao Companion?" The middle-aged Daoist had finally accepted what he’d spent all night listening to. He asked the question in a hollow voice, his face ashen.

"Of course it’s real. I have never lied to you. Every word I’ve ever said to you has been the truth — before and now."

Bai Ling said, "When I told you I wasn’t looking for a Dao Companion back then, I meant it. When I told you yesterday that he is my Dao Companion, I meant that too. But why are you even here — were you in that room next door all night?"

The realization hit her, and her expression shifted. A flush crept up her face.

"I don’t know which thing you’ve said is true and which is a lie."

The middle-aged Daoist’s voice turned ugly. "You flat-out told me you weren’t looking for a Dao Companion — and then suddenly you’re his? What, you just fell in love overnight? And last night — the way you were carrying on, so shameless, so wanton — I had no idea you were that kind of woman!"