Journey to the End of the Night Chapter 1701 - 1017: Addiction (Part 2)

Baili An left a rather generous amount of silver tael for the old woman, enough to buy her entire stall.

So when he picked the potatoes, he wasn’t stingy, choosing the biggest ones.

Su Jing’s face was barely the size of a palm and smaller than the sweet potato she held, as she bowed her head and nibbled at the sticky red flesh.

She had to be careful or the steaming, soft, sticky sweet potato flesh would burn her nose.

The exquisitely small nose tip was burnt red, and she winced in pain, her cheeks slightly puffed, blowing a few breaths, then continued to nibble at the flesh.

Under the heat haze, she appeared less cold and distant, and more cute and pitiful.

For some reason, seeing her pitiful appearance with a red nose, Baili An found his own sulking dissipating somewhat.

He sighed and said, "Give me the last Thousand Cuts Pill."

Su Jing paused her sweet potato eating, her nose still smeared with soft, sticky sweet potato flesh.

She frowned a little, seeming worried about something, remaining silent.

Probably concerned he’d eat another Punishment Pill, she just quietly turned her back on him, expressing her inner resistance with silence.

Seeing her like this, Baili An felt his barely suppressed anger rising again.

He snapped: "I’m not crazy enough to eat that deadly stuff again."

Su Jing slowly turned around, half of her face gloomily watching Baili An, "Really?"

Baili An frowned: "If you don’t believe it, I’ve got nothing to say, you go back to the inn..."

Before he could finish speaking, Miss Jing, holding a sweet potato bigger than her head, floated over like a white ghost.

He quickly took out the familiar small porcelain bottle from his sleeve and resolutely placed it in Baili An’s palm.

Baili An looked at the woman whose features were completely covered by the big sweet potato.

He could vaguely see the two bunny ears behind the top of the sweet potato trembling nervously in the wind.

"..."

Why do I feel like pinching them?

Baili An accepted the porcelain bottle and without further ado, crushed it instantly, scattering the contents into the lake.

Su Jing tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"With no one around, can you tell me why you ate such stuff? Were you trying to hurt yourself?"

A "splat" sounded.

The sweet potato in Su Jing’s mouth fell to the ground, her gaze on Baili An somewhat glazed.

Baili An frowned and reached out, wanting to check her sweat-soaked collar.

Midway, realizing it was inappropriate given their genders, he retracted his hand.

"You’re not the type to sweat much, but in Wanggui Building, your shirt was soaked. Now leaving Wanggui Building, in this cold snowy night, your sweat never seems to dry up. If your body weren’t unusually hurting, why would you sweat so much?"

Su Jing pursed her lips, silently squatted down to pick up the roasted sweet potato from the mud and grass, and stuffed it back into her mouth.

Baili An frowned deeply, like reprimanding a disobedient child, slapping her hand to knock away the sweet potato.

Seriously he said: "You still haven’t changed this bad habit of picking up food from the ground?"

Su Jing rubbed her reddened hand back, her clear eyes unexpectedly showing a hint of grievance: "You bought it."

Baili An feared she’d pick it up again, shaking his leg to kick it into the lake, "If it’s dirty, don’t eat it. I will buy you new ones."

Su Jing quietly looked at him for a long while, her face still expressionless, the ears on her head bouncing and drooping, "Okay."

Baili An: "..."

Somehow, it felt like he was back to being a worried dad for Su Jing when she was sixteen.

But he forgot, Su Jing was no longer the naive, incapable, and withdrawn girl she once was.

Baili An suddenly asked, "Su Jing, how long have you been engaging in self-harm?"

Spending a fortune to bid on such inhumane Forbidden Pills.

Su Jing is not one to poison others, yet she consumes the poison pill herself. This behavior can fundamentally be confirmed as self-harm.

Moreover, it seems Li Bansheng is completely unaware of his daughter’s self-harming behavior.

Su Jing flatly denied, "You’re overthinking, I’m not self-harming."

If Baili An were a decade younger, he might have believed her nonsense.

Baili An prides himself on his strong endurance, but after taking the Thousand Cuts Pill, he only feels like there are countless little knives scraping at his intestines; the pain of cutting flesh and extracting sinew is nothing in comparison.

Just thinking about this pain lasting for a whole month, even he can’t help but feel a sinking sense of despair.

Yet, at this moment, Su Jing appears calm and unperturbed, with not a trace of pain, clearly accustomed over the years to such destructive behaviors.

Baili An recalls discovering Su Jing’s particularly dull perception of pain back in the underground palace in the Demon World.

Could someone who has endured inhuman torment and mental anguish for years still be considered normal?

Baili An felt a headache coming on, "Su Jing, I don’t know when you started this behavior, but I hope you can stop soon.

Perhaps you’re very discreet, very careful, and even your mother hasn’t noticed your crazy behavior.

But what I want to say now is, Taixuan Sect is not as safe as you think.

Two hundred years ago, I suspected there might be a spy from the Demon World within your Taixuan Sect, but there was never any trace to be found.

Have you ever thought about why, today when you bid for the Punishment Pill, the person behind the poisoning could be so sure you’d use one today?

If you hadn’t taken this pill today, the person behind the scenes would fail in framing you.

Yet they could calculate your purpose for bidding on this pill, and were certain you’d consume one just today."

Su Jing felt a chill on her spine.

Baili An’s expression was heavy, "If you continue to harm yourself, sooner or later it will become a fatal weakness for your enemies to exploit."

If the person behind the poisoning weren’t certain Su Jing wouldn’t want others to know she was taking the Thousand Cuts Pill, how could such a flawed scheme drive her to this dead end?

Su Jing squatted on the ground, not standing up.

Her hands rested on her knees, body slightly curled, making her appear even more thin and frail.

Her shoulder blades protruded beautifully, with her posture showing some pain, moonlight slanting down and elongating her solitary shadow, rendering it desolate.

Her eyes gradually filled with a thin layer of haze, as she slowly hugged her knees, her voice gentle: "I just feel that pain makes me feel clearly alive in this world. Thinking this makes the unhappily cultivated life somewhat easier."

"I know my thinking is abnormal, my mind is ill, initially, I just used silver needles, then a small knife, gradually realizing I was drinking poison to quench thirst, starting to rely on and become addicted to ’pain’."

Su Jing’s eyes showed a powerless cold self-mockery: "Originally, the intent was to punish myself, but upon careful thought, it was ultimately a choice of a cowardly escape, using another way to live more comfortably."

"Is this comfort and ease!" Baili An’s heart was filled with a nameless fire, he couldn’t help but shout in anger.

The twisting pain in the abdomen became increasingly intense.

The pain distracting his mind, he couldn’t hold back and a sweet bloody taste rose in his throat, averted his head, and vomited a mouthful of blood, his breath surged incessantly.

Su Jing was startled by his appearance, stepped forward to support him, her face pale: "Didn’t you say Corpse Poison could resist the effects of the Punishment Pill? Why does it still hurt?"

Baili An gritted his teeth, under his pale skin of the neck, visible blue veins bulged, he sneered:

"Where is there so much mutual restraint and interaction, Fang You is as cunning as an old fox.

He certainly doesn’t want the emperor’s poisoning incident to affect his Shifang City, just using my words to placate Tan Guangjun.

Su Jing’s eyes were filled with bewildered panic, her face looking even paler and more bleak than his.

She raised her fingers in a daze, wanting to help him wipe the blood stains from the corner of his mouth, but was grabbed by Baili An by the wrist.

He looked at her intently, "If you dare harm yourself again and I find out, I’ll go to your Nanze Mountain and uproot all the fruits and vegetables you planted at the foot of the mountain to feed pigs."

Su Jing responded with a sound, not telling him that after he coldly died, she personally filled in that patch of land and never again in that mountain range and water, planted her beloved fruit and vegetables.