Clutching his head, his entire body cloaked in black, white mist-like gas billowed from his robe.
Under the intense struggle of his agony, his hood was rubbed off, revealing the horrifying visage scorched by the sun.
Once a handsome and pale face was now a patchwork of blood red, frantically dripping with scarlet beads of blood, his features melted into an indistinct mass, appearing extremely hideous and fierce.
"Ah!" The girl screamed in terror, piercing the sky, her eyelids fluttering as she fainted from fright.
The man lying on the ground, previously humming and hawing, fell suddenly silent.
The disciple from the Beast Palace holding a sword, half knelt and clutched at his chest in horror, "What kind of monster are you?!"
Had his heart not been different from that of an ordinary person, located on the right side of his chest, that strike just now would have claimed his life.
Thinking thus, the young man's face instantly contorted: "Exorcising demons to defend the Dao, is a duty I must fulfill without question!"
He struggled to his feet and began to approach Baili An step by step.
However, before he managed to take two steps, he saw the white deer beside the evil demon round its eyes and let out an angry cry.
Charging like thunder, it rammed its beautiful juvenile horns towards him.
The speed was so fast that it left no time for reaction; the young man only saw a streak of white flash before him, followed by an excruciating pain in his abdomen as if he had been brutally hammered.
His body was sent flying backward, slamming into a rock, his neck bone breaking with a snap, ending his life instantly.
Baili An, in pain, rolled around on the ground, his black silk ribbon torn off, howling and screaming like a desperate beast.
The little deer promptly bit the handle of the Glazed Umbrella to shield him from the fierce sun, providing Baili An with some relief.
Yet his face was completely a sight too ghastly to endure.
He gasped heavily, the crimson in his eyes once again surfacing.
The little deer placed the umbrella into his hand and coyly raised its buttocks.
Baili An knew this was no time for idle talk and tremblingly drew the Autumnwater Sword with his blood-soaked hand.
He was about to cut a small opening in the thick fleshy buttocks of the deer and was preparing to carefully catch the fresh blood with his palm.
However, before his hand could reach it, the atmosphere between heaven and earth suddenly transformed, prompting an ominous and murderous air.
A sword slash ripped through the air.
With no warning and from an unknown direction, a silvery white longsword flew through the wind, reaching straight for Baili An's outstretched palm.
Baili An growled lowly, with his eyes turning increasingly savage and crimson, the hand holding the umbrella swiftly turned, using the surface of the umbrella to meet the incoming sword.
The Glazed Umbrella, as his burial item of a very high rank, naturally had functions beyond merely shading from the harsh sun; its defensive capabilities were also extremely formidable.
But when the sword collided with the surface of the umbrella, it completely overturned his expectations.
This sword, seemingly unremarkable, was incredibly powerful.
The biting cold Sword Intent, even with an umbrella between, did nothing; the formidable power, using the Glazed Umbrella as a conduit, made its way clearly into every corner of Baili An's body through the umbrella handle.
His vision abruptly darkened as he was sent flying upward, just as the little deer had sent the young man flying earlier.
He desperately clutched the umbrella handle, which had somehow turned icy cold to the bone, his body dragging out a long trail of scars and blood on the ground. Yet, he still held tightly onto the umbrella.
For he knew that once he let go, he would melt away like a snowflake under the sunlight.
Unable to drink a single drop of blood, Baili An's pupils were entirely replaced by crimson, his consciousness teetering on the verge of collapse.
He held the umbrella, struggling to his feet.
Upon the umbrella, a thick layer of frost had already formed.
Drip by drip, blood trickled down his cheeks to the ground.
In the mountain forest, a dense frost mist had formed without notice.
Not far in front of Baili An, the silver-white longsword danced on its own in mid-air, tracing paths of frost patterns, finally landing in the delicate and slender hand of a slender figure.
A slender and tall figure slowly emerged from the thick fog, the silver-white longsword in her hand ceasing its clear resonance, turning utterly quiet.
The woman was incredibly beautiful, with shoulders like cut jade and a waist as slender as a willow, but her face was pale, her figure emaciated to the point of being almost morbid, as if a gust of wind could easily blow her away.
Beneath her beautiful almond-shaped eyes, there was a layer of bleak darkness, her expression carrying a hint of lonely desolation.
Her red dress was flamboyantly and brilliantly colored in the cold wind, like a beautiful flame amidst the frost mist, yet it paradoxically evoked a sense of dying embers, coldness, and an approach toward the end.
There was a sword sheath hanging on her waist, clearly the home of the sword in her hand.
Besides, behind her shoulders carved as if by a knife, she bore another sword.
That sword was wrapped tightly in a piece of black cloth, its actual form indiscernible.
Her long, dense eyelashes fluttered for a moment, and as her gaze moved, she caught sight of Baili An's grotesque, ghostly visage. Not a great deal of emotion flickered across the bottom of her eyes.
But the corners of her perfectly shaped lips rose slightly: "What ugly thing is this."
She looked particularly attractive when she smiled, even though there wasn't a hint of mirth in her eyes.
Lifting her lips and revealing her teeth in a smile was like donning a mask with a smile.
What exactly hides behind that mask remains a mystery to all.
Hearing the girl's words, Baili An subconsciously covered his face with his sleeve.
It was strange; he was on the verge of madness from a raging thirst for blood, with the last bit of his lucidity about to shatter.
Yet for some reason, when he heard that sentence of hers, he still instinctively covered up his grotesque face.
As if... he didn't want her to see him like this.
But clearly, not long ago, the hunter's young girl had seen his corpse demon's ugly, bloody visage.
Back then, he actually didn't care about the hunter and the girl's frightened reaction.
The silver-white longsword was slowly sheathed, and the girl's waist was adorned with three items.
Black Jade, a green jade liquor flask, and a Qiankun Bag.
The Black Jade was exquisitely luxurious, carved with the fiery red pattern of a Vermilion Bird.
Hanging from the jade pendant was a string of beads, decorated with black tassels below, rich in ancient charm, which emitted a pleasant and crisp sound when it lightly collided with the green jade flask.
The Qiankun Bag was also embroidered with the pattern of a Divine Beast Vermilion Bird on the front, complementing the black ancient jade.
From the Qiankun Bag, she took out a coffin the size of a palm, holding the coffin with one hand while her other hand made a gesture of gentle knocking.
She tapped on the coffin lid lightly, her beautiful almond eyes bending into crescent shapes, still without a trace of smile.
However, her tone was strangely gentle, eerily so: "Shou, it's time to eat."
The girl was holding a coffin.
This eerie spectacle sent a shiver through Baili An's heart, as if something had grasped his heart itself.
It was cold, unbearable.
What was even more terrifying was that, in his extreme bloodthirstiness, his body irresponsibly began stepping towards the direction of the red-clothed girl.
The lid of the coffin had been opened, accompanied by a voice echoing throughout the forest, sounding like the innocent babbling of a child.
The voice was pure and innocent but gave one goosebumps.
For along with the sound, a scarlet tongue emerged from the coffin, then quickly retracted back into it.