Baili An watched her in red attire and, for some reason, Jin Sheng's words came to mind.
In this world, there are two women you must never provoke.
One in red.
One in white.
And they're both very beautiful.
Now, the one before him was indeed beautiful.
Baili An felt a slight trepidation in his heart, wondering if it was such a coincidence to have encountered her.
He nodded and made an affirmative sound, lifting the umbrella to pat off the dust on him, then got up and wrapped the dirty buns that had fallen to the ground in a white cloth before tucking them into his embrace.
A simple action seemed to prick the corner of her eyes painfully.
Her gaze became slightly strange, with deep, profound eyes as if filled with painful memories.
She looked down slowly and said, "You still picked up those dirty buns, but I remember corpse demons can't eat the food mortals eat, right?"
Baili An nodded and made a sound in agreement, "These were a thank you gift I got for rescuing a hunter and his daughter. I've been awake from my coffin for only a dozen days, and this is the first time I've seen human cooked food. They looked rather cute with their plump white looks."
The girl unconsciously touched her cheeks and murmured softly, "Plump and white... cute..."
Then her brows knit in annoyance, and the corners of her mouth sank into a seemingly angry expression.
But those deep and beautiful eyes, with a slight shimmer, clearly carried a hint of hurt, a bit of reproach, and a touch of bittersweet sweetness.
For some reason, seeing such a look in her eyes, Baili An felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest.
Crystal clear water droplets slid down the transparent glass-like umbrella tip, the thick ice that had formed on the umbrella surface from the sword strike earlier slowly melted into water.
The hunter girl who had been unconscious let out a whimper, slowly waking up.
As consciousness returned in an instant, she shouted in panic, her complexion pale, "Ghost! Ghost! There's a Fierce Ghost!"
Baili An silently pulled the oversized hood behind him to cover his face.
The black silk he had scraped off in his struggle earlier had gone missing.
The large, pitch-black hood could only cover the upper half of his face, revealing only the pale and lean chin, as if carved by a knife.
The girl's panic-stricken shriek seemed somewhat sharp and piercing, and the red-clad woman's elegant brows slightly knitted in lazy annoyance.
As her gaze shifted, the complex emotions in her eyes from earlier quickly vanished, quickly covered by a layer of an inscrutable, masked smile.
Her eyes slightly curved beneath her feathery lashes, yet underneath lay an air of lush and brooding discontent: "A ghost? There are no ghosts here."
Perhaps the woman's voice was too ethereal and elusive, which actually calmed the girl a bit.
Seeing the red-clad woman, the hunter girl's gaze paused, seemingly dazzled for a moment by her beauty.
She collected herself, then as her eyes turned toward the umbrella-carrying youth, she instinctively recoiled a bit, as if she had seen something terrifying.
However, when she clearly saw the pale, unblemished chin under the hood, she was taken aback.
She pointed at Baili An, mumbling, "I clearly remember you getting burned by the sunlight..."
Baili An remained silent for a moment, watching the little deer walk up to the frightened girl, nudging her gently with its head as if to comfort her, then he said, "I'll take you home first."
The girl froze, not having a chance to react, when the red-dressed woman let out a light sneer.
Her beautiful eyes shifted with a touch of pride, looking at Baili An, "She's so afraid of you, and you still earnestly offer to take her home with such warm-heartedness. Have you fallen for the young lady at first sight?"
Baili An smiled silently, his pale and colorless lips curling into a somewhat helpless arc.
He didn't explain, but beneath the red-clad woman's watchful gaze, it was clear that his partially hidden face under the hood was not directed toward the girl but toward the hunter covered in wounds and still unconscious.
Following his gaze, the woman's eyes casually looked at the hunter a couple of times, her thin lips parting lightly, "Interesting."
The young girl, sitting on the ground with shock still in her eyes, shook her head desperately, "No... no! I don't want you to take me."
Under the scorching sun, the image of Baili An looking like a Fierce Ghost was still vivid in her mind, how could she not be afraid.
"You just had a nightmare earlier."
The red-clad woman's almond eyes suddenly became deep and mysterious, shimmering with a strange luminescence, her voice drifting like it had no foundation, yet carrying a magical guiding power:
"You were just too tired earlier, and you had a nightmare. The Fierce Ghost you saw was just an illusion you experienced in your faint due to not distinguishing reality from dreams..."
The hunter girl's gaze gradually became empty and mesmerized, losing its original color.
Finally, as she nodded her head in bewildered agreement, the resistance and fear in her eyes also dispersed, and then cleared.
She looked at Baili An with a face full of guilt, "I was really rude, good sir. You saved me, yet I behaved so inappropriately..."
Baili An looked deeply at the red-clad woman without saying much.
He simply walked over to the collapsed hunter, hoisted him onto his shoulder with one hand, and said, "We shouldn't stay here for long, I'll take you home first."
This time the girl showed little resistance, her face shyly tensed, and she nodded lightly.
Because of her injured leg, the deer carried her on its back, leading the way out of the area with her pointing directions.
To Baili An's surprise, the red-clad woman of mysterious origin also followed closely behind him, showing no intention of leaving.
"Uh... miss, is there something else?"
"Nothing."
"Then you..."
"Bored, fun."
She casually picked up a half-withered leaf, played with it in hand for a moment, then casually threw it away.
The fallen leaf drifted into the distance along the mountain breeze's path.
She looked ahead on the road, her tone and demeanor both a bit too lethargic to be engrossed.
Yet she said, "That young lady's home seems quite interesting."
If it had been in the past, the lives and deaths of others would have been just a matter of fate's rise and fall to her.
Over the years, accustomed to drifting alone, she disliked meddling in others' affairs.
But today, having seen those long-missed buns, her mood was uplifted.
So she didn't mind accompanying this young corpse demon for some amusement.
Baili An made an ackwnoledgment sound, "You really are a strange person, miss."
The woman replied carelessly, "You're also a very strange corpse demon, speaking so pompously and stiffly, much like a person I once knew."
Baili An did not ask who her person from the past was, but instead laughed lightly, "You interfered earlier when you saw me injuring the deer for blood, yet now, seeing all these corpses around, you remain indifferent. It seems that in your heart, the life of a mortal is not as important as that of a deer."
The woman replied half-heartedly, "All beings are equal."
Baili An honestly replied, "That sounds so fake."
The woman sneered, "Before you ask whether human life or a deer's life is more important, you might first ask yourself, between the two, which is more important."
Baili An replied without hesitation, "Naturally, my deer is more important."
"What a coincidence, I think so too," the woman smiled faintly, although beneath that smile, there was a rare trace of sincerity.