Chapter 15: First Kiss

“Awooo!”
The yellow clay flashed with a chilling light on the infant spirit’s face, exploding in an instant. The spirit’s already pale cheeks were soon a bloody, mangled mess.
Wracked with pain, it released Bai Xiaoli at once.
Bai Xiaoli floated in the water, bubbles streaming from her lips.
I hurried over, wrapping my arm around her slender waist, and surfaced as quickly as possible. But the infant spirit recovered, wiped the filth from its face, and relentlessly charged after me.
Any other malevolent entity, after witnessing my prowess in the water, would never dare confront me here again. But this little ghost, ignorant of the world, clung to me with single-minded ferocity.
Truly, children are the most troublesome ghosts!
I had no intention of tangling with it any longer. Drawing the demon-whip from my waist, I lashed out fiercely at the creature.
With a sharp crack, the whip traced a powerful arc through the river, landing squarely on the infant spirit.
Awooo!
A fissure split the spirit’s body where the whip struck; in the next moment, a flood of black blood gushed forth. With a cry of agony, the spirit was torn in two. At the same time, a streak of white light shot from its body, darting away like a fish fleeing for its life.

I had no time to spare for the escaping light. Hauling Bai Xiaoli ashore, I anxiously patted her shoulders, calling her name. There was no response; she had lost consciousness. I quickly checked her pulse—thank heavens, her heart was still beating.
Laying her flat on the ground, I pressed one hand to her forehead, lifted her chin with the other, and cleared the mud and weeds from her lips. Then, lowering my head, I pressed my mouth to hers, breathing gently three or five times.
With a violent cough, Bai Xiaoli regained consciousness, water pouring from her stomach as she sputtered it out.
I propped her up, gently patting her back. “Xiaoli, are you all right?” I asked.
She looked over at me, her face washed clean of the makeup she’d applied, the river water leaving her utterly bare. It was the first time I’d seen her so closely, and I had to admit—I had never seen such a beautiful girl.
Now, with her hair dripping and her cheeks unadorned, the tears welling in her aggrieved eyes were plain to see.
“Did you… did you just kiss me?” she asked, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.
In the urgency of the moment, I hadn’t thought anything of it—performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was the only way. Only now, as I recalled it, did the faint sweetness linger on my lips.
“Well, um, I’m sorry. It was an emergency, and I had no other choice,” I stammered. It was my first time kissing a girl, and now, confronted by her question, I was so nervous I didn’t know what to say.
At my words, Bai Xiaoli burst into tears. I hadn’t expected this reaction and hurried to apologize.
Between sobs, she said, “You don’t need to apologize. You saved me… it’s just… just that my first kiss was supposed to be for my fiancé…” At this, she began crying anew, then continued, “It’s all right, I’ll explain it to him when the time comes. But thank you—for saving me. What’s your name? I, Bai Xiaoli, will make it up to you.”
“Pi Yangxi,” I replied. The thought that she was so distraught over not saving her first kiss for her fiancé warmed my heart and made me want to laugh at the same time.

This little miss had never even seen me before—didn’t know what kind of person I was—so why was she so determined to marry me?
“What—what did you say your name was?”
Bai Xiaoli stopped crying at once, as if she’d misheard, her wide eyes fixed on me.
“My name is Pi Yangxi,” I repeated.
She stood up, her gaze roving over me, and asked, “Are you Pi Yangxi from Pi Family Village by the Yellow River?”
“Yes,” I replied.
A faint light returned to her face, but she still looked uncertain. “Could you tell me your birth date and time?”
I recited my birth date and time, and before I finished, Bai Xiaoli leapt up and threw her arms around me. “Husband! It really is you! No wonder you knew my name was Bai Xiaoli.”
She hugged me so tightly I nearly couldn’t breathe. Fortunately, her enthusiasm only lasted a moment before she let me go, her eyes now filled with a mix of grievance and anger as she fixed her gaze on me.
Women truly change moods faster than flipping a page. Seeing her like this, I ventured, “Xiaoli, what’s wrong?”