Chapter 1158: Bodhisattva

Qiu Shiliu felt she had stumbled upon something important. Releasing her grip, she slowly stood up.

She took out the "door" from her pocket, swallowed hard several times, and then yelled loudly:

"Jiu Jie!!"

"I'm here." Bai Jiu's calm voice came from the other end. "I just finished explaining the situation to Qi Ge and the others. What's going on with you...?"

Qiu Shiliu didn't hold back any longer. She pulled Xiao Xuanwu directly in front of her and used the "door" to shine on her.

"Jiu Jie, what should I do with this child?" Qiu Shiliu asked, exasperated. "Look how pathetic she is. She didn't even fight back or scream. All she wanted was to eat some corn cobs here. Asking me to kill a child like this is just too difficult."

Bai Jiu stared at Jiang Shi's left eye for a moment. "But she really does look like Xuanwu."

"Exactly," Qiu Shiliu said. "I'm prepared. If you all ultimately decide she must be killed, I'll overcome my reservations and beat her to death right here."

"Is there something strange about this Xuanwu?" It sounded like Song Qi's voice.

"Strange...?"

Qiu Shiliu looked at the little girl in front of her. The situation was truly hard to describe.

"Jiu Jie, the only 'strange' thing about this little girl is that she doesn't seem strange at all," Qiu Shiliu explained. "She seems a little too normal... The only unusual thing is that her right eye seems to have an issue."

"Right eye...?"

Qiu Shiliu nodded and reached out to brush aside Xiao Xuanwu's hair. But the usually compliant Xiao Xuanwu, who hadn't even resisted being hit earlier, unexpectedly dodged away.

"Don't run!" Qiu Shiliu said irritably. "Come here! Be good!"

Xiao Xuanwu was startled and stopped resisting, staying still to be handled.

Qiu Shiliu reached over and slowly parted Xiao Xuanwu's hair that covered her eyes, revealing her unusual pupils.

Two eyeballs were awkwardly squeezed into the same eye, looking both frightening and sickly.

At this close distance, Qiu Shiliu noticed that both of Xiao Xuanwu's eyes seemed bloodshot, as if they had been injured.

"In one eye, two... eyeballs?" Bai Jiu's voice came from the "door." She suddenly had a thought. "Is this perhaps Xuanwu's weakness...?"

Qiu Shiliu frowned and thought for a moment. "Jiu Jie, I understand what you're thinking... but are you sure Xuanwu's 'eyes' would be located on her 'childhood form'? Isn't that a bit too abstract?"

"This..." Bai Jiu knew her idea sounded a little far-fetched. "But we've never found eyes on Xuanwu's body... Now that I think about it, maybe we can test it with this little Xuanwu in front of us. After all, nothing about Xuanwu is beyond comprehension."

Qiu Shiliu was slightly stunned after hearing this. "Wait... Jiu Jie, are you saying I should poke out this child's eyes right here?"

Mid-sentence, Xiao Xuanwu was so scared she stumbled back, pulling away from Qiu Shiliu's hand.

"Don't poke out my eyes... just kill me outright..." Xiao Xuanwu said tremblingly. "Why only poke out my eyes and not kill me?"

Qiu Shiliu found it difficult to answer this question. To make a child who was already suffering not only poor but also blind, and force her to live in this space—it was no different from what beasts would do, or what Tianlong and Qinglong would do.

"You, listen to me..." Qiu Shiliu said with a conflicted heart. "Kid, even if we kill you, that eye on you might still be effective... So we have to poke it out to stop that terrible 'Bu Mie.' I..."

"Then kill me first!" Xiao Xuanwu raised her voice. "Kill me first, and then you can poke out my eyes however you want. Okay?"

"I..." Qiu Shiliu was stunned again. This question was just as hard to answer.

Xiao Xuanwu quickly stepped forward and grabbed Qiu Shiliu's hand. "Gege..."

"I'm a jie jie, damn it," Qiu Shiliu said irritably.

Xiao Xuanwu, who had never seen such a handsome girl who looked like a boy, quickly corrected herself:

"Jie jie, you look like someone who isn't afraid of anything... Kill me! The people in the village are scared of breaking the law. They'd be executed if they killed me, so no one dares to truly do it. You're the only one who can save me... Please..."

These fragmented words lingered in Qiu Shiliu's mind for a long time, leaving her speechless.

How desperate must a person be to see death as salvation?

"Xuanwu, you really..." Qiu Shiliu sighed slowly.

Xiao Xuanwu tilted her head slightly and looked at Qiu Shiliu with her face full of scars. "Jie jie... Who is 'Xuanwu'?"

"You..." Qiu Shiliu nodded. "I almost forgot, you're not called Xuanwu right now. So, what should I call you?"

"I'm Xuan Zi from Wu Jia Village," Xiao Xuanwu said.

"Wu Jia Village... Xuan Zi?" Qiu Shiliu frowned.

"So, can you kill me?" Xiao Xuanwu asked again. "Even if you pull out my tongue or throw me to the wolves after killing me, that's fine."

Bai Jiu, on the other end of the "door," heard Xiao Xuanwu's words and hesitated for a moment, as if some subtle connection had formed.

Xuanwu was like this, and so was Xiao Xuanwu. The two of them shared a strange commonality.

"Shiliu, I have something to ask her," Bai Jiu said gravely from the "door." "You relay for me—one sentence from me, one from you."

"Okay." Qiu Shiliu nodded, held the "door" up to her ear, and then lowered her head to say, "Xuanwu, I have something to ask you."

"What...?" Xiao Xuanwu asked blankly.

"Why don't you commit suicide?" Qiu Shiliu accurately relayed Bai Jiu's key question.

"Suicide...?"

"It's the same whether now or in the future," Qiu Shiliu frowned as she spoke. "You give off the feeling that you're seeking death every day, but you've never tried to end your own life. Why not? If you really want to die, there are plenty of ways to try."

Xiao Xuanwu stared at Qiu Shiliu for a long time before slowly saying, "I can't commit suicide. I can only be killed."

"Be killed...?" Qiu Shiliu clearly didn't understand. "But isn't that just troubling others? You said yourself that killing you would help you, but the person who helps would be executed."

"But I really can't commit suicide... My life belongs to the Bodhisattva."

"Bodhisattva...?"