"Lu Linsheng?"

Bai Ling called out but didn't hear a response. She raised her voice and called again, "Lu Linsheng?!"

The figure that was devouring the demons finally paused. After a moment, a muffled voice came over, "Hm? I'm here, what's the matter?"

Bai Ling sat on the hammock, looking at the dark silhouette in the corner. She had just woken up, with the night pearls floating by her side. Lu Linsheng's side was not within the illumination range of the night pearls and was still shrouded in darkness. Only his shadow and a pile of demon remains could be seen.

In order not to disturb Bai Ling's rest, Lu Linsheng would drag the demons that were thrown down to a corner to eat whenever he fed.

They had been thrown in here for many days. Even though Bai Ling was calm and composed at first, she now couldn't help but feel restless. After all, she was still a young girl. The inescapable predicament and the lack of daylight for so long had put a great deal of mental pressure on her. But what made her most uneasy was not these things, but Lu Linsheng.

She jumped down from the hammock and walked towards Lu Linsheng with the night pearls. After just a few steps, Lu Linsheng spoke up, "It's a bit dirty over here, don't come over, you'll get your boots dirty."

Bai Ling subconsciously stopped and looked at her boots. They were a pair of spotless white boots. As a white dragon, her transformed human form was so immaculate that she was not easily tainted by dust and grime.

In this brief moment, Lu Linsheng walked out from the corner, slowly approaching her. Bai Ling saw that over two-meter tall shadow in the darkness shrink in height until it became the normal height of a human male.

When he walked to her side and revealed his face under the illumination of the night pearls, Lu Linsheng looked no different from usual, still with that scholarly and gentle appearance.

"You're awake?" Lu Linsheng said.

Bai Ling glanced at him and walked towards the direction he came from. She saw the unfinished demons in that corner. All the things thrown down these days were demons, without exception.

This matter made Bai Ling increasingly uneasy. She always felt that Lu Linsheng seemed to have some subtle differences - perhaps stemming from a girl's keen intuition, or maybe it was a dragon's innate gift. Too many demons had been thrown in, and Lu Linsheng accepted them all, eating day and night. She felt this was a worrying development.

When they were outside, Lu Linsheng enjoyed this feeding process very much. But when he was by her side, most of the time he was managed by her. Only when they encountered demons attacking them would she allow him to eat.

Although he never seemed to be full, he didn't appear to be indulgent each time. The longer Bai Ling interacted with him, the more she felt he was changing for the better. But now, he had already exhibited a subtle change.

Bai Ling couldn't quite explain it. But when she suddenly woke up and saw that silhouette in the corner, her heart would suddenly pound with fright.

It was an instinctive reaction to danger. Bai Ling would occasionally hear the sounds of flesh and bones being torn apart. She could even imagine the scene. Recently, Lu Linsheng's way of feeding had become much more "brutal". Instead of neatly wrapping up the demons to devour them, he now began to enjoy tearing the food into a bloody mess before swallowing - this was not for the convenience of eating, but more inclined to venting some kind of evil desire.

Just like...a demon's habit. Demons were like this, accustomed to reveling in blood. They all had exuberant destructive urges.

The worst part was that Lu Linsheng didn't seem to realize this. He didn't feel there was anything wrong with himself now.

The Old Seashell, which rarely spoke after entering here, transmitted a message to her.

Its voice was unusually heavy and solemn, "Little master, I have a guess. I feel this Lu Linsheng is a bit like a peculiar existence in legends. You know, I'm very old and remember some things. Although I can't remember clearly, I know that such a creature cannot devour too much of the same thing, otherwise it is very easily assimilated."

"Little master, just in case, you can't let this Lu Linsheng keep eating demons like this. Even if he's not that kind of thing, eating so many demons can easily taint him with demonic energy. If incited by bloodthirst, it may trigger killing intent. By then, little master, you'll be in danger too."

Hearing the Old Seashell's words, the bad feeling in Bai Ling's heart became more apparent. She went to the corner to look at the demon remains. Annoyed, she kicked a demon corpse away with one foot. Turning around, she found Lu Linsheng following closely behind her, staring at her with eyes that made one's hair stand on end.

She felt she should have a talk with Lu Linsheng. Pulling him back to the resting area, Bai Ling grabbed his face, making him meet her gaze, and said very solemnly, "Recently you've been eating all demons. I feel you're a bit off."

Lu Linsheng showed a strange smile. This was probably because Bai Ling used too much force due to her bad mood, squeezing his cheeks into a slightly deformed shape.

"What's off?" Lu Linsheng didn't care about this at all and was still smiling at her.

Bai Ling couldn't explain the reason. The Old Seashell was always muttering nonsense. Its words weren't that certain, but she was really anxious.

Lu Linsheng was still waiting for her to speak. Only at times like this did he look the same as before, as if he would never refute her words. Bai Ling thought for a bit and said to him, "Don't eat those demons anymore. There might be a problem. Let's wait until we get out, okay?"

Lu Linsheng made an affirmative sound and nodded with a smile, saying okay.

He agreed too quickly. Bai Ling became uneasy instead. She had seen his behavior when eating those things, like a glutton. That kind of intoxication and obsession, to exaggerate a bit, could even be considered drug addiction. How could he agree so easily?

"You really promise me? Have you thought it through?" Bai Ling looked at him suspiciously, feeling he might go eat behind her back despite verbally agreeing.

Lu Linsheng said, "If you don't want me to eat, I won't eat." He didn't seem to be lying.

Bai Ling felt a bit more at ease.

But she soon discovered this wasn't a good idea. Too many demons were thrown down, with many still falling nearby. If Lu Linsheng didn't eat them, they had to clean up these things and temporarily pile them in another corner. Some demons weren't dead yet.

Bai Ling would take out her hammer to deal with them. Being inexplicably thrown in here, she was filled with pent-up anger. She became more decisive when killing demons, no longer feeling nauseous like before.

Day by day, a mountain of demon corpses had piled up in the corner. The dead demons here remained fresh, without rotting, so there was no foul smell, but the stench of blood grew heavier and became somewhat pungent.

Since their conversation, Lu Linsheng indeed had not gone to eat any more demons. To see if he was truly keeping his word, Bai Ling would secretly pretend to be asleep at night and observe his reaction. For several days in a row, he remained the same as during the day, sitting by her side and keeping watch, never leaving to secretly feed on the other side.

But occasionally, she would catch Lu Linsheng staring fixedly at the area emitting the strong bloody smell for a while, before turning his head back to look at her.

Later on, he began looking towards those demon corpses more and more frequently. Several times, Bai Ling noticed his eyes turning a deep red color.

"Lu Linsheng!" Bai Ling called out to him, somewhat alarmed.

Lu Linsheng blinked his eyes and smiled at her as usual. Bai Ling leaned in, hesitantly reaching out to touch his overly thin hand. "Are you... very hungry?"

He hadn't eaten anything for a long time, but she still hadn't found a way out.

Bai Ling had her own food stored in her spirit pouch, but it would be meaningless for Lu Linsheng to eat it as it wasn't something he could absorb and digest. When Bai Ling initially tried to share her food with him, he had refused.

Lu Linsheng glanced at her hand resting on the back of his, then at the evident worry on her face. After a moment of hesitation, he lowered his head and rested his forehead against hers. "Yes, I'm hungry, but I won't eat those. Don't be afraid."

Indeed, Lu Linsheng had sensed Bai Ling's fear of him devouring large numbers of demons. Even if that fear was very faint, to the point that Bai Ling herself wasn't aware of it, he could still detect it. That's why he was restraining his appetite in this way.

Restraining one's instincts was indeed a terrifying thing. But his instincts weren't limited to just hunger - they also included Bai Ling. When his instincts diverged, he naturally chose Bai Ling. As long as she remained by his side, he was willing to endure this hunger, pain, and growing weakness.

Bai Ling couldn't bear it any longer. She was now completely certain that whoever had locked them in here, be it human, demon or half-human half-demon, was definitely not a good person. She desperately wanted to get out, but after exhausting all methods, she still couldn't find a way.

In a fit of frustration, she even took her hammer and furiously pounded the walls, trying to smash them apart, only to nearly deafen herself in the process.

She sat there sulking and noticed Lu Linsheng staring at the ever-growing pile of demon corpses again, his eyes filled with extreme longing - the gaze of someone who was extremely, extremely hungry. Bai Ling reached out to draw his attention. "Do you want to drink some water?" She was just making conversation.

Lu Linsheng shook his head, looking at her with the same gaze he had just used on the demon corpses. To fight against his instinctual hunger, his fixation on her was fully aroused in response. It was a terrifying gaze that would scare off most ordinary people.

With his red eyes fixed on her, Bai Ling felt goosebumps rising all over, but she took the initiative to hug him. Lu Linsheng also wrapped his arms around her, pressing her against his chest with a force that even Bai Ling found a bit painful.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck. After a while, Bai Ling felt a hint of wetness there. Of course, it wasn't from him crying, but from his saliva. Bai Ling was quite used to it, as this wasn't the first time.

To Lu Linsheng, she was actually also a type of edible food, and she dared say her flavor was far better than those demons - definitely a delicacy.

"Lu Linsheng, you're drooling on me again, getting it on my clothes," Bai Ling tugged at Lu Linsheng's shirt.

Lu Linsheng's voice was a bit muffled. "Mm, I'm... a little hungry."

Not just a little hungry, but very hungry. Bai Ling imagined herself as a fragrant piece of fried chicken while Lu Linsheng was starving to the point of losing his mind, yet could only drool at the sight of her.

For a moment, she actually found their current situation a bit amusing. But very quickly, she patted Lu Linsheng's head, her tone dejected. "If we still can't find a way out, you should keep eating the demons. We can't let you starve to death."

No matter what he would become after eating those demons, she couldn't let him starve himself to death because of those suspicions.

The Old Seashell hesitantly called out, "Little master..." but ultimately fell silent.

Another two days passed. When Bai Ling woke up, she found Lu Linsheng beside her had reverted to his original pitch-black form, no longer maintaining a human appearance. She instantly understood - he could no longer sustain his human shape.

She stared blankly at Lu Linsheng's back for a while. It was the appearance of a monster, with a pair of black wings drooping behind him, black feathers falling at her feet and covering her legs.

Bai Ling suddenly leaped up and dragged the silent Lu Linsheng to the massive mountain of demon corpses, stating concisely: "Eat!"

The slender black figure hesitated for a moment, his entire body swaying slightly. After Bai Ling woodenly and resolutely reiterated for him to eat, he pounced on those hideous demon corpses. Very quickly, he sank into a frenzy like a starving person finally getting food.

Listening to the sounds beside her, Bai Ling felt a sense of slight relief, yet her heart was also seized and wrenched higher and higher. She turned around, squatted down, hugged her knees and buried her head.

...

The Supreme God Xuan Cang coldly observed the scene in the cauldron before him. He revealed a look of disgust and disdain towards the pitch-black monster crouched over the demon corpses. When his gaze shifted to Bai Ling, it turned into one of scrutiny and anticipation.

Bai Ling's control over Lu Linsheng had given him a small surprise, but he absolutely refused to believe a Demon entity could be "tamed". The more harmonious they were now, the more the Supreme God Xuan Cang looked forward to the moment they would tear apart their affection and slaughter each other inside this cauldron.