Gu Luxian fell silent after hearing Shen Minyao's explanation, while Zhao Yichen stared at the fox woman in disbelief. He had never thought that she would say these words towards his friend without sugarcoating it.

"So that is why.." Gu Luxian lowered his head, his eyes listless as he looked at his clenched fists on his lap.

"Shen Minyao, you.." Zhao Yichen wanted to chide the fox woman for being careless with her words, but Gu Luxian held his arm and shook his head.

"Is there any other way to remove the yin energy in my body, then?" He asked Shen Minyao. It had been years since the last time he saw Yulan, and her face was starting to fade from his memories.

"No. In your case as a person who was born with a hint of ability to see spirits, once they are tainted; they can never be restored to their previous state. This is also why, when some children grow up, they also lose their sixth sense."

Gu Luxian shut his eyes and rested his forehead in one hand. What Shen Minyao said made sense, and considering that she was right after asking him about the course of events that led him to not seeing Yulan anymore, he knew that he had betrayed Yulan.

Zhao Yichen gave his friend a sympathetic look. There was no reason for Shen Minyao to lie about this, and now, he understood why she was adamant about him not getting involved with Gu Luxian and Yulan's problem. She might have known that Gu Luxian would blame himself had he known the truth.

"So it's my fault all this time. She wasn't the one who abandoned me.. I was the one who turned away from her," Gu Luxian said helplessly. If he could turn back time, he wouldn't let it happen at all.

If it wasn't for the insistence of his peers to join them for a night out, leading to him having a one-night stand with an unknown woman; he wouldn't lose his ability to see Yulan. Now, it was too late to regret what he had done.

If it wasn't for his hesitation to accept that Yulan was a spirit and that he had already fallen for her, he wouldn't have tried to ignore seeing her that day. Alas, it was too late for regret now. Yulan was probably feeling betrayed and angry towards him, and he couldn't blame her for that.

Yulan had every right to be upset with him, and if this was his punishment, then so be it. His only regret was he wasn't able to apologize to her for what he'd done to her. She probably knew why he couldn't see her after that, and she was aware of what happened.

"Then.. is there something we could do to placate her anger? She's mad at me, right? Perhaps you should have left me alone."

The fox woman laughed behind her hand and gave Gu Luxian a mocking smile.

"Yulan isn't just a mere spirit. You humans call them fairies, but they are no different from demons. She didn't come here for revenge. She came here to feed on your life essence. Why do you think your body fell into such a pitiful and pathetic state if she hasn't marked you as her human?"

Gu Luxian was stunned by the revelation. After spending days and months with Yulan, he had suspected that she might not be a normal human.. or perhaps not a human at all.

He thought that Yulan was perhaps a lost soul who couldn't cross over when they first met. He had never suspected that she was a demon instead, considering how beautiful she was.

"S-she's a demon?" He stuttered.

"Why else would she come here to feed on you? Her kind is the kind of demons who lured humans using their beauty and enchanted some to stay with them. These unsuspecting humans would never know what hit them until their deaths."

For the fox woman, staying ignorant was tantamount to committing a sin. Gu Luxian knew that there's something wrong, but he didn't attempt to do anything to change the situation—as far as Shen Minyao could see.

However, what else could she expect from these humans? The world they created had become quite jarring. This world was so loud, crowded, flashy, and smelly that it was enough to overwhelm her senses the first time she woke up at the hospital as Shen Minyao.

There were so many lights, even in the middle of the night, that one wouldn't be able to enjoy watching the moon and the stars above the darkened sky like what she used to do centuries ago. The modern world of humans didn't impress the fox woman at all.

As for the flower fairy, since she had succumbed to her basic instincts to find Gu Luxian, she was already at the brink of death. Shen Minyao already expected this to happen, but she didn't expect it to be too soon.

"She wants to kill me then.." Gu Luxian muttered to himself.

"Then, is there something we could do to make her stop?" Zhao Yichen asked the fox woman.

Since they already knew the reason why Gu Luxian couldn't see Yulan anymore and that the latter had succumbed to her instincts to survive, then the pressing matter right now was how to deal with Yulan.

"She's dying. She hasn't fed on other humans since meeting you," Shen Minyao told Gu Luxian. "A demon can go for days and months without eating, but not years. The only way to stop her now is either to let her die on her own or to kill her."

The humans in front of her fell silent, each deep in their own thoughts. Shen Minyao knew that Gu Luxian was still feeling guilty and thinking of giving up his life so that Yulan could survive, but that would be a foolish choice for him.

Even if Yulan fed on him and other humans, she would never gain her rational mind again. Moreover, if there was a chance that she did, it would be mortifying for her to stay alive, knowing that she had killed Gu Luxian.

"There's no other way?" Zhao Yichen asked in his friend's stead. It was obvious that Gu Luxian was still shocked by the revelations he had tonight.

"She has already lost her rational mind, and her instincts only allowed her to think of feeding and survival." She then glanced at Gu Luxian. "She also knew that this would happen, so she decided to keep her distance from you."

Zhao Yichen wanted to ask why Yulan decided to come back by then, but thinking about it, Yu Yan mentioned that it was probably the fox orb inside his body that triggered Yulan to come and check on Gu Luxian. It was probably the same day when he met Gu Luxian for the first time, after years of not seeing each other.

"I could deal with her, but I'm not sure your Brother Xian would like me after this," Shen Minyao told her human contractor, who was still busy trying to make Gu Luxian calm down. historical

"You are going to kill her?" Zhao Yichen already knew the answer to his question, but he couldn't stop himself from blurting it out.

"It's either we let her kill us here or we kill her—you choose." The fox woman didn't dare to give them any other options.

Actually, there was a third option: she could channel some of her demonic energy to Yulan. However, it would still pose a threat to surrounding humans if Yulan failed to grasp control of her newfound demonic energy.

Shen Minyao wouldn't dare to give people any chance of connecting her with Zhao Yichen, especially now that Xuan Yanrui was after her. If Xuan Yanrui found out about Zhao Yichen's existence, Shen Minyao had no doubt that he would use the human to torment her.

'Troublesome demons.' She muttered to herself as she rose from her seat and gave the two humans a good look. She then added, 'No. Not only demons but humans as well.'

"Please.. if you are going to kill her, can you make it quick that she won't suffer?" Gu Luxian suddenly asked just as the fox woman was about to leave the room. "She has suffered enough because of me. I wouldn't want her to suffer any longer."

Shen Minyao didn't utter a word in response, but she didn't dare to make a promise. She was a demon herself, and she knew that Yulan had done her best before losing her sanity.

As for Gu Luxian, wasn't he just pushing the responsibility to others? Now that he knew that Yulan was a demon, he was suddenly distancing himself from her. He was the one who turned his back first; how could he pretend like he was the victim here?

'Pathetic,' Shen Minyao thought.. As always, humans didn't fail to disappoint her yet again.