Shi Li was jolted by the crackling lightning enveloping the other man. Before he could push him away, Shi Che tightened his embrace, breathing rapidly as if he had no other choice, clinging to the last shred of clarity to negotiate. “It hurts too much… Don’t move. Let me catch my breath.”
Shi Li lowered his gaze, glancing at the electric sparks transferred to his own hand. “It does hurt. If you dare use this chance to dump all that electricity onto me, I’ll chop you up right here and feed you to the ghosts.”
“My head hurts.”
Shi Li tilted his head to look at him. “Did the lightning strike your brain too?”
“…”
If Shi Che had any pride left, he would have pushed Shi Li away right then, salvaging the last bit of dignity he had tonight.
But he couldn’t suppress the chaos in his soul. With Shi Li a living, breathing person standing right before him, no matter how unwilling he was, his soul drove him to cling almost greedily to the other man.
Shi Li turned around, glancing at the demons and ghosts behind them, and tapped Shi Che’s back with the flat of his sword. “Do you want me to drag you along while I slaughter these ghosts?”
“Don’t kill them.”
“Don’t kill them?” Shi Li sounded as if he’d heard something absurd. “In your current state, after going through all this trouble to take on this bounty, wasn’t it to accumulate merit and advance your cultivation?”
“No,” Shi Che shifted slightly, loosening one arm from around Shi Li and letting it drop. “Lend me Huajing for a moment.”
“Can you still lift it?” Shi Li handed the sword over. Sure enough, Shi Che’s grip faltered, and Huajing nearly fell to the ground.
Shi Li caught the sword, while Shi Che nonchalantly wrapped his dropped arm back around him, proving his point through action. “I can’t lift it, so I’ll have to trouble you. Think of it as me borrowing your sword, but since I can’t hold it, I need your help. Understand?”
“…”
Shi Li pressed the back of his hand against Shi Che’s forehead. “No fever. What nonsense are you spouting?”
With that, his patience finally ran out. He forcibly peeled Shi Che off himself, not caring whether the other could stand steady, shook his numb arm, and raised his sword toward the crowd of demons and ghosts. “Wait here.”
He leaped into the center of the ghostly horde, and Huajing suddenly erupted with a sharp, chilling sword aura. Silver light shot from the blade, piercing every demon and ghost indiscriminately. The startled ghosts scattered in all directions, their semi-transparent bodies overlapping and intertwining, making it easier for the silver light to capture and bind them. In no time, hundreds of low-level demons and ghosts were tightly bundled together. With a flick of Shi Li’s wrist, Huajing drew them all into the sword before sheathing itself.
Shi Che picked up the broken sword from the ground and watched as Shi Li approached, tapping the sheath of Huajing. “Can you handle it?”
“?”
That single question displeased Shi Li. He thrust the sword toward Shi Che’s mask. “How could I not handle it? This is Huajing.”
Shi Che took a step back. “That’s not what I meant.”
Shi Li followed, extending the sword insistently. “Just a few minor ghosts, how could I not handle it? Explain.”
“Stop tapping my face,” Shi Che brushed the sword aside. “Of course Huajing can handle it. I was asking about you whether you can suppress hundreds of ghosts.”
These artificially created demons and ghosts couldn’t be killed; they had to be sent for reincarnation. For now, they were temporarily imprisoned within Huajing, suppressed by Shi Li.
In the Star Realm, only close friends or family would “guard the body” for each other, precisely because subduing a ghost required far more effort than killing one.
Aside from the cultivators of the Golden Light Temple, who specialized in this path and could purify demons and ghosts in batches, other cultivators would be considered quite diligent if they managed to cleanse even one ghost in several days. Therefore, unless it involved close friends or family, no one would typically bother with such unnecessary tasks.
When Shi Li arrived, all the demons and ghosts in the village had already gathered in one place. He had understood the situation in this village the moment he landed, and his earlier question about whether to kill them was more of a test to gauge Shi Che’s attitude.
The bounty had been accepted by Shi Che. If they killed them all, eighty thousand merits would be theirs a secret known only to heaven, earth, and the two of them. If they wished, they could later lament the cruelty of the mastermind and mourn the family that had been wiped out overnight, all while never mentioning the benefits they had gained. They were merely eliminating a group of demons and ghosts perfectly reasonable, with no fault to be found.
Shi Li sheathed Hua Jing and asked him, “If I weren’t here, and you had to face these ghosts alone, would you kill them?”
Shi Che frowned. “That’s an unfair question. You’re not that kind of person, why assume I am?”
“You know me, but I don’t know you. I had to ask,” Shi Li said, looking into his eyes behind the mask. “Don’t worry, whatever you say, I’ll believe you.”
“Nonsense,” Shi Che avoided his gaze, turning to walk outside. “Bring the child out.”
Shi Li crouched down and reached out to the little girl.
Compared to the fierce, ghost-masked Shi Che, Shi Li’s face was clearly more reassuring to a child. The little girl was already about to let him pick her up when her sister ghost suddenly leaned over her shoulder and bit down on Shi Li’s wrist guard.
The little girl burst into tears. “Sister her teeth hurt.”
Shi Li picked her up, then lifted the sister ghost, who was still stubbornly biting his wrist guard, and brought her close to the girl. As he walked outside, he said, “Then tell your sister to let go. Once she does, her teeth won’t hurt anymore.”
Tearfully, the little girl tried to pry her sister’s mouth open, but her hands passed right through the semi-transparent form, unable to touch anything.
Seeing that she couldn’t bite through the wrist guard, the sister ghost climbed up Shi Li’s arm to his shoulder, her dark, hollow eyes fixed on him.
Shi Li shielded the little girl’s eyes as he stepped outside, avoiding the hanging corpse by the door. He stopped at the village entrance, handed her a few pieces of candy, and said to the sister ghost on his shoulder, “You’d better hide. Once we’re outside, there will be plenty of people trying to capture you. How will you protect your sister then?”
The sister ghost crawled down Shi Li’s back and clung to Hua Jing, which already contained hundreds of ghosts.
“Find somewhere else. My sword is full and can’t hold any more,” he whispered. “But don’t let the masked one know.”
“Don’t let me know what?” Shi Che suddenly appeared behind him.
Having finished inspecting the other houses, he had seen Shi Li from a distance, carrying one child on his back and another in his arms, even chatting with them. As he approached, he overheard the last remark and couldn’t help but ask, “You just said you’d believe me, and now you’re hiding something from me?”
Shi Li continued walking out of the village on his own. “Guess.”
Shi Che followed behind him, his face directly facing the child in Shi Li’s arms.
The little girl, who had calmed down while eating candy, trembled again at the sight of Shi Che’s ghost mask, which looked even more terrifying under the moonlight. She lowered her head, refusing to look at him.
She clutched a few pieces of candy in her hand, gripping Shi Li’s clothes so tightly that the edges of the candy wrappers peeked out from between her fingers.
Shi Che plucked one.
The little girl looked up in disbelief, only to see him unwrap the candy and pop it into his own mouth. She quickly withdrew her hand, clutching the remaining candies tightly.
Shi Che, with the candy in his mouth, asked her, “Where’s your sister?”
Just a moment ago, it was still visible from afar, but as soon as they approached, it vanished without a trace.
The little girl timidly glanced at his back, then quickly averted her eyes, afraid he would discover her sister.
Shi Che: “…”
Fortunately, the night was cool, and the chill enveloped him, so he couldn’t feel the eerie ghostly aura on his back for the time being.
The two of them had left the village entrance and were now walking toward the nearest teleportation tree. Shi Li remained silent, so Shi Che idly opened the Spirit Tome, looking at the recent messages he had sent, and began to reflect.
Not long ago, when he was nearly driven mad by those things, his soul’s first instinct was to call out to Shi Li for help.
At that time, Shi Li had already grown angry because he was ignoring her. She scoffed at the location information he sent and even wanted to argue with him over the tricky question of whether “a delayed surprise is still a surprise.”
Shi Che’s soul was in disarray, and the messages he sent were equally chaotic. From [“Of course it is, why aren’t you here yet? Are you just going to watch me die?”] to [“Come quickly, I need you, I can’t live without you”], he sent them all. Faced with Shi Li’s repeated [“?”], his soul’s will to survive grew unprecedentedly strong, and he delivered the final blow with a single message: [“I miss you so much”].
By the time he regained his senses, he was already nestled in Shi Li’s arms, holding her tightly and seamlessly. The silver ornaments on Shi Li’s clothes dug into him, making his entire body ache.
He reaffirmed his earlier thought.
His soul was a mindless potato, and Shi Li was the ginger inside it pungent, chaotic, and adept at disguise. The moment he couldn’t resist the urge to eat the potato, he would bite into this piece of ginger, deceived by its vague yet vivid appearance, only to end up defeated and humiliated.
He began measuring the distance between Pohuang and Shi Li’s heart from behind her again. How fast would he need to draw his sword to pierce through Shi Li’s body?
The Spirit Tome remained on that inexplicable [“I miss you so much”]. Shi Li hadn’t even bothered to reply with a [“?”], making him look like a fool and somewhat pitiful.
He had been in the sixth year of Xingji for two days and had already embraced someone twice.
The phantom demon’s embrace was warm and familiar, while Shi Li’s frame was cold, hard, and unfamiliar. Shi Li truly was ginger one glance could bring tears, one whiff could induce nausea. The phantom demon was different. Though also ginger, it was potato-flavored ginger gentle, affectionate, and so convincing it could pass for the real thing.
“Shi Li.”
This was the first time he had uttered this name since returning three hundred years into the past. Suddenly, he wanted to be serious and ask Shi Li why she hadn’t responded to his [“I miss you so much”].
“What’s wrong?” Shi Li noticed he had taken the little girl’s candy and handed her a few more, warning him in the process, “These aren’t for you. Don’t let me catch you taking them a second time.”
The words he wanted to say were blocked by the candy. Shi Che slammed his sword against Huajing and, under Shi Li’s shocked gaze, walked up to her, asking expressionlessly, “Why won’t you give me any?”
“What do you think?” Shi Li genuinely suspected his brain had been damaged. “I let you hold me out of pity. I’m not obligated to fulfill your other demands, and don’t push your luck. Asking for my candy don’t you find that strange?”
“Fine, I won’t eat it,” Shi Che snorted. “What about me makes you think I’m pitiful?”
“The way you look right now is pretty pitiful,” Shi Li sneered, curling her lips. “You’re even asking me for candy. Are you that starved for affection?”
Shi Li himself didn’t eat candy, but he was passionate about feeding the phantom demon. It wasn’t just candy he wanted to give the little radish containing the divine soul all the love he hadn’t received as a child, allowing it to fully experience the feeling of being loved.
He had grown up, no longer the pitiful and destitute youth he once was, and had naturally become strong enough to love his former self.
He had always positioned himself as the one who gave love, yet the version of himself before him, who had appeared from who knows how far in the future had been wandering around for two days, projecting an attitude of “I desperately need love.”
Why had he become like this?
How dare he become like this?
Shi Li couldn’t understand, nor did he want to.
Shi Che fell silent again. Shi Li stopped in front of the teleportation tree, holding the child with one arm while raising his other hand to adjust the star patterns.
Suddenly, an extremely soft sigh reached his ears, carrying a hidden, almost imperceptible trace of sorrow. “Yes, I really am lacking love.”
“Shi Li,” he said, “give me a piece of candy.”
Shi Li’s fingers, which had been adjusting the star patterns, paused slightly.