The cause and effect were already clear. Ultimately, it was all due to excessive greed, where swallowing the demon seed backfired with evil consequences. But looking at it from another angle, that little beggar hadn’t really done anything wrong; he merely wanted to fill his stomach.
A nameless fire burned in Suyu’s heart, yet he could not simply stand by and watch someone die.
Fortunately, not much time had passed, so he channeled some spiritual energy into the little beggar’s chest. Sensing the power of its own kind, the demon seed rampaged back and forth inside the body looking for an exit. The little beggar instantly convulsed uncontrollably, flailing his hands and feet, and accidentally knocked off Suyu’s veil.
Who knew how long this little beggar had gone without a bath, emitting an unpleasant odor. Suyu wrinkled his nose, used the back of his hand to subdue the thrashing child, gathered his internal strength, and struck him with a single palm, forcing him to spit the object out.
With a plop, a round, glowing bead dropped onto the ground.
A demon survived entirely on this single demon seed.
Blinking, Qingmo couldn’t help wondering whether a great demon like Suyu also entrusted his entire existence to this one demon seed.
Suyu picked up the demon seed and examined it closely, faintly seeing the imprint of a skull on the inside. He asked the other little beggar, “Do you still remember the appearance of the person who gave you the demon seed?”
Although he had stopped crying, the child was still sobbing so heavily he couldn’t speak clearly. Qingmo slapped him right on the head. “Hurry up, they’re asking you a question!”
“Wuwu, I, I don’t remember, his face was very blurry.”
“Useless.”
While they were speaking, the unconscious little beggar also woke up. Seeing that his younger brother had finally regained consciousness, the older beggar threw caution to the wind and hugged him tightly. “Little brother!”
Recalling what had happened earlier, the younger brother let out a wail and burst into tears. “Wuwu, big brother, I thought I’d never see you again wuwu, I felt so awful, I almost died wuwu!”
Suyu dusted himself off and stood up, wearing a rare stern expression. “Did you know that the bead you swallowed was a demon seed? If you hadn’t run into this lord today, your life would have been lost.”
Ever since swallowing the bead, the little beggar had sensed something was wrong, and having just wandered on the brink of life and death with his life rapidly draining away, he was scared completely pale. Stammering, he said, “I, I didn’t know. That person said if I ate it, I wouldn’t have to go hungry. I was too hungry, so I…”
Knowing he was in the wrong, and realizing that any further explanation would be futile, he silently lowered his head.
“Forget it, ignorance is no crime, especially since you were also victims.” Suyu didn’t press them further.
He wanted to know the appearance of yesterday’s culprit, but the younger beggar racked his brains and recalled for a long time, finally arriving at the exact same conclusion as his brother: the face was completely blurred.
Qingmo suddenly chimed in, “How were his legs? Could he walk properly?”
Prompted by this, the younger beggar acted as though a wall of memories had been broken down. “I remember he walked very slowly, and stood there for a long time before reaching me. He didn’t look like he had money either, yet surprisingly he bestowed charity upon us.”
Suyu took out his money pouch and handed all the silver he carried to the two little beggars. “Take this money. It’s enough for you to live on until you grow up, then go find a proper job and make an honest living.”
The beggar brothers had never seen so much money in their lives, and their eyes lit up.
Suyu continued, “This lord does not ask for repayment. The Illusion Spirit Department is about to set up a permanent base here. As long as you agree to one condition: treat all demons kindly.”
The younger brother nodded repeatedly, though he hadn’t processed a single word. Clutching the heavy pouch of coins, he immediately started daydreaming about delicious feasts in the future.
“Sigh, shall we leave?” Seeing that the matter was resolved, Qingmo couldn’t stand the stench here and pulled Suyu along.
How ironic. In his childhood, he too had begged for food on the streets, yet now that he had made it big, he displayed a classic case of forgetting his roots.
A corner of Suyu’s sleeve had been soiled, though he didn’t pay it much mind; Qingmo, however, was already disgusted on his behalf.
“It’s no trouble. I’ll just change when we get back.” Suyu looked somewhat pale and weak. Once they stepped out of the alley, his footing grew increasingly unsteady. Fortunately, Qingmo caught him just in time, preventing that peerless face from crashing against the ground.
“Suyu! Are you alright?”
Relying on Qingmo’s support to steady himself, Suyu lowered his head so that the emotion in his eyes was obscured, and opened his palms, which were outlined with red marks from gripping too tightly.
Because he had clenched his fist so hard, the demon seed had left a circle of red imprints across his fair palms.
Suyu was exceptionally protective of his own, especially viewing the demon race as more important than his own life. Although he hadn’t witnessed it firsthand, this demon seed clearly told him that a demon had already lost its life.
The demon seed showed signs of the blood skull. Qingmo gently closed his hand over Suyu’s, offering some clumsy comfort. “We will avenge him.”
Suyu still kept his head lowered. Qingmo only saw a tear slip down his cheek, eventually vanishing into the collar of his robes.
A pang of inexplicable heartache struck him. Qingmo opened his arms and embraced Suyu.
The other person’s body stiffened noticeably for a moment, before relaxing and returning the hug. “Qingmo, thank you.”
Qingmo laughed softly without pushing him away. “I’m already sick of hearing that.”
Two grown men hugging each other in broad daylight made passersby feel like there was something going on between them. But Qingmo acted with an open and upright conscience, and knowing that Suyu already had a beloved, they simply considered each other colleagues and never suspected any romance.
Recalling it later, he would realize that he was heartless. From the moment the Ghost Fiend was formed, he had eaten his own heart, and he had no idea why he felt so distressed at that moment.
Suyu summoned Jiang Hong and ordered a strict investigation into the matter of the demon seed. Poor Illusion Spirit Department; the moment they entered Chizhou, one trouble after another piled up, keeping them busier than bees.
As the two returned to the City Lord’s Mansion, they saw a crowd of guards running around in a panic, as if something had happened.
“Bai Yingfei is stirring up trouble again,” Qingmo stated with absolute certainty.
Yet the reality was quite different. Hanzhao rushed over the moment he spotted them. “Lord! The demonic beast we brought has lost control and is randomly injuring people!”
“What?!”
The blame had suddenly landed right on his own head, which he refused to accept. He pushed Suyu forward to handle it. “Go, go quickly! That’s not something I brought, that’s what you brought!”
“You didn’t look nearly this distant when you were riding it for travel.”
Jokes aside, Suyu had no intention of shirking responsibility either. The guards automatically cleared a path for them.
Yue Zhiqiang was away from the estate on business, and Bai Yingfei was already struggling to handle the demonic beast on his own, its brutal strength nearly knocking his long sword out of his hand several times over.
Amidst the tense standoff, a sudden gust of wind and snow swept across the surroundings.
Suyu’s ten fingers flew to weave a spell seal, and the pristine white snow gathered as if it possessed life, turning into a barrier that tightly trapped the demonic beast. No matter how wildly it charged, it could not break through that seemingly fragile layer of snow.
The snowflakes healed the wounds Bai Yingfei had sustained during the fight. Seeing the two of them arrive, he dropped his long sword and wailed aloud.
“You guys are finally back!”
“Useless. You can’t even handle a tiny bit of trouble.” Though Qingmo hadn’t lifted a finger to help, it didn’t stop him from belittling others.
“I’ve never dealt with many demonic beasts before. How was I supposed to know this one is so difficult to handle?” Bai Yingfei wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Not long after you left, this demonic beast suddenly burst out of its resting place, acting like it went crazy and biting everyone in sight. It even smashed a huge hole in my courtyard wall!”
With a thud, a brick detached from the damaged wall, as if confirming his words.
“It has always been docile and never attacks others without cause; something must be wrong.” Suyu gathered the wind and snow back into his palm and turned around to inspect the demonic beast trapped by him.
This creature possessed lush sideburns and a completely furry face, but it wore a fierce expression, losing all resemblance to cuteness. Its eyes were no longer clear, leaking wisps of black Qi.
As expected, beneath its thick fur, Suyu discovered a blood skull imprint.
Although the barrier temporarily trapped the beast, it did not stop resisting and continued ramming against it. With its fierce movements, some flower petals hidden within its sideburns fluttered down.
With a slight flick of his fingertips, Suyu hooked a petal into his hand, his gaze narrowing in deep thought.
“Watch out!”
Qingmo shouted, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
A crisp crack rang out in the air. Everyone had underestimated the demonic beast’s capacity for resistance; it carried black fog that eroded the barrier until it shattered, and the wind and snow swept outward.
Suyu instinctively raised his sleeve to block, when suddenly an object was blown out from his sleeve. At the exact same time, the demonic beast bared its claws and lunged at him.
Qingmo’s pupils quivered, reflecting a wash of crimson.
He knew very well that Suyu could have dodged this blow, but for reasons unknown, the other man bent down instead to protect an unknown object on the ground.
A heart-wrenching beastly roar echoed beside his ear. Half of a sleeve was soaked in blood, and Suyu propped himself up on the ground with one arm, the white jade piece clutched tightly to his chest stained with fresh crimson as his vision gradually blurred.
The last thing he saw before collapsing was the figure of his beloved running toward him.
The bitter, unpalatable medicinal broth splashed out. That person grabbed a broken porcelain shard and pressed it fiercely against his own vital pulse.
“You’re all the same! You just want to imprison me!” The sharp porcelain piece pierced through layers of bandaged gauze, digging deep into fragile flesh.
Panic gripped Suyu, terrified that a single movement would cost the other person his life. He stepped back slowly, trying to soothe him. “Be careful not to hurt yourself! Keeping you here is only meant to protect you!”
“Protect?” The other person laughed as if hearing something utterly ridiculous. He gripped the porcelain shard tighter, screaming at the top of his lungs, “If it weren’t for you, how could I have fallen to this state? For these past few years, I’ve lived worse than a dog! It’s all thanks to you! You are no different from those people at all!”
The wounds, which had not yet healed properly, tore open once again due to the owner’s intense agitation, and blood and tears streamed down his face.
He poured out all the grievances and resentment of these past few years in one breath, his pale, chapped lips trembling with anger.
“You’re just too tired. Go to sleep, and when you wake up…”
As Suyu spoke, he flashed forward and snatched the porcelain shard from his hand.
The life-threatening weapon snatched away, the person began to kick and punch him like a madman. Yet he simply allowed the out-of-control blows to land on his body, refusing to let go no matter what.
I’m sorry.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Suyu shed two lines of silent tears in his sleep.
Cupping his cheeks with both hands, Qingmo sat by the bedside while the white jade bracelet Suyu had protected with his life rested on the small cabinet beside them.
He reached out a finger to poke Suyu’s face. “Who are you apologizing to? What did you dream about this time?”
The other person merely stirred, his head tilting to one side as tears soaked the soft pillow, pale lips parting and closing to murmur indistinctly, “Qingmo, I’m sorry.”
Qingmo: Bah!
Can’t you say something other than thank you and I’m sorry?