The next morning, a knock sounded at the door. Su Sheng opened it to find Luo Ren leaning against the wall, idly toying with a rose.
Upon seeing him, Luo Ren immediately flashed a bright smile and called out affectionately, “Norton!”
The rose floated toward him, trembling slightly in the air.
Su Sheng took a step back, brushing the approaching flower aside with his fingertips. He lowered his gaze slightly and asked coldly, “What is it?”
Luo Ren seemed somewhat surprised by the drastic change in his attitude. He knit his brows and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Su Sheng didn’t feel like talking and shut the door with a sharp thud.
A moment later, the “tap-tap-tap” of knocking returned. Luo Ren poked his head in, carrying a piece of cake with two glasses of wine floating beside him. He looked concerned as he said, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Can I come in and talk?”
Su Sheng paused, rubbed his temples, and eventually stepped aside to let him in.
Luo Ren’s smile returned instantly. Getting straight to the point, he said, “Norton, I’m so sorry. My father told a small lie for my sake. It was quite clumsy, he’s actually not very good at lying, but for me…”
Luo Ren tapped his forehead with a fingertip, looking troubled, as if there were things he couldn’t quite put into words.
Su Sheng raised an eyebrow, turned to find a seat, and signaled for Luo Ren to continue.
“Actually, he meant no harm. He was just worried about me.”
As he spoke, Luo Ren’s expression became one of awkward hesitation. This piqued Su Sheng’s curiosity, and he asked, “What was your father worried about regarding you?”
“That…” Luo Ren stared at him for a long moment, a trace of bitterness spreading across the corners of his lips. He looked at Su Sheng with an unreadable gaze.
Su Sheng’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He pursed his lips and wanted to look away, but he forced himself to maintain eye contact. “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t.”
“Then, Norton,” Luo Ren blinked, “would you like to go for a stroll at the Ice Lake with me?”
Su Sheng: “The Ice Lake?”
Luo Ren: “It’s very beautiful.”
Su Sheng nodded.
The Kingdom of Felichis had a vast ice lake located outside the main city-state. Luo Ren led him out onto the frozen surface. The ice here was wondrous; stepping on it created ripples, yet it remained transparent, revealing the fish swimming below.
With every step Su Sheng took, a fish would circle beneath his feet. After a few steps, a small school of fish was following him.
Luo Ren followed behind, laughing. “These fish are all transformed from little sprites. They can understand us. Why don’t you try talking to them?”
Su Sheng replied calmly, “I am not that bored.”
However, once he had quietly distanced himself from Luo Ren, he cast a privacy spell. Staring at his feet, he parted his lips slightly: “Spin.”
“Flip over.”
“Line up.”
Below him, the fish swished their tails and affectionately circled him, as if welcoming him with great enthusiasm. They really can understand humans, Su Sheng thought, his lips curling into a faint, involuntary smile.
The moment he caught sight of Luo Ren approaching out of the corner of his eye, he adjusted his collar, erased all traces of his silly behavior, and his gaze turned cold once more.
Su Sheng scanned the surroundings and asked with feigned indifference, “This place is so close to the city-state; why is there no one else here?”
Luo Ren smiled slightly. “Because this lake belongs only to me.”
Su Sheng was stunned. It felt as though something soft had poked at his heart. He instinctively clutched his chest, though his eyes remained dark and obscure.
In this moment, though he stood in the middle of an ice lake, his heart felt as if it were being warmed by hot water, his whole body radiating heat. He just didn’t know how long this heat could last in such a frozen world. Once the warm water ran out and the heat dissipated, would it be enough to sustain him until he walked off this endless expanse of ice? He didn’t know.
And he didn’t dare take that risk.
After a while, Luo Ren asked again, “Are you having fun?”
Su Sheng touched the tip of his ear, which was flushed red from the cold, and said indifferently, “It’s alright.”
Luo Ren let out a soft, low chuckle but said nothing. At this moment, he was like a patient fisherman, quietly waiting for the fish to take the bait.
No one knows how long it takes for the prey to get hooked, but the hunter’s patience is long, especially that of a fisherman. Yet, no one knows if the next thing pulled up will be a gentle little fish or a massive beast weighing dozens of pounds that could drag a man straight into the water. When that happens, it’s hard to say who is the hunter and who is the prey.
…
By the time they returned to the palace, night had fallen again. Luo Ren walked beside him and asked, “Shall we leave tomorrow?”
Su Sheng knit his brows. “You’re following me?”
Luo Ren replied righteously, “To repay you for helping me get the Silver Star Orchid and bringing me back.”
Su Sheng said coldly, “No repayment necessary. We’re even.”
“That won’t do, Norton. I keep my personal and public matters strictly separate. You helped me twice, and I’ve only helped you once. If I don’t settle this debt, I’ll be ashamed to face the God of Light,” Luo Ren said with a grin. If his tone hadn’t been so casual, Su Sheng might have actually believed him.
Ultimately, Su Sheng compromised, though he wasn’t quite sure why.
The palace was brightly lit at night, with servants bustling through the corridors. Suddenly, Su Sheng’s gaze sharpened, locking onto a maid up ahead.
He rushed forward soundlessly. The maid seemed to have noticed something as well; she dropped the tray in her hands and bolted. As her skirt fluttered, a long, heart-tipped tail was revealed.
“A succubus.”
Su Sheng spoke coldly. Passing a stone statue of a knight, he easily drew the sword from the sculpture’s grasp and gave chase.
When he reached the end of the hall, the succubus had vanished. Luo Ren arrived only then, lagging behind.
Su Sheng drew a tracking circle on the ground. Following the magic, he leapt out of a window, his sword point aimed directly at the shivering succubus hiding in the bushes.
As he approached, he asked, “Why would there be a succubus in the palace?”
Luo Ren shrugged, indicating he had no idea.
The female succubus huddled in the corner, trembling violently. But when Luo Ren showed his face, her eyes filled with nothing but absolute terror.
As Su Sheng drew near, the succubus fell to her knees, kowtowing and pleading, “Lord Demon King, please spare me! Please, I beg you, spare me!”
Su Sheng turned to scrutinize Luo Ren, while Luo Ren merely smiled with an air of nonchalance.
“Do you believe her?” Luo Ren took a step toward him, asking with a smile. Su Sheng didn’t speak; he only stared at Luo Ren. After a long, tense silence, Su Sheng turned and pinned the succubus to the wall with a single thrust of his sword.
“You’d better not be lying to me, or I will definitely kill you.”
He spoke coldly, dropped the sword where it was, and walked toward his room.
Luo Ren stayed behind, looking at the mess before him. His eyes darkened, and he gave a skin-deep smile. “Sa La, you certainly have a lot of nerve.”
Simultaneously, Luo Ren flicked his finger, and a command was instantly dispatched to the Succubus City-State.
The command read: Whoever brings Sa La’s head to the Demon King shall be the next ruler of the city-state.
…
The next morning, the two left the palace and used a teleportation array to reach the foot of the Holy Mountain.
Ahead was a village. Su Sheng applied an illusion spell to himself once more to ensure everything was foolproof before walking over.
Unlike the people they had encountered before, almost everyone here had faces filled with terror. The more Su Sheng saw, the heavier his heart became. Finally, he grabbed a passing elderly man and asked, “Where is Wei Er?”
Wei Er was the Holy Spirit Knight who protected the Holy Mountain.
At the mention of Wei Er, the old man looked even more grief-stricken and desperate. His voice trembled as he said, “The Knight… the Knight has disappeared!”
Su Sheng’s expression shifted several times. He then asked, “When did this happen? Why did he disappear?”
“Just… just a few days ago. As for why, I don’t know.”
“Wait, I remember now! It was said that a group of demons arrived at the peak of the Holy Mountain. To protect the town, the Knight left to face the enemy and never returned!”
Su Sheng was focused on the explanation and thus didn’t see the flash in Luo Ren’s eyes.
“What are you two doing here?” the old man asked in a hoarse voice.
Su Sheng didn’t answer. He took out a gold coin, handed it to the old man, and sent him away, telling him not to mention their encounter to anyone.
Beside him, Luo Ren let out a “tch.” When Su Sheng asked what that was for, he replied mockingly, “A single gold coin to keep him quiet? Believe it or not, by tomorrow the whole village will know we’re here.”
“It doesn’t matter; we’re not short on money anyway,” Su Sheng said nonchalantly. “The priority is to find Wei Er.”
Luo Ren suddenly went quiet. Su Sheng wasn’t in the mood to deal with him and continued deep into the snowy mountains.
As they walked, the white mist from their breath grew thicker. Luo Ren suggested setting up a magical barrier to block the cold, but Su Sheng refused.
“No. We must preserve our mana to deal with the unexpected.”
Luo Ren took off his own cloak and draped it over Su Sheng’s shoulders. He smiled and said, “What are you afraid of? We’re people who came out of the Abyss; what’s a few demons? If you’re cold, don’t endure it. Set up the barrier. I’ve got the rest covered.”
Su Sheng glanced at Luo Ren and asked, “If you give me your clothes, aren’t you cold?”
Luo Ren smiled. “Norton, are you worried about me?”
Su Sheng’s face went cold. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Su Sheng set up a magical barrier to protect both of them from the biting wind. However, the snow on the Holy Mountain was a type of penetrative magic that the barrier couldn’t fully block, so the temperature inside the barrier couldn’t rise.
After walking for a long time, Luo Ren suddenly reached out and brushed a layer of snow off Su Sheng’s head.
“Are you sure you don’t want to rest?” Luo Ren suggested with concern.
Seeing Luo Ren reaching out again, Su Sheng instinctively took a step back. This time, it was Luo Ren who froze. He shook his head and laughed softly. Su Sheng glanced back. “We should move quickly while we still have energy.”
Luo Ren sighed helplessly. “Fine. You really are stubborn.”
After an unknown amount of time, the two finally reached the peak of the Holy Mountain. This was where the Holy Spirit Knight had gone missing, but the surroundings were a vast expanse of white. Even if there had been tracks, they had long been buried under the snow.
Su Sheng used a tracking spell, but it yielded nothing.
A moment later, Luo Ren called him over, saying he had found something.
Su Sheng approached and saw a row of shallow footprints. However, the footprints led straight toward a precipice.
“It seems the person you’re looking for isn’t in a very good situation.” Luo Ren spoke words of concern, but the smile in his eyes was almost overflowing.
After a moment of silence, Su Sheng looked down the cliff. “I have to go down. You go wait for me in the village.”
“…Huh?” The triumphant smile on Luo Ren’s face froze. He asked again, as if he hadn’t heard correctly, his voice full of disbelief.
He looked at Su Sheng, his expression calm, but he gritted out every word: “So, you’re going to disregard your own safety for the sake of a total stranger?”