“Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon.” Seeing that Bu Liuliqing still had his eyes tightly closed, words of comfort slipped naturally from Su Cixuan’s lips.
Right now, Bu Liuliqing was reacting precisely as any ordinary mortal should.
Yet, this was a mortal who, in his eyes, ought to have been nothing more than an ant, completely unworthy of drawing his attention.
Yet at this very moment, he found himself exercising rare patience and concern for him.
“Mm.” Bu Liuliqing acknowledged with a sound, not out of perfunctoriness, but because he genuinely believed they were arriving soon.
Su Cixuan wouldn’t deceive him about such matters; there was no need to.
Sure enough, within a mere few breaths, Bu Liuliqing felt his feet touch solid ground. He slowly opened his tightly shut eyes to reveal a magnificent scene that looked as though the Milky Way was cascading down from the nine heavens.
Accompanied by dazzling, brilliant light, Bu Liuliqing had to admit he was utterly stunned by the sight before him.
“Where is this?” Coming here for the first time, he never imagined the Wuchen Palace contained such a place.
“The core of the Dutian Realm,” Su Cixuan did not conceal it.
“It’s truly beautiful.” It was indeed beautiful—a beauty suspended between reality and a dream, breathtakingly striking.
“What are we doing here?” Bu Liuliqing continued to ask. Could it be just to look at the scenery? If so, that would be extravagant beyond measure.
Su Cixuan still did not reply immediately, simply gazing at Bu Liuliqing.
“Go ahead, say it! I can take it.” Bu Liuliqing had a hunch that a very important event was about to take place—an important event concerning both him and Su Cixuan.
“Liuliqing, what comes next might be very painful for you… Fortunately, you won’t be able to perceive that pain.” At this, Su Cixuan understood why he also felt a sense of relief; perhaps he didn’t want this person to suffer that kind of torment either.
“Old Su! Why are you starting to act like an old fussbudget? I can begin whenever you’re ready. Tell me, what do you need me to do?” Bu Liuliqing rolled up his sleeves with brisk determination, looking ready to tackle a major undertaking.
Old Su…
What kind of ghost nickname was that?
The corner of Su Cixuan’s eye twitched almost imperceptibly.
“Take off your clothes.” Since he had been called a fussbudget, he might as well be direct.
“What?” Bu Liuliqing assumed he hadn’t heard correctly.
“Take off your clothes.” As Su Cixuan said this, he even reached out to help Bu Liuliqing undress himself.
“Wait, wait, wait! Why do we need to take off our clothes?” Of course, Bu Liuliqing didn’t have a dirty mind it wasn’t as if he hadn’t stripped before; whenever Su Cixuan made him soak in medicinal baths, he had taken off his clothes too.
It was just that in a place like this… such a gorgeous place, how did it connect to taking off clothes?
“To carve runes onto your body and your soul,” Su Cixuan spoke the honest truth. Influenced by Bu Liuliqing, he had learned to speak his mind directly rather than beating around the bush. The more someone spoke in half-sentences and hid the rest, the more the other party would simply ignore them.
Therefore, when communicating with Bu Liuliqing now, Su Cixuan spoke straightforwardly.
“Oh, isn’t that just a tattoo? Go ahead, do whatever.” Realizing what it was all about, Bu Liuliqing quickly unbuttoned his garments, stripped his top off completely, and revealed his fair, slender upper body, which possessed a set of perfectly sculpted muscles.
“Do I need to take off my pants?” Bu Liuliqing asked Su Cixuan.
“No. Sit cross-legged.” With a wave of Su Cixuan’s hand, two woven mats appeared on the ground.
“Nobody’s going to come here, right? Will anyone disturb you?” Bu Liuliqing glanced around the surroundings and asked out of concern.
“No.” This was his domain; besides himself, Bu Liuliqing was only the second person ever to appear here. Without his permission, nobody else would ever dare step foot inside.
“That’s good.” Though he wasn’t really worried about himself.
When the two of them sat facing each other in cross-legged positions, Su Cixuan opened and closed his hand, causing a jade carving knife to materialize in his palm.
“It’s going to hurt a lot,” Su Cixuan reminded him before his carving knife descended onto Bu Liuliqing’s body.
“Oh.” Bu Liuliqing remained completely unconcerned.
Seeing him act like this, Su Cixuan was left speechless the man was simply fearless!
“Just go ahead, don’t let your hand shake, or else we’ll have to start over.” Bu Liuliqing added a reminder just as Su Cixuan was about to cut.
Su Cixuan’s response was a rapid succession of swoosh, swoosh, swoosh movements. Centered around Bu Liuliqing’s chest, ancient and mystical runes began to manifest across his skin while simultaneously imprinting themselves directly onto his soul.
An action like this ought to have been a grueling trial, yet what Bu Liuliqing displayed was merely a sudden turning pale as he found himself unable to withstand the rune’s overwhelming power. His body reacted naturally, shielded entirely by his lack of pain sensation.
For Bu Liuliqing, this was genuinely a blessing.
“It looks like it’s going to take a few days,” Su Cixuan murmured softly as he caught Bu Liuliqing, who had lost consciousness and collapsed against him.
And this was just the very first stroke…
Even so weak, Bu Liuliqing’s soul steadfastly refused to scatter. Trapped forcibly inside a thoroughly dead physical body, he could neither live nor die a state far more miserable than a walking corpse, because Bu Liuliqing retained his full consciousness. It seemed that even if his flesh were reduced to bare bones, his soul would still stubbornly cling to it.
To endure the passage of endless ages while muddling through in such a dazed state wouldn’t that drive someone insane?
During this period, Su Cixuan had focused primarily on helping him stabilize his soul and increase its strength, bringing him here only now for this crucial final phase.
Su Cixuan did not push Bu Liuliqing away, letting him rest against him just like that. He knew that under this condition, no amount of assistance on his part would help. After trying many times before, Su Cixuan had eventually given up; at this stage, the other man simply needed to recover slowly on his own.
While Bu Liuliqing remained unconscious and recovering, Su Cixuan also engaged in self-regulation and meditation.
How much time passed?
“Old Su, I’m awake. Let’s continue.” Those were the very first words Bu Liuliqing uttered upon regaining consciousness.
Through their interactions and understanding during this time, Su Cixuan had grown familiar with Bu Liuliqing’s temperament, so he didn’t waste words either, immediately proceeding to carve the second rune sequence onto his body.
This time, Bu Liuliqing lasted a bit longer, only coughing up blood and losing consciousness to collapse upon the fifth stroke.
Su Cixuan once again let him rest and recover against his body.
For someone like Su Cixuan, who suffered from severe mysophobia and abhorred close physical contact with anyone, this felt like nothing short of a miracle. Yet towards Bu Liuliqing’s proximity, Su Cixuan had never felt a shred of rejection—not even a baseline instinctive aversion.
Perhaps it was because Bu Liuliqing carried half of his life and half of his cultivation within him…
Thus, they continued by fits and starts. Who knew how much time had elapsed? At any rate, Bu Liuliqing reckoned it had been quite a long while.
Finally, they were about to execute the very final stroke.
“Liuliqing, once this stroke goes down, there may be times when you lose control over yourself. That will mean I need to draw upon the half-life and half-lifetime cultivation residing within your body. Even though you lack pain perception when nourishing your body through your soul, it will still take some time. During this period, you cannot leave my side. To prevent situations where I might find myself overpowered by a formidable enemy, I need to carve this rune onto you. Even when you aren’t right beside me, I will still be able to utilize that power within you. However, the side effect is that you will temporarily lose consciousness and be reduced to a puppet…” Before Su Cixuan could finish speaking,
he was met with an eye-roll from Bu Liuliqing.
“Do you honestly have any idea that I could easily refine you into a puppet right now, slowly nourish your soul for you, and stop worrying about a thing while you simply turn into a battle-corpse?” So could he please pay some attention instead of rolling his eyes at him?
Su Cixuan suddenly found himself growing somewhat annoyed.
Annoyed by Bu Liuliqing’s total indifference toward his own well-being.
“So what if you did?” Bu Liuliqing truly didn’t think such a thing was worth fussing over.
“Right, if it really comes to that state, remember to tidy me up to look somewhat normal and make sure I don’t smell too bad.” Bu Liuliqing even offered up this suggestion.
This time, it was Su Cixuan’s turn to roll his eyes back at him.
Unwilling to say another word, he directly pressed down with the final stroke.
The moment that last stroke fell, Bu Liuliqing’s entire body was instantly enveloped in a stream of flowing light. The crimson runes across his skin slowly sank inward, ultimately merging seamlessly with his flesh until nothing could be detected on the surface—his upper body remained as fair and well-built as ever.
Only when Su Cixuan needed to activate the runes would they manifest.
However…
Su Cixuan, who should have felt a sense of joyous relief upon completing such a monumental task and finishing the rune carving, wore a deeply gloomy expression instead a darkness so profound even Bu Liuliqing could easily spot it.