Qin Weiji’s tone wasn’t particularly cold when he spoke; it even carried a hint of leisurely laziness, much like when Shen Xin first saw him—lounging lazily against the white jade table.
He seemed indifferent to all things in the world, or perhaps he had long kept all living beings at a distance, dwelling alone high above the clouds where nothing could catch his eye.
Shen Xin, who was lying there pretending to be dead, felt her eyelashes tremble and grew even more panicked.
Qin Weiji chuckled softly again, “Shen Yaoyao, stop pretending to be dead.”
What on earth was Shen Yaoyao?
His little lover?
No, that wasn’t right. He had called her that too when he picked her up earlier.
Shen Xin searched through her memories and finally remembered.
Yaoyao was the original host’s childhood nickname.
Long ago, Qin Weiji had always called her that, but she hadn’t heard it since they got married.
Of course, after their marriage, Qin Weiji and the original host had barely exchanged more than a few words. In a thousand years of marriage, the number of times they had met could probably be counted on one hand.
They were more like strangers than strangers themselves.
At this thought, Shen Xin’s eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Her face was pale, her appearance frail, and before she could speak, she let out two light coughs.
Qin Weiji remained unmoved, watching her coldly.
She covered her lips and coughed for a while, waiting for the fit to pass before lifting her gaze to look at Qin Weiji standing by the bed.
The confusion in her eyes gradually faded, and once she clearly saw the person before her, a hazy mist gathered in her eyes. Her eyelashes trembled, and the mist turned into tears, falling like broken pearls.
Pitiful and aggrieved, she drew out her soft, delicate voice to call him, “Husband~”
A flicker of something shifted in Qin Weiji’s previously unreadable eyes, and then he heard her sob again, murmuring coquettishly, “I thought… I would never see you again.”
Her face, no larger than a palm, was devoid of color, so pale it was almost transparent, looking utterly fragile.
Yet her eye rims and the tip of her nose were flushed red, tears falling one after another as if she had suffered some immense grievance.
Qin Weiji’s brow tightened slightly, but before he could speak, that clamorous voice in his mind started wailing: 【What is the Divine Lord waiting for? Your wife is so pitiful—hurry and hold her, kiss her, comfort her! This is the perfect time to show your magnanimity as a husband, let her sink completely into your embrace, love you to the point of life and death, and ultimately be of use to you in achieving great things!】
Qin Weiji said coldly, “Shut up!”
The voice instantly fell silent.
Yet, less than a second later, it weakly added: 【If the Divine Lord doesn’t believe me, just try kissing her. As long as you kiss her, the corruption value will reset to zero~】
After saying this, it went completely quiet.
But Qin Weiji’s brow tightened even more.
Kiss her?
He suddenly let out a scornful laugh.
So this was her goal in using sorcery to control him.
She wanted him to kiss her? Dream on!
He, Qin Weiji, would rather kiss a pig or a dog than this promiscuous, wanton woman.
Shen Xin didn’t know he also had a system, nor did she know what he was thinking. Seeing his expression shift strangely, she grew somewhat hesitant.
Slowly sitting up, she cautiously called out to him again, “Husband, why are you looking at me like that?”
Qin Weiji’s gaze held a bit more scrutiny as he looked at her, but the corners of his lips curled into a lazy smile. “Just who are you?”
Shen Xin’s heart skipped a beat, but she feigned composure. “Husband, what are you talking about? I’m Shen Xin.”
Qin Weiji mercilessly exposed her. “Shen Yaoyao would never call me husband.”
Shen Xin’s fingertips trembled slightly as she instinctively lowered her gaze to conceal the panic in her eyes. Soon after, she looked up again, her fluttering eyelashes causing tears to fall even faster.
“Is that so?”
She looked at him, her eyes filled with sorrow. “How would you know I’ve never called for you?”
Qin Weiji’s brow twitched slightly as he watched her let out a self-mocking laugh. “In our thousand years of marriage, how many words have you spoken to me? Do you even remember yourself?”
She closed her eyes briefly, and when she spoke again, her voice was strained. “You’re always in seclusion, always cultivating. There’s never an end to your seclusion, never an end to your cultivation. A hundred years pass in the blink of an eye for you. But have you ever thought about me? Have you ever considered how I’ve spent these thousand years alone?”
“Do you know how many times I’ve called your name in my heart during midnight dreams? How many times I’ve called for my own husband, hoping he would return to see me just once? But… no one ever answers me.”
She bit her lip hard, struggling to hold back before finally breaking down. Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed uncontrollably, her petite body curling into a ball and trembling with each cry. “No one loves me. All beings in the six realms despise me. Even my own husband treats me like a stranger.”
At this moment, she resembled a snowflake drifting lightly over a snowy plain—cold and fragile, likely to melt away at the slightest touch.
Through her tears, she couldn’t help but accuse him, “Qin Weiji, why are you treating me like this…”
Qin Weiji grew somewhat stiff and flustered at her display.
It was as if he truly were a heartless man who had wronged his wife.
The voice in his mind sighed, 【Though I’m all about business, even I have to admit the Divine Maiden is truly pitiful. If only the Divine Lord would at least pretend…】
Qin Weiji snapped coldly in irritation, “Shut up!”
After saying this, he closed his eyes directly.
He had no patience to watch Shen Xin’s performance. Whether some demon had taken over Shen Xin’s body—he would find out with one investigation.
Meanwhile, Shen Xin, fully immersed in her crying, was proudly asking Xiao Ai in her mind, “So? How was my acting?”
Xiao Ai clicked her tongue: 【So tragic it would break anyone’s heart to see, move anyone to tears.】
Shen Xin sneered, “Hah, if there’s one skill I have, it’s acting. For someone like Qin Weiji…”
Before she could finish gloating, Shen Xin suddenly froze, and Xiao Ai instantly fell silent.
Shen Xin could only feel something piercing through her nerves, recklessly charging deep into her mind.
Her body’s memories made her understand instantly.
It was the Sea of Consciousness!
That perverted Qin Weiji had invaded her Sea of Consciousness!
The concealment and fragility of the Sea of Consciousness went without saying. Generally, no one would invade another’s Sea of Consciousness without reason, as it could easily lead to mutual destruction.
But Qin Weiji was Shen Xin’s husband. They had formed a contract, so for him to enter her Sea of Consciousness was effortless.
As for Shen Xin, she had just taken over this body and hadn’t even explored the original owner’s Sea of Consciousness herself. Yet now Qin Weiji had barged in.
Shen Xin could care less about anything else. Following the original owner’s memories, she found the method to enter the Sea of Consciousness and stumbled, scrambled, and crawled her way after him.
Finally spotting his figure, she shouted at the top of her lungs, “Qin Weiji, what are you trying to do? Stop right there!”
Qin Weiji did indeed stop.
With his back to her, he stared at the vast Sea of Consciousness before him, feeling uncharacteristically bewildered.
The Sea of Consciousness is a person’s inner world of the spirit, containing all their thoughts, feelings, and realizations.
Qin Weiji had never entered Shen Xin’s Sea of Consciousness before—this was his first time. Frowning at the things within her consciousness, he curiously asked Shen Xin, who had caught up to him, “What are these?”
Before Shen Xin could curse him as a shameless, despicable scoundrel for barging into a girl’s private space, she instinctively followed his gaze. What she saw left her stunned.
A musical fountain, a Ferris wheel, a carousel, an ice cream machine, and scattered colorful lights twinkling like stars…
Soft piano music drifted in the air—it was “The Maiden’s Prayer,” her favorite piece.
Damn, how had she brought her own amusement park here?
Shen Xin was speechless, at a loss for words to salvage the situation.
Now, probably, perhaps, Qin Weiji could definitely confirm she wasn’t the original, right?
It’s over, I’m doomed!
But to her surprise, Qin Weiji merely pointed at the slowly rotating Ferris wheel in the distance and asked her, “What is that?”
Shen Xin stiffly replied, “A Ferris wheel.”
“A Ferris wheel?”
Qin Weiji raised an eyebrow and looked back at her. “What’s it for?”
Hesitating for a moment, Shen Xin whispered, “It’s for making wishes. If you ride it to the very top and make a wish, it’ll come true.”
Since childhood, her mother had always told her that.
Qin Weiji narrowed his eyes. “Making wishes?”
Seeing his curiosity, Shen Xin blinked. Noticing he didn’t seem about to lose his temper, she mustered her courage and asked, “Husband, do you want to try it too? Make a wish?”
Qin Weiji scoffed at her words. “Throughout heaven and earth, it’s others who make wishes to me.”
Shen Xin nodded. “That’s true. Husband is like the turtle in the wishing pond.”
Qin Weiji’s eyelid twitched. “Hmm?”
Realizing she’d spoken too hastily again, Shen Xin quickly shook her head. “No, no, I mean, husband is like the Bodhisattva enshrined in the temple.”
Qin Weiji let out a cold, mocking laugh, and Shen Xin lowered her head in despair.
Then, she heard him ask her, “Shen Yaoyao, do you really love me?”
Shen Xin was taken aback, looking up in surprise.
He was watching her, his expression indifferent and unreadable.
But Shen Xin’s intuition told her this was a chance to survive. Without hesitation, a faint blush spread across her pale cheeks as she shyly nodded and obediently answered, “Yes, I do love you.”
In her heart, however, she wondered: This man seems really fixated on whether I love him or not. He asked this when I was about to die, and now he’s asking again? Could it be that he actually loved the original host deeply?
In that instant, Shen Xin’s mind conjured up a melodramatic, tragic romance novel titled ‘I Love You, You Love Him, He Loves Her, and He Even Hurt You for Her, So I Turned Dark and Became a Demon for You.’
As her thoughts ran wild, Qin Weiji leaned in close to her.
The fresh scent of grass and trees suddenly enveloped her, lingering at her nostrils. Shen Xin snapped back to reality and found herself staring directly into his amber-like pupils.
The lights around them shimmered like scattered silver foil, glittering in his eyes and reflecting her own image.
Shen Xin’s heart trembled slightly, and she froze.
He was so close now that she could clearly see the silver mark on his forehead.
It was a flower—what kind of flower was it?
She lost herself again, staring at the mark between his brows, until his voice softly fell by her ear. “Kiss me.”
“Oh… Huh?”
Shen Xin answered instinctively, but as soon as the sound left her lips, she jolted back to awareness.
Her eyes widened slightly. “What?”
Qin Weiji paused, then repeated, “I said, kiss me.”