Sensing the man following close behind him, Shen Zaixin did not shy away from that burning gaze. Leisurely smoothing out the robes that revealed his snowy shoulder, he walked toward the youth whose face still retained a lingering flush.
“What brings you here?”
The youth averted his gaze, not daring to meet his eyes. His mind was entirely consumed by the alluring sight he had accidentally stumbled upon just moments ago, and upon hearing the question, he stammered out: “Yesterday, I heard the elders mention that Junior Uncle had brought someone down the mountain, so I wanted to come check. Who would have guessed that the moment I entered the courtyard, I would spot a patch of blood mixed with feathers on the bluestone path, making me fear something had happened to you. In my panic, I ended up breaking down the door…”
152 gloated in his mind: Caught in the act of flirting by a junior, let us see how you talk your way out of this.
As the sole disciple of the Peak Master of Spirit Peak, Yugui had been guarded like a precious treasure since childhood, completely untainted by the world’s filth. His disposition was exceptionally pure, and now that Xie Linghua had met with misfortune, under the oppressive deterrent of the Sect Master’s methods, he remained the only youth willing to worry about the senior martial sister who had once taken care of him.
Yet the bright moon was hanging high now, and it was already the hour of the dog (7:00 PM to 9:00 PM). Why would the youth choose to come at an hour like this?
“Ah, right.” The youth fished a parcel wrapped in oiled paper from his robes and handed it to the Immortal, his clear eyes shining brightly: “I remembered that Junior Uncle is rather fond of the osmanthus pastries from the incense shop. Who would have guessed there would still be so many people at this hour, so waiting in line delayed me.”
Before Shen Zaixin could utter a response, he caught sight of the man standing to the side watching the show with silent amusement. With a slight crook of his index finger, the oiled-paper parcel containing the osmanthus pastries vanished and reappeared instantly in the man’s hand. After tossing it into his mouth and chewing casually a couple of times before swallowing, the man murmured gloomily: “Doesn’t taste good.”
“Eh? Where did the osmanthus pastries go?” Lowering his gaze to stare at the feather-light sheet of oiled paper in his palm, which still retained a few crumbs of pastry residue, the youth blinked in bewilderment, wondering if someone had pickpocketed him along the way.
Having felt earlier that the youth was acting rather strangely by completely ignoring the man, Shen Zaixin finally confirmed that the youth truly could not see this bizarre individual at all.
“Perhaps some ignorant little ghost stole it,” Shen Zaixin chuckled softly. “Weren’t you looking for your Senior Sister Xie? She’s currently seeing patients at the Zhang residence.”
“Oh.” Tossing the crumpled oiled-paper ball aside with a disappointed look and scratching his head, the youth said, “Then Junior Uncle, I’ll be heading off first!”
The Immortal nodded, watching the youth’s figure vanish into the courtyard before turning his head to gaze at the man staring straight at him: “Come here.”
The bedroom door clicked shut once more, leaving two intertwined silhouettes cast against the window by the candlelight inside.
“Speak. What are you trying to accomplish by lurking around me?”
152 felt completely unfazed: What else could it be? Either he is craving your body, or he is craving your heart.
Before the man could reply, Shen Zaixin pivoted to another question: “What on earth are you?”
Astonishingly, aside from himself, no one else could perceive the presence of this man.
The man fell silent for a moment before walking up to him and dropping to a single knee. Raising his head to gaze upward, he looked like a lone wolf that had finally emerged from a fog-choked forest after enduring countless hardships to behold the full moon once more.
In the dim, shifting play of light and shadow, countless complex emotions seemed to flash through those heterochromatic eyes, though the flickering candlelight made them difficult to read.
“You can think of me as a spirit born entirely for your sake.”
“152, is there really no record of this person in your system database?” Shen Zaixin asked calmly.
The man exuded an unfathomable aura, entirely beyond the reach of any ordinary person. He spoke and acted as though they shared a long history, dropping subtle hints that carried the lingering, karmic weight of past and present lives.
Zero results found.
Shen Zaixin loved exploring the unknown, and his interest was instantly piqued. The moment he lifted his hand slightly, the other seemed to instantly grasp his intent, willingly kneeling before him and pressing his own cheek into the palm of the youth’s hand.
It was as though the gesture had played out thousands of times before.
“Since you were born for my sake, you ought to acknowledge me as your master.” His fingertips brushed gently along the man’s sharp jawline, trailing downward to circle and tease against the man’s tightly restrained, bobbing Adam’s apple. His phoenix eyes, brimming with an illusory affection, looked down from on high to admire the repressed desire and fanatical obsession hidden beneath the man’s calm exterior.
“I have a condition.” The man gazed at him deeply with deadpan eyes, rasping out: “My master must never abandon me.”
“Tsk, what a greedy dog.” Uncharacteristically free of any impatience, Shen Zaixin leaned in close to the other’s ear and chuckled softly: “Yet… what qualifications do you have to negotiate conditions?”
At the same time, his fingertips traced downward to the source of the man’s arousal. “If you want to negotiate with your master, you must first learn to conceal your own cravings.”
Within the quiet bedroom, the sound of suppressed gasps was exceptionally clear. Lowering his gaze to watch the man prostrate at his feet, Shen Zaixin felt a surge of investigative curiosity cross his mind.
This man harbored an unusually intense desire and obsession toward him. It was truly bizarre, yet endlessly fascinating.
“When thick mists and dark clouds rise up, they not only shroud the sun and moon but also conceal unknown secrets.”
Just like this strange and mysterious man, completely ungraspable, yet occasionally revealing traces of dependence and obsession that kept him thoroughly entertained.
Shen Zaixin chuckled softly: “Your name shall be Yun Shi.”
It was a name thrown out on a whim, yet he watched as the man’s brows instantly softened: “Yun Shi… I like it very much.”
“Since your master gave you the name, you are required to like it regardless.” He let out a cold snort, nudging the man’s knee with the tip of his shoe. “Get lost.”
Knowing that the youth must be feeling sleepy, Yun Shi recognized that although the form of sleep was scoffed at by righteous Daoists, upon that person it inexplicably felt endearing.
“May my master have sweet dreams.”
With those words, Yun Shi’s figure dissipated like black mist. In truth, he could easily have concealed his aura and remained to accompany the youth through the night, but his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. Fearing he might lose control and expose his flaws, thereby angering the youth and making himself difficult to coax, he chose to leave.
The bedroom returned to absolute silence. Shen Zaixin extinguished the candle, lay down upon the daybed, and quickly drifted off to sleep.
In the dead of night, moonlight suddenly spilled across his picturesque face, only to be blocked an instant later by a tall, imposing figure.
Calloused fingertips traced inch by inch across his vivid brows and eyes, drawing a soft frown from him as he mumbled drowsily in his sleep: “Yun Shi, stop making a fuss…”
The intruder’s previously gentle movements paused instantly. The aura surrounding him turned bone-chillingly cold, and the next second, the mattress sank abruptly. Sleeping soundly, Shen Zaixin felt himself pinned down firmly, blanket and all, as his nostrils were instantly flooded by the man’s frosty aura.
Forced awake by the intrusion, he slowly opened his eyes to glare coldly at the man pressing down on top of him, his voice raspy with sleep: “Get down.”
The man fell silent for a moment before rolling off the daybed, dropping to a half-kneel beside the mattress. Catching the bright moonlight, he traced the contours of the youth’s face once more, staring unblinkingly: “Yun Shi, who is that?”
To see this person sooner, Ning Wuchen had rushed nonstop to the Demon Realm to trade for the Heavenly-Veiling Pearl. Yet after separating for merely a few days, Changning already had a new favorite by his side, even whispering another man’s name in his sleep.
Changning could choose not to have him in his heart; he could bear waiting indefinitely. But he could absolutely not tolerate anyone else taking up space inside Changning’s heart.
Not even a tiny fraction. Not allowed.
He was the Demon Lord Ning Wuchen, and he could openly and proudly acknowledge his bottomless possessiveness.
“Are you interrogating me?” Propping himself up into a sitting position on the daybed, Shen Zaixin pressed a jade-white, glossy bare foot directly against the man’s shoulder, offering a cold sneer: “Do you even have the qualifications?”
Ning Wuchen felt as though his entire body’s blood had frozen over at those words, his heart plummeting straight to the abyss. Yet the malicious teasing of the toes pressing against his shoulder viciously reignited a wave of heat within him, scorching his chest until it burned.
It was clearly a tone of utter arrogance and disdain, yet it sparked an illicit, hidden thrill deep within his heart. At this moment, in Changning’s eyes, he was no longer a senior martial brother, but a man groveling at his beloved’s feet, waiting for a single drop of pity.
Resisting the urge to give in to his passion, he reached into his robes and produced a transparent bead, holding it out to the youth. Beneath the mask, those calm, rippleless eyes were laced with an uneasy, cautious attempt to please.
“Hm, so I did wrong, Senior Brother.” Accepting the Heavenly-Veiling Pearl, Shen Zaixin twirled the translucent crystal bead between slender, delicate fingertips that were far more captivating than the luminous orb itself.
His exquisite features blossomed into a bewitching, seductive smile. Pressing his bare foot down from the man’s chest, he slowly slid it downward: “What reward does Senior Brother want? Shall we make it like last time?”
Just for retrieving a single bead, he was actually going to be rewarded?
A trace of sweetness seeped straight into his heart. Ning Wuchen could not stop a faint curve from forming at the corners of his lips, his gaze toward the youth naturally filling with obsessive devotion: “Alright.”
Candles were relit within the dim bedroom. Receiving that meaningful, knowing look from the youth, the Demon Lord lowered his gaze to lock away his predatory plunder and raw desire, speaking in a raspy voice: “Brighter, so I can see clearly.”
Outside, Yun Shi sat perched upon a tree in the courtyard, positioned at an angle that offered a clear view of the tangled silhouettes shifting against the paper window. His dark eyes burned with an obscure intensity as he stared through the oiled paper at the two figures locked in an inseparable embrace. His breathing grew increasingly ragged, and the hand gripping the branch beside him turned white at the knuckles.
Though the ones sharing in the intimacy were inside the room, he felt as though he were being magnetically drawn into the passion, his breathing synchronizing and overlapping heavily with the sinking Demon Lord inside, as if they were one and the same person.
The candlelight flickered, refusing to extinguish through the entire span of the night.
Early the next morning.
The red-robed Immortal propped his chin lazily as he sat before the bronze mirror, watching the man busy brushing out his cascading hair from behind through the reflection with profound boredom, before speaking up impatiently: “Does the Demon Lord have nothing better to do with his time?”
This was a polite eviction notice.
Ning Wuchen understood him far too well, always catching the subtext behind his words regardless of the occasion. The hand holding the wooden comb paused for a fraction of a second before he murmured softly: “Changning will be entering seclusion soon.”
If he didn’t seize every possible moment now, who knew how long he would have to wait for their next meeting.
He kept every single hidden hazard following Changning’s breakthroughs locked away in his mind. Seeking out the Heavenly-Veiling Pearl this time was undoubtedly done in preparation for the upcoming breakthrough into the Mahayana stage after leaving seclusion.
With the companion-type nightmare beast slain and the symbiotic bond severed, the blooming of the next Dream-Crossing Lotus would likely require waiting several centuries.
He could easily have camped outside the Huaxu Secret Realm, waiting for the lotus to bloom so he could present it to his beloved. But he also knew that no one could ever alter a decision Changning had made.
Given Changning’s temperament, he would rather seize it himself through ruthless means than accept a clever, preemptive gift from someone else. Even the matter of trading for the Heavenly-Veiling Pearl was already a hard-fought privilege he had managed to carve out for himself, earning permission to do this one thing for the youth.
Ning Wuchen knew better than anyone that the person resting upon the tip of his heart was an arrogant, rational controller.
Listening to the lonely, desolate tone of the man behind him, Shen Zaixin let out a soft huff. Before he could utter a response, he caught sight of another figure in the bronze mirror, formed entirely from swirling black mist.
The youth stared straight into the Immortal’s eyes through the reflection, their gazes colliding and sparking an inexplicable current of electricity in the air, while Ning Wuchen, completely focused on brushing the Immortal’s hair with lowered eyes, remained entirely oblivious.