“What is Changning looking at?” Noticing that the phoenix eyes reflected in the bronze mirror seemed captivated by something off-mirror, Ning Wuchen asked in a low voice.
“Nothing.” Shen Zaixin withdrew his gaze indifferently, clearly unwilling to offer further explanation.
“Master is lying.” The black-robed youth leaned down, his warm breath brushing lightly against the Immortal’s neck as his thin lips pressed against the marks left behind from the previous night’s intimacy, sucking repeatedly. Calm as Shen Zaixin was, he could not help a slight hitch in his breath.
Emboldened, the youth brazenly teased the Immortal, his half-dropped eyelids brimming with profound obscurity.
As the primary soul, the possessiveness he had accumulated across countless world-line resets was only more terrifying than that of his fragmented soul. Even though Ning Wuchen was merely a shard of his existence, and even though he had despicably utilized the primary soul’s sensory link to experience every ounce of pleasure that person had offered through the entire night, the internal jealousy and bitterness continued to torture him.
The obsession with exclusively possessing that person had long since been carved into every corner of his soul, acting like a fine thread of poison. Once someone tried to pull it out by the root, it would cost them half their life.
“Changning, what is wrong?” Hearing the youth’s breathing grow erratic, Ning Wuchen could not help feeling a rising wave of worry. Could the lingering side effects of the tribulation still not be fully healed?
Yet beneath the very eyelids of the oblivious demon lord, his Changning was being held tightly in the arms of another man, where the crimson plum blossoms upon his neck were being freshly branded with an even more vibrant hue, completely overriding the manic possession of the previous night.
152 gloated in its mind: What could possibly be wrong? Just a certain dog tipping over his vinegar jar.
“Yun Shi,” Shen Zaixin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, transmitting his voice through spiritual arts to say coldly: “You dare defy me.”
The warm breath at his neck receded. The black-robed youth knelt obediently at his feet, only to act with audacious boldness the next second by resting his head upon the Immortal’s knee, his fingertip tracing circles against the palm of the youth’s hand. Lowering his gaze, Shen Zaixin watched as the youth’s deadpan heterochromatic eyes burned with a silent flame, asking in a low, slow tone: “Master… do you truly dislike this?”
Shen Zaixin became acutely aware of a single fact: the man was actively seducing him.
Before he could utter a response, the crisp, clean aura of Ning Wuchen suddenly enveloped him from behind. The man rested his chin upon Shen Zaixin’s shoulder, looking together with him at his own reflection in the bronze mirror: “Why do I feel like the marks on Changning’s neck look a bit redder?”
Maintaining a completely straight face, he shifted the blame right back: “You should be asking yourself that.”
Recalling his loss of control from the night before, Ning Wuchen shifted his gaze away awkwardly. At this moment, with his slightly reddened earlobes and pure, innocent posture, the man bore zero resemblance to the frantic, beauty-addled madness he had displayed during the height of passion the previous night.
“Does Changning not like it?” The man’s thin lips brushed affectionately against the love bites on the Immortal’s neck, his voice raspy.
With the fading lamplight casting a gentle glow across the youth’s face last night, he had seen it clearly: those watery, dark pupils carrying a trace of restrained ecstasy—the ecstasy he had personally offered to Changning.
152: Oh dear, which one is the host supposed to answer first? How agonizingly difficult.
“Shut up,” Shen Zaixin scoffed coldly in his mind, then pulled his hand back from Yun Shi’s grasp. Lowering his gaze to glare at the youth resting against his knee, he spoke as though addressing the man standing behind him as well: “Even if I do like it, whether I choose to share in romantic affairs with another man has nothing to do with you.”
The two men beside him fell silent in unison. Shoving the black-robed youth’s head away, Shen Zaixin rose from his seat and walked toward the door.
In the courtyard, the youth who had been waiting for a long time turned around at the sound of movement. The bright, cheerful smile on his face instantly morphed into sheer shock the moment he caught sight of the dark-red-robed man wearing a silver mask standing right beside the Immortal.
Even with the mask, years of familiarity meant Yugui recognized him instantly.
“Senior Uncle Ning? Why are you here?” And walking right out of the Junior Uncle’s bedroom, no less.
Spotting the faint red marks lingering on Shen Zaixin’s neck, he grew even more bewildered: “Junior Uncle, what happened to your neck?”
The youth possessed exceptionally clear eyes, and standing before such pure innocence would naturally spark a sense of shame in ordinary people. Only the red-robed Immortal remained entirely calm, dismissing it without a care: “Licked by a dog.”
Ning Wuchen: “…”
Yugui uttered an understanding “oh.” Everyone in the Canglan Sect knew that the Junior Uncle loved dogs, and word had it that the tongues of cats and dogs possessed tiny barbs. Since the Junior Uncle’s skin was exceptionally delicate, turning red from a pet’s affection was only natural.
Yet he distinctly remembered those marks not being there when he accidentally barged in last night. Could it be that the lighting had been too dim to see clearly? Truly bizarre.
“Done checking on your Senior Sister Xie?” Shen Zaixin avoided mentioning Ning Wuchen entirely. Though the youth was naive, he possessed a rare grasp of right and wrong, and would never speak a single superfluous word about matters that shouldn’t be discussed.
Therefore, he did not dislike innocent people.
“Mn.” Yugui hesitated for a moment before speaking with reservation: “I do not know if it is just my imagination, but I have a feeling that Senior Sister Xie’s condition… is not looking too well.”
Smiling without a word, Shen Zaixin turned and walked out of the courtyard.
Xie Linghua had already suffered torture within the dungeons, and now she was overworking her spiritual energy to heal mortals. How could her condition possibly be good?
Inside the guest room of the Zhang residence, Xie Linghua struggled to circulate the sluggish spiritual energy within her body. Every single circulation sent a wave of tearing pain through her meridians and dantian. While she could endure it previously when saving lives, the continuous, excessive use of spiritual energy over the past few days had brought her to the absolute edge of endurance.
With her refined features struggling to mask a pale complexion, she was just about to close her eyes and resume meditation when a knock echoed against the room door, followed by the crisp, bright voice of a young girl from outside: “Sister Xie, are you awake?”
Rising helplessly from the daybed, she opened the door and looked down at the delicately sculpted young girl standing outside, her soft voice carrying a deep sense of fatigue: “Xiaoxiao, is something the matter?”
Lifting her head to gaze at Xie Linghua’s pale, powerless complexion, the girl hesitated for a moment before speaking up: “Everyone noticed that you hadn’t come out to hold consultations at the usual time today, and fearing something might have happened, they sent me to check. Sister Xie, are you alright?”
Was she truly worried that something had happened to her? For the very first time, a malicious suspicion sprouted within Xie Linghua’s heart, though she quickly brushed away such an inappropriate thought. Squatting down, she said helplessly: “Xiaoxiao, my health has been rather poor lately, and I’m afraid that for the next few days…”
Sensing something amiss, the girl stammered: “Will this affect your ability to heal people?”
“What?” Xie Linghua’s features froze for a fraction of a second.
Xiaoxiao furrowed her brows, her round, expressive eyes filled with incomprehension: “Sister Xie, as long as you endure a little bit of pain, you can save many, many people. Did we do something to make you unwilling?”
The gentle, tender smile vanished from her eyes, leaving her expression uncharacteristically cold: “So you have known all along that spending spiritual energy to save people harms my body.”
In truth, she should have realized this long ago. Ever since her demonic nature was exposed, no one would ever truly accept her. Yet listening to her junior brother’s pessimistic views on human nature, she had always wanted to prove something—both for herself and to shatter that person’s closed-off heart.
She was naive, but not foolish. At this moment, she finally understood that all her efforts had been nothing more than wishful thinking from the very beginning.
No matter how much she sacrificed, what people wanted was merely the spiritual energy within her that could cure ailments, rather than Xie Linghua herself.
A lowly demon was destined to find no place of belonging.
“Xiaoxiao, let’s not forget that your life was saved by me in the first place.” Standing up, Xie Linghua looked down at the little girl with an indifferent gaze. “Is there anyone in Canglan City who has not received my grace? I do not owe any of you a single thing. What qualifications do you have to question me?”
Xiaoxiao widened her eyes in disbelief, stung by her cold words until her eye rims turned red: “Sister Xie, my mother said that immortals saving people is an accumulation of merit. We are doing this entirely for your own good, how can you be so selfish!”
The commotion of their argument caused the footsteps outside, which were already drawing closer, to grow increasingly hurried. Turning her head, Xie Linghua saw that the townspeople waiting for consultations had grown tired of waiting for her appearance and had actually sent another group to search for her.
In that instant, she finally understood the meaning behind the look Shen Zaixin had given her back on the rooftop.
It was pity—pity for her naivety, pity for her self-deception that could no longer escape facing the cruel reality.
“Immortal Physician Xie, did Xiaoxiao speak out of turn to you? Please do not hold it against an ignorant child…”
Xie Linghua coldly cut the visitor off: “I will no longer hold consultations. Please return.”
“But everyone is still waiting for you outside. Isn’t it a bit too selfish of you to act this way?” The person could not help muttering in discontent.
Hearing the word ‘selfish’ once more, Xie Linghua let out a soft, mocking laugh: “If we are talking about selfishness, no one could ever compare to mortals like you.”
Hearing her gentle, mocking sneer, the visitor flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Scanning her surroundings, she found that even this wealthy courtyard of the Zhang family suddenly appeared exceptionally repulsive to her. Unwilling to linger a moment longer, she bypassed the visitor and prepared to leave, only to have her path blocked once more.
That pair of gentle eyes finally revealed a flash of demonic nature, as intricate, exotic markings instantly spread across her entire face, frightening the adult and child so badly they dared not step any closer.
Turning on her heel, she strode away, the gentle grace of her past entirely gone, leaving behind only an aloof, indifferent silhouette.
At that moment, she felt a strange sense of gratitude for her demonic identity, as the lingering fear it struck into the mortals prevented them from blocking her path. Otherwise, had they known she possessed not an ounce of remaining strength to fight back, she might never have walked out of this estate alive.
The moment she stepped out of the Zhang residence, Xie Linghua received a paper-crane voice transmission from her junior brother: “Outside Canglan City, by the banks of the Wen River.”
She could not help offering a wry smile. Her junior brother truly possessed divine foresight at all hours, even anticipating her lack of spiritual energy and thoughtfully attaching an extra layer of power to the paper crane, allowing her to bypass the remaining townspeople and arrive straight at the riverbank via a spatial teleportation array.
Beneath the weeping willows along the riverbank, however, more than one figure stood waiting. Stripped of their autumn color, the willow branches were left bare, whipped into a chaotic dance by the desolate wind that lent the scene a touch of bleakness.
Hearing her footsteps approach, the two men standing side by side beneath the tree turned around. Seeing Ning Wuchen caused her zero surprise; she merely nodded with a faint smile as a form of greeting.
Watching her gaze grow dim yet devoid of lingering resentment, Shen Zaixin paused for a moment before smiling: “Senior Sister, let us go to the Demon Realm.”
The Demon Realm worshipped strength. Once you entered that place, who would care whether your bloodline was noble or not?
“Then you…”
“Tomorrow, the Canglan Sect will spread word that the former Peak Master of the Dan Peak accidentally exposed her demonic identity and was executed by the righteous and impartial Sect Master.”
As Shen Zaixin spoke, he glanced at Ning Wuchen, who instantly caught his meaning. Suppressing his internal reluctance, the demon lord spoke with a serious tone: “Rest assured, Changning, I will handle everything.”
He nodded: “Then—”
“Junior Brother.” Xie Linghua suddenly spoke up, cutting him off.
“Mn?”
“There is a matter I have kept buried in my heart for a long time. After much thought, I still wish to tell you.”