Jun Yanye took ten jars of strong liquor and went to the nearby Ying River.
The sunset was about to fall, casting a light rose color across the river’s surface. It flowed like a ribbon of silk, resembling the color of Jun Yanye’s eyes.
Jun Yanye opened a jar and drank from it.
“A person you’ve known for less than five days tells you he’ll love you for a lifetime and even wants to bear your children. If he isn’t a swindler, he’s a madman,” the Xuanhuang sword spoke. “Perhaps he’s both.”
“He was drunk,” Jun Yanye said, looking out at the river as the murmuring water reflected in his eyes.
The wine he brought today was stronger and mellower than last night’s, yet no matter what, he couldn’t replicate last night’s flavor.
He didn’t know exactly when it started, but he could no longer get drunk.
With five thousand years of cultivation, the vast majority of alcohol in this world could no longer intoxicate him. Thinking about it, it was quite cruel.
“What exactly is Your Majesty the Demon Venerable vexed about?” Xuanhuang asked.
“If I knew, perhaps I wouldn’t be this vexed.” Jun Yanye took a large gulp.
“Is it because he spoke those wanton words and then took it upon himself to forget them entirely?” Xuanhuang guessed.
“Is it because he denied Your Majesty a single night of peace, yet woke up showing no gratitude whatsoever?” Xuanhuang tried another guess.
“It is because Your Majesty cares about him very much,” Xuanhuang finally said.
Jun Yanye didn’t speak, nor did he deny it.
In just a short while, the sunset would completely fade, and the light in his eyes would darken inch by inch.
Standing quietly by the riverbank, Jun Yanye suddenly sensed something. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Shi Li hiding behind a tree, revealing only half his face to look at him, like a small animal that had done something wrong.
“Hehe, drinking here all by yourself?” Having been discovered, Shi Li walked out with his hands behind his back, taking a few quick steps forward. “You’ve drunk quite a lot.”
Jun Yanye didn’t answer.
The crickets chirped and the wind blew through the grass, very subtle sounds. Xuanhuang was also tactful enough to remain silent.
“Oh, I know what you’re annoyed about!” Shi Li unceremoniously snatched the wine jar from Jun Yanye’s hand and took a sip. “Aren’t you just blaming me for only caring about myself when drinking, without inviting you to join?”
Jun Yanye cast a glance at him.
“Come, come, come, I’ll keep you company.” Shi Li handed the wine jar back to Jun Yanye. “Today, we won’t return until we’re both drunk. If you don’t drink your fill, I won’t go to sleep!”
“Does your Changming Sect not forbid alcohol?” Jun Yanye arched an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t abstaining from alcohol and lust part of your sect rules?”
Given Shi Li’s manner of drinking and the extent of his drunken antics, Jun Yanye was truly curious about how he had managed to survive until now.
“They forbid it, of course they forbid it! It’s exactly because alcohol is forbidden that I’ve been suppressed into this state,” Shi Li said righteously. “Others can sneak down the mountain to buy some wine to drink every now and then, but I couldn’t even leave!”
“Why?”
“Serving a life sentence,” Shi Li said with a sorrowful expression. “The Young Master is far too precious, so I was kept on the very peak at the absolute center, completely isolated from all the other peaks. I tried to break out seven hundred and eighty-six times, and every single one failed.”
“Uh…” It did sound somewhat miserable, and paired with this face, it made one feel all the more protective of him.
“Come, down this jar,” Shi Li said.
With a wave of his hand, Jun Yanye stored all the wine away, refusing to let him drink.
Shi Li was dumbfounded, the light draining from his eyes. “You… why did you take it all away? Where’s the wine?”
“Has the wound on your back healed?” Jun Yanye asked instead.
Shi Li lowered his head, whispering in a tiny, aggrieved voice, “You already applied the ointment, it’s no longer a big deal.”
When he woke up this morning, Shi Li found that the whip wounds on his back no longer hurt. Jun Yanye had used the insect clan’s specially made muscle-knitting salve on him, restoring him completely overnight.
“It wasn’t me,” Jun Yanye refused to admit it. “Who knows which massive sucker stayed up in the dead of night just to apply ointment for you, only for you to go right back to abusing your body the moment you woke up.”
“How could he be a sucker? This is clearly a good husband.” Shi Li’s smile was incredibly sweet as he tugged at Jun Yanye’s sleeve.
The moment the title “good husband” left his lips, Jun Yanye looked up at the sky and let out a sigh.
“Husband, let’s return to the dwelling.” Shi Li’s voice was sweet, obedient, and endearing.
“Stop calling me that, it’s giving me goosebumps.”
Shi Li took hold of Jun Yanye’s hand and pulled him along as they walked away.
Shi Li calculated the exact date, hour, and location for Jun Yanye to nurse his primordial soul within his sea of consciousness.
The location was deep within Gui Chi’s cave dwelling, hidden, quiet, and guarded by the Xuanhuang demonic sword, making it safe for Shi Li as well.
Jun Yanye carved an array formation onto the stone ground, injecting spiritual currents into it, and placed incense, candles, and precious artifacts at the array’s core. Only then did the two step inside and sit facing each other.
“Do you still remember the place I pointed out to you before? That rift you just need to go there. Other places might not be very stable,” Shi Li repeated once more.
He was well aware that there were many undercurrents and crises within his own sea of consciousness.
“This is also my first time opening my sea of consciousness to let someone convalesce, so I don’t have much experience. While you’re inside, just act according to the circumstances,” Shi Li said. “Whatever you do, don’t get lost in there.”
“I will be careful.”
“Fortunately, we share a Dao companion contract. My sea of consciousness won’t severely reject you; instead, it recognizes you.”
Jun Yanye extended his right hand, and Shi Li intertwined his fingers with his.
Their gazes locked, their eyes simultaneously reflecting each other’s soul imprints, before both closed their eyes.
Jun Yanye’s primordial soul entered Shi Li’s sea of consciousness with immense ease. If anything, Shi Li’s sea of consciousness had consistently welcomed and yearned for his arrival.
When Jun Yanye opened his eyes again, he was met with a murky, chaotic expanse, appearing like the primordial dawn of heaven and earth before creation.
As far as the eye could see, there was only a vast void, leaving behind nothing but the floating ashes of something that had burned down.
He looked around, wanting to locate the position of that rift, but he found himself somewhat lost.
He remembered that during the formation of their Dao companion contract, Shi Li’s primordial soul had walked toward him out of the darkness to speak with him, requiring no deliberate searching on his part.
Because of this, Jun Yanye assumed there would be guidance from the primordial soul this time as well. Yet this time, that soul was nowhere to be seen. Jun Yanye attempted to sense it, but he couldn’t detect its aura at all.
Left with no alternative, Jun Yanye could only continue forward, feeling as though he were a ghost drifting aimlessly.
Suddenly, a blood-drenched youth collapsed at his feet.
“Save me, cough,” the youth coughed up a mouthful of blood, his voice weak and raspy. “Save me.”
The youth struggled to lift his head to look at Jun Yanye. When Jun Yanye saw his features clearly, it was Shi Li.
This youth’s demeanor was vastly different from the current Shi Li; his eyes lacked that casual, unbridled air, revealing instead a fragile helplessness and despair.
Shi Li’s dark hair was disheveled, his silver crown crooked, and blood clung to his eyelids and eyelashes as his hair draped over the side of his face.
“I beg of you…” He prostrated on the ground. His ceremonial robes and boots were intricately embroidered with fine silk, yet they were covered in tears and filth. One of his hands pressed against Jun Yanye’s dark-cloud boot, while the other trembled as it clutched the hem of Jun Yanye’s robe.
Jun Yanye could feel that Shi Li’s strength was draining away; he wouldn’t last much longer.
Jun Yanye bent down to grasp Shi Li’s freezing, blood-soaked hand, channeling spiritual energy into him. “What happened?”
The spiritual energy could not be injected at all. Jun Yanye understood that this Shi Li was merely an illusion.
He shouldn’t acknowledge or pay mind to these illusions; his only task was to find the location to convalesce. Yet, he still reached out his hand.
“Ugh…” Shi Li groaned in agony, another streak of crimson overflowing from the corner of his lips. He was just about to say something when suddenly, someone delivered a fatal blow from behind him, causing his hand to snap open as his body fell limp onto the ground.
“Uh…” Jun Yanye hurriedly looked ahead, and then, he saw Shi Li’s primordial soul.
Shi Li’s primordial soul stood expressionlessly within the vast void, calmly gazing at Jun Yanye without casting a single glance at his own corpse.
It was Shi Li’s primordial soul that had personally put an end to his own illusion.
“I am sorry I am late. I should have come out to receive you earlier, but I was held up by a few things.” Shi Li walked toward Jun Yanye, stepping right over his own corpse. “Let’s go. I will take you to the place to recuperate.”
Jun Yanye was still looking at the illusion on the ground. The youth Shi Li had already stopped breathing, completely motionless.
“What are you looking at?” Shi Li suppressed his own irritation and extended his hand. “Come with me.”
“What is the matter with him?” Jun Yanye asked.
“That is none of His Majesty the Demon Venerable’s business,” Shi Li said coldly. “Your Majesty came here to recuperate, so just focus on doing so in peace. I will not let them come out to disturb you again, rest assured.”
Jun Yanye couldn’t help but wonder if this might be Shi Li’s true attitude toward him from the deepest depths of his heart.
“You are not in a very good mood today,” Jun Yanye said.
At the very least, compared to the day they formed the contract, his mood wasn’t great. On the day of the contract, he had at least smiled, whereas today’s Shi Li hadn’t smiled even once.
“Yes, I am very annoyed. Do not provoke me.” Shi Li turned his back to Jun Yanye and walked forward.
Walking behind him, Jun Yanye saw numerous corpses of Shi Li lying scattered all across the sea of consciousness, with a body appearing almost every three to five steps.
They wore all kinds of clothing and possessed all sorts of manners of death.
“Did you kill all of these?” Jun Yanye asked.
“I didn’t kill them.” After Shi Li spoke, he paused his footsteps again. “I did kill them.”
“Your words contradict themselves.”
“They don’t contradict.” Shi Li said, “Someone else killed them first, and I killed them a second time. Ultimately, they all died due to their own incompetence.”
“Incompetence?”
Before Jun Yanye’s words could fully land, Shi Li clutched his own forehead as a sharp headache struck, causing his frame to tremble slightly.
“Your Majesty the Demon Venerable, stop asking. That is, if you do not want me to be killed as well,” Shi Li said.
Shi Li brought Jun Yanye to that massive rift and then departed.
Staying within the rift, which was a crevice in Shi Li’s sea of consciousness, Jun Yanye found it exceptionally quiet, much like a place of dead silence.
Although he came here to recuperate, he found himself entirely unable to calm his mind at this moment.
He had not expected that Shi Li, who appeared so bright and cheerful on the surface, would possess such an interior.
Shi Li’s inner mind resembled a slaughtering colosseum, a boundless purgatory, and a desolate graveyard.
Shi Li’s primordial soul was also highly abnormal today…
From the distant depths of the sea of consciousness, coming from the north, south, east, and west, cries for help from Shi Li echoed out once more, sounding incredibly pitiful:
“Ah, no,”
“I beg you, don’t kill me, I will definitely calculate it, I.”
“It hurts so much, please let me out.”
Countless cries for help filled with sobs arose, with every single voice cutting off abruptly.
Jun Yanye stood up and walked toward the direction of the sounds.
He truly could not bear to listen any longer. Hearing such sounds made it impossible to recuperate at all.
He figured that Shi Li’s sea of consciousness must be highly turbulent right now.
If the illusions were flooding in from all directions, the primordial soul might not be able to eliminate every single one in time. Perhaps he could save one himself and ask exactly what was going on.
Sure enough, not long after Jun Yanye walked forward, a Shi Li of about fifteen or sixteen years old instantly ran toward him. The youth Shi Li wiped his tears. “Save me!”
“How do I save you?” Jun Yanye asked immediately.
Little Shi Li wiped his tears, pointing at Shi Li’s primordial soul who was currently rushing over with a sword drawn not far away. “Help me kill him!”
Jun Yanye was stunned.
He didn’t know what consequences would arise if he killed someone’s primordial soul within their own sea of consciousness.
He truly dared not try, nor could he gamble with Shi Li’s life.
Seeing Jun Yanye, Shi Li’s primordial soul furrowed his brows. “Why did you come out? Weren’t you supposed to be recuperating?”
“The commotion outside was too loud, so I came out to take a look,” Jun Yanye shielded little Shi Li, asking the primordial soul, “Why do you want to kill them?”
“Step aside!” the primordial soul shouted, seemingly enraged. “If you do not want to recuperate, then get the hell out! Do not get in my way!”
Jun Yanye had never seen Shi Li exhibit such an extreme expression.
“They keep crying out, and I cannot calm my mind,” Jun Yanye parried.
“Woohoo…” Little Shi Li hid behind Jun Yanye, clutching his belt and burying his face into his back, trembling all over from fear.
“They will be able to quiet down very soon, as long as you step aside,” the primordial soul’s attitude was unyielding.
“Even if you kill him, more will flood out very soon. This is an exercise in futility,” Jun Yanye said.
“Ha, so you know?” The primordial soul let out a mocking laugh. “If not for your appearance, would so many annoying illusions have been drawn out? And yet you still come to order me around?”
“My appearance?” Jun Yanye failed to grasp the meaning.
At this moment, the little Shi Li hiding behind his back suddenly launched a sneak attack against the primordial soul. Although his spiritual energy was meager, the primordial soul’s cultivation was similarly low, and a bloody gash instantly appeared on the primordial soul’s arm.
“Ugh…” The primordial soul hissed in pain, offering Jun Yanye another cold smile. “See? I don’t kill them, yet they want to kill me.”
“If I leave right now, will they stop?” Jun Yanye asked.
Since it was his appearance that drew out these illusions, then it would suffice as long as he left.
If he left, Shi Li’s primordial soul wouldn’t have to run himself ragged dealing with these endless, emerging illusions.
“Don’t go! You cannot go.” Little Shi Li revealed a heart-wrenching expression, gripping Jun Yanye’s clothes with a death grip.