These words were stated so gravely that Wu Youqi’s breathing hitched.
The shadow hidden deep within his heart gradually overlapped with Gu Qingyi.
The steaming mist in the hot spring was like a veil of gauze, separating them in a way that made him afraid to lift it. His heart thumped wildly, and his spiritual platform, which had just been settling down, began to vibrate again, causing the Demon Harmony Spring to boil in tandem—
The closer to home, the more timid one feels.
Wu Youqi’s voice was hoarse. Just as he opened his mouth and called out “Master,” before he could even form a coherent sentence, Gu Qingyi reached his limit.
Although the Demon Harmony Spring contained demonic energy, it was like an ordinary hot spring: it originated from cinnabar, and its water was smooth enough to cleanse one’s skin.
Just moments ago, Gu Qingyi had been propped against Wu Youqi’s shoulder while talking, most of his body dangling into the pool. After a while, his palms had grown wet, hot, and slippery. He could no longer hold himself up and, with a plop, fell into the water.
Accompanied by an “Ah!”, the hazy white mist was stirred away. Gu Qingyi’s hands, grasping blindly, landed unceremoniously on him, scrubbing twice—
First the abs, then the chest.
Wu Youqi: “…”
If the little thing hadn’t been gripping so tightly that his chest was being pinched out of shape, he would almost suspect this was intentional harassment and seduction.
Staring at the massive splash in his arms and feeling those chaotic hands searching lower…
Not wanting the little fellow to mess around and cause even greater trouble, Wu Youqi closed his eyes, lifted him up, and held him head-down to drain the water.
Hung upside down in mid-air, Gu Qingyi coughed, choking on two mouthfuls of water. After wiping his face in a bedraggled manner, he hugged his wet body and shuddered from the cold.
Wu Youqi frowned, sent out a flow of spiritual energy to dry him, then flipped him over and tossed him onto the open ground nearby.
Gu Qingyi looked at himself, somewhat bewildered by the situation.
Standing on the lawn, he let out an “Eh.” Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he turned back, wanting to speak to Wu Youqi. But only after two steps, his nose and forehead thumped against an invisible wall.
Spiritual light swirled on the wall. He curled his fingers and tapped, hearing a tinkling, crisp sound like jade pendants colliding.
Gu Qingyi felt around to the left, right, up, and down, even jumping to reach higher up, but it was all sealed tight, leaving not a single gap.
…Huh?
His eyes widened, and he followed the wall step by step as he walked forward. After circling a few times, he realized he had turned a full circle around the hot spring:
The beautiful brother was inside, and he was outside.
Gu Qingyi blinked his eyes. No matter how dim-witted he was, he could sense that something was wrong. He pressed himself against the transparent wall and tapped three times: “Dong dong dong?”
Wu Youqi, inside the hot spring, remained motionless.
“Brother?” He raised his voice. “Beautiful big brother?”
This time, the water in the pool splashed. The person inside had moved, but it was to turn away, presenting him with his back.
Gu Qingyi’s eyes widened—he clearly heard that, right?
Moreover, this wall was almost certainly made by the beautiful brother.
Thinking about the cause and effect, he bit his lip and pressed his whole body against the wall. “Brother, open it, let me in. I won’t talk nonsense anymore!”
However, the only response was the wind on Mount Fuyu.
“Brother, don’t be so petty…” Gu Qingyi softened his voice, his sticky little self pressing against the barrier wall. “Give in to me?”
As soon as he said this, the person soaking in the hot spring twitched his ears. Then, with a wave of his hand, accompanied by splashing water, he struck the wall with another burst of black energy.
Gu Qingyi, outside the wall, had his mouth open; one could see the shape of his words, but under the “Sound-Severing Charm,” no matter what he said, the person inside the barrier could no longer hear him.
Wu Youqi closed his eyes and leaned his head back, concentrating on balancing his spiritual platform. In the final moment before his five senses became fully clear and he entered the realm of spiritual consciousness, he only felt that he, who had just wanted to talk to Gu Qingyi, was the truly foolish one.
And Gu Qingyi, outside the wall, had largely understood what kind of magic the beautiful brother had used to isolate the sound. He stomped his feet and sat down on the spot, turning his back to Wu Youqi as well:
What’s the matter? A grown man so afraid of seeking medical advice.
Pain is pain. What’s so embarrassing to admit?
Treat wounds when wounded, treat illness when ill. Such a simple principle… Eh? Could it be that brother is afraid of taking medicine? Afraid of the bitterness? That’s why he doesn’t let me mention it?
Just as he was thinking about these jumbled things, Xi Zhu, who had just walked to the foot of the mountain wanting to see if the High Priestess had come out of seclusion, received a sound transmission from Wu Youqi.
Helplessly, Xi Zhu could only accept her fate, turn around, and head back up the mountain to collect Gu Qingyi.
After being sent back to the West Courtyard by Xi Zhu, Gu Qingyi was still turning over the things he couldn’t figure out in his mind what exactly did he do to make the beautiful brother so angry?
He… Ah!
Gu Qingyi suddenly slammed his fist into his palm: I molested brother.
He had fallen into the pool while his brother was bathing, not only seeing everything but also grabbing and touching him indiscriminately, letting his hands and legs touch and lean against him.
In legends, when a fairy from heaven bathed and was seen naked by a mortal man on earth, she would end up marrying him and having children with him before it could be resolved.
“Sigh…”
Then this was truly quite serious.
However, he liked the beautiful brother, and he… hmm, he would take responsibility!
Gu Qingyi narrowed his eyes and thought for a while, his clenched fist tightening even more: Beautiful brother, I will marry you!
However…
He lay on the table in the center of the main hall, listlessly fiddling with the tea tray in the middle of the table. What does one need to prepare to marry someone?
After Xi Zhu brought him back, she commanded two little maidservants to boil water and cook, busy in and out, not paying him much attention.
Passing by and seeing him slumped listlessly on the table with his fingers resting on the edge of the tea tray, she assumed he was thirsty and took the liberty of pouring him a cup of tea.
Gu Qingyi looked up at her. How about… asking sister?
No, that wouldn’t work.
He lowered his head and shook it frantically like a dog shaking off water: Sister Xi Zhu is a bad guy; she made brother hurt, she doesn’t know how to take care of him at all.
Then…
Gu Qingyi held the teacup, taking small sips, his gaze passing through the window frame to look at the eaves. He remembered that whenever spring arrived in the past, there would always be swallows under the eaves.
When a swallow takes a wife, it seems they have to build a nest first.
Applied to him, did that mean he had to build a house first?
Gu Qingyi set down the teacup, rested his chin on his hands, and thought about it. By the side of the flower patch that Xi Zhu had taken him to earlier, it seemed there were many dry tree branches that could be picked up.
Should—should he use those to build a little house?
Building a house could not be rushed. Even the fastest little swallow took three or five days of effort, so he would start tomorrow, bit by bit.
Afterward, he had also seen swallows carrying flowers as gifts.
Gu Qingyi nodded. Then I’ve already sent that; the beautiful flower crown I wove was sent to brother first thing.
Finally, there was…
His head throbbed, and some blurry light and shadows flashed through his mind, as if he were standing in a very, very high place looking down at a crowd of people.
That crowd of people had very red and very large lanterns burning beside them, and the rafters and pillars were all tied with red silk ribbons. Among them, two people were wearing bright red robes, surrounded by a group of children.
At this moment, another middle-aged man’s voice echoed in his mind:
“Betrothal, asking names, divining luck, sending gifts, requesting dates, and the wedding procession. With the six rites completed and the marriage contract signed, I ask the ancestors of all heavens to bear witness; the heavenly courts, the underworld, and the six realms are clear—whoever betrays this person commits a sin against heaven, will surely be struck by lightning, their body destroyed, their three souls scattered, and they shall never have reincarnation!”
This passage was obscure, and Gu Qingyi didn’t understand most of the words, but he grasped one key word he could understand:
Asking names.
He slapped his forehead. Damn it, I still don’t know brother’s real name.
“Sister Xi Zhu!”
Hearing Gu Qingyi call her, Xi Zhu immediately dropped the half-sorted vegetables in her hand, shook the water off, and came in. “What is it, young master?”
“Mm, it’s just…” Gu Qingyi paused, two red clouds rising on his cheeks. “What is brother’s name?”
“…” Xi Zhu was stunned; she truly hadn’t expected him to ask this suddenly.
Lowering her eyes to see Gu Qingyi earnestly waiting with his face tilted up, she had no choice but to whisper the name “Wu Youqi” to him.
“Wu… You… Qi?” Gu Qingyi recited it once, then suddenly splashed half of the now-cool tea on the table, pointing at it with his fingertip. “How do you write it?”
Xi Zhu found that puddle of water on the table amusing. She had no idea what was going on in the little fool’s head, but when it came to coaxing a child, it was better to go along with it.
So she shook her head, cleaned up the water stains on the table first, and gave Gu Qingyi a smiling lead to the writing desk. She spread out paper, ground some ink, and wrote it down earnestly for him.
Gu Qingyi hadn’t been very happy, thinking Xi Zhu was unwilling to tell him, but after seeing those three characters falling onto the pristine paper, his eyes stared straight ahead.
“There, that is our Lord’s great name,” Xi Zhu pointed at the three characters and read them to Gu Qingyi. “But why are you asking this, young master?”
Gu Qingyi, however, hadn’t heard a word she said, only staring longingly at the three characters, his fingers stretching straight and then curling, wanting to touch them but not daring to.
Xi Zhu waited for a while, and seeing him like this, she shook her head and smiled, giving him a few instructions not to run around, then turned to continue busy with her vegetables.
The two little maids who came to help were low-ranking demon clan members who usually ate raw meat and drank blood; they didn’t have so many culinary refinements.
After she left, Gu Qingyi in the room also began to move. He carefully moved away the paper with the name written on it, spread out a new one, and then took the brush in his hand to copy it.
However, his brush-holding posture wasn’t quite right; his entire five fingers were clenched into a fist, poking the brush like he was holding a walking stick. The first stroke was dipped in too much ink, directly ruining the paper.
Gu Qingyi frowned, but he wasn’t annoyed. He tilted his head to think about it, and after spreading out a new sheet, he was much more careful when picking up the ink.
However, the ink was appropriate, but the characters were not something that could be written well in a moment.
He struggled and stumbled, writing I don’t know how many sheets, and both his palms and the backs of his hands were stained black by the ink, before he finally got two that looked decent.
Just as he was nodding in appreciation, Xi Zhu came in saying “Dinner is ready.” Upon seeing him like this, she added, “Oh, my ancestor.”
Hearing her call, Gu Qingyi hurriedly blocked the writing desk. “Don’t you dare snatch it!”
Xi Zhu assumed he was just writing for fun and agreed repeatedly. “Yes, yes, yes, I won’t snatch it. Young master, don’t move, I’ll go fetch a basin of water to wash your hands and face.”
Gu Qingyi finally set his mind at ease and said “Oh” obediently.
Afterward, Xi Zhu helped him wipe off the ink stains from his face and hands, served his dinner, and went out to get busy. Gu Qingyi folded the two sheets of paper with the name he had written himself, and carefully hid them under his pillow, pressing them flat.
Gu Qingyi had lived a fulfilling day, and after a hot bath that night, he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
It was only a moment after he fell asleep that Wu Youqi, who had been soaking in the hot spring, finally balanced his spiritual platform and emerged from the pool water.
Absorbing the excess water from his body with a bath towel, Wu Youqi draped on an outer robe and was just about to return to the Blood Flame Flowing Cloud Palace to handle some mundane affairs of the Demon Realm, when his gaze fell upon the mist over the hot spring, and he suddenly changed color, remembering one thing.
He didn’t even walk; he transformed directly into a ray of light and descended into the West Courtyard. The two helping maidservants had just fallen asleep. Xi Zhu was out pouring water and was startled by him:
“Lo, Lo, Lord…?!”
Wu Youqi didn’t say a word, his expression ugly. He pushed open the door of the main hall and bolted straight to Gu Qingyi’s bedside.
He had been muddled by this little fool today and had forgotten that Gu Qingyi had also fallen into the Demon Harmony Spring!
This spring was connected to the Sacred Fire of the Demon Realm. It was hard to say what was inside, but the only certainty was that it was not friendly to other clans outside the Demon Clan.
Every time Wu Youqi soaked, it was heart-wrenching and bone-corroding pain. The little fool had incomplete souls and spirits; if he thrashed around like that, there was no telling what would happen…
He felt a chill down his spine and pulled back the bed curtains to investigate. However, before he could strike with his spiritual or demonic energy, he unexpectedly saw some golden spots of light within the bed curtains.
The fine specks of light were not obvious. If it weren’t for him rushing in so hurriedly without lighting a lamp, he probably wouldn’t have discovered them.
Hearing Xi Zhu, who had followed him in, preparing to light a lamp, Wu Youqi turned back to stop her. When he turned back, those spots of light were gone.
As if they had never existed, as if he had seen wrong.
Wu Youqi paused and directly released his spiritual sense, but unexpectedly discovered… inside Gu Qingyi’s body, there seemed to be a faint wisp of spiritual light helping him repair his souls.
Wu Youqi flicked his hand away as if he had been electrocuted, stepping back two paces.
“My Lord?” Xi Zhu stepped forward.
Wu Youqi, however, shook his head, not answering a single word, turning and heading straight for the forbidden area he had to take out the blood mirror and ask:
That soul master, had they truly found him or not?!
However, just as he took a step across the gate of the West Courtyard, he heard a female voice emerge from the shadows under the moonlight. The star staff in her hand reflected the red light of the Blood Moon:
“The Lord still cares about your Master, don’t you?”