Wenren Li lowered his eyes toward Chen Yixin, his cheeks faintly red, yet he could also sense the seriousness behind those words. He slowly leaned closer and kissed Chen Yixin on the lips, then gathered both Chen Yixin and the little sapling into his arms.
“Whatever A-Rong says, that is how it will be.”
Even Wenren Li himself sometimes found his singular affection and indulgence toward Chen Yixin difficult to understand, but there was no helping it. This was simply the truth, and so he accepted it as such.
Chen Yixin’s eyes curved happily. As though rewarding him, he kissed Wenren Li on the side of his neck. “Good A-Hua.”
They lay back down again. Wenren Li glanced at the little sapling that Chen Yixin still stubbornly held in his palm. He wanted to take it back, but Chen Yixin obviously had not finished touching it yet, and when Chen Yixin looked at him with those innocent, crystal-clear eyes, Wenren Li could only swallow whatever he had intended to say.
Chen Yixin was still mortal, however, so after holding the sapling for a while, he fell asleep. Only then did Wenren Li return his spirit form to the sea of consciousness between his brows. He stroked Chen Yixin’s hair, and at last a distinctly troubled expression appeared on his face.
Chen Yixin was the only person Wenren Li had ever loved in thirty thousand years. How could he possibly feel nothing when Chen Yixin teased him so passionately? And after one encounter after another, enduring it was becoming increasingly difficult.
Holding Chen Yixin in his arms, Wenren Li did not sleep. Instead, he genuinely began considering how they might begin dual cultivation as soon as possible.
Chen Yixin slept dreamlessly through the night. When he awoke, he ate the congee Wenren Li had cooked for him, and after finishing, he once again followed directly behind Wenren Li without taking even half a step away.
Wenren Li sorted through medicinal herbs while Chen Yixin found a meditation cushion and sat nearby. He did nothing but watch Wenren Li, brows gently curved and a smile lingering at the corners of his lips, letting the full beauty of his face bloom before Wenren Li without the slightest restraint.
“A-Rong, come here.” Wenren Li tossed all of the spiritual ingredients into the alchemy cauldron, then beckoned toward Chen Yixin, who had moved slightly farther away because he disliked fire.
Chen Yixin looked at the flames, then looked at Wenren Li, and immediately abandoned the meditation cushion stuffed with Woven Cloud. He stood, took two steps, and threw himself straight into Wenren Li’s arms, kissing him on the lips as he arrived. “Did A-Li call me because you missed me?”
This time, that truly was not the reason. Wenren Li did not answer. He took Chen Yixin’s hand, made a tiny cut in his fingertip, and drew out a bead of blood that flew into the alchemy cauldron. Then Wenren Li lowered his head and kissed Chen Yixin lightly on the lips, finally placating him.
Chen Yixin pressed his lips together and arched one brow slightly. Wenren Li really had learned how to handle him.
“Hmph.” Chen Yixin huffed and settled back against Wenren Li’s chest, closing his eyes and simply enjoying every moment they spent together.
A moment later, Chen Yixin cracked one eye open. Wenren Li had gently licked his fingertip, making the tiny trace of blood disappear, but the ticklish sensation from that lick traveled straight from his fingertip into his heart.
Chen Yixin secretly glared at Wenren Li before closing his eyes again. Wenren Li would not even sleep with him, yet he still deliberately teased him like this. Chen Yixin wanted to be angry, but somehow he could never truly get angry at Wenren Li.
Even though Wenren Li noticed the glare, he could not understand the real reason behind it. He simply held Chen Yixin while using his spiritual sense to refine the pills. It took a full ten days before the batch Wenren Li wanted was complete.
Yet even on the day the pills were finished, Wenren Li still brought Chen Yixin into the alchemy room.
“A-Rong, I’m going to begin removing the seal in your sea of consciousness now.”
Chen Yixin nodded, his grip tightening slightly around Wenren Li’s hand. “All right.”
He understood exactly what Wenren Li meant. Once the seal was removed, the curse in his sea of consciousness would once again bind his soul, and along with it would come pain that ordinary people could scarcely endure.
“I’m not afraid of pain.” Chen Yixin smiled at Wenren Li. Although he said that, he also engraved his hatred more deeply into his heart. Whatever suffering he endured today, someone would repay tenfold or a hundredfold in the future.
Wenren Li gently stroked Chen Yixin’s cheek. A bottle of pills appeared in his palm. “Silly. I’m here. Why would I let A-Rong hurt?”
A single pill would be enough to ease Chen Yixin’s pain for two or three days. Wenren Li had refined far more than they should ever need, ensuring that there would never come a day when Chen Yixin had to suffer merely because they had run out.
Chen Yixin still shook his head, though he tucked one bottle of pills into his robes. “If I truly can’t endure it anymore, I’ll take one. A-Li, you should understand that there are some hardships I can’t avoid.”
He could not always shelter beneath Wenren Li’s wings, nor did he wish to. He hoped that one day they could stand shoulder to shoulder and face their enemies together. More importantly, Wenren Li’s identity as a Demonborn gave Chen Yixin an inexplicable sense of danger, an instinctive warning that made him want to grow faster—much faster.
Wenren Li’s brows drew together slightly. Meeting Chen Yixin’s unwavering gaze, he finally nodded. “All right.”
Chen Yixin sat properly. Wenren Li no longer hesitated. Several spells sank into Chen Yixin’s brow, and the seal confining the curse was immediately broken. Chen Yixin gave a muffled groan as all color drained from cheeks that had only moments earlier held a faint flush. Both hands braced against the floor while he endured the tremendous pain.
Wenren Li did not forcibly feed him medicine, nor did he move forward to comfort him. He sat perfectly still and watched without blinking, but many extremely dangerous emotions flashed through his eyes.
It took Chen Yixin more than half an hour before he barely adapted to the pain. He moved hands that had already begun to stiffen, and the next instant Wenren Li lifted him into his arms. Chen Yixin truly had no strength left, so he did not struggle. He leaned against Wenren Li’s chest and glanced up at his excessively rigid profile.
“A-Li, I’m sorry…”
Chen Yixin knew that watching him suffer could not possibly be easy for Wenren Li, but beyond this apology, he still would not change his decision.
Wenren Li lowered his gaze toward Chen Yixin as though he did not understand what Chen Yixin had to apologize for. He carried him back to the bedroom and placed him on the Woven Cloud. Before Chen Yixin could say anything, Wenren Li left the room and did not return until half an hour later.
Wenren Li picked Chen Yixin up. In three steps, he had left the town; three more brought them to the small earthen slope where Chen Yixin had once dug out a tunnel. The tunnel had long since been buried beneath sand and wind, but with a wave of Wenren Li’s hand, an entrance appeared before them.
“This is the other entrance I didn’t choose back then…” There had been two entrances. Chen Yixin had followed the path indicated by the little sapling, leaving this one unexplored.
“Mm.” Wenren Li acknowledged him and carried Chen Yixin inside.
“Every entrance leads to a separate inheritance ground. Once its Inheritance Crystal has been obtained, that entrance disappears forever.”
Chen Yixin nodded. He now understood why Wenren Li had brought him here. He had once obtained one Inheritance Crystal, and now he would obtain another. Wenren Li intended to send him into the central palace again.
“Among the inheritances of the Fentian Nether Abode is the Fentian Art. You must learn it. When the inheritance is infused into you, the curse in your sea of consciousness can be broken at the same time.”
As they spoke, they passed through another corridor filled with strange winds. The place they arrived at was utterly unlike the strange realm Chen Yixin had entered before. It was only the size of a single great hall, with six crystal mirrors surrounding them. Phantom figures flickered across their surfaces from time to time.
Wenren Li set Chen Yixin down, found a place to sit, and began regulating his breathing, showing no intention of interfering with Chen Yixin obtaining the crystal. Chen Yixin did not need his help with something like this anyway.
But Chen Yixin did not immediately begin studying the mystery of the six mirrors. Instead, he crouched beside Wenren Li, stroked Wenren Li’s hair, then his cheek, and finally leaned in to kiss him on the lips.
“A-Li, don’t be angry with me. I don’t like it.”
“I’m not.” Wenren Li opened his eyes. When Chen Yixin kissed him again, Wenren Li simply wrapped his arms around him and returned the kiss.
“What is it?” Chen Yixin raised a brow. He was dissatisfied that Wenren Li had suddenly become distracted, and instead of standing up, he wrapped both arms more tightly around Wenren Li, plainly prepared to cling to him until Wenren Li explained himself.
“Someone has entered another inheritance ground. It doesn’t matter. We can go take it back from them later.”
The way Wenren Li described robbery made it sound so perfectly reasonable that Chen Yixin found it immensely pleasing. He continued clinging to Wenren Li and kissed him several more times before finally letting him go and standing to study the six mirrors.
There was naturally no questioning Chen Yixin’s comprehension and powers of observation, but once he understood what was required, his face darkened. “It actually wants me to learn how to dance…”
Chen Yixin glanced back at Wenren Li, whose eyes were closed, then turned around and carefully observed the phantom figures within the mirrors.
He first learned the opening hand positions, then the footwork. The more he studied it, the more he sensed something profound hidden beneath the dance. Though the movements appeared graceful and delicate, murderous intent lay concealed everywhere, accompanied by a faint trace of the mysteries of the Great Dao.
After practicing the dance once, Chen Yixin lightly tugged at the hem of his trousers. “It feels like something is missing.”
Wenren Li stepped forward at that moment. He crouched down and tied a blue bell suspended from a red cord around Chen Yixin’s left ankle. Wenren Li had refined this high-grade artifact for him back at the Demon Palace. It was delicate and beautiful, yet astonishingly powerful; for now, however, Chen Yixin could only wear it as decoration.
Chen Yixin did not mind dancing for Wenren Li. He bent slightly and kissed Wenren Li between the brows, then stepped backward and began to dance.
He did not follow the phantom figures in the mirrors exactly, but instead danced according to his own heart. Compared with the hidden murderous intent of his earlier practice, this dance carried an additional sense of lingering affection.
Nor was there anything feminine about Chen Yixin’s movements. He was sweeping as the wind and brilliantly alive, like a little phoenix displaying itself before a mate.
Wenren Li stood watching, unable to move his gaze away from Chen Yixin. He had already tried using spiritual power to control himself, but his heartbeat never slowed. It was not that his spiritual power had stopped working; Chen Yixin’s dance itself had begun affecting the flow of his spiritual energy.
Chen Yixin reached the far edge of the mirrors. His raised hand slowly descended, and as he took another step, a clear bell rang out. He walked toward Wenren Li one step at a time, every smile at the corners of his eyes and lips carrying a charm capable of stirring the heart.
He stopped two steps away from Wenren Li, tilted his chin upward, and gave him a sidelong look. “Pretty?”
“Pretty.” Wenren Li nodded.
At once, Chen Yixin’s smile transformed into something dazzling. At that moment, all six mirrors released beams of spiritual light simultaneously, engulfing Chen Yixin and Wenren Li. When the radiance faded, everything appeared unchanged except for a faint pale-blue sigil at the center of Chen Yixin’s brow. He had already obtained the inheritance of this inheritance ground.
It was not an Inheritance Crystal, but an Inheritance Imprint, something that could appear only when Chen Yixin had completely mastered the inheritance.
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