A’Ying killed the Hall Master of Liao Family Hall. Although the other side had started the conflict and was at fault first, A’Ying had exterminated them without mercy, tying up the entire family and dumping them into the sea to become part of a land reclamation project. It could not be said that he lacked ruthlessness. Though Liao Family Hall had been gravely weakened, some loyal followers still remained. That night, they gathered sixty or seventy men and came under cover of darkness, determined to kill A’Ying in revenge. They found A’Ying’s house empty and wandered all over the Walled City searching for him. By sheer bad luck, they ran into Azure Dragon just as he was leaving a meeting with the elders. Well then—if you killed our boss, we’ll kill yours! Without another word, dozens of men drew their blades and charged, forcing Azure Dragon into a narrow alley.
Azure Dragon had brought five bodyguards. Caught completely off guard, three of them fell on the spot. The remaining two protected Azure Dragon as they were trapped at the end of the alley. Although the narrow passage was ideal terrain for holding off many attackers with only a few defenders, there was no escape route behind them—it was a dead end. In the middle of the night, with no instant communication devices available at the time, they were truly abandoned by both heaven and earth. Hemmed in by the terrain and overwhelmed by numbers, no matter how fiercely the three fought, they could not break through. As time dragged on, their wounds multiplied, and they gradually began to lose strength.
Amid flashing blades and bloody carnage, the shrill roar of a motorcycle suddenly came from outside the alley. A collision was followed by screams. The night was too dark and there were too many people for anyone to tell exactly what had happened. All they could hear were the cries of agony and the sounds of hacking and slaughter that followed one after another.
“People from Xiao Qi Hall are here!” someone in the middle of the crowd shouted. “Go help in the back!” “Did a lot of them arrive? Should we retreat?!” “Don’t run! Killing Azure Dragon comes first!”
“Ghost! A ghost—!!” the people at the rear suddenly began screaming. “A blood ghost that won’t die!!”
The terrified shrieks of “ghost” shattered the courage of those triad thugs burdened with countless blood debts. Panic spread through the crowd. Dozens of men were packed tightly into a long line within the narrow alley, leaving them almost no room to evade the assault. One by one, they were cut down by the specter that had burst into their ranks. The men trapped in the middle listened in horror to the screams, watched the flashing blades, and smelled the ever-thickening scent of blood drawing closer and closer…
Accompanied by the wails of the dead and wounded covering the ground and by flesh and blood splattering across the alley walls, the blood-soaked ghost finally appeared before them. The youth was drenched in gore. Dozens of torn wounds split his body, and his clothes had been hacked into ragged strips, yet he still stood unyielding like a demon from hell. His dark reddish-black eyes brimmed with icy killing intent. In each hand he carried a long blade—the edges curled and ruined from excessive fighting, smeared with sticky blood and flesh, while dark red liquid dripped steadily from their tips.
The man who had earlier asked, “Should we retreat?” felt his legs give way. He nearly collapsed to his knees. He had visited temples and worshipped gods and spirits before, and he had seen expressions just as fierce and murderous on divine statues. Throwing away his weapon, he crawled forward trembling and prostrated himself before the newcomer. “It’s an Asura—it’s a Blood Asura… Spare me! Spare me!”
The Blood Asura crossed over him expressionlessly, leaving behind a bloody footprint at his side as he advanced toward the attackers behind him. Fearlessly facing a raised cleaver, he shot into the man’s chest like an arrow. As he withdrew, the rotating blades in his hands twisted and tore free a string of blood-soaked intestines.
The man groveling on the ground witnessed the scene and was terrified out of his wits. He shrank into a corner and shook violently like a leaf in a storm. Apart from screaming, he could no longer form coherent words. Trembling, he turned to look behind him. In the pitch-black night, the alley was filled with writhing and struggling bodies. The air reeked of thick blood and flesh. Every sound that reached his ears was a cry of agony and despair. He suddenly vomited violently, continuing until all that came up was foul, sour stomach acid. The hellish scene branded itself into his mind like a burn. From that day onward, every time he heard that name, he would immediately smell that hopeless, terrifying scent of death once more.
Later, he would learn that the boy’s name was Liu Yi. On that night, the title of “Black Children’s Day, Blood Asura of the Twin Blades” was born.
Azure Dragon charged into the doors of the private hospital with a hoarse shout. Nurses hurriedly pushed over a gurney and carried the blood-soaked youth from his arms all the way to the emergency room.
Azure Dragon clung tightly to the rail of the gurney, stumbling as he ran alongside it. Liu Yi, now wearing an oxygen mask, opened his eyes and looked weakly at him. Through the mist clouding the mask, he revealed a faint, blurry smile.
Azure Dragon slapped him. It was very light, but his palm was cold and trembling. Scalding tears fell one by one onto Liu Yi’s cheeks. Liu Yi’s smile froze. He lifted a hand slightly, seeming to want to touch him and confirm the existence of those tears. However, the nurses hurriedly separated the two of them and wheeled them into separate operating rooms to treat their injuries.
In the early hours of the morning, Liu Yi was finally pushed out of surgery. Azure Dragon dismissed everyone else and sat alone beside his hospital bed. The first faint light of dawn filtered through the window. The youth’s sleeping face was calm and peaceful, as though the bloody slaughter of the previous night had been nothing more than a forgotten dream.
Azure Dragon gently drew one of Liu Yi’s hands out from beneath the blanket. Bandages wrapped around Liu Yi’s wrist. His palm and finger joints were covered with calluses earned through years of relentless training—calluses so severe that even Azure Dragon himself had never pushed himself that hard in his youth. Perhaps, eight years ago, when Azure Dragon had appeared before him, it had seemed like a god descending from heaven to save him. But Azure Dragon had never wanted repayment, and even less had he wanted it in such a cruel form. Liu Yi had risked his life for him. He had willingly transformed himself into a demon of hell for him. And he was only eighteen years old.
Holding Liu Yi’s hand, Azure Dragon lowered his head in anguish, his chest battered by a sorrow and heartache too profound to describe. He had long known Liu Yi’s feelings. Over the years, had there not been fleeting moments when his own heart had stirred as well? He simply could not. He simply did not dare.
Hesitating, trembling, he slowly straightened up. In the end, he pressed a gentle kiss to the youth’s forehead.
After daybreak, Xiao Man arrived at the hospital upon receiving the news. Liu Yi had been slashed dozens of times from head to toe and was wrapped in bandages every which way, looking like a giant rice dumpling. Only a pale little face remained visible, with a small tuft of hair poking out through the gaps at the top. There was not the slightest trace left of her handsome little brother. Hugging the ugly rice dumpling, she burst into tears. Azure Dragon gently pulled her away and reminded her to be careful of Liu Yi’s wounds. She quickly released him. The pressure had woken the youth. Opening his eyes and seeing her, he still managed to give her a foolish smile.
Xiao Man hugged his head and began crying all over again, her tears smearing across his face.
“Come on, Sis, you really are made of water,” Liu Yi teased weakly, somehow still finding the energy to joke. “I want cake. Hurry home and make me a cake.”
“Cake my ass, you little bastard,” Xiao Man cried. It was rare for her to swear. “People recovering from injuries need soup.”
Leaving the siblings to talk privately, Azure Dragon quietly stepped out of the room. As he turned and closed the door behind him, the corner of his eye caught sight of A’Ying kneeling outside.
After being reprimanded by Azure Dragon the day before, A’Ying had gone out alone late at night to drink and clear his head, telling no one where he was going. Because of that, he had escaped the ambush—but in doing so, he had brought disaster upon Azure Dragon instead. The moment he heard the news, he rushed to the hospital. No one knew how long he had been kneeling there.
Azure Dragon let out a long sigh. “A’Ying, get up.”
A’Ying’s expression was filled with grief and conflict. Still kneeling, he shuffled forward and silently wrapped his arms around Azure Dragon’s legs.
“Get up,” Azure Dragon repeated with another sigh.
Lowering his head, A’Ying said, “I was wrong, Boss. I know I was wrong. But you’re never going to forgive me now, are you?”
“I’m not in the mood to talk about this right now. Get up.”
A’Ying rose to his feet and stood silently before him.
“Go find somewhere safe and get some rest,” Azure Dragon said. “Whatever needs to be said can wait until tomorrow.”
Reading the situation correctly, A’Ying did not persist. He left as instructed. As he stepped into the elevator with a deathly pale face, his eyes overflowed not only with regret but also with jealousy and resentment. He knew this incident would become a thorn lodged in Azure Dragon’s heart, a deep chasm between the two of them. He felt profound anxiety and jealousy. The person lying in that hospital bed, the one who had risked his life to save Azure Dragon—that should have been him. It should always have been him.
Inside the room, Liu Yi and Xiao Man were still holding hands and talking quietly. Weakly, Liu Yi coaxed his sister, who refused to stop crying. “Sis, you should be happy. When I was little, you and Eldest protected me. Now I’ve grown up. I can protect you guys instead, hehehe. Sis, I want cake…”
“No cake.”
“Just one little piece…”
“No.”
“One tiny little piece…”
Through relentless pleading, Liu Yi finally secured a promise for one tiny piece of cake. Xiao Man wiped away her tears and prepared to go home to make soup and bake him a cake. When she stepped out of the room, she found Azure Dragon standing quietly outside, and had no idea how long he had been there.
“Eldest,” she said softly, “I’m going home to make soup. Will you stay with him for a while?”
Azure Dragon gently stroked her head and nodded.
After Xiao Man left, Azure Dragon entered the room. He sat facing Liu Yi and silently watched him. Under his gaze, Liu Yi began to feel uneasy.
“Eldest… are you angry?” he asked cautiously.
The image of Azure Dragon crying lingered in his mind. He still felt as though it had been a hallucination from before he lost consciousness. He was happy, yet also afraid. Somehow he felt Azure Dragon might be so angry that he would slap him a few more times—or lock him up again for another year or two.
Azure Dragon did not answer. Gathering his courage, Liu Yi slowly raised a hand and reached toward Azure Dragon’s.
“Were you hurt, Eldest?”
Azure Dragon lowered his eyes to Liu Yi’s hand wrapped in gauze and fought with all his strength to suppress the urge to pull him into a tight embrace. He could not do it. The person before him was a youth—a man. He could not allow himself to feel anything beyond brotherhood toward another man. He could not ruin Liu Yi’s reputation, could not condemn such a young man to be mocked throughout the underworld as a “Rabbit Lord,” subjected to contempt, ridicule, provocation, and perhaps even public humiliation.
“Don’t do this again,” he said, looking into Liu Yi’s eyes with sorrow. “I didn’t raise you so that you could repay me. I don’t need your life. Don’t ever do this again.”
“I didn’t save you because I was repaying you either,” Liu Yi replied, meeting his gaze, while thinking to himself, Not just because I was repaying you.
But Liu Yi could never say those words aloud. He could never say them. Before him stood a man—his elder brother who had raised him, the Dragon Head Boss of Xiao Qi Hall. He absolutely could not destroy Azure Dragon’s reputation in the underworld. He had to bury his love and admiration deep within his heart, crushing it down forever where it would never see the light of day.
For a long time they looked silently into each other’s eyes. Powerful emotions surged through their chests, yet both of them appeared so calm. One hand and another hand lay within arm’s reach, yet there was no possibility of them ever touching. Neither of them could bring himself to move even a finger and cross that gulf between them.
Futile Devices Scans 
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