“I wasn’t…” Before Chen Yixin could finish speaking, Wenren Li’s palm had already landed on his backside. The strikes were neither light nor heavy, delivered four or five times before stopping. But just when Chen Yixin thought the punishment was over, his pants were pulled down.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The sounds that had barely seemed noticeable through the fabric now rang out so clearly that it left one completely at a loss. Chen Yixin’s cheeks had already been flushed red, but now even his neck downward began reddening—not to mention the place being struck.
“Will you dare do it again in the future?” Wenren Li truly could not bring himself to genuinely get angry at Chen Yixin. Besides, he himself had experienced similar situations before. Yet to prevent this from happening again, he felt he had to do something to teach Chen Yixin a lesson. After thinking it through, this seemed the only way to make him remember.
But after waiting a long time, he still received no reply.
Without even bothering to dress himself first, Wenren Li pulled Chen Yixin’s pants back up. His hand rubbed gently over the area he had struck as he asked uncertainly, “Did it hurt?”
He had not used any strength at all. Hurting Chen Yixin was impossible, which meant only one thing—Chen Yixin was angry at him.
After a long silence, Chen Yixin finally muttered in grievance, “A-Li bullied me! I’m going to…”
Originally, he had wanted to say he would tell Qingruo. But before the words left his mouth, realization struck him—his Elder Brother Qingruo was already gone.
“What are you going to do?” Wenren Li continued rubbing the spot gently, his tone softening. “Whatever compensation you want, I’ll give it to you. Just don’t do this again…”
He had been cultivating peacefully, only to wake up and discover himself stripped bare while Chen Yixin intensely studied the area below his lower back. A few more times like this and he might genuinely develop psychological trauma. But guarding himself against Chen Yixin because of it also seemed unnecessary.
After speaking, he lifted Chen Yixin back into his arms and brushed aside his hair. Their gazes met. Chen Yixin pressed his lips together, trying his best to appear even more wronged, but Wenren Li understood him far too well.
Wenren Li sighed softly before locking Chen Yixin tightly in his embrace.
“Forget it. As long as A-Rong likes it.”
If Chen Yixin liked stripping his clothes off, then so be it. Wenren Li had long since ceased having any real principles where Chen Yixin was concerned.
“That’s not it! Not it at all!” Chen Yixin could no longer maintain his aggrieved act. Wenren Li had practically decided he was some kind of perverted voyeur. “I wasn’t peeking at you… no, that’s not right. I was looking at you, but I was looking at the mark on your body.”
“I know you don’t completely believe what I’ve said. I wanted to prove it to you.” Yet he himself had only learned of that mark through sheer coincidence back when he followed Wenren Li in the past. He needed to confirm it first before explaining anything.
“What mark?” Wenren Li loosened his hold slightly. His divine sense swept across his body once more, but he still detected nothing unusual.
“It’s a Silver Tree. A very beautiful tree.”
As Chen Yixin spoke, his hand slid along Wenren Li’s waist, shamelessly taking advantage along the way before finally stopping where he had previously been studying so intently.
“It only appears when A-Li releases a special aura. A-Li’s Silver Tree can nurture all living things. Just one leaf is enough to create a god. It’s the most powerful tree in all existence.”
Chen Yixin’s eyes shone brightly with pride as he spoke. Yet he was not entirely ignorant either. After saying this, he immediately warned Wenren Li:
“A-Li may be amazing, but you still have to be careful. You absolutely cannot tell anyone except me. Elder Brother said not everyone in this world is like us. Some people are terrible—terrible in ways we can’t even imagine.”
“Mhm.” Wenren Li answered softly.
His gaze lowered onto Chen Yixin’s proud yet slightly worried face. Then he leaned down and lightly caught Chen Yixin’s delicate nose between his teeth before slowly licking and kissing his lips.
“Mmn…” A faint sound escaped Chen Yixin’s nose. His eyes widened greatly, his hands instinctively spreading apart from nervousness. Yet despite that nervousness, he still tilted up his chin and parted his lips slightly, welcoming Wenren Li’s passionate kiss.
After the initial stiffness faded, Chen Yixin’s hands and body gradually turned completely compliant. He had forgotten many things, but some habits were not governed by memory. Their bodies pressed closer and closer together, their kiss deepening further and further.
Supporting Chen Yixin beneath the hips, Wenren Li turned and laid him down upon the bed. Before Chen Yixin could even grow confused, the kisses descended again, trailing slowly downward from the corner of his lips to the elegant neck he unconsciously arched upward.
“A-Li…” Chen Yixin called out helplessly, his hands already tugging at the last remaining piece of clothing on Wenren Li’s body.
“Is this the kind of aura A-Rong was talking about?”
Looking back, every time all things flourished around him had been moments when his emotions stirred. And in this world, the only person capable of stirring such emotions in him was Chen Yixin. One kiss was enough to ignite desire, and one kiss had already pushed the current situation beyond control.
“Mhm… hm?” Chen Yixin froze briefly at the question. Then his hand once more slid toward Wenren Li’s lower back. Twisting out from Wenren Li’s embrace, he carefully examined the fully revealed mark there.
“Mhm, this is it!”
His eyes were completely filled with amazement. Lowering his head, he kissed the Silver Tree mark once, then again and again, planting kiss after kiss all over it. At the same time, he realized the mark showed no signs whatsoever of fading beneath his kisses.
“A-Li… did we never… sleep together before?”
Chen Yixin had already kissed himself into excitement. Pressing his face against Wenren Li’s back, his mind wandered endlessly while desire surged through him.
“A-Li isn’t proactive at all…”
He poked lightly at the soft flesh by Wenren Li’s waist, looking utterly dissatisfied.
Yet after waiting for a long while, Wenren Li still made no move.
Climbing down from atop him, Chen Yixin turned his head to look—only to discover Wenren Li had already closed his eyes, his consciousness completely immersed within the Silver Tree mark.
Under those circumstances, it would have been strange if he had acted proactively.
“Sigh…”
Chen Yixin sighed softly. Grabbing Wenren Li’s waistband, he moved increasingly closer until their foreheads gently touched. Then he too closed his eyes.
For Wenren Li, sinking his consciousness into the Silver Tree mark required only a single thought. Chen Yixin, however, struggled tremendously. He even failed to control himself properly and directly fell from ten thousand zhang high within the Silver Tree mental space.
“A-Li, save me!”
Chen Yixin kept his eyes tightly shut. Everywhere within this space restricted him. Merely entering it already proved his exceptional talent. Flying or anything beyond that was impossible.
Yet despite crying for help, he felt little actual fear. The only reason he could enter this place was because of Wenren Li. Thus he trusted completely that nothing bad could happen to him inside Wenren Li’s Silver Tree mental realm.
Sure enough, the moment he reopened his eyes, he found himself perfectly safe within Wenren Li’s embrace.
“A-Li…”
Chen Yixin’s delighted call abruptly turned restrained. Tilting his head slightly, he asked uncertainly:
“G-Great Emperor?”
Wenren Li lowered his eyes to glance at the young Heavenly Phoenix soul-body in his arms—red lips, white teeth, tender enough to seem dripping with youth—and simply continued carrying him forward.
Chen Yixin’s arms remained wrapped around Wenren Li’s neck, his expression growing quieter and quieter. Yet within his heart, panic spread unmistakably.
He admired the former Great Emperor Yuxu Wenren Li. But the one he truly loved now was Demon Lord Wenren Li of Taixuan, the man who had become his Dao companion. That was something he knew without needing any recovered memories.
“A-Li, let’s leave. Let’s go back outside, alright?”
His voice carried pleading now.
He wanted Wenren Li to remember, yet he did not want him to become that cold, emotionless Wenren Li from the past again. The contradiction confused even Chen Yixin himself.
He wanted Wenren Li to remember, yet feared that once he truly did, would he forget him? Would he stop loving him? Perhaps from then onward, Chen Yixin would no longer be the most important person in Wenren Li’s heart. Or perhaps Wenren Li would remember someone he once loved—and that person would not be him…
Hearing this, Wenren Li lowered his gaze once more to the panic Chen Yixin could no longer conceal.
His footsteps paused.
Then he continued forward.
After another dozen steps, he finally stopped, still carrying Chen Yixin. Before them stood a beautiful Silver Tree stretching endlessly into the clouds.
“A-Li… I’m terrible. And greedy too… I want everything.”
Chen Yixin spoke without daring to look at the Silver Tree. He buried his face against Wenren Li’s neck and hugged him tightly, desperately tightly.
Yet in the very next instant, his arms became empty.
He fell sitting upon the black ground beneath the Silver Tree. Turning his head, he saw only Wenren Li’s back disappearing into the tree itself.
Hurriedly, he chased after him—but failed to enter the Silver Tree.
Still, both hands clung tightly against its trunk as he waited there stubbornly, waiting as though his life depended on it.
Chen Yixin did not know how long he waited. It felt both endlessly long and impossibly brief.
The Silver Tree he leaned against suddenly vanished, replaced instead by Wenren Li clad in majestic silver battle robes.
Before Chen Yixin could ask anything, everything before his eyes disappeared.
He abruptly opened his eyes and sat upright.
Wenren Li still lay with his back toward him. Chen Yixin glanced once more toward his waist. The Silver Tree mark had already vanished.
After remaining silent for a long time, Chen Yixin carefully dressed Wenren Li again before continuing to wait for him to awaken.
That wait lasted another full month.
Azure Roc and Black Feather had already returned, yet Wenren Li still showed no signs of waking.
“A-Li has entered seclusion after achieving a breakthrough. The plan remains unchanged. In two days, we break camp and march toward Hongni Territory.”
Exiting the main tent, Chen Yixin summoned Ze Fang, Black Feather, Roc Demon Emperor, and the others before issuing the order.
Chen Yixin looked younger than before, yet after his battle against the Roc Demon Emperor, every soldier in the camp had already wholeheartedly acknowledged his status as Demon Consort.
With Wenren Li in seclusion, Chen Yixin giving commands felt entirely natural.
From that point onward, Chen Yixin’s daily routine consisted of guarding Wenren Li and holding meetings with Ze Fang and the others while steadily advancing the unification of the Southern Domain.
Nearly a year later, the ten domains of the Southern Domain were fully unified. Hongni, Qingtan, and the others all surrendered. By then, they had traversed the entirety of the Southern Domain and finally returned once more to Li Kui Demon Palace.
“First draft a reorganization plan for me. Once the Southern Domain is stabilized, we’ll discuss the northern campaign.”
After speaking, Chen Yixin rose and headed out. Ze Fang and the others bowed slightly. Only after Chen Yixin disappeared did they continue discussing matters.
And Chen Yixin’s destination required no guessing. Aside from the discussion hall, he only ever went to the palace where Wenren Li remained in seclusion.
And indeed, that was exactly where he returned.
The serious expression he wore during meetings vanished the instant he entered the sleeping chambers. His footsteps softened as he slowly approached and sat beside the bed.
“The Northern Domain’s situation is rather complicated. Quite a few want to surrender to us, but we can’t accept just anyone. We’ll need to consider this carefully. Let’s stabilize the Southern Domain first before discussing the northern expedition.”
Chen Yixin chattered endlessly to Wenren Li. Compared to his composed demeanor in the discussion hall, he was much more talkative here.
After finishing, he gently smoothed Wenren Li’s hair.
“It’s grown much longer again. By the time you wake up, your hair might stretch all the way from the bed to the palace gates.”
After saying that, he lowered his head and kissed Wenren Li’s forehead softly, a faint smile appearing upon his face.
“A-Li can rest easy. No matter how long your hair grows, I’ll never dislike it. I’m guarding our home, so A-Li should focus on cultivating without worry.”
In just over a year, the once willful and innocent little phoenix had transformed into a capable and thoughtful Demon Consort.
After finishing his daily ramblings to Wenren Li, Chen Yixin rested his chin in his hands and continued staring at him while mentally sorting through unresolved matters from the council hall.
His thoughts gradually drifted farther and farther.
By the time Wenren Li had already opened his eyes for quite a while, Chen Yixin still had not noticed anything wrong.
Wenren Li slowly sat upright.
Only then did Chen Yixin freeze completely.
“A-A-Li… you’re awake.”
Without giving Wenren Li time to react further, he immediately threw himself forward and hugged him tightly, as though he wished to bind himself directly onto Wenren Li forever.
Wenren Li had slept for an entire year. Chen Yixin had long believed he had prepared himself for any outcome. Yet all that supposed “preparation” proved useless now.
He was still worried. Still afraid.
“I’m awake,” Wenren Li replied softly.
One hand supported Chen Yixin’s waist as he lifted him together into a seated position.
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Futile Devices Scans 
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