Dengling.
The once-luxurious residence had become a wasteland of broken walls and rubble, with a few weeds already pushing through the ashes. A faint cracking sound came from the ruins, and suddenly a hand burst out of the earth.
Cough, cough, cough, cough! Cen Shuang shot upright, clutching his throat as he coughed.
Crows circled overhead, cawing as rain began to patter down. Cen Shuang wiped his face. His emerald eyes rolled several times before finally regaining their usual liveliness.
“I thought you really died this time.” A man stood neither near nor far away beneath an umbrella.
Cen Shuang struggled to his feet and brushed debris from himself. “Come back after I’ve turned to ash.”
Xiang Zhao burst out laughing. “Your fighting skills are a little lacking, but your talent for coming back from the dead is second to none. Even if you turned to ash, you could probably mold yourself back together. Though then we’d have to rename you Cen Mud-Doll.”
“…” Cen Shuang wiped his face again. “It was Yue Jingming.”
The amusement in Xiang Zhao’s expression faded. “Could you have mistaken him for someone else?”
“Taixu Sword Art. No-Thought One-Mind Art.” Cen Shuang still felt a lingering chill at the memory. “I could not even fight back.”
“Then we have a problem.” Xiang Zhao pulled a miserable face. “Of all the times that Yue fellow could have come down the mountain, he picked now. I’ve heard he’s terrifying. Even everyone in the Zushan Sect is afraid of him.”
“Where is Li Yi?” Cen Shuang asked.
“By the time I caught up with her, she had already reached the foot of Zushan. I couldn’t make a move there.” Xiang Zhao said, “The Zheng twins were taken away too.”
“By whom?”
Xiang Zhao twirled his umbrella and splashed rain all over Cen Shuang’s face. “No idea. I’m guessing. We didn’t find them, anyway.”
Cen Shuang closed his eyes and said coldly, “All three half-spirits slipped through our hands. The only way to answer for this is to capture Yue Jingming.”
Xiang Zhao covered his mouth in exaggerated shock. “The job went badly, so you’ve decided to kill yourself?”
Cen Shuang stared at him woodenly. “One day I’m going to cut out your tongue.”
Xiang Zhao immediately turned solemn. “Let’s go, Cen Mud-Doll. We’re off to catch Yue Jingming.”
＊
Qinghuai County.
Xiao Chunhe hurried back to the inn and began packing his gold, silver, and valuables. He had made quite a bit of money in Jiarong County and Dengling by trading on Yue Jingming’s name, so he had deliberately chosen this remote little county to take a holiday, rest, and properly nurse his broken heart. Who could have guessed that Daoist would chase him all the way here?
Heaven knew how he found this place. Even birds wouldn’t bother coming here to shit!
Hiss. Xiao Chunhe suddenly stopped moving. He stripped off his outer robe and felt it over carefully, but found nothing. His eyes shifted. He tentatively reached inside his inner robe instead, then paused. From the outer edge of his sleeve, he pulled free a thin talisman the same color as the fabric, so perfectly blended into it that no one would notice without looking closely.
He stared at the talisman in disbelief and shook it hard several times, making sure he was not dreaming.
Almost as if to confirm his suspicion, someone knocked on the door. The waiter called through it, “Guest, there’s a Daoist surnamed Su downstairs who says he’s your friend. He’s waiting for you in the main hall.”
The closed door opened just enough for a head to poke through. “He is not my friend. He’s here to collect a debt. If you still want me to pay for this room, get rid of him for me.”
The waiter grimaced. “Guest, he’s already coming upstairs.”
Xiao Chunhe turned his head and met the eyes of Yue Jingming, who had just reached the landing. “…”
Bang!
The door slammed hard enough to shake the building. The waiter felt only a light breeze pass him, and the Daoist who had been standing there a moment ago vanished.
Xiao Chunhe still had one foot on the windowsill when a horsetail whisk wrapped around his arm. Someone seized the back of his collar and jerked him backward, sending him off balance.
Yue Jingming caught him by the shoulder and hauled him back inside.
Still shaken, Xiao Chunhe grabbed one of Yue Jingming’s arms and snapped, “Are you trying to make me fall to my death?”
Yue Jingming’s expression was cool. “Where is the Chalcedony Demon Heart?”
“I ate it.” Xiao Chunhe lifted his chin with perfect righteousness. “It’s sitting in my stomach right now. If you really want it, cut me open and take it.”
Yue Jingming pulled his arm free. “Why did you eat the demon heart?”
“To treat my illness.” Xiao Chunhe rubbed his shoulder with a grimace. “You know I have demon-gu inside me. It gnaws my flesh and drinks my blood day and night. When it hurts, living is worse than dying. Demonic hearts and demon cores can temporarily ease the pain.”
Yue Jingming frowned.
“My mother said I wouldn’t live past twenty-six. I’m already twenty-five, and my birthday is in three months. It’s not as though I wanted to steal your things.” Xiao Chunhe’s eyes reddened slightly as he muttered, “Even if I really had to steal from someone, I’d steal from anyone before I stole from you…”
Yue Jingming asked, “Why did you not explain the reason to me?”
Xiao Chunhe looked at him with red-rimmed eyes. “If I told you, would you really have helped me?”
“Why would I not?” Yue Jingming asked.
Xiao Chunhe gave a self-mocking laugh and stared straight at him. “Don’t lie to me. You’d say you would help, but inside you’d be wondering whether I was lying to you again.”
As he spoke, he abruptly pulled open his clothes, exposing a broad expanse of pale chest. “Go on. I stole your things, and now that you’ve caught me, I accept my fate. Cut open my stomach and take back your demon core and demon heart.”
Yue Jingming kept his gaze on Xiao Chunhe’s face without moving it an inch. “Put your clothes on.”
With his robe hanging wide open, Xiao Chunhe looked at him with a half-smile. “I only want to stay alive. What’s wrong with that? In this world, if you don’t fight and snatch for what you need, all that’s left is waiting to die.”
Yue Jingming’s face darkened. “Put your clothes on.”
A tiny curve appeared at the corner of Xiao Chunhe’s mouth. “My good fellow Daoist, why don’t you dare look? If you don’t cut it out now, then all of it belongs to me.”
He leaned closer and closer, almost pressing his bare body against Yue Jingming, until Yue Jingming grabbed the scattered clothes and wrapped him up tightly.
Xiao Chunhe burst into laughter. The colder Yue Jingming’s gaze became, the more delightedly he laughed.
Yue Jingming was about to push him away when the man leaning against him suddenly closed his eyes and went limp in his arms.
“Xiang—” Yue Jingming stopped himself, caught his wrist, and checked his pulse. It was weak and floating, his qi and blood flowing in reverse. This was truly the pulse of someone gravely ill.
There was nothing else to do. Yue Jingming could only carry him to the bed.
He had no idea how long Xiao Chunhe had been staying there. Gold ingots, silver, and copper coins lay scattered across the bed, a thick stack of banknotes sat beside the pillow, and gorgeous brocade robes had been thrown everywhere. The disorder was almost unbearable to look at.
The waiter poked his head furtively around the doorway, only to meet Yue Jingming’s eyes and start in fright. Then he heard the Daoist say, “Sorry to trouble you. Could you find me a medicine pot?”
Yue Jingming had learned pharmacology directly from Su Ji. He was no great master of it, but he could at least ease an illness. He followed the waiter to the kitchen, and by the time the decoction was finished, more than half the herbs he had only just bought for alchemy were gone.
It took some effort to get the medicine into Xiao Chunhe. Yue Jingming then used true qi to support his heart meridian, only to realize that the man lying on the bed was crying.
Xiao Chunhe had an extraordinarily beautiful face and loved nothing more than laughing and fooling around. He could redden his eyes whenever he pleased, making it impossible to tell truth from performance. But now, unconscious and frighteningly weak, Yue Jingming finally saw what Xiao Chunhe looked like when he truly cried. It resembled the performance at the Zheng Residence, yet this was far sadder: his nose scrunched, his teeth clenched tight, and tears poured without restraint into his temples until he looked unbearably pitiful.
Yue Jingming reached to wipe away his tears, only for Xiao Chunhe to seize his hand. “Mother…”
Darkness settled beyond the window. No lamps were lit in the room. The man on the bed held Yue Jingming’s hand tightly, his eyes and nose red from crying, while a rich fragrance filled the bedding so heavily that breathing became difficult.
Yue Jingming lowered his eyes and saw the red mole on Xiao Chunhe’s chest rising and falling gently with each breath. He raised his gaze and saw the reddened corners of his eyes and the moist red of his lips.
After a silence that felt both long and brief, Yue Jingming slowly pried his hand free, pulled the quilt over him, walked to the table, and let out a measured breath before closing his eyes to meditate.
…
For once, Xiao Chunhe slept soundly. Hugging the quilt, he rolled over and lazily opened his eyes to find the Daoist sitting beside the table.
Even seated, Yue Jingming’s posture was perfectly upright, his Daoist robes immaculate. Moonlight fell over him, laying a pale halo across his handsome profile and making him look transcendent, almost unlike a mortal of this world.
Xiao Chunhe’s throat tightened at the sight. He could not help clearing it.
The meditating man opened his eyes and looked over. “Awake?”
Half of Xiao Chunhe’s face remained buried in the quilt. He gave Yue Jingming a gentle smile. “My good wife, thanks to you, all the sleep I’ve had in the last half month put together wasn’t as peaceful as tonight.”
Yue Jingming said blandly, “You lost consciousness from severe depletion of qi and blood.”
Xiao Chunhe immediately seized the opening. “Then I really do owe you my life. Without you, I wouldn’t have fainted. I’d have skipped straight to dying.”
Yue Jingming walked to the bed and took his wrist to check his pulse. Xiao Chunhe lay flat and stared at him. “We haven’t seen each other for half a month. I actually missed you quite a lot.”
Yue Jingming glanced at him while taking his pulse.
“After I ate that demon heart, I meant to go back for you, but I hurt too badly to move.” Xiao Chunhe tugged at his sleeve. “When I finally recovered enough to look for you, I was too ashamed to face you. So I stayed here, hiding alone, afraid you’d find me and afraid you wouldn’t.”
Yue Jingming frowned. “Stop moving.”
Xiao Chunhe withdrew his hand and obediently lay still, smiling at him. “Don’t take those things I said before to heart. It’s true that I never saw you as a friend. I’ve always seen you as the one I love. But every time I say it, you get angry, and since I was running away, I wanted to win back a little face… My good fellow Daoist, don’t be angry with me. I apologize.”
Yue Jingming released his wrist and lowered his gaze into Xiao Chunhe’s eyes. “You are very ill, and the damage to your foundation is worse. Why have you not sought treatment?”
“I have no family and no one close to me. I’ve always been alone. Whether I live or die, no one cares, so what difference does treatment make?” Xiao Chunhe caught Yue Jingming’s hand and held it tightly. “Besides, no one can cure me.”
“Eating the Chalcedony Demon Heart and that demon core only treats the symptoms, not the cause. You are human, after all, and cannot truly refine them for your own use.” Yue Jingming did not pull his hand away. Instead he said seriously, “I need the Chalcedony Demon Heart to track the moyao. Since you ate that heart, your body has also been tainted with demonic qi. If you trust me, stay by my side. I will treat your illness, and you will help me find the moyao.”
Xiao Chunhe stared in surprise. “You mean that?”
“Of course.” Yue Jingming said, “Then you will no longer have to exhaust yourself hunting for demon cores to eat.”
At a loss, Xiao Chunhe slowly released his hand. “Fellow Daoist Su, I… am not a good person.”
“In all things, seek only to have a clear conscience. You took the Chalcedony Demon Heart and demon core because you wanted to live. Even if you were in the wrong first, you still left that little fox to protect me. Besides, we only met by chance and could hardly be called friends. For you to have done even this much was already more than could reasonably be asked of you.” Yue Jingming took the little cloth fox from his sleeve and placed it beside Xiao Chunhe’s pillow. “I should not have judged you so harshly. Thank you.”
“Ah.” Xiao Chunhe picked up the little red fox and saw the ugly stitches along its tail. “Why did you sew its tail this badly?”
Yue Jingming answered truthfully, “I am not skilled at sewing.”
Xiao Chunhe laughed. “No wonder you don’t mend your inner robe even when it tears.”
Yue Jingming said, “?”
“I saw it by accident.” Xiao Chunhe put on a solemn expression, but the moment he looked at Yue Jingming, the corner of his mouth curled again. “My good wife, what have I done to deserve meeting someone as good as you? How am I supposed to repay you?”
“Keep your heart upright and follow the proper Way. Do not kill people casually again,” Yue Jingming said sternly.
Xiao Chunhe suddenly sat up and gave him a light hug, releasing him almost at once. Then he flashed Yue Jingming a brilliant smile. “All right. I can’t promise anything else, but at least while I’m beside you, I will never do evil.”