The rain fell on and off all day.
The inn room was dim. Rain tapped against the window lattice, and the faint crackle of burning talisman paper was almost impossible to hear.
A pale golden glow surrounded the Yingshi Token. When the talisman paper finished burning, Su Ji’s figure slowly appeared within the Yingshi Formation before him. “Jingming?”
Yue Jingming stood before the formation and bowed properly. “Master, have you been well lately? Are my junior brothers and sisters well?”
“They’re all fine. They loved the things you sent back, and they’ve written you plenty of letters. They should reach Zhongzhou in the next few days.” Su Ji said, “You haven’t sent word in half a month. We’ve all been worried.”
With the Yingshi Token and Yingshi Talisman, Yue Jingming usually reported his travels to his master every few days. He had formed the habit when he was young and went down the mountain alone or with his junior brothers and sisters. Even after they grew older, they had kept doing the same whenever they traveled. He had simply been too occupied lately and had not realized so much time had passed.
Seeing that Yue Jingming did not look as calm as usual, Su Ji asked, “Have you run into some difficulty?”
Yue Jingming said, “There is indeed one matter this disciple does not understand. I would like to ask Master for guidance.”
Su Ji smiled. “It is rare to see you so troubled. Tell me.”
Yue Jingming briefly recounted the massacre at Xingyang Daoist Temple, the joining of the Myriad Demons Scroll, compass, and copper spoon, and the matter of Cen Shuang and the Undying Demon.
Su Ji sighed. “I remember that child Cen Changsheng. He was a gifted seedling of exceptional talent. I never imagined he would suffer so much. Cangyangzi… he is now heavily favored by the emperor. You killed one of his disciples and crippled Xiang Zhao’s cultivation. You must be especially wary of him.”
“Yes, Master,” Yue Jingming said.
Su Ji continued, “The Myriad Demons Scroll was originally a treasure left behind by your grandmaster. It contains many mysteries. The fact that you encountered those other two people may itself be fate at work, but you must act cautiously and never allow innocent people to be harmed because of it.”
Yue Jingming acknowledged this, then spoke to him about Zhou Ran.
Su Ji saw through what was troubling him and said only, “Zushan has always kept itself apart from court affairs. We concern ourselves only with subduing demons and eliminating evil in the mortal world. As long as your conscience is clear, do what you believe must be done.”
“This disciple understands,” Yue Jingming said.
The Yingshi Formation could last only half a quarter-hour. As it began to fade, Su Ji suddenly said, “Those of us who cultivate the Dao do not marry and establish households in quite the same way as ordinary people, but if you meet someone like-minded while traveling, there is no harm in becoming Dao companions. Still, one must follow the natural harmony of yin and yang. Two men, in the end, do not accord with the Great Dao and gain nothing from it in cultivation.”
Yue Jingming froze at first, then understood. “Did Miss Li Yi say something?”
Su Ji’s tone remained gentle. “You have always had your own judgment. The world is complicated, however. You must never allow your eyes to be clouded.”
Yue Jingming frowned. “Master, he and I…”
He suddenly remembered the kiss he had shared with Xiao Chunhe long ago among the bamboo and rocks. His thoughts lurched into disorder, and he abruptly lowered his eyes.
Su Ji said no more. He smiled, then slowly faded from the formation.
“Let nature take its course. When something must be severed, sever it.”
The room fell completely quiet, leaving only the steady whisper of rain outside and the faint scent of incense after the talisman paper had burned away.
Yue Jingming stood in silence for a long time, then reached up and plucked a long, fine fox hair from his sleeve.
In the room next door.
Xiao Chunhe rolled up his trouser leg and saw that the demon-gu had already crawled to just below his knee. His entire lower leg had turned blue-black, several swollen black veins standing out starkly against his skin.
He heaved a deep sigh, took a knife and made a cut over his heart, caught the blood in a small porcelain bottle, then carefully dripped it onto the demon-gu.
The demon-gu greedily drank his heart’s blood and, only with obvious reluctance, retreated a little, stopping around the middle of his calf.
Xiao Chunhe snapped, “You damned insect. I fed you that much heart’s blood and you only backed off this little? I do not like him that much. Don’t go too far!”
The brutally honest demon-gu remained unmoved.
Xiao Chunhe narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “Sooner or later, I’m killing you.”
After feeding the demon-gu, he cleaned himself up carelessly, then his eyes shifted as he began turning over another matter in his head. He had found his mother’s heart with the Zheng family in Dengling. Back at the cliff, he had also dug his mother’s eyes out of Cen Shuang. What he had thrown to Yue Jingming was only a small pellet condensed from demonic qi… The heart had been given to the white fox, the eyes to the Undying Demon. It seemed that compared with the compass alone, the three-part Myriad Demons Scroll was much more useful for locating these demons.
So clearly, he was not shamelessly clinging to Yue Jingming because he simply had to stay by his side. Circumstances had forced his hand. If his mother’s spirit was watching from Heaven, she would certainly understand him.
Xiao Chunhe stroked his chin and nodded in firm approval of his own conclusion.
Then again, simply letting go of his resentment and becoming close to Yue Jingming did feel somewhat improper. But if he claimed he was only toying with Yue Jingming so the man could be tormented by heartbreak, that made him sound far too vicious.
Mother would definitely be proud of him.
Thus reassured, Xiao Chunhe lay back down on the bed, lifted the Yingshi Token Yue Jingming had given him into the air, and idly played with the tassel hanging from the little wooden token.
To prove his resolve, he decided he would not go looking for Yue Jingming tonight and would not say so much as a single word to him.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone was at the door.
“Come in,” Xiao Chunhe called lazily.
A faint pine scent drifted in. Xiao Chunhe immediately shoved the Yingshi Token beneath his pillow. Then, noticing that the front of his robe was open and his trouser leg still rolled up, he yanked the quilt over himself.
Yue Jingming entered. It was the first time he had ever seen Xiao Chunhe turn in so early and lie so neatly in bed, and he could not help asking, “Are you feeling unwell?”
“Mm.” Xiao Chunhe immediately let his eyelids droop and said weakly, “Maybe I swallowed too many demon souls at the residence and they’re clashing with my meridians. Indigestion.”
Yue Jingming came to the bedside. “Let me see.”
“No need. I’ll be fine after some sleep.” Xiao Chunhe looked at him with only his head showing above the quilt. “Did you come here for something?”
Yue Jingming had originally come to talk to him about “severing” things. But first, the two of them were not actually Dao companions to begin with, and second, the sight of Xiao Chunhe lying there weak and uncomfortable made his chest feel strangely heavy. In the end, he only sat silently at the bedside, took Xiao Chunhe’s hand, and began checking his pulse.
Xiao Chunhe noticed that his expression was off and asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Yue Jingming met those sly, lively eyes and shook his head. “Nothing. I was simply worried about you, so I came to have a look.”
Xiao Chunhe brightened. “You care about me that much?”
Yue Jingming explained, “The demonic qi in that great formation was extremely dense. Shijiu and Brother Liang both felt unwell. I checked on them before coming to see you.”
Xiao Chunhe raised a brow. “I am a demon. That demonic qi is actually beneficial to me.”
“You are still half human, and you are ill besides. You should be even more careful.” Yue Jingming transferred some true qi into him. “Your daily medicine has already been decocted.”
Xiao Chunhe looked puzzled. “Then why didn’t you bring it?”
Yue Jingming placed his hand back beneath the quilt. “We ran out of candy. I asked the inn boy to buy some. He should be back shortly.”
Warmth spread through Xiao Chunhe’s chest until everything inside him felt soft, as though he were holding a piece of malt candy that was about to melt. He smiled. “My good wife, you’re the only person in this world who would take such care of me. I truly don’t know how to thank you.”
Yue Jingming answered seriously, “You do not need to thank me. Just take care of yourself and recover quickly.”
Xiao Chunhe shifted farther into the bed, leaving an empty space beside him, and patted the mattress. “We have to wait anyway. Come up and talk to me for a while. The thunder outside is frightening.”
Another rainy night. It was all too easy to remember similar scenes. Yue Jingming’s expression cooled. “No. I’ll go back first—”
A long, fluffy fox tail slipped out from under the quilt and settled across his wrist. He could clearly feel its warmth and the softness of the fur, while the white tip landed perfectly in his palm and gave it a light brush.
Yue Jingming looked up and saw that two fox ears had appeared atop Xiao Chunhe’s head. They made his already striking face look even more bewitching. Half propped up on one arm, Xiao Chunhe’s long black hair spilled loose around him.
A rich, heady fragrance flooded the room. Yue Jingming felt as though he had been dropped into a crimson fog. He immediately held his breath, irritation flashing in his eyes. “Xiao Chunhe.”
Xiao Chunhe’s ears twitched, and he smiled. “There’s too much demonic qi. I can’t control it.”
“You are clearly doing this deliberately.” Yue Jingming turned to leave, but in the next instant the fox tail wrapped around his waist and pulled him back toward the bed.
Yue Jingming raised a hand to strike him, but Xiao Chunhe advanced instead of retreating. Yue Jingming stopped the blow before it landed, and Xiao Chunhe seized the opening to hook an arm around his shoulders and press him down beneath him.
Yue Jingming sank into the soft quilts, his thoughts thrown into greater disorder by Xiao Chunhe’s loose hair. Even worse, the great fluffy tail swished triumphantly and tried to burrow into his robes.
“I’m still sick, and I swallowed so many demon souls to help you. If you hit me, I’ll make you regret it.” Xiao Chunhe smiled. “My good Rongxi, you have no idea how hard I’ve been holding back. Yet you insist on provoking me, and every time you do, you stop after just a little and run away. Even if I weren’t mad before, you’re going to drive me mad.”
Yue Jingming’s face darkened. “When have I ever provoked you?”
“Coming into someone else’s room in the middle of the night, checking my pulse, giving me true qi, bringing medicine, and waiting for candy.” The fox tail pressed flush against his lower abdomen as Xiao Chunhe’s voice turned light and teasing. “And in the daytime, of all things you could have brought me, you chose magnolia pastries. If Liang Yun and Ye Shijiu hadn’t been there, I would have taken all of that as encouragement long ago… Does watching me struggle with it make you happy?”
Yue Jingming stared at him, then anger rose. “You were the one who said magnolia pastries were your favorite, so I bought them for you. When did I ever mean anything else by it? I only came tonight because there was a strong smell of blood in your room and demonic qi was leaking out. I was afraid something had happened to you. You are utterly unreasonable!”
“Hmph.” Xiao Chunhe’s smile deepened. “I am a demon, and a fox demon at that. From my point of view, all that attention is easy to misunderstand. You’re always staring at my ears and tail too. Kiss me and I’ll let you touch them. How about it?”
The dense charm incense left Yue Jingming dizzy, but fortunately he had long since prepared countermeasures. Now it did little more than slow his movements slightly. He looked at Xiao Chunhe with grave seriousness. “I am only concerned about you. Why is it that every time our relationship improves, you behave like this and push me away?”
Xiao Chunhe narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“You did the same thing in the village before. I opened my heart to you, and the very next day you… behaved that way, as though you had to make absolutely certain I understood that you were a bad demon.” Yue Jingming said stiffly and earnestly, “Xiao Chunhe, I sincerely want to be your friend. Stop doing this every time.”
Xiao Chunhe could not help laughing. His whole body shook with it. Then he suddenly pressed himself close to Yue Jingming, making him clearly feel the change in his body, and said in a teasing voice, “Who wants to be your friend? I wanted to sleep with you from the very beginning, my good Daoist. Aren’t you the same now? Not small either.”
Yue Jingming’s expression turned iron-dark. He swung a fist at Xiao Chunhe.
Xiao Chunhe instinctively shut his eyes, but the fist never landed. When he opened them again, Yue Jingming was glaring at him in fury, yet his eyes were faintly wet. Combined with that handsome, aloof face, he somehow looked almost pitiful, as though he were staring at the most heartless lover imaginable.
Xiao Chunhe lasted all of one breath before surrendering completely. He hurriedly cupped Yue Jingming’s face. “My good Rongxi, I was wrong, I was wrong. I was only joking just now.”
Yue Jingming knocked his hands away and pushed himself upright against the bed, only to suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood.
Xiao Chunhe’s expression changed. He hurriedly reached out to support him. “Rongxi!”
Yue Jingming turned and gave him a cold look. The excessive charm incense had made his movements slow and stiff, but he still firmly pushed Xiao Chunhe away and said hoarsely, “I was presumptuous and caused you to misunderstand. I apologize.”
After that, he did not look at Xiao Chunhe again and walked straight out of the room.
Xiao Chunhe stared blankly at his retreating back. His throat ached and his chest felt so tight he could barely breathe, yet he forcibly suppressed the urge to chase after him.
The demon-gu in his lower leg stirred restlessly and began eating away at his flesh little by little, but even that pain could not compare with the ache in his heart.
Before long, the inn boy brought in the warm medicine and a small bag of malt candy and set them on the table.
Xiao Chunhe looked at the bag of candy and let out a listless sigh.