Author: 易修罗 / Yi Xiu Luo

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 126

The two people, reunited after a long separation, presented a stark contrast in their expressions—one grinning broadly, the other pursing their lips. Ying Feng’s gaze kept shifting between Ling Xiao’s eyes, trying to discern whether this Ling Xiao was real or, as before, just another figment of his dreams.

But the Ling Xiao before him felt so real. His smile, familiar even after many years, remained the same. Even though the color of his eyes had changed, their brightness was as lively as ever.

Seeing Ying Feng remain silent, Ling Xiao prodded again. “What, don’t you remember me? I’ve been thinking about you, you know. The sunglasses look pretty good.”

Only then did Ying Feng utter their first words since their reunion. “What’s with your eyes?”

Ling Xiao subconsciously touched the corner of his eye. “Oh, this? It’s just as you see.”

He slightly bowed his head, smiling. “After all, I’ve been hopping through the cracks of time and space, always in danger. I was afraid of losing my soul and not being able to reincarnate; then I’d never see you again, right?”

Saying so, he placed his hand on the tall man’s shoulder. “Come, say hello to my former Qizhu.”

The tall man coughed lightly, somewhat awkwardly removing Ling Xiao’s hand, seemingly uncomfortable with public displays of affection.

His words made sense that even Ying Feng couldn’t find fault. For Ying Feng, Ling Xiao had been gone for decades, but for the latter, it had been a full four thousand years. Such a long time was enough to forget everything, even the deepest of feelings, likely reduced to a thin layer of dust.

Moreover, becoming a Qizhu had always been Ling Xiao’s dream, and now that his wish was fulfilled, it should be a good ending for him.

Ling Xiao secretly observed Ying Feng’s reaction. He showed neither anger nor sadness, standing silently. Even behind the dark lenses, he could feel the intensity of Ying Feng’s gaze. Just as he wondered if he had gone too far, a familiar head of red hair came into view.

“Ying Feng, you found Xiao Hui… Ling Xiao!!” Red Head shouted in shock, almost instantly leaping in front of Ling Xiao. “Is it really you? Am I seeing right?”

“Red Head!” On seeing an old friend, Ling Xiao also leaped up excitedly, the two embracing tightly, expressing their years of longing.

Bing Can trailed just a few steps behind, incredulous at recognizing the person in Red Head’s embrace.

“Is that really Ling Xiao?” he asked, as if in a dream, to the unmoving Ying Feng.

If Ying Feng had any doubts before, seeing the two embrace and jump around, dispelled them completely. It was indeed Ling Xiao, not an impersonation nor a virtual illusion.

“Ling Xiao! I knew you were still alive, you had to be!” Red Head could only repeatedly express his joy incoherently, while Ling Xiao was so happy that he both laughed and cried, quickly welling up with tears. Bing Can, who had been observing from the sidelines, also approached.

“Ling Xiao…”

Finally quieting down, Ling Xiao pursed his lips, let go of Red Head, and also leaned in to exchange a wordless, powerful hug with Bing Can.

After the hug ended, Bing Can had a clearer look at him, and the first thing that blurted out was, “Your eyes…?”

“Ah? What’s wrong?” Ling Xiao then noticed his moist eyes and instinctively reached to wipe away the tears, but exclaimed, “Oops!”

Seeing him constantly rubbing his eyes, Red Head asked with concern. “What’s wrong with your eyes? Let me see… No, wait, why are your eyes black?”

Only then did he realize in horror and exclaimed, “You’ve formed a pact with someone? Are you the Qizhu? What about Ying Feng?!”

At this moment, Ling Xiao barely opened his reddened right eye. Both men in front of him were startled. His right eye had reverted to the characteristic smoky gray of his fledgling state, contrasting sharply with the black of his left eye.

Stammering, Red Head pointed at his heterochromatic eyes. “You, you, you, what exactly is going on here?”

Ling Xiao, annoyed, tossed something he was holding. “What is this crap? It’s irritating my eyes. Why would anyone deliberately wear this?”

Red Head looked down but couldn’t find what Ling Xiao had just thrown. However, he saw Ling Xiao fiddling with his other eye, and soon both eyes were the same shade of gray, with a small black disc appearing on his fingertip.

“What is this?” No one from the heavens had ever seen such a thing.

“This? I had it specially brought back from another planet. They call it a ‘colored contact lens’. It changes the color of your eyes when you wear it. I had no idea it would be so uncomfortable.”

Awkwardly, Red Head tugged at the corner of his mouth. “But why are you wearing this thing, exactly?”

Ling Xiao then remembered his original intention and stiffly glanced towards Ying Feng in the distance. As their eyes met again, Ling Xiao involuntarily shivered.

“Heh, heh,” he laughed dryly. “Just a joke…”

Ying Feng stared at him for a long while before turning his head towards the man Ling Xiao had mentioned as his Qizi. Under his gaze, the tall, burly man timidly took a step back, then another, and suddenly shrank, disappearing. A familiar gray wolf appeared in his place, then sneakily hid behind Ling Xiao, trying to conceal his large body from Ying Feng’s view.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Red Head shouted in surprise. “Xiao Hui is a human! You’re actually a human! You’ve been with Ying Feng for so many years and never turned into a human!” Initially, they had hoped Xiao Hui would grow up and transform into a human, but after he grew up, they had to give up this idea, accepting that he was just an ordinary wolf.

“Uh,” Ling Xiao explained helplessly, “Actually, when I first adopted Xiao Hui, I said that if he turned into a human, I would send him back to Wolf Star. Although he didn’t understand at the time, he sensed it, so his subconscious blocked his human identity. I only just found out about this. His eyes are light gray, so I had him cooperate with me, but Xiao Hui was also forced.”

This last part, he specifically explained to Ying Feng. From Xiao Hui’s behavior, it was evident that he was still very afraid of Ying Feng, whose inherent parental authority made even ordinary people feel oppressed around him.

Red Head theatrically threatened to hold him accountable. “You forced Xiao Hui to act with you, and then you played us. Do you know how hard Ying Feng has waited for you all these years? And you tricked him into thinking you had made a pact with someone else?”

While questioning, Red Head approached Ling Xiao, who defensively placed his hands in front of his chest, smiling apologetically while stepping back. “Hey, I was wrong. I just wanted to give you a surprise. I really…”

He suddenly stumbled upon something, and before he could react, a pair of arms encircled him from behind, hugging him so tightly that it almost crushed his bones.

Ling Xiao initially stiffened but soon relaxed, his eyelashes fluttering rapidly. Just after wiping away his tears, his eyes began to well up again, his lips uncontrollably curving into a smile.

Although he was trying to control his emotions, tears fell onto Ying Feng’s sleeve due to gravity, leaving a slightly darker watermark. He tried to cover the embarrassing evidence of his tears but involuntarily tightened his grip when he touched Ying Feng’s arms.

Finally, it was just the two of them in the world, embracing each other after thousands of years of longing. After witnessing their awakenings, pacts, and reincarnations, Ling Xiao finally had his own moment with Ying Feng. This Ying Feng was his own, the one he had marked in every crack of time and space; the one who exchanged souls with him life after life, waking up in the same era; the Ying Feng whose longing never faded with time or distance.

“I missed you so much,” Ling Xiao finally said aloud, a phrase he had rehearsed countless times. Ying Feng’s chin rested on Ling Xiao’s shoulder, his breath warm on Ling Xiao’s ear. “Me too.”

Ling Xiao turned in his embrace to face Ying Feng. He removed Ying Feng’s sunglasses, and this time, Ying Feng gazed back without instinctively avoiding the sunlight. Their reflections in each other’s smoky gray eyes held no distinction between Qizhu and Qizi, just like any pair of young lovers dreaming boundlessly about the future.

Bing Can tugged at Red Head’s sleeve, and they tactfully retreated. But for those whose eyes held only each other, such gestures seemed superfluous. Xiao Hui also accompanied them.

Yu Ji and the others, who were looking for Xiao Hui, stumbled upon this scene. Seeing Ying Feng hugging someone from a distance, they got closer and were startled to see Ling Xiao’s face.

“I suggest you wait to reminisce,” Bing Can kindly advised Yu Ji. “It seems they’re immersed in their own world right now.”

“I wouldn’t…” Yu Ji started to say he wouldn’t interrupt, but stopped, overwhelmed by emotion. He knew how hard these two had waited for each other, watching as an observer all these years. The Ying Feng who had closed himself off after Ling Xiao’s departure, graduated from the military academy with top honors but chose to seclude himself in a church, among flowers and a wolf…

Thinking this, he affectionately rubbed Xiao Hui’s head. Without Xiao Hui, it was hard to imagine how Ying Feng could have endured the loneliness.

Xiao Hui comfortably closed his eyes and lifted his head. Yu Ji was one of the only three people who could do such a thing. Unlike Red Head, who used to tease him when he was smaller, Xiao Hui would bite him whenever they met.

“Can I tell you something?” Red Head said to Yu Ji with a voice that seemed like he was holding back a secret, a strange smile on his face.

Yu Ji had a bad premonition. “What?”

“Xiao Hui is a human.”

Yu Ji’s hand, which was petting Xiao Hui’s head, froze.

“A person from Wolf Star,” Red Head added with a hint of schadenfreude.

Yu Ji mechanically turned his head back and saw that he had ruffled Xiao Hui’s fur. He quickly smoothed it back in the direction of the fur roots, then withdrew his hand, adding apologetically, “Sorry.”

Xiao Hui, still only accustomed to being a wolf, opened its eyes and made a regretful sound in its throat upon realizing Yu Ji had stopped petting it.

Meanwhile, Ling Xiao’s fingertips gently touched Ying Feng’s cheek, tracing the familiar arc of his jawbone, a curve so familiar that Ling Xiao could draw it with his eyes closed.

Having calmed down from the initial rush of their reunion, Ling Xiao, who had been tearful just a second ago, couldn’t help but break into laughter. His tears were still in his eyes, but he was already laughing out loud. This joy, coming from deep within, was like tasting the sweetest honey in the world, bringing a smile that spread from his lips to his eyes.

Ying Feng, not as expressive as Ling Xiao, showed his affection in his own way. His face slowly moved closer, and their distance steadily narrowed. Ling Xiao, as if under a spell, leaned in to meet him.

However, just as they were about to touch, Ling Xiao suddenly came to his senses and pushed Ying Feng away with force.

“What’s wrong?” Ying Feng, who was ruthlessly rejected, asked in confusion.

“Now’s not the right time,” Ling Xiao said, touching his chest where his heart was racing. “We’re out in the open, and you surely don’t want to hold a coming-of-age ceremony here, especially with a bunch of onlookers who aren’t paying.”

Ying Feng looked around to see the four people and a wolf immediately pretending to look elsewhere, their expressions betraying that they were, in fact, watching.

Ying Feng hesitated and then took Ling Xiao’s hand. “Zhu Yue led people to destroy the Soul Tree here. The military is gathering the remaining forces to head to Huoxiu. If we take a short leave and then catch up, we might be able to…”

“No, no, no!” Ling Xiao quickly interrupted him. “I was about to say the same thing. There’s no need to go all the way to Huoxiu.”

Ying Feng frowned. “Why not?”

“Because I know where the missing seed is.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>