Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 127: New Destination

After the discussion ended, Fang Xiu returned to his quarters. It was still a little while before lunch, and Bai Shuangying was sitting by the speaker, happily playing light music.

Fang Xiu had told him to wait alone in the room, and Bai Shuangying waited without a single word of complaint. No doubts, no questions—only a strange sense of calm, as if this were the most ordinary thing in the world.

When Fang Xiu entered the room, he paused for over ten seconds at the door.

Bai Shuangying had returned to his long-haired, white-robed appearance, the same look as when they first met. And yet, something had changed. His ghost still lacked “humanity”, but his emotions were beginning to surface, just as rich as any human’s.

Fang Xiu had once thought it was fine to like Bai Shuangying as much as he wanted. After all, his ghosts didn’t care. 

But now… now he wasn’t so sure. Bai Shuangying’s behavior during the Grave-Sealing E ritual had been a little too much. A normal ghost wouldn’t sacrifice its own interests to protect a human. Let alone attempt an escape while the Underworld happened to be watching nearby.

“I’m back,” Fang Xiu greeted with a cheerful smile.

“Mmm~” Bai Shuangying’s tone followed the rhythm of the music. He was clearly enjoying it.

Fang Xiu flopped onto the bed and lay down next to Bai Shuangying. “Next ritual, we’re going to the sealing ground of that ‘Great God of Calamity’.”

Bai Shuangying: “Mmm… hmm?”

Amid the flowing music in the background, he looked at Fang Xiu stiffly.

“Underworld orders?” Bai Shuangying asked flatly after a few seconds.

“I suggested it.” Fang Xiu grinned. “The Guishan Sect talks like the ‘Great God of Calamity’ is a big deal. We have to check it out.”

Bai Shuangying hesitated. “That place is dangerous. You only have two rituals left. Why take the risk?”

Fang Xiu didn’t respond. He buried his nose in Bai Shuangying’s loose robe. Upon closer look, he could still see the tear Bai Shuangying had made in his real body to protect him. The beautiful white robe had a missing piece, its edge gently writhing like slime mold as it slowly healed.

“Because you like me,” Fang Xiu whispered.

“Nonsense,” Bai Shuangying dismissed.

Then his face crinkled slightly, and he secretly glanced at Fang Xiu. Seeing no sign of displeasure, he relaxed a bit.

He casually stroked Fang Xiu’s warm hair and seriously added, “I’m not willing to die for you, and I don’t want to have children with you. By human standards, that means I ‘don’t like you’.”

Fang Xiu: “…”

In a strange tone, Fang Xiu replied, “…Die for me? Have children with me?”

He wanted to laugh, but held it back out of politeness, pursing his lips hard.

Bai Shuangying cleared his throat and began reciting like a textbook. “If they can’t consummate the relationship and grow old together, they must die for love. If disaster strikes, they must charge in and sacrifice their life. If one dies, the other must grieve themselves to death.”

“And to stay together, there must be a child or two, to continue the family line. If they remain childless, it’s a sign of a disharmonious relationship, thin affection, and poor fortune.”

He didn’t really understand these ideas, but humans had prayed to Lord Bai for love countless times. Over hundreds of years, their requests always boiled down to this sort of thing. Compared to Fang Xiu, who wasn’t even thirty, he was clearly the real master of human love.

Fang Xiu hesitated. “…Let’s leave the first point aside. As for having kids, we literally can’t.”

Forget gender issue, they were 10000% reproductively incompatible.

Bai Shuangying said solemnly, “If I liked you, and we couldn’t have children, I should be devastated.”

Then he thought for a moment and concluded, “Hmm, I feel no devastation at all.”

Fang Xiu couldn’t hold it in any longer. He burst into laughter, burying his face in the sheets, laughing until he couldn’t breathe. In the end, he even wiped his tears with the corner of Bai Shuangying’s robe.

Bai Shuangying looked displeased and began brushing Fang Xiu’s hair more roughly.

“I…cough cough…I give up,” Fang Xiu said, turning to look at Bai Shuangying with a smile, eyes slightly red from laughter. “You’re not human, so you don’t need to follow human definitions. Why force it?”

Bai Shuangying froze for a moment, confusion briefly flickering across his face. Fang Xiu stretched lazily and hugged his wrist.

“And besides, ‘dying for the other person’ is a bit much. Feelings develop step by step. If you start saying stuff like that right after getting together, even humans would find it scary.”

“I haven’t wanted to interact with any other humans but you.”

“Sure, sure.” Fang Xiu grinned the entire time. “Then for you, which is more important, ‘my company’ or ‘destroying the world’?”

“You’re more interesting.” Wasn’t that a rhetorical question? Bai Shuangying answered immediately.

“What matters more, ‘my life’ or ‘your safety’?”

“It’s better if you stay alive,” Bai Shuangying said honestly, recalling the last ritual.

“Do you want to separate from me?”

“Why would I want to separate from you?” Bai Shuangying sounded confused. “I already said, I only do things that make me happy.”

Fang Xiu buried his face back in the robe and laughed for a long time. But as he laughed, his smile slowly faded.

He kept his nose in the fabric, breathing in the pleasant plant-like scent, pretending it was a safe little cocoon. After he’d inhaled enough, he turned his head, dark eyes fixed on Bai Shuangying without blinking.

Bai Shuangying asked instinctively, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about finding you something tasty.” Fang Xiu reached out and touched his cheek. “And thinking about how I can spend more time with you.”

Bai Shuangying’s face immediately softened. He clearly liked that answer.

But in truth, Fang Xiu was thinking about far more. He sighed in his heart.

Everything in the rituals had gone smoothly so far. As long as he followed the plan, his life plan would definitely succeed. To ensure that, he should avoid anything related to the “Great God of Calamity”. That was too risky.

And yet, he still couldn’t stop himself from going to Dian’er, as if his legs and tongue had minds of their own. To be honest, the next step looked more like a wild whim than a plan.

…But he just couldn’t help it.

His palms were still sweating, his rational mind banging around in his head, trying to slow a racing heartbeat…

Are you crazy? What happened to “chill romance and graceful goodbye”?

Do you know what “failure at the finish line” means? Or “love makes you stupid”? Only a fool throws everything away when they’re about to succeed.

Fang Xiu took a deep breath and pressed his flushed face against Bai Shuangying again, diving back into his favorite white robe hideout.

This attachment wasn’t so bad. In the cool fabric, Fang Xiu tried to justify himself. His whole life had been about goals, but now, suddenly, he had a dream.

And only now did he realize that “goals” and “dreams” weren’t quite the same thing.

……

After losing Mei Lan, only three living people remained in the huge courtyard. Even with a little black dog bouncing around, it still felt empty.

The eight-person team that had first arrived now felt like a distant memory.

Cheng Songyun looked grim. Guan He’s eyes were red, as if she’d been crying.

The only slight consolation was that they hadn’t known Mei Lan that long, and Mei Lan herself had plenty of blood on her hands. So their grief was mixed with something heavier, more complicated, not enough to make them despair.

Fang Xiu behaved as usual, eating and drinking with a better-than-normal appetite. His seductive ghost sat beside him, just like always, white pupils naturally locked onto him.

“Congratulations to all! The Grave-Sealing E has been resolved—only two disasters remain—”

“The Grave-Sealing E has been resolved. The resolver receives additional rewards—the E was eliminated by Fang Xiu. Many rewards await—”

The paper figure read its lines like a script, dragging out the syllables with no emotion, just technical skill.

Fang Xiu cut the preamble short. “I want Mei Lan’s scarf manipulation spell.”

That was surprisingly normal. The paper figure sighed in relief, then felt a little indignant. “We recommend the ‘personality corruption’ from the Grave-Sealing E. That scarf manipulation thing is just a frontal attack. These days, psychic spells are way more valuable…”

“‘Scarf manipulation’ is good enough. I don’t have a proper weapon.”

Fang Xiu sipped some sweet soy milk and smiled. “I prefer my enemies to die fully aware.”

Dian’er shut up immediately and shuffled forward.

“‘Scarf manipulation’ lets you control the scarf weapon by thought alone. No extra spells needed. It’s simple, but fully effective.”

Fang Xiu nodded calmly.

“As for the site of the Grave-Sealing E, you get it, so I won’t nag.”

The paper figure extended a finger and marked him with the Kun trigram.

“You’re a once-in-a-century genius. Six rituals, seven trigrams. There’s only the Gen trigram left. If the next ritual goes well, you…”

Halfway through, it caught itself and smoothly shifted tone. “Oh what am I saying… ‘If it goes well’? Of course the next ritual will go great! Couldn’t be smoother!”

Discovering a new knowledge point, Guan He perked up. “What happens when one person collects all eight trigrams?”

Facing Fang Xiu’s ally, Dian’er spoke respectfully. “Not much, really. Once Mr. Fang leaves the Underworld, all linked powers get sealed. Carrying a few trigrams won’t change anything.”

It paused to think, then added, “If anything, it means he carries extra karma, the kind that comes from dealing with E’s. The more trigrams, the heavier the weight.”

Cheng Songyun was no longer the metaphysics rookie she once was. She immediately felt something was off. “Ghosts are drawn to souls with heavy karma. If Xiao Fang returns to the world of the living, won’t he be ghost bait?”

“Nonsense!”

Dian’er glanced at Fang Xiu and shook its head like a rattle-drum. “Those trigrams are specially processed by the Underworld, saturated in the Underworld’s scent. No ghost would dare get near. You can be rest assured!”

Fang Xiu remained expressionless as he served himself another plate of soup dumplings, like they weren’t talking about him.

Seeing the mood was right, Dian’er jumped onto the incense burner, clasped its hands behind its back, and dramatically announced…

“For the next ritual, Mr. Fang has designated the site. It’s a special place, so we’ve picked several E’s. Choose one as you please.”

“…That place is called ‘Xushan’.”

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