They found a cave along the road and tied the horses at the entrance. When Feng Tianzong carried Huo Fenghua inside, Gu Guangji stood at the mouth of the cave looking around and said, “I haven’t eaten a thing since I got up this morning. You two go in first. I’ll go find something to eat.”
After speaking, he gave a light hop and landed in a big tree nearby.
Feng Tianzong carried Huo Fenghua deeper into the cave and gently set him down. Then he felt how damp and chilly it was inside and wanted to gather some firewood to start a fire.
Huo Fenghua’s hands were bound. He could only tilt his head up at him and shout, “Don’t go. I need to take my clothes off.”
His whole body was burning. The cloth stuck to his skin like torture. Sweat had soaked all his hair and plastered it to his face, making him look pitiful.
Feng Tianzong had no choice but to crouch down and start undoing his clothes. As he loosened Huo Fenghua’s collar, he said, “Don’t move around.”
Huo Fenghua’s eyes were watery. He asked, “Are you scared I’ll suck your inner energy? Are none of you going to dare touch me anymore?”
Feng Tianzong said, “No. There’ll be a solution.”
Once his bindings were removed and his clothes loosened, Huo Fenghua could move his hands again. He tugged at his clothing himself, though he had no strength. He pulled off his top, revealing pale skin still marked with traces of last night’s intimacy, and unsatisfied, kept trying to strip his pants too.
Feng Tianzong watched him. “That’s enough.”
Huo Fenghua said, “No. Take them off, take them off. It’s stifling down there. It hurts.”
So Feng Tianzong helped him remove his trousers as well. Huo Fenghua lay there completely naked on the ground, arms spread and let out a long breath.
He stared blankly at the cave ceiling.
Feng Tianzong sat down beside him and asked, “How long are you going to lie there?”
Huo Fenghua glanced at him. “Until I die.”
Just then, footsteps sounded outside. Before Gu Guangji even reached the entrance, he was already shouting, “I caught you a rabbit!”
Feng Tianzong grabbed the clothes Huo Fenghua had taken off and covered him with them.
Gu Guangji moved fast. When he ducked into the cave, he happened to see Feng Tianzong covering Huo Fenghua and said, “What’re you covering him for? When he was little, I even bathed him. There isn’t anything on him I haven’t seen.”
Huo Fenghua lifted his head. “When did you ever bathe me when I was little?”
Gu Guangji had a rabbit in his left hand. With his right, he tapped his own head, thinking hard. “Got it wrong. Not you, it’s your Senior Brother. I bathed him.”
Hearing that, Feng Tianzong lifted his head and shot him a cold piercing glare.
Gu Guangji didn’t notice at all. He looked at the dim light inside the cave and said, “Why aren’t you making a fire?” He handed the rabbit to Feng Tianzong, then ran back out to gather firewood.
When Gu Guangji returned, he started a fire in the cave, skinned and bled the rabbit, and set it over the flames to roast.
Huo Fenghua thought the fire was too hot, so he retreated to a corner of the cave and lay on a large stone slab, rolling back and forth restlessly.
Feng Tianzong sat beside Gu Guangji, glancing over at Huo Fenghua from time to time.
As he roasted the rabbit, Gu Guangji asked Feng Tianzong, “Why’d you go and provoke that old demon Zixi for no reason?” Then he sighed with emotion. “This time, Zixi’s martial arts are ruined. Once I spread the news, his enemies will come knocking, and they’ll make him wish he were dead.”
Feng Tianzong replied, “We came to find you, Senior.”
Gu Guangji looked at him. “Find me?”
Feng Tianzong asked, “Did Zeyang come to see you?”
Gu Guangji said, “Oh, you’re here for Su Zeyang? Yeah, he came. I told the little disciple. He came to see me, we exchanged a few words, and he left right away.”
Feng Tianzong asked, “Did he come to ask you about the Feng family curse?”
Gu Guangji stared at the rabbit, sizzling as fat dripped out. “You heard about it too?”
Feng Tianzong said, “Only a little.”
So Gu Guangji said, “He asked me if that was a curse formation, and how to break it.”
Huo Fenghua, hearing this, quieted down. He pressed his face to the stone slab and listened.
Feng Tianzong asked, “What did you tell him, Senior?”
Gu Guangji picked up a stick and drew a circle in the dirt, marking several points. From a distance, Huo Fenghua felt he was drawing the formation they’d seen in the cave.
When he finished, Gu Guangji tapped the center with the stick. “This is the diagram my eldest disciple drew for me. If that formation is arranged strictly according to these positions, then it’s a vicious curse formation meant to make someone’s bloodline die out.”
Huo Fenghua, still sprawled on the slab with one hand propping his cheek, said, “But Senior Brother already dug out the wooden box in the center.”
Gu Guangji chuckled. “There is a way to break it, but it’s definitely not as simple as smashing the setup. Otherwise the formation wouldn’t be worth much. I haven’t seen it myself, but according to Zeyang, he dug up a wooden box in the center. Inside were three people’s birth data. Two were the Feng brothers. That means the remaining one is the true core of the formation.”
Gu Guangji scratched his chin. “That’s how the method works. The center of the formation was dotted with that person’s blood. That means it has to be someone close to you. They used his blood to lay the formation, then sent him to your side to complete it. Only then is the curse formation whole.”
At that, Huo Fenghua’s lashes trembled almost imperceptibly.
Feng Tianzong’s face didn’t change. “So how do you break it?”
Gu Guangji said, “There’s a very simple method.” He stabbed the stick hard into the circle’s center. “Kill that person.”
Huo Fenghua and Feng Tianzong asked in unison, “Anything else?”
Gu Guangji looked at them, puzzled. “Your reactions are exactly the same as Zeyang’s. Right now, that’s the simplest way, and the person’s easy to find. Why are you asking ‘anything else’ without even thinking? There is another method, but it’s a lot more trouble. You kill the one who set the formation and use his blood to sacrifice it and break the curse. But I don’t think that’ll be easy.” As he spoke, he stroked his beard thoughtfully.
Huo Fenghua asked, “Why wouldn’t it be easy? You don’t even know who set the formation.”
Gu Guangji said, “If he can lay a formation like this, he’s obviously not ordinary. This kind of vicious ancient formation has basically been lost. That one book in the Xianyuan Sect about ancient formations is a lone copy. Aside from me, no one’s likely seen it. So how did he even know these curse formations existed? If I ever get the chance, I’d actually like to talk with him and exchange notes.”
Huo Fenghua said, “What ‘not easy’? You’re clearly just interested in him and don’t want anyone killing him, right?”
Gu Guangji smiled. “How could that be? If someone lays a formation this vicious, they’ll suffer backlash. Even if you don’t kill him, he probably won’t live many years.”
Feng Tianzong asked in a low voice, “So Zeyang left after that? When did he come to see you?”
Gu Guangji tipped his head back and thought. “About twenty days ago.”
Feng Tianzong did the math. “From here back to Yujing is a little over ten days.”
Huo Fenghua asked, “You think Senior Brother went back to Yujing?”
Feng Tianzong said, “If he wants to trace the source of that curse formation, he’ll go back. Someone with deep hatred for my Feng family would either be in Xichou or in Yujing.”
Huo Fenghua thought about it. “If he went back to Yujing, you should’ve heard something.”
Feng Tianzong sighed softly. “Maybe soon.”
By now Gu Guangji’s rabbit was roasted through. He snapped off a glossy, dripping rabbit leg and waved at Huo Fenghua. “Come on, lucky you, good disciple.”
Huo Fenghua lay there lazily. “I don’t have the strength.”
Gu Guangji handed the rabbit leg to Feng Tianzong and pointed toward Huo Fenghua.
Feng Tianzong, lost in thought, didn’t react at first. “What?”
Gu Guangji glared like he wanted to beat sense into him. “Go feed him. Can’t you see he can’t get up? Isn’t he your wife or what?”
Hearing this, Feng Tianzong took it, got up, and sat beside Huo Fenghua. “You want me to feed you?”
Huo Fenghua nodded.
Feng Tianzong tore off a strip of rabbit meat with his fingers and held it to Huo Fenghua’s mouth.
Huo Fenghua bit down on the meat, and also caught Feng Tianzong’s fingers in his mouth, lightly licking them before turning his head away to chew and swallow the meat slowly.
Huo Fenghua retched for ages and still couldn’t bring the pill back up. Outside, across a courtyard, there was a loud commotion like people were fighting. Suddenly, a purple figure flipped over the roof and landed in the courtyard in front of the alchemy room.
Gu Guangji was patting Huo Fenghua’s back. He lifted his head and said, “I told that Feng kid to hold off that old demon Zixi. Useless!”
Still dry-heaving, Huo Fenghua couldn’t help snapping back, “You keep calling him an old demon. Of course Feng Tianzong can’t beat him.”
Gu Guangji shot him a look. “That’s not right. Why are you speaking up for that Feng kid? Your Senior Brother likes speaking up for Feng-kid too! One or two of you, always siding with outsiders.”
The young Taoist who’d been trembling in the corner saw Zixi appear. Terrified of being killed, he bolted outside, shouting as he ran, “Master! The alchemy didn’t fail! The Qi-Gathering Golden Pill was refined!”
Zixi was striding this way. He froze mid-step. Joy exploded across his face. “Where is it?”
The young Taoist stopped and pointed at Huo Fenghua. “He ate it!”
The ecstatic look on Zixi’s face froze. “What?”
The young Taoist’s face was smeared with furnace ash, tear tracks cutting clean lines through the grime. “I couldn’t snatch it back. They stole it and ate it.”
Zixi’s chest heaved violently. His eyes were bloodshot with rage. The healthy flush on his face swelled into a purplish red. His hands curled into claws as he lunged toward Huo Fenghua, roaring, “I’ll cut open your stomach and take my golden pill back!”
The moment the words left his mouth, a long whip snapped toward his neck, blocking his advance. Feng Tianzong had caught up.
Zixi spun. His five fingers, hard as iron hooks, clawed at Feng Tianzong’s shoulder. Feng Tianzong ducked aside. His whip swept toward Zixi’s waist but this time Zixi didn’t dodge. He let the whip wrap around him, then seized it and yanked hard causing Feng Tianzong’s footing to break. He stumbled two steps forward before he managed to brace himself again.
Gu Guangji looked out the window and clicked his tongue. “Useless!” With that, he slapped a hand onto the window frame and shot out like a dart, diving straight for Zixi’s back.
Zixi released Feng Tianzong’s whip and turned to meet Gu Guangji head-on.
Huo Fenghua braced one hand on the window ledge. He’d completely forgotten about retching now, staring as Gu Guangji and Feng Tianzong fought Zixi from front and back in the courtyard.
The young Taoist stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do. Huo Fenghua discreetly waved at him. “Run!”
The young Taoist looked at him, face streaked with tears. “Run where?”
Seeing how hopelessly dumb the boy looked, Huo Fenghua sighed and stopped bothering. He turned back just in time to see Zixi’s steps grow messy under the combined pressure of Gu Guangji and Feng Tianzong. His face turned purple from the strain, Zixi retreated.
At that moment, Zixi sprang backward with a fluttering movement and landed on the far side of the courtyard. While still in midair, he pulled a small gourd from his robes, popped the cap, and poured several pills into his mouth.
Huo Fenghua shouted, “He’s popping pills!”
After swallowing them, Zixi’s aura surged violently. His face shifted from purple to a dark, almost blackened shade. He slammed a palm toward Gu Guangji, who’d rushed up. Gu Guangji met him palm-to-palm and was driven back by that brutal internal force, nearly crashing into the opposite courtyard wall.
“Master!” Huo Fenghua cried out in alarm.
Feng Tianzong didn’t dare meet him head-on. He whipped toward Zixi’s face, moving his feet as he dodged the heavy gusts of Zixi’s palm strikes.
Gu Guangji used the opening to scramble back up, rubbing his bruised lower back with a grimace. “That old demon takes pills to spike his power like this, isn’t afraid of backlash killing him on the spot?!”
Huo Fenghua shouted, “Master, Feng Tianzong can’t hold on much longer. Get in there!”
Gu Guangji glared at him with displeasure, but seeing Feng Tianzong truly was barely managing, he lunged back into the fight.
Right after Huo Fenghua shouted, he suddenly felt his dantian turn hot and swollen. He had no idea what was happening. He pressed a hand to his lower abdomen and immediately felt a current of internal power rush into his palm, surge along the meridians of his arm, enter his torso, and then pour back into his dantian.
What the hell? He stared blankly. Not just his dantian, even his heart began pounding hard, heating up. In seconds the heat spread through his entire body.
His legs went weak instantly. He slumped on the window ledge and called out, “General, I’m so hot—”
Feng Tianzong was gripping the whip with both hands, trying to choke Zixi with it. Hearing Huo Fenghua, his face changed. He glanced over. The distraction earned him a sharp elbow to the chest causing him to stagger back two steps.
Zixi seized the advantage. He feinted past Gu Guangji and chased Feng Tianzong, grabbing the whip’s tail and looping it around Feng Tianzong’s body to shove him toward the wall. At the same time, with a slick slide of his foot, he skimmed under Gu Guangji’s airborne strike, caught both of Gu Guangji’s legs, and flung him up into the air.
Then Zixi slapped a palm to the ground, borrowing force like a great bird skimming water, and shot straight to the window, right in front of Huo Fenghua.
It was all one seamless chain of movements. By the time Feng Tianzong and Gu Guangji stabilized and rushed over, Zixi already had one hand clamped around Huo Fenghua’s throat, lifting him up, while the other hand drove five fingers toward his abdomen, trying to rip him open and dig out the pill.
Feng Tianzong’s voice went hoarse. “Huo Fenghua!”
Huo Fenghua felt like he was melting from the heat. Suspended in the air, feet unable to touch the ground, he grabbed at Zixi’s wrist. The instant he made contact, he felt a long, deep current of internal power pour violently into his palm, racing along his meridians straight back to his dantian.
Zixi’s fingers, already touching Huo Fenghua’s lower belly, suddenly lost their strength and clawed at nothing. Horror flashed across his face. He realized his internal power was being sucked away by Huo Fenghua in an endless stream. He tried to fling Huo Fenghua off, but it was as if his wrist had glued itself to Huo Fenghua’s palm. No matter how he pulled, he couldn’t break free.
“Let go of me—” Zixi’s voice trembled as he said it, just as Feng Tianzong and Gu Guangji reached the window.
Huo Fenghua was suffering too. His body was already overheated and swollen, and now this massive influx of internal power made his meridians and dantian feel like they were about to burst apart. He yelled as well, “You let go of me—”
Feng Tianzong reached out to shove Zixi away, but Gu Guangji grabbed his hand. “Don’t move rashly!”
“What’s going on?” Feng Tianzong demanded.
No one could answer him.
In only a short span of time, Zixi’s once-full cheeks rapidly caved in. He aged before their eyes, as if instantly entering the last moments of his life. When the last thread of his internal power was sucked out, his hands finally released Huo Fenghua’s wrist. With nothing left to support him, his body slid down the wall to the ground.
Huo Fenghua also collapsed. He rolled on the floor in agony. That burning, swollen sensation was driving him insane.
Feng Tianzong and Gu Guangji jumped through the window into the alchemy room, but neither dared touch him at that moment.
Huo Fenghua’s dantian was surging with power, yet his body was limp and weak. He was burning miserably. He tried to tug at his clothes but couldn’t manage it. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes.
Feng Tianzong crouched beside him.
Huo Fenghua reached out a hand to him. “General… I feel awful…”
Feng Tianzong sucked in a breath.
Gu Guangji said awkwardly, “No. If you touch him now, he’ll probably suck your internal energy away too.”
Huo Fenghua understood. He pulled his hand back against his own body and said in pain, “Then don’t touch me. Help me take my clothes off.”
Feng Tianzong made up his mind. He lifted Huo Fenghua from the floor. “Not here. We can’t strip you here. We’ll get back first, then take them off. Move.”
They didn’t bother with Zixi lying there, drained of all power. They left the temple immediately. Feng Tianzong originally planned to bring Huo Fenghua back to the inn first, but as soon as they were out, the Celestial Master Temple started searching the whole town for them.
Feng Tianzong had no choice but to pack up, take Huo Fenghua, and leave Fengming Town together with Gu Guangji.
As they rode, Huo Fenghua was wrapped in cotton cloth, his hands bundled inside so he couldn’t move them. Leaning against Feng Tianzong’s chest, he whimpered, “I want to take my clothes off…”
Feng Tianzong said in a low voice, “Not yet.”
Huo Fenghua’s voice was soft and weak. “I’m so hot. I’m about to explode.”
Feng Tianzong still only said, “Hold on a bit more.”
Huo Fenghua went quiet for a moment, then made a sound. “Bang!” He said, “I exploded.”
Feng Tianzong finally couldn’t take it anymore. To Gu Guangji, who was riding ahead of them, he said, “Senior, let’s find a cave and rest before we continue.”
He was afraid that before Huo Fenghua actually exploded, he himself would be driven mad first.
The inner courtyard of the Celestial Master Temple was far quieter than Huo Fenghua had expected. Gu Guangji grabbed him and leapt over several roof ridges without running into a single person.
Later, Gu Guangji brought him to an alchemy room in the inner courtyard. The two of them lay on the roof. Gu Guangji shifted aside a gray roof tile and peeked in. Huo Fenghua saw a young Taoist inside, keeping watch by the alchemy furnace.
He was about to speak when Gu Guangji, quick as a cat, lifted a hand and covered his mouth, then shook his head at him. After that, he whispered into Huo Fenghua’s ear, “Did you practice the manual I gave you?”
If Gu Guangji hadn’t mentioned it, Huo Fenghua would’ve almost forgotten. When he’d been traveling with Wen Heyi, he’d trained along the way. Later, with Feng Tianzong, his attention got pulled elsewhere and he’d stopped practicing. Now that Gu Guangji asked, he still thick-shamelessly nodded, pretending he’d practiced.
Gu Guangji narrowed his eyes at him, doubt written all over his face. “You really practiced, yet you don’t even know the breathing and qi-circulation method? You’re panting like that. The moment that that old demon Zixi shows up, he’ll sense you!”
Huo Fenghua froze, then tried to recall what the manual said and the breathing method Wen Heyi had taught him. He gradually softened his breathing, stretching it long and light until it was nearly imperceptible.
Gu Guangji looked like he’d just met the dumbest student alive, glaring at him in disgust. “If you can’t persist in martial training, it’s meaningless. From today onward, no matter whether you’re eating or sleeping, don’t forget to regulate your breath and cultivate qi.”
Huo Fenghua nodded quickly.
Gu Guangji heard his breathing grow distant and faint, then patted his chest to signal him to pay attention below.
The young Taoist inside stood up with a tray in his hands, opened the door, and walked out. The two of them crouched on the roof and waited until he’d gone far away. Then Gu Guangji grabbed Huo Fenghua and flipped down from the roof, quietly pushing the door open and slipping inside.
In the center of the alchemy room stood a large alchemy furnace. The fire was blazing, making the air inside scorching hot. Several meditation cushions lay on the floor beside the furnace. Along the left wall was a cabinet full of small drawers containing ingredients and medicinal materials. Along the right wall stood a grand armchair. And straight ahead was a statue of the Celestial Master.
Gu Guangji shoved Huo Fenghua behind the statue and made him hide.
“Where are you going?” Huo Fenghua asked in a hurry when he saw Gu Guangji about to leave.
Gu Guangji whispered, “I’ll help you find that Feng kid. Stay here quietly. Don’t do anything. Just don’t get discovered. Once I find that Feng kid, I’ll come back for you.”
Huo Fenghua wanted to say, Then don’t bring me in here in the first place! But before he could get the words out, Gu Guangji had already vanished out the door, leaving him alone in the alchemy room.
Not long after Gu Guangji left, the young Taoist from earlier returned, sat down beside the furnace, and kept fanning the flames with a palm fan.
Huo Fenghua didn’t dare move at all. He could only do as Gu Guangji said, keeping his breathing light and slow so he wouldn’t be discovered.
After a while, he didn’t know how long, only that it felt like a very long time, two more young Taoists entered. This time it was a boy and a girl, both delicate-featured and pretty. They told the one fanning the fire to move aside, sat down on the cushions, and then started taking off their clothes.
Huo Fenghua forced down his shock and carefully peeked out through a gap beside the statue.
The pair quickly stripped naked, while the young Taoist by the fire acted as if nothing was happening, eyes fixed on the furnace. The two of them, naked, only huddled around the furnace for warmth. They did nothing else, until someone outside pushed the door open and came in.
This time it was a Taoist in purple robes. His beard and hair were completely white, yet his face glowed with health. The three young Taoists in the room all dropped to their knees and bowed to him, calling, “Master.”
The purple-robed Taoist nodded, walked over, and sat down in the armchair. He said to the boy and girl, “Come here.”
They went to his side. The boy knelt to massage his legs, while the girl stood beside him to knead his shoulders, conveniently blocking the line of sight between the purple-robed Taoist and the statue.
Huo Fenghua didn’t dare relax. He was certain this Taoist was True Master Zixi.
Zixi sat in the armchair and asked the young Taoist fanning the fire, “How much longer?”
The young Taoist replied, “Reporting to Master, another half an hour.”
Zixi said, “I’ve told you many times what makes this pill precious. Be careful. If you botch it, I’ll stuff you into the furnace and burn you too.”
The young Taoist trembled all over, kowtowing repeatedly. “Disciple understands. Disciple wouldn’t dare…”
Zixi glanced down at the boy by his feet and said coldly, “Stupid and dull. You can’t do anything but knead legs?”
The boy’s hands paused. Then he reached between Zixi’s legs, undid his belt, pulled out the dark-colored penis there, opened his mouth, and took it in.
Zixi pulled the girl onto one of his legs and sat her there, his hand rubbing and kneading her tender body.
Seeing they were no older than fourteen, Huo Fenghua felt sick. He shut his eyes. Those townspeople were scrambling to send their children to the temple to become Zixi’s disciples, never imagining they were delivering them into a den of lust to be humiliated.
For a time, the only sounds in the alchemy room were the girl’s soft moans.
Huo Fenghua kept his eyes shut, but he could feel the subtlety of breath cultivation. He was lazy by nature. When Wen Heyi taught him, he learned it, but mostly practiced martial techniques. He’d never put in the effort to train internal power.
Wen Heyi had once said that the manual Gu Guangji passed to him was actually extremely refined. It could even pass as the sect’s core cultivation method. If he trained diligently, given his age, in another twenty years he’d achieve something. Becoming moderately well-known in the martial world would be no problem. But Huo Fenghua didn’t want “moderately well-known.” Besides, in twenty years he’d be nearing forty. What would martial fame do for him then? He’d rather open a gambling house, make money, become a rich local boss, keep a wife and concubines, and live carefree. So after learning it, he’d forgotten.
Now, practicing again, he felt a faint thread of internal energy gathering in his dantian, and as he breathed in and out, it slowly grew.
After Zixi finished defiling the boy and girl and his beastly desires were satisfied, he waved them out. He restored himself to a perfectly proper appearance, then paced before the furnace.
The young Taoist fanning the fire was drenched through with sweat. He didn’t dare stop for even a moment, working the palm fan hard.
At this final stage, the pill required fierce fire. At the peak of the flames, cold water was used to extinguish the furnace. Then the doors and windows were opened and the furnace left to cool gradually. Only then would the pill be complete.
Zixi had taught him all this. This “Qi-Gathering Golden Pill” was already Zixi’s fifth attempt and still hadn’t succeeded. Each time, he’d adjusted materials and fire control. Each time, he insisted it would succeed. And if it failed, he blamed the furnace attendant.
All the young Taoists used for alchemy were orphans the temple Taoists had picked up from outside, with no parents. When the alchemy failed, Zixi would shove them into the furnace and burn them to death. No one would look for them. They would die, and that was that.
This furnace attendant had once witnessed Zixi kill another pill boy who’d grown up with him. Back then, he’d been so frightened he’d lost control of himself, pressing his face to the floor and not daring to lift his eyes.
If today’s alchemy failed, he knew he wouldn’t live either.
The fire grew hotter and hotter. Even Huo Fenghua, hidden behind the statue, was soaked through with sweat. Zixi’s mind was wholly fixed on his golden pill, and he still hadn’t noticed there was someone hidden in the room.
When the flames nearly surged out of the furnace, Zixi shouted, “Time’s up! Why aren’t you moving?”
The young Taoist threw aside the fan, grabbed a bucket of water, and splashed it onto the flames. Such a sudden temperature drop could easily crack the pill. By the proper method, the furnace should’ve been cooled gradually. But this Qi-Gathering Golden Pill was Zixi’s life’s work. By his own claim, once refined, it could increase a person’s power by sixty years. Many of the ingredients were extremely difficult to obtain. After so many failures, his remaining precious materials were only enough for this last pill. This time, success was mandatory.
The sudden cooling was something he’d stubbornly insisted on after repeated failures. He was arrogant to the core. If anything went wrong, it would never be his fault.
After the flames were extinguished, the young Taoist ran to the window and opened it. Outside in the courtyard, a figure flashed past.
Zixi rushed to the window and barked, “Who’s there?” He braced one hand on the sill, about to chase out, but then thought of the pill and pulled back, shouting, “Guards! Someone’s trespassed into the inner court! Go check!”
He returned to the furnace anxiously, and said to the young Taoist, “Open it!”
Though the fire had been put out, the furnace was still searing hot. The young Taoist used a wooden clamp to grip the lid. His hands shook as he lifted it.
Zixi’s palm was slick with sweat too. He stared into the furnace and saw only a pale layer of ash. There was no golden pill at all.
The lid slipped from the young Taoist’s grip and clattered to the floor. He backed away in terror.
Zixi’s ruddy face seemed to swell and turn purple. He lifted his hand and struck toward the young Taoist’s head. If that palm landed on the crown, the boy would die instantly. But just as he struck, another shadow flashed outside the window. Zixi chopped down, then hastily pulled back and leapt out the window, ready to vent all his rage on the intruder.
The young Taoist shrank his neck and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for death, but the blow never came. Zixi had been distracted. His strike went wide and slammed into the furnace instead, smashing it apart with a bang.
Ash exploded through the room. The young Taoist opened his eyes and saw Zixi was gone. He breathed a brief sigh of relief, then collapsed on the floor, unable to get up. He knew that once Zixi returned, he’d still die. Blank-eyed, he looked around, trying to find something to end his own life first, rather than be burned alive.
Huo Fenghua, hiding behind the statue, also got a faceful of ash. He silently wiped the dust off his face. Then he heard a light tapping sound, like marbles falling onto wooden boards. He opened his eyes and searched and saw a tiny golden pill pellet had dropped not far in front of him.
The “golden pill” was incredibly small. It wasn’t anything like the big ones he’d seen on TV. It was no larger than a tear drop. Seeing Zixi wasn’t in the room, he went over and picked it up. He raised it close to examine it, only to see the young Taoist grab a pair of scissors and stab toward his own throat.
Huo Fenghua jumped in fright. He burst out from behind the statue, lunged forward, and snatched the scissors away. “Isn’t it better to live? Why are you trying to kill yourself?”
The young Taoist’s face was smeared with ash, two clear tracks of tears running down. He cried in panic, “Who are you?”
Huo Fenghua lied, “I’m the reincarnation of the Celestial Master. I’m here to save your life.”
The young Taoist really had seen him come out from behind the statue. And though Huo Fenghua’s face was dusty, his features were striking, especially his bright, captivating eyes. The boy froze, then said, “Really?”
Huo Fenghua had heard Zixi and the young Taoist’s conversation earlier. He said, “A golden pill, right? Take a look. Is it this one?”
He pinched the tiny pill between his fingers and held it up. The young Taoist leaned in to examine it, even sniffed it. His face filled with shock. “Yes. This is Master’s Qi-Gathering Golden Pill!”
The pill had been so tiny, buried in the ash, that neither of them had seen it at first.
Then the young Taoist whispered, “How can it be so small? Did it actually succeed?” He’d never seen a pill this small.
“A Qi-Gathering Golden Pill?” At that instant, a head dropped down into the window from outside, hanging upside down as it spoke.
Huo Fenghua turned and saw Gu Guangji dangling outside the window, peering in.
Gu Guangji stared at the pill in Huo Fenghua’s hand and barked at the young Taoist, “Is this the Qi-Gathering Golden Pill? I’m asking you!”
The young Taoist nodded. “It is. I’m sure.”
Gu Guangji reached a hand toward Huo Fenghua. “Give it.”
The young Taoist panicked. “No! That belongs to Master!” He reached to snatch it from Huo Fenghua.
Huo Fenghua dodged, took two steps to the window, and handed the pill to Gu Guangji. Then he muttered, baffled, “What do you want it for? You’re practically senile already.”
Before he could finish, Gu Guangji flicked his hand and tossed the pill into Huo Fenghua’s mouth. The pill was tiny and slick. As Huo Fenghua spoke, it rolled straight down his throat, and he swallowed it.
Huo Fenghua clapped a hand over his throat and stared at Gu Guangji in horror. “What are you doing?!”
Gu Guangji chuckled. “The life work of that old demon Zixi, I might as well let my disciple benefit.”
Huo Fenghua’s face was still full of panic. He grabbed the wall and started gagging, trying to vomit it back up.
Gu Guangji sensed something wrong. He grabbed the window ledge, flipped into the room, and patted Huo Fenghua’s back. “What’s wrong? It shouldn’t be poisonous!” Then he looked toward the young Taoist inside.
The young Taoist was staring at them too, equally panicked and lost.
Huo Fenghua gagged and said, “There’s mercury in it! What if I die from heavy metal poisoning? I’m totally fucked!”
Feng Tianzong closed the book and walked over to the tub. The tub wasn’t very big, and he didn’t want to strip and get in, so he simply wrapped an arm around Huo Fenghua and lifted him out.
Huo Fenghua was dripping wet, soaking Feng Tianzong’s clothes. When Feng Tianzong set him down, the floor instantly became wet as well.
Feng Tianzong had Huo Fenghua brace both hands on the rim of the tub and lift his hips. Through his pants, he pressed forward into the slick cleft between Huo Fenghua’s wet ass.
Huo Fenghua hurriedly said, “I’m still bathing.”
Unhurried, Feng Tianzong stroked his wet, smooth waist. “Then why’d you tease me?”
Huo Fenghua said, “I invited you to bathe with me. I didn’t tell you to do lewd things.”
Feng Tianzong chuckled. “And tying that bell there isn’t lewd?”
Huo Fenghua said, “The bell’s mine. I’ll tie it wherever I want.”
Feng Tianzong reached around to the front and lightly flicked Huo Fenghua’s penis, making the bell chime. “You’re my male concubine. I’ll do whatever I want.”
Only then did Huo Fenghua suddenly remember he was still Feng Tianzong’s male concubine. Over time he’d almost forgotten, though lately he’d certainly been fulfilling his “concubine duties” to the fullest.
Feng Tianzong thrust in, pushing his cock into the soft, loosened hole that had been soaked warm in bathwater. The tender flesh, warm and supple, gripped his thick length tightly—squeezing hard as he entered, clinging unwillingly as he drew out.
Both of them let out a satisfied moan. Feng Tianzong pinched the base of Huo Fenghua’s shaft and said, “If you like it, keep it tied on.”
Huo Fenghua didn’t even have time to answer before the impact knocked him unsteady. The tub rocked with him, sloshing hot water all over the floor.
They went at it for half the night. When Huo Fenghua woke the next morning, his waist was still sore and weak, and down below it felt as if he were still holding something inside him.
Feng Tianzong was already dressed, long hair tied up, standing tall by the bed. He held the bell and shook it beside Huo Fenghua’s ear, murmuring, “Time to get up.”
Huo Fenghua opened his eyes and looked at him. “Everything hurts. I can’t get up.”
Feng Tianzong sat on the edge of the bed, pulled him up, set him on his lap, and dressed him. Huo Fenghua leaned lazily into his arms and smiled. “General, you’re so good to me.”
After breakfast at the inn, Feng Tianzong and Huo Fenghua strolled to the Celestial Master temple.
Every morning, the temple’s incense offerings were at their peak. Believers came in droves to burn incense and beg for pills, and a long line had already formed outside the gates—men and women, old people and children alike.
Feng Tianzong and Huo Fenghua didn’t stand out among them.
After entering, they each took an incense stick and offered it before the Celestial Master statue.
Once they’d finished, they moved away from the crowd and walked deeper along the eaves on either side. Halfway in, they were stopped by a middle-aged Taoist priest, who said, “The inner court is not to be entered without permission. Please return.”
Feng Tianzong didn’t force his way in. He and Huo Fenghua detoured away from the path leading to the inner court.
Just then, a pretty young Taoist nun slipped past them and went straight into the inner court.
Huo Fenghua stared after her graceful figure and said, “Give him some silver. See if he’ll let us in.”
Feng Tianzong said, “Why bother with that?”
He led Huo Fenghua out of the temple and into a narrow alley to the right. On the left side of the alley was the temple’s brick-red wall. It was secluded and quiet, with not a single passerby.
Feng Tianzong said to Huo Fenghua, “Wait here. I’ll go in and take a look.” With that, he sprang lightly up, landed atop the wall, and flipped into the temple’s inner court.
Huo Fenghua watched his figure disappear, then glanced around the desolate alley. He thought that rather than waiting here, he might as well go back to the inn and sit with a cup of tea. If Feng Tianzong came out and couldn’t find him, he’d go back on his own anyway.
He took a couple steps, then thought again. True Master Zixi’s reputation was huge, so he surely had some real ability. Feng Tianzong was sneaking in like this; if he ran into True Master Zixi, would something happen?
So Huo Fenghua went back, uneasy, pacing a few steps.
Suddenly, he heard a sound from the far end of the alley, near a corner.
There was a pile of junk stacked there. He and Feng Tianzong had already seen it when they came in, but now the noise drew him closer. As he walked over, a leg suddenly stuck out from beneath the pile.
Huo Fenghua stopped, holding his breath, staring.
Someone was hiding there, and Feng Tianzong hadn’t noticed at all when he came in.
After the leg appeared, it went still again. When Huo Fenghua moved closer, two arms stretched out from beneath the junk. The person underneath stretched lazily and let out a long yawn. When he shoved the pile of heap aside, he saw a disheveled man with a gray bread that was matted together and a bird’s nest hair. It was none other than his master, Gu Guangji.
Gu Guangji looked up and saw Huo Fenghua too. He froze for a moment and said, “Young man, you look kind of familiar.”
Huo Fenghua lifted a hand as if to clutch his chest, suddenly understanding what it meant to be so angry your chest hurt. He ground his teeth and smiled. “Familiar? I’m your disciple, Master!”
“My disciple?” Gu Guangji looked blank at first. After a while he got to his feet and burst out, “Fenghua? Is it you, Fenghua?”
Huo Fenghua resisted the urge to brace himself against the wall and said weakly, “How kind of you to still remember me, old man.”
Gu Guangji hurried over. “It really is you! It’s not that I don’t remember you. The last time I saw you it was at night. I couldn’t recognize you in the daylight.”
That wasn’t a sentence Huo Fenghua found remotely comforting.
Gu Guangji examined him in surprise. “Why are you here too?”
Huo Fenghua immediately asked, “Did Senior Brother come looking for you?”
Gu Guangji nodded. “Yeah. He came to find me earlier. He’s already left.”
“Left?” Huo Fenghua hurriedly asked, “Where’d he go?”
Gu Guangji spread his hands. “How would I know? He didn’t tell me where he was going. But what about you? Did you come to Fengming Town alone?”
Huo Fenghua said, “No. I came with Feng Tianzong.”
“That Feng boy came too?” Gu Guangji looked startled. He lifted a hand and stroked his beard. “One and then another, all running over here. What for? Where is that Feng boy now?”
Huo Fenghua pointed at the wall. “Inside.”
Gu Guangji stared up at the tall wall, eyes widening. “How bold is he? I’ve been in Fengming Town for half a year and I still don’t dare provoke that old Taoist Zixi. And he just climbs straight over the wall? He isn’t afraid that old demon Zixi will catch him?”
Huo Fenghua’s heart clenched. “Is Zixi really that formidable?”
Gu Guangji twirled his beard between his fingers. “I haven’t seen his martial arts, but his alchemy and his skill at bewitching people are genuinely impressive. These past two years he’s been refining a pill that can greatly increase a person’s cultivation. If he succeeds, it should be coming out of the furnace any day now—maybe even in the next day or two.”
Curious, Huo Fenghua asked, “What pill’s that powerful? Like a leopard fetus muscle changing pill*?”
*It’s a pill from the novel The Deer and the Cauldron by Jin Yong, supposedly extremely powerful and can control people. Given that the book was created in 1972, naturally Gu Guangji has no idea what Huo Fenghua is referring to.
Gu Guangji looked at him. “What? Say that again?”
Huo Fenghua had just blurted it out casually. He waved it off. “That’s not important. The important thing is, Feng Tianzong won’t be in trouble, right?”
But Gu Guangji was still hung up on what he’d said. “Leopard fetus muscle changing pill? That sounds amazing. Where did you hear about that thing?”
Huo Fenghua sighed. “The Deer and the Cauldron.”
Gu Guangji pressed, “The Deer and the Cauldron? What kind of record is that?”
Huo Fenghua shook his head. “Stop asking irrelevant questions. Can you take me inside to find Feng Tianzong? I’m worried something will happen to him.”
Gu Guangji sized him up from head to toe. “Wait. What’s your relationship with that Feng Tianzong kid? Feng Tianzong is your Senior Brother’s husband. How’d you end up mixed up with him?”
Huo Fenghua pressed a hand to his throbbing temple. “Feng Tianzong is my husband too. I’m his male concubine. Master, what exactly do you still remember? Are you getting too old that you’re becoming senile? Maybe you should just stay home.? Look at you, filthy and stinky. What ‘traveling the world’? How’s that any different from begging?”
The tirade made Gu Guangji stare in a daze. A moment later, he grabbed Huo Fenghua by the collar. “You want to find that Feng boy, right? Come on.”
With that, he hauled Huo Fenghua up and leapt onto the Celestial Master temple’s wall.
When they set off the next day, Huo Fenghua’s cold symptoms had eased quite a bit, but he was still weak and limp all over. Feng Tianzong lifted him onto the horse and seated him in front, leaning back against his chest.
This time Feng Tianzong seemed to have a clear destination. After leaving the small mountain village, he followed the road straight toward the southeast.
Huo Fenghua asked lazily, “You know where Senior Brother is?”
Feng Tianzong answered, “Song Wei found Gu Guangji’s whereabouts.”
Huo Fenghua perked up a little. “Master? Where’s my Master?”
Feng Tianzong said, “Your Master’s probably trying to cultivate his way into becoming an immortal.”
“What?” Huo Fenghua was completely baffled.
Feng Tianzong glanced down at him and said, “He’s in Fengming Town. We’re heading there now. If we ride hard, it’ll take ten days.”
Fengming Town lay within Donglin territory, right at the southernmost border between Donglin and Xichou. Keep going farther south and you reach foreign lands inhabited by many different tribes.
It sat at the intersection of three regions. Many Han people and many southern tribes gathered there to trade, making it a lively and bustling major town in the south. About ten years earlier, a “True Master” named Zixi had appeared in Fengming Town and built a Celestial Master Temple there. Rumor had it that True Master Zixi was a great alchemist, and that the golden pills he refined could bring the dead back to life. From then on, countless people went to the Celestial Master temple in Fengming Town to seek his immortal medicines. For a time the temple’s incense offerings flourished and the believers were innumerable, including not only Han people from Donglin and Xichou, but also many minority peoples from the south.
True Master Zixi then founded a sect called the Yuzhen Sect, which could be considered an offshoot of Taoism. He accepted believers widely and had enormous influence in the south.
Gu Guangji had been a devoted believer in Taoism all his life and had studied many Taoist arts. In his later years, he tossed the position of sect leader to Huo Fenghua and traveled among famous Taoist mountains. Now he had ended up in Fengming Town.
Feng Tianzong said that riding hard to Fengming Town would take ten days, but in reality, because he and Huo Fenghua shared one horse, and even when they switched to a fresh mount along the way, they arrived twelve days later, and it was already afternoon.
As soon as they entered Fengming Town’s territory, Huo Fenghua caught the scent of incense lingering in the air. He saw many people dressed like Taoist priests walking through the streets.
He and Feng Tianzong each led a horse and first found an inn to stay at. Then they sat down and ordered a table of food and wine.
While eating, they heard a nearby table discussing that True Master Zixi had been recruiting new disciples lately.
A middle-aged man said, “Why don’t you have your son go and take the True Master as his master?”
The man across from him replied, “I had him go last year. The True Master wouldn’t take him.”
The middle-aged man said, “That makes sense. The True Master’s disciples, whether men or women, all have to be spiritually bright and good looking. If ordinary people don’t have enough spiritual aura, the True Master won’t accept them.”
“Ah,” the other man sighed. “My wife’s been bedridden lately. I paid a fortune to beg for two pills from the True Master, and she’s still not improving.”
The middle-aged man patted his shoulder. “Go beg for one more. Her illness must be too severe. Two pills might not be enough.”
The man glanced outside. “We’ll see tomorrow. It’s already late, and the Celestial Master temple has probably closed its doors to visitors.”
After that, the two drank a bit more, then stood up, said their goodbyes, and left the inn.
Huo Fenghua and Feng Tianzong listened in silence. After the two men left, Huo Fenghua said to Feng Tianzong, “Is this True Master Zixi taking disciples or running a beauty pageant?”
“A beauty pageant?” Feng Tianzong looked at him.
Huo Fenghua waved a hand, not bothering to explain what a pageant was. He lowered his voice. “Don’t you think this True Master Zixi sounds suspicious?”
Feng Tianzong asked, “Suspicious how?”
Huo Fenghua said, “It sounds like a cult. Doesn’t the court suppress them?”
Feng Tianzong replied, “The Yuzhen Sect is just a martial world sect. If no one’s rebelling, why would the court suppress it?”
Huo Fenghua grabbed his bowl and shoveled a big mouthful of rice, chewing as he spoke. “Anyway, I think there’s something wrong with this Yuzhen Sect. It’s probably some scammy cult that swindles money and sex.”
Feng Tianzong looked at him with his mouth full of rice and said, “Has no one taught you that you don’t speak while eating, and you don’t speak in bed?”
“In bed?” Huo Fenghua chewed for a long time before swallowing everything, then leaned close to Feng Tianzong’s ear and whispered, “So once we’re in bed, does the General want me to make noise, or not?”
Feng Tianzong stared at him for a moment, raised a hand and wiped a bit of vegetable oil from the corner of his mouth, then lowered his gaze. “Eat properly.”
After the meal, they took a turn around Fengming Town. The Celestial Master temple’s gates were indeed shut, but the heavy incense smell in the air still hadn’t dispersed. Besides the incense, Huo Fenghua also caught the sulfur scent of alchemy. He said, “Where is my Master, exactly? It’s been so many days. He might’ve already left Fengming Town.”
Feng Tianzong said, “Song Wei has had people following him the whole time. Even though we don’t know exactly where he’s hiding in Fengming Town, if he leaves the town, I’ll definitely get word.”
“This town’s huge,” Huo Fenghua looked around. “Then we can only search slowly.”
Feng Tianzong tilted his head up toward the gilded plaque above the temple gate and said, “Tomorrow morning, we’ll come here first.”
Hearing that, Huo Fenghua also looked up at the bold characters on the plaque, then suddenly said, “Don’t tell me my Master has taken True Master Zixi as his master and gone to be his disciple?”
Feng Tianzong gave him a look.
Huo Fenghua kept his head tilted back, brows drawn tight. “Then wouldn’t I have an extra grandmaster?”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Feng Tianzong said. “Let’s go back.”
The south produced jade. On their way back to the inn, Huo Fenghua ran into a foreign trader selling jade bells. Each bell was tiny, no bigger than a thumb segment, tied with a red cord. When shaken, it chimed clearly, delicate and fine.
Huo Fenghua found it interesting, so Feng Tianzong took out silver and bought it for him.
On the way back, Huo Fenghua kept shaking the bell. The sound was crisp, though you had to hold it near your ear to hear it well. He brought it up beside Feng Tianzong’s ear and shook it until Feng Tianzong grew annoyed and snatched it from his hand.
Huo Fenghua immediately said, “Give it back.”
Feng Tianzong lifted the bell with a light laugh and neatly dodged Huo Fenghua’s hand when he tried to grab it.
Huo Fenghua missed and pulled his hand back. “When we return to the General’s Manor, we’ll have to separate anyway. Can’t you at least leave me a keepsake?”
Feng Tianzong paused, his smile fading as he looked at him.
Huo Fenghua seized the chance to snatch the bell back and shook it happily in his hand. “Heh. When the time comes, I’ll make Senior Brother give me something too, as a memento.”
Back at the inn, Huo Fenghua told the attendant to heat water and bring it up to their room. They’d been rushing nonstop on the road, often sleeping out in the open, and it had been a long time since they’d been able to bathe properly. Now that they were in Fengming Town, there was no need to hurry. They could rest properly.
Huo Fenghua sat in the wooden tub and soaked in comfort. He set the jade bell on the surface of the water, watched it slowly sink, then fished it back up.
Meanwhile, Feng Tianzong sat at the table with a book spread open beside an oil lamp flipping through the pages.
After playing around for a while, Huo Fenghua leaned on the rim of the tub and looked at him, calling, “General, General!”
Feng Tianzong didn’t even lift his head, only giving a soft “Mm.”
Huo Fenghua asked, “What book are you reading?”
Feng Tianzong picked it up and showed him the cover. It read: Biography of Zixi.
“True Master Zixi’s biography?” Huo Fenghua asked.
Feng Tianzong said, “Yeah. I borrowed it from the innkeeper to skim.”
Huo Fenghua rested his chin on his arm. “Stuff like that was definitely written for him by someone he paid. What’s there to read? Come soak with me instead.”
Feng Tianzong didn’t respond.
Huo Fenghua thought for a moment, ducked his head under the water and fussed around for a bit, then suddenly stood up in the tub. Facing Feng Tianzong, he said, “General, look at me.”
Feng Tianzong turned to look and saw that Huo Fenghua was completely naked. His cock was half hard and there was a red string tied around it, with that little jade bell hanging beneath it.
When she saw the unconscious Huey, Hailey neither cried nor made a fuss.
She simply walked quickly over and sat down beside him. Instinctively she tilted her body and leaned lightly against her family, like a bird returning to its nest.
The monster scrabbled restlessly along the outer wall, the rustling friction echoing inside the church.
Myss rubbed his empty stomach, his gaze tracking the source of the sound. That fragrance still clung to the tip of his nose and teased his appetite.
Just as the priest had said, the thing could only move outside the church. It was as if there were an invisible door at the entrance that kept it firmly out.
A perfect stronghold, very suitable for a brief rest. That priest did pick the place well… Myss couldn’t help wondering how long it would hold.
On the other side, Salaar studied the summoning array for a while, then looked up at the priest.
The priest wasn’t wearing the bird-beak demon outfit. Perhaps because his face was so friendly, he still looked tall, yet the sense of pressure he gave off had dropped by a large margin.
“We know who you are, so let us skip the pleasantries,” Salaar said. “This is already the fourth time we have met, ‘Mr. Demon’.”
“Thank you for saving me.”
The priest brushed the dust from his black clothes and offered a proper bow. “I’m sorry. Earlier I mistook you for the ones spreading the sickness and caused you trouble.”
“Yeah, you are a huge pain.” Myss turned his head. “Openly running around scaring people, secretly trying to prevent and treat the plague all by yourself. One moment the city lord’s soldiers are chasing you, the next you’re being informants to them… It makes no sense at all.”
Salaar: “…”
Salaar rubbed his temples. “Although this guy is very rude, I was going to ask you much the same thing. Father, why did you not cooperate with the people of Rosha?”
The priest let out a long sigh, as if he had been waiting for this question.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kalen, a priest of the Order of Shadows.”
His voice was clear and paired with that gentle face he seemed like a harmless herbivore.
He took off his blood-stained black gloves, revealing two healthy-looking hands. On the middle finger of each hand, he wore a bone ring.
“The situation is urgent, so I’ll not hide it from you. This pair of rings is a holy relic of the Order of Shadows. The ‘left hand’ foresees ill omens, the ‘right hand’ slips into shadow.”
“When I first arrived in Rosha, I considered requesting an audience with the city lord. But my ‘left hand’ sounded the alarm like mad that doing so would cost me my life,” Kalen continued with complete candor. “As you have seen, that city lord isn’t exactly wise.”
So it was a prophecy ability. Salaar focused on the rings.
No wonder the bird-beak demon could appear at the right time every time. Apparently, this man was using the foreboding as a compass.
However you looked at it, the proper way to use the thing should be to stay as far from misfortune as possible. Kalen insisted on squeezing his way toward danger. One had to wonder what the God of Shadows thought of that.
By the same logic, the reason he could escape right under the noses of Myss and Salaar must have been the rings’ power to hide.
…“Divine power”?
If “divine power” was this special, were Myss and Salaar summoned into the human world by the will of some “god” as well?
“Since you can only foresee ill omens, how did you know there was a problem with the food and water?”
With an enemy outside, Salaar quickly reined in his thoughts.
“Ah, only the food and water?”
Kalen was genuinely taken aback. He scratched the back of his head. “I dealt with the common routes of infection, the food, the drinking water, and the patients themselves. The crows were in charge of handling the food and water. I was responsible for scaring away the people around the sick.”
“But sporadic cases kept appearing, so I thought I must have missed something.”
“Oh, that was Mina deliberately infecting people. You cut off transmission among ordinary folk. Otherwise Rosha would have been finished already,” Myss put in matter-of-factly.
He had thought Kalen could see the pale red magic too. It turned out it was a false alarm.
“That’s very good to hear. Thank you for telling me,” Father Kalen said to Myss with heartfelt sincerity.
“I’m only telling the truth.”
Kalen looked even more embarrassed. “Haha, honesty is a fine virtue, and yet I reported you to the authorities—”
No wonder the bird-beak demon never spoke. This man’s voice was too soft, and his plain, earnest manner was almost irritating. It didn’t match that grim image at all.
Seeing the conversation threaten to drag on, Myss turned away in annoyance and hid behind Salaar. He shoved at Salaar’s back, signaling the big hero to deal with this nuisance.
Salaar cleared his throat at the right time. “Father Kalen, so two months ago you foresaw misfortune coming to Rosha and came specifically to solve it? …Two full months of persistence. Your character is admirable.”
Kalen gave a shy smile. “You’re exaggerating. I have my own motives too.”
As he spoke, something seemed to occur to him, and his expression turned serious. “Now that the misunderstanding is resolved, we need to deal with that thing outside at once.”
As if to answer him, the church trembled again. A trickle of grit fell from the dome. The pale red threads on the floor slowly writhed and slid past their feet.
That aroma grew stronger, and Myss could not help licking his lips. He had no objections at all. Who could refuse a fragrant midnight snack?
Salaar didn’t reply at once.
He walked to the unconscious Huey. “Myss, check on Huey first.”
“Almost dead.”
Myss only glanced once and rendered a verdict on the spot—Huey’s Magibase was a fairly large, red-bellied tit. At the moment it was wrapped tightly in the red threads, with only the tip of its beak showing.
In fact, the real miracle was that Huey was still alive at all.
At the word “dead”, the emotionless Hailey lowered her head and slowly cradled the unconscious Huey. Her face was still expressionless, and a faint, almost indiscernible confusion flickered in her eyes.
Huey’s chest heaved violently twice, and he forced his eyes open with difficulty. “Hailey…?”
“I’m here, Uncle Huey,” Hailey said.
Huey trembled, setting the pale red threads all over the floor quivering. His lips parted, and he managed to squeeze out a muffled “sorry.”
“No, it’s all my fault.”
Hailey answered at once. Her tone was very calm, so calm it hurt to hear. “If I had not recommended you to Father Kalen, you wouldn’t have been trapped here.”
“If I hadn’t barged into Scintilla’s room, I wouldn’t be here either.”
Huey straightened his back weakly, clearly sensing that something was off about Hailey. He didn’t press the point, only lowered his eyes.
“Helping others isn’t wrong…” He spoke with all his strength, enunciating each word. “I also… chose to walk into Scintilla’s room of my own accord…”
“If you are still bothered… about her…”
“I have already grown up,” Hailey interrupted in a soft voice, as if reciting words from a diary. “Back then I didn’t know any better. I stopped minding long ago.”
“I have always been very grateful to you, Uncle.”
Huey’s lips curled. He let out a long breath, and his shoulders drooped a little.
In the bright candlelight of the church, he gazed at Hailey’s face with reluctance to part, and his eyelids sank bit by bit.
Just as those eyes were about to close, a hand pressed down on the crown of his head.
“It seems your reason is still intact, so I’ll be brief.”
Salaar spoke clearly. “Do you want to die now as a normal man, or gamble on a chance to live, even if failure would turn you into a monster without blood or tears?”
Huey’s lips moved, as if he were about to call for his mother, then he forced it back. His gaze swept over Hailey again. This time, it was as if he were searching for someone’s shadow on her face.
“How can I die, Sister?” he murmured dreamily. “The Summoning Ritual is about to begin… Hailey likes to watch…”
“I’ll take that as permission.”
Salaar’s left hand moved lightly atop Huey’s head, then withdrew quickly.
Huey fell asleep at once, and all the pale red threads around him wilted. In Myss’s sight, the threads slowly slid away and released the battered Magibase.
Kalen raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, but he kept silent, neither asking questions nor urging them along.
“Thank you.” Hailey bowed her head to Salaar.
“Don’t thank me too soon,” Salaar said. “I was already finding it strange. You two have been paying too much attention to Scintilla. How much do you actually know about her?”
Hailey lowered her head and took a moment to organize her words.
“My mother died in childbirth when I was born. At the time Uncle Huey was only sixteen. Madam Philomina taught him many things and helped him take care of me for a while.”
How to wrap a diaper, what temperature goat’s milk should be, how to handle a crying infant. Knowledge like that wouldn’t just spring up from a sixteen-year-old boy’s head.
After that came the story they all knew.
Philomina died before the Summoning Ritual. Scintilla summoned a caterpillar at the ritual. From then on, the Scintilla household went from bustling with visitors to nearly deserted.
Seeing Scintilla’s situation grow worse and worse, Huey asked young Hailey a question.
“Shall we bring Scintilla to live with us?” Huey asked. “Just think of it as gaining an older sister.”
Hailey burst into tears on the spot and refused, nearly rolling on the floor. Scintilla had lived ten thousand times better than they did before and had barely had anything to do with them. Why should she come take her uncle now that she had fallen on hard times?
Seeing little Hailey making such a fuss, Huey didn’t bring it up again. He only went to look in on Scintilla from time to time and brought the child food and drink. Every time Hailey found out, she would sulk for a while. She always felt like someone had stolen a small piece of her uncle.
“…Uncle Huey did nothing wrong. I was too willful back then,” Hailey said indifferently. “If not for Madam Philomina, I might not have survived in the first place.”
“After Scintilla started appearing less often, my uncle would occasionally write to her, but she never replied. He would visit in person, but she wouldn’t open the door, yet she still accepted the food.”
“Every so often I would go and check on her situation. We only met eyes a few times through the window, and I couldn’t understand what she was thinking at all.”
“Hey, why are you getting hung up on this?”
Myss had been about to charge outside in one go, but all these family matters tripped him up. He grabbed Salaar’s collar in annoyance and tugged him toward the doors.
“Every spell has a solution, and every monster has a weak point,” Salaar whispered. “That monster is clearly connected to Scintilla. Understanding Scintilla’s experiences will help us grasp the situation.”
Wait, was this kid’s occupational illness acting up? Was he going to stay here for hundreds of years to research this monster?
Seeing Salaar wholly focused on analyzing the monster, Myss felt unaccountably peeved and yanked the collar harder. “You studied me for so long and still learned nothing. Listen, what we need right now is action.”
As for weak points, hit something head to toe and you’ll find them. He needed to divert Salaar’s attention fast.
Myss closed his eyes, held his breath, and immersed himself in the slow flow of magic around them.
The monster’s sweetness, Salaar’s fresh scent, and beneath it all a summoning circle for Magibases that hadn’t yet been activated…
This time he couldn’t stop at a sniff. He had to think it through. Every spell has a solution…
…Got it!
He caught onto something. The hazy scent became much clearer.
“That summoning array.” Myss’s mind was spinning, but he finally managed to grasp the magic’s essence. “There’s a leak here.”
Salaar and Kalen: “…?”
Myss forced himself to be patient and gestured. “The entire ritual site is like a door into the human world.”
“Right now it’s only open a crack, so it can still keep the monster outside. Once it starts running for real, that monster will charge into reality at once.”
Salaar started, hesitated for less than half a second, then said, “I understand. We must handle it before the summoning begins. Otherwise, it will crash straight down on everyone present.”
He turned to Kalen at once. “We have a little under twenty-four hours left. Tell me everything you can do. We need to work together.”
Kalen showed the rings on his hands. “I can hide myself at any time. But foreseeing ill omens requires preparation and cannot be used for immediate combat.”
“My regeneration is strong. As long as the wound isn’t instantly fatal, I can recover. Incidentally, I can communicate emotionally with animals, although there don’t seem to be any living creatures nearby.”
Salaar: “Your specialty in magic?”
“I don’t know any magic,” Kalen said frankly.
Salaar and Myss: “……”
To Lord Karns in hell, there are actually two people with this outrageous handicap.
“In other words, you are a pure hand-to-hand fighter.” Salaar pressed a hand hard to his temples. “A hand-to-hand… priest.”
“Exactly. Feel free to let me lead the charge,” Kalen said with a broad grin.
Boom!
The church trembled again and swayed dangerously. At the doors, a patchwork hand scratched back and forth. Not long ago, Myss had sliced it clean off. Now it had fully restored itself.
Salaar tightened his grip on his dagger. “It seems our lady monster can’t wait to be born. Hailey, take care of your uncle.”
“Yes, sir.”
……
The three of them climbed over the protruding reliefs, leapt through the skylight, and returned to the church spire.
Outside was still pitch dark, and the hot, humid air pressed down at once. Myss looked down at the monster jammed at the doorway—its magical fluctuations were growing more intense, and its movements were highly frantic.
“When that thing’s stuffing shows, pull out as much as you can. I’ll burn it,” Salaar said to Kalen. “In short, limit its ability to move first.”
Kalen hesitated. “What about Miss Scintilla?”
“She’s already dead. She’s either inside the monster, or she is the monster. Both are possible.”
Salaar’s expression hardly changed. “But we can’t afford to hold back. Rosha’s safety matters more.”
Kalen’s brow twitched. He changed the question. “How do we make the monster’s stuffing come out—”
Halfway through, he abruptly closed his mouth.
Myss was cavorting all over the monster’s surface.
He was brandishing a deformed silver dinner fork, the tines leaving black trails as they swept. Large swaths of patches on the monster were pried up, and the brown-yellow “hair clumps” stuffed inside bulged out in heaving waves.
Pale red threads and memory fragments flew together. The split gaps healed rapidly but Myss didn’t care. Relying on his terrifying speed, he bounded all over the monster, scratching open one fresh wound after another.
Kalen pushed off hard from the ground. With the crack of breaking tiles, he shot out like a cannonball.
Mid-flight his figure melted into the dark, and one nearby wound was abruptly yanked wide, spilling out a mass of hair clumps that left the monster’s body visibly deflated.
Salaar stood on the highest point of the spire, raised the ritual dagger like a wand, and aimed at the single eye on the monster—
The next instant, countless bullet-like lances of fire poured onto those hair clumps. Dazzling gold flames turned them to drifting ash in a heartbeat, and the monster let out a scream fierce enough to rupture eardrums.
Perfect teamwork. He felt pretty good. Myss drew back his gaze and stretched in midair.
He looked down at the brightly lit church and thought of his petal-scattering practice—countless black fragments rode the wind, blossoming into numerous holes across the monster’s body in an instant.
The Minas emerged from the holes, faces twisted as they reached toward him. Countless pale red threads shot for Myss. Before they could reach his toes, they slammed into Salaar’s protective magic.
Salaar’s golden magic bloomed around him from time to time. The lights were sometimes flames, sometimes shields, sometimes little platforms of light for him to step on.
They always appeared at the perfect spot beside him, as if they were Salaar’s own line of sight.
The attacks kept coming. The monster’s body gradually shriveled, and its movements slowed further and further. Looks like we don’t need to worry about finding a weak point, Myss thought. They were about to win… huh?
The monster’s “head”—the infant—suddenly stirred.
In an instant the sound of flesh squeezing rose on all sides, and memory fragments surged in from every direction of the city. They frantically covered the monster’s damaged parts, and its insides swelled fast, a full size larger than before.
It lunged toward Myss, and the wet umbilical cords curled for him. Myss sprang back with the motion. The tip of his foot habitually tapped the air, reaching for one of Salaar’s light platforms.
He stepped into nothing.
In that weightless moment, Myss’s heart skipped along with it, and a storm of unruly thoughts exploded in his head.
…No, had he gone mad, believing Salaar like that?
…Had that guy connected the clues on his own and already discovered the truth of the body-swapping ritual?
…Were those perfect assists only to make him drop his guard, so he could be eliminated by the monster?
His thoughts were cut short by the excruciating pain.
The deadly cords pressed in from all sides, and a searing heat ran through Myss’s limbs. The mucus on the cords melted his skin. His flesh felt as if it had been splashed with strong acid. Pain pierced him from every direction.
It hurt. This human body seeped cold sweat and tears at the same time.
The human body was too fragile and too sensitive. Myss had never felt such pain. The survival instinct, coupled with fury, swept through his mind in a flash and tore at his nerves along with the agony.
He would eat it.
Myss almost lost consciousness. Only this thought echoed in his mind. In the corner of his eye something he saw bursts of golden light, but none of that mattered.
He would eat it. He would eat it.
Myss heard a hair-raising shriek, and then realized the cry came from his own throat. His vocal cords were vibrating, his skull was trembling, and all things in the world reeked of blood.
He would eat it, he would eat it, he would eat it.
Myss’s pupils were no longer the perfect circles of a human. They eroded outward into his irises, turning into an irregular, terrifying black mist. Myss sniffed madly at the monster before him, tracking those hazy, tangled traces of magic.
Right. He had just practiced this… all to shove that damned Salaar out the door. Every spell has a solution…
The instant he fully grasped that, his instincts almost immediately understood what to do.
Every spell has a solution.
Like a carnivore tasting hot, fresh blood after giving up milk for the first time. Like a cub popping out its claws and discovering how easily they slice through flesh.
All things in the world come to an end.
Soft flesh burst beside him in blooming fireworks. The scattered, complex magic before his eyes kept simplifying. The dizzying magical circuits collapsed into a single point. The monster’s flavor turned clean and sharp. Right there… Right there.
…The end was right there.
Yes, this was His power, His instinct. He could destroy everything and plunder everything to His heart’s content. Why had He only noticed now?
He seemed to be laughing, yet He wasn’t quite sure. He couldn’t remember where His mouth was, or even whether He had something like a “mouth” at all.
He only knew that He would be able to eat it very soon.
Not far away, on the church spire.
Moments earlier, the tip of the tower had been assaulted by a swarm of Minas, and Salaar’s vision was briefly blocked. He couldn’t assist Myss in time.
For some reason, Myss’s reactions were clearly half a beat slower. The monster grabbed him in a sudden embrace, and his body vanished into the wet umbilical cord.
—Damn it!
Salaar tried to snipe with flame, but his magic didn’t leave a single mark on the umbilical cord.
In his urgency he shouted for Kalen and prepared to rush in himself. Then he saw it… that foreign thing, that being more like a monster than the monster itself.
“Forgive me, may I ask a question?” Kalen hopped back onto the spire and wiped the black blood from his eyes.
“What exactly is your ‘companion’?”
“I would like to know as well, Father,”
Salaar stared intently at “that thing”, unwilling to look away for even a second, though black blood was seeping from his seven orifices and a keen, freezing ache gripped his brain.
“…I would like to know as well,” the hero muttered.
The author has something to say:
The Demon Lord is slowly developing his own instincts.
Happy researcher Mr. Salaar:
Very soon it will be your turn for a little exposure, Mr. Salaar.
Not long ago, Yin Jiujiu and Yun Xiangrong arrived at the Ancient Coin Museum and made the acquaintance of three other players.
The five of them picked up a set of indigo wristbands, strapped them on, and began exploring the museum together.
Those three had only just been promoted to S-rank. They knew no god-level players and were keenly aware of their own mediocrity, so when they came to Blue Harbor City, they never dreamed of being chosen as someone’s Shepherd.
They had merely heard that the shops and auction houses here often stocked extremely useful items and wanted to try their luck—and, if they happened to run into a reliable legion, perhaps join it.
In that context, Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu counted as “veterans”. The trio listened to the two women and the five of them got along pleasantly while exploring.
But just then, the unexpected happened—
The moment they stepped out of the museum they were greeted by the dark muzzles of two pistols.
The guns were held by two men: one about forty, the other in his early twenties. Both wore identical green wristbands.
A quick glance at the system panel told Yin Jiujiu they belonged to the Peach Blossom Legion.
The older one was Zhang Datie, the younger Shan Sheng.
Instinctively edging closer to Yun Xiangrong, Yin Jiujiu was about to whisper, “What do we do?” when she saw Shan Sheng smile at Yun Xiangrong and beckon. “Come here.”
Only then did Yin Jiujiu realize—Yun Xiangrong was a member of Peach Blossom.
She remembered it vividly: at the end of the previous instance, while the two Triune powerhouses were fighting as heaven and earth went dark, Yun Xiangrong had kept hauling her back from death—more than once she’d nearly been swept away by tidal waves or torn off by the gale, and every time Yun Xiangrong had clung to her.
Their friendship was short-lived but forged in life-and-death. Yin Jiujiu simply couldn’t bring herself to treat her as an enemy.
Yet Yun Xiangrong strolled over to Shan Sheng and calmly swapped her indigo band for the green one he handed her.
Although Shan Sheng was younger than Zhang Datie, he obviously outranked him: he could order Zhang Datie, and now Yun Xiangrong as well.
He pulled another gun from his pack and passed it to Yun Xiangrong. “You and Lao Zhang bring those four into our faction and make them collect clues for us. If anyone refuses, shoot one—make an example. I have to check the next street. This area’s yours.”
Yun Xiangrong accepted the weapon as naturally as breathing. After watching Shan Sheng’s departing back for a moment, she turned and leveled her gun at Yin Jiujiu and the others.
The three players who had explored with her were stupefied. Yin Jiujiu herself could scarcely believe it.
A stand-off formed—just as Gao Shan with the little dragon, came upon the scene.
“Jiujiu, try to understand. I was with Peach Blossom all along. Any clues we dug up together were always going to be reported back to the legion. We can still explore as a team. You’ll just wear green wristbands now—there’s really no difference, right?”
Yun Xiangrong’s face was expressionless as she met Yin Jiujiu’s eyes. “If you want to blame someone, blame the instance for blocking team chat. If I’d told Captain Shan earlier that you’d already agreed to explore with me, we wouldn’t need guns to ‘persuade’ you. We’re friends—sorry if I frightened you.”
“No difference? How could that possibly be the same?” Yin Jiujiu said. “Look, maybe I’m stubborn, but tell me this: the moment the system announces how many survivors are allowed at the end, what will your legion do with us?”
Yun Xiangrong only said, “You really are stubborn. If we truly meant to kill you, why force you to change bands? People wearing the same color can’t kill each other—remember?
“Besides, we brought a huge force this time. Do you honestly think we’d sacrifice a stack of members and start friendly-fire just to kill one Zhou Qian?”
The logic sounded impeccable—but Yin Jiujiu’s instincts screamed not to trust Peach Blossom and she was absolutely unwilling to follow Yun Xiangrong.
“Enough. I won’t listen.” She turned to the three newcomers. “Maybe you’ve heard of the Peach Blossom Legion—it’s pure evil. We can’t trust them. If—”
A sudden thought struck her; she spoke faster. “If they really meant well, why point guns at us from the start?”
“Weapons are everything here. Peach Blossom came in with advance intel, swept up most of the city’s guns. You’re unarmed. You have to obey.”
Yun Xiangrong became a bit impatient. “Don’t blame me for turning against you for not listening to me. Fifty seconds left—must I shoot someone at random to make you comply?”
Her muzzle stayed on Yin Jiujiu, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed a shadowy something hovered in front of one of the players—then vanished.
Still blank-faced, she said, “Yin Jiujiu, you pulled me out of the sea at the last second in the previous instance. I won’t kill you. But the three behind you are none of my concern.”
Hearing this, the faces of the three freshly minted S-ranks went white.
Without warning Yun Xiangrong swung her gun aside and actually fired.
The bullet hissed toward its target. The man she’d aimed at felt his pupils shrink to slits—I’m dead.
He dove, knowing it was useless. No one outran a bullet with skills disabled. Yet he wasn’t hit.
Zhang Datie was equally stunned. He trusted Yun Xiangrong’s steadiness. He’d practically been nodding off when she pulled the trigger. How could she miss?
In this instance bullets enjoyed the highest “judgment” rating—99% tracking accuracy. That S-ranker should never have dodged.
What was going on?
Only then did Zhang Datie notice a misty form before the doomed player—a shadow… or a soul?
Zhang Datie felt that word suddenly popped into his mind but felt it was unbelievable.
Blue Harbor was never supposed to spawn spirits—
Then he remembered HQ’s warning: their main enemy here was Zhou Qian, whose weapon could extract and cultivate souls.
Could that be Zhou Qian’s bone spirit?
Yun Xiangrong thought she’d aimed at a player, but the spirit blocked the shot—and bullets couldn’t hurt it.
And that bone spirit was none other than her boyfriend, Gao Shan.
So what exactly was he seeing?
Wide awake now, Zhang Datie tightened his grip on his gun and kept an eye on Yun Xiangrong.
What happened next both surprised him and, on reflection, made perfect sense—
The usually icy Yun Xiangrong lost control. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her arms shook.
“Shan Ge…” Her voice became horse, and she trembled when she spoke. “You’re… blocking me? Why?”
Gao Shan’s translucent face looked stricken. “Rong Mei, listen to me—”
“Only I can bring you back to life. Shan Ge, I love you. I’m your girlfriend,” Yun Xiangrong cut in. “Zhou Qian only uses you. You died saving him. He used you when you were alive, and now when you’re dead he still won’t let you go!”
Yun Xiangrong interrupted him, “And what if I say I have to kill Zhou Qian?”
“You’re wrong, Rong Mei. In the ‘Last Wish’ instance you were upset and thought Zhou insulted my corpse, and ran to Peach Blossom—I get it, he gets it. If you come back now, he won’t blame you, he—”
Gao Shan continued, “I’m with Zhou Qian now, taking orders from him. Given that, do you think Peach Blossom truly trusts you?”
“At first, yes, I joined them impulsively,” Yun Xiangrong admitted. “But then I saw the Peach Blossom God resurrect a bird in the real world—do you understand? She really became a god through this game. She can resurrect you in reality!
“I know you’re too kind. I don’t need your understanding. I’ll play the villain, shoulder the deaths, but I will make Peach Blossom win and Zhou Qian die.”
Gao Shan’s form flickered, as if it was looming while she was talking.
Seeing this, Yun Xiangrong grew more agitated. Tears streamed and she drew a deep breath. “Move aside so I can kill them! How can you still shield strangers for Zhou Qian like Qi Liuxing and He Xiaowei? He’s brainwashed you all! I won’t allow it!”
She swung the muzzle again and fired at another girl—
Unexpectedly, Gao Shan blocked her once more.
Both Yun Xiangrong and Zhang Datie was stunned—Fuck, how is the bone spirit that fast?
The second deflection enraged Yun Xiangrong. “Shan Ge, move!”
Pain clouded Gao Shan’s eyes. “Rong Rong, I don’t want to see you like this. The woman I knew was kind and warm—now… I barely recognize you.”
Yun Xiangrong was utterly infuriated by those words. She raised her gun and strode forward.
The female player she had just missed with her shot was so terrified she collapsed to her knees. Gao Shan further solidified his corporeal form and stepped up to help her to her feet, his movements gentle and his voice tinged with concern.
This gesture agitated Yun Xiangrong even more. She fired several rounds in a blind rage, but every bullet was blocked by Gao Shan.
When she squeezed the trigger once more and no bullets emerged, Yun Xiangrong realized she had emptied her magazine.
She immediately turned to Zhang Datie beside her and thrust out her hand. “Give me your gun!”
Zhang Datie was momentarily stunned. Once he grasped what she wanted, he blurted, “No way! There’s no need! You saw it yourself—this Bone Spirit is that strong. He moves so fast, and when he’s fully intangible we can’t even see him. Who knows where he’ll be when we shoot? We can’t get a clean aim! Our bullet hit-detection only works on spirit bodies!”
Yun Xiangrong seemed crazed, mindlessly grabbing for the weapon. “I don’t care, Lao Zhang—lend me your gun. Next time you need help with anything, I’ll do it!”
Dodging her, Zhang Datie protested, “Hey, Yun Xiangrong, I didn’t take you for someone who’d let love scramble her brains. Take it from someone who’s been there—”
At that moment Gao Shan called to Yin Jiujiu behind him, “I’ll block the bullets—take them and run! I’ll catch up!”
Of course, Gao Shan couldn’t really outrun a bullet, especially with such powerful hit detection. The whole scene was a play he and Yun Xiangrong had wordlessly staged.
He could turn completely invisible at will, or half-transparent so he just flickered into view. By muddling everyone’s sight like this, Zhang Datie would assume Yun Xiangrong had aimed at the other players and Gao Shan had dashed over—faster than humanly possible—to intercept.
In truth, Yun Xiangrong had been firing exactly where Gao Shan had already moved. She had been aiming at him all along.
Not that it was pure theater.
When Gao Shan told Yun Xiangrong to come back and called her obsessive, he meant every word.
And Yun Xiangrong’s tears and trembling fingers were real—just not for the reason she claimed.
After covering everyone’s retreat, Gao Shan went fully transparent again.
Passing close to Yun Xiangrong, he whispered almost voicelessly, “Rong Rong, come back. Right now no one in the Peach Blossom Legion will trust you!”
Actually, the only one who distrusts her completely was Priest.
But what if he dies?
If he dies, she will have the chance to approach Peach Blossom’s true master—
A man lying in an ice coffin named Xie Huai, creator of Xie Huaying.
Such thoughts Yun Xiangrong could only keep to herself.
The gamblers she now commanded were almost entirely Priest’s men. She dared not voice these plans. On the surface she had to stay in a rage, feigning a loss of reason.
Beside her, Zhang Datie could not help grumbling, “You must’ve heard the warning, right? Bullets are scarce! How could you waste so many? How are you going to explain this to Captain Shan? Damn!”
Yun Xiangrong ignored him. She squatted down, pressed both hands over her face, and looked as though she were weeping.
Zhang Datie had no idea how to comfort a crying girl. He stood there dumbly, not daring saying another word.
Then he heard footsteps behind him. Turning, he saw Captain Shan Sheng and the leader of another squad approaching together.
“Uh, Captain Shan, we…” Zhang Datie sighed, afraid Shan Sheng would scold them for failing the mission.
Shan Sheng merely said, “No need to explain—I saw everything. Keep searching for the others. There’s a group called the Feidu Legion claiming territory just like we are—watch out for them.”
Right after that, the other squad leader muttered in a contemptuous tone, “I used to think she had potential. Turns out… women really are useless. Don’t give her any more bullets—we can’t afford the waste!”
Hearing this, Shan Sheng glanced at Yun Xiangrong. Where Zhang Datie couldn’t see, something shifted in his eyes, as if he had seen through the act.
Yet he didn’t expose anything in front of the others. He just slung an arm around the man’s shoulders. “That’s not fair talk. If a man’s lucky enough in his whole life to meet a girl this devoted, he’s struck gold. She’s a teammate. Cut her some slack.”
“You’re not falling for her, are you?”
“Hardly. You know I like men.”
“Fuck off—get your arm off my neck!” The man shoved Shan Sheng away.
Shan Sheng rubbed his nose. “Come on—let’s search that building ahead.”
……
Elsewhere, five players wearing orange wristbands were cowering in a narrow alley.
They had only just reached S-rank. Among max-level veterans they were complete newbies.
Before Blue Harbor City collapsed, they had all been waiting outside its casino for it to open.
True gamblers at heart, they had chosen without hesitation to stay once the system announced such generous dungeon rewards.
These people were all Gamblers. After hearing that the system was giving out such generous rewards, they naturally chose to stay.
At first there were more than a dozen of them. Shortly after entering the instance they found orange wristbands together and happily formed the Gamblers Alliance.
After some exploration they realized the instance was packed with story clues. To save time, the Alliance had split into three squads to investigate.
The five now hiding in the alley were one squad.
When they finished their sweep and returned to the rendezvous point, the other two squads were nowhere to be seen.
Noting how the system’s count of orange wristbands had dropped, they knew something bad had happened.
Terrified of meeting the same fate, they moved with extreme caution. Even now, tucked away in the alley, several pairs of legs were trembling.
They weren’t simply hiding. Every so often one of them would peek toward the alley mouth, as if awaiting news—or a certain person.
At last that person appeared. All of them exhaled in relief and stared at him, hoping he brought good news.
Their squad actually had six members. Five were huddled here, the sixth and strongest served as scout.
Once he confirmed a direction was clear, he would double back, share the news, and lead them that way. Then they would find a new hiding spot while he sought the next safe route.
The strongest member was named Meng Bie.
When Meng Bie now told them the path ahead was totally safe, all five relaxed. Coming out of the shadows, they prepared to move.
No matter how frightened, they had to press on—they had to clear the instance alive and gather information.
Yet as they reached the alley mouth, a blinding white arc of light swept past. A perfectly straight Tang sword shot across the entrance, barring their way.
The blade gleamed like snow, exuding an unshakable murderous aura.
All six halted at once.
Eyes wide, they looked at the swordsman—a tall, lean figure whose very posture resembled an indomitable blade.
He lifted his gaze at them, slow and cold, and they felt as if ice had frozen them in place, unable to cross the line.
As the most powerful, Meng Bie was the quickest to reaction.
Holding up his watch, he tried to confirm the identity of the man in front of him through the system.
All he got was a code, three meaningless digits—“137.”
At the same moment he saw the man’s rank: a god-level player.
The others saw it too. A babble rose behind him.
“Holy shit, a God-level player!”
“A live one—I saw him!”
While his teammates gawked, Meng Bie stayed wary. “Who are you? Did you come to kill us?”
His voice hardened. “Were you the one who slaughtered all those orange-band players?”
The man replied, “I came to save you. There’s an ambush ahead—you can’t go that way. All of you come with me.”
His tone was anything but gentle. The icy authority brooked no doubt.
After exchanging looks, Meng Bie asked, “Why should we trust you?”
The man said nothing more, only tapped a command on his wrist device.
“I’ve lifted my identity shield in the system. Open the God-level rankings.”
In the God-level players rankings, first place had always been blank.
Whoever held that spot had hidden both name and title, keeping everyone guessing.
Now, after “137” operated his interface, not only these six but every idle player in virtual lobbies and even many inside instances erupted in commotion—
The top rank had finally been unmasked.
Meng Bie raised his left wrist to the system panel and saw the entry for number one: the name “Bai Zhou”, title “White Dragon”.
He had no time to check scores or comments; he aimed the scanner back at the swordsman, and this time the true name appeared—Bai Zhou.
Bai Zhou swept their astonished faces with a bland glance, sheathed his Tang sword, and stepped past them toward the opposite end of the alley. “The killers are the Peach Blossom and Feidu Legion. Follow me.”
“Peach Blossom? Feidu? I’ve heard how nasty they are!”
“Right behind you, boss!”
“Wuwuwu, thank you for saving us!”
Unlike the others, Meng Bie kept his head. He warned, “They worship strength blindly—I don’t. Don’t think I’ll trust you just because you’re the number one ranked God-level player. Why rescue us? What do you need from us?”
“I need you to protect someone named Zhou Qian,” Bai Zhou replied, turning his head. “He’ll lead you to win this game.”
For an instant, Feng Tianzong looked so angry he seemed to laugh. He asked Huo Fenghua, “You mean you want me to try it?”
Huo Fenghua wore a smile and tested the waters. “You’ve never experienced it, so you don’t know. If you really try it, you’ll definitely like it.”
Feng Tianzong neither confirmed nor denied it. He only said, “Then do you know how to serve someone?”
Upon hearing this, Huo Fenghua hurriedly said, “You mean if I make you feel good, you’ll let me top?”
The corner of Feng Tianzong’s mouth lifted slightly.
Huo Fenghua immediately said, “It’s a deal. No taking it back.” He raised a hand to undo Feng Tianzong’s collar, slid his upper garment off and draped it over his arm, revealing a solid, flat chest and abdomen. Then he leaned in, first taking Feng Tianzong’s Adam’s apple between his lips and giving it a light bite, then kissing his way down until he reached his chest and closed his mouth around one nipple.
Feng Tianzong looked down at him, his face still calm.
Huo Fenghua sucked and licked at the nipple, using every trick he had. One hand stroked Feng Tianzong’s lower abdomen, fingers tracing along the clear lines of his abs, while the other hand slid down his lower back to his hips and gave his firm ass a squeeze.
As he attended to Feng Tianzong, he kept glancing up to read his expression. When he saw Feng Tianzong’s face grow a shade more serious, he knew it was working, and he smiled faintly and continued kissing and caressing him.
At this point Feng Tianzong said, “To the bed.”
Huo Fenghua immediately smiled. “All right, as you command, General.”
When Feng Tianzong rose, he stripped off his top. With an easy turn, he sat down on the bed, spreading his long legs. There were many healed scars on his body, all hammered into him on the battlefield.
Huo Fenghua climbed onto the bed and knelt between his legs. He reached out to loosen his belt and tugged his trousers down a little, exposing an already half hard penis.
Feng Tianzong leaned lazily back against the stacked quilts at the head of the bed, watching Huo Fenghua’s movements without moving at all himself.
Huo Fenghua reached up and took hold of that thick length. He drew a breath and thought that it wasn’t the first time anyway, so why care, then lowered his head and opened his mouth to take the large tip in.
The half-hard shaft quickly stiffened fully in the wet warmth of his mouth, filling it. Huo Fenghua tried to take more, but it was difficult, so he pulled back. One hand kneaded Feng Tianzong’s balls while the other steadied his cock as he licked it with his tongue.
Feng Tianzong found it amusing and asked, “Have you tasted what it’s like?”
Huo Fenghua glanced at him and didn’t answer.
Feng Tianzong said, “Open your mouth. Take it deeper.”
Huo Fenghua lifted his head. “General, that thing of yours is too… formidable. I can’t swallow it.”
Feng Tianzong gave a snort. “You give up too quickly.”
Huo Fenghua lowered his head again and took him into his mouth. This time he forced himself to relax his throat and take more.
Feng Tianzong suddenly pressed a hand to the back of his neck and pushed his head down, and at the same time drove his hips up, thrusting himself deep into Huo Fenghua’s mouth.
Huo Fenghua felt his tongue pressed down hard, the huge cock almost forced into his throat. He gagged in pain and reached up to push at Feng Tianzong.
Seeing tears squeeze out at the corners of Huo Fenghua’s eyes, Feng Tianzong fisted his hair and lifted his head, pulling himself off.
Huo Fenghua glared at Feng Tianzong in resentment.
The next moment, Feng Tianzong yanked him close and kissed him on the lips.
At first Huo Fenghua still struggled, but Feng Tianzong kissed him while one hand stroked his cheek and neck. His palm was rough with calluses, yet when it brushed over smooth skin it sent shivers through him.
Feng Tianzong tugged Huo Fenghua’s clothes open, keeping him kneeling in front of him, then lowered his head to kiss his neck and chest. His tongue circled the pale red areola, biting until the nipple was glossy with moisture and standing hard.
Huo Fenghua’s breathing quickened. Both hands braced on Feng Tianzong’s shoulders. When he felt Feng Tianzong tug his trousers down, he blurted, “Wasn’t it agreed?”
Feng Tianzong looked up at him. “Have you served me well?”
Huo Fenghua was thinly furious. “My throat still hurts right now and you’re saying I didn’t serve you well?”
Feng Tianzong wrapped his hand around Huo Fenghua’s erection and thumbed the tip. “Aren’t you on top?”
Huo Fenghua froze, then flared. “I said I wanted to fuck you!”
Feng Tianzong’s voice held no clear emotion. “Did you say it? Did I agree?”
Huo Fenghua shoved at him, trying to climb off the bed, but Feng Tianzong caught both his legs and dragged him down onto him. The cleft of his ass landed right against the stiff heat beneath.
Feng Tianzong spread Huo Fenghua’s legs and pushed straight into the tight entrance.
Huo Fenghua’s face twisted in pain and he struggled to shove him off, but Feng Tianzong’s hands were like iron clamps. No matter how Huo Fenghua cried out, Feng Tianzong forced himself until he was buried all the way in.
Once inside, Feng Tianzong didn’t move. He pressed Huo Fenghua’s head to his shoulder and kissed his forehead.
Huo Fenghua was drenched in sweat. Not just his head, but his whole body was coated in cold sweat. That hollow weakness from being ill came back over him. Leaning against Feng Tianzong’s shoulder, he said weakly, “You really are despicable and shameless.”
Feng Tianzong stroked his back, his voice softening. “Does it still hurt?”
Huo Fenghua didn’t answer. He only cursed, “You broke your word.”
Feng Tianzong smiled. “I’ll let you be on top the whole time.” He supported Huo Fenghua’s hips and began to pull out slowly, then push back in just as slowly with gentle movements.
Huo Fenghua hugged his shoulders and let out a low gasp.
Feng Tianzong bit his lower lip and murmured, “Don’t you like it?” Then he sped up slightly, driving his hard cock deep into Huo Fenghua, rubbing against the wet, tender inner walls and pressing into the sensitive spot inside.
Huo Fenghua moaned.
With the repeated thrusting, Feng Tianzong felt that sitting made it hard to put strength into it. He held Huo Fenghua tight, kept himself sheathed inside him, and rose to his knees, lifting Huo Fenghua with him. He told him, “Hold on.”
Huo Fenghua blinked. “Hold what?”
Feng Tianzong looked up again. “Hold the beam above.”
This bed had a wooden crossbeam for hanging a mosquito net. The weather had been cold these days, so the net was put away, but the beam was still there.
Huo Fenghua looked up and panicked. “How can that work?”
But Feng Tianzong had already let go of his waist and instead gripped his legs. Huo Fenghua tipped backward. Instinctively he reached up and grabbed the wooden beam to keep his balance. The beam was meant for a mosquito net, but it was fairly sturdy. He held on tight while his legs were lifted and spread by Feng Tianzong’s hands. Feng Tianzong drove his thick cock into him and began thrusting into him.
The creak of the wooden bed mixed with the wet sounds of pounding echoed through the room.
Huo Fenghua felt like he was about to go insane. The pleasure built in layers, making his dick swell as it continued to leak precum, leaving traces along his abs. But even though Feng Tianzong’s hands supported part of his weight, hanging from the beam with both arms for so long was agony. If he let go, he would fall back onto the bed, so he could only moan and beg, “General, I can’t.”
Feng Tianzong’s breathing was heavy. “No, you wanted to be on top.”
Huo Fenghua said, “No more, no more. Anywhere is fine, I can’t hold on.”
Feng Tianzong still had the leisure to laugh softly. “No.”
Huo Fenghua hardened his heart and simply let go, letting his body fall backward.
In the end, Feng Tianzong didn’t have the heart to be completely ruthless. He caught him in his arms, then turned Huo Fenghua over so he knelt on the bed with his back to him and took him from behind.
Huo Fenghua tried to collapse forward and brace himself, but Feng Tianzong wouldn’t allow it. He held him tight, bodies pressed together, one hand stroking his chest while the other held his erection, gently stroking it.
Still not recovered from illness, Huo Fenghua couldn’t last long and came in Feng Tianzong’s hand.
Seeing that he was running out of strength, Feng Tianzong wrapped an arm around his waist and fell back with him, leaving Huo Fenghua lying on top of him. With his legs bent, he thrust upward slowly from below, both hands holding Huo Fenghua, caressing him gently.
Huo Fenghua felt light and pleasantly languid. He turned his head slightly, rubbed his cheek against Feng Tianzong’s nose, and closed his eyes.
Feng Tianzong mounted first. When he turned back, he saw Huo Fenghua sneezing repeatedly. As Huo Fenghua walked over, the wind pressed his clothes tight to his body, making him look thin and fragile. So when Huo Fenghua reached him, Feng Tianzong pulled him up onto the horse and had him sit in front of him.
With his back against Feng Tianzong’s chest, Huo Fenghua immediately felt much warmer. He didn’t understand why he’d been fine just a moment ago, yet after a few sneezes he suddenly lost all energy, his nose clogging up too.
In a muffled voice he said, “I’ve caught a cold1.”
“What?” Feng Tianzong spoke, and Huo Fenghua felt the slight vibration of his chest.
Huo Fenghua said, “What am I supposed to say, then, that I’ve caught a chill1? How long until we reach a town? I think we’d better find a doctor to prescribe me something.”
1Clarity: The first time he said it, it’s using the modern term, which is why Feng Tianzong didn’t understand, while the second time is more old-fashioned/historical.
With one hand on the reins, Feng Tianzong lifted the other and touched Huo Fenghua’s forehead. It felt slightly warm.
Huo Fenghua turned his head. “Do I have a fever?”
Feng Tianzong didn’t answer. He only said, “Close your eyes and rest for a while.”
Upon hearing this, Huo Fenghua did as told. He leaned back into Feng Tianzong’s arms and drowsily closed his eyes. Before long, he truly fell asleep.
It felt like a heavy sleep. When he woke again, he felt something soft beneath him and warmth all around. He tried to turn over but his whole body ached. At the same time he heard someone say, “He’s awake.”
Feng Tianzong’s voice replied, “It’s fine.”
Huo Fenghua opened his eyes and found himself in a crude, simple room, lying on a bed. A brazier burned beside the bed and the heat wafted towards him, making his forehead break out in a fine sweat.
Feng Tianzong sat on a stool by the brazier. Standing in front of him was someone else, Song Wei, the man who had previously left to track down Gu Guangji.
The two of them must have been talking for a long time. Huo Fenghua’s waking interrupted them briefly, and then Feng Tianzong continued, “Take this letter to Peng Po. Tell him that while I’m away, he needs to watch for Shao Feijie sending people to raid the camp.”
Song Wei lowered his voice. “Shao Feijie knows you’re not in the camp, General. He’ll definitely make a move.”
Feng Tianzong fell silent in thought for a moment. “He won’t be sure whether I’ll return to the camp or not. He’ll try to probe. Keep things ambiguous, with truths and falsehoods mixed together. Don’t let him read the situation clearly. If Peng Po is confident, he can even set an ambush and lure him into attacking the camp. If he’s not confident, it’s better to play it safe.”
“Yes!” Song Wei answered.
Feng Tianzong turned his head toward the bed. Just then, Huo Fenghua rolled over and was looking back at him too.
“And one more thing. Huo Fengnian is very likely already dead,” Feng Tianzong said to Song Wei.
“Dead?” Song Wei was shocked. “How could he be dead? Is the General certain?”
Feng Tianzong suddenly smiled. “I’m certain. Remember this. Huo Fengnian is dead. If Huo Fengnian ever appears in Xichou in the future, then it’s definitely Shao Feijie having Huo Fengnian’s younger twin brother, Huo Fenghua, impersonate him. And Huo Fenghua is already my male concubine.”
Song Wei froze, then answered, “Understood.”
Feng Tianzong waved a hand. “Remember everything I told you. Go back.”
Song Wei dropped to one knee. “Yes, General. This subordinate takes his leave.”
After Song Wei left the room, Huo Fenghua let out a heavy breath and realized even his breathing felt scorching. He said, “You’re disgusting. If the Xichou side really believes Huo Fengnian is dead, the Xichou army’s morale is bound to waver.”
Feng Tianzong didn’t care. “If I were Shao Feijie, I’d find a young child elsewhere in the royal bloodline and prop him up as emperor. Why obsess over you two brothers?”
Huo Fenghua sighed. “That’s loyalty. You wouldn’t understand.”
Feng Tianzong leaned in and touched his forehead, then immediately withdrew his hand. “Your fever’s starting to subside.”
Huo Fenghua lifted the quilt a little and sat up, seeing he was only wearing a thin inner robe. He touched his own forehead too and asked, “Is this an inn?”
Feng Tianzong said, “No. It’s a villager’s house in a mountain village. We’re still some distance from a town. I was worried you wouldn’t hold up, so I found a nearby village and borrowed a room.”
Huo Fenghua asked again, “Did you get a doctor?”
Feng Tianzong lifted a hand to straighten his sleeve, then slowly said, “I did. What, are you that afraid of dying?”
Huo Fenghua nodded. “Terrified. These days, if you get seriously sick even once, you might not recover. Better to be careful.”
Feng Tianzong gave a short, amused snort. “The doctor already took your pulse and wrote a prescription. I asked the homeowner here to decoct it for you. It should be about ready.”
As he finished speaking, someone knocked outside and brought the medicine in.
It was a young girl delivering it. Huo Fenghua suddenly remembered the days he and Su Zeyang had spent recuperating in a mountain village, and he couldn’t help murmuring, “I wonder how Senior Brother is.”
Feng Tianzong took the bowl, shut the door, and lowered his head to stir the black decoction with a spoon. Hearing that, his face chilled. “You miss him that much?”
Huo Fenghua glanced at his expression and hurriedly said, “I’m just worried about him. Aren’t you worried too?”
Feng Tianzong carried the bowl to the bedside and sat down. “We already agreed. Once we find him, you’ll fake your death and leave Yujing.”
Huo Fenghua said, “Yeah. We agreed.”
Feng Tianzong scooped up a spoonful, blew on it lightly, and brought it to Huo Fenghua’s lips. “When the time comes, don’t tell him the truth. Let him think you’re dead too.”
Huo Fenghua stared at the spoon near his mouth, dazed for a moment. Then he shrank back. “Don’t feed me like that. It tastes even more bitter. Give it to me, I’ll down it in one go.”
Feng Tianzong looked at the bowl, tipped the spoonful back in, and handed the whole bowl to Huo Fenghua.
Huo Fenghua took it, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one breath. He handed the bowl back, his whole face scrunching up as he spat out a single word, “Bitter!”
Feng Tianzong took the bowl and watched him for a moment, then carried it out. When he returned he had a small paper packet. He sat by the bed, opened it, and took out a piece of malt sugar.
“Open your mouth,” he said.
Huo Fenghua obediently opened up and let him place it inside.
A sweet, clean taste spread instantly. Chewing the sticky malt sugar, Huo Fenghua said, “So sweet.”
Feng Tianzong said, “Sweet?”
Huo Fenghua smiled at him. “General, want to taste it?” Without waiting for an answer, he looped his arms around Feng Tianzong’s neck and leaned in to press their lips together.
At first Feng Tianzong tasted bitterness, the residue of medicine still on Huo Fenghua’s lips. Then, when he opened his mouth, he tasted the sweetness from inside. The soft, sticky malt sugar tumbled between them, gluing their mouths together. They couldn’t separate for a long time.
When Huo Fenghua finally pulled away, a thin strand of syrup still clung to the corner of his mouth.
Feng Tianzong lifted his hand and wiped it away with his thumb.
Huo Fenghua asked, “When do we leave?”
Feng Tianzong said, “Tomorrow.”
“Why?” Huo Fenghua was puzzled. “Aren’t you in a hurry to find Senior Brother? Why waste a day here?”
Feng Tianzong said, “You’ll drink two more doses. If you pass out again in the middle of the road, it’ll be even more trouble. Aren’t you afraid of dying?”
Huo Fenghua quickly said, “Yeah, I’m afraid.” The truth was, he just missed Su Zeyang a little, missed holding him and breathing in that faint sandalwood scent. He figured he was only feeling so fragile because he was sick.
That night, darkness fell early. After Huo Fenghua finished his medicine, he sat on the bed bored out of his mind. He threw on his clothes, climbed down, and as soon as he cracked the door open, a blast of cold wind shoved him back inside.
He looked at Feng Tianzong, sitting by the brazier in silence, and asked, “Are we still within Zhuyue City’s territory?”
Feng Tianzong glanced at him. “This is Xichou. But the nights are bitterly cold. Stay inside.”
Huo Fenghua walked up to him. “General, you’re sitting here alone without a word. What are you thinking about?”
Feng Tianzong didn’t answer.
Huo Fenghua bent at the waist and leaned in to peer at him. “Thinking about my Senior Brother?”
Feng Tianzong said, “What are you trying to do?”
Huo Fenghua straddled his lap. “General, since we’re idle anyway—”
Feng Tianzong leaned back slightly. “You’re better already?”
Huo Fenghua raised a hand to cup Feng Tianzong’s face. After a deep kiss, he lowered his voice at Feng Tianzong’s ear and asked, “General, have you ever been fucked? Want to try it?”
The one who burst in through the door was Shao Feijie. The moment he entered, he saw most of Huo Fenghua’s snow-white body exposed, and Feng Tianzong sprawled on top of him in disarray, motionless. With no time to think, Shao Feijie swung his Blood Drinking saber in a bright arc and slashed toward Feng Tianzong.
But before the blade could touch Feng Tianzong’s back, Feng Tianzong’s long whip suddenly looped around Shao Feijie’s ankle and yanked. Shao Feijie toppled backward, and Feng Tianzong flipped up in the same instant, snapping the whip back and lashing down at Shao Feijie’s face.
Shao Feijie steadied himself and twisted aside to avoid the whip. His saber flashed as he swept it across.
Feng Tianzong lowered himself and slid off the side of the bed, kicked at Shao Feijie’s knee, then reached up to seize the saber hilt.
Huo Fenghua hurriedly sat up, yanked his clothes and trousers into place. When he climbed down from the bed his legs went soft, and he quickly grabbed the bedpost to steady himself.
In the span of a few exchanges, Feng Tianzong and Shao Feijie had already traded several moves. But the room was narrow, and neither the Fu Long Whip nor the Blood Drinking saber could be properly swung.
With a soft whooshing sound, another arrow shot in through the window, flying straight at Feng Tianzong. Feng Tianzong tipped his head back and barely avoided it, the arrowhead almost grazing the bridge of his nose. Shao Feijie’s saber followed immediately, slicing toward Feng Tianzong’s legs. Feng Tianzong’s whip flicked out from his side, the tip winding around Shao Feijie’s wrist and forcing the saber’s angle off, just barely saving him.
Huo Fenghua watched in terror. He lunged to the window, shoved both shutters wide open, and shouted into the darkness, “Jia Duo, I know it’s you! If you’ve got the guts, shoot me dead!”
Outside was pitch-black and silent, and no more arrows came.
Seeing Feng Tianzong and Shao Feijie still tangled together, Huo Fenghua suddenly got an idea. He climbed out through the window. The moment his feet hit the ground, a gust of force swept at him. He threw his arms up to block, barely parrying four rapid strikes before his hands and feet turned chaotic. He stumbled back a few steps and said, “Martial Uncle, why are you in such a hurry to kill your own?”
Wen Heyi withdrew his hand and gave a snort. “You’ve said that line before.”
Huo Fenghua said, “And clearly you didn’t take it in, so I’m reminding you again.”
Wen Heyi asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”
Huo Fenghua pulled his clothes tighter around himself. “I saw you weren’t showing up, so I came out to look for you.”
Wen Heyi said, “Now you’ve found me. Come with me.” He reached out to grab Huo Fenghua’s arm.
Huo Fenghua dodged quickly. “Martial Uncle, don’t rush. I’m still waiting for my General and your Marshal to settle who wins.”
Wen Heyi tilted his head, studying him, a little surprised. “Your General? That’s what I don’t understand. You’d rather go back with Feng Tianzong and be a male concubine than come back with us and be emperor. What kind of logic is that? What exactly is in your head?”
Huo Fenghua smiled. “Is a fugitive emperor who’s always hiding really better than living in silk and eating delicacies in the General’s Manor? Besides, I already said I like men. You keep trying to force me to marry a woman. Aren’t you making things hard for me?”
Wen Heyi asked, “Then which man do you actually like, Su Zeyang or Feng Tianzong?”
Huo Fenghua deliberately lowered his voice. “Martial Uncle, you wouldn’t know. Senior Brother and the General each have their own… strengths. If you’re interested, I can take you to experience it sometime?”
Wen Heyi smiled gently. “That… really isn’t necessary.” Before the last word had even landed, he struck. This time he was so fast Huo Fenghua couldn’t block at all. Wen Heyi clamped a hand around his throat.
At the same time, Feng Tianzong’s voice rang out from inside the room. “Let him go!”
Huo Fenghua looked back through the window. Feng Tianzong had already taken Shao Feijie’s saber and was holding the blade to Shao Feijie’s neck. Huo Fenghua couldn’t help blurting out in delighted admiration, “General, you’re amazing!”
Wen Heyi tightened his grip on Huo Fenghua’s throat and asked Feng Tianzong, “What, General Feng? You want to trade?”
Feng Tianzong didn’t hesitate. His cold voice carried over. “I dare kill Shao Feijie. Do you dare kill him? Stop wasting words. Let him go.”
Wen Heyi laughed softly. “General Feng, do you know this person seduced your wife and slept with him behind your back? Why bring him back to Donglin? Hand him to us and we’ll deal with him. We guarantee he’ll never see Su Zeyang again in this lifetime.”
Feng Tianzong didn’t get angry. He only sneered. “Why are you so determined to take him back to Xichou? Could it be the real Huo Fengnian is already dead?”
Wen Heyi said unhurriedly, “Take a guess.”
Feng Tianzong gave a low snort and didn’t keep circling with him. “Let Huo Fenghua go now, and I’ll spare Shao Feijie’s life. Otherwise I’ll kill Shao Feijie first, then come for you. Guess which of us will win?”
Shao Feijie’s face turned ashen. He had fought Feng Tianzong more than once and he knew he was no match for him. Wen Heyi wasn’t either, which was why they’d tried to use Huo Fenghua as an inside accomplice to assassinate Feng Tianzong.
But with the first strike failing, their chance was gone. If they kept tangling, as Feng Tianzong said, they wouldn’t kill Huo Fenghua, but Feng Tianzong would have no hesitation killing them. In the end, it was simply a loss.
Shao Feijie could only say in a deep voice, “Heyi, let them go.”
Wen Heyi understood the calculation. He released his grip on Huo Fenghua’s throat. Huo Fenghua immediately clutched his neck and coughed a few times under his breath.
Feng Tianzong said to him, “Go get a horse.”
Huo Fenghua glanced at Wen Heyi and backed toward the stables.
Feng Tianzong said, “I believe Marshal Shao is a man who keeps his word. We can each take a step back today and meet again on the battlefield another day.”
Wen Heyi drawled, “You’ve already taken Huo Fenghua, and you still want to talk about each side taking a step back?”
Feng Tianzong gave him a look. “Wasn’t Huo Fenghua someone you people stole from my manor in the first place?”
By then, Huo Fenghua had already ridden a horse over and stopped in front of Feng Tianzong. Feng Tianzong told him to bring it closer. Keeping Shao Feijie pinned, Feng Tianzong backed away slowly, wary of a surprise arrow, until he reached the horse. Still holding the Blood Drinking saber, he flipped up onto the horse and landed in front of Huo Fenghua, then told Huo Fenghua to ride at once.
With Huo Fenghua behind Feng Tianzong, the others didn’t dare shoot. After they’d run a bit farther, Feng Tianzong tossed the Blood Drinking saber onto the ground, took the reins from Huo Fenghua’s hand, and increased their speed.
With one arm wrapped tightly around Feng Tianzong’s waist, Huo Fenghua suddenly reached the other hand forward and touched Feng Tianzong’s face.
Feng Tianzong said, “What are you doing?”
Huo Fenghua murmured by his ear, “General, you were so fierce just now. And the way you looked with my cum on your face was especially tempting.” He meant it. Watching Feng Tianzong hold the saber to Shao Feijie’s throat with that cold, ruthless expression, and yet with obscene traces of cum smeared across his face, sliding from his thin lips down to his sharp jaw, Huo Fenghua’s thoughts had surged and desire had stirred.
Feng Tianzong’s tone turned cold. “I won’t kill you, but I can castrate you. Believe it or not?”
Huo Fenghua immediately withdrew his hand and said very respectfully, “I believe it. I was acting up. General, please don’t lower yourself to my level.”
He knew Feng Tianzong wasn’t like Su Zeyang. He couldn’t help provoking him, but once he did, he got scared and instinctively tried to placate him.
Feng Tianzong felt the fluid on his face had already dried in the wind. He didn’t wipe it off and kept riding hard. By the time the sky began to brighten, they reached a river. The horse was exhausted, so Feng Tianzong stopped and told Huo Fenghua to dismount and rest for a moment.
Huo Fenghua had been blasted by cold wind the whole way. His hands and feet were icy, and what little he’d eaten last night was long gone. He was starving and thirsty. He dropped onto the riverbank, scooped up a handful of water, and drank, immediately hissing at the freezing cold.
Feng Tianzong led the horse to a patch of grass and let it graze, then walked to the river and sat on a large rock.
Huo Fenghua crouched in front of him and lifted a damp cloth to Feng Tianzong’s cheek.
Feng Tianzong didn’t dodge. He only watched him with a cold expression.
The wet, cold cloth wiped carefully along Feng Tianzong’s nose bridge and the corners of his mouth. Huo Fenghua cupped Feng Tianzong’s face with one hand, his own fingers red from the cold. When he finished and stood to leave, the hem of his robe brushed across Feng Tianzong’s cheek.
Feng Tianzong felt an itch bloom on his cheek. The more he tried to suppress it, the more unbearable it became. He leaned forward, staring at his reflection in the river, and plunged his entire face into the water.
He opened his mouth and let cold water flood in, gulping several mouthfuls before jerking his head up again. His hair flicked water into the air, droplets falling back to the surface in a thin trailing line.
Huo Fenghua sat not far away, staring at him. The slightly upturned corners of Feng Tianzong’s eyes and his thin, austere lips now carried a vivid flush of red. The beauty of a hard, resolute man was almost breathtaking. Huo Fenghua suddenly thought of Su Zeyang, not for any particular reason, only because he finally understood a little why Su Zeyang had married Feng Tianzong.
Feng Tianzong’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he asked, “What are you looking at?”
Huo Fenghua kept staring without even blinking. He didn’t feel awkward at all. He only said, “I think you and Senior Brother will definitely have a happy marriage and grow old together.”
As he said it, a sudden wave of melancholy rose up in Huo Fenghua. He turned his gaze to the river, then spaced out. He thought that once they found Senior Brother, and he left the General’s Manor, he should stop gambling with the money. It was better to head east, find a prosperous coastal city, open a gambling house and become the boss himself. Every day he’d listen to dice and copper coins clattering, and he couldn’t help feeling cheerful again.
When that time came, he would definitely go to a brothel first and sleep with a pretty girl, just to see if he could still be a man. If it turned out he truly liked men more, then he’d just find a man instead. His thoughts drifted. Should it be a tall, burly warrior type, or someone soft and delicate? Maybe he should try both.
They rested by the river for nearly an hour before Feng Tianzong stood up and told him to set off.
Huo Fenghua snapped back to himself. When he tried to stand, he realized his hands and feet were stiff with cold. The chilly wind swept over him, and he sneezed several times in a row; his head turning dizzy and his vision going fuzzy.
Kinky Translations 