After someone deliberately steered the online narrative, public opinion suddenly turned completely against Luo Cheng’an, condemning him for putting on a naïve, sweet, and harmless persona while actually targeting Luo Shujing out of jealousy because Luo Shujing’s family background was inferior to his.
Two days ago, Luo Shujing had quietly climbed back up in popularity by stepping on Luo Cheng’an’s reputation after Xi Yu’s had taken a hit.
As for Xi Yu, hardly anyone criticized him, because Lu Zhixing had far too many fans. Whenever someone said anything, his fans immediately came rushing out.
Their idol’s lifesaver was their lifesaver too!
That left only Luo Cheng’an under attack. The new fans he had just gained weren’t stable yet, and some fence-sitters had already switched sides. The rest didn’t dare speak up.
Luo Shujing wasn’t an A-list celebrity, but he had far more fans than Luo Cheng’an—enough that Luo Cheng’an’s fans simply couldn’t win the argument.
The flames crackled and popped.
Completely unaware that thousands of pages of comments were cursing him, Luo Cheng’an and Yu Qian were still discussing who had caught more crabs, even asking Shen Linchuan to judge.
So noisy, Lu Zhixing thought.
Inside the tent, Xi Yu also felt that it was so noisy.
But it wasn’t the sound of people.
It was his heartbeat.
Inside the not-so-large tent, Xi Yu placed a hand over his heart. His dark, glossy eyes blinked once, then again, slowly revealing a puzzled expression.
How strange, Xi Yu thought.
This was the second time.
Already the second time that being close to Lu Zhixing had made his heartbeat feel so strange.
His current body couldn’t be considered entirely mortal. He wouldn’t get sick.
So why was this happening?
Whenever he got close to Lu Zhixing, he would experience a brief bout of heart palpitations, his heartbeat fast and frantic, as though an invisible giant hand were casually plucking at his heart.
After a long while, Xi Yu suddenly sat upright.
An absurd thought slowly emerged in his mind.
…………………………
Damn demon race! It actually wants to drive him away!
Xi Yu thought about it for a long time before finally figuring it out.
It had to be because the demonic aura in the Lost Forest was too strong. Recently, he had been preventing demonic creatures from appearing, which had consumed too much of his spiritual energy.
The demonic breath inside Lu Zhixing’s body was unstable in this environment. Although it had not yet developed a consciousness, the mutual repulsion between gods and demons was instinctive.
It must be that the demonic breath inside Lu Zhixing had sensed his presence and developed resistance, trying to take advantage of the instability of his spiritual power to make his body feel uncomfortable and force him to automatically distance himself from Lu Zhixing!
A few days ago, when they had first entered the Lost Forest, the demonic breath inside Lu Zhixing had been domineering and powerful, causing Lu Zhixing’s consciousness to briefly become detached.
Later, Lu Zhixing had also suffered headaches and discomfort from being disturbed.
It had all been caused by the demonic breath.
Heh.
A demon that hadn’t even fully formed yet actually dared to try to drive him away.
The demon race really was detestable.
Xi Yu gave a cold laugh, crawled out of the tent, and looked coldly at Lu Zhixing.
“Lu Zhixing, come with me.”
After saying that, Xi Yu headed toward the depths of the forest.
When Lu Zhixing looked up, he was briefly stunned by the cold, disgusted glance Xi Yu threw at him, completely unable to understand why.
Luo Cheng’an also saw it and let out an “oh-ho,” then quietly asked, “When did you offend my brother?”
Shen Linchuan and Yu Qian hadn’t noticed Xi Yu’s expression. They had only heard the cold voice.
Unconcealed and filled with hostility.
The two looked at Lu Zhixing, then at Xi Yu’s tall, slender back, exchanged a glance, and chose to remain silent.
Luo Shujing lifted his eyes to look over, then calmly lowered them again.
All this time, he had been wrong.
His desire to trip Xi Yu up had been completely misguided.
Over these past few days, Xi Yu’s extraordinary abilities had made him understand more clearly than ever that Xi Yu and Luo Cheng’an were different.
Luo Cheng’an was an idiot.
Xi Yu was not.
Even though Luo Shujing didn’t want to admit it, he had no choice but to acknowledge that he wasn’t Xi Yu’s match.
Xi Yu couldn’t be allowed to stay.
As long as Xi Yu remained, Lu Zhixing would never notice him.
Because of Xi Yu, he had already embarrassed himself several times in front of Lu Zhixing.
He had even wet his pants!
And that wasn’t all. That day, Xi Yu had deliberately outplayed him and stolen the spotlight, and the drone had recorded everything.
There would definitely be people who would stop being his fans and become Xi Yu’s fans instead.
This couldn’t continue.
Xi Yu would take everything away from him!
Lu Zhixing, his fans—everything.
No one could take what he wanted!
Only if Xi Yu died could he return to the way things had been before.
No.
That wasn’t right.
It would be even better if both Xi Yu and Luo Cheng’an died.
Luo Cheng’an’s fortune, the Luo family’s wealth, Lu Zhixing’s love, the adoration of his fans…
Every single one of these things would belong to him.
And the foundation for all of it was that Xi Yu and Luo Cheng’an had to die!
Luo Shujing’s hand rested against his pocket. Beneath the shadows, the corners of his lips slowly curled into a chilling smile.
Luo Cheng’an suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He rubbed his hands together and moved closer to the fire, muttering, “Why’s it suddenly so cold?”
Lu Zhixing also felt cold.
The blood throughout his body seemed to have frozen.
He stiffly followed behind Xi Yu, repeatedly trying to recall what he could have done to offend him.
After thinking it over and over, there was only one thing.
Not long ago, by the tree.
But that shouldn’t have been a problem.
He had maintained the distance perfectly.
It was the same distance he had kept when he used to be with his Master.
It was the closest distance at which his Master wouldn’t become angry.
His Master wouldn’t be angry because of that.
And whenever he said he was afraid, his Master would even take the initiative to hold his hand.
His Master…
No.
Lu Zhixing suddenly stopped walking.
Xi Yu happened to stop at the same time.
From a short distance away, Xi Yu turned sideways and looked at Lu Zhixing.
It wasn’t the brief glance from earlier.
This was a long, cold, rejecting gaze.
Completely unmasked.
Painfully hurtful.
His Master had never looked at him like this.
At this moment, Lu Zhixing finally realized that the distance had been wrong.
He was no longer Zhi Yue.
He was Lu Zhixing.
His Master was aloof and disliked people getting close to him. The hand-holding from the past few days had only been because he needed to protect him—or, more accurately, suppress the demonic breath, because he was afraid that if it became unstable, Lu Zhixing would hurt someone.
But today, his demonic breath was stable. His Master could certainly sense that.
Yet he had used such an intimate posture.
That was why his Master was angry.
This angry…
Was his Master warning him?
Lu Zhixing couldn’t describe what he was feeling.
He was too afraid.
Afraid of seeing disgust in his Master’s eyes.
“Xi Yu…”
Lu Zhixing’s voice was hoarse, and his gaze carried an almost pleading expression.
As if he were begging—begging Xi Yu not to look at him like this, and not to say anything that would hurt him.
Xi Yu’s brows furrowed slightly.
He already had an exceptionally beautiful face, and now that his expression was dark and cold, that face had become a weapon capable of killing.
But in reality, Xi Yu wasn’t angry at Lu Zhixing.
He was angry at the demonic breath inside his body.
Xi Yu stepped toward Lu Zhixing and stopped in front of him, his eyes scrutinizing him.
The demonic breath surrounding Lu Zhixing was extremely calm. It wasn’t surging or restless.
Instead, it was desperately restraining itself.
As though it were afraid because of him.
Xi Yu gave a cold laugh.
Pretending.
The demon race was best at disguising itself, then suddenly striking when its prey lowered its guard, showing no mercy.
Lu Zhixing’s heartbeat nearly stopped.
He couldn’t help thinking of the Heavenly Realm in the past.
There had once been a newly ascended god who was young and fearless. He admired his Master and had disguised himself as an immortal attendant to sneak into the Jade Pool while his Master was bathing.
When his Master bathed, even Lu Zhixing himself wasn’t permitted to approach.
That was the first time Lu Zhixing had ever seen his Master become so furious.
He had immediately sent that person into the Ten-Thousand Snake Pit, where he suffered for three days, losing half of his cultivation.
At the time, Lu Zhixing had only felt pleased.
He had also been annoyed with himself for not guarding the door and allowing someone to exploit the opportunity.
But now, what he had done was no different from what that immortal had done back then.
He had overstepped.
He had yearned.
He had used every scheme and every means at his disposal.
A tremendous panic spread through Lu Zhixing’s chest, making his entire body turn completely cold.
Lu Zhixing’s face turned deathly pale, and his whole body swayed as though he might collapse.
The Xi Yu standing before him was the complete opposite of him—cold and icy, regarding everything about Lu Zhixing with indifference.
【???? What did I miss? Did Brother Lu do something to Yu Bao!?】
【No! Please! The CP I’m shipping can’t BE!!! I can’t accept this!!!】
【LOL, Xi Yu is obviously straight, okay? Maybe the two of them agreed to fake a CP before joining the show, but they didn’t expect there to be surveillance in other places too, so they can’t keep pretending anymore, right?】
【CP fans, calm down. Don’t cry yet. Look at it from another angle—this makes it even more confirmed, because Brother Lu is about to shatter.】
【Help! Brother Lu’s eyes are red! Yu Bao, please don’t abandon my Brother Lu!】
【This looks more like Xiang Wang having feelings while the divine man has no such thoughts. Poor Brother Lu, an emperor of the film industry.】
【What did I miss? Why is Yu Bao looking at my Brother Lu like that?】
Lu Zhixing had already forgotten that there were hidden cameras.
His heart was in turmoil.
He even wanted to raise his hand and grab Xi Yu, but the moment he moved, he forcibly stopped himself.
No.
His Master already hated him.
There was no way he could do that now.
Why?
Why could he never distinguish his own identity?
He wasn’t the Zhi Yue whom his Master had treasured in the palm of his hand.
He was Lu Zhixing now.
His Master’s…
Most hated demon.
“Xi Yu, I’m sor—”
……………
Lu Zhixing wanted to say he was sorry.
He wanted to apologize.
He wanted to defend himself.
He wanted to use lies to cover up his mistake.
He even wanted to question Xi Yu.
Why could Luo Cheng’an get close to him while he couldn’t?
Why did Xi Yu become angry simply because he had approached him?
Clearly, in the past, Xi Yu had only allowed him to get close.
But Lu Zhixing didn’t dare.
In front of his Master, he would always be at a disadvantage.
Lu Zhixing’s voice was hoarse. His apology was broken into pieces, but the moment he began speaking, Xi Yu stopped him.
With an action.
Lu Zhixing’s shattered gaze froze.
Then his eyes widened slightly in disbelief as he looked at Xi Yu, who had suddenly embraced him.