It sounded like the demonic aura had gotten the upper hand.
“Lu Zhixing.” Xi Yu called out.
The next second, spiritual power gathered in Xi Yu’s palm. The instant Lu Zhixing looked over, Xi Yu struck without warning, the movement swift and decisive, carrying an overwhelming killing intent.
Lu Zhixing’s pupils abruptly contracted, and he instinctively closed his eyes.
The pain he expected never came. Lu Zhixing’s eyelashes trembled as he slowly opened his eyes.
The spiritual power in Xi Yu’s palm had dispersed at the very last second. His fair palm was only a centimeter away from Lu Zhixing’s face.
“You… you were going to hit me again!?”
Xi Yu withdrew his hand and apologized with complete sincerity. “Sorry. I just got an itch to hit something.”
He had only wanted to determine whether Lu Zhixing could control the demonic aura.
That strike just now had carried killing intent.
Whether god or demon, when faced with an attack, they would instinctively retaliate.
But Lu Zhixing hadn’t.
Neither of the two forces inside his body was under his control.
Otherwise, in a moment of danger, at least one of those forces would instinctively leak out from his body.
Fortunately, it hadn’t…
If it had… that would have proven that this body had already been possessed by a demon.
Lu Zhixing would no longer be Lu Zhixing.
He would be—the new Demon Lord.
A Demon Lord who had already taken control of this body’s mind, lying dormant and waiting for the right moment to fully emerge into the world.
Aside from the possibility of the Demon Lord’s emergence destroying Lu Zhixing’s body, there was another possibility: the Demon Lord could take this body for himself.
But that possibility was extremely small, because Zhili’s spiritual power was still inside it.
Unless the demonic aura became powerful enough to devour Zhili’s spiritual power and freely replace it.
That possibility was even smaller.
Gods and demons were mutually repulsive. If demonic aura could devour spiritual power, then it would mean having both god and demon within the same body.
Since the creation of the heavens and earth, there had only been one such existence.
The First Demon Lord.
If the demonic aura inside Lu Zhixing’s body had already become that powerful, there would be no need to disguise itself.
Even with only half of his cultivation now, Xi Yu knew that even at his peak a thousand years ago, he wouldn’t have been able to suppress such a being.
The possibility was vanishingly small, but Xi Yu still couldn’t rest easy without testing it.
Lu Zhixing had said that he entered the illusion under the protection of the ring, which was why he hadn’t been affected too much and had merely seen some things he shouldn’t have.
But Xi Yu had already begun to have doubts.
Once suspicion took root, he had to get to the bottom of it.
As for the possibility of the demon clan emerging into the world, Xi Yu would stamp it out at the source even if there were only the slightest trace of a possibility.
He wasn’t certain whether Lu Zhixing was telling the truth or lying. The demon clan was full of schemes, and with one of them residing inside this body, Xi Yu couldn’t completely relax.
That meant he couldn’t completely trust Lu Zhixing either.
But now, it seemed that he had misunderstood Lu Zhixing.
A misunderstanding was better.
Lu Zhixing’s body, as a vessel, could not afford to suffer any mishap, much less fall under the control of the demon clan.
He absolutely had to protect this body.
Once Xi Yu confirmed that Lu Zhixing couldn’t control the forces inside his body, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the illusion had been real as well. Lu Zhixing hadn’t entered the illusion at all.
He had entered Xi Yu’s.
And he had even seen…
“By the way.” Xi Yu cleared his throat. “What you saw in the illusion wasn’t my true form. Zhili has two masters. What you saw was someone else.”
………………..
Lu Zhixing was puzzled. “Two masters?”
Xi Yu said seriously, “That’s right. I’m the First Master, and he has a Second Master as well.”
Lu Zhixing spoke slowly. “You didn’t see it yourself, so how can you be sure that wasn’t the First Master’s true form?”
Xi Yu said with utmost seriousness, “I’m very strict. I never fool around or joke around with my disciples.”
“I see.” Lu Zhixing put on an expression of sudden realization.
Xi Yu nodded firmly, then immediately wanted to send him away.
There was nothing more about Lu Zhixing that needed investigating. He still wanted to get a good night’s sleep.
Xi Yu was preparing to teleport him back when his hand had only halfway risen and his phone rang.
He hardly ever used his phone. He hadn’t even brought it with him when he went on the variety show. When he moved, the Luo couple had brought it over for him, charged it, and put it away.
Xi Yu followed the sound. Just before the phone automatically hung up, he barely managed to answer it.
Lu Zhixing didn’t enter the room. He leaned against the railing, staring at Xi Yu’s back, his fingertips turning white.
If Xi Yu touched him right now, he would be able to feel the bone-deep cold.
Xi Yu sat on the edge of the bed to take the call. His silk pajamas clung to his back, making him look thin and fragile. A section of his pale nape was exposed, almost dazzlingly white. His whole person looked clean and gentle.
But Lu Zhixing knew that although his Master appeared refined and gentle, with an extraordinary capacity for tolerance…
Once he made up his mind about something, he would take it all the way to the bitter end.
For example, he would rather extract Lu Zhixing’s memories than allow even the slightest possibility of him being harmed.
Or, for example, even after the demon clan had submitted a letter of surrender, he would rather perish alongside them than allow a single demon to survive.
His Master originally hadn’t needed to die.
The previous Demon Lord had never been his Master’s match. It was his Master who insisted on slaughtering the entire demon clan, even at the cost of exhausting all his strength, even at the cost of abandoning him and going alone to his death. He had refused to retreat.
Precisely because Lu Zhixing knew how much his Master hated the demon clan, he had to keep this secret buried.
Just now, he had almost… almost exposed himself.
Fortunately, he would never retaliate against his Master.
But he had still been suspected.
He had been far too careless.
Far too careless.
He had to be more careful.
He had to keep his distance from his Master.
It was so hard…
This was too difficult.
It was painful.
Had his Master felt this much pain in the First Layer of the illusion as well?
There were three layers to the illusion. Huai Xi had led him through two of them.
Both layers had contained him—one filled with pleasure, the other with regret.
Then what about the first layer?
The Realm of Pain.
Of his Master’s three-layer illusion, only the first layer could not be peered into.
When the pain in someone’s heart became too great, it could transform into an obsession and give rise to a barrier.
That barrier could protect the person who entered the illusion, preventing the Phantom Demon from stealing their memories after they left.
Only those who became lost inside the illusion would have all their memories absorbed by the Phantom Demon and transformed into its magical power.
The deeper the pain and obsession, the thicker the barrier.
His Master’s First Layer was unknown even to the Phantom Demon. It couldn’t be seen in Huai Xi’s water realm either.
What could it be?
How much pain must someone have endured to reach such a point?
And yet, he had never once heard his Master speak of anything like that.
“What are you spacing out for?”
Xi Yu hung up the phone and turned around, only to see Lu Zhixing standing there in a daze, like a stone statue.
Lu Zhixing came back to himself. “I was thinking… about when I might become a normal person.”
If he could shed the demonic bloodline, even if he couldn’t become a god, he could become an ordinary human.
Or becoming his original form would be fine too.
His Master would raise him to adulthood.
Anything was fine, as long as he wasn’t a demon.
Xi Yu put down his phone. It felt as though a string in his heart had snapped, unexpectedly winding itself around his chest and stirring up a trace of regret.
There wasn’t much of it, but it was enough to make him uncomfortable.
Lu Zhixing could have had a brilliant, radiant life.
Even as a vessel, he was still flesh and blood, with his own thoughts.
But the two forces inside his body were entangled with each other, attracting those filthy things.
He was still so young. Seeing those things must have frightened him terribly.
Becoming a vessel hadn’t been his choice.
Already suffering because he was different from everyone else, he had now been suspected by Xi Yu as well.
But even if he could do it all over again, Xi Yu wouldn’t regret it.
“It’ll be soon,” Xi Yu said.
Once he found Zhuohua.
Lu Zhixing smiled, somewhat bitterly and with some reluctance.
A fine, dense ache spread through Xi Yu’s chest. It was so faint that he could barely grasp it.
Lu Zhixing’s loneliness had appeared at exactly the right moment, but it quickly disappeared before Xi Yu’s eyes. He smiled and changed the subject.
“Who was calling you just now? I heard you turning them down the whole time. Is there anything I can help with?”
Xi Yu thought for a moment. “Actually, there is. Do you know anything about Shen Linchuan? He just called and said he wanted to buy the… Golden Jade Bracelet.”
He had offered an astronomical price, saying that as long as Xi Yu agreed, he would accept any conditions.
What an enticing offer.
Unfortunately, Xi Yu couldn’t give him Liuyun.
“Shen Linchuan?” Lu Zhixing said. “I haven’t dealt with him much, but I’ve heard a little about him.”
Xi Yu asked, “What have you heard?”
Lu Zhixing walked into the room and sat down on the sofa. “Shen Linchuan is pretty low-key. Aside from the fact that he’s insanely good at making money—which has led some of the Shen family’s people to make a few comments in private—there isn’t much public opinion about him. His wife, on the other hand, is fairly famous. Not because of her family background. It’s more because… she’s devoted, I guess.”
“Shen Linchuan’s wife is surnamed Liu. If I remember correctly, her name is Liu Tanghuan. Well…”
Lu Zhixing suddenly faltered, as though he found what came next difficult to say.
Xi Yu impatiently plopped down beside him and bumped him with his shoulder. “Go on!”
Lu Zhixing looked somewhat helpless. “The Shen and Liu families had an arranged marriage between their children. It was supposed to be a happy occasion. But after Miss Liu returned from studying abroad, she met a man while interning at her family’s company.”
“He was just a low-level employee. Apparently, he was fairly good-looking, and he charmed Miss Liu until she became completely obsessed with him. She lowered herself to follow him around, serving him tea and water, and even promoted him to the position of director.”
“That man wasn’t capable enough and lost several deals in a row. That alone wouldn’t have been a huge problem, but he took advantage of Liu Tanghuan’s affection for him and started throwing his weight around, causing trouble everywhere. Eventually, everyone in their circle knew about it. In effect, he was trampling all over the dignity of Shen Linchuan, who was engaged to Liu Tanghuan.”
“They kept things up for more than half a year. Then that man embezzled company funds, causing the Liu family’s cash flow to collapse and nearly driving the company into bankruptcy. It was only because Shen Linchuan injected capital that they survived.”
“Later, Chairman Liu kicked that man out of the company. He didn’t press charges either. Apparently, Liu Tanghuan threatened to take her own life and swore that she would never associate with that man again, so he let him off.”
“He thought the matter was finally over, but not long afterward, Liu Tanghuan eloped with that man—on the very day she was supposed to get engaged to Shen Linchuan.”
Xi Yu’s brows drew tightly together as he listened. “Eloped?”
Lu Zhixing thought for a moment before saying, “Yes. After that, Liu Tanghuan disappeared from the public eye. Chairman Liu was so furious during that period that he ended up hospitalized. There were even reporters trying to track down Liu Tanghuan and dig up some big news, but Shen Linchuan suppressed all of it.”