Over the next two days, aside from working with Wei Ting to finalize their plan, Xu Muchan spent all his other time in the West Courtyard.
Although the deity had no memories, it seemed to like the West Courtyard very much as well. It would often stand in the pavilion where Wei Xilou used to spend so much time, gazing at the scenery outside.
At times like these, Xu Muchan would always stay by its side. While it gazed into the distance, Xu Muchan would tilt his head up and look at it.
Sometimes, he even felt that the person standing before him had never been a deity at all, and had always been the Eldest Young Master of the Wei family, Wei Xilou.
Xu Muchan grabbed its arm and rubbed his forehead lightly against it. In a soft voice, he asked, “Brother, if I do something bad, will you get angry?”
The person in front of him turned around and looked at him in apparent confusion. “What bad thing?”
Xu Muchan looked at him and smiled slyly. “You’ll find out later.”
Today was already the final day of his agreement with Wei Ting.
Looking at the sky, which had already grown dark, Xu Muchan took the deity’s hand and led it toward the main house. “Brother, let’s go to sleep.”
It was unusually quiet as it allowed Xu Muchan to lead it into the main house. Xu Muchan sat down beside the bed, tilted his head, and looked at it. “You don’t have to coax me to sleep tonight. I want to sleep by myself.”
After saying that, he took off his outer robe, leaving only his close-fitting inner clothes, then climbed to the inside of the bed. He turned his face toward the deity standing beside the bed. “Brother, aren’t you coming up?”
The deity lay down in the spot he had deliberately left open for it and turned sideways to face him, its scarlet vertical pupils staring without blinking.
Xu Muchan shifted around on the bed a few times and easily slipped into its arms. Then he hugged its arm tightly.
Seeing that it was still staring at him with its scarlet eyes open, Xu Muchan reached out to cover its eyes. His lips were almost touching the back of his hand as he whispered, “Brother, this time, it’s your turn to close your eyes.”
It obediently closed its eyes.
Xu Muchan gazed at that face, which had almost become completely unrecognizable, for a long time. Yet he did not find it all that unfamiliar. He even lowered his head and gently kissed the closed vertical pupil. Only then, embarrassed, did he once again hide himself in the other’s arms, burying his cheek against its chest as he murmured, “Brother, good night.”
“Baby, good night.”
Although it did not know what “good night” meant, the deity imitated him and gave him the same response.
The main house fell silent. Xu Muchan maintained the same position without moving, silently calculating where Wei Ting should have reached by now.
According to their plan, he had already moved all the other members of the Wei family away from the Ascension Tower that afternoon. Now he was also keeping Brother occupied. If everything had gone smoothly, Wei Ting should have already infiltrated the Ascension Tower with his people by this point.
Xu Muchan silently calculated the time, only to suddenly feel the chest beneath his palm rise and fall sharply.
He immediately looked up and saw that the vertical pupils on Brother’s face had already opened. The scarlet eyeballs shifted within the slits, and he was clearly preparing to get up.
Most likely, Wei Ting had already made his move, and Brother had sensed it. Xu Muchan hurried after him and grabbed his arm. “Brother, what’s wrong?”
The deity turned toward the Ascension Tower, his voice filled with heavy anger.
“Thief.”
Xu Muchan pressed his lips together. Then, without hesitation, he swung himself over and straddled his waist, using all his strength to force him back down. He lowered his head and kissed him once, then pressed his face against his and said, “Brother, I still want to see you again.”
The scarlet vertical pupils blinked. The person beneath him stared intently at him. Xu Muchan felt that the force resisting him had weakened, so he covered the deity’s eyes with both hands and kissed him again.
A faint blush rose across his face, and although he looked somewhat embarrassed, he firmly held the other person down and refused to let him get up.
“Brother, don’t worry about the thief.”
The person he was forcefully holding down seemed to relent. Sure enough, he made no further attempt to struggle. Instead, more arms emerged from behind him, wrapping around Xu Muchan’s arms and waist and encircling him completely.
This time, Xu Muchan did not resist. Instead, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that Wei Ting could move quickly and cleanly.
But clearly, he had relaxed too soon.
The moment he let out that breath, the person beneath him twisted his waist. Their positions suddenly reversed, and Xu Muchan was pressed into the soft bedding by countless arms, instantly rendered unable to move.
The deity above him imitated his earlier actions, kissing him lightly on the lips and then placing another kiss on his eyelid.
Xu Muchan’s eyelids immediately began to grow heavy. He bit down on his tongue, desperately resisting the drowsiness sweeping over him. With his weakening arms, he desperately grabbed hold of the person who was preparing to get up and leave, throwing his entire body forward in a clumsy lunge.
“Brother, don’t go.”
Perhaps because he was too agitated, his pupils unknowingly turned black-red, and the wave of sleepiness attacking him dissipated along with it.
Xu Muchan immediately became much more clear-headed. He swiftly removed the Mountain God Tablet from around his neck, wrapped it around his wrist, and then used both his hands and feet to cling tightly to the person who was trying to leave.
Without the Mountain God Tablet, Xu Muchan finally succeeded in transforming into a ghost.
The long hair that had suddenly grown wildly behind him sensed Xu Muchan’s intentions. Like enormous snakes, strand after strand coiled around the struggling deity, binding him tightly.
“Baby, you’re being naughty.”
As though he had become angry, the deity’s gaze at Xu Muchan was no longer gentle. More arms stretched out from behind him, grabbing the black hair that had wrapped itself around him like snakes.
The black hair writhed through his hands. Xu Muchan raised his head and met his gaze, gritting his teeth as he said, “I’m not going to let you go. If you’re going to fight me, then try.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the long hair winding around his palm made several loops, binding the deity’s outstretched arms behind his back.
The deity lowered his head and looked at the person clinging desperately to him.
Those strands of hair were not indestructible. If he wanted to break free, it was not impossible.
But doing so would only make the person in his arms even weaker.
Xu Muchan’s body trembled slightly. Because he was enduring an oppression and rejection far too intense, a faint sweetness of blood rose in his throat.
When he had first arrived here, he had also tried to transform into a ghost. But at that time, the transformation had failed. Not only that, he had also felt an intense sense of oppression and rejection.
Only after transforming into a ghost did he realize that the oppression and rejection he had experienced before had been nothing compared to this.
He had never belonged to this era in the first place, and this space-time rejected him. Now that he had transformed into a ghost, the rejection had become even stronger, to the point that it was already rebounding back onto his own body.
Bright-red blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Xu Muchan clenched his teeth tightly, afraid that if he showed even the slightest sign of weakness, Brother would take the opportunity to break free.
He did not know that the deity had lowered his head and seen everything.
The struggling stopped.
The deity caught the body that was slowly sliding downward, pulled him into his arms, and placed his own finger into Xu Muchan’s mouth, coaxing him gently.
“Baby, eat.”
Xu Muchan’s vision blurred again and again. When the thick liquid slipped into his mouth, he instinctively began to suck.
The liquid he swallowed improved his condition considerably, but the world’s rejection of him did not lessen.
He vaguely realized that he probably would not be able to remain here much longer. He could only force his eyes wide and look at the person holding him. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Brother, you have to be well. We’ll meet again.”
The deity holding him lowered his head and gently patted him, soothing him.
“Don’t cry.”
Xu Muchan’s vision became extremely blurred. He still wanted to say something. He opened his mouth, but then suddenly lost consciousness—
“Faster! I feel like something isn’t right…” Wei Ting urged the others in a lowered voice.
All of them had cloths wrapped around their faces, concealing their strange features.
A carriage was stopped outside the Ascension Tower. Several people worked together to lift the heavy coffin onto it. Wei Ting hurriedly climbed into the carriage and called to the others, “Get in! Let’s go!”
Although Xu Muchan had said that the side entrance was already open, Wei Ting remained anxious and uncertain until the very moment they drove the carriage out.
The horse, struck with a whip, raised its hooves and let out a shrill neigh before charging wildly through the side entrance, pulling a carriage full of people and a coffin into the darkness of the night.
At the same time, the main gate of the Wei residence was smashed open.
A group of people dressed in all sorts of different clothes rushed in carrying torches. The man at the front wore a Daoist robe. He frowned and said, “Such heavy Yin energy. I told you—the Wei family’s gates have been tightly shut for so long. Something must have happened.”
The group carried their torches over the high threshold and headed deeper into the old residence.
Meanwhile, Wei Ting was desperately gripping the ropes around the coffin, his face pale as he controlled the horses and drove wildly into the depths of the night.
Because they had been in such a hurry, the ropes securing the coffin had not been tied very tightly. With all the jolting of the carriage, they loosened, and the coffin lid opened a crack.
Wei Ting noticed it and hurriedly gestured to the others in a panic.
“The ropes holding the coffin are loose! Hurry and tie them again!”
The others had already regained consciousness, but their symptoms were far more severe than Wei Ting’s. At this moment, they could only carry out his orders stiffly and mechanically, with sluggish movements.
But before they could finish retying the ropes, a pale hand suddenly reached out through the gap in the coffin.
The sturdy ropes were forcibly snapped.
The heavy coffin lid was pushed aside, and Wei Xilou, who had already been dead for a long time, sat up from inside the coffin and looked toward Wei Ting, who was trembling with fear and huddling together with the others.
“B-B-Big Brother…”
Wei Ting was so terrified that he could barely speak. Inside, he was cursing Xu Muchan for deceiving him.
Wei Xilou stared at him expressionlessly for a long time.
Just when Wei Ting was almost frightened unconscious, he heard him say, “I still have some matters to take care of. You go to Jiang City first. I’ll come find you afterward.”
After saying that, he jumped down from the carriage, and his figure disappeared into the darkness.
Still shaken, Wei Ting lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside. There was nothing to be seen.
He clasped his hands together and gave an awkward, somewhat nonsensical bow, sincerely hoping that once Big Brother left this time, he would never come back—and, even more importantly, never come looking for him again.