What was this red outfit he was wearing?
Xi Yu snapped his fingers, and a glazed mirror appeared in front of him. Only then did he get a clear look at what he was wearing.
He now had Lanxing’s face, dressed in a red robe. His black hair was tied up and secured with a gilded crown, and a golden sash encircled his waist, from which hung silver-metal pear-blossom tassels.
Those tassels were what had been making that clinking sound as he walked earlier.
What a strange outfit.
But it actually looked pretty good.
Xi Yu lowered his head and looked at the outfit. It seemed like… like…
He couldn’t remember what it looked like, but he just felt that it was quite beautiful.
This illusion wasn’t too bad. Going by what he had imagined, he felt that when Zhi Yue saw him later, he would definitely say, “Shizun is handsome.”
Xi Yu put away the glazed mirror and prepared to step outside the hall. The moment he moved, the tassels around his waist began clinking again, and this time the sound was even clearer.
Xi Yu hooked one section of the tassels into his hand and hurried toward the exit of the hall.
But just as he was about to cross the threshold, a faint sound came from behind him.
“Shizun…”
Xi Yu stopped in his tracks, his gaze shifting toward the bed several meters away, which was obscured by red gauze.
“Shizun… is that you?”
Another voice. Unlike the faint, weak sound before, this one was clearer, but trembling, carrying a sense of frightened vulnerability.
As though he were afraid…
Xi Yu’s heart sank, and he hurried toward the bed.
Damn this illusion. Could someone have done something to his disciple?!
How could the deepest desire in his heart make Zhi Yue sound so terrified?
Xi Yu had no time to think. He crossed the distance in three quick steps, waving his hand and using magic to tie back the red gauze.
“Zhi—”
Xi Yu didn’t even manage to call out Zhi Yue’s name. The expression on his face suddenly became flustered, so flustered that he abruptly took a step backward.
The gauze had been pulled aside. Even though Xi Yu retreated, the scene before him could no longer be concealed, crashing straight into his eyes.
The person he had been unable to find anywhere was now curled up in the corner of the bed, wearing the same clothes as him.
But they were also different.
Xi Yu’s clothes were neat and proper, while Zhi Yue’s red robe hung loosely from his body, exposing his jade-white neck. His waterfall-like black hair was bound by a golden crown, with one strand curling around his neck. A faint flush colored his peerlessly handsome face, and a cinnabar-red mark rested between his brows, making him breathtakingly beautiful.
“You…” Xi Yu swallowed, then tremblingly pointed at Zhi Yue. “What… what are you doing?”
Zhi Yue stared at Xi Yu, his eyes glistening with moisture. Hearing Xi Yu’s question, panic appeared on his face. He hurriedly crawled to the edge of the bed, then extended the tip of his tongue and took Xi Yu’s fingertip into his mouth.
His wet, soft tongue curled around Xi Yu’s fingertip, then slowly licked upward, lightly holding and nibbling at the bones of his finger, as though savoring the most delicious delicacy in the world.
Xi Yu’s chest trembled. His eyes suddenly widened, and all the blood in his body seemed to rush to his head, along with…
“Zhi Yue!” Xi Yu abruptly pulled his hand back, his voice trembling. “What are you doing!”
Xi Yu had withdrawn his hand so suddenly that Zhi Yue seemed unable to react. He remained frozen in his previous position, a section of his crimson tongue, glistening with moisture, visible between his red lips.
Xi Yu’s wet fingertip tingled with numbness. He instinctively hid his hand behind his back, feeling that this illusion was far too absurd. He closed his eyes and was just about to forcibly break out of the illusion when something suddenly grew heavy around his neck. At the same moment that the scent of sandalwood rushed into his nose, warmth pressed against his lips.
Xi Yu’s eyes flew open, meeting Zhi Yue’s frightened and uneasy gaze.
“Shizun, please don’t be angry. Your disciple will definitely serve Shizun well.”
Zhi Yue’s words came out in a winding, lingering tone, carrying damp warmth as they drifted toward Xi Yu.
After speaking, Zhi Yue’s fingertips hooked onto Xi Yu’s sash.
Xi Yu stiffened completely. Before he could react, Zhi Yue had already pushed him beneath him.
Xi Yu was just about to lose his temper, but the moment his gaze fell on Zhi Yue, his anger suddenly vanished.
Zhi Yue was kneeling astride Xi Yu’s waist. He undid his loose sash, and the already loosely hanging red robe slipped from his shoulders, revealing something Xi Yu had not seen before…
Crisscrossing whip marks, red and bleeding.
Xi Yu hooked an arm around Zhi Yue’s waist and sat up, using the motion to pull him into his embrace. When he saw that Zhi Yue’s back and chest were covered in whip marks, his eyes turned cold, and his voice was icy.
“Who gave you these whip marks?!”
Even knowing that this was an illusion, seeing the little one he cherished above all else now covered in red marks across his chest, his face filled with fear, Xi Yu was unable to suppress the rage surging through him.
The Heart-Probing Stone truly deserved to be guarding Wutong Village. At this moment, he had no attention left for anything else. He stared straight at Zhi Yue, waiting for his disciple to tell him who had been bold enough to lay a hand on his person.
As long as Zhi Yue told him, he would definitely tear that person’s flesh from their bones and flay them alive to vent the hatred in his heart!
Xi Yu waited for a long time, only to see the corners of Zhi Yue’s eyes slowly redden, as though he had suffered countless grievances and torments. The sight made Xi Yu’s heart ache and go numb.
“Don’t cry. Tell Shizun who did this.”
Xi Yu coaxed him gently, raising a hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of Zhi Yue’s eyes.
But the moment he raised his hand, Zhi Yue flinched. His expression was full of fear and dread. He hurriedly wrapped his arms around Xi Yu’s neck and pleaded softly,
“Please, Shizun, be kind to me. Don’t hit me anymore. Your disciple really has already learned how to serve Shizun.”
As Zhi Yue spoke, he rubbed lightly against the corner of Xi Yu’s lips. Soft, dense kisses fell like raindrops. He took Xi Yu’s earlobe between his lips, licking and sucking at it, trembling with fear.
Xi Yu was kissed into a state of panic and confusion. He suddenly pushed Zhi Yue away and asked incredulously,
“You mean… the whip marks on your body were caused by me?!”
After being pushed away, Zhi Yue whimpered. He avoided Xi Yu’s gaze, afraid to look at him again, yet seeming even more frightened that he would be punished. He crawled on his knees toward Xi Yu and pressed himself against him again, constantly begging for mercy.
“Did I do something wrong again and make Shizun angry? Please, Shizun, considering that today is our wedding day, can you spare your disciple just this once?”
……………………..
Zhi Yue’s words struck Xi Yu like a bolt of lightning.
“W… wedding?” Xi Yu asked in horror. “You said you’re getting married to who?!”
“Shi… no, husband…” Zhi Yue clung to Xi Yu as though terrified he would be pushed away again. Wrapping his arms around his waist, he answered in a soft, clingy voice,
“Marrying my husband. Yue’er won’t ever dare run away again. Please, husband, forgive Yue’er this once. From now on, Yue’er will definitely serve husband well. Husband~”
The several times Zhi Yue called him “husband” struck down like heavy blows.
Xi Yu finally understood what had been wrong with the clothes he was wearing!
This fucking thing was wedding attire!
And what Zhi Yue had been saying—what the hell was he talking about?!
What did he mean by never running away again?
How was he supposed to “serve” him?!
Combined with Zhi Yue’s broken, helpless appearance from earlier, how could Xi Yu possibly not understand what was happening?!
Wasn’t this basically him taking Zhi Yue by force, Zhi Yue trying and failing to escape, only to be dragged back to Lanxing Hall and forced into submission?!
Xi Yu turned to stone.
As though afraid Xi Yu would punish him again, Zhi Yue took advantage of the moment to undo Xi Yu’s sash, slipped his hand inside, then raised his head and kissed him, pressing him down with the motion.
Xi Yu was bewildered and incredulous.
How could this be…
How could the thing he desired most within the Heart-Probing Stone be this?!
It was fake!
It was all fake!
Xi Yu tried to comfort himself with those thoughts, but his heart sank lower and lower, because he discovered that he actually…
really liked Zhi Yue like this.
He liked the red marks on Zhi Yue’s body.
He liked his tearful, damp eyes.
He liked his… moist, slightly cool lips.
Xi Yu’s eyelashes trembled as he quietly closed his eyes, yet his heart seemed to have been woven into a strange shape by a fine, intricate net.
A deformed, terrifying shape.
Everything he had deliberately ignored since their reunion came surging back at this moment.
Why had his heart started beating faster whenever he embraced Zhi Yue after recognizing him? It turned out that it hadn’t been the demonic energy trying to drive him away at all.
Why had he insisted on holding Zhi Yue every night after recognizing him? If he truly was merely worried about him, one room and one bed would have been enough. Why did they have to hold each other?
And why had he kissed Zhi Yue when the demonic energy had been suppressing him? There had been so many ways to give Zhi Yue his blood. His fingertip, his wrist, even his shoulder would have been enough for Zhi Yue to bite. So why had it had to be his lips?
The things Xi Yu had ignored, or perhaps the things he had always been unwilling to admit, were now being dug out by the Heart-Probing Stone and laid bare before him.
So it turned out…
It turned out to be his heart.
Xi Yu felt Zhi Yue’s soft, wet tongue curling around his own, and he didn’t know when he had begun responding.
Unconsciously.
Unable to control himself.
This was the Heart-Probing Stone, capable of drawing out the thing a person desired most in their heart.
Only now did Xi Yu realize that his feelings toward Zhi Yue had actually become this…
this shameful.
When Xi Yu opened his eyes again, his gaze had become deep and dark. He caught Zhi Yue’s hand as it moved downward.
Zhi Yue looked at him in confusion. Xi Yu rolled over and pinned him beneath him, his pair of glistening, tender eyes fixed on Zhi Yue.
“Husband…” Zhi Yue bit his lip and asked, “Was Yue’er not good enough at serving you?”
As he spoke, Zhi Yue tugged at Xi Yu’s collar, looking utterly terrified, as though he had no choice but to submit, no choice but to flatter him—helpless and fragile.
Xi Yu stared at Zhi Yue for a long while. When Zhi Yue grew increasingly frightened and even raised his head to continue pleasing him, Xi Yu suddenly let out a soft laugh.
The laugh was muffled in his throat, like a reef just emerging from beneath the water—low, yet extraordinarily clear.
Xi Yu now had Lanxing’s face, an exceptionally cold and elegant countenance. Thin lips and snow-white skin, beautiful yet seemingly cold and indifferent.
But at this moment, his smile was like the thawing of all things, revealing a breathtaking, dazzling beauty.
Xi Yu’s lips had been kissed until they were red, like ripe cherries, as though the slightest squeeze would cause their sweet juice to spill out.
With those lips, Xi Yu pressed a kiss to the cinnabar mark between Zhi Yue’s brows.
It was light and gentle, yet filled with the utmost tenderness and cherishment.
“Good Yue’er,” Xi Yu said. “Wait for your husband to come back. When I do, you’ll have to serve your husband well.”
After saying this, Xi Yu looked at Zhi Yue with deep reluctance and regret.
But at the same time, he gathered the spiritual power throughout his body and forcibly broke through the barrier.
He would never be able to leave this Heart-Probing Stone unless he forcibly broke his way out.