But this was his blood, after all, and his safety was at stake. His grandfather wouldn’t refuse, but he would worry about him.
Jiang Yunzheng didn’t want Old Master Jiang to worry.
Xi Yu understood what Jiang Yunzheng meant and replied, “All right.”
Jiang Yunzheng was considering his grandfather’s feelings, and it really was best not to let too many people know about this matter.
Zhi Li was so cunning. Xi Yu was also afraid that if too many people found out, Zhi Li might discover something was amiss and interfere with what he intended to do.
Xi Yu didn’t stay much longer before leaving. After he was gone, Jiang Yunzheng hugged the bag of candied fruit and giggled foolishly to himself.
*
Over the following few days, Jiang Yunzheng did indeed do as he’d said and went to the Luo residence every day.
Shen Qing and Luo Yuan had to leave for the company early each morning, so Jiang Yunzheng didn’t run into them. However, he did cross paths with Luo Cheng’an several times.
Once or twice would have been fine, but for several consecutive days, Jiang Yunzheng kept arriving at Xi Yu’s room first thing in the morning. The two would then stay in the room until evening, and Jiang Yunzheng could even mooch a meal off the Luo family before leaving.
When it was time for him to go, Xi Yu would personally see him home.
As Jiang Yunzheng appeared more and more frequently, Luo Cheng’an’s expression grew increasingly dark.
Xi Yu had set up a barrier around his room. Luo Cheng’an couldn’t enter, and he couldn’t even spy on what was happening inside.
On the evening of the fifth day, Jiang Yunzheng had finished mooching another meal and was once again being escorted upstairs by Xi Yu. Luo Cheng’an finally couldn’t sit still any longer.
Unable to enter Xi Yu’s room, he decided to seek out Lu Zhixing instead.
Both of them had already been exposed. Now, Xi Yu treated both Lu Zhixing and Luo Cheng’an as if they were invisible. Luo Cheng’an had found it gratifying to see Lu Zhixing rejected, but he also felt a vague sense of unease.
The colder Xi Yu was toward Lu Zhixing, the more he hated him. And the more Xi Yu hated him, the less likely Luo Cheng’an, the real culprit behind everything, would ever be forgiven.
The moment Luo Cheng’an entered Lu Zhixing’s room, the overwhelming stench of alcohol made him cover his nose and mouth. He waved his hand, and the dim room suddenly brightened, allowing him to see Lu Zhixing’s current condition clearly.
After only a few days apart, Lu Zhixing had grown alarmingly thin, and the contours of his face had become even sharper. He was huddled in a corner, his black shirt disheveled. Beneath the rolled-up cuffs, black veins could be seen faintly appearing and disappearing.
Scattered around him were bottles of peach blossom wine, a potent liquor from the Heavenly Realm.
Perhaps because he’d been in the darkness for too long, Lu Zhixing was extremely uncomfortable with the sudden light. He narrowed his eyes halfway before slowly opening them again.
His deep-red eyes were eerie and sinister.
Luo Cheng’an frowned at him. “Is getting drunk all you’re capable of now?”
Lu Zhixing leaned his head against the wall, looking utterly dejected. He seemed too exhausted even to speak. He glanced at Luo Cheng’an for a moment, then closed his eyes again.
Luo Cheng’an laughed in exasperation and couldn’t resist sneering at him. “So you’ve given up already? What happened to your ability to coax Lanxing into shutting himself away and make Zhuohua acknowledge you as its master? Weren’t you so capable? Weren’t you the one who wouldn’t allow anyone else near Lanxing? Now Jiang Yunzheng visits him every single day. Aren’t you jealous? Don’t you want to know what they’re doing in that room?”
The provocation in Luo Cheng’an’s words was practically impossible to miss.
He wanted Lu Zhixing to be the villain who acted on his behalf.
It wasn’t that he genuinely believed something would happen between Jiang Yunzheng and Xi Yu.
Although Lanxing never said it outright, the two of them had grown up together, and Luo Cheng’an could sense that Lanxing didn’t want Zhi Li to die.
During this time, he’d repeatedly turned over in his mind the moment Lanxing had shot that arrow at Zhi Li.
One tiny detail had gradually become clearer and clearer in his memory.
It was the look that had flashed through Lanxing’s eyes when Zhuohua acknowledged Zhi Li as its master—a look resembling the relief of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
Lanxing must have known from the beginning that the arrow wouldn’t kill Zhi Li. That was why he’d been able to shoot it so mercilessly.
Only now had Luo Cheng’an finally become certain: even after Zhi Li had become a demon, Lanxing still couldn’t bear to kill him.
If he couldn’t bear to kill him, then what was the point of everything he was doing now?
The unease in Luo Cheng’an’s chest grew heavier and heavier. He felt that Lanxing was playing a game of chess, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out what Lanxing was trying to accomplish.
Moreover, he had a gut feeling that Jiang Yunzheng’s visits over the past few days were part of Xi Yu’s plan.
He couldn’t afford to provoke Lanxing again, so he’d come here to anger Zhi Li instead, hoping to make him lose control and shatter the barrier.
Luo Cheng’an crouched down and spoke softly. “Zhi Li, what do you think Jiang Yunzheng does in Lanxing’s room? Someone as cold and distant as Lanxing has only ever shown you any warmth. Yet now, he’s treating Jiang Yunzheng no worse than he treated you. You’ve been drowning yourself in wine every day, so you probably haven’t noticed, but Lanxing personally walks Jiang Yunzheng home every single day.”
Luo Cheng’an’s voice was low, almost bewitching, while the smile on his lips was cold and lonely.
After a long while, Lu Zhixing finally opened his eyes and said coldly, “Get lost.”
The smile on Luo Cheng’an’s face froze. Two seconds later, his smile grew even wider.
“That’s true, too. You love Lanxing so much that you’d probably hope someone new would be there to keep him company after you die, wouldn’t you? Jiang Yunzheng is actually a lot like you were when you first appeared. He won’t love me anymore, but if he can fall in love with someone else, that’s a good thing, too.”
After saying this, Luo Cheng’an straightened up.
Part of what he’d said was intended to provoke Zhi Li, but part of it was also the truth.
He had already lost Lanxing’s trust.
Lanxing loved Zhi Li and couldn’t bear to let him die, yet he couldn’t accept him, either.
As for Luo Cheng’an, he’d been eliminated from the game entirely. All he wanted now was to retreat to the position of a friend.
In Lu Zhixing’s current condition, he was undoubtedly going to activate the Annihilation Formation. The first Demon Venerable had possessed both divine and demonic natures, carrying both divine bone and demonic veins, yet even he hadn’t survived after entering the Annihilation Formation of his own accord.
Now, Zhi Li didn’t even have divine bone. Once the Annihilation Formation was activated, his death would be all but certain.
Zhi Li’s death was something Luo Cheng’an had always wanted to see.
But now… he wasn’t so sure anymore.
Lanxing loved Zhi Li so deeply. Luo Cheng’an couldn’t be certain what Lanxing would do if Zhi Li died.
Lanxing would never love him or be with him. That much was already settled.
If there really was someone who could stay by Lanxing’s side, it wouldn’t be Luo Cheng’an. Nor would it be Jiang Yunzheng.
Luo Cheng’an had no choice but to admit that if he couldn’t be with Lanxing, then the person he hoped would remain by Lanxing’s side was Zhi Li.
Zhi Li might have countless schemes and innumerable tricks up his sleeve, but he had one redeeming quality: he was capable of giving up everything for Lanxing.
Luo Cheng’an glanced down at Lu Zhixing, kicked aside a wine bottle blocking his way, and vanished from the spot.
…………………..
It seemed Zhi Li was of no use. He would have to find out what Lanxing was planning by other means.
He had a feeling that whatever Lanxing intended to do was something he wouldn’t be able to bear.
He understood Lanxing’s hatred for the demons too well. It was a hatred so deep that Lanxing would abandon Zhi Li and go to his death alone if that was what it took to slaughter the demonic clan.
Yet now, Lanxing loved Zhi Li so much that even after learning he was a demon, he couldn’t bring himself to kill him. That love was so immense and overwhelming that Luo Cheng’an could no longer even feel jealous. All he felt was fear.
He was afraid of Lanxing’s schemes. What exactly was he planning?
After Luo Cheng’an left, Lu Zhixing braced himself against the wall and slowly stood up.
He ran his hand over the hard surface of the wall, his eyes utterly lifeless.
Over the past few days, he had seen Xi Yu walking Jiang Yunzheng home from the balcony every single day.
Every single day…
Watching Xi Yu talk to Jiang Yunzheng and smile at him had felt like a knife twisting in Lu Zhixing’s heart.
Yet the more it hurt, the clearer his thoughts became.
The love and care his Master had shown him over the countless millennia in the Divine Realm could never have been fake.
Even if things truly turned out as Huai Xi had said, and his Master eventually fell in love with someone else, it wouldn’t happen now.
His Master hated him to the bone. With that hatred between them, his Master would have no interest in romance for the foreseeable future.
For now, he wouldn’t do anything. He would simply suppress all the negative emotions stirred up by his demonic aura and wait for the arrival of the Nine Stars Converging with the Moon.
If he could emerge alive from the Annihilation Formation, then he would finally have the right to beg his Master for forgiveness.
If he could make it out alive, he wouldn’t let his Master fall in love with anyone else.
No one.
Huai Xi had already given up. He didn’t share Huai Xi’s mindset of settling for the next best thing, of accepting that if he couldn’t become his Master’s divine consort, he would at least be content to return to being his friend.
If he could emerge from the Annihilation Formation, then even if his Master never loved him, he still wouldn’t accept his Master falling in love with someone else.
And if he couldn’t…
At least when he died, his Master would never have fallen in love with anyone else.
That would be good enough, too.
Lu Zhixing walked toward the balcony, his steps unsteady. He barely managed to steady himself by gripping the railing. Turning his head, he looked toward Xi Yu’s balcony. The black veins on his arm disappeared, and his blood-red eyes turned black again.
A barrier had been set up around Xi Yu’s room. Lu Zhixing couldn’t hear anything; he could only see the shifting light and shadows coming from the room onto the balcony.
He’d drunk too much, and his gaze was unfocused. He stretched his arm out over the balcony railing, bent forward, and rested his head on his arm.
Meanwhile, just one wall away, Xi Yu watched Jiang Yunzheng’s increasingly pale face and took another bag of candied fruit from his ring to give him.
This was already the second bag of the day. As the days passed, the Bihua Green Lotus required more and more blood before it would continue to open.
Now, it had opened more than halfway. Only one more day remained.
Jiang Yunzheng sat on the sofa, holding the candied fruit. After resting for a while, he took a lip balm out of his pocket and applied it to make his lips look less pale. He then patted his cheeks until a little color returned.
“How do I look? Do I look healthy now?”
Xi Yu nodded, feeling somewhat guilty. “Thank you.”
Jiang Yunzheng was already extremely weak, yet he had never once shown the slightest reluctance. And because of his own selfish motives, Xi Yu was practically wearing Jiang Yunzheng’s body down.
Having spent several days with Xi Yu, Jiang Yunzheng was no longer as awkward as he’d been at first. He smiled and said, “All right, all right. I’ve heard you say that so many times my ears are practically growing calluses.”
Xi Yu said, “Don’t worry. I’ll make absolutely sure your body suffers no lasting damage.”
After just one more day, the Bihua Green Lotus would fully mature. By then, he would leave Jiang Yunzheng enough candied fruit to strengthen his body until it was even healthier than an ordinary person’s.
Jiang Yunzheng smiled and stood up. “All right, I…”
Before he could finish his sentence, his vision went black and his body staggered. Xi Yu hurriedly caught him. He was about to send some spiritual power into him, but then remembered that he’d already given him quite a lot just moments ago.