Then why did he feel he had the right to decide what happened to them?
It was because, deep in his subconscious, he considered himself and Zhuli to be inseparable, as though there were no distinction between what belonged to him and what belonged to Zhuli.
He had never imagined that these inanimate objects could provoke Zhuli to such an extent.
During this period, he had said every hurtful thing imaginable. Verbal humiliation, merciless slaps, and treating Zhuli as though he did not exist had all failed to make Zhuli hate him in the slightest.
Yet because of these inanimate objects, Zhuli was now looking at him with this expression.
Xi Yu thought he should be happy. This was exactly what he wanted. He wanted Zhuli to hate him. He wanted Zhuli to remember this lesson so deeply that it would be etched into his bones.
But Xi Yu could not bring himself to feel happy.
As he looked at Zhuli, he even felt an urge to cry.
Zhuli was far too obsessive. He was not afraid of death, nor was he afraid that Xi Yu would learn the truth and despise him. He was not afraid of Xi Yu’s coldness or mercilessness, either. Xi Yu had never been able to find Zhuli’s weakness.
But now, he had finally found it.
Zhuli was afraid of being replaced.
Zhuli was afraid that Xi Yu would give all his affection and indulgence to someone else.
Xi Yu’s gaze dropped almost uncontrollably. He had obtained the hatred he wanted, yet he could not bring himself to look into Zhuli’s eyes.
But he could not afford to soften his heart. Especially not now.
Zhuli was far too stubborn. He refused to listen to reason. Now that Xi Yu had finally found what he feared, he had to seize it firmly and squeeze until Zhuli could no longer breathe, leaving him no chance to recover. Only then could Xi Yu carry out what he needed to do with peace of mind.
Xi Yu brushed Lu Zhixing’s hand away. When he raised his eyes again, his gaze was cold and merciless.
“Yes, he is wonderful. Those things belong to whoever I want to give them to. The candied fruit, the bone bed, even everything inside the Lanxing Hall. As long as Jiang Yunzheng wants them, I’ll give him—”
“Shut up! Shut up!”
Lu Zhixing’s chest heaved violently. Large patches of black spread along the meridians beneath his skin, climbing all the way up his neck. He seized Xi Yu by the throat and instantly forced him down onto the bed. Then he leaned over him and sealed his lips with a kiss.
Lu Zhixing moved too quickly for Xi Yu to react. Or rather, Xi Yu had never imagined that Lu Zhixing would dare to be so brazen.
When he tasted the lingering alcohol on Lu Zhixing’s tongue, his eyes widened slightly. Immediately afterward, he began struggling violently.
Lu Zhixing pinned Xi Yu’s hands above his head and held them there, biting at his lips with almost savage force.
This was not the first time the two of them had kissed.
The first time had been when Lu Zhixing lost control of his demonic energy. Back then, Lu Zhixing had been very inexperienced.
At the time, Xi Yu had been so determined to protect his own disciple that he had swallowed his embarrassment and offered Lu Zhixing a kiss.
Later, at Wutong Stockade, after realizing his own feelings, he had coaxed Lu Zhixing into growing intimate with him, their cheeks brushing and their lips meeting. Back then, he had thought kissing was an exceedingly pleasurable thing.
But now, Xi Yu felt only a chill coursing through his chest. It was as though a wound had been torn open in his heart and filled with countless shards of ice.
What Lu Zhixing was doing could hardly be called kissing anymore. It was more like biting. He had no technique and no clear purpose, as though he simply wanted to use this method to get closer to Xi Yu.
He was a snake. Even when he took on a human form, his body temperature was slightly lower than that of an ordinary person.
Xi Yu’s tongue was soft and warm. Lu Zhixing tangled his own with it and sucked at it, unable to understand how someone whose lips and tongue were so warm and soft could say things so cruel.
Xi Yu’s breath was being stolen away. Lu Zhixing was overwhelmed by such profound despair that his entire body trembled. That fear passed into Xi Yu’s body, abruptly bringing him back to his senses.
Xi Yu’s gaze gradually cleared. He opened his mouth and bit down on the tongue that was ravaging his mouth.
Thin threads of blood spread between their lips, overpowering the smell of alcohol lingering there.
Lu Zhixing recoiled slightly from the pain.
Xi Yu thought he was about to retreat, but in the next instant, Lu Zhixing kissed him even more fiercely. It was like a dying man consuming his final meal, with nothing in the world capable of stopping him.
Lu Zhixing grew more and more ferocious. Xi Yu began struggling to breathe. His brows drew together, and his gaze sharpened. Liuyun, which had been wrapped around his arm all along, suddenly sprang into action and coiled around Lu Zhixing’s neck.
Lu Zhixing’s head was forcibly tilted backward. Xi Yu seized the opportunity to push him away, then recalled Liuyun and lashed him with it.
Lu Zhixing was struck so hard that he slammed into the wall. He had to brace himself against it just to remain standing. His lips glistened with moisture, and a tear had been ripped into his black shirt, exposing the wound beneath, where blood was seeping through.
Xi Yu pointed the whip at Lu Zhixing.
“You know better than anyone how much I hate the demon race! The day you reshaped me, you should have known this day would come. Didn’t you say you had no regrets? Then what the hell are you going crazy for now?!”
Lu Zhixing looked at Xi Yu through half-lowered eyes. He licked his lips.
“I still have no regrets, even now. But, Lanxing, don’t push me too far. The Nine Stars are about to align with the Moon. Don’t force me to the point where I have to drag someone down with me before I die.”
…………………..
Xi Yu’s breathing was rapid and unsteady.
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m not threatening you,” Lu Zhixing replied evenly. “I’m just telling you that no matter how much you like him, you should restrain yourself a little. Don’t actually push me past my breaking point.”
Xi Yu gritted his teeth in hatred.
“If you truly have no regrets, then you should have prepared yourself for this long ago! There are so many people in the Three Realms. Sooner or later, I’ll choose a new disciple, and sooner or later, I’ll give the things I gave you to someone else. Do you think I’ll be grateful because you made all those sacrifices for me? No! I only find it disgusting! Sooner or later, I’ll find a new disciple who is obedient, well-behaved, and willing to listen to me. You have no right to threaten me, much less dictate whom I treat well!”
Perhaps because he had suffered too much pain recently, Lu Zhixing no longer felt any new anguish upon hearing those words from Xi Yu.
Even without Xi Yu saying it, the candied fruit and qilin bone bed he had given Jiang Yunzheng had already made everything clear.
Jiang Yunzheng was a mortal with a limited lifespan. That was not an insurmountable obstacle. Xi Yu could help him ascend to godhood, and granting Jiang Yunzheng immortality would not be difficult, either.
Jiang Yunzheng was pure-hearted. It was only natural that Xi Yu would like him.
But it should not be happening now.
Lu Zhixing walked toward Xi Yu. When his hand opened at his side and then closed again, the Prophetic Feather was already in his grasp.
Its blade flashed with a piercing, icy light that swept across Xi Yu’s face.
Xi Yu’s eyes widened slightly. This was the first time he had seen Lu Zhixing holding the Prophetic Feather.
The ancient demonic sword trembled in Lu Zhixing’s hand, as though it had waited a long time for him to summon it, its bloodlust burning with a desire to kill.
Back at Wutong Stockade, the moment Zhuli had seen Xi Yu looking at him, he had immediately thrown the Prophetic Feather away, afraid that Xi Yu would despise him.
But now, he had taken up the Prophetic Feather again, and it was solely to kill a mortal.
Xi Yu asked in disbelief, “Do you think you can kill someone right under my nose?”
Lu Zhixing replied, “You can try stopping me.”
“Lanxing, if you see him one more time, I’ll kill him. I mean what I say.”
“No. It’s not enough that you can’t see him. Before the Annihilation Formation is activated, I also want you to treat me as you used to. Stay with me, indulge me, comfort me. For these next seven days, I want your eyes to look at me the way they used to. I want that face of yours to smile at me the way it used to.”
He had already been hated, discarded, and despised. He no longer cared.
He could not bear to watch someone else take away what had belonged to him before he died.
If his Shizun would not grant him even a little mercy, then he would forcefully create seven final days of tenderness for himself.
As Xi Yu listened to Lu Zhixing, an indescribably complicated emotion moved through his eyes.
Zhuli had mentioned the past three times in succession. It was clear how much he missed those years in Lanxing Hall.
But Xi Yu missed them even more than Zhuli did.
And the more he missed them, the angrier he became. He was not angry because Zhuli had gone mad with demonic energy. He was angry because even now, Zhuli still refused to repent.
If only Zhuli would say that he regretted it. If only he would say those words…
“Zhuli, you truly destroy both yourself and others.”
He had already ascended to godhood and possessed a long lifespan. Sooner or later, time would wash away the scars of his death, and Zhuli should have had the chance to live a normal life.
Instead, he had fallen into demonic cultivation and was suffering, while Xi Yu himself was barely able to endure being alive.
Xi Yu said, “If you want to return to the way things were, then you can only weave a dream for yourself and trap yourself inside it.”
“Aren’t I already weaving a dream? I just need your cooperation.”
Lu Zhixing’s voice was calm and gentle. As he looked at Xi Yu, the hostility on his face had faded. Even his expression had become mild, as though nothing had happened just moments ago and he were merely discussing tomorrow’s weather with Xi Yu. There was not the slightest trace of madness.
If not for the black veins spreading across his body, Xi Yu might almost have thought that everything that had just happened was a dream.
But it was not a dream. The Prophetic Feather was poised for action, and Lu Zhixing’s pupils were blood-red.
Xi Yu’s body was rigid. An overwhelming sense of helplessness surged through him, and his voice turned hoarse.
“I can agree to your demands, but I have one condition.”
“Name it.”
“Starting tomorrow, I won’t see Jiang Yunzheng. In return, you must not hurt him.”
Lu Zhixing shook his head.
“No. I don’t have much time left for myself. I’m unwilling to waste even a single second. I want him gone now.”
Holding the Prophetic Feather, Lu Zhixing walked up to Xi Yu and bent down slightly to meet his gaze.
“Send him home. Now. That should be easy for you. I want him off my bone bed immediately. Tonight, I want you to sleep with me on that couch.”
Xi Yu’s eyes flickered. Lu Zhixing had backed him into a corner, leaving him almost no room to retreat.
He could fight Lu Zhixing to a draw. That would not be difficult. But the Azure Radiance Green Lotus would bloom in just one more day. At this critical juncture, he could not afford to stop seeing Jiang Yunzheng.
This was his fault. He should not have indulged in a moment of verbal sparring and brought matters to this point.
But deep down, Xi Yu knew that from the moment Lu Zhixing had seen the bone bed, he had wanted to kill Jiang Yunzheng, regardless of what Xi Yu said.
Xi Yu had seized upon the thing Zhuli feared most, yet he felt not the slightest joy.
“Give me an hour,” Xi Yu said, taking a deep breath. “I can’t very well send him home covered in wounds.”
Lu Zhixing did not care whether Jiang Yunzheng lived or died. Yet he had to admit that Jiang Yunzheng was also the reason he could spend these final seven days with Xi Yu.
Xi Yu had agreed to his demands, but Lu Zhixing’s murderous intent toward Jiang Yunzheng showed no sign of diminishing. If anything, it grew even stronger.
Xi Yu had actually agreed to his conditions because of Jiang Yunzheng, which only further confirmed how important Jiang Yunzheng was to him.
Of course, Lu Zhixing wanted Jiang Yunzheng dead.
But having Xi Yu stay with him for seven days was more important.