When his consciousness slowly returned, he had yet to fully come to his senses. All he felt was a pain throughout his body, as though he had been run over by a carriage. And before his eyes…
“Zhixi!” Xiyu cried out joyfully, looking at his disciple standing with his hands behind his back not far away.
His joy was so overwhelming that he failed to notice where he was. Only when his hand passed straight through Zhixi’s body did he faintly realize something was wrong.
This wasn’t Lanxing Hall, nor was it City A. It was…
The Extreme Cold Immortal Realm.
How had he ended up here? Was he dreaming?
Xiyu stood in front of Zhixi, somewhat bewildered, his gaze falling in surprise on Huai Xi.
When he saw the sword in Huai Xi’s hand, he had a faint premonition that something terrible was about to happen.
Soon, his premonition came true.
Zhixi was bound by the God-Binding Chains. Immediately afterward, a black formation rose from the ground, trapping him inside.
Countless strands of merit surrounded Zhixi, yet Huai Xi’s sword swept across his back with hardly the slightest hesitation.
Only then did Xiyu finally understand what moment this was.
It wasn’t a dream. This was… the moment Zhixi had his divine bones extracted.
Xiyu had no time to think about anything else. A heart-wrenching scream tore at his ears.
He wanted to roar in fury, but his body, which had been moving freely just moments earlier, suddenly fell beyond his control. An immense force dragged him backward, shrinking him into a crystal sphere imbued with spiritual power.
Xiyu struggled with all his might to break free of the restraints, but his body simply wouldn’t obey him. He could only watch helplessly as Zhixi had his divine bones extracted.
Vast amounts of blood pooled on the ground, staining the ice of the Extreme Cold Realm red, like roses blooming in the heart of an ice block.
How could an immortal have so much blood?
It seemed as though it would never stop flowing.
Xiyu had witnessed the extraction of divine bones twice in his life. Once, it had been his mother. The second time, it was Zhixi. Both had been utterly horrific.
The process of separating the golden divine bones from flesh and blood was agonizingly slow. Xiyu’s vision was overwhelmed by vast expanses of red. He had always known that Zhixi’s process of recreating him would be long and painful, but witnessing it with his own eyes turned it into a form of torture worse than any punishment.
Zhixi lay in a pool of blood, his face so pale that he was almost transparent. He looked as though all signs of life had already left him.
The demonic aura inside the black formation seeped through his exposed, split-open spine and burrowed into his flesh, tracing black lines along his meridians.
The instant his divine bones were removed, an endless stream of spiritual power flowed into the crystal sphere along with them.
Xiyu couldn’t move. His very consciousness was on the verge of being destroyed.
What was he experiencing?
He was experiencing the process by which Zhixi had recreated him.
When everything was over, Huai Xi held the crystal sphere in his hand, tears glistening in his eyes. He carried it over to Zhixi, crouched beside him, and held the sphere before his eyes.
“Thank you,” Huai Xi said sincerely.
Zhixi’s hands were stained red with blood. His consciousness was fading, but he struggled to open his eyes and reach out, as though trying to touch the crystal sphere. However, when he saw the demonic aura coiling around his fingers, he stopped.
He could only murmur softly, “Master… I miss… you so much… Master…”
“Master… don’t blame me…”
Don’t blame me for becoming a demon.
“Zhixi,” Xiyu sobbed uncontrollably. “I hate you so much…”
…………………
“No! Zhixi!!!”
Overwhelming terror crashed down upon him. Xiyu abruptly sat up in bed, breathing rapidly, a thin layer of sweat covering his forehead. His heart pounded violently, as though it were about to leap out of his chest.
“Most people wake up slowly and peacefully. You scared the life out of me when you came to.”
Luo Cheng’an patted his chest, picked up the apple from the floor, wiped it haphazardly, and continued lounging on the sofa as he ate.
His leisurely manner stood in stark contrast to Xiyu, who was still shaken to the core.
Xiyu stared at Luo Cheng’an blankly for a moment before hurriedly asking, “Where’s Zhixi?”
“Him?” Luo Cheng’an tilted his head, the corners of his mouth curling into a cruel smile. “Dead.”
Xiyu immediately jumped out of bed.
“D-Dead?”
He got up too quickly, and a wave of dizziness swept over him. Luo Cheng’an’s eyes widened as though he had been frightened.
“Don’t faint! He’s not dead! He’s perfectly fine, and he woke up even earlier than you!”
Xiyu took a deep breath. “Then where is he?”
The little brat had woken up and wasn’t by his side?
That was simply unreasonable.
Luo Cheng’an fell silent for a moment.
“In the garden.”
Xiyu raised his hand, intending to teleport there. He snapped his fingers, but nothing happened.
???
“Where’s my magic?!”
Luo Cheng’an smiled without the slightest warmth.
“You broke free of the Blazing Flame Shackles by sheer force, charged into the Slaughtering Formation, and took the final bolt of heavenly lightning. Did you really expect to sleep for half a month and wake up completely recovered?”
“Your magic~ is gone~”
This time, it was Xiyu’s turn to fall silent.
The final bolt of heavenly lightning inside the Slaughtering Formation had fused nearly half the formation’s power into a single strike. It certainly wasn’t something he could recover from by sleeping for a few days.
“It’s fine.” Xiyu didn’t know whether he was comforting himself or someone else. He patted Luo Cheng’an on the shoulder. “As long as I still have my hands, that’s enough.”
Luo Cheng’an frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Xiyu asked, “Is Zhixi in our garden or next door?”
The moment Xiyu said our garden, Luo Cheng’an’s back stiffened for an instant. He instinctively pointed downstairs, indicating that Zhixi was in the Luo family’s garden.
Xiyu immediately dashed outside, his footsteps thundering down the stairs.
Luo Cheng’an watched him go. A moment later, as though he had suddenly remembered something, he hurried after him without even bothering to use his magic.
“Wait a minute! Zhixi, he—”
In the garden, Xiyu spotted a figure crouching in front of a hydrangea. Under the sunlight, the fluffy head looked absolutely irresistible to pet.
Lu Zhixing had his back to Xiyu, so Xiyu couldn’t see his face. But that did nothing to stop the fury surging in his chest.
“Zhi! Zhi!”
Xiyu gritted his teeth as he called out. He rolled up his sleeves, grabbed Lu Zhixing by the collar, and yanked him to his feet. Then he delivered a sharp, resounding slap across his face.
Lu Zhixing’s face snapped to the side, and a butterfly flew away from his shoulder in alarm.
By the time Luo Cheng’an came downstairs, it was already too late to stop him. Hearing that crisp slap, he was reminded of a compilation of short videos he had watched earlier.
In the videos, a beloved cat would wander over to the windowsill. At first, its owner would coax it down in a soft, gentle voice. But once the owner had confirmed that the cat was no longer in danger, they would immediately fly into a rage.
Xiyu was just like that owner, who had confirmed that the cat was safe and then exploded with anger.
Even after delivering the slap, Xiyu still wasn’t satisfied. But when he saw the bewildered expression on Lu Zhixing’s face and the skin that had instantly turned red, he couldn’t bring himself to strike him a second time.
He could only glare furiously at Lu Zhixing.
“Didn’t I tell you that if you dared enter the formation, even if you came out alive, I would—”
Xiyu’s words abruptly stopped when tears suddenly gathered in Lu Zhixing’s eyes.
He couldn’t continue.
He was clearly still terrified by what had happened. He was clearly in agony. He was clearly furious that Zhixi had disobeyed him again and again, repeatedly putting his life in danger and making Xiyu suffer through one ordeal after another.
He had wanted to give the brat a thorough beating to vent the hatred burning in his heart.
He had wanted to say something hurtful to punish his disobedient disciple.
But after coming so close to losing him, Xiyu simply couldn’t bring himself to be cruel to Zhixi anymore. He couldn’t even bring himself to scold him.
All he wanted was to pull him into his arms.
Xiyu bit his lip and reached out to embrace him, only to be unexpectedly pushed away.
This was something Xiyu had never anticipated. Caught completely off guard, he staggered backward several steps.
Xiyu stood frozen for two seconds before staring at Lu Zhixing in disbelief.
“You’ve really gone too far!”
Lu Zhixing covered his face. Tears trembled at the corners of his eyes before spilling down. He looked at Xiyu with a trembling pout, then suddenly burst into loud sobs and ran toward Luo Cheng’an.
“Brother Cheng’an! Why didn’t you tell me that my pretty older brother would hit people after waking up? It hurts so much! It hurts!”
Lu Zhixing wiped his tears and hid behind Luo Cheng’an, sobbing pitifully. With the clear handprint on his face, he looked as though he had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.
Luo Cheng’an patted Lu Zhixing on the head.
“Don’t be ungrateful. Pretty Older Brother is rewarding you.”
Xiyu’s pupils contracted. He looked as though he couldn’t begin to process what was happening.
“What’s going on?” Xiyu asked Luo Cheng’an.
“As you can see, he’s become an idiot.”
…
*
Xiyu paid a tremendous price for that one slap.
That very day, he tried everything he could think of, but he couldn’t get Lu Zhixing to say even a single word to him.
Not only that, but the slap had left an enormous psychological scar on the eight-year-old Lu Zhixing. Now, whenever he saw Xiyu, he would hide behind Luo Cheng’an.
Regret! So much regret!!!
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!” Xiyu shouted angrily, hurling a throw pillow at Luo Cheng’an.
No wonder Lu Zhixing hadn’t been waiting eagerly by his bedside when he woke up.
Xiyu knew just how powerful the heavenly lightning inside the Slaughtering Formation was. He had taken the final strike himself, leaving his soul unstable. He wouldn’t be able to use spiritual power again for some time.
Meanwhile, Zhixi’s demonic aura had been extracted, and his entire body had been shattered and reconstructed. His soul was now as fragmented as glass, and he had lost all his memories.
Luo Cheng’an watched Xiyu gazing longingly at Lu Zhixing, who was sleeping soundly on the bed. His heart ached with a bitter, sour feeling. He caught the throw pillow and held it in his arms, but his words were as sharp as ever.
“Did you even give me a chance to tell you? How was I supposed to know you were going downstairs to hit him?”
“Smack!” Luo Cheng’an imitated Xiyu’s action. “What a crisp sound.”
Xiyu’s mouth twitched.
“How long will he be like this?”
Lu Zhixing wouldn’t let him get close now. Xiyu couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I don’t know.” Luo Cheng’an shrugged. “Just as I don’t know when your spiritual power will recover.”
Luo Cheng’an patted Xiyu on the shoulder, looking rather pleased with himself.
“Maybe he’ll stay like this forever. I think that would be great. At least in his current state, he won’t commit the outrageous offense of coveting his own master.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Xiyu asked.
He sat on the edge of the bed, holding Lu Zhixing’s finger bone and idly playing with it.
Luo Cheng’an suspected that if he weren’t there, Xiyu would have put that finger bone in his mouth.