The fragrance mist of the Mist Swallow was simply too pure, so this bout of “detoxification” amid such an intense entanglement of passion truly lasted for quite some time.
By the time this overly fierce entanglement of desire finally subsided, Gu Mang had already become completely dazed. The two of them lay intertwined among the stalks of grain, breathing heavily.
Only then did they clearly realize that despite having deliberately distanced themselves from each other so much, in the end, fate had still toyed with them and brought them together once more. No one in the room spoke. After a brief pause, Mo Xi hesitantly covered Gu Mang’s hand, which hung among the stalks of grain, and, taking advantage of the lingering afterglow of their intimacy, tremblingly interlocked their fingers.
Gu Mang’s breathing gradually steadied. He weakly lowered his lashes and whispered, “Don’t go out…”
“…”
His voice was soft, almost ethereal. With his eyes closed, he said, “My constitution…” His Adam’s apple moved. “It’s already different from before.”
“In a little while, the demon blood will be absorbed… Once it’s all absorbed… then…” He paused, his voice hoarse. “Then I’ll be fine…”
This was the first time Mo Xi had heard him mention the constitution he had reforged. His heart could not help aching. He held Gu Mang’s sweat-damp fingers, his breath right beside Gu Mang’s ear. All he needed to do was lean down slightly, and he could kiss Gu Mang’s cheek.
As the afterglow of their lovemaking faded, everything was so much like it had been eight years ago, before they had become enemies with a blood feud between them.
The only thing missing was a kiss.
But that kiss could never fall.
They both knew very clearly that this entanglement could soothe only the desire of their bodies.
The emptiness and unwillingness in each other’s hearts would remain etched into their bones and marrow forever.
There would be no cure for it in this lifetime.
After resting for another while, a crimson glow began to appear at the edge of the sky. Dawn was breaking, and they prepared to leave the thatched hut.
Gu Mang had barely spoken the entire time. When he rose to put on his clothes, his fingertips were still trembling slightly. Mo Xi glanced at him and, through the faint, translucent light of dawn, saw the edge of Gu Mang’s ear exposed beneath his soft, tousled black hair, still carrying some lingering flush. Gu Mang lowered his head as he straightened his robe, his ink-like lashes falling down, yet they could not conceal the redness at the long outer corners of his eyes.
The two of them carefully straightened their clothing and appearance, perhaps because of the awkwardness, or perhaps because they were worried others might notice something afterward. Fortunately, they had not kissed just now, so there were no kiss marks to conceal.
After a moment of silence, Mo Xi said, “Your body…”
“It’s because of the wolf-demon blood.” Gu Mang did not wish to say more and replied softly, “The bat spirit’s incense affects me the same way.”
He paused, then stood.
In the past, after Gu Mang finished making love with him, he would always be somewhat weak, sometimes even accidentally stumbling. Mo Xi instinctively wanted to support him, but Gu Mang shook his hand away.
Gu Mang sniffed, his nose still slightly red, and said hoarsely, “I’m fine.”
His constitution was indeed different from before. He could recover very quickly. He bit down on his hair ribbon, gathered his long hair high, and tied it securely. Releasing the damp ribbon from his lips, he sighed.
“Sorry. That reaction just now must have made you laugh, Lord Xihe.”
Mo Xi’s heart felt stifled, but he still closed his eyes for a moment and said heavily, “…I already said it was only to detoxify you. Don’t read anything else into it.”
“Mm.” Gu Mang paused. “I just feel that, given our relationship now, you sacrificed so much to help me relieve it. I feel rather guilty about that. And the way I acted… was pretty embarrassing too.”
His deep-lake-blue eyes lowered as he fastened the hidden weapons at his cuffs.
“If Lord Xihe can forget it, then please try to forget it.”
As he spoke, he lifted the bamboo curtain. Pale morning light filtered down through the black smoke spreading across the sky above Bat Island, leaving the forest cold and desolate.
Gu Mang looked outside for a moment and said, “It’s still early. The bat spirits should all still be inside their huts. We can leave.”
With that, he headed straight toward the cave where Murong Chuyi and the others were hiding.
Mo Xi looked back at the thatched hut where they had been intimate. Everything that had happened here more than an hour ago seemed like a mirage, a fleeting dream of mortal existence.
The reason that had allowed them to entangle themselves with each other so fiercely no longer existed. Daylight had come. He was still Lord Xihe of Chonghua, while Gu Mang was still Xihe’s servant and a traitor to the nation.
As for what had happened last night, he knew that neither of them would ever bring it up again. Neither of them could take it seriously.
“…”
Mo Xi took one last deep look at the hut, lowered the rolled bamboo curtain, and hurried after Gu Mang.
The two of them still carried traces of each other’s presence after their entanglement, yet they walked all the way back in silence like strangers who had never known one another.
Dawn was when the bat spirits were at their most listless, their spiritual power at its weakest. They encountered no danger along the way. The life crystal Mo Xi wore also showed that Yue Chenqing’s condition had already improved significantly.
Sure enough, when they returned to the cave, they saw Yue Chenqing leaning against the wall, already awake.
Yet, perhaps because something had happened while they were gone, the atmosphere inside the cave was anything but harmonious.
Jiang Yexue sat beside him with a somewhat unpleasant expression. Rongrong stood to the side, at a complete loss, while Yue Chenqing was crying.
He lowered his head as tears fell one after another. His eyes, normally alive with flowing spiritual light, were already swollen from crying, and he kept wiping his tears with the back of his hand.
Gu Mang was startled. “…What happened?”
Rongrong widened her eyes. “Ah! It’s Brother Gu Mang!”
She had just wanted to go over and explain something to him, but she was, after all, a half-immortal of the Feathered People, possessing intuition and abilities beyond those of ordinary humans.
She had taken only two steps forward when she hesitantly stopped.
“Huh…?”
Her large eyes looked at Gu Mang, then at Mo Xi. Her tender little nose suddenly wrinkled, and hesitation appeared on her face.
Gu Mang asked, “What’s wrong?”
Rongrong pressed down her large, fluffy ears uncertainly. “N-Nothing.”
Meanwhile, Yue Chenqing was already crying so hard that he could barely catch his breath.
“Fourth Uncle… I… I really wasn’t fooling around…”
Between sobs, he desperately tried to explain himself to Murong Chuyi, who stood beside him with an icy expression.
“I just wanted to find some medicinal herbs for you before my birthday. Every year you say you’re feeling unwell and refuse to accompany me… I… I…”
“You what? I think you’ve lost your mind!” Murong Chuyi swept his sleeve and scolded through clenched teeth. “Don’t you know your own limits?! You actually dared to come to Dream Butterfly Demon Island alone!”
Jiang Yexue sat nearby. He had just transferred his blood to Yue Chenqing and was weak himself, yet he still coughed and said, “Enough. Chenqing meant well. Little Brother, he just woke up. Don’t scold him anymore…”
Murong Chuyi abruptly shook off Jiang Yexue’s hand where it held his sleeve and said viciously, “I’m disciplining my nephew. Who asked you to play the good person beside me?!”
He then turned back angrily toward Yue Chenqing.
“If you hadn’t been so lucky, let alone giving me medicine before your birthday, by this time next year your uncle would be laying flowers on your grave! Do you want peonies or roses?! Yue Chenqing, can you please give me less trouble! Don’t you know that your life was exchanged for by your mother with her own life?! And this is how you trample all over it!”
When Yue Chenqing heard those last two sentences, he raised his head.
He suddenly stopped looking so aggrieved.
His eyes widened as he stared at Murong Chuyi, and what gathered within them was a piercing, wounded sorrow.
Everyone present—whether Mo Xi, Gu Mang, or even Murong Chuyi himself—had never seen Yue Chenqing look this heartbroken.
Seeing Yue Chenqing’s expression, Jiang Yexue knew that Murong Chuyi had gone too far with his final words. He reached out again to tug at Murong Chuyi’s sleeve.
But Murong Chuyi’s sword-like brows rose sharply, and he swept Jiang Yexue away again, shouting—
“How many times do I have to tell you not to touch me again!”
He had not controlled his strength. Jiang Yexue had already lost too much blood, and he had also been transferring blood beside Yue Chenqing without sitting in his wheelchair. This shove actually sent him tumbling to the ground.
Inside and outside the cave, everyone fell silent.
Yue Chenqing stared blankly for a moment at Jiang Yexue lying on the ground, the bloodstains around his wrist still gruesomely visible.
Jiang Yexue did not seem to want to argue with Murong Chuyi either. He had always been courteous and gracious, caring for and restraining himself for the sake of other people’s emotions.
He tried to brace himself with his arms and sit upright. Lowering his lashes, he said softly, “Even if you’re angry, don’t take it out on Chenqing. If you’re unhappy, take it out on me instead. You’re our elder, and we’re all your juniors. Even if you push me a few times or scold me a few times, it’s nothing…”
Yet for some reason, the more Murong Chuyi heard him say this, the angrier he became.
This time, his hands were trembling with rage. He pointed at Jiang Yexue, his face frighteningly pale.
“You—!”
Jiang Yexue lowered his eyes. “As long as Little Brother is happy.”
Murong Chuyi was practically furious beyond measure.
“You… You really…”
He was just about to raise his hand to discipline him when a somewhat uncontrolled voice suddenly shouted—
“Why are you always so fierce!!”
Dead silence.
It seemed no one could have imagined who had shouted at Murong Chuyi.
Even Murong Chuyi himself froze.
Those phoenix eyes stared blankly elsewhere first, and only then did he realize what had happened. Slowly, he turned his head.
Yue Chenqing’s tears streamed down his face. He stared at his fourth uncle with both sorrow and grief. His voice softened, yet it was filled with the utmost sadness and disappointment.
“In your eyes, is it only my mother who matters?! What about me? And he… he too! No matter how wholeheartedly we devote ourselves to you, all you ever do is get angry with us and blame us?!”
The color drained from Murong Chuyi’s face until it was as white as paper.
His body was already afflicted by an illness. Earlier, he had recklessly used a forbidden technique to keep Yue Chenqing alive, damaging his heart meridians in the process.
Now, after Yue Chenqing’s accusation, anger and pain overwhelmed him. He could not help coughing several times, forcibly suppressing the bloody taste in his throat as he glared fiercely at him.
But Yue Chenqing did not know about his fourth uncle’s injuries.
The features of his small face were all twisted together. Clearly, hearing his uncle speak to him this way hurt him more deeply than having his heart and lungs pierced.
Yet what hurt him even more was his uncle’s harsh words and fierce attitude toward them.
Yue Chenqing cried until even his voice became distorted.
For the first time, he stepped in front of Jiang Yexue.
“This matter… even if there’s someone at fault, it’s me too… He… he was injured so badly to save me, and lost so much blood… Why did you still push him? Why did you still scold him…”
Jiang Yexue shook his head. “Chenqing…”
Murong Chuyi’s lips had already turned blue. His eyes flickered as he stammered for a long while, as though struggling desperately against something within himself.
Finally, he clenched his fingers into fists and forced out through gritted teeth a few broken words:
“Yue Chenqing. What do you know?!”
“…”
His cold, sharp gaze suddenly landed on Jiang Yexue’s lean face.
In that instant, Murong Chuyi hated him so much that even his eyes reddened.
He gritted his teeth.
“He’s nothing but a… bastard!”
This time, let alone Yue Chenqing, even Mo Xi and Gu Mang’s expressions changed slightly.
Since coming into contact with Murong Chuyi, they had found him aloof and cold, but he was not someone who could not distinguish right from wrong, nor was he some vicious, savage person.
They had never understood why he had been said to be one of Chonghua’s Three Poisons of Greed, Anger, and Delusion.
But when those words—“bastard”—left his mouth, stabbing into Jiang Yexue’s heart like a knife, everyone felt that Murong Chuyi’s hatred was simply too intense, too violently expressed.
Jiang Yexue’s eyelashes trembled, and he immediately closed his eyes.
Lowering his head, he said nothing more.
After a moment of silence, Yue Chenqing looked up at Murong Chuyi through tear-filled eyes.
“Fourth Uncle…”
That “Fourth Uncle” trembled in his voice, stretched to its absolute limit, like a string snapping and an arrow being released.
He burst into tears and cried out—
“Is your heart made of stone?!”