After a while, Yu Linyun came to Yunzi Mountain to visit Chu Yanchuan. He walked into the courtyard and saw Jing Feirong and Chu Yanchuan sitting on the steps, weaving crickets with straw. The delicate Fifth Prince almost sat on Dijun’s lap and hugged him tightly. Chu Yanchuan was weaving crickets seriously, and Jing Feirong was acting coquettishly seriously too, touching Dijun’s ears, playing with the ends of his hair, and kissing his face. He was very clingy and spoke in a baby voice: “Dijun, let’s go to the Mortal Realm in a few days to play and watch them fight crickets, alright?”
His annoying appearance was not like that of a dragon at all but more like that if a tapeworm. He couldn’t live if the Emperor ignored him for a moment. Only Chu Yanchuan didn’t despise him. He nodded and said, “Alright.”
Yu Linyun coughed lightly.
Jing Feirong was stunned, and he stood up as if crawling and even staggered two steps. He looked at Yu Linyun and called him blankly, “Father.”
Chu Yanchuan raised his head and looked at Yu Linyun, and both of them smiled. Yu Linyun touched Jing Feirong’s head and said, “I want to go out for a walk with Yanchuan.”
“Alright.” Chu Yanchuan put down the cricket, stood up, gathered his sleeves, and walked in front of them.
Jing Feirong was now on edge. He grabbed Chu Yanchuan’s hand and asked Yu Linyun, “Where are you going?” He turned his head and looked at Chu Yanchuan, asking, “Will you still love me when you come back?”
“Go to the Tianzun Palace and condense Yanchuan’s spirit again.” Yu Linyun said, “Why don’t you go to the Immortal Realm? I heard that there are scattered demons causing chaos recently.”
Since his father had spoken like this already, Jing Feirong immediately nodded and prepared to go out, but Chu Yanchuan reached out and held him back, lowered his head, and fastened the strap of his right cuff for him meticulously and seriously. If Yu Linyun had not been there, Jing Feirong would have pulled Dijun to kiss him a few times already.
The two of them were both very weak, and they sat in the Tianzun Hall with their eyes closed for half an hour. Yu Linyun opened his eyes and asked, “Can you bear Feirong?”
Yu Linyun was worried that Chu Yanchuan would not be able to bear the clingy, childish, fragile, and crybaby little dragon when he was resurrected.
“Don’t slander the Fifth Prince behind his back.” Chu Yanchuan replied without opening his eyes.
Yu Linyun smiled and said, “Talking about my youngest son is not slander.”
Chu Yanchuan raised his hand, pressed his forehead, and asked, “Still can’t find it in the Withered Swamp?”
“Can’t find it. Feize and I have looked for it several times, but we haven’t found any spirit that contains your memory.”
After a moment of silence, Yu Linyun said, “If that day really comes and you regain your memory, I wonder if you will still be with Feirong.”
“Why do you say that?” Chu Yanchuan frowned slightly.
“Because I don’t know whether you like Feirong or not, I’m a little worried that he might get hurt again.”
Chu Yanchuan opened his eyes, drooped his eyelashes, and remained silent for a moment, then said, “No need to worry about this.”
“I like His Highness very much as he is now. If I regain my memory, I’m sure I will like him even more.”
The Fifth Prince, who couldn’t live without Dijun for even a moment and whose heart and eyes were filled with only Dijun, had such a loving and sincere gaze and a sincere and warm embrace that Chu Yanchuan couldn’t figure out why he didn’t like it. He guessed that he was probably not good at expressing himself in the past or that he couldn’t speak for various reasons. Now he was blank from the inside out, but when he saw the Fifth Prince, he felt that all the beautiful scenery in the world was in his eyes, and even he himself was stained with the remaining color.
Yu Linyun nodded. “Then that’s good, let’s go.”
After leaving the hall, they “ran into” the Heavenly Emperor, who bowed to Chu Yanchuan and said, “Dijun.”
Chu Yanchuan looked at him expressionlessly without saying anything, so Yu Linyun asked him, “Do you have any impression of him?”
“No.” Chu Yanchuan replied, “But I just don’t want to talk to him.”
The honorable Heavenly Emperor didn’t know how to hide his embarrassment.
Yu Linyun said, “Yanchuan’s memory…”
Before he could finish, the Heavenly Emperor immediately replied, “The dragon vein, do you still want it?” It was as if the dragon vein was a commodity on the street that could be taken out and sold by weight at any time.
“Drawing out a dragon vein will reduce 40% of your cultivation. The Heavenly Emperor is really generous.” Yu Linyun said calmly, “He is not afraid that the six realms will be without a master either.”
“If I were in heaven instead of being at the throne of the Lord of Heaven on the night of the great battle, Dijun wouldn’t have…” The Heavenly Emperor frowned. He was indeed not in heaven that night. After receiving the message, he hurried to the Demon Realm. Unexpectedly, a priest came to report halfway—Chi Tuo had been destroyed, but the Third Prince led the Heavenly Generals to the Withered Swamp for support and suffered heavy losses. The Fifth Prince was seriously injured, and Dijun died.
In just one night, everything changed drastically. The Fifth Prince disappeared without a trace, Jing Feiyun and Jing Feiyan, who had recovered their memories, fell out with him completely, and the Lord of the Underworld, Yu Cang, took the initiative to resign… Only when he learned that Yu Linyun’s soul was still alive did the Heavenly Emperor feel a little bit of what it was like to be alive.
“No need for the dragon vein, you should use the Emperor’s Spiritual Seal to search thoroughly in the Demon Realm and the Heavenly Realm to see if you can find it.” Yu Linyun said.
The Heavenly Emperor: “Alright.”
Chu Yanchuan said “thank you” and left with Yu Linyun, but the Heavenly Emperor called out in a hurry: “Linyun.”
Yu Linyun turned around in the ethereal Heavenly Realm, the purple clothes like satin, the purple pupils slightly cold, a moment of trance as if seeing for the first time. The Heavenly Emperor was stunned and whispered, “The peach blossoms on Wangyue Mountain are in bloom, will you come with me to see it?”
“I wonder if you still remember… you used to love eating the white peach preserves from Wangyue Mountain.”
Yu Linyun looked calm and said, “I don’t remember, and the Heavenly Emperor also doesn’t need to mention it again.”
Jing Feirong was sitting on the windowsill of the highest pavilion in Duanyi Mountain, holding dogtail grass in his mouth. The room was noisy as Jing Feize, Jing Feiyun, Jing Feiyan, and Bai Wuchang were playing mahjong.
“How is Yu Cang?” Jing Feize asked.
Yu Cang failed to resign more than 400 years ago. Although he did not want his position card, the Heavenly Emperor has been reluctant to appoint a new Lord of the Underworld. The affairs of the underworld are important and cannot be left unattended for a day. The Ten Kings of Hell took turns persuading Yu Cang and forced him back to the position of Lord of the Underworld, and even Baihei Wuchang continued to serve him. Poor Yu Cang was seriously injured in the battle of the Demon Seal, and he had to be supervised by ten seniors. He was weak and exhausted, and he felt like he was in prison in the Underworld Palace.
Without waiting for Bai Wuchang to answer, Jing Feiyun said, “Dead.”
Bai Wuchang smiled and said, “If His Highness the Third Prince said that my lord is dead, then he is dead.”
“Then Third Brother will be a widow,” Jing Feiyan said.
Jing Feiyun glared at her fiercely.
Jing Feiyan grinned at him fearlessly and turned to look at the window. “Rongrong, you don’t want to play?”
“……” Jing Feirong ignored her, chewed some dogtail grass roots, and stared outside, not knowing what he was looking at.
“The child has gone silly after not seeing Dijun for a month.” Jing Feiyan sighed. “I haven’t seen Father for a long time either. It’s hard to bear.”
The last time Chu Yanchuan and Yu Linyun went out, Jing Feirong was told that Dijun would be in meditation for a while, and his return date was uncertain. Chu Yanchuan was afraid that Jing Feirong would be lonely in Yunzi Mountain, so he asked him to stay in Duanyi Mountain, and he would pick him up after his meditation.
Jing Feirong cried until his voice was hoarse. He hugged Dijun and told him to take good care of himself and not to forget that there was a little dragon waiting for him to come home. The day after Chu Yanchuan left, Jing Feirong went to Suliang Mountain and carefully touched the sacred tree from top to bottom. The sacred tree had returned to its original, lush appearance, but there was no spirit in it. Chu Yanchuan did not meditate inside the sacred tree.
A month had passed, and both Dijun and his father had disappeared. Jing Feirong missed them so much that he became sick and distracted. When he was killing the demon, he almost hit Jing Feiyun on the head with his sword and was scolded angrily by his third brother.
“I wonder if Your Highnesses have heard about it? The Heavenly Emperor was summoned by the Heavenly Lord a few days ago and was punished.” Bai Wuchang sent out a piece and said suddenly.
Jing Feiyun: “Not sure, I don’t know.”
“What’s the matter?” Jing Feiyan asked.
“It is said that he used the Emperor Spiritual Seal for no reason and searched the entire six realms. It seemed that he was looking for something.” Bai Wuchang replied.
“Oh.” Jing Feiyan laughed. “Maybe he is looking for his long-lost conscience.”
Jing Feirong lowered his eyes. When he thought about the Heavenly Palace being so big and empty, his father had been alone for hundreds of years and must have been a little lonely.
The wind blew, and the dogtail grass swayed. Jing Feirong took it out of his mouth, looked up, and suddenly saw a figure standing at the end of the long mountain steps.
Even though the distance was so far, Jing Feirong felt that he had seen into the other person’s eyes. He was stunned for a moment in disbelief, then he climbed through the window without hesitation and flew down.
After landing, the two were only a few steps apart. Jing Feirong looked at Chu Yanchuan, his heart beating fast, not only because he had not seen him for a long time but also because he saw everything that had moved him hundreds of years ago in those eyes.
That calm, cold, and focused gaze—the bright moon, the rising clouds, the colorful clouds—all the beautiful sights in the world are not as beautiful as the glances Dijun gives him.
“Your Highness the Fifth Prince.” Chu Yanchuan looked at Jing Feirong and called him. It had only been a month since they last met, but Chu Yanchuan felt that many years had passed—indeed, many years had passed, just like when he was trapped alone in the illusion. He knew the ending, and he also knew that he should leave cleanly without leaving any regrets, but he still couldn’t help it, and he wanted to tell the Fifth Prince selfishly and greedily that he was the sacred tree.
He didn’t want the Fifth Prince to forget him, so at the last moment, he said it, but he had never intended to say it.
He was just a god who had lived for a very long time and had been ready to sacrifice himself at any time. Chu Yanchuan had always thought that he could die without hesitation—it was just another way of existence. But at that moment, he actually felt nostalgic and reluctant.
The boy’s ardent eyes, his pure smile, his intimate embrace, every time he called him ‘Dijun’…
It turns out that I would be reluctant to let go too. As his soul dissipated, Chu Yanchuan thought, This is what it feels like.
It turns out that I would feel so regretful when I thought that I would never see you again.
Jing Feirong’s eyes were red as he ran towards Dijun, his clothes fluttering in the wind. He reached out to hug Chu Yanchuan, buried his face in his neck, took a deep breath with a trembling voice, and said in a tearful voice, “Dijun.”
“I missed you so much. I missed you so much.”
His Dijun finally came back intact. Jing Feirong choked with grievance: “You can never be separated from me again.”
“No.” Chu Yanchuan stroked his hair and said softly, “Your Highness, thank you for waiting for me for so long.”
The setting sun casts shadows on the cold river, the mountain is covered with snow, and there are still thousands of clouds rising—
（over）——
