Xue Huai does what he says he will do. Though he didn’t mention that to Yun Cuo, he really started to wear those colors only after that day. Deep red, dark green, maple, dark gray, and snow-white, Yun Cuo is slow. However, since he saw him change the clothes day after day and could apprehend their beauty as well, he could also vaguely figure out what that meant.
But when he went to ask Xue Huai, he didn’t admit it. He just raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile, deliberately saying, “If you say it is, then it is, you’re silly.”
He then warned him, “I will take it seriously! Xue Huai!”
Xue Huai said, “Then you take it seriously.”
Yun Cuo was overjoyed and secretly made out various colored robes. When Xue Huai wears red, he must also wear red. Xue Huai accidentally got his clothes dirty when he was outside, and when he came back to change them, he would inevitably change them to be the same as him secretly as well.
Gradually, some people found out about it, spreading ambiguous and novel rumors and making up many stories about what they had and what they didn’t have. Xue Huai then listened to several versions, each version was different from the other, and he just let them all go.
The junior sister also came and told him, “Xue Shixiong, you and Yun Shidi used to be very low-key, so people think you’re engaged to each other in name only. There were many people who secretly loved you and Yun Shidi, and now they are all sad. There are a lot of people making up stories about you as well. Yesterday, when I went to register for the lower level sword cultivation class, I happened to hear someone say something bad about you, they said that you had ulterior motives for getting close to Yun Shidi.”
Xue Huai remained silent and said, “And then? What did you do to the person?”
The little junior sister looked at him angrily and whispered, “Fool! Shixiong, the fight will end up in the limelight. I just pretended that I didn’t hear them, and when I went to register, I purposely told them that it was supposed to be Yun Shidi who came over to register, but since he went to tell Xue Huai Shixiong a bedtime story, he wasn’t available. Those people’s faces turned green!”
Xue Huai burst out laughing, “Uncharacteristic.”
The little junior sister asked him again with a wink, “Shixiong, does Yun Shidi really tell you bedtime stories to coax you to sleep every day?”
Xue Huai immediately denied, “No, he didn’t, don’t listen to his nonsense. He insists on telling bedtime stories, and I can’t stop him. Xiao Tao listens more seriously than me.”
“Coaxing Xue Huai to sleep” has recently become one of Yun Cuo’s routines.
Now that they’re sleeping in the same bed, this person is still overly cautious. To say that he didn’t expect anything is impossible—several times Xue Huai had found little Yun Cuo carrying on stiffly all night. It so happened that Yun Cuo still pretended to sleep on his own. When he got to bed, he didn’t even dare look him in the eyes, and he tried to cover it up by coaxing him to sleep, reading him sword manuals or biographies that he had searched for, and coaxing him to sleep.
Xue Huai therefore has no chance to tease him.
He felt that since he had taken advantage of his previous life, he would be over twenty years older than Yun Cuo now. So his fiancé’s youthfulness is not incomprehensible.
He had wanted to leave on the second day of the trial, but recently a prophet from the Immortal Realm, known for his Six Yao Divine Judgments and confidentiality, arrived at Murong Mountain Sect. It is said that he wanted to apply for the position of cultivator.
He wanted to have fun and asked the other party if they could calculate when his next calamity would come. The prophet took a wooden stick and swiped it on the hexagram chart and said, “It is imminent. Strike in ten days.”
After ten days, that is, within ten days, none of his three great thunders strike down.
This prophet’s prediction skills are surprisingly accurate, having never failed his signature, they are at least much more reliable than Xue Huai’s own half-hearted prediction skills.
He quickly calculated the time again and went to seek leave from Murong Jinchuan after seven or eight days, saying that he wanted to go back and take a look.
To his surprise, Murong Jinchuan agreed to his leave request without much questioning, and he didn’t even use the lies he made up.
Murong Jinchuan just touched his beard and said, “That’s also good, you will inherit the two families in the future. You can’t leave the Immortal Mountain on this side, nor can you leave Shenhua Terrace on that side. I will let you go back for a few days to work out on both sides without any shortcomings. Xiao Huai, you’re a family man, but I know you’re not a man of seven emotions and six sensory pleasures1七情六欲 is an idiom that refers to people’s happiness, anger, sorrow, joy, and cravenness.. Don’t forget to cultivate your mind when you go home, understand?”
Murong Jinchuan has always been strict with him. Except for the small residence on the mountaintop where he and his wife live, Xue Huai must call him Shifu in other places and times, he cannot call him grandfather.
Xue Huai: “……Yes, Shifu.”
Before he left, he looked back at his grandfather as if he suddenly understood something, a little smile hidden in his eyes, as if he had realized something. “So, who are you talking about……someone who indulges in seven emotions and six sensory pleasures?”
Murong Jinchuan glared at him. “Who do you think it is? Take care of your Daoist partner. I still have to deal with him next.”
As soon as Xue Huai walked out, he saw Yun Cuo waiting for him outside.
As soon as he came out, Yun Cuo came to ask him, “Are you on leave? When are you leaving?”
Xue Huai held his hands and looked at him. “Why? Little Young Master Yun, you want me to leave so badly?”
Yun Cuo choked for a moment, but his expression was more serious than usual: “Don’t joke around, Xue Huai. If you’re going back, I’ll have someone pick you up outside the mountain sect.”
He remembered clearly that the last time Xue Huai crossed the calamity, he had only passed three small thunder calamities. In his previous life, Xue Huai was at Yindan level during that last period. If he’s like him, which came directly with his cultivation, then there were still three more great thunders to pass through at the ascension to Jindan stage.
He vaguely guessed that Xue Huai wanted to take a leave to avoid them when he’s going through the thunder calamity, so as not to……arouse suspicion. Shenhua Terrace also has the shield of immortality, so it’s not a problem for Xue Huai to go back for the calamity. The recuperation period could also be better spent, taken care of, and circumscribed than at the Murong Mountain Sect.
But there’s always the possibility of the thunder calamity on a way, anytime. If Xue Huai sets a time, he also needs to contact someone to pick up Xue Huai to avoid any accidents.
Xue Huai, however, did not talk to him properly; he came over to him, took one of his arms, walked back, and said in a serious manner. “How? Let eighty phoenixes lead the way, Qilin, Pixiu, and Golden Winged Bird make way. And Dongjun Jinluan Honorary Guard taking me back?”
Yun Cuo glanced at him, as if pondering about this matter. He quickly replied, “If that’s what you want, okay. But you have to tell me when you’re leaving.”
As soon as Xue Huai saw that he was serious, he quickly got rid of it. “I’m just joking around, don’t take it seriously.”
Yun Cuo still said seriously, “If you want, I can do it, Xue Huai. This is nothing. I can give you whatever you want in the future.”
“……” Xue Huai couldn’t stand this person’s straightforwardness and quickly replied perfunctorily, “Alright, alright, I know, but there’s no need this time. Don’t worry. I’ll leave in ten days, right now, I still have ten more days to spend with you. What do you think?”
Yun Cuo’s eyebrows were locked even tighter.
He remembered the day before yesterday, when Xue Huai had just told him personally that he could temporarily let go of the mind-viewing skill.
Today he also said that the time for taking leave can be postponed. Yesterday, before Xue Huai took him out, he had told him that he had invited the Faithful Crows from the Underworld to search for his mother’s old belongings, so he wanted to follow them back and take a look.
Yun Cuo originally thought that the reason for Xue Huai and practicing the mind-viewing skill was to investigate the cause of death in his previous life just like him—he couldn’t accept losing Xue Huai. The obsession from the previous life continued into this life, and he couldn’t accept it—a very well person just turned into a shovelful of dirt overnight and was delivered to his hands lightly.
But there were too many people involved in Xue Huai’s death, and with Xue Huai’s absence, he suddenly realized that without Xue Huai, he was nothing—a militaristic tyrant. Once he lost his army, he was a completely empty shell, and all may stand against him.
He became the Immortal Lord and personally defeated the White Phoenix Snow Plain, the lair of the Devil Clan, which despised him. He’s half non-immortal, and he used force to break up the rest of the competition. He is willful, arbitrary, and never refuses to communicate with anyone.
They know his dead end too well.
When Xue Huai died, his heart also died.
Maybe there is a mastermind behind it, and maybe not. If there is, the mastermind behind the scenes may also be the very person he knows, and all of it happens because of him—without him as the foolish monarch, there would be no Xue Huai as the hated Left Protector.
When he first met Xue Huai in this lifetime, he also met his so-called stepbrother. He thought for a long time before remembering his name, and in that moment, he noticed a hint of something wrong.
There are two things that Xue Huai missed in his past life: one was the career he pursued with him, and the other was his family. Yun Cuo hadn’t crossed paths with Xue He much, but he’d never forget that he was the one who came out to reject him when Xue Zong was seriously ill and broke his vows to send a signed marriage letter.
He didn’t ask much at the time because he had no hope at all.
How dare someone like him expect him to be willing? Xue Huai’s father insisted on making a five-year agreement, but what he was concerned about was his identity, his bloodline, his cultivation, which could fall apart and go out of control at any time, and his cunning and insecure personality.
At that time, Xue Huai worked hard day and night to take care of Xue Zong, then immediately petitioned him to go on the expedition, and his attitude became increasingly cold towards him. The two couldn’t see each other all year round, and when they passed on letters, they only talked about official business. He was armed with the unbeatable war and the smell of blood, desperately trying to conceal his fear—the fact that Xue Huai was distancing himself from him.
He has thought about kidnapping Xue Huai back from the battlefield and locking him up in the cave where he had been cultivating since when he was a child so no one could see him. He wanted to build a cage to imprison his beloved.
He was afraid to ask him personally if he was willing to be with him.
What does the current Xue Huai like about him?
At that moment, Yun Cuo felt a moment of confusion.
In this life, he faced Xue Huai’s death with all the sanity he could muster. He suspected Xue Huai’s family and friends, and for this reason, he practiced the mind-viewing skill day and night, but all three times ended in failure.
He felt that the person in front of him was from the previous life, and Xue Huai should be with him, searching for the truth of the previous life, even though Xue Huai still knew nothing yet.
But Xue Huai had stopped his mind-viewing technique, and there might be a reason for him to do so—after all, the mind-viewing technique is unstable, and a cultivation level that had just reached the Jindan stage might not be enough.
But why did he still have ten days to spare before going home, even though it was obvious that he was going to go through the calamity soon?
Is Xue Huai really just looking for a relic of Murong Mi?
Yun Cuo’s fingers stiffened slightly.
He couldn’t understand.
Everything in this life has changed. Maybe it’s not because Xue Huai has come along, but maybe because he has interfered in too many things through his own leadership—maybe Xue Huai was not reborn but simply reminded by the sachet he gave him in this life and wanted to find more of his mother’s belongings.
He hit him on the mark by the fluke2Success on a lucky stroke.and wishfully regards him as the same person in his previous life.
Two possibilities intertwined fiercely in his mind, leaving him unable to speak.
He heard his own voice ask, “Xue Huai……why do you like me?”
If it weren’t for him forcefully suppressing it, there would be almost imperceptible trembling in his sound.
Xue Huai didn’t hear it, he was in a good mood and planning to teach Yun Cuo how to recognize colors correctly in these suddenly extra ten days—
He pursed his lips and teased him, “Me? I didn’t say I liked you ah. When did I say I liked you?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he remembered that he had already teased Yun Cuo too many times today. This young man couldn’t bear the joke. So he quickly added, “Just……there’s no reason.”
He tilted his head and looked at him with clear eyes. “En, this……It’s a long story, maybe we have a past relationship, and I’m trying to get it back in this lifetime because I was so stupid and did something wrong to you. I just think we should be together by nature. What do you think?”
When he said these four words, “I just think”, there was a certain capricious obstinacy, as if he were the only one in heaven and earth who had the most rational.
Yun Cuo averted his gaze and whispered, “Okay.”
He reached out his hand and tightly grasped Xue Huai’s.
Just now, the idea was overturned once again, or, to simply put—Xue Huai was reborn as he was but did not feel any doubt about his death, so he easily threw the idea of mind-viewing skill and calamity away with a lighthearted.
Something’s not quite right.
Xue Huai seems to have completely accepted the new life and no longer has any attachment to the previous one. He spoke in such a clear and unambiguous manner, which actually made Yun Cuo a bit confused.
Xue Huai no longer cares about things from his previous life.
How should he apologize to him? What kind of feeling does Xue Huai hold that he chose to be with him in this lifetime?
His inner demon is Xue Huai’s death, but Xue Huai himself doesn’t care anymore, is there no way to ever unravel it?
The two of them interlocked their fingers and slowly walked towards the place where the sword cultivators practiced, which is the highest Yunjian Peak in the entire sect.
During the trial period of the entire sect, everyone was idle and lazy. It seems that only Yun Cuo and Xue Huai have reached a tacit understanding on this matter—they have eaten their meals, wandered the streets, and arranged everything they’ve bought from outside. Thinking about it, it seems like there is nothing else for him to do, so let’s just practice.
After hearing about this, the little junior sister’s teeth itched and she said, “You two! You guys really angered me to death. You secretly practiced while everyone was playing. You’re all big scammers. On the surface, you’re extraordinarily affectionate, but in reality, you want to dual cultivate and advancement, right? You’re both training freaks, you deceived my feelings, I won’t cover up for you guys anymore, hmph.”
After saying that, she carried her beautiful and delicate floating flower sleeves and went to play with her fiancé in a huff. Only the two of them were left in the place where sword cultivators usually gather to practice.
Xue Huai looked at the dense white mist in the clouds and shook Yun Cuo’s hand. “Take me up there, let’s just practice there, okay?”
Yun Cuo looked at him in surprise, recalling his fear at the illusion last time. A hint of worry appeared on his face. “Why don’t we just…”
“I don’t want to, I only want to go there to practice.” Xue Huai looked at him confidently, then squinted and begged him in a soft voice, “You’ll be with me, won’t you, Yun… little husband?”
The last three words made Yun Cuo stumble and nervously grip his hand. He softened without any resistance: “Okay, I’ll take you there, but you mustn’t hold on, okay, Xue Huai?”
He saw Xue Huai motionless, so he asked him again, “I haven’t asked you about last time yet, what happened to you……at that time?”
Last time he didn’t even have time to ask, Xue Huai jumped up and kissed him. He was dizzy for several days and didn’t even remember to ask him what was going on—it’s weird to think about it.
Xue Huai thought for a moment and made up an excuse for himself: “When I was a child, I was tied up by my father’s business rival. The other side asked my father to exchange me for magic weapons; otherwise, he would kill me. Later, when they released me, they threw me in a place where there was fog everywhere and nothing could be seen clearly. At that time, I was very scared and thought I was going to die. So now, when I arrive in such a place, I am afraid.”
Once bitten by a snake, ten years fear a well rope. When Xue Huai mentioned this to him, it suddenly occurred to him that he’d actually been kidnapped before, but that was not when he was a child, but after Murong Mi’s death.
Being kidnapped is a compulsory course for every young man from a noble family. Xue Huai was actually very calm at the time and didn’t remember much afterwards. The kidnapper was also strange. He was full of malice towards the eleven or twelve-year-old boy. He didn’t urge him to ask his family for money, nor did he make him do anything. He just repeatedly asked him, “Oh? Your mother is dead, so your father will have to find someone else? Little immortal, then does your father still want you?”
He is twenty years old now, and he’s also a mature young master of the Xue family. He thought to himself that regardless of Xue Zong’s promises not to remarry, he doted on him so much, surely he wouldn’t not want him. Even if his father doesn’t want him anymore, there’s still his grandparents’ house to which he can go.
He was left alone in the dark place, waiting until the little gluttony he picked up sneaked over and bit open the immortal binding locks that bound him—the gluttonous ghost also successfully gained recognition from the Xue family, and no one advised Xue Huai to throw it away anymore.
“What about the kidnapper?” Xue Huai heard Yun Cuo ask and got out of his memories. In the blink of an eye, he met his pair of eyes, which were full of resentment. “What happened to him?”
Xue Huai thought for a moment and said, “It seems that according to the law of the Immortal Realm, they have to be sent to hell for five hundred years, but my father felt that it was not enough to relieve his anger, he made people…… shave off that person’s bones on his entire body.”
Talking about it, he dismissed it lightly, not really liking the topic much. Yun Cuo no longer asked but tightened his grip on his hand and comfortingly touched the back of his hand with his fingertips. However, his whole body remained tense, as if he were resentful at himself for not being able to handily kill the kidnapper back then.
He took him to the highest mountain, which is called the “Yunjian Peak”.
The higher they went, the colder Xue Huai’s palms became, and when they finally stood in the mist where they couldn’t see anything clearly, Xue Huai’s voice was already shaking a little.
Yun Cuo quietly held him, not saying anything and just leaning very close to him. After they got up there, he suddenly let go of Xue Huai’s hand. At that moment, Xue Huai panicked, and Yun Cuo was going to separate from him like last time. However, Yun Cuo just put his hand down and came over to take his shoulder instead, protecting his entire body in his arms.
He led him in an impressionable direction, then comfortingly patted Xue Huai’s back and slowly led him to lean down, sitting in a place that felt like a stone.
Yun Cuo sat cross-legged, side by side with him, with their shoulders touching.
Because someone was by his side, Xue Huai gradually calmed down after the initial nervousness. He closed his eyes and deliberately ignored the thick white mist around him, only feeling the gentle breathing of himself and Yun Cuo.
He asked, “Will you always sit here?”
Yun Cuo’s cheeks were only a palm away from him, but he could hardly see him clearly. In the mist, he could only hear his voice: “I will, Xue Huai. This is the place where I usually meditate.”
Xue Huai then put his heart down and tried to take his hand back from Yun Cuo and concentrate on meditation.
Every time his aura traveled a small distance, Xue Huai would get distracted, and then he would poke in Yun Cuo’s direction.
When he touched Yun Cuo’s hard chest within less than half a meter, he would retract his hand. Yun Cuo would also say, “I’m here, Xue Huai.”
Xue Huai then let out an “En”.
He began to dispel his fear and found it a bit amusing: “You say, poking and moving around, what do you call it?”
“Xue Huai, don’t think I didn’t hear you scolding me.” Yun Cuo seemed to be happy to see him rely on him and also happy that he could slowly adapt to this environment. His voice couldn’t conceal a smile. “How about you always come to my place to cultivate in the future?”
Xue Huai muttered, “Mmm…”
Yun Cuo seized the opportunity and wanted to persuade him. “If you’re not willing and a bit scared, why don’t I go to your place? In a while, I’ll also go to the spiritual cave to cultivate alone as well.”
Xue Huai raised his eyes and wanted to give him a sidelong glance—only to catch a glimpse of the hazy mist. The white mist is so thick that it feels like flowing water to the touch.
He couldn’t see Yun Cuo, so Yun Cuo naturally couldn’t see his teasing gaze as well.
Xue Huai asked him, “Are you inviting me to dual cultivate with you?”
Immediately, there was no sound over there.
Xue Huai suppressed his smile and patiently waited.
After a while, Yun Cuo’s stuttering voice came over: “Just when you want to do something, I’ll protect you. Sometimes, when I need to cultivate, you can also protect me, okay?”
Xue Huai chased after him fiercely and said, “But I want to dual cultivate.”
There was another moment of silence.
Then came a panicked and uncontrollable low voice: “Don’t talk nonsense, Xue Huai, you’re still too young.”
Young?
Xue Huai thought to himself, he was even two months younger than him.
A boy of this age knows everything in his mind except for this kind of thing, Xue Huai doesn’t need to ask. In his previous life, he himself had always been a person who did not have much desire and was calm and steady, but that did not prevent him from hearing about how some soldiers in the military would screw around and what went through their heads. He has also received several vulgar and provocative love letters, and the authors of these love letters have all been cleaned up by him without exception.
He quickly became playful and announced, “Well, then, you’ll have to bring me over to practice with you in the future.”
Yun Cuo let out a low “En”.
Without waiting for Xue Huai to poke him, he reached out and touched Xue Huai’s shoulder, then took his hand down and held it firmly.
Yun Cuo said, “If I practice now, will you be my protector?”
Xue Huai was idle and had nothing to do, so he said, “Okay, what do you need me to do?”
“Hold my hand,” Yun Cuo said.
Xue Huai also reached out his other hand, groping and probing, holding Yun Cuo’s hands in both hands. The white mist was so thick that he couldn’t even see the strands of hair that fell around his shoulders, but he knew there was someone in front of him.
As he was distracted, he remembered some vulgar supernatural stories, such as those told to him by Xue Zong when he was a child, which scared him. At that time, when he went out with his parents, he always only wanted to be led by his mother to walk. His father told him that if he kept holding someone’s hand on the night road, he would see the person in front of him turn into a ghost as he walked.
At that time, Xue Zong simply didn’t want him to dominate his mother for too long, but Xue Huai was soft and cute when he was a kid, and he was also timid. It wasn’t until he picked up a real gluttonous ghost and returned home that he became less afraid of this story.
The wind blew over, and the clouds gathered and dispersed. Yun Cuo carried a faint fragrance, which was the scent of the sachet prepared by Xue Huai for him—orchid and marigold, patchouli, and white sandalwood. He knew he was there because of it.
Yun Cuo began to practice, and through his slightly feverish palm, Xue Huai gradually sensed his concentration, enough to meet his need. He held onto his thenar, Laogong3Is an acupuncture point in the meridian named Jueyin Pericardium Meridian of Hand., and Yanggu and slowly crossed them with his wood spiritual root’s aura, cooperating with the speed and direction of Yun Cuo’s concentration to protect Yun Cuo’s qi pulse.
He used to use the water spiritual root to protect him all the time, and water was irrelevant to Yun Cuo’s earth spiritual root and had no achievements. Now that he had switched to wood, the wood was able to restrain and neutralize the dormant and unsettling miscellaneous breath in the Yun Cuo’s earth spiritual root, and it was even more attuned and stable than in his previous life.
He heard Yun Cuo ask, “Xue Huai, was the sky on the day we cultivate green? I often hear the word ‘azure’ and I have also heard the word ‘sky blue’.”
“What is the color of the lake water? Is it also blue?”
Xue Huai let out a “hey” sound but didn’t react for a moment. “What are you doing?”
Yun Cuo’s voice carried an unspeakable gentleness and a light joy of faith: “I am practicing mind-viewing.”
Xue Huai hesitated for a moment and immediately cursed, “Why didn’t you inform me in advance of such an important practice?”
The technique of the level of mind-viewing requires setting up a formation at least three days in advance and taking calming drugs to prevent mental loss. Not only do they demand high standards from cultivators, but also from protectors.
Xue Huai was about to rant and rave about Yun Cuo’s reckless behavior, but was interrupted by Yun Cuo—
The curious and probing voice, like that of a child, came into his ears with piety and longing: “Xue Huai, I saw you that day in the mind-viewing. This is the first time I have seen you in the mind-viewing.”
Xue Huai was both angry and smiling, he was so childish that he didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh. “You…”
The sound did slowly decrease.
What the mind-viewing technique accessed was the memory—the shell of the person at that time—so Yun Cuo was able to stay there, gazing at the real colors for a long time.
Xue Huai has a good memory and is meticulous in his observation. He is the kind of person who knows what he’s doing—just take one look at the sunny spring scenery, he can accurately trace it out in no uncertain terms.
On one hand, he concentrated on protecting Yun Cuo’s cultivate, while on the other hand, he tried his best to recall things. “En… what I said may not be accurate. The sky was smoky blue that day, and the lake water was blue. Do you remember the phrase “green is better than blue”? Some blue can be called cyan, and some green can also be called cyan. You go in and out along the scene at that time, there are more colors. You ask me, and I’ll tell you.”
Yun Cuo’s side was silent.
Xue Huai waited for a long time but didn’t hear Yun Cuo speak. He suspected that he had deviated from his cultivation again. But the Qi pulse he protected was relatively stable.
Xue Huai anxiously reached out to check Yun Cuo’s pulse, pressing his fingertips on his wrist. At first, he didn’t feel anything, but later, when he pressed on the pulse, he noticed that the frequency of the beat was getting faster and faster.
He frowned and called, “Yun Cuo?”
Just then, Yun Cuo’s voice drifted over, “En.”
This tone of his was a bit strange, Xue Huai doesn’t know how to describe it—it’s like the tone of voice that anyone in the academy would instantly cheer to when they heard it, like little pink flowers of happiness blooming all around.
He heard Yun Cuo say, “You really look good, Xue Huai.”
Xue Huai immediately knew, this person might have already examined him at that time in the mind-viewing technique—the true him. He endured it and said, “No looking at me! And no other weird stuff either.”
Yun Cuo quickly agreed and happily told him, “Okay. Xue Huai, your color is different from everything else.”
“What? Can I still be colorful?” Xue Huai asked unhappily.
“It’s different. The colors are all there, but you alone are different.” Yun Cuo said.
Xue Huai argued with him, “It’s like back in the days of the flood, when there were only Nuwa and Fuxi in heaven and on earth, there were only two people. Thus, you naturally feel that the other person is different. Alright, now you go out and see other people and things, and I’ll teach you how to identify them.”
“I don’t want to, you look good, I’ll just look at you.” As he spoke, Xue Huai felt that Yun Cuo had brought his cultivation to a halt.
The mind-viewing ended—it was the shortest and only successful one. Before he could react, a shadow swooped in from the mist and straightened up, taking him in his arms and crushing him to the ground.
Yun Cuo rubbed against his neck, his eyes clear and insistent. “It’s enough for me to look at you.”
Xue Huai was so stuck by him that he couldn’t do anything about it. He could just put up some fake resistance, like when he beat up the gluttonous, and then he just let him go.
Xue Huai asked him, “Why did you come out so quickly this time? It was smooth today, right? If you want to retrace your memories, maybe now is the best time.”
Yun Cuo just focused on reaching out and stroking his soft, smooth, long hair.
Xue Huai’s curiosity came back, he asked, “What are you looking for in the mind-viewing technique? If it’s inappropriate to talk about it, forget it.”
Yun Cuo glanced at him once, quickly averted his gaze, and casually said, “It’s also to look for an old item from my mother. There’s nothing inappropriate to say, I’m looking for the demonic stone thumb ring she left behind.”
“Thumb ring?” Xue Huai was a bit puzzled.
This thumb ring thingy is used to press down on the bowstring and to protect the fingers, but Yun Cuo never uses bows and arrows.
Yun Cuo said, “En, when I was a child, my mother said that if I wanted to get married in the future, this would be her wedding gift to her daughter-in-law. She would let her daughter-in-law marry in gracefully, so she wanted to give her the most orthodox token in the Demon Realm’s royal family. That thumb ring was the only thing she brought from the Demon Realm.”
Xue Huai: “……”
He blushed and stopped talking about this topic.
After a while, he just said softly, “Then, it’s not particularly urgent either. Maybe you can wait until your mind-viewing technique stabilizes before looking for it again.”
He remembered that he had rented two hundred Underworld Faithful Crows, but couldn’t decide if he wanted to offer to help Yun Cuo find this thing—would this make him look like he’s in too much of a hurry?
After much thought, he still asked Yun Cuo.
Yun Cuo smiled and shook his head. “It’s okay. I used to search with the faithful crows before, but they couldn’t find it.”
Xue Huai said, “Oh.”
He closed his eyes, continued to hold Yun Cuo’s hand, and began to practice on his own.
The white mist gathered and dispersed, so thick that it was hard to breathe, and they couldn’t even use their spiritual vision. Half a meter away, Yun Cuo’s other hand, which wasn’t being held, felt toward his heart.
There hangs a crimson thumb ring with a chilling demonic aura.
He didn’t tell Xue Huai that this thumb ring represents the highest power in the Demon Realm, and when holding it, one will forever be qualified to command the Demon Realm.
He took it out, held it in his palm, and nervously stroked it a few times, trying to sneak it into Xue Huai’s sleeve. After some contemplation, he put it back in its original place.
He wanted to give him a surprise, but Xue Huai would return it if he saw this ring now. After all, from anyone’s perspective, the engagement between the two of them has just been finalized, and they are still young and not yet ready to get married.
But he couldn’t hold back anymore, he wanted to marry him immediately.
There was a colorful and infinitely wonderful world in the mind-viewing technique, but he really felt that just Xue Huai was enough. He didn’t care if those were the only colors in his world; he was used to the darkness and the cold.
He just wants Xue Huai.
In the mind-viewing technique, Xue Huai stood there, smiling at him, with a pitch-black giant door behind him—like the underworld. He saw a quiet snowfield inside.
This is the first time that memories from the previous life have appeared in the form of doors. In the past, he always couldn’t find the door of the past, so he would be trapped in a nightmare and unable to walk back.
Only this time, because Xue Huai was by his side, did he find the way to that place.
He had no choice but to turn his back on that door and leave, walking faster and faster. He’s not sure what emotion was urging him, he just stopped his cultivation, opened his eyes, and leaned over to find his beloved.
That was a deep fear—he instinctively knew that there must have been something in his previous life that he would go crazy if he found out.
The truth that is enough to destroy him, and the current false serenity would cause him to lose his mind.
