Phew. Enjoy this lengthy chapter.
Zhang Guolin was startled, then narrowed his eyes to look at him, a dangerous glint flashing through his eyes.
“You had noticed it long ago?” He slowly turned around, walking towards Jing Li while leisurely looking him up and down. “So, you deliberately set a trap to lure me in?”
“It seems I have indeed underestimated you.” Zhang Guolin laughed mirthlessly to himself, though there was not much anger at being tricked in his tone. “But even if you’ve found out, what can you do? An ordinary person without any power, plus a low-level demon who is heavily injured? What could you possibly do to me?”
His words trailed off as he arrogantly raised his eyebrows, but the branch-like right hand suddenly lashed out towards Jing Li, extending countless branches that wildly grew and swept towards Jing Li. Wherever they passed, the space was torn apart by the explosive demonic energy, crashing to the floor with earth-shaking noises.
However, despite the great commotion, it did not attract any attention from outside at all, not even a hint of sound could make it out.
“Since you’ve come knocking arrogantly, then I’ll just have to send you on your way!”
Zhang Guolin revealed a sinister smile, waiting leisurely for the branches to pierce through the vital parts of Jing Li’s body, ending his life.
But before the smile could fully form, the scene before his eyes suddenly took an unexpected turn.
He saw that just as the countless branches were about to touch Jing Li’s body, they suddenly halted in front of him, not moving any further.
It was as if an invisible barrier had enveloped Jing Li, blocking all foreign attacks.
How is this possible?!
Zhang Guolin’s expression changed instantly. He hurriedly summoned more demonic power to attack again, but the branches remained still without any reaction.
“It seems your little magic show didn’t go so well?” Jing Li laughed very lightly, even reaching out a finger to casually poke at the branches before him.
Hearing him speak, Zhang Guolin abruptly looked up. Seeing the leisurely expression on the other’s face, he finally realized something was wrong.
The other showed none of the shock or fear a normal human would have when assaulted by a demon.
“You’re not human?!” He looked at the young man before him in disbelief, figuring it out in an instant.
Yet no matter how he examined the other, there were no signs of abnormality on him at all.
“I’m just telling the truth. How can you scold people so?” Jing Li still had a relaxed smile on his face, making a casual joke.
At the same time, his right hand slowly rose up. White spiritual power instantly coalesced into countless sharp ice blades. With a wave towards the branches before him, in a flash, all the surrounding branches were completely severed, splattering green fluids everywhere.
“Ahhhh!”
It all happened in an instant. Zhang Guolin didn’t even have time to react before pain shot through his arm, crying out in agony.
The abrupt loss of demonic power being separated from his body nearly caused him to be unable to maintain his human form, wrinkly bark emerging on his face.
But that was not the end.
After attacking, Jing Li swiftly moved. With one hand, he grabbed the root of the chopped-off branch and used his strength to pull it back. Where he grabbed instantly froze over with a thick layer of frost that rapidly spread upwards along the branches, directly freezing Zhang Guolin’s transformed branches together with his whole body, leaving only the area above his neck unfrozen. The condensed ice blades pressed tightly against his vital points, not letting him move recklessly.
After gaining control over the other, he then condensed a transparent water sphere that he suspended in front of the opponent’s dantian1丹田 (dān tián) – pubic region / point two inches below the navel where one’s qi resides. The spiritual power faintly emanating from the water sphere instantly churned the demon core inside the opponent’s body, as if it would shatter open from the pressure at any moment.
Zhang Guolin immediately recalled the destroyed demon core he had found inside the teddy bear prop earlier.
“You killed the hyena demon?!” His pupils abruptly contracted, finally feeling fear belatedly.
Although the hyena demon was a bit reckless, its own cultivation was definitely not low, and could be considered above average among demons of the same level.
Even if it was previously injured, it couldn’t have been easily…
Wait!
Injured?!
Zhang Guolin looked up at Jing Li, his eyes widening further. “The one who injured it previously was also you?!”
Although he was asking Jing Li, he had already confirmed this conclusion in his heart.
To be able to instantly kill a mid-level demon, injuring it would be even easier.
However, Jing Li just smiled and shook his head. “It wasn’t me who injured it.”
He didn’t intend to explain further to the other. Exerting a bit more force on the water sphere, he was about to destroy the opponent’s cultivation.
Seeing his actions, Zhang Guolin’s face paled, but he still unwillingly asked, “Can you tell me where my flaws were that allowed you to discover me?”
He had always been cautious and also thought his disguise was very good. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to lurk in the human world for over a hundred years without being found out.
Usually, when absorbing spiritual energy, he wouldn’t easily make a move himself. Even when he did, he was extremely careful about it and wouldn’t let anyone notice anything unusual.
Except this time, because his most capable hyena demon subordinate was too heavily injured and urgently needed spiritual energy to recover, he had taken a risk that one time.
But even so, he had been especially careful to conceal himself and even made the hyena demon absorb more from him.
“You were indeed very cautious. It’s just a pity that being overly cautious made you full of flaws everywhere.” Jing Li glanced at him indifferently, flipping his right hand over. The water sphere instantly invaded the dantian, draining away over half of the demonic power from the opponent’s demon core. Wrapped up by the water sphere, it re-condensed in Jing Li’s hand.
Zhang Guolin didn’t expect him to take action as soon as he spoke, completely unable to react in time. His demon core being churned up so suddenly caused him to grunt in pain, cold sweat emerging on his forehead.
Just then, Jing Li’s indifferent voice sounded again, “Even if the hyena demon was greedy for spiritual energy, it only took a small portion from everyone who went out that day. This shows it had reservations, so why was it that you specifically had the most taken from you?”
“Although you are considered prestigious and well-respected in your circle, the faith power you’ve accumulated is actually not that much. Why would the hyena pass over the many others with abundant spiritual energy, only to target you heavily?”
Having said that, he casually withdrew the spiritual power restraining the other’s body.
In his current state, Zhang Guolin no longer posed the slightest threat to him. It even depended on his mood whether the other could live or not.
Hearing this, Zhang Guolin was startled, his face turning ashen as he slumped down to the ground.
With the ice melting away from his body, it was evident he no longer even had the energy to maintain his form.
“You suspect me just because of this?” He stared at the person before him in disbelief, his red eyes gradually bloodshot, clearly unwilling to believe such an absurd reason.
“I said, you were full of flaws everywhere.” Jing Li paid no mind to his resentment and unwillingness, raising his hand to urge the water sphere to slowly refine the extracted demonic power until it condensed into a green mist.
That lush color was as if containing countless vitality, curling around his fingertips and blossoming with vigorous life force.
“Pretending to be virtuous and getting close to the celebrities, that’s your usual method of absorbing spiritual energy, but your false virtues conveniently ignore all the ordinary staff with low spiritual energy.”
“Befriending Mr. Chen to highlight your amiable personality, yet you didn’t actually care much about his condition, inviting a bunch of actors out the very night he fell ill.”
“Your biggest flaw was your interests. You do have considerable insight into opera, but only limited to those works you became famous for. You probably didn’t even realize yourself that when talking about the opera master Zhang Cheng, the smug, arrogant look on your face gave you away?”
“Oh, and most importantly, your flattering of me was far too obvious. Even my assistant couldn’t stand watching it.”
“So, your primary target before was probably me. It’s a pity the hyena demon ran into some trouble during the operation, forcing you to get close personally, huh?”
……
With each sentence Jing Li spoke, the defeated look on Zhang Guolin’s face grew thicker, his previous arrogance and complacency vanishing in an instant. By the end, his whole body had gone limp on the ground.
He never imagined that all the actions he had thought through so meticulously were full of flaws in the eyes of the other.
Yet Jing Li didn’t care about these things at all, as if the other’s thoughts were of no concern to him. After speaking, he raised his hand facing the window, urging his spiritual power to send the green mist out through the gaps, letting it drift far away on the wind.
His expression remained indifferent the whole time, but Zhang Guolin, who saw his actions, instantly twisted his face in anguish.
“You! You actually refined them into life essence and returned it to those humans?!” He abruptly sat up, glaring at Jing Li with eyes wide and bloodshot, chest heaving violently up and down from anger.
That was demonic power he had accumulated over hundreds of years!
Yet this person didn’t absorb it for himself but instead returned it all to those insignificant humans?!
Simply preposterous!
Facing his furious roar, Jing Li only glanced at him indifferently. “You barely survived by relying on the spiritual energy plundered from insignificant humans. What right do you have to look down on them?”
Zhang Guolin was so angry at being likened to ants that his face instantly flushed red, but he couldn’t find any words to retort, only continuing to glare resentfully.
After a moment, he suddenly laughed loudly again, but his body was too weak from having his demonic power drained that he had to gasp for breath mid-laugh. In the end, he had to put his hands on the ground to stabilize his shaking body.
Yet even so, he still couldn’t stop laughing, instead looking mockingly at Jing Li and saying, “Then what right do you have? Will your ending be any better than mine?”
“You think that by wholeheartedly helping the humans, they’ll appreciate you?”
“If they find out your demon identity, they’d probably swarm to attack you, eager to kill you on the spot.”
“Or maybe, get locked up by those so-called research institutes and dissected into pieces for study?”
Zhang Guolin became more and more interested the more he spoke. He unscrupulously looked over every part of Jing Li’s body, as if enjoying the wonderful scene of him being dissected into pieces.
Yet Jing Li was completely unmoved by his taunts, only leisurely tidying up his clothes that had become somewhat disheveled during the fight.
“You have two choices now.” He glanced down at the man on the floor and said indifferently, “Either die, or restore this place to its original state, then go back and finish filming the drama. If you don’t come out to cause trouble again in the future, I can consider sparing your life.”
Zhang Guolin was startled, seeming to not have expected that he would still be willing to spare his life at this point.
He had thought he was doomed to die today.
But naturally, no one was willing to die if they could live.
So, without thinking twice, he chose the latter.
Moreover, after leaving the crew, they would be like strangers, so who could know if he would cause trouble again in the future?
Thinking of this, Zhang Guolin gave an imperceptible sneering humph.
He thought to himself that the other was still too young, after all, to be so careless towards his enemy.
But before he could even laugh, the other spoke again, “Since you want to live, swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao.”
The smile on Zhang Guolin’s face instantly froze as he looked up in disbelief.
Swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao? Swear what? To never harm humans again from now on?
Who didn’t know the Heavenly Dao was the biggest restraint in this world on all beings other than ordinary humans? If he did this, how was it any different from voluntarily restricting himself?!
“What’s wrong? You can’t possibly think I’d naively believe a demon’s lies?” Jing Li looked at him derisively, too lazy to waste words with him, commanding him to hurry and swear the oath.
Zhang Guolin’s face turned red then pale. In the end, unable to resist the temptation of living, he could only grit his teeth and raise his left hand unwillingly, swearing an oath to the Heavenly Dao.
As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of lightning split the sky outside the window, sealing the oath.
At the same time, in Jing Li’s suite, Gu Tingshen was also observing the situation in Room 1108 through the monitor.
Feeling the bright flash outside, he subconsciously turned to look, his heart stirring slightly, as if gaining some invisible connection. He suddenly felt this scene seemed familiar.
*****
After dealing with Zhang Guolin, Jing Li watched as he urged his meager spiritual power to slowly restore the room bit by bit to its original state, even mending the shredded quilt completely, before letting him go.
After suffering a round of torment and losing most of his demonic power, then being forced to work for a few hours, the already feeble Zhang Guolin had long been exhausted to the brink of collapse. By the time Jing Li finally spoke to release him, he instantly slumped down on the floor, panting heavily like a broken bellows.
Jing Li indifferently glanced at him, then checked the time. Not wanting to waste more time here, he only coldly warned him a few sentences before turning to leave first.
Just as he walked out the door, the outer barrier flashed once then automatically dispelled. Jing Li quickly walked some distance and turned into the emergency stairwell, then weakly panted a few breaths leaning against the wall.
This body was still too weak. The spiritual power he had accumulated before was far from enough to last long, which was why he had chosen to swiftly subdue Zhang Guolin completely.
But after it ended, the feeling of exhaustion from his depleted spiritual power grew exponentially. He had only endured until now through sheer willpower.
Hu Li, who had been hiding in a corner of the hallway, saw him come out and was about to go up to him, but then saw him hurriedly turn into the emergency stairwell.
Thinking something was wrong, Hu Li’s expression instantly changed as he rushed over. Looking Jing Li up and down worriedly, he anxiously asked, “Are you okay? Did you get hurt somewhere?”
“I’m fine.” Jing Li allowed him to examine him and, seeing his worried expression, quickly smiled reassuringly. “Didn’t I tell you to wait in Lele’s room? Why did you come here?”
“With such a big incident, how could I possibly sit still?” Hu Li complained with a pout. After carefully looking him over and seeing he really was uninjured, he finally relaxed but still dissatisfiedly said, “I’m a demon too! How could you just let me watch helplessly as you took such a risk yourself? You’re really too much!”
Although he spoke like this, he also knew deep down that the other was worried he would be in danger too.
So, before Jing Li could respond, he suddenly rushed forward to hug him tightly, eyes reddening as he said, “No matter what, I’ve made up my mind to befriend you. From now on, I definitely won’t just watch you take risks alone again.”
At first, he had only approached the other out of curiosity towards the koi scent, wanting to get close and bask in the fabled good fortune. But after interacting for a period of time, he discovered there was much more to admire about the other, unconsciously attracted until they gradually became friends.
But in the demon world, deceit was everywhere. How many so-called friends had true sincerity?
It wasn’t until this time, when he personally witnessed the other take risks alone while completely protecting him from danger, that his heart was finally moved, truly cherishing the other.
Jing Li looked down at him, his eyes also softening slightly.
But his personality wasn’t lively and outgoing like Hu Li’s, and he couldn’t make such dramatic gestures. Facing Hu Li’s sincere emotions, he only smiled and gently hugged the other back for a moment before pulling him slightly out of the embrace.
“Alright, be careful, or someone might see.”
After all, they were still under the guise of celebrities. If someone saw, who knew what scandals would spread.
He didn’t actually mind these things much himself, but less trouble was naturally better.
Hu Li had still been immersed in feeling touched, but hearing Jing Li’s unromantic words instantly made his emotions come to an abrupt halt, the atmosphere disappearing in an instant.
He glared at Jing Li resentfully with his red eyes, staring until Jing Li couldn’t help but chuckle lightly.
“Okay, didn’t you make plans to eat lunch with Lele? If you don’t go soon, he’ll probably faint from hunger.”
“I still have scenes to film in the afternoon, so I won’t keep you here. I’m going back to my room to eat something, then head to the set.”
Earlier, in order to lure Zhang Guolin, he had specifically asked Director Wen to move his second scene from the morning to the afternoon, swapping with the afternoon scene instead.
Since it was the same location, Director Wen naturally had no objections.
Hearing him say this, Hu Li finally let him off, turning to leave while looking back every three steps.
Those clingy eyes, if someone who didn’t know saw, they really might think something was going on between the two.
Jing Li helplessly shook his head. Waiting until he felt recovered enough, he also turned to return to his room.
The two didn’t even think to go check on Room 1108, as if they had long forgotten Zhang Guolin’s existence.
*
When he returned to the room, Gu Tingshen was sitting on the sofa, lost in thought. Hearing the sounds from the door, he finally came back to his senses and looked up.
“Tingshen-ge.” Jing Li smiled and greeted him as he walked over to sit on the sofa.
Glancing at the computer screen on the coffee table, he was even in a good enough mood to joke, “What’s wrong? Completely had your worldview overturned by what you saw on the monitor?”
“Yes.” Gu Tingshen deeply met his gaze and calmly said, “It was my first time finding out Maoshan arts could make someone materialize ice blades out of thin air to attack demons. It really did overturn my worldview.”
Jing Li: “……”
“Is that so?” Jing Li nodded calmly, explaining earnestly, “Maybe my cultivation is just deeper.”
Anyway, he had already made up some excuse about learning Maoshan arts before, knowing the other wouldn’t look into it. So, making up more nonsense now didn’t pressure him at all, either.
After speaking, he didn’t look at the other’s deepening gaze, instead asking, “By the way, you said before that I changed in your dreams last night? Can you describe in detail what it was like?”
Gu Tingshen looked at him steadily. Even knowing he was deliberately changing the subject, he still responded, “Mn. Before I dreamed you turned into a koi crossing the heavenly tribulation. But this time, it was a dream of mist filling the sky, and you were hidden behind it. I could only hear your voice but couldn’t see where you were.”
“I was searching for you the whole dream but couldn’t find you no matter where I looked until finally, a faint light appeared at the front of the mist. When I went towards it, I was suddenly sucked in.”
Gu Tingshen frowned after finishing. He felt like both dreams conveyed an important message, but his limited knowledge left him completely clueless.
That was why he had wanted to tell Jing Li about them, which led to experiencing the series of incomprehensible events.
Hearing about the new dream, Jing Li also sank into thought.
Based on Gu Tingshen’s description, he was now quite certain the other was also someone from the Spiritual Realm like himself.
And it was very likely he had followed his trail all the way here.
He just didn’t know what mistake had occurred midway to make the other lose all his previous memories and be restricted into an ordinary human.
Oh, perhaps not that ordinary.
Jing Li looked up at the man across from him.
After all, no ordinary human could possess such dark purple golden aura like his.
Even the respected Masters in the Spiritual Realm didn’t have a third of the aura he did.
But he really couldn’t think of anyone who matched up to the man before him.
After some thought, he could only temporarily set this issue aside for now and ask, “Did you notice any other anomalies after waking up?”
“No, there weren’t any.” Gu Tingshen shook his head. “Other than my control over seeing mist on people improving a bit, everything else was the same as usual.”
In fact, his mental and physical strength had also been getting better and better, but he subconsciously felt that had nothing to do with these supernatural things, so he didn’t pay it much attention.
Hearing this, Jing Li was also at a loss for the moment. He could only shake his head and say, “From your description, I don’t have any ideas right now either. Why don’t we observe for a while longer to see if there are any other changes?”
Gu Tingshen considered it and had to agree that besides continuing to observe, there really were no other options for now. So, he nodded.
The conversation was basically finished, and seeing it was already quite late, Gu Tingshen didn’t stay longer either. He stood up to take his leave.
Jing Li also got up to escort him to the door and press the elevator button for him.
Right before entering the elevator, Gu Tingshen paused, then turned back around to look at him and suddenly asked, “Does Jing Yu know you can do…Maoshan arts?”
Jing Li froze for a moment, at a loss for words.
But seeing his expression, the intelligent Gu Tingshen naturally understood.
But he didn’t say anything. For some reason, he even laughed very softly instead, as if extremely delighted.
Then under Jing Li’s completely confused gaze, he entered the elevator and pressed the close button.
As the elevator doors slowly shut, Gu Tingshen’s figure also gradually disappeared from view.
But right in the last moment before the doors closed, Jing Li actually saw him look up at him again, the corners of his lips faintly curving up.
Jing Li: “……”
If he wasn’t certain Gu Tingshen was clear-headed, he would have thought those bizarre supernatural events had left the other mentally unsound.
Though his smiling appearance was quite nice-looking – it even made Jing Li’s heartbeat skip.
Jing Li shook his head, shaking away the tangled thoughts. Then he turned to go back into his room.
*
When he returned to the set in the afternoon, everything was the same as usual with the crew.
Zhang Guolin had also reappeared on set, though his complexion seemed even more haggard, his whole person appearing to have suddenly aged a few years older.
Thanks to his usual good reputation among the crew, many people approached him in concern after seeing his state.
Zhang Guolin was still as easygoing as before, patiently chatting and joking with everyone who came to check on him.
It looked like he had indeed taken Jing Li’s words to heart.
Jing Li only glanced once before withdrawing his gaze, instead entering the set to start preparing for filming.
This scene was a transitional plot in the script, so there weren’t many shots, and filming went smoothly.
It didn’t take long to wrap up, then a few pick-up shots were filmed, and his scenes were completely finished.
His stamina had been drained quite a bit today, so as soon as he was done, he directly changed back into his own clothes and returned to his room to rest, even having his assistant take care of removing his makeup in the room.
In his groggy state, he heard the assistant say, “Er Shao, Wang-jie said a few advertisers contacted her interested in having you endorse their products. Wang-jie looked them over and picked the best one for you to look at when you’re back.”
“Just let Wang-jie decide. She can inform me directly when it’s finalized,” Jing Li said without even opening his eyes.
After working together these months, he completely trusted Sister Wang and the abilities of the whole team. Anything they would bring to him certainly wouldn’t be bad, so looking it over or not made no difference.
But hearing this, the assistant hesitated.
He looked at Jing Li uncertainly, then said, “Wang-jie said this advertisement endorsement is for a very famous product, and they’re offering a very generous payment. All the terms are also very reasonable, it’s just one thing…”
He paused, stealing another glance at Jing Li before quietly saying, “The endorsement is for the Gu Group.”
The author has something to say:
Small Theater: Hypothetical scenario of Gu Tingshen being straight
–
After finding out Jing Li is a koi:
Gu Tingshen (expectantly): Wife, can you blow bubbles too?
Jing Li: ……Too?
Gu Tingshen: ……
Gu Tingshen (mumbling): Don’t all fish blow bubbles?
Jing Li: So, in your eyes, I’m the same as those bubble-blowing fish?! #flips table#
Gu Tingshen: ……
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