After his words fell, the entire cave went silent.
An invisible, eerie aura spread out. Jian Zhen, who was being looked at, blinked in confusion.
Wait a moment…
If you’re talking, then talk, why are you looking at him!
He’s just an innocent melon-eating little grass!!
As he was thinking this, Ye Jisheng, who had been leisurely watching the show all along beside him, sneered. His shallow, light voice fell, effortlessly breaking the original atmosphere. The man looked down at Ling Can on the ground from above, as if looking at some piece of trash.
Ye Jisheng said, “What kind of thing are you, that you’re even worthy of using the Soul-Cultivating Formation?”
Ling Can froze.
“Hiding in this sunless place doing shameful deeds.” Ye Jisheng curled his lips. “This is what you call effort?”
Ling Can’s bloodshot eyes widened as he looked at the collapsed amber stones filling the hall. Each piece of amber stone represented a cultivator’s life, and the crimson strings were precisely the blood of these cultivators.
This skyful of red.
He hazily recalled that a very, very long time ago,
Yun Niang had once worn a red dress, standing amid crimson pomegranate blossoms, smiling gently as she said to him, “Brother Ling, go cultivate with peace of mind. Become a hero who slays demons and upholds the Dao. I’ll wait for you to come back.”
That was something from tens of millions of years ago, yet recalling it now, it was still vividly clear.
Yes, his original dream, what he had strived for, was to follow in Spirit Mountain’s footsteps and become a cultivator who slays demons and upholds the Dao. At that time, he had merely been an unknown disciple.
Tears slid down Ling Can’s cheeks.
The man kneeling on the ground shook his shoulders helplessly. He pounded the ground and said, “How could it be like this, why did it become like this…”
He wanted so badly to let her see, see himself now. He had grown up; he was no longer that poor boy.
He had taken an Immortal Venerable as his master.
Now he was the lord of a peak; he could already give her happiness.
Ling Can said through clenched teeth, “Just a little bit short, just a little bit…”
Jian Zhen stood at Ye Jisheng’s side.
The quiet young man looked at the person on the ground and said gently, “But after she wakes up, would she really be happy seeing all this?”
Ling Can’s fist pounding the ground stopped.
Jian Zhen’s jet-black eyes were clear and clean as he said, “Is all this really what she wants?”
Ling Can suddenly raised his head to look at him, his mud-smeared robes making him look like a trapped beast: “You’re alive! What right do you have to say these things!”
Jian Zhen stood where he was. Even when little grass was scolded, he remained open and calm. Without any hesitation, his gentle voice, soft yet firm, said, “If by my living, many people must die, I would not choose to live.”
The faces of the people in the cave changed abruptly.
Even Fu Changhuan, who was always cold and calm, turned to look at him at once, his eyes like thick fog that could not be dispelled.
Only Ling Can slowly laughed out loud, first a low laugh, then the laughter gradually turning somewhat manic. He suddenly pressed a certain mechanism on the stone slab. The entire cave seemed to shake with it. Countless amber stones emitted dazzling light, all the spiritual energy surging violently, causing cracks to split open along the cave walls.
Someone said, “Not good, this place is going to collapse!”
The top of the enormous stone cave split apart as cracks spread, dust flying everywhere.
All the filth and seas of corpses and blood seemed to sink into the earth’s core along with all this. Ling Can, who had fallen to the ground, looked at Jian Zhen’s departing back. Tears filled his eyes, making the figure gradually blur. He said, “You’re still the same as before, not changed at all…”
“Boom…”
With a deafening sound, the silent structure collapsed. The foundation of the Luo residence caved in, as if sinking down into another enormous stone cavern.
The Soul-Cultivating Formation was broken. The fierce resentment of countless dead souls surged sky-high. The spiritual energy of the Soul-Cultivating Formation rippled outward in all directions. Jian Zhen looked toward the direction of the formation. What others could hear was the sound of collapsing buildings, but what reached his ears were the wails of innumerable people, sounds like the cries of the departed spirits from h*ll, struggling and howling.
Those sounds grew louder and louder.
The faces of the people standing outside without shelter turned increasingly pale.
Ye Jisheng’s robe was suddenly seized by a pair of hands. The man lowered his head, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
Jian Zhen lifted his head to look at him, trying with all his strength to speak. “I…”
Before he could even finish speaking, the sounds pouring in from all directions had already nearly drowned him out. The Soul-Cultivating Formation scattered, and the people standing on the rooftops fainted and fell.
On another eave, Fu Changhuan was exerting himself to suppress the resentful spirits scattering from the Luo family’s Soul-Cultivating Formation when he sensed demonic qi spreading. He turned his head to look and saw Ye Jisheng holding someone in his arms.
Something had happened to him.
The Immortal Venerable, whose expression would not change even if a ten-thousand-year snow mountain collapsed before him, showed a slight change in expression.
Almost in an instant, Fu Changhuan arrived before Ye Jisheng and said, “Where are you taking him?”
Ye Jisheng stood on the eaves, the evening wind lifting his robes. The man raised his eyelids to look at him, crimson eyes as blood under the night sky, extremely dangerous, and said slowly, “Move aside.”
Fu Changhuan’s snow-white robes were jade-like in the night. He said, “You’re taking him back to the Demon Realm?”
Ye Jisheng replied calmly, “And what of it?”
His tone was even, but only those who knew him could sense the killing intent hidden within.
Fu Changhuan said, “You cannot take him away.”
Ye Jisheng curled his lips. Soulfire appeared behind him, soulfire filled with corrosion and danger surrounded Fu Changhuan completely. Just as it was about to be unleashed, a pair of hands very lightly grasped the front of his robe. Jian Zhen, unconscious, was extremely unsettled, his brows tightly knit in pain from the influence of the Soul-Cultivating Formation.
Fu Changhuan lowered his head and also saw this scene.
Ye Jisheng lifted his gaze and said, “If Immortal Lord Wangyou has the time, you might as well properly clean up the mess your disciple left behind.”
His words were extremely impolite.
Yet they also carried the inherent flamboyance of a Demon God.
Ye Jisheng curled his lips and said, “As for you wanting to snatch someone from this Venerable, Wanjie Mountain of the Demon Realm awaits your visit.”
The figure under the night sky was just as rampant and willful as when he had charged up Spirit Mountain alone twelve million years ago, as if over all these centuries he had never changed at all.
Fu Changhuan stood before him, not yielding an inch.
The auras released by the two supreme beings of their respective races caused all things between heaven and earth to be shrouded in trembling fear. An immense pressure descended, as if the Luo residence were about to be leveled to the ground.
Until resentful, violent qi once again spread from the pit of departed spirits beneath the estate.
Fu Changhuan’s expression shifted slightly. As he turned away, he said, “I will take him back.”
Ye Jisheng’s eyes were icy cold. He hooked his lips. “Then try it.”
The dense moonlight cast a bleak frost over the world, as if destined to mark the extraordinariness of this night. The reappearance of the Soul-Cultivating Formation in the yao clan shocked the three realms, while within the Demon Clan’s Wanjie Mountain…
Someone did not rest peacefully.
In the dream, fragmented images slid past like flowing water. Countless figures swayed back and forth, only to be burned into fragments by raging flames. Jian Zhen felt as though he were trapped in a sea of fire, suffering torment. No matter where he went, he could not find direction or light. The unfamiliar predicament left him helpless and lost.
Until he heard a familiar voice….
“Zhuzhu.”
A low call sounded. That voice seemed to come from the horizon, yet also seemed close at hand.
In the darkness, Jian Zhen instinctively ran toward it, only to step into empty air and fall into the flames. He struggled in terror. When he opened his eyes, the ceiling above was that of the Demon Realm’s main hall, and outside the window was warm sunlight.
As if he had suddenly returned from h*ll to the human world.
Jian Zhen blinked in a daze, then heard a lazy voice beside him: “Awake?”
The little grass that had just woken up turned its head to look.
The man sitting beside the couch wore dark robes. He held a booklet in his hand, flipping through it lazily. Ye Jisheng’s ink-black hair fell loose, and his handsome face was half cast in the lingering shadow of the setting sun.
Jian Zhen slowly sat up. He rubbed his eyes and nodded, saying, “I had a nightmare.”
Ye Jisheng said, “I could tell.”
Jian Zhen said blankly, “Huh?”
Ye Jisheng pointed at his own robe and said, “While you were asleep, you tightly gripped this Venerable’s robe hem and refused to let go no matter what, crying as you called out.”
Jian Zhen: “……”
Little grass was shocked. Little grass lowered its head.
Seeing the wrinkled marks on the dark robe beside the couch where it had been gripped, little grass fell silent.
Jian Zhen tried hard to find himself a small excuse and said softly, “Was I like that the whole time?”
Ye Jisheng replied flatly, “Mm.”
Jian Zhen tried to smooth it over. “Then last night… I didn’t grab on for very long, right?”
Ye Jisheng said, “That’s true.”
Jian Zhen let out a sigh of relief.
“Because it wasn’t just last night.” Ye Jisheng’s gaze fell on the person on the couch as he said, “You slept for three days.”
Jian Zhen: ??!!
The little grass, stunned on the spot, seemed to forget how to think.
Jian Zhen asked, “How did I end up sleeping for so long?”
Ye Jisheng said, “When the Soul-Cultivating Formation scattered, your cultivation was too low. Naturally, you couldn’t withstand the interference of the formation.”
That seemed quite reasonable.
After all, it was just a little grass that had only just taken human form.
Jian Zhen didn’t think too much about it and asked, “Then what about the Immortal Venerable and the others, what about everyone else?”
Ye Jisheng said indifferently, “Ling Can destroyed the formation himself, causing the thousands of wronged souls suppressed by the Soul-Cultivation Formation to scatter. Fu Changhuan is Ling Can’s master, so naturally he has to stay behind to clean up the aftermath.”
Jian Zhen nodded, then suddenly remembered something and said, “Then what about Yu and my disciple trial?”
Ye Jisheng let out a cold laugh: “Your disciple trial dug up forbidden techniques that have long been banned across the Three Realms. Now the entire yao clan’s royal family is in chaos. Let alone a mere Fuling Mountain, do you really think anyone still has the time to care about you?”
Jian Zhen: “…That’s true.”
Compared to the disciple trial, it seemed other matters were much bigger.
Just as he was thinking.
From outside the doorway came a respectful voice: “Your Excellency, may this old subject come in?”
Only then did Jian Zhen realize someone was outside. He couldn’t see clearly through the screen; it wasn’t until the person outside walked in that he saw clearly, this white-haired elder was the Demon Clan’s High Priest, the one he often saw before in the basin.
Ye Jisheng sat on the chair and instructed, “Have a look at him.”
The High Priest nodded in acknowledgment.
Jian Zhen then saw the High Priest walk over, and the look he gave him was extremely complicated, specifically, the kind that seemed as though he had a thousand words to say, yet said nothing at all.
Little grass: ???
What does he mean?
The High Priest respectfully performed a salute and said, “Greetings, Your Excellency. This one is Cha Yanli, High Priest of the Demon Realm, here to take your pulse.”
Jian Zhen suddenly felt a little unaccustomed to being treated so respectfully, but still lightly nodded and said, “I’ll trouble you, then.”
The High Priest stood by his side and reached out to take Jian Zhen’s pulse. The aged brows and eyes were first somewhat heavy, then slowly dyed with a hint of surprise, and finally he revealed a somewhat astonished smile, his voice even trembling as he said, “A joyous pulse, this truly is a joyous pulse!”
Jian Zhen didn’t even have time to help him up.
He remembered that this High Priest had always been very steady in the past, opening and closing his mouth always talking about the future of the Demon Clan.
Now he knelt on the ground and said, “Congratulations, Your Excellency, our Demon Clan has a future successor!!”
Ye Jisheng held a book in his hand, lowered his eyes to look at him, and spoke: “Is his body all right?”
“This…” The High Priest hesitated slightly and said, “His Excellency’s cultivation is a bit low, resulting in a somewhat weak foundation. For now, since the time is still early, there won’t be much problem, but given time, once the months grow larger, I fear the burden on the body will be very great!”
Ye Jisheng said impatiently, “This venerable did not call you here to listen to your nonsense. How should his body be cared for.”
The High Priest immediately said, “Allow this old subject to consult some medical texts and study them carefully. For now, his Excellency must gently nourish his body and solidify his foundation. Otherwise, in the future it won’t just affect his own body, but will also harm the child in his belly.”
Jian Zhen listened in a daze.
It was only when the High Priest said these words that he truly realized it.
He really was carrying a little cub.
A cub bound to him for life, sharing glory together, sharing loss together.
After the High Priest withdrew, the hall returned to silence. Jian Zhen unconsciously stroked his lower abdomen, sitting there absentmindedly in a slight daze.
Ye Jisheng said, “What, scared?”
Jian Zhen came back to his senses. He wasn’t the kind of little grass that liked to say one thing and mean another, so he nodded lightly and said softly, “A little.”
What the High Priest said was too scary.
He hadn’t made those preparations yet.
Yet Ye Jisheng did not mock him for being timid as usual. The Demon God sat on the chair opposite him, his tall body as steady as a mountain. His posture was calm, as though he were speaking of nothing more than a trivial matter: “With this venerable here, nothing will happen to you.”
Jian Zhen obediently nodded. His jet-black eyes reflected his figure as he spoke: “But, but I still don’t seem to be able to confirm this child…”
Because he had no memory of that night.
Ye Jisheng gave a cold laugh: “Does that matter?”
Jian Zhen: “Ah?”
“You are this venerable’s.” Ye Jisheng’s words were full of flamboyance and dominance. “Your child is naturally also mine.”
Jian Zhen: “……”
It seemed unreasonable, yet also kind of reasonable.
The little grass sitting on the couch got a bit sulky and said softly, “I’m not yours, I’m my own. Besides, why must it be said that I’m yours, why can’t you be mine?”
Ye Jisheng raised an eyebrow.
Across the Three Realms, there was probably no one who dared to say such words to the Demon God, much less even think such a thing.
Perhaps someone had thought it, but their grave mound would already be three feet high.
Ye Jisheng looked at him, the corner of his lips slowly curving into a smile. His red eyes were breathtakingly beautiful under the afterglow of the setting sun as he leisurely said, “That’s fine too.”
Jian Zhen’s eyes lit up: “Really?”
Ye Jisheng nodded lightly. “Mm. Now lie down and sleep another nap.”
Jian Zhen: “……”
Big bad guy, he just knows how to tease it!
After the High Priest left, night gradually fell. Jian Zhen, who had slept for three days and three nights, was starving. Formed from a plant spirit, what it usually liked most was drinking jade dew.
A maid brought in the jade dew juice that was normally stored.
After the stored jade dew water was placed into a small jade bowl on the table, Jian Zhen picked it up and drank it. After just two sips, he set it down.
Ye Jisheng asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jian Zhen hesitated, then answered, “It’s a bit bitter.”
Jade dew water is collected from rain and dew on the highest peaks between heaven and earth; some water is sweet, some is bitter, the probability is uncertain.
Ye Jisheng then said to the maid behind them, “Go fetch some honey.”
The maid nodded.
Soon the honey was brought. After Jian Zhen added some honey himself and took a sip, a bit of a smile appeared on his face.
Ye Jisheng said, “Drink.”
Jian Zhen took a few more sips, then set it down again.
Ye Jisheng said, “Still bitter?”
Jian Zhen shook his head and said, “That’s not it.”
Ye Jisheng sat on the chair opposite him. The Demon God, who was never known for having much patience, did not show much impatience this time, only raised an eyebrow and said, “Then what is it?”
Jian Zhen’s fair little face was full of seriousness as he spoke gently: “Because winter is almost here, this water is a bit cold.”
The room fell into complete silence.
Ye Jisheng had long since entered a divine body and practically had no need to consume mortal grains or jade dew at all, much less think about the temperature of water. Those eyes of his settled on Jian Zhen.
Being stared at made Jian Zhen feel a little guilty, but he still lifted his small face righteously and said, “It’s not that I want to drink warm water, it’s your baby who wants to drink it!”
Ye Jisheng raised an eyebrow. “Baby?”
Jian Zhen hadn’t expected himself to blurt out what was in his heart in one breath. Now he could only hurriedly patch things up and explain: “I mean, I mean the child.”
Ye Jisheng neither affirmed nor denied it.
Jian Zhen wasn’t sure which sentence or which word had pleased the moody Demon God. He saw Ye Jisheng extend his hand. “Give it to me.”
The bowl ended up in Ye Jisheng’s hand.
Soulfire had never, in its entire existence, done something like heating water for someone, but at this moment it glowed faintly, making steam rise from the water in the bowl.
Ye Jisheng set the bowl down and said to him, “Drink.”
Jian Zhen took it back and found the temperature to be just right. His brows and eyes curved as he hugged the bowl and gulped it all down in one go. His belly was full, and his mood improved as well.
Outside, the moonlight was thick.
After watching him finish, Ye Jisheng said, “You’ll rest in this hall tonight.”
Jian Zhen looked around the great hall. The entire floor was an icy dark hue, red candles hung high, and outside the cold bronze bells swayed with the wind. There was Ye Jisheng’s desk and bookshelf, and one couch inside where he usually lay, other than that, there was nothing else!
The little grass pondered for a moment.
Jian Zhen looked up and said, “There’s no bed.”
Ye Jisheng: “What?”
The Demon God had a divine body and didn’t need sleep at all, much less a bed.
The little grass rubbed his waist, his jet-black eyes looking at Ye Jisheng as he said softly, “That couch is really hard. My waist hurts when I sleep. I want a bed.”
No one had ever dared make demands of the Demon God.
And certainly not complain that the couch in Wanjie Mountain was hard.
Ye Jisheng said, “There are no beds in the Demon Hall.”
Disappointment flashed through Jian Zhen’s eyes, but he didn’t kick up a fuss. He only lowered his head somewhat aggrieved and said, “Oh.”
Ye Jisheng said, “Tomorrow you can go to the town to purchase one.”
Jian Zhen’s eyes lit up all at once. He said, “Then I want to choose it myself.”
He used to stay in a flowerpot, and his greatest daily dream was to have a bed of his own, fragrant and soft. But after taking human form, he was always rushing on the road or in trials, and never had the chance.
Ye Jisheng said indifferently, “Suit yourself.”
Jian Zhen said, “Then tonight I’ll sleep on the couch first.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he lightly yawned.
Ye Jisheng frowned.
While the little grass with a sore waist was still rubbing his back, the maids outside filed in one after another. Right in front of Jian Zhen’s somewhat dazed eyes, several sets of bedding were brought in. Though the bed itself wasn’t changed, the soft quilts made the originally cold couch become gentle and soft.
After the maids finished making the bed, they said, “If Your Excellency has any other needs, please feel free to instruct us.”
Seeing the soft bed, Jian Zhen hurriedly said warmly, “No more!”
Only then did the maids nod and withdraw.
In the grand hall of the Demon Clan, the bedchamber of the Demon God Ye Jisheng, fragrant and soft cotton quilts were spread over the couch. Jian Zhen broke into a smile. He threw himself onto the couch, which was fairly spacious, even two people lying on it would be no problem. He rolled around on it by himself, feeling extremely comfortable and happy.
After rolling around for a while, Jian Zhen felt drowsiness creep in.
He gave a shallow yawn.
Just as the little grass was about to fall asleep, scenes of burning seas of fire and those miserable, piercing cries from his dreams surged back into his mind. These ever-present sounds made it impossible for him to sleep.
He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
A draft rushed through the hall, making hollow sounds that only heightened the sense of loneliness.
As he was fretting, footsteps sounded outside the hall. Ye Jisheng stepped in and glanced at him lightly. “What, does your waist still hurt?”
Jian Zhen poked his head out from under the quilt. The moment he saw him, his eyes brightened. Sleeping alone in this empty hall was really frightening!
Jian Zhen said obediently and honestly, “I can’t sleep.”
Ye Jisheng looked down at him. “Want me to add a few more quilts for you?”
“No!” Jian Zhen was a little embarrassed and annoyed. “That’s not why I can’t sleep.”
Ye Jisheng said, “Then what is it?”
Jian Zhen didn’t know how to describe his nightmares. He could only sit up, cross-legged, and say, “I’m a bit scared being alone. Can you keep me company?”
If one were to survey the Three Realms about what they feared most, the bloodthirsty, battle-loving Demon God would surely rank among the top. This was the first time anyone had asked him to stay because they were afraid.
Ye Jisheng said, “What do you want this one to do while accompanying you?”
Jian Zhen couldn’t really articulate it either. He racked his brain, then suddenly inspiration struck, and he said expectantly, “Then can you tell me a story?”
If he had a story to listen to, he definitely wouldn’t be scared!
Ye Jisheng raised an eyebrow. “A story?”
A smile appeared on Jian Zhen’s face as he nodded. “Mm!”
Ye Jisheng curved his lips. “All right.”
Jian Zhen was full of anticipation and was just about to say he wanted to hear some interesting anecdotes from the Three Realms, when he saw the Demon God sit down on the nearby soft couch and say unhurriedly, “Do you want to hear the story of how this one skinned and stripped the tendons of the Western Region’s venomous dragon a million years ago, or the story of the sea yao of the Eastern Sea who blocked the road and then had its head twisted off?”
Some grass: “……”
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