Chapter 112: Crimson Flowers Hidden in White Bones (12)
Bo Yan’s sudden retreat caught Bai Chunsheng off guard, but he quickly realized that Bo Yan was simply brushing him off.
He still didn’t believe that he was Yan Jingqiu!
Bai Chunsheng pointed a finger at Bo Yan’s nose. “Just you wait.”
Bo Yan got his wish and had Bai Chunsheng put his clothes back on first. They had already wasted quite a bit of time here. The injury on Bo Yan’s left arm still had no solution, and the most urgent matter was to leave this place.
The jade figurine had pursued them all the way to the Water Abyss Realm. They could no longer stay here. Bai Chunsheng thought it over and realized that, if they wanted to flee now, there was hardly any place under heaven that could truly shelter them. He looked at Bo Yan. Bo Yan smiled and said, “Wherever you want to go, I can go.” He didn’t tell Bai Chunsheng that the injury on his arm could not be healed—it was a wound directed at his soul. Sooner or later, he would die.
Since Bai Chunsheng refused to leave him, he wanted to stay by Bai Chunsheng’s side for a few more days—live those days well.
The closest place to the Water Abyss Realm was the Yunhai Small World. It was also where he had first met the amnesiac Yan Yi. Of course, Bai Chunsheng’s plan was to follow the Changhen River upstream to the Drunken Death Sea. Judging by Bo Yan’s current state—unable even to recognize himself—Bai Chunsheng felt he couldn’t trust the nonsense coming from his mouth.
Deep within the Drunken Death Sea lay Yan Jingqiu’s secluded cave residence from when he had been in closed-door cultivation. Although the sea was filled with dangers, Bai Chunsheng thought that if they didn’t go, they would be killed by that tribulation-peak cultivator skilled in soul techniques anyway. They might as well make one final gamble.
He wanted to know the truth behind Yan Jingqiu’s memory loss.
Fortunately, Bo Yan’s grim prediction did not come true immediately. The two of them still moved freely within the Water Abyss Realm. After finding the Dragon Clan’s teleportation array that led to the Ancient Forest Spirit Realm, they followed the Zhanbi River upstream, passed through the boundary wall, and arrived at the Yunhai Small World.
However, heading toward the Void Realm proved more difficult. The black-awning boat sailing across the water slowed the closer it drew to the Drunken Death Sea.
As they neared it, the sea of clouds in the Yunhai Small World sank lower and lower toward the river’s surface, the rolling clouds almost within reach.
The moment they fully entered the Drunken Death Sea, the previously clear sky suddenly unleashed a torrential downpour.
The rain came strangely. Bo Yan had been sitting at the stern, watching the dark clouds on the horizon, when he suddenly noticed flashes of lightning flickering within them. A bad feeling rose in his chest. Looking closer, he realized what was wrong—someone was hidden behind the clouds.
Since that was the case, Bo Yan raised his hand and used the Dragon Clan’s power over water to steer the boat toward the shore.
They had not gone deep into the Drunken Death Sea. Not far away stood a cliff with a slight incline. The boat drifted toward it with the current. Bai Chunsheng looked at Bo Yan in confusion, but Bo Yan had already risen and walked toward him. “This rain will last a long time. Find a place to hide. Don’t come out.”
Hearing this, Bai Chunsheng knew that the rain must have been conjured by pursuers sent to capture Bo Yan. Uneasy, he said, “You’re still injured.”
Bo Yan smiled. “Whoever it is isn’t as vicious as that jade figurine. I can handle it. Don’t be afraid.”
Hearing this reassured Bai Chunsheng somewhat. On a nearby cliff, he found a narrow crevice split down the middle. It was cleverly formed—the top hadn’t completely split open, shielding it from wind and rain.
Bai Chunsheng obediently waited there for Bo Yan to return. He even used his sword to carve out a stone bed and lay down on it, well-behaved, waiting for Bo Yan to come back. With time alone to think, he couldn’t help recalling their earlier conversation.
Bo Yan still refused to believe he was Yan Jingqiu and kept saying foolish things no sane person would say. But there was one thing he hadn’t been wrong about—if Yan Jingqiu had lost his memory, it was likely connected to the heart tribulation he encountered during his heavenly tribulation.
But what heart tribulation could Yan Jingqiu possibly have had? He had been born with the legendary Sun-Hiding, Soul-Turning Dao Body. His talent in the sword was peerless; there was likely no one in the world who could compare to him. His appearance was refined and upright, and his family was the most powerful in the cultivation world—the Yan Clan.
What worries could Yan Jingqiu have had?
Yet outside the mountain, thunder roared across the heavens. Lightning flashed through the night, and rain poured down as if from overturned buckets.
Bai Chunsheng waited for a long time. He neither figured out the answer nor saw Bo Yan return.
The sharp wind and the pounding rain merged together, like someone singing loudly while another wept softly.
Bai Chunsheng feared something might have happened to Bo Yan, yet he also feared that if he rashly went out and was discovered, he would be taken hostage. So he could only wait quietly.
As a demon, what Bai Chunsheng feared most was the lightning tribulation. On the surface, he acted fearless, but he had never possessed the courage his grandmother had shown in facing heavenly lightning. The thunder in the Void Realm had once sounded like drums pounding beside his ears—one strike after another, almost without pause.
The fear in Bai Chunsheng’s heart gradually built up. Trembling, he huddled beside the stone bed.
The scene felt eerily familiar.
In a daze, Bai Chunsheng seemed to recall something.
Something similar had happened before. In Lutai, most of the creatures were ferocious beasts without intelligence. At the very least, they were at the Nascent Soul stage. Bai Chunsheng and Yan Jingqiu, whose cultivation had been suppressed within the immortal realm’s secret territory, had been no match for them. Yet Bai Chunsheng was a heaven-blessed spirit beast. Combined with his age and cultivation level, he had become a prized delicacy—coveted and dreamed of by many ferocious beasts seeking to enhance their bloodlines.
Life in Lutai had not been easy. Most of the hardships and pain they faced had come from those beasts that wanted to devour Bai Chunsheng.
As the rain poured down in torrents, outside roared a nine-headed owl, howling along with the thunder.
Bai Chunsheng’s white clothes were stained with blood, mixed with rainwater dripping down. He had been severely injured during the chase, and the people and scenery before his eyes appeared blurry and indistinct.
Yan Jingqiu told Bai Chunsheng, “Once I leave, if you hear the sounds outside stop, you must run quickly. Then use the spell your grandmother taught you to circle around to the other side of the mountain gate, and knock down some rocks to block this entrance.”
Bai Chunsheng grabbed onto Yan Jingqiu’s sleeve. “What about you?”
Yan Jingqiu brushed off Bai Chunsheng’s hand holding his sleeve. “I’m far stronger than you. Worry about yourself, not me.”
“After today, go to the secret entrance of Lutai and surrender yourself. Since you’re the grandson of Bai Jianghan from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect, they won’t trouble you.”
Bai Chunsheng was so frustrated he could hardly speak.
But after taking a few steps, Yan Jingqiu turned back and gave Bai Chunsheng a long, deep look.
Bai Chunsheng couldn’t understand what was in Yan Jingqiu’s eyes; he only felt bewildered.
The continuous flashes of lightning made him feel equally unsettled.
He felt as though he were in a dream, unable to distinguish illusion from reality.
After Yan Jingqiu left, it took only a moment for the cries of the Nine-Headed Owl to stop.
Bai Chunsheng let out an involuntary sigh of relief. He was about to follow Yan Jingqiu’s instructions and escape, but after thinking for a moment, he noticed something was off.
Sure, he could escape, but what about Yan Jingqiu? The Nine-Headed Owl wanted his flesh, and it had not yet gone berserk only because it knew he was nearby. If he ran, the creature would surely go mad, desperate at the meat that got away. What would happen to Yan Jingqiu then?
With this thought, Bai Chunsheng sat down against the mountain wall.
After a moment, he reasoned: one of them had to survive. It might be better to leave sooner.
Otherwise, both he and Yan Jingqiu might die here. The future demon beast king, whose fame would shake the world, killed by a mere Nascent Soul-level beast—how pathetic that would be. He didn’t want that.
Then again, he thought, if death comes, so be it. Yan Jingqiu was here too. If he died with him, it wouldn’t be too much of a loss.
So, the blood from his wounds seeped more and more, and Bai Chunsheng’s consciousness grew increasingly hazy.
The lightning outside the valley and the intense pain from his injuries made him almost hallucinate.
He thought he heard the roars of the Nine-Headed Owl cease, followed by mournful cries—probably a hallucination, probably just the wind.
The lightning still flashed, the thunder grew ever louder, and Bai Chunsheng was in so much pain from his injuries that he could barely keep his eyes open.
Amid the chaotic sound of rain and thunder, footsteps grew closer.
Bai Chunsheng struggled to open his eyes. The newcomer was drenched by the rain, and those cold, indifferent eyes, always laced with disdain and pride, seemed almost predatory, as if they wanted to tear him apart: “I told you to run! Why aren’t you moving?!”
Oh. It was Yan Jingqiu.
Bai Chunsheng could not find words. He wanted to explain that it wasn’t that he wanted to stay behind or to share the pain with him—it was only because he could not walk from the pain.
He wasn’t sure if he actually said it aloud, because Yan Jingqiu leaned in and pressed a wet, drenched kiss onto him.
The torrential rain, the blood-soaked mud, the almost hallucinatory lightning and thunder—it all felt unreal.
Bai Chunsheng thought he must be dreaming.
Author’s Note: dd
A little hint:
In the Dragon Palace bath, Bai Chunsheng had vaguely thought he saw the former Yan Jingqiu kissing him. At the time, he believed he had mistaken the present Bo Yan for the past Yan Jingqiu, overlapping the two in his mind.
After all, he had thought Yan Jingqiu had never kissed him and that Yan Jingqiu only began to like him after losing his memory.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
