Chapter 113: Crimson Flowers Hidden in White Bones (13)
When the thunder finally ceased, Bo Yan walked through the narrow crevice of the rift, drenched in rain, and saw Bai Chunsheng trembling.
His formerly crow-blue brocade robe appeared even darker, soaked through with blood. He looked like a vengeful ghost clawing his way up from hell. Bai Chunsheng caught sight of him and, without thinking, lunged forward: “Yan Jingqiu!”
Suddenly, everything clicked for him.
Back in the Dragon Palace bath, through the hazy mist, what he had really seen was Bo Yan—and the former Yan Jingqiu.
Yan Jingqiu had kissed him.
This coward.
Why had he pretended as if nothing had happened?
Bai Chunsheng muttered softly, “The rain is really heavy.”
Bo Yan held him close, soothing him: “It’s alright now.”
He had long heard Bai Chunsheng call out the name Yan Jingqiu. Bo Yan paused for a moment and said, “I’m here.”
Bo Yan had once thought this way: that the dead could never compare to the living, because the living had a future—they could turn the impossible into possible.
With that thought, he had wanted to be with Bai Chunsheng. At the time, he had assumed Yan Jingqiu was dead. So Yan Jingqiu was the dead one, he was the living one, and he and Bai Chunsheng could have a future, making the impossible possible.
Now he was about to die, while Yan Jingqiu still lived.
Bo Yan still felt lucky. Because Yan Jingqiu might not have wanted to kill Bai Chunsheng, they could still have a future—a possibility in the impossible.
At this point, he no longer cared whether Bai Chunsheng loved him. He only wanted Bai Chunsheng to live—truly live.
Bo Yan’s hand lightly brushed Bai Chunsheng’s back. “No need to go to the Drunken Sea anymore. The Drunken Sea has become a cultivation ground; you can’t enter. Yan Jingqiu is really about to become a Vulnerable. We’ll go to the Western Desert. Today, I even saw the monk from Changliu Mountain who guided me to find you.”
“He said he was entrusted to protect you. You don’t need to be afraid.” Seeing Bai Chunsheng crying, Bo Yan gently kissed his forehead and continued, “This is a happy thing. Don’t cry.”
Bai Chunsheng understood perfectly what Bo Yan meant. The world was in chaos, all for the sake of becoming a Vulnerable. The Huayan Temple monks agreeing to protect him was only for one purpose: following cause and effect to ultimately save all beings.
If Yan Jingqiu died, and the heavenly Dao reached completion, the world would no longer descend into chaos.
How could Bai Chunsheng accept that calmly? He lowered his head and thought for a while. Even before Bo Yan returned, he had been thinking.
Clearly, Yan Jingqiu only needed one final step.
Bai Chunsheng gripped Bo Yan’s hand: “Then kill me. The so-called ‘kill your dearest to prove a pure heart’—others can do it, so can you.”
He looked into Bo Yan’s eyes and added, “If your dearest truly is me.”
Bo Yan let out a low chuckle, yet there was no shadow of darkness in his eyes: “Then, after you die, if I somehow manage to survive, whenever I dream at midnight, you’ll appear in my dreams again—as my nightmare, as my future heart demon.”
He wiped away Bai Chunsheng’s tears. Bo Yan had wanted to ask if he could ever measure up to Yan Jingqiu in Bai Chunsheng’s heart, but he felt that would be too selfish.
Finally, he said dryly, “Don’t cry.”
“Without Yan Yi, maybe there’s Yan Er, Yan San… In any case, you must live well.”
Note: Yi is one, Er is two, San is three.
Bai Chunsheng broke down. “That’s not the same! I love you!”
“But I only love you!”
Bai Chunsheng cried almost uncontrollably, and when he finally wore himself out, a darkness like a faint swoon swept over him.
He passed out. When he woke again, above him were finely painted Eighteen Arhats and a Buddha with compassionate features. The side window let in a warm, dry breeze carrying fine grains of golden sand.
He lay on a soft bamboo bed by the window, covered with a thin blanket.
“Awake?” a voice came from above. He turned his head.
Beside the bed stood a long table carved from pearwood. On it sat a cup of wine, the aroma subtly mingling with hints of peach blossoms and bamboo.
On the other side of the table sat a man in a crow-blue robe. His hair was black, neatly tied with a jade crown. He had a straight nose, thin lips, and features very similar to Yan Jingqiu, though his eyebrows and eyes were sharper, giving a slightly cruel, untouchable impression.
He toyed with a folding fan between his fingers, exuding a careless, indifferent demeanor.
Seeing him, Bai Chunsheng’s mind immediately conjured a name. He stammered: “Yan… Ye Jingxing?”
Bai Chunsheng thought to himself: the mastermind really was him.
The man seemed to know what Bai Chunsheng was thinking and sneered without mercy: “Yan Jingqiu’s heart tribulation, and it’s all because of such a fool like you.”
Bai Chunsheng glared at him, only for the man to laugh even more brazenly: “Looking at it this way, your stupidity is almost cute.”
Bai Chunsheng didn’t care who this person was. He only wanted to know where Yan Jingqiu had gone. The thought made him panic slightly. “Where’s Yan Jingqiu? Why did he leave me?”
“Oh,” the man said, “Yan Jingqiu is dead. Can’t save him now.”
He continued: “Tomorrow I’ll have the Treasure Pavilion make you a white outfit—to be a little widow, since your brother has died.”
Author’s Note:
Bai Jianghan: See, see! My hatred for Yan Jianhang wasn’t baseless!
Chirp Ch!
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
