Chapter 85: The Golden Cage Traps the White Phoenix (8)
Bai Chunsheng was dreaming.
From the moment he had left the Ten Thousand Demon Sect alone up to the countless scenes of the past few days, everything flashed through his dream one after another. Amidst blades and shadows of swords, he fled in panic within it.
Yan Jingqiu, Yan Yi, and the masked Bo Yan took turns appearing in his dream.
In the dream, he heard footsteps. The sound was very close.
It seemed to stop right beside his bed, and then he heard a sigh. The voice sounded exactly like Yan Yi’s: “Little liar.”
Bai Chunsheng wanted to retort, but he could not wake up. He assumed it was just a dream.
Then, the darkness of the dream swallowed him once more.
In that incredibly vivid dreamscape, Bai Chunsheng could barely distinguish reality from illusion.
He was forced into a corner with nowhere to retreat. The surroundings were pitch-black; other than Bo Yan walking toward him, Bai Chunsheng could see nothing, make out nothing.
Even the sound of his own breathing filled him with dread and terror.
The line between what existed and what was unknown blurred in that darkness. Everything around him felt as though it was submerged in warm, unending water.
Bai Chunsheng stared at Bo Yan, watching as he drew closer step by step.
Bai Chunsheng slumped into the corner, his back pressed tightly against the wall, trembling almost uncontrollably with fear. “Didn’t you want the Ten Thousand Demon Sect? I’m not fighting you for it. At worst, I’ll never appear before you again. I won’t dream anymore about surpassing you one day and making you suffer for it. I swear—I swear on my life—just let me go, won’t you?”
Bo Yan crouched down and cupped Bai Chunsheng’s face, forcing him to meet his gaze.
“No,” he said.
Bai Chunsheng broke down, on the verge of tears. “Then what do you want from me?”
Bo Yan said, “I want you to admit it. Admit that you love me very much.”
At those words, Bai Chunsheng froze. His trembling hand reached up to pull away the mask from Bo Yan’s face.
—Underneath the mask was Yan Jingqiu’s face.
It was truly Yan Jingqiu. Not Yan Yi.
Just by looking into his eyes, Bai Chunsheng knew with certainty that it was Yan Jingqiu.
Yan Jingqiu smiled. He leaned in toward Bai Chunsheng, their distance far too close, as though he were about to kiss his lips.
And he did kiss him.
Bai Chunsheng could see Yan Jingqiu’s long eyelashes, and the deep eyes that shimmered with amusement.
Their breaths twined together in silence, reminding Bai Chunsheng of vines winding and growing together. Other images came to mind as well—clouds and stars far off at the horizon, and flames burning in a raging inferno.
Bai Chunsheng woke up.
Jolted awake by the nightmare, he realized he had unknowingly reverted to human form.
The first thing he did was touch his own face. The dream had been so vivid that upon waking, he still had the illusion that he had been sobbing.
Thankfully, no tears stained his cheeks.
Why would he dream something so bizarre?
How could he possibly dream that Bo Yan was Yan Jingqiu? That was impossible.
Bai Chunsheng suspected that he had simply been frightened out of his wits in his sleep, which had made him think such nonsense. He crossed out the thought in his mind and quickly pushed the dream away, turning instead to his escape plans.
Very soon, he discovered something—his Yuan Ying was lying obediently within his sea of consciousness.
That meant Yan Yi had also been captured. He just did not know where Yan Yi was being held.
Alas, it was over. Completely over. Bai Chunsheng thought that his last shred of hope had now been shattered.
With a brief probe, he found that his tiny Yuan Ying—essentially a miniature version of himself—was sitting comfortably enough. But it looked somewhat weary, its memories from the day before completely erased. Perhaps it had touched upon secrets of the dragon clan, which was why the dragons had taken such drastic measures.
So ruthless.
Even against such a tiny Yuan Ying, they would go so far.
Bai Chunsheng’s heart grew heavy, and soon his thoughts turned to himself—he too would surely suffer the same cruel fate.
According to Shen Qing, it seemed that he would also soon be sent into the Cold Cavern. The Cold Cavern had always been a terrifying place—throughout the entire cultivation world, the most vicious criminals were imprisoned there in the Water Abyss Realm. The reason was simple: the dragon race possessed great strength and sheer numbers, and only the dragons of Water Abyss Realm could easily subdue such criminals with their innate dragon might.
Of course, it was also because the guards of the Cold Cavern were all frost dragons. The cavern was winter all year round, as though time itself was frozen, locked forever into a single unchanging day. Within endless loneliness, the silence and coldness were enough to drive a person mad.
Those imprisoned in the Cold Cavern usually met their final end not from punishment, but by succumbing to madness and eventually taking their own lives.
Bai Chunsheng had grown up hearing the dreadful reputation of the Cold Cavern, yet he never thought the day would come when he himself would be sent there.
Just as he was sighing and debating whether he should end his life early, Bai Chunsheng heard a knock on the stone chamber door. Could it be someone delivering food?
But it was nothing more than a last meal before execution.
In a muffled tone, Bai Chunsheng said, “I want Yun Guang fruit from the Ancient Forest Spirit Realm. I don’t want anything else.”
The knocking outside paused, and was replaced with the sound of a lock being undone. Shen Qing stepped inside carrying a cage. “You still have the appetite to eat?”
Bai Chunsheng obediently raised his hands. He knew he was no match for Shen Qing and simply reverted into his true form, walking into the cage without resistance.
This time there was no binding chain of sealing spirit power, so Bai Chunsheng could still speak. He hesitated before asking, “Not even a final meal?”
He had not expected his death to come so quickly. Though being sent to the Cold Cavern was technically imprisonment, to Bai Chunsheng it was no different from death.
Shen Qing, as taciturn as ever, only replied with five words: “The Lord wishes to see you.”
“What does he want with me?” Bai Chunsheng asked.
Shen Qing gave no answer. The entire way, Bai Chunsheng brooded over this question.
Anxiously, he wondered if Bo Yan intended to drain his blood to open the secret entrance of the Wutong Tree Sea. Or perhaps the evil dragon had found him useless and decided to lock him away in the Cold Cavern today. Or maybe Bo Yan had never tasted white phoenix meat before and wanted to pluck his feathers, cook him into soup, and have a taste.
Only when Shen Qing escorted him into the loft of the Yaoyue Pavilion did Bai Chunsheng suddenly remember, with a guilty conscience, the strange dream he had had earlier.
He instinctively shivered. Why was it that right after he dreamed of Bo Yan turning into Yan Jingqiu to kiss him, Bo Yan suddenly wanted to see him?
There could not possibly be such a coincidence in this world.
It was said that the dragon race possessed many wondrous bloodlines and cultivation arts. And Bo Yan, in particular, was extremely mysterious. The only thing known to the world was that he excelled in music. Could it be that he cultivated some secret art that allowed him to peer into dreams?
That would be disastrous!
If Bo Yan really sought him out because of that dream, then regardless of whether Bo Yan misinterpreted it and thought Bai Chunsheng liked him, or believed that Bai Chunsheng secretly harbored feelings for Yan Jingqiu or even Yan Yi—if such a thing spread, Bai Chunsheng’s reputation would be utterly ruined.
In his panic, Bai Chunsheng paced circles around the table. Suddenly, he noticed the skylight above, left slightly open.
He thought to himself, even if he could not escape, it would be good enough to hide on the roof for a while. At least he could avoid this embarrassing moment. By the time the people in the Yaoyue Pavilion had scrambled around in chaos searching for him, someone as busy as Bo Yan—the Lord of a realm—would surely forget about a trivial matter like a dream.
—And even if Bo Yan did not forget, at least he could buy himself some time.
With this plan in mind, Bai Chunsheng mustered his courage and took flight. But just as he lifted off a little, it felt as though something heavy pressed down hard on his wings, preventing him from rising. He tried again—he could leap into the air, but could not fly any higher. Bai Chunsheng refused to believe that he could not fly anymore. He tried once more…
When Bo Yan had steadied his mood and entered the room, what he saw was Bai Chunsheng hopping around the table in circles. “…”
Instinctively puzzled, he asked, “Are you dancing?”
Bai Chunsheng: “?”
Author’s Note:
Bo Yan quickly came to a realization: Bai Chunsheng actually still had the mood to dance. So it turned out that the only one troubled by feelings was himself.
Yan Jingqiu had only gone to retrieve his Yuan Ying, and Bai Chunsheng had dreamed of him simply out of his own guilty conscience.
His intuition was far sharper than his silly little brain—but the little fool simply did not believe it.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
