Sick Beauty [Rebirth] Chapter 122

Chapter 122 Obsession 

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The scorching sun was glaring high. 

Elder Xue felt he was already a useless person. 

Although he knew the Demon Lord might not have utterly quelled his anger and hated strangers wandering around the Demon Palace, Elder Xue didn’t think there wouldn’t even be a shadow in sight in such an immense Demon Palace. 

The beautiful concubines in the Demon Palace the outside world had envisioned didn’t exist. Meanwhile, even the maids were all dressed strictly. They had to shroud their faces with black gauze, so one couldn’t tell whether they were people or ghosts. 

Because of cultivation techniques, demon cultivators primarily indulged in their desires, while ones like the Demon Lord were so rare that they were almost like a white swan emerging from a group of black ducks in a quagmire. 

However, the Demon Lord wasn’t a white swan. 

When he raised his wings to flap, they were probably even darker than the world’s darkest crow.

And a slap could slap the black ducks into the quagmire, spawning corpses all over the field. 

Just like Elder Xue now.

Few people were in the Demon Palace, so as one could presume, many places required cleaning.

But Elder Xue was initially unaware. 

Elder Xue was wretched while sweeping from the front of the Demon Palace’s main hall to the winding corridor in the back, then from the dozens of interior palace buildings to the rear garden. 

He was an Immortalization demon cultivator. He wasn’t a great power everywhere, but to fall to this point? Whenever he thought of this, he couldn’t wait to go back and drown the self who had come up with the poor idea from the beginning. 

And sweeping the floor wasn’t the most grudging task.

The most grudging thing was that in the Demon Palace, he didn’t know when he would see scenes that shouldn’t be seen and spot some people he shouldn’t see. 

For example, when he swept the floor and was sweating profusely two days ago, he saw smoke coming out of the dining room. He happened to be gluttonous, so he wanted to enter and see what was there to eat. 

He thought the dining room was a place for cooking, and the black-veiled maids should make the meals. Maybe he could make friends to better pass the time as he ran errands in the Demon Palace. 

Elder Xue walked in, jubilant. 

Then, he saw…the Demon Lord standing before the smoking stove with his sleeves rolled up. 

The Demon Lord glanced over with a smile that wasn’t yet like a smile. His face appeared vaguely languid, terrifically handsome. 

Nevertheless, his eyes were bloody and teeming with antagonism, as if there was a sea of ​​blood and remains. Consequently, most people ignored his striking face, only sensing trepidation and terror.

Elder Xue felt as if he was already a corpse. His voice stammered, “Subordinate didn’t, didn’t… know the Lord was here. I didn’t intend to offend. I…I will leave at once.” 

He turned around, wanting to escape to the outside. 

However, the dining room door swiftly slammed shut in front of him. 

“Why are you in a hurry?” the Demon Lord’s inattentive voice came from behind him, “Just perfect. Come over and taste the cakes this Lord made.” 

The Demon Lord handmade the cakes and asked him to taste them?

Elder Xue felt the whole world wasn’t real anymore and didn’t feel flattered. Both his legs were shaking, deliberating if the Demon Lord had developed a new poison and wanted to try it on him first. 

But he had to turn back and go over. 

The Demon Lord’s hand knocked on the side of the stove, and a dish of cakes was indeed there. 

A few light green pastries were placed on a white plate, sprinkled with many apricot blossoms. They looked…good. 

The Demon Lord made this…apricot blossom mung bean cake? 

Cautiously, Elder Xue moved, took a piece, placed it into his mouth, and bit.

His face transformed from white to green. 

Too sweet. 

It was so sweet as if he poured two catties of sugar in it, and the apricot blossoms’ aroma was downright overwhelming. Bitterness appeared to follow the sweetness, aching his teeth.

However, Elder Xue could only swallow the apricot blossom cake wordlessly in the Demon Lord’s presence.

The Demon Lord was engrossed, “How is it?” 

Elder Xue’s expression was marginally distorted, “It, it’s okay… No, it’s delicious, it’s so delicious. The Lord’s craftsmanship is truly the best in the world!” 

The Demon Lord said casually: “Tell the truth.”

Elder Xue swallowed hard and hesitated a little. He couldn’t deduce the Demon Lord’s thoughts.

Speaking of which, was such a sugary pastry truly something humans could make? Was something awry with the Demon Lord’s sense of taste? 

Facing the Demon Lord’s blood-red, icy eyes, Elder Xue trembled and said: “It’s a bit…a bit too sweet.” 

After hearing this, the Demon Lord wasn’t irate. He nodded and asked him: “How is the color?” 

Elder Xue began to be skeptical. The pastry’s color? Couldn’t the Demon Lord see by himself? 

Could it be that his pair of bloody eyes were just for display?

Of course, he didn’t dare to verbalize this thought of his. He didn’t even dare seek to infer the Demon Lord’s intentions because of his previous lesson. He shivered and said frankly: “The color is emerald green, very beautiful.” 

The Demon Lord said “en,” but his face wasn’t content.

Elder Xue thought the Demon Lord would dismiss him now, but then he heard the Demon Lord’s faint voice, “You don’t need to sweep the Demon Palace’s land for the time being. Just stay here and taste the Lord’s craftsmanship. Consider this as your reward for your hard work all day.” 

Elder Xue: “…” 

Therefore, he had to stay in the dining room and eat cakes for a day. 

In the end, his mouth was numb. 

The flavor of the pastries the Demon Lord created was indescribable. It was either too intense or tasteless. 

He witnessed the Demon Lord progressively increase and decrease from two tablespoons of sugar, asking him to taste it every time he made the finished product. He also had to heedfully divulge his feelings. 

As if he was teasing him. 

However, Elder Xue didn’t dare to say much. 

Until the Demon Lord finally brought out a plate of delicious apricot blossom cakes. Elder Xue’s stomach was already round, and he couldn’t hold it anymore. He couldn’t help but look at the plate of pastries in horror. 

The Demon Lord appeared in a pleasant mood, even smiling at him. He didn’t pass over the plate of pastries, being exceptionally kind.

“Since you’re full, go back to work.”

Elder Xue breathed a sigh of relief, feeling he had a new lease on life. 

It was already evening. 

The garden in the Demon Palace’s back hall was vast. Elder Xue stood in the lonely autumn breeze, sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground in solitude. 

It wasn’t until the moon was at the top of the head that he was halfway done. 

He swept to a remote place, his eyes focused suddenly, and he could discern a green lotus pond in the garden’s depths through the trees’ shadows. 

A stone pavilion was in the lotus pond. 

There were two people. 

It was the Lord and his wife. 

The Lord’s wife was still in a white outfit with white hair like snow draped softly on his body, and his silver eyelashes hung down. 

The Demon Lord had the plate of apricot blossom cake beside him, talking to him with his head resting horizontally. He sometimes picked up a piece of apricot blossom cake and fed it to his wife. 

The Lord’s wife ate very slowly, and the Demon Lord confined him in his arms to prevent him from raising his hand to pick up the apricot blossom cake. Thus, the Lord’s wife could only eat unhurriedly with the Demon Lord’s hand. His silver eyelashes trembled gently like a fan. It made a person’s heart feel like it would melt. 

After eating a good portion of apricot blossom cake for a long time, the Lord’s wife bit the last bit in her mouth, and the Demon Lord leaned forward to steal it.

The Demon Lord blocked the Madam’s lips, and a smidge of crimson was on his cheeks. 

The Demon Lord was overly naughty. Don’t even mention him robbing the apricot blossom cake from his wife, plundering the bejeweled nectar in his mouth? Crystal liquid slipped along the corners of his wife’s lips, dangling at the end of his eyes. The Demon Lord licked it away inch by inch. In a short while, a large, shiny swath of moisture was licked onto the snow-white cheeks of the Lord’s wife. He turned his face to avoid him, but the Demon Lord seized his slender, fair neck. 

The Lord’s wife seemed to want to get up, but the Demon Lord’s arm held him rigidly. The Demon Lord leaned his head against his wife’s neck and briskly bit crimson teeth marks on it. The Lord’s wife shuddered, struggling. But even then, he couldn’t budge. 

Although this description was a bit offensive. 

But Elder Xue kept believing the Demon Lord was verily like a mad dog before his wife. 

The long-starving and never-satisfied type. 

The Demon Lord seemed unable to get full by eating. 

It seemed gnawing on his neck wasn’t enough to gratify him. He picked up his wife and placed him on the stone table. 

The Lord’s wife was very soft, lying on the stone table like a handful of melting early spring snow, white hair spread along the edge of the table. 

Elder Xue suddenly realized the following scene might not be something he could continue to watch. 

However, it was hard to avert his gaze from the whiteness of the night. 

Such pure whiteness was enough to drive cultivators fighting in the dark all year round deranged. 

Suddenly, a leaf flew past his neck.

The warm blood and sharp pain made him finally come back to his senses. 

He touched the wound that almost cut off his neck. Elder Xue swallowed hard. 

He stood in the wind, and killing intent was seemingly there. He hurriedly threw down his broom and ran wildly. 

He startled the birds in the woods. 

Elder Xue finally registered that this errand wasn’t good. 

However, the apricot cake was only the beginning. 

Even though he usually intentionally avoided the dining room, the Demon Lord’s methods were beyond his imagination. The entire Demon Palace was like a human-devouring beast, able to confuse people’s minds. Often, he swept and swept and would unknowingly walk to the dining room. 

The Lord always washed his hands to cook for his wife. Not only pastries, but also many dishes. 

What else could Elder Xue do? 

He could only contribute to the harmony of the Lord and the Lord’s wife for a hundred years, swallowing all the different flavors and being the icing on the cake for the Lord and his wife’s love. 

Whenever he wanted to cry without tears, Elder Xue couldn’t help wishing to return to the start again and drown the self who had come up with the poor idea. 

He was truly a fool at the beginning.

Truly.

＊ 

The Library. 

Dust floated in the air, and the dappled sunlight penetrated the window and fell on Ye Yunlan’s white cheeks. 

He was reading a book. 

The chain on his wrist softly rang as he flipped through the book. The chain dropped to the ground, sinking into the corner’s shadows. 

The chains on his limbs had never been taken off since the Demon Lord put them on for him. Others couldn’t see the existence of chains, but the weighty sensation was not an illusion.

Normally, these chains wouldn’t confine him from walking around the Demon Palace. 

These chains would only pull him in when he desired to exit the Demon Palace, educating him not to.

He didn’t know where the end of the chain was. 

He should be led by the Demon Lord’s hands. 

He once said to the Demon Lord that he felt the Demon Lord was being excessive. 

And the chains were hefty, and he didn’t like it. 

However, the Demon Lord still stubbornly believed he would escape if the chains were unsealed.

He said no. 

The Demon Lord insisted he would. 

Facts have proved it made no sense to reason with a lunatic. 

And after speaking, he would be tossed around even harder. 

After several times, Ye Yunlan didn’t bother to talk about it. 

He didn’t have much energy and didn’t want to spend every day doing bed activities. 

He still needed to think about many things. 

Even if it took effort, he had to think. 

For example, the Change Sentiment Curse. 

This curse had been in him for more than two hundred years. 

His desire and love had been mutilated for two hundred plus years. He had used his own obsession to piece together his understanding. He could distinguish the difference between Chen Weiyuan and the Demon Lord in his mind, but he couldn’t differentiate his feelings about the Demon Lord in his past life and the Demon Lord in this life. 

If he could unlock the Change Sentiment Curse, perhaps he would discover his true heart.

He had been thinking about this. 

However, the way to unlock the Change Sentiment Curse, according to the records found in the Fukong temple in his previous life, was to get the blood of the person he had loved.

But the Change Sentiment Curse had made him completely forget his memory of that person. 

He didn’t know who that person was. 

And Chen Weiyuan said that that person was Ling Er. 

Ling Er. 

He whispered the name in his heart for a moment, vaguely feeling a touch of familiarity. 

But still couldn’t think of it at all. 

If he hadn’t guessed wrong, when Chen Weiyuan gave him the Change Sentiment Curse in his previous life, he shouldn’t be far from being expelled from Sky Sect. The person Chen Weiyuan mentioned might be a Sky Sect disciple. 

Did he need to look for Sky Sect disciples he had never seen in his previous life’s memory?

But in the past and present, he only saw one person in his previous life with their name containing ‘Ling Er.’

Yin Ling. 

Back then, Senior Sister Yin had enthusiastically pursued him in the sect. 

Ye Yunlan stroked the scroll in his hand, remembering the woman who was always brightly dressed in red and full of vigor. 

He had no feelings for Yin Ling. 

Long ago, he had wholly rejected the other party. 

But perhaps, it was also because of the Change Sentiment Curse removing his love and desires. 

He couldn’t be sure. 

But to lift the Change Sentiment Curse, he needed to drink the blood of the other party’s heart. 

The heart was where the life core of a cultivator is. If the life core was opened, you would be seriously injured, if not dead. No cultivator would be willing to cut their heart open. Ye Yunlan would never force others to do this. 

Furthermore, he hadn’t yet determined whether Yin Ling was that person. 

So this method wouldn’t work. 

Ye Yunlan lowered his long eyelashes silently, looking at the scroll in his hand. 

The words on the scroll fell into his eyes. 

The sun shone on his face, and his snow-white cheeks were like a low-hanging orchid, making one feel calm and peaceful. 

When the Demon Lord walked into the library of books, he saw this appearance.

The constant hostility in his chest cavity because of not seeing Ye Yunlan for several hours calmed down somewhat, and the lingering cries and laughter seemed to weaken a lot. 

For more than 30 years, the voices surrounding him had never stopped. The world was like a prison. He could only find a little space to rest by Ye Yunlan’s side. Thus, he involuntarily walked over and hugged the person in his arms.

“What’s Master looking at?” 

Ye Yunlan’s fingers paused while turning over the book, his fingertips resting on the scroll. 

A few lines were printed on the scroll—Silence, no silence. How can desire be born? If the desire isn’t birthed, it’s true silence. Real things, genuine characters, always coping, forever quiet, always peaceful… 

“Peace scripture. Why is Master reading this?” The Demon Lord said with a low laugh, “Was Master thinking we’ve been too indulgent with our desires these days? But Master clearly enjoyed it. Moreover, we’re also not indulgent, but cultivating. This is a matter of cultivation, so how can we count it like that? Naturally, the more, the better.” 

This was a preposterous argument. 

It was done abundantly between them these days, but it wasn’t cultivation every time. The Demon Lord didn’t concentrate on channeling the exercises every time, and his body might not be able to withstand too many spiritual irrigations. More often, he was just forced to immerse himself in joy. 

Ye Yunlan wanted to break away from him, but a shadow entangled around his feet, sinking into his ankle and calf. 

His body was made extremely sensitive to Demon Lord’s qi these days. Additionally, his body was a furnace physique, so it was more sensitive and soft than ordinary people’s. Hence, he could feel more joy and indulge more easily. 

His movements had been indifferent just because his temperament was of few desires. 

Only the Demon Lord didn’t care about it, opening his box repeatedly. 

The Demon Lord walked from behind him to his front, leaned over, and kissed his lips. 

The base of his legs quaked faintly. 

The Demon Lord laughed and said in a low voice, “Why is Master wet?”

He didn’t answer. 

The Demon Lord laughed extra happily, and the shadows were frantic and chaotic. 

After a long while, Ye Yunlan raised his hand, grabbed the Demon Lord’s jacket, and said to him that it was enough. 

The Demon Lord wrapped around his shoulders, and the two fell into the shadows together. 

The fragrance of ink pervaded the library. 

A few strands of Ye Yunlan’s long hair fell on the bookshelf. The bookshelf was swaying slightly, and suddenly, a few yellowed books fell and produced a noise.

But no one picked it up. 

After a while, a subtle sweet smell began to mingle. 

The Demon Lord said: “Master is so fragrant.” 

Ye Yunlan closed his eyes. 

He felt the warm spiritual power wash over his body very gently. 

In fact, every time the Demon Lord performed his exercises these days, he was more restrained and tender than last. 

The Demon Lord was seemingly regaining his sanity bit by bit. 

When the exercises were completed, the Demon Lord held him, sat him on the wicker chair by the window, lowered his head, and tenderly kissed the tears on his eyelashes. 

He combed his knotted hair again. 

“Since many years ago, the world in my eyes had been blood-red. Moonlight, swords, and human beings were blood-red.” The Demon Lord looked satisfied and stared at him obsessively, “I’ve already completely forgotten what the original world looked like, but I still remember what Master looked like.” He lowered his head and kissed Ye Yunlan’s hair in his hand. “Fortunately, Master hasn’t changed at all.

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