That one word stirred a massive wave in Jiang Luo’s heart.
The rollercoaster of emotions had already numbed Jiang Luo’s nerves, but Chi You’s answer hit him right in his softest spot. He didn’t know what to say—by the time he turned back, having organized his thoughts, Chi You had already lost consciousness.
Jiang Luo’s heart dropped. He immediately picked Chi You up and started walking toward a place farther from the dragon vein.
Chi You was too badly injured. Just saying one word—“No”—had drained him into a coma, and he didn’t wake up for several days. Jiang Luo didn’t dare take him anywhere populated. In his current state, Chi You couldn’t defend himself—anyone could kill him. And anyone could be his enemy.
They couldn’t run into government forces—Chi You was a dangerous individual. They couldn’t risk contact with ordinary humans—who knew if they might be believers of the Fated One? They also had to avoid the Fated One himself, his shikigami, and others in the metaphysical world who might come chasing after them.
Jiang Luo hid and ran with Chi You, who remained unconscious, as if walking a tightrope. He couldn’t afford to miss a single rustle or movement. Whenever he sensed someone nearby, he had to immediately switch hiding places.
Jiang Luo fully tasted the feeling of being on the run. For safety, he didn’t even tell his own friends.
These days of constant fleeing left Jiang Luo’s nerves stretched to the breaking point. He didn’t have time to think about Teng Bi’s death, or how Chi You had jumped into the Dragon Spring for him, or his own resurrection. All of it got shoved to the back of his mind, buried under urgency—but like bombs buried deep underground, those things stayed quietly dormant, the shockwaves always there, growing stronger and stronger.
While Chi You was still in that blood-soaked state, Jiang Luo lived with him in the forest. He drank dew, ate fruit, and he couldn’t leave Chi You alone for even a few minutes—a wild animal could easily take Chi You’s life.
The Dragon Spring had completely destroyed the advantage of Chi You’s statue-like body. His physical strength and recovery rate were drastically weakened. The old Chi You was so hard he could break someone’s teeth—now even a random beast could bite a chunk out of him.
Once Chi You began to look more human again, Jiang Luo brought him to a peasant family’s home to stay. Every day he asked the family to provide three meals and two buckets of hot water. He had no money, so he paid with two ginseng roots he had dug from the mountain.
The family was simple and kind. They never asked why Jiang Luo had brought back an unconscious man—just delivered meals, no questions asked.
Jiang Luo asked the eldest son of the household to sell the ginseng and buy him a phone and SIM card. When the phone arrived, Jiang Luo quickly sent Wenren a message to let them know he was safe and told them not to leave Dawu Mountain yet. Then he turned off the phone—he didn’t dare say more.
And so, they survived ten-plus days by sheer grit. Each day was lived on edge. When Jiang Luo was at the brink of exhaustion, Chi You finally opened his eyes.
Jiang Luo nearly thought he was hallucinating. Once he was sure Chi You had truly woken, the boulder weighing on his heart finally lifted. He let out a deep breath and rasped, “You’re finally awake.”
Half a month of hardship had left Jiang Luo haggard and worn. Chi You looked him over, inch by inch—from the bruises under his eyes to the tiny cuts on his hands—and after a long while, asked, “How long did I sleep?”
“Half a month,” Jiang Luo replied.
Chi You propped himself up on the mattress and looked around. He instantly understood the situation. Even though Jiang Luo had suffered half a month for his sake, Chi You couldn’t help but want to laugh. The corner of his lips lifted. “Half a month? That’s better than I expected.”
Jiang Luo’s mouth twitched. Seeing that Chi You could still smile, he felt the urge to hit him. But when he thought of why this person was injured in the first place, his heart softened. He got up and poured Chi You a cup of water. “How are you feeling now?”
“Not bad,” Chi You said lightly. “The ghost markings are almost gone.”
Jiang Luo’s face changed drastically. “The ghost markings are almost gone?”
Chi You still had the mood to chuckle. “The Fated One found a good method this time.”
The ghost markings were Chi You’s leverage for killing the Fated One.
This thing was formed from the evil po of the Fated One. It had been passed down on the main line of the Chi family for two hundred years, claiming countless lives of Chi family heirs and devouring innumerable malicious spirits and wrongful souls.
Over two hundred years, as the Fated One grew stronger, the ghost markings also grew. Because the Chi family’s branch members had madly forced the main line to use the ghost markings to devour powerful ghosts, the ghost markings had become even more terrifying in strength.
Chi You was the ideal vessel for the ghost markings. From birth, his innate evil nature made the ghost markings naturally gravitate toward him. While he was still alive, he completely fused with the ghost markings, making them part of him. The ghost markings had devoured an uncountable number of spirits—by fusing with them, Chi You had essentially fused with those countless ghosts. This was why Ge Wuchen had once said Chi You was already a malicious ghost even while still alive.
After fusing, the ghost markings became entirely Chi You’s. Even if he died, the ghost markings would still belong to him, allowing him to become a conscious, self-aware malicious ghost.
Once the Fated One predicted he would die at Chi You’s hands, he realized the ghost markings were key. He had someone refine Chi You’s soul into a Yuan Tian Bead to break down the ghost markings. This time, he lured Chi You into the spring to do the same.
Even if Chi You didn’t die, he’d be severely injured—and just as the Fated One expected, Chi You didn’t die, but his ghost markings were nearly dissolved by the Dragon Spring.
Two centuries of accumulation, gone just like that.
If Chi You wanted to kill the Fated One again, he’d need another two hundred years of build-up. But in two hundred years, who knew if the Fated One would’ve already reached godhood? Even if not, he would be far stronger. Even if Chi You regained his former strength, the gap between them would only widen—not to mention killing the Fated One.
That was the Fated One’s brilliant scheme.
When Chi You jumped into the Dragon Spring, he had already guessed this would be the outcome.
Yet he was very calm.
He knew exactly what he was doing and did not regret it.
Even if given another chance, he would do the same—and he would go up the mountain in advance to find Jiang Luo, to prevent that moment of his death.
Chi You slowly drank half a cup of tea. Other than his pale complexion, no one would be able to tell if he was injured at all. Jiang Luo’s expression turned complicated. He pressed his lips together and asked in a low voice, “Can the ghost markings recover?”
“Devour more ghosts, and they’ll come back eventually,” Chi You said offhandedly. His pitch-black eyes locked onto Jiang Luo, and when he saw Jiang Luo’s furrowed brows, a wave of joy suddenly surged in the malicious ghost’s heart. His smile grew, his tone bright. “You’re upset?”
Jiang Luo didn’t say yes or no, only muttered, “I’m just someone who believes in repaying kindness.”
Chi You replied crisply, “Then become my lover.”
Jiang Luo gave him a strange look, wondering if he’d hit his head. “Aren’t we already lovers?”
Chi You frowned.
Yes, they were lovers now.
But this kind of “lover” relationship wasn’t what Chi You wanted.
He wasn’t satisfied with this arrangement—but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was missing. All he knew was that after Jiang Luo’s death, he would never allow Jiang Luo to slip through his fingers again.
When Jiang Luo died, Chi You truly, completely hated him.
He wanted nothing more than to revive him and then strangle him with his own hands. He wanted to rip Jiang Luo’s corpse into pieces and devour him—flesh and bone. That hatred was etched into his bones, more violent and terrifying than anything he felt toward the Fated One. It made his hands tremble. He wanted to grind Jiang Luo into dust.
How could Jiang Luo be so ruthless?
But once Jiang Luo’s pulse returned, once his body warmed like the living again, all that hatred in Chi You’s heart instantly melted away, replaced by a stronger, more terrifying emotion. Holding Jiang Luo felt like embracing a soul he thought lost forever.
That feeling was too overwhelming. It let the malicious and dark side of Chi You completely take control. Even now, it gnawed away at him like a spell gone wrong. If he let down his guard for a second, he might do something truly terrible to Jiang Luo.
Chi You knew that if he exposed his true self, it would only make Jiang Luo wary and guarded. So he calmly drank his tea, masking the growing darkness in his eyes, pretending everything was normal.
Jiang Luo hesitated for a moment, then asked again, “Besides the ghost markings, do you feel anything else wrong?”
Chi You said mildly, “My soul. If it weren’t for this evil god’s statue body, I’d look like I did the first time you saw me.”
Jiang Luo remembered that first encounter. Back then, Chi You had been nothing more than a black mist, not even able to take human form. To try and kill Jiang Luo, he’d had to use the bathroom mirror to condense an arm out of the mist.
Chi You didn’t need to say more—Jiang Luo already understood how badly he was hurt.
Jiang Luo’s expression darkened.
Chi You’s grave injuries, Teng Bi’s death, his own resurrection—everything was a chaotic tangle that all boiled down to one thing: hatred for the Fated One. Over the past few days, Jiang Luo had also been recovering. His physical strength was steadily increasing. He had a gut feeling—he could defeat the Fated One.
But no. Merely defeating the Fated One wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t enough to vent the monstrous fury and hatred in Jiang Luo’s heart.
He wanted the Fated One to die an even more miserable death. He wanted his hopes completely crushed.
He wanted to return every bit of pain, tenfold.
