As night fell, rain began to patter outside the capital city.
The water vapor that spread across the land seemed to carry the damp scent of blood, a reminder of the massacre that had once taken place here.
Feeling unwell, Xia Qing decided to forgo going out. Alone, he lit a lamp and lay weakly by the window, gazing out at the world beyond.
After all, the capital had once been the capital of a country. The prosperity was still the same as before. Lights flickered on and off between the buildings, the rain-filled air creating an atmosphere of hazy mystery.
When Lou Guan Xue came in, what he saw was the gentle silhouette of the young man outlined by the candlelight, quiet to the core. Almost at a glance, it calmed the bloody madness surging in his soul from his return.
There weren’t many people on the street. Xia Qing absentmindedly counted the water droplets falling from the eaves. One droplet was blown by the wind and hit him in the eye. He jumped in shock, muttering to himself as he hurriedly covered his eyes. When he raised his hand, his sleeve fell down, revealing a wrist so slender it seemed fragile.
Lou Guan Xue looked away and closed the door.
Xia Qing, hearing the sound, turned around abruptly, surprised. “You’re back?”
Lou Guan Xue responded with a simple “Hmm.”
Seeing him come back from the rain without his clothes or hair being wet, Xia Qing was astonished. He couldn’t help but ask directly, “I remember you didn’t bring an umbrella. Why don’t you look like you’ve been in the rain at all?” He has fallen ill for three days after getting caught in the rain last time!
Lou Guan Xue swept his robe across the ground and sat down opposite him, saying casually, ‘You haven’t seen me in a day, and you want to ask me this?’
Xia Qing: “Of course not.” He hesitated for a moment before speaking frankly, “After the village was burned down, how is Lingxi?”
Lou Guan Xue: “Don’t worry, Xue Fuguang will take him away soon.”
Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze back to him, asking, “Where did you go? You took so long. And what was that drink you had the waiter give me? It was really terrible—did you poison me?”
Lou Guan Xue chuckled lightly. “Yes, you’re very clever. You’ve guessed it all.”
Xia Qing’s mouth twitched. “Speak plainly.”
Lou Guan Xue glanced at him and casually remarked, “You suspected me of poisoning you and still drank it?”
Xia Qing choked, and said seriously, “Even if I suspect you of poisoning me, it shouldn’t be anything fatal. After all, you wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble to harm me.”
Lou Guan Xue looked at him quietly for a long time, then chuckled softly and lazily. “Indeed, it’s not fatal. Do you want to guess what poison it is?”
What else is there to guess? Lou Guan Xue’s attitude clearly shows he’s teasing him.
It seems there was no poison, probably just medicine. But what kind of medicine has such a strange taste? There must be something fishy about it.
But Xia Qing didn’t want to pursue it further. Changing the subject awkwardly, he said, “Oh, what did you do today?”
Lou Guan Xue didn’t respond to his question, casually tapping the table with his finger. “You brought up the topic yourself. Are you trying to brush it off now that you can’t answer it?”
Xia Qing: “…”
With eyes as dark as ink, Lou Guan Xue gazed at Xia Qing and said softly, ‘Xia Qing, if there were a poison that could cure two-facedness, I would force you to drink it every day.’
Xia Qing grabbed his hair and said exasperatedly, ‘How am I being two-faced?! I value my life, so is it wrong to have reasonable doubts?’
Lou Guan Xue replied nonchalantly, “If you truly valued your life, you wouldn’t have drunk.”
He lifted his gaze and asked, “Is it so difficult to admit that you trust me?”
“…”
Xia Qing decided never to provoke Lou Guan Xue again.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lou Guan Xue is simply not someone to be provoked!!
Either he ignores you completely, or he corners you with every word until you’re utterly defeated.
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Lou Guan Xue withdrew his gaze, his expression cold, and calmly said, “I went to inquire about the news of Liang Kingdom’s Imperial Tomb.”
After a pause, he answered another question, “The blood you drank during the day was mine.”
Xia Qing’s body stiffened, completely shocked by the latter statement: “Your blood?!”
Lou Guan Xue: “Hmm.”
Confused, Xia Qing asked in disbelief, “I drank your blood? Why?”
Lou Guan Xue replied lightly, “Right now, you only have a soul and no body. Using the Ananda Sword recklessly would only harm your soul.”
Xia Qing froze, “So… your blood can help heal my soul wounds?”
Lou Guan Xue seemed indifferent, “Hmm.”
Xia Qing remained in place, his mind blank, but his body instinctively grabbed Lou Guan Xue’s hand.
Lou Guan Xue was slightly taken aback; he loathed others’ touch, but he didn’t pull away.
Xia Qing lowered his head and unsurprisingly saw a scar on Lou Guan Xue’s wrist.
A seemingly casual cut, but deeply disturbing. Lou Guan Xue was ruthless to everyone, including himself.
So, is that bowl all his blood?
Xia Qing’s heart and mind trembled; his fingers lightly traced the scar. He had never experienced such a bewildering feeling before, completely unsure of what to do.
Nervously, Xia Qing said, “I’ll go clean your wound.”
Lou Guan Xue withdrew his hand, “No need, it’ll heal on its own.”
Xia Qing pursed his lips tightly and remained silent for a long while before mumbling, ‘Thank you. But I’m not really that seriously injured. I should be fine after two days. You don’t have to do this.’
Lou Guan Xue smiled, “Do you really think it’ll heal in just two days?”
Xia Qing deflated and remained silent.
Staying put for two days definitely won’t suffice, especially since his body still ached faintly, like tiny needles pricking him.
Xia Qing sounded frustrated, “Then I’ll go see a doctor tomorrow.”
Lou Guan Xue’s smile seemed ambiguous as he remarked, “You really don’t understand the Ananda Sword.”
Confused, Xia Qing asked, “What do you mean?”
Lou Guan Xue explained, “The Ananda Sword originated in the primordial era. You’ve been afflicted by its sword intent, and only my blood can alleviate the pain.”
—Only my blood.
Xia Qing froze, his fingers trembling violently.
…He dared not ask Lou Guan Xue who he really was anymore.
He had asked countless times when he emerged from the barrier, and Lou Guan Xue had answered many times, but it was always ambiguous, never a definite answer.
The blood formation and the divine had almost become a tacitly avoided topic between them.
Xia Qing sighed, his voice filled with dejection. ‘Then is there no other way?’ he asked. ‘If it really can’t be helped, just let me bear it myself.’
Lou Guan Xue propped up his chin, his tone laced with a hint of amusement and mockery. ‘You cried over the minor pain you experienced at the Zhai Xing Tower. Do you really think you can handle this?’
Only then did Xia Qing recall his embarrassing incident the first time he possessed someone, “…Am I just going to keep drinking your blood?”
Lou Guan Xue chuckled lightly, his voice as cool as the night breeze, “What? Don’t want to drink? Even if you don’t want to, you still have to drink for me.”
Xia Qing was speechless, “Do you even understand what I mean?! I don’t want you bleeding all the time! Don’t you feel the pain?” Who could endure cup after cup of blood being drawn?
After hearing this, Lou Guan Xue seemed to think of something. He looked deeply at him, a smile playing at the corner of his lips, as he slowly said, “Oh, actually, there is another way.”
Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief.
That’s what I’m saying. There’s no such thing as absolutes.
Xia Qing: “What is it? You could have said it earlier.”
Lou Guan Xue leaned down, his fingers lifting Xia Qing’s chin. With his ink-black hair carrying a damp chill, and his features illuminated by the lamplight, he whispered hoarsely near his ear, “Sleep with me.”
Xia Qing: “…”
Xia Qing: “…”
Lou Guan Xue naturally took in Xia Qing’s expression of shock and awe, concealing the deep meaning hidden in his dark eyes, he smiled, and retracted his hand without a trace, saying, “But then, you’ll lose your cherished virginity.”
Xia Qing suddenly sat up, moving away from him, his words incoherent in his panic, “Right, right, um, no, that’s not right. It’s not about cherishing my virginity, I just value purity. Anyway, this method won’t work, so let me endure it on my own. I refuse to believe that the Ananda Sword can kill me with pain.”
He spoke rapidly, his face showing signs of distress.
Lou Guan Xue paused, watching him with interest, and leisurely said, “I remember Song Guichen saying that you cultivate the Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions”
Xia Qing was surprised, “You remember that?!”
Lou Guan Xue said, “Doesn’t the Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions require you to sever emotions and love?”
Xia Qing thought seriously for a moment, “…I don’t think it does.”
Song Guichen had once said that the Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions wasn’t the Path of No Compassion. In fact, as far as the first two moves were concerned, Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions had nothing to do with severing love and breaking ties.
The distinction between “heartlessness” and “sentimentality” is a rather profound one.
Often, the more one stubbornly pursues emotional detachment, the more entangled they become, as attachment becomes an obstacle.
Lou Guan Xue: “So, what are you afraid of?”
Xia Qing hesitated, “…It’s not that I’m afraid.”
Lou Guan Xue calmly responded, “Hmm, you just don’t want to face it. Just like how you were reluctant to acknowledge your connection with the Ananda Sword before, you’re best at avoiding things related to yourself.”
Damn it! Could you please shut up!
Xia Qing’s heart was in turmoil.
This turmoil wasn’t just emotional, but a genuine resistance from the depths of his soul.
Like stubborn rocks being forcibly shattered, his closed-off world was crumbling, affecting him to his core.
He stared at Lou Guan Xue’s thin lips, and in a moment of panic, he reached out and covered his mouth, saying, “Shut up, stop talking.”
“…” Lou Guan Xue chuckled, amused by his irritation. He grasped Xia Qing’s wrist with his slender fingers, his voice as cold as snow, “Xia Qing.”
Xia Qing, having reached his breaking point, conceded, “Fine, I admit it, I cherish my purity.”
He thought for a moment, then adopted an exploratory tone, saying, “But I think the issue might lie with the Peng Lai Sword Technique. Perhaps the first page of the Peng Lai Sword Technique states that one must undergo self-castration to practice this skill. Is that a possibility?”
Lou Guan Xue stared at him intensely for a long time, the smile at the corner of his lips gradually rising as he gently said, “So you’ve been hiding this from me for a long time.”
Xia Qing: “Hmm?”
Lou Guan Xue sneered, “I had no idea you were actually a eunuch.”
Xia Qing: “…”
He swallowed his impotent rage and decided that when conversing with Lou Guan Xue, he needed to take the moral high ground. Even though Lou Guan Xue lacked morals, this approach would spare him from embarrassment.
Xia Qing lectured him, “Firstly, I’m not a eunuch. Secondly, even if I were, you shouldn’t mock others for their disabilities.”
Lou Guan Xue remained unfazed, his expression indifferent, “Hmm, go on.”
Xia Qing couldn’t continue his lecture. It was as if he had been transported back to the day of the Snail Girl, when his attempt to promote the beauty of humanity had failed miserably.
With a wooden expression, he repeated the same words from that day, bluntly asking, “Are you going to sleep or not?!”
Lou Guan Xue chuckled softly, “I’ll sleep.”
He lifted his hand to untie the sky-blue hairband, then spoke coldly, “Other people’s disabilities have nothing to do with me.”
Xia Qing: “…”
Indeed.
Lou Guan Xue’s extreme arrogance, in a sense, treated all beings equally… with the same indifferent indifference.
“If you want to learn a lesson the hard way, then be it.”
After saying this, Lou Guan Xue walked to the edge of the bed.
Xia Qing had to drink several cups of herbal tea to calm his emotions.
What did he mean to “learn a lesson”?!
Making him seem so fragile, as if he is afraid of pain.
How terrifying could the Ananda Sword be?!
And then, in the dead of night, Xia Qing truly experienced what it meant to be engulfed in searing pain.
“…”
Fine.
Lou Guan Xue is so aggressive in courting his husband now LOL Thank you for the chapters!!! ❤️
Hermana, si no fuera por tus cometarios no entendería que nuestro Luo lo está acortejando! jajajaja
I see that the bl patended cure-all makes a come back here as well 😄
Well maybe he needed lou guan xue essence to heal his soul. So I guess that kind of ‘essence’ also works? 😳 Time to be the shou-