Chapter 59

Dew slid off the edge of the lotus petals, creating ripples in the pool.

Liuyu met his gaze.

It seemed something unexpected had happened.

“…I’m fine.”

Liuyu responded with a bit of confusion:

“The residual poison left by Xiang Lishen is nothing much. I’ve cleared part of it, and for the rest, I just need to take the medicine on time every day—however, as for you, perhaps we should call Xiang Lihua to take a look. Your complexion doesn’t look good.”

His deep-set brows framed calm, dark eyes, with moonlight reflecting in them, creating a shimmering, precarious glow.

Mo Lin gently caressed her face, not replying, but instead, he took out a multicolored silk thread.

“This item, have you seen it before?”

Liuyu took the multicolored silk from his hand.

Sure enough, the moment she touched it, a sharp pain shot through her brain, and something deep within her seemed to tear apart, but she couldn’t discern exactly what it was.

Liuyu shook her head, returned the silk to his hand, and furrowed her brow.

“I haven’t seen it.”

To make Mo Lin more aware of the item’s effect on her, Liuyu opened her palm and condensed a stream of Qi.

Qi control is a basic skill for practitioners, and being able to stably condense Qi is the mark of a true practitioner.

However, at this moment, Liuyu, at the peak of the Seventh Realm, had a Qi stream that flickered like a flame in the wind, unsteady and wavering.

“Last night, when I approached Jiu Fang Shaogeng, it was because I noticed this, and I had you take this item for me.”

Liuyu pressed her thumb and forefinger against her chin, pondering:

“I originally suspected it was a new type of artifact he had acquired, but if that were the case, during the chaotic battle, he should have stayed closer to suppress me. Moreover, after you took this multicolored silk from him, his reaction shouldn’t have been like that…”

“Do you remember the Yashan Tianmen that the Jade-faced Spider mentioned in the communication array before?”

Yashan Tianmen.

Liuyu’s spine suddenly stiffened.

It appeared again, this place.

The place where Yin Shanze and Nangong Jing perished in the previous life, and also where the extraterritorial demon was sealed.

“When I was infiltrating beside Zhongli Lingzhao, I heard Yan Wushu inquire about its origin. Jiufang Shaogeng encountered it in the chaotic currents of the reversed waterfall at Yashan. Seeing it remain unharmed in the turbulent waters, he picked it up, intending to bring it back to Xiandu Yujing for thorough investigation.”

Liuyu’s brows slowly knitted together.

How did Jiufang Shaogeng end up at Yashan Tianmen?

She asked Mo Lin, “Then will your Qi flow be affected by it?”

Mo Lin didn’t speak, instead swiftly gathering a ball of ghost Qi in his palm.

The stable Qi flow emitted a blue light, illuminating Liuyu’s somewhat confused face.

“Why am I the only one affected?”

“Liuyu.”

Mo Lin paused for a moment, his voice very light:

“The blood on this five-colored thread should be yours.”

It was as if a lightning bolt struck through Liuyu’s mind, leaving her momentarily blank before she belatedly realized what he had said.

Her blood.

How could her blood be on a five-colored thread she had never seen before?

More importantly.

How did Mo Lin know whose blood it was?

Unless—

Mo Lin leaned in, pressing his forehead against hers. Liuyu, dazed, saw his Adam’s apple move, his hoarse voice like wind and snow from a past life:

“I saw your past in the blood realm journey.”

He saw the immortals, led by the Jiufang family, unite to exterminate the remnants of the Yinshan clan, saw Liuyu leading the few remaining clan members over mountains and valleys in search of refuge.

The young lady who grew up in a wealthy family squandered all her possessions.

She no longer cared for lavish food or fine clothes, blending in with the refugees, eating the same food, wearing the same clothes, and enduring the same hunger.

He saw Liuyu hiding in a dilapidated temple for ten days to evade pursuers, not eating a single grain of rice, curling herself into a dusty ball.

At her hungriest, she took out the Mountain Ghost Dragon Bell hidden in her Qi sea.

Holding the copper bell in her hand, the girl’s pale, chapped lips moved.

“Will you choose me?”

“Or will you help them kill me?”

The Mountain Ghost Dragon Bell, sealed by her Qi flow, lay quietly in her palm.

She suddenly smiled.

“Starving makes me ask foolish questions.”

Her voice, light as a sigh, dissipated in the gaps between the Buddha statue and spider webs in the broken temple, receiving no response.

In the disjointed time, he saw her journey through displacement, life, and death.

“…It’s my fault.”

Mo Lin grasped the back of her head, his broad shoulders and long arms encircling her tightly.

He greedily felt her breath and warmth, gripping her thin shoulders, wanting to hold her tighter and tighter, to make up for the pain of not being able to embrace her during the blood realm journey.

He buried his head in the crook of her neck, letting endless regret gnaw at his heart, making his whole body tremble.

“Dignity, face—what do they matter? What’s important about them! I should have let you know from the beginning that I never saw this marriage as a political union! To be worthy of you, I’ve been training desperately, so I can stand by your side with honor. No matter how many people want to see Jiuyou fall, I will never let it fall! As long as you say you need me, no matter how difficult the enemy, I will kill them for you!”

“From Wuse City to Jiuyou—it’s you who supported me to live to this day.”

Liuyu looked up at the bright moon above, listening to him pour out these long-buried words, suddenly feeling a misty sound in her ears.

Only then did she realize tears had unknowingly flowed down her cheeks into her ears, pooling lightly.

After a long time.

Liuyu gazed at the mottled shadows on the moon, her delicate chin resting on his broad shoulder, and said with a light laugh:

“How can the dignity and face of the Lord of the Ghosts not be important?”

She spoke so lightly, Mo Lin kissed her fair, soft nape, but his heart was bleeding.

“What did you see?”

Liuyu asked softly:

“Did you see the downfall of the Yinshan clan? Did you see me being hunted? Or did you even see how I died?”

“You’re lying to me.”

He caressed Liuyu’s smooth face as if stroking non-existent scars.

“Isn’t the blood realm journey supposed to show only painful memories? Why could I see every day of those ten years so clearly?”

Liuyu said lightly, “Maybe I remembered it wrong.”

“Liar.”

She tried to turn her head away, but Mo Lin held her, staring straight into her eyes.

“Because you blamed yourself every day, you blamed yourself for not saving Chao Ming and Chao Yuan, for losing your sister when you sought help from Zhongli Yi, for causing Liu Niang’s death. You hated yourself for being unable to turn the tide, allowing the enemy to trample the lives of those you cared about—”

Liuyu’s lips moved, but she seemed voiceless, unable to say anything.

She only heard the person in front of her soften his tone, coaxing her:

“Why don’t you blame me, Liuyu? You should blame me.”

Liuyu blinked, tears falling on his hand, and asked somewhat puzzled:

“…What should I blame you for?”

Mo Lin raised his hand to wipe her tears, a faint smile on his lips:

“Blame me for not coming to find you.”

Liuyu felt a lump in her throat, trying to see him clearly, but her vision remained blurred.

“I sealed the Mountain Ghost Dragon Bell myself. I hid very well, even the Jiufang and Zhongli families couldn’t find me.”

“Then I should find you.”

Mo Lin’s tiger mouth pressed against her earlobe, his thumb gently caressing her cheek, kissing and sucking softly, clumsily comforting her.

He said:

“How could I not have found you?”

Even if it meant killing one more enemy for her, even if it was stealing, robbing, or risking his life while she was starving and freezing.

How could he remain indifferent in the Nine Netherworlds, enjoying wealth and luxury, leaving her alone in this world to suffer?

Liuyu suddenly pressed her cheek against his chest.

He wanted to say he hadn’t changed clothes yet, but she still reached out and held his waist tightly. The part of his robe she clung to quickly became wet.

Liuyu hadn’t cried like this in a long, long time.

In her past life, she had believed that if she emptied her tears all at once, she would never shed weak, useless tears like this again.

Later, life punished her ignorance and arrogance.

It taught her through countless deaths and separations that the suffering in this world was far deeper and broader than she had imagined. Those tears that couldn’t be shed didn’t disappear; they just temporarily retreated to the bottom of her heart.

And then today, in this safe embrace, they flowed out again.

“You’re right, I should blame you,” she sobbed, her shoulders trembling, “why didn’t you come to find me? I hate you so much! Aren’t you very capable? How could you not find me? You just didn’t want to find me!”

She clutched his robe tightly, as if pouring all the tears she hadn’t cried in her past life onto him.

“Everyone in this world hates me and wants me dead. The ones who loved me are all dead. They’re all dead, Mo Lin. I really thought that no one in this world would ever love me again.”

She had been driven by revenge, walking alone in the world for ten years.

Sometimes, when she opened her eyes, she always asked herself a question—

Why am I still alive?

What would revenge achieve?

The dead wouldn’t come back to life, and the pain left behind would never heal.

In the end, she lived purely out of a sense of anger.

Why should she die in sorrow?

Why should those who had messed up her life be able to live peacefully and happily with their loved ones?

She refused.

Even if all she had was a stone, she would use it to smash their homes.

Even if she only had one breath left, she would make them live in fear that one day she would come for revenge.

Mo Lin listened to her piercing accusations, bearing the pain she kept hidden in her heart. He wanted to hide her within his body so tightly that nothing cruel or sharp could ever hurt her again.

But all he could do was hold her tightly with his arms and tentacles.

“Tell me.”

His throat moved, and his voice was so soft, almost pleading.

“Liuyu, how can I make up for my mistake?”

The girl in his arms slowly lifted her head. Her slightly swollen eyes glistened with tears, beautiful and captivating.

Her gaze met his, and she said:

“I want you to kiss me.”

He said okay.

The kisses, falling from top to bottom, were frantic yet gentle. Liuyu tilted her head to accept this kiss that fell like a sudden rainstorm.

Their breaths were chaotic, intertwining.

She let her eyelids droop, allowing him to part her lips and calm the raging storm in her heart one by one.

He caressed her cheek, his knee pressing between her legs, kissing her tenderly and lovingly. The prolonged kiss made them both dizzy, gasping for air, yet his hands remained decorously still.

Liuyu opened her eyes, staring at him:

“I want you to possess me.”

He looked into her eyes, reflecting the moonlight, with the corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose tinted with a rosy hue from crying, making her look both pitiful and adorable.

Mo Lin gazed at her for a long time, finally pecking her lips.

“You need to rest.”

She sank softly into the rattan chair, her skirt spread out loosely. Her long, jade-like fingers hooked his belt, and beneath her damp eyelashes were a pair of eyes, clear as lacquer, reflecting his shameful desire.

She tilted her head slightly, asking:

“Husband, don’t you love me anymore?”

The evening breeze rippled the pool.

He knew he shouldn’t take advantage of her vulnerability, but the moment she lured him so half-heartedly, his reason swiftly retreated far away.

Like a dog wagging its tail uncontrollably at the sound of a bell, he had no principles, no self-control.

He grabbed her waist, pressing her tightly against his desire.

“How else do you want me to love you?”

His fingers were rough, leaving shivers where they brushed. His palms were also rough, gripping her with a bit of pain, making his whole being feel coarse and tough, yet his heart was incredibly soft when pained by her suffering.

Liuyu looked up at the crisscrossing beams above the water pavilion.

When he placed her bent legs on the armrest, Liuyu caught sight of the crimson snake tongue flickering by. The next moment, her eyes were covered by the tip of a tentacle.

Soft.

Scalding.

Longer and more flexible than a human tongue…

“Like this?”

She heard him ask in a low voice amidst her chaotic, broken sounds.

“Or… like this?”

He swallowed her breath and voice, his fingers feeling her heartbeat.

The powerful jolts completely pulled Liuyu out of the whirlpool of her past life, yet plunged her into another airtight cage.

In the cage were moist, soft tentacles, menacing demonic tattoos spreading to her lower abdomen, a soft and flexible snake tongue, and…

And her husband.

A cold yet passionate, taciturn yet deeply affectionate demon ghost.

The rattan chair creaked under the weight.

Mo Lin kissed her flushed cheeks and the tears seeping from the corners of her eyes. He knew they weren’t tears of pain, but even if they were, he would want to possess them, to devour them, to keep her forever in such bliss.

In the devastated past, he found his treasure shattered into countless pieces.

He wanted to pick them up and restore them to their original state.

From then on, he would never let anyone break them again.