Lin Shijin slept straight through to the next morning. When he finally woke, still a little dazed, he realised Sheng Rufei was no longer lying beside him, though the blankets retained his lingering warmth.
His ears twitched. He felt comfortably warm, and the ache in his body had vanished.
Where had Sheng Rufei gone? Likely still dealing with matters in the city. He pushed aside the covers and sat up, only to feel something beneath his hand. A letter.
It was their mission letter. Lin Shijin also took out his token; the jade point tally glimmered on its surface, the number far higher than he remembered.
He hadn’t slain any demons nor laid anyone’s obsessions to rest. How had his points increased?
He stepped out of the hall and immediately saw two attendants standing outside. The baby-faced youth stood guard at the doorway, beside a striking young woman whose features were sharply handsome and whose manner was brisk and gallant. She looked familiar… likely another disciple from their peak.
“Er… you’re both here. Where has my shixiong gone?” He didn’t know either of their names and felt mildly awkward.
He rarely interacted with others; even if they had crossed paths on the peak, he would never have remembered their names.
“Sheng-shixiong has gone to the city lord’s manor. He left some time ago.”
Lin Shijin made an “Oh” sound, his ears perking up. Only then did he realise he wasn’t wearing his veiled hat. But everyone already knew he was a demon, so there was little point in hiding it now.
He glanced at the letter in his arms. The mission ought to count as failed; his identity had been exposed, and he had no idea whom to deliver the letter to.
The letter represented the demons’ standpoint. Handing it to anyone seemed wrong.
With nothing else to do and Sheng Rufei still absent, he wandered around the manor grounds. Wherever he went, the baby-faced boy and the pretty shijie trailed after him.
It must have been Sheng Rufei’s arrangement. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he said, “I’m only having a walk near the manor. I won’t run off. You can go about your own duties, you don’t need to follow me.”
The baby-faced youth glanced at the girl. One look seemed enough for them to confer, before he replied, “There are quite a few people in the city keeping an eye on you. It’s better if the two of us accompany you.”
Keeping an eye on him? Lin Shijin blinked, confused, but didn’t press further. He put on his veiled hat and stepped out of the manor.
Previously, the city lord had ordered that he wasn’t to leave the manor at all, yet the scourge-slayers didn’t stop him. Because of yesterday’s events, the streets were deserted, and vermilion walls were plastered with talismans to ward off evil.
“The latest notice… The Scourge-Slayer Envoy has been infected with an evil curse; only by killing can he avoid contagion. A demon appeared at the Gilded Banquet… The scourge-slayer is sheltering the demon, colluding with it.”
Scraps of paper fluttered like snow and clattered to the ground. Lin Shijin stooped to pick one up, the smell of fresh ink filling his nose. His gaze landed upon the illustration… and saw himself.
It depicted him and Sheng Rufei. Whoever had drawn it needed only a few strokes to capture them with uncanny accuracy.
In the drawing, he was curled in Sheng Rufei’s arms, his rabbit ears drooping, his face turned slightly aside. Sheng Rufei held him protectively.
The text beneath mirrored what he had just heard: the scourge-slayer was shielding a demon, and the city lord’s household was turning a blind eye.
The immortal sect disciples who had revealed the Scourge-Slayer Envoys’ curse during the Gilded Banquet were now under house arrest, forbidden from sharing a single word.
Truth or falsehood, it straddled both, impossible to judge.
The ground was littered with notices. Uncertain, Lin Shijin turned to the two beside him.
“Are the notices real? Have the immortal disciples actually been detained?”
The baby-faced youth confirmed it, but refused to elaborate.
“You can ask Sheng-shixiong when he returns, Shidi.”
After wandering a little longer, Lin Shijin returned the way he’d come. Just before reaching the manor, he felt a chain tighten around his wrist… its other end trailing into a nearby alley. The chain clinked faintly as he neared it.
Ye Lang?
Lin Shijin remembered the chain that bound the two of them. When he looked towards the alley, he could almost make out a shadowy figure lurking.
Was he meant to go over?
Even with the slave contract, he felt uneasy. Lin Shijin pretended not to notice and walked straight ahead. As he passed, he glimpsed the edge of a familiar snow-spirit mask.
“Lin-shidi, what’s wrong?”
The baby-faced youth asked because he had paused. Lin Shijin simply replied, “Nothing,” and followed them back to the manor.
Xue Ning had hidden himself in the alley, watching the youth walk away. He had seen clearly. Lin Shijin had glanced directly at him.
He definitely knew.
He had treated the youth’s injuries, spent his money on things for him, and now the wretched rabbit was pretending not to know him.
Xue Ning’s gaze darkened. He stared after the youth while clutching the warm pastries and sugar figurines he’d bought.
They had barely gone out for a stroll. Now Lin Shijin had returned to his residence, and the chain on his wrist still remained. That meant one of two things: either Ye Lang had infiltrated the manor, or the golden curse had malfunctioned.
Both seemed unlikely. Scourge-slayers were everywhere. Unless Ye Lang could completely conceal his demonic aura, he’d be found out immediately.
Even then, slipping in would not be easy.
Lin Shijin was still pondering this as he sat before the bronze mirror. He stared at his reflection before glancing behind him.
Had the window not been closed earlier? Was he imagining things? Why was it open now?
He blinked and looked again. In the mirror, it was unmistakably open.
Instinctively he turned his head… only to see the window shut.
A chill ran across his skin, his hair standing on end. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the hem of a black robe, and the soft clatter of chains reached his ears.
Before he could turn fully, a hand cupped his chin, and he looked straight into a familiar face.
“Idiot. Pretending you didn’t see me out there?”
Xue Ning, now wearing the robes of a scourge-slayer, still carried Ye Lang’s face. His fingertips were warm and soft against his skin. The silly rabbit stared back at him, wide-eyed and incredulous.
“You… how did you get in?” Lin Shijin was stunned. He had merely turned his head, and this man was already inside the room.
Alarm shot through him. He instinctively tried to call for help, but Ye Lang had already anticipated it and clamped his hand over his mouth.
“Shut up. Don’t shout. I came to talk to you.”
Lin Shijin was pinned down by demonic pressure, unable to move. All he could think about was how Ye Lang had slipped in.
Why had the scourge-slayers let him in? Where was Baby Face? And the girl? Ye Lang drew closer, and he shrank back reflexively.
“What are you afraid of?” Xue Ning asked, amused. “Afraid I’ll eat you?”
Lin Shijin’s hair bristled. Was there even a need to ask? This man had not only wanted to eat him before. He’d wanted to kill him, and had tugged his ears countless times. He remembered every slight.
He glared fiercely, but Ye Lang simply covered his mouth more firmly and murmured, “If you shout, I’ll skin your rabbit hide off right now.”
Lin Shijin: “…”
Terrified by the threat, he stiffened and behaved himself, though the anger in his eyes didn’t fade.
Xue Ning had never seen such an idiot. The fool didn’t even know how to use the slave contract. What use was being the master, when he was still the one being bullied?
Fortunately, the contract had weakened after the first day. It wouldn’t suppress him just because he resisted, and he had no intention of harming the rabbit anyway.
“Idiot,” he said, “I came to warn you. This city is about to be destroyed. You’d best leave quickly.”
His fingertip brushed the youth’s soft lips, tone languid. “Why don’t you come with me? What’s the point of staying in Fuguang? You should see more of the world.”
Hearing this, Lin Shijin felt no inclination to follow him. He was nearly faint with fright. He had thought returning to Fuguang meant he could punish Ye Lang, but the man intended to flee altogether. If he didn’t agree, Ye Lang might drag him off then and there.
His mind buzzed. He forced himself to stay calm. “This city is about to be destroyed… what do you mean?”
Xue Ning replied, “It was a dead city from the start. Everything you see is a re-enactment from a thousand years ago. The mission ends when the city collapses.”
He and Su Lian intended to hasten the collapse, turning it into a living hell ahead of schedule.
“It’s about to perish. Come with me, and I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
He didn’t want to kill this damned rabbit anymore. While he still found the creature interesting, perhaps he’d see if the youth would…
Xue Ning was thinking that he no longer wished to kill this wretched rabbit. While he still found the creature novel enough to hold his interest, he might as well see whether the boy was willing to go with him.
“Where are you taking me?”
Xue Ning replied, “Across the fifty cities of the Three Thousand Worlds, anywhere can serve as shelter.”
Lin Shijin felt as though a tiny figure in his heart was coughing up blood. Those words were as good as saying nothing at all. He had no intention of following a penniless menace to live a life of hardship. Still, he wasn’t truly interested; he was only asking for form’s sake. Staying by Sheng Rufei’s side was unquestionably the safest option.
He murmured, “No need. I don’t want to go anywhere.”
“Thank you for the warning. If there’s nothing else, you should head back. There are many scourge-slayers here. If they catch you, you’re finished.”
Lin Shijin only wanted Ye Lang to let go of him quickly. He had remembered the slave contract, but wasn’t sure whether the golden seal would still respond. Previously, Ye Lang would drop to his knees before even touching him. So why was there no reaction now?
He considered testing it. But if it failed and Ye Lang became enraged, he might descend into madness again.
He had seen Ye Lang’s madness before. The memory was carved into him. “Terrifying” was the only adequate word.
While he was secretly weighing the golden curse in his mind, he could feel Ye Lang’s gaze on him… warm, almost scorching.
Xue Ning’s eyes shifted slightly. Listening to the youth’s soft, cottony voice, watching him glance up at him with such shy hesitation, he lifted an eyebrow. “Are you worrying about me?”
Lin Shijin was rendered speechless by Ye Lang’s shameless imagination. How could he spin such fantasies so confidently? In his heart, he was already planning: the moment Ye Lang let him go, he would definitely shout for help, then use the golden curse to trap this fool, and have Baby Face haul Ye Lang back to Fuguang to be thrown into the water dungeon.
Not only had he shirked his mission, he had bullied fellow disciples. Bullying him was bad enough. Now he even wanted to defect from the sect.
Any one of these offences was enough to have him skinned alive in Shenxing Hall.
Lin Shijin’s expression grew peculiar. He regarded Ye Lang with the look one gives an idiot, certain the man’s brain must be faulty. He thought it, but didn’t dare say it aloud. Instead, he offered a perfunctory, “Mm.”
He was thinking he needed to arrest this man swiftly, but before he finished the thought, his wrist was seized.
Ye Lang loosened his grip just a fraction, lowering his head to look at him with deliberate seriousness. The gloom in his black eyes dissolved, and the corner of his mouth lifted faintly.
“Since you’re worried about me… why not come with me?”
Lin Shijin’s refusal was already on his tongue when his eye caught something… just a sliver of it in the distance.
A familiar longsword, the hem of a moon-white robe, the silver scabbard of a young swordsman glimmering faintly from behind a wall.
