The room was deathly quiet. Lin Shijin did not hear a reply for a long while. He lifted his gaze towards Sheng Rufei’s eyes, only to find them pitch-black, as if a shadow had pressed down over his features.
His nape was being slowly, inch by inch, caressed. Sheng Rufei was not the sort to speak sweet words to him on ordinary days, and he was no different now.
“Didn’t you hear it yesterday?”
Lin Shijin lowered his voice. “I didn’t hear you. Say it again, I want to hear it.”
He was being deliberately unreasonable. In moments like this, Sheng Rufei would not indulge him. He merely kissed the corner of his eye and told him to go play somewhere else.
Yet Lin Shijin still stayed in Sheng Rufei’s embrace. His eyelashes trembled. After holding it in for a long while, he finally could not restrain himself.
“I already know everything.”
“Why did you hide it from me?” His fingertips pressed against Sheng Rufei’s wounds, a bitter ache rising in his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
At that, Sheng Rufei’s fingers paused slightly. He clearly understood what the youth was referring to. His gaze reflected Lin Shijin’s face. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“I only found out not long ago.”
How could that be?
Lin Shijin did not believe him at all. Sheng Rufei had undressed him several times before, and it had also been Sheng Rufei who applied medicine to his wounds. He must have known long ago.
“You’re lying,” Lin Shijin said. “You definitely knew earlier. You just didn’t tell me.”
Sheng Rufei did not respond, which was as good as admitting it. His fingertips stroked Lin Shijin’s cheek as he said softly, “If I told you, you would cry.”
“I’m not crying now,” Lin Shijin insisted, though his eyes were already stinging. He was somewhat aggrieved. “If you don’t tell me, then I won’t know anything at all. I won’t even know all the things you’ve done for me.”
“Mm.” Sheng Rufei only acknowledged it. He said nothing more, merely brushing his lips against the corner of Lin Shijin’s eye again. “I’ll tell you in the future.”
Lin Shijin did not believe such promises. He silently made a note in his heart to keep a closer eye on this piece of wood. The wood always did things in secret.
During their conversation, Sheng Rufei’s complexion seemed to worsen. Lin Shijin immediately reached out to check his wounds. Sheng Rufei did not even have time to avoid him. As expected, the wound had split open again, densely covered with black runes.
Lin Shijin immediately understood something and looked towards Qiushui. Qiushui jolted, the sword body wilting slightly.
His fingers were suddenly grasped. Sheng Rufei seemed about to speak, but before he could, he fainted.
Lin Shijin stared at Qiushui for a moment. Qiushui, who had been tense, quickly wilted completely, lowering his blade in a guilty posture.
“Master… I was wrong…”
“You had better not bully him,” Lin Shijin’s tone turned colder as he warned again. “If anything happens to him, I will not be any better off either.”
Qiushui said nothing, drooping miserably like a scolded child.
Despite his grievance, he still obediently released a strand of his aura, forcing the evil curses back and making them obediently cling to the edges of the wound without spreading further.
“Why does Master treat him so well?” Qiushui muttered, still displeased, his voice childish and muffled. “It was like this in the previous life too.”
He did not want the past to repeat itself. That so-called “aesthetic ghost” might become uncontrollable in the future, and would only become a burden to his master.
Even if he disliked Lin Fuheng, Lin Fuheng would probably agree with him.
“Am I not good to you?” Lin Shijin raised his gaze slightly. Although he had only reunited with Qiushui for a day, the familiarity etched into his bones could not be faked.
Qiushui could not answer. His master was naturally good to him, even if he was often punished to soak in the Cleansing Spirit Spring.
“Just as you are important to me, I would feel pained if anyone treated you badly,” Lin Shijin said. “He is the same. I like him. If anyone treats him badly, I will feel just as hurt.”
“Do you understand now?”
Qiushui, upon hearing that he was so important to his master, became slightly dizzy with joy. His sword body even faintly flushed pink. “Really? Then Master also likes me the way he likes that…?”
The word “aesthetic ghost” nearly slipped out, but it quickly corrected itself. “Does Master like me the same way he likes His Highness?”
Of course not. Lin Shijin was simply coaxing the foolish sword.
“That’s right,” he replied.
“I understand,” Qiushui said, his voice childish. “Then if His Highness bullies me, will Master stand on my side?”
Without hesitation, Lin Shijin said, “Yes.”
Qiushui was overjoyed, practically glowing as he spun in place.
“This is what Master said himself. If I ever quarrel with His Highness, Master cannot take his side.”
Qiushui complained coyly, “Master used to favour him a lot. Fuheng almost fainted from anger several times.”
Lin Fuheng: “……”
Lin Shijin did not remember any of it. Qiushui, easily distracted, had already forgotten his earlier grievances and was now happily spinning again, left and right, utterly delighted.
His eyes were almost dizzying.
“Stay by his side properly. It’s not safe here. His injuries cannot be delayed.”
Qiushui stopped at once and obediently agreed, settling down quietly.
As it shifted, it stepped on something. Looking down, it saw a pure white sword lying there obediently. It seemed to be His Highness’s sword.
Unable to bully the prince himself, it decided to bully his sword instead, and mercilessly stomped on it twice. Finding it in the way, it even kicked it aside.
The sword: “……”
It was loyal and simply wanted to guard its master. It did not argue with this evil sword, which was stronger than it, and slowly shuffled back to its master’s side.
One black sword and one silver sword lay side by side, one horizontal and one vertical, looking somewhat absurd.
Qiushui had initially assumed the sword had no spirit. Now seeing it move, it was somewhat surprised.
“What is your name?” Qiushui poked it with its tip. “If you have a spirit, why do you not speak?”
The silver sword remained silent, curling slightly away in displeasure, unwilling to respond.
Lin Shijin heard Qiushui muttering to the sword and glanced over. Seeing nothing unusual, he instructed it again.
“I am going out. Stay here and guard him properly. Notify me immediately if anything happens.”
He looked at Sheng Rufei’s pale face, touched him lightly, then stood up. He intended to search the nearby mountains for medicinal herbs. Ordinary wound medicine worked, but it did not relieve pain, and pain-relieving herbs were rare. He would try his luck.
Qiushui cheerfully agreed. Lin Shijin still set up multiple barriers around the courtyard and a concealment formation outside before leaving.
He first went to a nearby village. When he entered earlier, he had already noticed blood traces, and now as he stepped in, something felt wrong immediately. The village was too quiet.
Cold, empty, devoid of any human presence.
On a wall, he saw a smear of deep red blood. A bad premonition rose in his heart. He knocked on a door. No response.
He pushed it open. It was unlocked. The moment it opened, a thick stench of blood hit him.
The ground was covered in dragged, dark bloodstains, leading to a pool of thick black blood at the end.
He stood still, his heart turning cold, already understanding what had happened.
“Fuheng, the evil curse… what is going on?”
Although he asked, he already had an answer forming in his mind. Shouque intended to replay history from a thousand years ago. Back then, the evil curse had spread widely, and Fuheng had personally sealed it along with countless demons.
“Why has the curse appeared again… was it Shouque?”
Fuheng gave a faint “mm”. “He brought it here from the past.”
Lin Shijin frowned, still about to ask more when his gaze suddenly caught something in the corner.
His expression tightened instantly.
There stood something that could barely be called human. Its body was red, its facial features obscured by dense black runes. Veins bulged grotesquely beneath its skin, as though something were pushing out from inside.
The black runes clustered together like countless staring eyes.
Fuheng’s voice echoed in his mind.
“Those are villagers who have been devoured by the curse. They are turning into demons. During the transformation, they will continuously devour others.”
Lin Shijin understood. Those infected either die immediately or become demons at once, but now the process had been prolonged, making the casualties far worse.
He could even see bits of flesh stuck beneath its fingernails. The creature lunged at him at terrifying speed. He dodged instantly, drawing his sword.
Without Qiushui, he used an ordinary sword. Sword light flashed, and with a loud impact, the creature split apart. It let out a miserable scream before being swallowed entirely by black runes, collapsing into a pool of black water.
Lin Shijin stood in place for a moment before lowering his gaze.
He placed an exorcism talisman in the courtyard, then went to other houses. The situation was the same everywhere. No survivors. Only traces of lives that had once existed.
His chest felt heavy and tight. Only then did he ask Fuheng again.
“What did you mean… Shouque brought the curse from the past?”
Fuheng replied, “Do you remember the cities you entered before?”
“They were ancient cities from a thousand years ago, all infected by the curse. You saw them through an illusion formation.”
“The illusion is woven from countless strands of spiritual energy. Time inside flows differently from outside. Sometimes a year inside is only a day outside. Sometimes the ratio changes unpredictably.”
“At a certain moment, due to an accident, the illusion overlaps with a fragment of history from a thousand years ago.”
“At that instant, the spiritual frequencies align perfectly, and space overlaps. You were no longer inside an illusion. You had truly returned to an ancient city from a thousand years ago.”
Fuheng’s voice turned cold.
“Shouque used the illusion’s ancient city as a reference to calculate the fluctuations of spiritual energy… He replicated the city of a thousand years ago and brought the evil curse out from within it.”
