THNWO 126

Chapter 126 

The man in white approached the bed. The young man on the bed was still sound asleep, probably due to the alcohol. He was sweating from the heat, with his arms exposed and his cheeks flushed from the alcohol. The man in white stared for a moment, then sat down by the bed. He first took the young man’s hands, inspected them for injuries, found none, and then tucked them under the blanket. He then lifted the end of the blanket, exposing the young man’s legs.

He rolled up the young man’s pants and found his knees clean without any injuries. His expression paused momentarily, and the ointment in his right hand seemed unnecessary.

After some time passed, the man in white lowered his gaze, put away the ointment, and was about to lower the young man’s pants when suddenly a loud thunder sounded outside, waking up the drunken man.

As the man in white met the young man’s open eyes, he pursed his lips. In the next moment, he rose to leave, but as he turned, his sleeve was caught.

“Don’t… leave,” came the voice of the young man behind him, thick with sleepiness.

In fact, the hand grabbing his sleeve had little strength, easily shaken off with a gentle tug. Yet, he remained in place, even turning his head slightly in the direction of the force. Intoxicated by alcohol, Fang Chaozhou’s eyes were not only red but even the corners were tinged with red, as if crushed peach blossoms were smeared on them.

He held onto the sleeve of the person beside the bed. Lacking strength, his arm slid down, but as the sleeve was about to slip out of his hand, he suddenly raised his hand and tightened his grip again.

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Listening to the pitter-patter of the rain outside, he half-closed his eyes. “It’s raining.”

Zhongli Yueshui looked at Fang Chaozhou for a moment before refocusing on his legs. “Hmm.”

“Is it cool outside?” Fang Chaozhou asked again.

“Hmm.”

Fang Chaozhou raised his eyes and looked at Zhongli Yueshui through the gap in the sleeve. “Why do you only say ‘hmm’? Can you say anything else?”

“Hmm,” Zhongli Yueshui paused for a moment. “Yes.”

Fang Chaozhou chuckled, pulled the sleeve of the other person and covered his face with it. The sleeve was cool, bringing some relief to his heated face. “When did you arrive?”

“Just now,” Zhongli Yueshui replied after applying the ointment.

“Did the Master let you out?” Fang Chaozhou said, but before he could get an answer, he flipped up his sleeve. “Why aren’t you speaking? Could it be that you sneaked out?”

Clutching the ointment tightly in his hand, Zhongli Yueshui nearly crushed it.

Without waiting for a reply, Fang Chaozhou covered his face with the sleeve again, speaking vaguely, “Today, I went to see Master and Tu Bai, but they didn’t see me. They must still be angry. Well, Master is so proud, and cats are proud too. They must be angry.”

After saying this, he closed his eyes again, as if he were going to sleep.

“Why did you go?” The sudden voice pulled Fang Chaozhou back from the edge of sleep, but he was still in a half-dreamy, half-awake, half-drunk state.

“I think you can restore your previous relationship. He always has a favor for you. Since he allowed us to come back this time, we should go and apologize,” Fang Chaozhou said.

Zhongli Yueshui lifted the sleeve hanging on Fang Chaozhou’s face. “Aren’t you… afraid he won’t let you come back?”

Fang Chaozhou gazed at the flickering candlelight, drowsily saying, “I’m not afraid. Master is very proud. Being rejected once, why would he insist? When I go to find him, it’s also to let him see me clearly. However, I am just an ordinary person, nothing worth liking. Don’t let my existence hinder your path to immortality.”

He shifted his gaze to Zhongli Yueshui’s face. In his blurred vision, he couldn’t see the other clearly, but his mind automatically filled in the features of a face.

“Some things are like rotten flesh. If you don’t face them head-on and remove them, they’ll always be there. If I avoid them, or worse, actively seek them out, and continue to revere him as my master, he will think that he must have been blind at the beginning, or perhaps it was just a momentary infatuation, to regard me, an ordinary person, so highly.”

As Fang Chaozhou spoke, his voice grew softer, as if overcome by weariness. He pressed his face against the other’s leg, slowly closed his eyes, and murmured, “I miss you so much, Junior Brother.”

Previously, with no one in his heart, time didn’t seem difficult to endure. But now, with someone in his heart, a hundred days felt like a hundred years.

The sound of rain gradually diminished, and the person on the leg fell asleep.

Zhongli Yueshui pulled the sleeve out of the other’s hand, looking at the face sleeping without a guard. He reached out, but as his fingertips were about to touch that face, he stopped. He closed his eyes and withdrew his hand.

The next day when Fang Chaozhou woke up, he saw a letter left at the door, left by Hu Xiang.

Hu Xiang had already left.

Fang Chaozhou sighed as he looked at the letter in his hand. “At least Hu Xiang left a letter. Da hei didn’t even leave a word for me. Truly, friendship fades because of love.”

Meanwhile, on the road.

A frail young man was nestled in a brocade blanket, his face pale, with a melancholic expression. A cautious voice came from outside, “Your Majesty, it’s time to change the nurse.”

As soon as the words fell, a nurse flew out and struck the person speaking directly on the head. The attendant fainted on the spot, while the others nearby seemed accustomed to it, simply dragging the person away.

Hu Xiang burst into flames of anger, his mood not improving. His hand, which had just struck someone, throbbed painfully. It felt as if it were being roasted by fire.

Last night, he had tried to get Fang Chaozhou drunk, but before he could reach the door of Fang Chaozhou’s room, he was intercepted, or more accurately, nearly killed.

He had seen that person before, in the palace. He heard Fang Chaozhou call that person “Master.”

The way that man looked at him was like looking at an ant.

“You shouldn’t have designs on Fang Chaozhou,” the person warned, making Hu Xiang show a fearful expression. “What… what are you saying? I don’t quite understand.”

But in the next moment, he felt his body burning as if on fire. He tried to resist, but he had no strength to resist in front of the other. He could only awkwardly reveal his true form.

His lower body turned into vines.

Hu Xiang looked at the ugly vines beneath him, gritting his teeth, and looked up at the person in front of him. “Did you find out early?”

Without waiting for an answer, he chuckled to himself, “Of course, with your great power, you naturally wouldn’t be as easily deceived as that idiot Fang Chaozhou. But since you found out early, why didn’t you kill me like you did Fang Chaozhou’s father, the emperor?”

Zhongli Yueshui’s gaze was icy. “His father had the blood of countless people on his hands.”

Hu Xiang sneered at the words, “Yes, but you didn’t kill me. The vines on my body are sucking my blood!”

No one knew that he was no longer human. When Fang Chaozhou’s father spared him, it was because he, like Fang Chaozhou’s father, had become a puppet of the vines. Fang Chaozhou’s father sustained the vines in his body by devouring imperial heirs, while he relied on his own wretched body to barely survive.

When Zhongli Yueshui killed Fang Chaozhou’s father with one blow, he thought the other would kill him too, but he didn’t. So he continued to be controlled by the vines until five years ago when the demon found a new body.

The demon was called Bai Lian, a vine spirit. Hu Xiang and Fang Chaozhou’s father became vessels for the demon to feed on because they were of royal blood. As a vessel, he could feel some of what was happening on the demon’s side.

Bai Lian had lived for countless years, and his body was already deteriorating. He urgently needed to find a new body. Neither Hu Xiang nor Fang Chaozhou’s father were qualified to become his new body.

Bai Lian found Fang Chaozhou. This was within Hu Xiang’s expectations, but he didn’t expect Fang Chaozhou to have such ability, trapping Bai Lian within himself for five years. Recently, he couldn’t sense Bai Lian anymore, as if the other had disappeared from this world. And now someone told him that they had seen Fang Chaozhou.

When Hu Xiang learned that Fang Chaozhou had returned to Tianshui Sect, he couldn’t help but feel tempted. If he could devour Fang Chaozhou, then Bai Lian’s cultivation would become his. He could then live forever.

But during these days, he tested Fang Chaozhou several times and found nothing. Fang Chaozhou seemed no different from before, and he dared not act rashly. Until today, he seized the opportunity to make Fang Chaozhou drink the divine wine.

Even if Fang Chaozhou woke up in the middle of the night, he would still regard him as the most trustworthy person.

But all of this was ruined by the person in front of him.

“You should kill me. Living like this is meaningless.”

Without consuming Fang Chaozhou, he would have to live like this for the rest of his life.

Zhongli Yueshui’s expression remained unchanged. “I have placed a seal on you. From now on, every time you harm others, you will harm yourself. Leave Tianshui Sect now. If you’re still here when the rain stops, you’ll be imprisoned in the Demon Suppression Dungeon.” His gaze at Hu Xiang wasn’t just like looking at an ant, but more like looking at an inanimate object. “There, you will taste a hundred times the pain you feel now.”

Upon hearing those words, Hu Xiang’s pupils dilated involuntarily, and his lips trembled uncontrollably. Just as he was about to speak, the person in front of him had already disappeared, leaving behind only one word —

“Leave.”

So Hu Xiang hastily left Tianshui Sect in the middle of the night.

Hu Xiang looked at his hand, which felt as if it were being roasted by fire, and chuckled sarcastically. He knew why that person didn’t kill him. It was because he still had utility value. He could serve as emperor for a few more years, holding out until the cadet branch of the Fang family grew up.

If he couldn’t hold on, Fang Chaozhou would have to return to inherit the throne. By then, there would be no leisure here. Having someone protect and love him, along with a healthy body, was truly enviable.

“Your Majesty, it’s time to take the elixir.”

This statement brought Hu Xiang’s attention back. He bit his lip and then relaxed it. “Bring it in.”

After taking the elixir, he looked at the attendant kneeling on the ground. “Go and allocate some silver to the Crown Prince’s account. He’s alone outside and must be spending a lot. I noticed that his clothes have become a bit worn during this time, and the pearls on his jade crown have dulled.”

“Your Majesty, rest assured, before leaving, I had already arranged with the local silver shop. Fabrics and jewelry have also been prepared. All five pieces of Feiyan silk, which were newly offered this year, have been left at Dayu Pond. Clothes made from Feiyan silk are the most comfortable to wear.”

Upon hearing this, Hu Xiang leaned against the carriage wall, softly saying, “That’s good.” Suddenly, he asked again, “Do you think the Ninth Prince will remember me fondly?”

“Naturally, Your Majesty’s treatment of the Ninth Prince is no worse than that of the late emperor.” The attendant replied.

Hu Xiang hmmed softly, his voice lowering, “That’s good then. I can spend my life as his uncle.”

Fang Chaozhou knew nothing, and he would continue to regard him as his uncle. In this world, there was at least someone who treated him well without any ulterior motives.

***

Translator’s note: My heart breaks for Zhongli Yueshui. This was a cruel chapter. Chazhou thought he was Xue Danrong! Huhu~