Xin Hexue pretended to be unconscious, but when in Hen Zhen’s arms, he actually began to feel a bit drowsy.
For Xin Hexue, who has always been as alert as a cat, this was almost out of character, especially since he was now a koi demon, and snakes were one of the natural enemies of fish. Facing a natural enemy, even if it was with purely instinctive reactions, he shouldn’t have started getting sleepy in such a situation.
Hen Zhen’s big hand around his waist lifted him up. Xin Hexue tried his best not to appear so stiff, and his body softly followed the force and pressed closer to him. His head rested against Hen Zhen’s shoulder, his upper body completely leaning on the other party’s chest.
Perhaps this reaction pleased the lunatic before him, Xin Hexue could clearly feel a low vibration resonating from Hen Zhen’s chest. His overlapping eyelashes trembled slightly, brushing against the fabric of Hen Zhen’s robe at the collar.
Xin Hexue smelled a scent coming from the other party’s robes…it was faintly cold and slightly bitter, so light and subtle that it wouldn’t be detected at a normal social distance.
Soul calming incense…
This man had secretly used incense.
But by the time he realized he had really fallen into a fishing trap, he had already inhaled a sufficient amount of the soul calming incense.
Xin Hexue’s head tilted slightly and then drooped as he lost consciousness, his thick black hair softly pressed against Hen Zhen’s shoulder.
The smile on Hen Zhen’s lips widened, and his tone was low and soft, “So obedient…”
His hand wrapped around Xin Hexue’s waist. Through the fabric, his palm and fingers sank into the warm, soft, and resilient touch.
The young man’s waist was quite narrow and slender. It was no exaggeration to say that he could almost clasp the whole segment of it tightly with just two hands. In this moment, it was like a willow branch nestled in his palm, compliant and quiet.
However, Hen Zhen still preferred the cold look Xin Hexue had when he pinched his neck tightly, with emotions for him flooding out of those eyes.
Even if it was loathing, it was real.
The red in Hen Zhen’s eyes surged, the scarlet spreading outward from his pupils. The more the whites of his eyes were swallowed up, the more his head throbbed. His rationality was uncontrollably slipping, teetering on the verge of collapse.
The hand wrapped around Xin Hexue’s waist gradually, gradually began to clench tighter.
Perhaps it became uncomfortable, as even in his unconscious state, the young man let out a soft low hum.
Suddenly, like pulling the reins at the edge of a cliff, the red stopped expanding and retreated back into his pupils.
Hen Zhen slowly lowered his head.
If only he could die at Xin Hexue’s hands.
It would be best if, just like that time, those smooth thighs twisted tightly, he would die in bliss.
But there was also a tiny regret. If he were to die by a twisted neck, the suffocation would stop him from being able to say “thank you”.
[Hen Zhen love value +5]
………
When Xin Hexue’s consciousness returned and he opened his eyes again, what he saw was the interior of a palace-like room, with exquisite decor and furnishings.
The beams were made of pear wood, the pillars of white jade, marble tiles paved the floor, and luminous pearls served as lamps.
Each of the four walls had windows, with pearl bead curtains hanging from the corners. The curtains swayed, and sunlight streamed in faintly through them.
Xin Hexue propped himself up and sat up from the bed. He lifted his eyes and saw silk gauze curtains hanging from the silver hooks at the corners of the canopy bed, fluttering in the breeze.
Suddenly, a faint flickering light in the hall attracted his attention.
Xin Hexue put on his shoes and crossed the marble floor. He moved quietly and smoothly, heading straight toward the hot spring pool in the center of the hall. Milky white steam curled gently from the surface of the spring, the bottom of the pool entirely paved with white jade.
Was Hen Zhen playing the role of a local tyrant here?
Xin Hexue didn’t know the full details of the other party’s identity. Had this giant snake really amassed such immense wealth?
That would mean he had cultivated for at least a thousand years and was half immortal.
No wonder he acted like a mountain bandit here.
Xin Hexue spotted a grass carp in the pool. He crouched and reached out his hand. The fish was indeed the one he had been raising in the water vat of the dilapidated temple. As soon as his hand got close, the fish happily swam over and twirled around him in a friendly manner.
He stood back up and took a stroll around the hall. The main doors didn’t seem to be locked.
Xin Hexue placed his hand on the door and gave it a pull. The gap had already widened enough for sunlight to shine across half his body, when suddenly, a voice rang out. It was sharp and high-pitched, sounding neither male nor female, “Are you the one Master Dan Sheng likes? Don’t even think about leaving here. I’m Master Dan Sheng’s clairvoyant eyes and ears. The moment you step out, I’ll report straight to Master.”
“When that happens, you definitely won’t have any good fruit to…!”
Xin Hexue turned around sharply. The glow of dusk scattered behind him, dyeing his loose, ink-black hair in golden hues. The strands fluttered in the wind before softly falling against his waist.
The stone screen demon who was speaking finally saw the face of the person…elegant and breathtaking.
The stone screen demon stammered, “Good fruit to… to eat…”
Then quickly changed the subject, “Are you hungry?”
Xin Hexue hadn’t noticed there was another demon in the room earlier. Even though the stone screen demon suddenly looked like a stunned goose, he didn’t lower his guard.
He slowly walked over, “What’s your name?”
Upon being asked, the stone screen lit up and revealed dozens of eyes all over its surface, all blinking open and shut simultaneously. The sight was deeply unsettling, but the stone screen demon seemed unaware, replying shyly, “This little demon’s name is Kui Cha.”
A demon whose name matched its function.
**Kui Cha means ‘to spy on’.
Xin Hexue frowned, having just caught a key piece of information. “Who is this ‘Master Dan Sheng’ you are talking about?”
Kui Cha: “Master Dan Sheng is ‘Master Dan Sheng.”
Xin Hexue asked, “The snake demon who brought me back?”
Kui Cha immediately raised its voice, “How could you directly call Master Dan Sheng ‘the snake demon’? Just hearing you say ‘snake demon’ gives me a shock in my heart. What are you thinking? He’s a thousand-year-old giant snake, a divine python of this era, an embodiment of flood disasters, the rival of the national monk Liao Yi, the water demon of the bottom of Dongting Lake, and the one who once overturned ten villages along the river in a single night…”
Xin Hexue: “…”
He could almost confirm that Hen Zhen and the ‘Dan Sheng’ Kui Cha spoke of were not the same person.
If Hen Zhen really was the other party’s real name, the most plausible theory Xin Hexue could think of was that Hen Zhen had taken over this snake’s body.
Xin Hexue: [Can I check Hen Zhen’s love value?]
K paused briefly, [Hen Zhen’s current love value is 85]
It seems Hen Zhen was indeed his real name, and he was even a target character. His love value was already quite high.
But he had no impression of him at all.
However, he had now discovered a loophole in Examiner K’s rules. Although providing extra plot tips or assistance was not allowed, reminders and queries regarding love values were completely part of the basic functions.
Xin Hexue could test the names he already knew one by one to see if they belonged to target characters.
Xin Hexue: [What’s Du Zhi’s love value?]
K: [Du Zhi’s current love value is 100]
Xin Hexue subconsciously touched the red thread buried inside the meridians of his wrist.
He had no impression at all.
Could he really have taken that monk’s yang essence?
Xin Hexue suddenly recalled the poor scholar who had escaped from Mount Buzhou. It was possible that there were still other scholars trapped in the stronghold. He began to probe Kui Cha through indirect hints.
Kui Cha wasn’t very smart and he soon confessed everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.
Xin Hexue: “The scholar from Xushou Village in Jiangzhou… named Zhou Shanheng? Are you telling the truth?”
All of Kui Cha’s dozens of eyes blinked open and shut at the same time, and he said proudly, “This small demon is the clairvoyant eyes and ears of the stronghold, I absolutely wouldn’t be wrong.”
Xin Hexue crossed his arms. His skeptical look made Kui Cha a bit indignant, and he said, “This small yao even knows that the poor scholar is currently locked up in the water dungeon beneath the building!”
Seeing that Xin Hexue’s attention had been successfully drawn, Kui Cha puffed up like a peacock in full display, proudly explaining to him the function of each of its eyes. “Every one of this small demon’s eyes monitors a different spot in the stronghold and each has its own duty. As long as my eyes stay open, no corner can escape my keen sight!”
So it was basically a surveillance camera.
Xin Hexue seemed deep in thought.
If he wanted to go investigate Zhou Shanheng’s situation in the water dungeon while Hen Zhen was away, he had to avoid Kui Cha’s eyes to prevent the stone screen demon from tattling to Hen Zhen in time.
“In that case, I believe you.” Xin Hexue said softly. “But where’s the bathhouse in this stronghold? I’m covered in dust and want to take a bath.”
Seeing that Xin Hexue seemed intent on going out to find a bathhouse, Kui Cha immediately said, “No way! You can’t go out that door. Master Dan Sheng specifically instructed this small yao! Just soak in the jade hot spring inside the hall. The bathhouse… the bathhouse has too many people, too many eyes…”
Those messy demons, all good and bad, all washed in the bathhouse. With bulging muscles, and dark and rough skins, how could any of them compare to even a single finger of the person in front of it?
It had heard that after a pure-blooded koi demon transformed into a half-human form, their tears would turn into pearls. Thinking about how the young man looked so immortal and otherworldly, and was a koi full of fortune and blessings, if he were thrown into that den of monsters, he’d definitely be eaten down to the last scale.
Xin Hexue pretended to take a step back and agree to Kui Cha’s suggestion, saying softly, “Since you’re saying this and thinking for my sake, then I’ll stay here in the hall to bathe. But…”
“Master Kui Cha, could you perhaps close your eyes while I’m bathing?”
From the start, he had been guiding Kui Cha’s thoughts astray. Since it was Kui Cha who suggested that he stay in the jade spring to wash, then the condition he proposed next wouldn’t seem strange.
The stone screen demon truly didn’t sense his real intention and, as if its dignity had been insulted, refuted angrily, “This small demon doesn’t have the filthy hobby of peeping on others bathing!”
Kui Cha shut an eye among its many pairs that was monitoring this hall.
‘It’s not enough.’
Xin Hexue lowered his eyelashes and said slowly, “Master Kui Cha, your main body is here, but how do I know your other eyes won’t sneak a peek?”
Kui Cha could only argue with both anger and indignation, “This small demon is not that kind of demon!”
“Master Kui Cha, I’m willing to believe you,” Xin Hexue said to him calmly, with a slight rise in the tone of his voice, which already carried a hint of threat, “But the Master who brought me here might not.”
Xin Hexue: “If you don’t close your eyes, I’ll report to that Master you peeped at me.”
He was afraid Kui Cha wouldn’t understand, so he even enunciated the words clearly and slowly.
The stone screen demon didn’t fully understand, but he could still catch the word “report”.
Xin Hexue originally wanted to keep up a proper pretense, so he went on to take off his shoes and foot wear by the edge of the jade hot spring. Who knew that Kui Cha would be so stimulated it instantly shut all dozens of its eyes.
“I didn’t look! I didn’t look! Don’t tell Master Dan Sheng! This small demon still wants to live for another five hundred years…”
Xin Hexue: “…”
‘So easy to trick!’
Xin Hexue: “Master Kui Cha, don’t open your eyes halfway. You must wait until I say you may. Understand?”
Kui Cha: “Hmph! This small demon wouldn’t harbor such dirty little thoughts!”
The grass carp, whose spiritual consciousness had been enlightened by Xin Hexue, cooperated by stirring the water, imitating the sound of someone entering the pool.
With nothing under his feet, he managed to slip out of the hall without making a sound.
But as soon as he looked up, his eyes ran straight into Hen Zhen’s.
It seemed that the man had been standing outside the hallway the entire time, and had never left.
The man was tall, with the light from the shoulders up blocked by the half-rolled Xiangfei bamboo curtain in the hallway. In the dim dusk, his face could not be seen clearly, but it revealed an extremely dangerous aura.
Hen Zhen no longer bothered to hide anything. He walked from the hallway and stood before Xin Hexue, the red vertical pupils in his eyes clearly visible.
His eyes swept over Xin Hexue’s bare white feet and the shoes in his hands. Hen Zhen murmured coldly, “…Going to meet your lover?”
………
Xin Hexue finally met Zhou Shanheng in the water dungeon.
The surroundings were pitch black and damp, and the rotting straw gave off a cold and wet stench. The only window was high up on the wall, letting in dim yellow light through the wooden bars.
Zhou Shanheng had probably been injured while trying to resist and protect his belongings. Xin Hexue saw wounds on his shoulder and upper arm…the flesh was torn open. Because of the harsh conditions and lack of timely treatment, the wounds had already started to fester.
His face was bloodless, and his lips were cracked and peeling. Only when he heard footsteps did he slowly open his eyes.
They had been apart for a long time. When he saw his beloved again and under such circumstances, Zhou Shanheng thought it must be a hallucination. But the pain that kept coming from his body reminded him this was all real.
Zhou Shanheng subconsciously tried to move closer to the wooden bars of the water dungeon. But the moment he shifted forward, the chains around his hands and feet pulled tighter, biting deeper into his flesh. Suddenly, he caught sight of the person behind Xin Hexue and rasped out a warning, “Hexue, be careful!”
Hen Zhen let out a sarcastic sneer from deep within his chest.
Xin Hexue clutched the documents in his hand. According to the file, the man was indeed Zhou Shanheng of Xushou Village in Jiangzhou.
Xin Hexue: [Check Zhou Shanheng’s love value.]
K: [Zhou Shanheng’s current love value is 70]
In fact, he didn’t need to verify. He had already seen the two red strings tightly bound around the man’s wrist. They were not spell-bound by the Yue Lao Tree into his meridians but real, red strings that should have been hanging on the tree itself.
Xin Hexue turned his head. “Find a doctor to treat him and release him.”
Hen Zhen nodded lazily and added with a laugh, “Then, as an exchange condition, how about you kiss me in front of him?”
