Hen Zhen’s Adam’s apple tightened with unbearable dryness, and even his breathing instinctively stopped.
His strong and powerful heartbeat pulsed from his chest to his earlobes, buzzing in his ears so loudly that he thought he had misheard.
Hen Zhen couldn’t believe it and lookee at the young man. “What?”
Xin Hexue was already sitting by the edge of the jade pool. The steam from the hot spring swirled around, dampening his temples. His long hair looked like melted frost and snow, with a few strands softly hanging down, curling around his shoulders and brushing against his cheek.
Her whole body was as white as snow on a cold mountain, making people feel that even if not piercingly cold, he could still be considered as cool and aloof. But at this moment, he was breathtakingly beautiful.
Beneath his left eye was a small black mole. His eyes were filled with amusement as he looked at Hen Zhen, who now looked as hungry as a dog staring at a bone.
“Didn’t you say you liked it when I slapped you?”
“Don’t like it anymore?”
The jade pool rippled with milky-white spring water, mixed with the faint smell of sulfur and a slightly astringent herbal scent from medicinal pouches.
The white-colored scales of his tail sparkled with every movement. The tail dipped into the water, stirred up the spring water and gently splashed it onto Hen Zhen.
“Like it.”
Hen Zhen swallowed hard, like a weary traveler who had wandered the desert for ten days without a single drop of water, he was so thirsty he could drink up all the water in the jade pool without leaving a single drop.
He licked the water that had splashed onto his lips, as if he could taste the flavor of the young man’s tail from the slightly bitter spring water.
Hen Zhen’s tongue pressed against his teeth. On each side of his mouth were the characteristic fangs of a snake, and even after transforming into human form, these teeth remained sharper and longer than those of ordinary humans.
Xin Hexue cast a glance at the disgraceful appearance of the snake demon, frowned and looked away. He didn’t like seeing bloody scenes, but Hen Zhen seemed so entranced by him he hadn’t even noticed that the messy wound on his wrist was still dripping blood.
Thick blood dripped drop by drop onto the white jade tiles.
Even the mixed scent of sulfur and herbs from the hot spring couldn’t mask the metallic smell of iron.
Xin Hexue: “Treat your wound.”
He looked at the unmoving Hen Zhen. “Or do you want me to help you?”
Hen Zhen never cared about his own injuries. He was born from blood and slaughter. His memories were full of scenes that would make any human nauseous; children’s severed limbs, chests and abdomens split open by butcher knives, heads with empty eye sockets…
If someone who understood human morals and ethics saw these things, they would vomit from the cruelty and greed of their kind.
But not Hen Zhen.
Because he was born from flesh and blood, born from human greed, born from human cruelty toward their own kind…
A monster.
From the moment he gained consciousness, he existed in the abyss.
More than that, the constant, overwhelming hunger tugged endlessly at his mind. Sin filled his soul. As long as he continued to live in this world, Hen Zhen would remain in a perpetual state of falling.
He didn’t know when he would reach the bottom. Shattering into pieces and having his soul dissipating into nothing would be a good ending for him.
But now, someone had touched the hand he reached out.
The fingers were fair, slender, and narrow, resting lightly on Hen Zhen’s wrist.
Placed within the same frame, their hands formed a stark contrast.
Xin Hexue’s fingers were thin and bony, and the joints were delicate. His skin was pale and bloodless, with even the faint blue veins on the back of his hand clearly visible.
Hen Zhen’s wrist, by contrast, was strong and powerful, his palm nearly twice the size. That was why in the water dungeon, he could wrap both of Xin Hexue’s hands within his own and pin them above his head, slowly caressing the slender wrists until they flushed faintly pink.
He suddenly had an inexplicable thought; he wanted to interlock fingers with Xin Hexue.
This seemed like an intimate gesture among mortals.
Xin Hexue’s hand rested on his wrist, the soft pads of his fingers even touched the blood on Hen Zhen’s wound. Hen Zhen immediately realized what he intended to do and stopped Xin Hexue instantly.
“I’m not as useless as that poor scholar.” Hen Zhen said in a cold voice while using his spiritual power to treat the wound himself. “A waste who makes you spend your energy to heal him.”
Xin Hexue pursed his lips and calmly stated the truth, “He’s a mortal.”
Zhou Shanheng was different from them, he was a mortal.
More importantly, he was a mortal who could provide him with heartbreak values.
Hearing him speak for Zhou Shanheng, Hen Zhen lost what little grip on sanity he had. His eyes became as sinister as Yama’s, surging with red.
“Oh? So you like him, huh? You won’t even bother hiding it from me anymore.”
“I knew it. The kind face and concern just now were just a temporary measure to rescue your lover.”
“I worry about your body, and yet you like some useless, short-lived, cowardly human who fears demons!”
Seeing that Xin Hexue didn’t respond, Hen Zhen grew even more frenzied, like a mad dog stuck in a dead-end tunnel. “Do you think I’m disgusting? That even sparing me a glance is a waste?”
He was desperate for a response and gritted his teeth. “Xin Hexue!”
His eyes were completely bloodshot. Just before he completely lost control, his vision suddenly tilted to the left and the world was spinning.
With a loud “plop”, water splashed up violently from the jade pool!
Xin Hexue hadn’t even used his full strength. He simply grabbed Hen Zhen’s collar and flung him hard into the water.
Hen Zhen stood up from the churning spring, looking like a drowned dog. He wiped his face in embarrassment, scooping away a handful of dripping water with his palm.
The steam blurred his vision. The young man sat at the edge of the pool like a god above, but he had been soaked by the huge splash when he fell into the water.
The young man coughed twice, with drops of water on his eyelashes, but his expression was cold and distant. “Are you awake now?”
As if he was afraid Hen Zhen hadn’t come back to his senses, the gauze-like end of the snow white fishtail slowly and rhythmically slapped Hen Zhen across the face.
Once, twice, three times…
Xin Hexue tilted his head slightly and said coldly, “I don’t like it when you raise your voice at me. So don’t go crazy, okay?”
Hen Zhen answered hoarsely, “Mm.”
Xin Hexue repeated his earlier question, “Are you awake now?”
Hen Zhen had never felt more awake.
Both of his minds were awake.
Hen Zhen’s eyes never left Xin Hexue’s body. The splash from earlier had completely drenched the young man. His thin white shirt was soaked through, faintly revealing the snowy skin underneath. Further down, the sleek, elegantly shaped fishtail hadn’t escaped either.
The fish scales were like pieces of white jade, with water droplets glimmering softly.
Unlike the tail fin, the pelvic fin was very thin and soft, gently covering the fishtail.
Because it had been soaked by the splashing water, a faint pink could be vaguely seen beneath the pelvic fin.
Heng Zhen used to be a blood koi, but strictly speaking, he was mutated and was more closely related to sharks or piranhas. So even after taking human form, his physical structure differed from the usual half human-half fish form.
To satisfy the urge and need to reproduce, he evolved to have a reproductive organ as vigorous as a snake’s, even sharing the same trait in quantity.
But even though his structure differed from pure koi, it didn’t stop Heng Zhen from realizing it immediately when he saw the pink color…
That was Xin Hexue’s reproductive cavity.
He wanted to mate.
Heng Zhen’s mind was filled with this animalistic instinct.
But he knew Xin Hexue was excessively afraid of everything related to snakes, especially snake scales.
He couldn’t transform into his true form, but that didn’t matter much.
Heng Zhen’s throat tightened, and his voice came out hoarse and dry. “That dual cultivation you mentioned…”
“Were you serious?”
Xin Hexue cast him a glance.
His spiritual power had been depleted, to the point where he couldn’t even maintain the spell that concealed his hair color.
Dual cultivation was a choice made after weighing pros and cons. It was more beneficial than harmful.
He didn’t want to consume blood and flesh. That was a practice used by evil cultivators among the demons, a sinister path that would pollute his danxin once he began. Although it would still increase his cultivation, the two paths were fundamentally different, and he would no longer be able to use the blessings in his danxin.
But dual cultivation was different.
After all, desire was an emotion experienced by all species, whether good or evil, human or demon. They all engaged in intimacy with their partners. Dual cultivation was in accordance with the laws of fate.
If he practiced dual cultivation with a demon whose cultivation surpassed his own, he could replenish his spiritual power, strengthen his cultivation, and all without polluting the blessings in his danxin.
So, when Heng Zhen swam up to him and planted burning kisses on his fishtail one after another, even though the sensation felt scorching, Xin Hexue didn’t show any sign of rejection.
No rejection meant tacit consent.
Heng Zhen’s vertical pupils constricted in excitement. His scarlet snake tongue fiddled with the soft pelvic fin. His voice was hoarse, and he spoke almost word-by-word:
“I will be…extra careful.”
The fish tail was almost completely submerged in the warm spring water. Xin Huexue’s hand holding Heng Zhen’s hair was so forceful that his knuckles turned white, revealing a fragile tension about to reach its limit.
It was Heng Zhen’s arm wrapped around his waist that kept him from sliding down the wall of the jade pool.
Heng Zhen buried his head below the young man’s waist. Even though he was fully submerged in the spring water, he was a demon so he could breathe underwater.
This wouldn’t affect his state.
He felt the waist in his palms trembling violently. Xin Hexue’s grip on his hair tightened, and he shivered with delight, the roots of his scalp tingling.
Very soon, Heng Zhen licked away the sweet liquid and his scarlet snake tongue withdrew.
The pelvic fin swayed softly in the churning water, unable to hide the tender pink.
Xin Hexue was completely drained of strength. He leaned against Hen Zhen and rested his forehead on the other person’s shoulder.
Hen Zhen held him, lifted his hand, and tucked the strands of Xin Hexue’s hair behind his ear. “Uncomfortable?”
Xin Hexue tilted his head, adjusted his position on Hen Zhen’s shoulder, his voice soft but with a somewhat cold tone. “You promised to be careful. But just now, you almost pierced through me.”
Hen Zhen: “…”
He was now even more awake because of Xin Hexue’s straightforward way of speaking.
Hen Zhen’s jaw tightened into sharp lines. “That was to prepare you.”
Xin Hexue still hadn’t shaken off his previous state, and his head was a bit dizzy. “What?”
Something heavy pressed on his long fish tail, and it was not a normal weight.
‘One, two…’
Xin Hexue counted silently and his pupils contracted.
He immediately and resolutely changed his mind. “Wait, I’m having second thoughts.”
This choice now looked more harmful than beneficial.
Hen Zhen: “Too late.”
Xin Hexue was pulled down into the pool.
Gulp…
Gulp…
Gulp…
……
In the center of the jade pool, perhaps to imitate a reef in the sea, a platform was built in the vast spring water. It was a huge white shell, possibly left by a clam demon.
Hen Zhen had taken it from a warehouse that Dansheng had accumulated over hundreds of years.
The warehouse was filled with various items that Dan Sheng had collected, most of which were covered in dust.
He immediately took a liking to this shell, he felt it was suitable for raising a koi demon.
And now, at this moment, he really captured a beautiful koi demon.
The brocade bedding in the claim shell was thick and soft.
The naked young man slept peacefully, with Hen Zhen sitting beside him like a fierce beast guarding a treasure.
Considering Xin Hexue’s body, they only completed the act once, and the thing Xin Hexue feared most did not happen.
Even so, the weak and beautiful young man still shed tears.
After flowing from the slightly reddened corners of his eyes, these physiological tears all turned into pearls.
After Xin Hexue fell into a deep sleep, Hen Zhen carried him onto the shell, then dived to the bottom of the pool and took a long time to collect all the pearl tears.
He made sure every single one was retrieved.
Half of the young man’s white hair had been covered again, and the long ink-black hair spread out on the brocade.
His jade-like face was slightly flushed, with a delicate yet fragile beauty.
He slept like this in front of him, extremely soft.
Hen Zhen felt incomparable pleasure just from looking.
The love in his heart had already silently taken deep root, flowing through the veins of his whole body along with the blood pumped by his heart. It would continue for many years to come until his body died, his soul dispersed, and his spirit shattered.
Thinking this, he couldn’t help but kiss the young man again.
Xin Hexue regained consciousness amidst the dense kisses, and at the same time, immediately realized the small actions Hen Zhen was still doing.
The root of his thigh trembled, and threads of moisture soaked the brocade quilt.
Xin Hexue gritted his teeth and warned, “Hen Zhen!”
Hen Zhen kissed him and comforted, “I found all the pearls you lost; you shed so many tears, it’s not good for your body.”
As he spoke, his knuckles pushed, pressing three or four pearls again, squeezing and rolling over.
The young man’s breathing instantly became broken and chaotic, and the hair at his back trembled with each breath, like dewdrops on lotus leaves, about to be shaken off by the strong wind.
The long legs were white and smooth, and spread across the bright red brocade bedding were several white and lustrous pearls.
Hen Zhen whispered to himself, “There are still many more.”
