Thank you for the Ko-Fi Puffball!! ❤️
The butterfly koi flicked its tail twice.
It was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.
But he could hear the demon who had swallowed him into the dark mouth, transmitting its heart voice to him.
“Don’t move.”
An extremely hoarse voice suddenly rang out, like it came from someone parched after losing too much blood, and the tone sounded very familiar.
“Let me lick you.”
???
‘Lick what?’
Xin Hexue also replied with a heart voice, cursing, “Can you not be so perverted.”
According to the Buddhist theory of “one flower, one world,” the true body of a demon usually contained a small space within, let alone a thousand-year-old giant snake.
The butterfly koi floated in the vast, pitch-black space, drifting as if in emptiness without support.
From the darkness, a slender snake tongue extended out, like a long rope, whipping out in an instant and tightly binding the uninvited guest forced into this space.
The snake tongue bound the snow-white koi tightly, wrapping in circles, the red and white intertwining into a scene that was particularly decadent and extravagant.
Hen Zhen’s heart voice let out a satisfied sigh, and a sense of peace welled up inside him.
The life-or-death crisis from moments ago felt far away now, and even though his snake scales were shattered and dripping blood, it didn’t matter.
Because now he had recaptured the beautiful koi demon, the one he originally raised in his clam shell.
Hen Zhen spoke in a low tone, “Ah Xue, you smell so good…”
His tone had already become somewhat abnormal, no longer the pure shamelessness Xin Hexue had heard from him in the past.
Xin Hexue realized that Hen Zhen’s rationality was already in the process of collapsing and falling apart.
Thinking of how the small demons in the stronghold feared Hen Zhen, and the rumors he’d heard from their mouths.
Hen Zhen cultivated the Path of Slaughter.
Feeding on humans and even demons and spirits, he devoured all flesh and blood that could be absorbed and transformed into spiritual power. The more karmic burden he accumulated, the stronger his power grew.
In fact, the vast majority of evil demons mainly practiced this path. It was undoubtedly the fastest shortcut for cultivation, but the drawbacks were obvious, sometimes even fatal.
The further one progressed down the Path of Slaughter, the greater the risk of losing one’s rationality.
The so-called “great demons” in legends, capable of bringing calamity and widespread death, were created in this way.
After rationality was lost, only bloodthirsty thoughts of slaughter would remain in the mind. With eyes clouded red with blood, once the slaughter stopped, it would be the moment the great demon’s body exploded and died. The soul will be scattered and the spirit destroyed, vanishing between heaven and earth. The spiritual power would return to the world that had been ravaged, a process similar to “when a whale falls, all things thrive”. The spiritual power released by a great demon’s self-destruction was actually of the highest purity, the best nourishment and replenishment for heaven and earth.
Everything was bound within the cause and effect of heaven and earth, and could not escape its laws.
“Hen Zhen.”
Xin Hexue didn’t know how severe his injuries were. Usually, demons of the Path of Slaughter would choose to eat as soon as possible when gravely injured, and appetite would overpower reason.
Xin Hexue was trying to awaken his mind. “Hen Zhen? Can you still hear me?”
Hen Zhen’s condition was just as Xin Hexue had guessed.
Appetite was teetering on the edge and expanding wildly. Hen Zhen could only sense that Xin Hexue was speaking, but the voice seemed to come from an extremely distant place…or rather, it was as if separated by an ocean of water, the sound hazy and indistinct.
Xin Hexue heard a clear gulp of saliva.
The snake tongue binding the fish body silently tightened its grip, winding tighter and tighter.
The snake pupils narrowed into vertical slits, almost sharp enough to become a single line.
‘So fragrant.’
‘Want to eat…’
‘Want to swallow…’
‘Fragrant, fragrant, fragrant little fish.’
Perhaps because he was inside the snake’s body, Xin Hexue could clearly hear all of Hen Zhen’s heart voice.
“Hen Zhen!”
The sense of danger surged, and Xin Hexue raised his voice.
“Calm down!”
“I’m Xin Hexue.”
‘Ah Xue.’
‘Eat him.’
‘If I eat him, then we will never be separated.’
‘For all eternity…’
“…” Xin Hexue closed his eyes briefly, then he said in a soft voice, “…Husband.”
His voice lowered. “If you eat me, you’ll never see me again.”
!!!
The snake pupils shrank completely into a sharp vertical line.
‘Ah Xue’’
‘Want to eat….’
Xin Hexue thought that even after saying that, it still hadn’t brought back even a shred of Hen Zhen’s rationality.
Just as his heart grew heavier, he suddenly heard a chaotic tangle of heart voice.
Want to ****
Really want to **** Ah Xue ***
Water *** and eat ****
Lick ***** so much ****
???
What kind of heart voice was this?
Was the “want to eat” said later the same as the “want to eat” from earlier?
Xin Hexue: [Did you censor his heart voice?]
K answered solemnly: [That is a requirement in the system rules. In order to protect the host’s mental health, special processing of images or sounds can be applied when it involves bloody, violent, obscene/pornographic information.]
The target’s spoken words were too explicit and highly inappropriate.
Every word that formed a sentence was enough to make the pink tips of the little cat’s ears curl in embarrassment and cover its ears.
K was worried that if the little cat heard the full message, he would faint from shyness.
Although Xin Hexue hadn’t heard what Hen Zhen’s heart voice actually said, it was obvious that his earlier words had worked.
Finally, it had pulled back a bit of Hen Zhen’s consciousness.
The scarlet snake tongue quietly loosened its grip and released the bound butterfly koi.
“Now, let me out.”
Xin Hexue’s voice was cold and indifferent.
As a result, as soon as he spoke in that cold tone devoid of the previous affection, the giant snake seemed to have suffered unbearable emotional abuse.
Its heart voice exploded like a shrieking storm.
‘Impossible!’
‘Impossible to let go!’
‘If I let him go, he’ll elope with that poor scholar!’
‘If I let him go, I’ll never get to lick the little fish again, kiss the little fish, **** the little fish!’
Xin Hexue: “…”
…He’s gone crazy again.
He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
Xin Hexue wouldn’t argue with a snake, especially a snake that had now become no different from an idiot.
His voice softened again. “I won’t elope with that poor scholar.”
Xin Hexue’s tone was very pleasant to hear, calm and gentle. When he spoke softly to others, it easily drew them into an atmosphere that felt like the murmurs between lovers, a mood like wind brushing green duckweed, like droplets falling from the eaves.
He explained to Hen Zhen that he had already parted ways with Zhou Shanheng in the mountain stronghold, and hadn’t eloped like Hen Zhen had imagined.
“You trapped me here, and it’s too dark all around.” After a light cough, Xin Hexue’s voice turned a little hoarse, as if carrying an electric current. “I’m a little scared.”
An electric current instantly surged down Hen Zhen’s spine, making his scalp tingle. At the same time, he finally caught the key word in the sentence.
‘Scared?’
Like a thunderclap to the head, it shook Hen Zhen’s mind.
The butterfly koi appeared in the mountain spring pool, and light returned to Xin Hexue’s eyes.
After escaping the snake’s mouth, he immediately flicked his tail and swam away into the distance, putting distance between himself and Hen Zhen.
The young man in white robes reappeared in human form. He glanced back at the snake at the bottom of the pool. The surface of the water was floating with red, and there were mottled scales everywhere.
Xin Hexue had thought he already understood that the giant snake was Hen Zhen’s true body, so he shouldn’t be afraid. But instinct still triumphed over reason. He grabbed onto a green bamboo stalk, his fingers gripping so tightly that the knuckles turned white. His long hair draped over his back trembled, and he leaned against the bamboo, bending over and dry heaving.
Brushing his bent knuckles against the corner of his lips, Xin Hexue turned his gaze away and said in a calm voice, “…Disgusting.”
‘Hmm…?’
It seemed like Hen Zhen got so mad he fainted.
………
Thanks to K’s image processing feature, Xin Hexue told K this was a special bloody scene, and had the system apply a mosaic filter to it.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have even touched the snake.
Let alone drag Hen Zhen back to the monk’s room in the dilapidated temple.
It would’ve been better to just let Hen Zhen soak and bloat in the pool.
No, that wouldn’t do.
The hot spring water was still useful. He couldn’t let the snake’s corpse pollute the pool for nothing.
Perhaps because of the long time in unconsciousness, the wounds somewhat recovered through self-healing, and the snake body transformed back into human form.
The man lay naked on the bed, broad shoulders and long legs, muscles tight and well-defined all over his body.
Xin Hexue didn’t know if Hen Zhen did it on purpose. Were there really demons who didn’t wear clothes after transforming?
Xin Hexue frowned.
But this allowed him to clearly see Hen Zhen’s injuries. From the lower back to the abdomen, the wound was deep, almost cut in half, with flesh curling outward, so deep the bone was visible.
Aside from this major wound, there were also many smaller gashes and torn flesh all over his body.
Xin Hexue raised his hand and pressed his fingertip against the wound. His gaze fell on Hen Zhen’s face, but he pressed down hard with his hand.
He saw Hen Zhen’s brow twitch uncontrollably for a moment, and his jaw suddenly tightened.
As expected, he was pretending to be unconscious.
Xin Hexue lowered his eyes and wiped the blood off his fingertip with a cloth.
He looked out the window. The sun was setting, and the snow that had begun in the evening was falling steadily, like shattered jade and scattered pearls.
By tomorrow, when the snow melted, the bloodstains in the courtyard would be naturally cleaned away, and the mountain spring pool would return to its clear state.
The night was long and dreams many. Just in case, Xin Hexue still decided to go out first and clean up the traces.
As soon as he got up and made a slight movement, the person on the bed grabbed his wrist tightly.
Xin Hexue lowered his gaze.
Hen Zhen stared at him intently, and whispered hoarsely, “Where are you going?”
Hearing no reply from Xin Hexue, he curled his thin lips in a sneer and said coldly, “Are you going to find that Zhou Shanheng again?”
Xin Hexue still maintained his silent attitude. His eyes looking at Hen Zhen didn’t have the slightest ripple.
Once he stopped speaking and showed the slightest hint of coldness, Hen Zhen would instantly turn into a fully automated mad dog.
The emotions in his bloodshot eyes churned abruptly, and his expression became so dark it seemed as if ink could drip from it.
“You think I’m disgusting, don’t you? You can’t wait to get rid of me, to be far away from me!”
“You only like that poor scholar. For him, you even acted along with me, called me ‘husband’. When you hugged me, were you thinking of that Zhou Shanheng?!”
“Yes, he was trapped in the water dungeon back then. You must have been worried the whole time, right? Worried about how badly he was hurt, worried about whether he was resting well, worried if any demons would harm him!”
It was as if a fire of rage was burning in Hen Zhen’s chest. Zhou Shanheng had long since escaped, probably now being escorted into the capital by the monks of Taichu Temple. With nowhere to vent his fury, and unable to lash out at Xin Hexue, the fire only blazed stronger, burning his internal organs until they twisted with pain, a sharp sting that made his vision blur.
His brows and eyes were filled with darkness, but his voice lowered, heavy and sullen.
“In any case, you never once thought about me.”
“If I hadn’t been thinking about going back to find you, if I hadn’t shed my skin and escaped at the critical moment, and one bald donkey…I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive today.”
Hen Zhen clenched his teeth and looked at the youth. “Xin Hexue, from now on, I won’t let you deceive me again. I won’t be bewitched by you again. You tricked me like a dog. Just a hook of your finger and I’d come running, just a few sweet words and I’d believe you.”
Only then did Xin Hexue slowly open his lips. “Is that so?”
He stood beside the bed, his gaze lowered to meet Hen Zhen’s eyes, and said calmly, “Close your eyes.”
Hen Zhen sneered, “I told you, I won’t be fooled by you again. I know the moment I close my eyes, you’ll disappear. You’re going to find that poor scholar again.”
Xin Hexue was speechless and choked.
Hen Zhen: “I’ve become smarter. I won’t be played by you like a dog again.”
Just as he was getting smug, his eye socket was suddenly pressed by a burning hot lump, and he let out a muffled cry of pain.
Xin Hexue leaned over, holding a boiled egg wrapped in a cloth, and pressed it against the bruised, purplish area around Hen Zhen’s left eye.
“I told you to close your eyes.” Xin Hexue frowned. His voice was calm, laced with an unusual softness. “…Stupid dog.”
The young man leaned over to tend to his injury. Hen Zhen sat at the edge of the bed and could see the young man’s long, distinct eyelashes. Under the twilight’s dim light, they cast a warm shadow.
Hen Zhen felt happy again.
His eye was bruised and painfully hot.
Whether Xin Hexue’s concern at that moment was real or just an act, whether true or false, he didn’t want to tell the difference.
He still wanted to be Xin Hexue’s dog.
