Fu Sang’s face remained expressionless. He calmly met Zhuge Heng’s gaze, and after a moment, he smiled faintly.
“I like that sentence.”
It seemed that this kid was in a fairly good mood. At least, he had not shown any bad emotions.
Zhuge Heng breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, before he could finish letting out that breath, Fu Sang suddenly changed the subject.
“But so what if the Nether Path has a calamity? Even if the entire world explodes, what does that have to do with me?”
Fu Sang raised his eyes and looked at the crack glowing with a dark light among the mottled moss on the stone wall, like a blood-red mouth that was slightly closed.
He narrowed his eyes.
“The Zhuge family is fighting among itself, the world is going to be destroyed, yet my ghost has to bear everything for the lives of a bunch of unrelated people? Interesting.”
Zhuge Heng could not understand how Fu Sang had somehow managed to turn the whole matter into a one-sided act of charity on his part.
He emphasized:
“I thought what I proposed was an equivalent exchange.”
Fu Sang seemed to remember this only after being reminded.
He folded his arms.
“Oh, I forgot.”
After saying that, he nodded and jumped back to the previous topic.
“Ghost sacrifice. I really don’t know much about this. Could you please explain it to me in detail?”
Suddenly becoming this polite made Zhuge Heng somewhat uncomfortable.
“Of course.”
He cleared his throat.
“As I said just now, a ghost sacrifice, simply put, means making an underworld spirit willingly go to its death. Low-rank underworld spirits cannot do this because their minds are filled only with hatred and killing. Their memories and emotions are incomplete. But a Crimson Evil is different.”
“If my deduction is correct, by the seventh rank, an underworld spirit’s thoughts and emotions should be no different from those of a normal person, right?”
“If, as you said, the Crimson Evil obeys your every command, then for you, this matter is simply a matter of giving him the next order. You tell him to enter the Cui Xing Gate, turn the hundreds of millions of resentments inside into his own power, and then disperse himself, and this matter can be accomplished.”
“If he is unwilling, it doesn’t matter either. I can teach you a spell. You can cast it on him yourself, and then you will be able to completely control his thoughts and actions. After that, you can direct him to complete everything I mentioned above.”
“Both methods are very simple, right?”
Fu Sang pondered for a moment, then nodded again.
“If I were you, I would also be very willing to make this deal.”
Giving away a few artifacts as if throwing bones to a beggar, sending off two insignificant lives, and casually dumping a mess on the younger generation could easily resolve a huge problem. Anyway, after he stepped down, he would no longer need to concern himself with the family’s petty affairs. What did the Zhuge family’s condition have to do with his reputation?
And it would be killing two birds with one stone. This plan would not only bring down Zhuge Lin and prevent a disaster, but also resolve the huge hidden danger of the seventh-rank Crimson Evil. From then on, his name would be recorded in history, and future generations would sing praises of his merits for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Old ginger was still spicier. Zhuge Heng was a truly excellent businessman. Fu Sang admitted that he could not compare.
Zhuge Heng probably heard the faint hint of mockery in his words.
He had already suffered enough anger today. At this point, he could no longer endure it.
His voice sank slightly, and there was a faint hint of threat in his words:
“Actually, when you calculate it, you haven’t really lost anything, have you? Hiding a high-rank underworld spirit is, in principle, a serious crime that can never be overturned. I’m giving you a way out so you can get rid of this hot potato early, and it also saves you from becoming enemies with the entire Nether Path.”
“Perhaps.” Fu Sang’s tone was somewhat perfunctory.
After a pause, he added:
“I’m guessing that after the sacrifice, the fate of the underworld spirit won’t be very pleasant either?”
“Doesn’t this count as a kind of pleasant ending? The seventh-rank Crimson Evil was originally impossible to be converted. He can no longer be reborn as a human. Compared with wandering outside the human world as a ghost until eternity, being driven out and hunted everywhere like a rat crossing the street, harming human lives and accumulating evil consequences, it would be better to offer up that little bit of his own power to do some good. Not only could it nourish heaven and earth, but it could also save countless lives. At the end of his life, he would lay down a great good cause and finally attain complete liberation. Wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing?”
Zhuge Heng said this as if it were only natural, as though he genuinely felt that what he said made perfect sense.
Fu Sang smiled.
“Indeed, very beautiful.”
“So, what is your attitude?”
“I can still bargain over matters unrelated to Zhuge Qi, right?” Fu Sang did not answer Zhuge Heng directly. He only asked back.
Zhuge Heng took a deep breath. “…Naturally.”
“Then I’ll have to think about it some more.”
“?” To Zhuge Heng, Fu Sang was like a slippery loach hiding at the bottom of the water. He could never catch him or see through him.
He was so angry that his teeth itched, yet he was wary of the Crimson Evil in Fu Sang’s hands and did not dare to fall out with him recklessly. In the end, he could only humiliatingly take another step back.
“If you really can’t bear to part with this Crimson Evil… if you can stop Zhuge Lin and prevent everything that is about to happen in your own way, I will still recognize this deal.”
“As long as you swear that you will not let the Crimson Evil threaten the safety of the Nether Path, no one will pursue the matter of you secretly keeping a Crimson Evil in the future.”
When Zhuge Heng was young, he could be said to have struggled and rolled himself to death in order to compete with his brothers for the position of young family head. He did not go a single day without working hard, and he used plenty of both open and covert methods, all for the sake of one day having his memorial tablet placed together with those of the previous family heads, becoming one of the important symbols in the history of the Nether Path, and even having his introduction recorded in the Biographies of Spirit Masters.
This was his lifelong dream. In order to achieve it, he had truly performed his duties as family head diligently and beyond reproach throughout his life.
Several decades had already passed since he took office. Everything he had done had absolutely lived up to his status and position. He had to preserve this perfection until the moment he officially stepped down. He absolutely would not allow his career to have a blemish when everything was coming to an end, nor would he allow such a huge upheaval to occur in the Nether Path during his tenure and lead to such a tragic ending.
His life was perfect. Now that he had reached old age, there absolutely could not be any mistakes.
“Can’t bear to part with him? What joke are you making? What is he? Just a ghost. Does he even deserve me saying I ‘can’t bear to part with him’?”
Fu Sang sneered.
“But then again, you really know how to do things. It looks like you’ve made such a huge concession, but why should I spend my energy, effort, and life cleaning up the mess for your Zhuge family?”
Even if Zhuge Heng did not give him the human-bone artifacts, Fu Sang could find a way to obtain and seize them himself.
As for the lives of Zhuge Lin and Zhuge Can, if he wanted them, he had several ways to take them. It was only a matter of how great the price was and how much trouble it would cause.
As for control over the entire Zhuge family… he had no interest in it at all. To him, it was basically equivalent to garbage.
“I understand the situation now. We’ll talk about it later. I have no interest in saving the common people, but if you really start fighting, I will definitely stand on your side for Zhuge Lin’s head.”
Fu Sang soothed Zhuge Heng with an ambiguous answer. Then he lazily yawned.
“That’s all for tonight. I’m sleepy. You’re old too, so go back and rest early. The body is the capital of revolution. There’s still a tough battle to fight later, so you can’t collapse here.”
After saying that, without waiting for Zhuge Heng to even nod, Fu Sang turned and leisurely strolled away.
He left this space filled with an aura that disgusted and repulsed him to the extreme, and walked away alone through the secret passage.
Zhuge Heng watched his back disappear into the darkness. He was so angry that he covered his chest with one hand and took quite a while to recover.
Afterward, he took a talisman paper from his pocket. A mourning bird took shape in his hand. With a dark expression, he spoke to the small spell:
“Tell Liu Dongfeng to come see me.”
The Cui Xing Gate was underground in Buer Hall. For convenience, and also because he did not want to encounter Fu Sang and suffer more anger, Zhuge Heng did not return the way he had come. Instead, he took another secret passage and went directly back to the Family Head Pavilion.
When he arrived, Liu Dongfeng was already waiting in the main hall.
Tonight, the ancestral hall had caught fire. At this moment, there was not a single person in the main branch who was sleeping peacefully with nothing to do.
“Family Head.”
Upon seeing him, Liu Dongfeng lowered his head and bowed.
“You’re here.” Zhuge Heng raised his chin, not even looking at Liu Dongfeng as he walked toward the main seat with his cane.
Only after sitting securely in the main seat did he say:
“It’s very late. I won’t beat around the bush with you. I only want to know what Zhuge Fusang did, who he met, and what he said at Jiangchen Residence today. Where exactly is that Crimson Evil of his hiding, and did it appear?”
“…”
It would have been better if he had not brought it up. The moment he did, the image of Fu Sang kissing a ghost through the window glass that morning uncontrollably rushed into Liu Dongfeng’s mind, making him want to close his eyes and rub his forehead.
He had worked at the Spirit Supervision Bureau for many years. He had occasionally heard that people from the Spirit Path fell in love with demons, but he had never known that a human and a ghost could get together, and even be of the same gender.
This had truly exceeded his understanding.
The shock had been so great that his mind had gone blank at the time. By the time he came back to his senses, he had already hurriedly turned off the monitoring bracelet’s listening function and a series of other functions. As a result, he simply could not answer Zhuge Heng’s question now.
He could have honestly reported to Zhuge Heng that he had seen Zhuge Fusang kissing that male Crimson Evil in his room. If his guess was correct, the Crimson Evil could conceal its aura and was most likely hiding among the artifacts he carried with him.
But…
“I’m sorry, Family Head. I thought that Zhuge Fusang’s detention as a suspect was just an act. I didn’t turn on his bracelet… so I don’t know what he did today.”
After a brief hesitation, Liu Dongfeng said through gritted teeth.
For some reason, he did not tell the truth. Instead, he chose to silently digest everything he had seen.
He could only be certain that this was not because he wanted to shield Zhuge Fusang. After all, this person was truly despicable and incredibly irritating, and was not worth him spending even half a thought on.
As for exactly what it was for…
Just as expected, Zhuge Heng was furious. He slammed his cane hard against the floor with a loud “bang,” interrupting Liu Dongfeng’s thoughts.
“Useless!”
He cursed angrily:
“Do I have to give you your orders word by word before you know what you need to do?! You have no sense at all. You could even be careless about something involving a seventh-rank Crimson Evil. You’ve been out there for so many years, and I think you’ve completely forgotten everything the Zhuge family taught you! Is this how those people at the Spirit Supervision Bureau taught you to handle matters?!”
“I’m sorry…”
“What use is an apology? Go investigate! I want to know everything Zhuge Fusang does and says every day, without missing a single word. You also have to find out as quickly as possible where that Crimson Evil of his is hiding! Hurry up, get out and investigate!!”
Liu Dongfeng came from the Zhuge family’s inner clan. No matter how many years he had struggled at the Spirit Supervision Bureau, even if the director of the Spirit Supervision Bureau stood here, he would still have to act like a grandson in front of Zhuge Heng.
He sighed inwardly and raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
“…Yes.”
……
Fu Sang followed the secret passage back to the archives. Before leaving, he also picked out the written files of Zhuge Heng, Zhuge Lin, and a number of related people from the shelves, then openly carried the pile of things out of the archives and through the main entrance.
On the way back to Jiangchen Residence, he also stopped by and took a look around the ancestral hall.
These people from the main branch had been accustomed to being servants for so long that their efficiency was indeed high. The fire had already been extinguished, and there was hardly even any smoke left. From Fu Sang’s angle, the exterior of the ancestral hall even looked completely intact, as if nothing had happened.
There probably had not been much damage anyway. After all, there was nothing in that broken building except a pile of mud-plastered wood and battered copper coins. Fu Sang didn’t expect the fire to have much destructive power anyway. His purpose was merely to humiliate them.
He followed the path back to the dark little house, locked the door from the inside, and faced the pile of files he had brought back. But for a long time, he did not reach out to flip through them.
Leaning against the bed, he replayed everything that had happened tonight in his mind. Only after a long while did he call out:
“Qi Changying.”
Qi Changying answered and appeared. The moment he came out, he smelled the scent of smoke on Fu Sang, and also…
The smell of a bad mood.
“What’s wrong?” Qi Changying looked at him and asked.
“Are you unhappy?”
“Nothing. I just suddenly have a question I want to ask you.”
Fu Sang tugged slightly at the corner of his lips and raised his hand to beckon him with his finger. When he came closer, Fu Sang touched his chin and cheek.
“If there were a person who made you commit suicide, and told you that as long as you sacrificed yourself, you could avert a catastrophe in this world and save the lives of tens of millions of people, would you be willing?”
“Naturally.” Qi Changying nodded without thinking.
“Of course I’d be willing.”
“Even if from then on you would face true dissipation and death in the literal sense, sleeping with heaven and earth, never being able to reincarnate as a human again, only becoming a grain of dust or a wisp of wind?”
Qi Changying smiled. When he spoke, it sounded like a word of comfort.
“Being wind should be very liberating.”
“…”
Fu Sang withdrew the smile from the corners of his lips.
He lowered his eyes and looked at him. His eyes were obscured by darkness, making it impossible to see the emotions flowing within them.
After a moment, he seemed to give a cold laugh.
“I knew it.”
He knew that if the one negotiating with Zhuge Heng today had been Qi Changying, this ghost would definitely have happily accepted Zhuge Heng’s proposal. He would not even need anything in return or conditions. The moment he heard that he could save many people, he would not need to bargain or be urged. He could happily skip along himself to go and die.
Besides, what was so bad about dying? After dying, he could escape his (Fu Sang’s) control and coercion. No matter how he looked at it, it was a beautiful thing.
Fu Sang sighed once again. The setting that underworld spirits could not understand what living people said was truly wonderful beyond words.
Fu Sang raised his brows slightly and looked away, as if sighing very lightly.
“Then do you have any last words?”
“…Last words?”
Qi Changying was slightly stunned. After thinking for a moment, he said:
“That will have to wait until the end to know.”
Fu Sang raised his hand and grabbed his neck, pulling the ghost closer. He lowered his eyes to look at the corner of his lips, then followed the runes on his face upward bit by bit until he reached his eyes, finally falling back to those thin, bloodless lips.
“What if I make you end it right now? What do you want to say to me?”
“…”
Qi Changying could not make such a hypothetical assumption. He also could not say what he truly wanted to say right now.
But he knew what Fu Sang wanted to hear.
“…I hate you.”
Although he said he hated him, his voice was very soft and his tone calm.
“Zhuge Fusang, I hate you so much.”
Hearing this, Fu Sang smiled.
He leaned closer and kissed Qi Changying’s lips.
“…If there really were such an opportunity, I wouldn’t refuse. Using a wisp of my remnant soul to exchange for the lives of everyone under heaven would itself be a very worthwhile deal.”
The kiss was gentle and long. After stopping, Fu Sang half leaned against the headboard, his arm around Qi Changying’s shoulder, letting him lightly peck kisses along the side of his neck while listening to him speak.
“That way of speaking was a deception used by the sages to mislead people into willingly walking toward death.” Fu Sang sneered.
“Your soul is your soul, and other people’s lives are other people’s lives. Even if everyone under heaven died, what would that have to do with you?”
“But…”
Qi Changying paused before saying:
“But ‘everyone under heaven’ also includes you.”
“So what?”
Fu Sang smiled lightly.
“I can die. Is being alive very interesting? Is this world very good to me? I wish everyone in this world would just die.”
Almost unconsciously, he gently stroked Qi Changying’s back, speaking somewhat absentmindedly.
“I lived in this narrow, damp room that never sees sunlight for a full seven years. Back then, this place wasn’t like it is now. There were four high walls outside it, and the walls were only half a step away from the little room, like a cage sealed on all four sides.”
“But even so, I wasn’t qualified to possess limited freedom in this little room. Zhuge Lin treated me like a dog. He tied me up with that chain, and every step I took, the chain would scrape against the floor and make an ear-piercing sound. I hated that sound, so I rarely moved. Whenever I had nothing to do, I would just lean against the bed like this and think that once I got out, I would definitely kill him.”
In the past, he would never have talked about these things with anyone.
But for some reason today, facing Qi Changying, some words and emotions flowed out naturally like breathing.
“There were so many saints in this world like you, noble, virtuous, selfless and dedicated. They could say so many beautiful and pleasant words, but what use was it? Did anyone come to save me? In the end, the one who saved me was still myself. It was my incompleteness that saved me. Because I couldn’t see, I was finally able to escape this place.”
“So I hate people like you the most, Qi Changying. You look so selfless and so righteous, but what about in reality? When I needed you to sacrifice yourself, where were you? When I didn’t need you, you ran in front of me to show off your uprightness and your pure, noble character.”
“I want to chain you up here too, Qi Changying.”
“After Zhuge Lin dies… I want to take this room for myself, or build a new one. Build four even higher walls, find a thicker and heavier chain, and chain you here.”
“So that you won’t think about doing anything else every day apart from hating me.”
Fu Sang spoke somewhat absentmindedly. Later, when cold fingertips tentatively touched his waist and abdomen, he came back to his senses and was slightly stunned.
He simply raised his hand and took off his shirt.
“It’s cold.”
Qi Changying found a coat from beside them and draped it over him, then leaned down to kiss his collarbone.
Fu Sang did not know why Qi Changying had suddenly become so proactive tonight, as if he had become a different ghost.
Not only that, he also seemed intent on continuing downward from the collarbone.
“…Enough.”
His thoughts were constantly being teased and tempted. Fu Sang pushed his shoulder.
“Get lost.”
Qi Changying acted as if he had not heard.
“Wasn’t this what you wanted?”
Qi Changying’s slightly cool fingers caught the woven belt at the waistband of his pants. With a little force, he gently pulled open the uncomplicated knot.
Realizing what he intended to do, Fu Sang laughed out loud.
“…You really are cheap.”
……
Compared with last time, Qi Changying was somewhat more skilled.
Fu Sang leaned against the headboard with one leg bent, wearing only a coat. His head was slightly raised, a cigarette held between his teeth, his Adam’s apple rolling gently with the rise and fall of his heartbeat.
“…When the time comes, I’ll lock you here and make you do this every day.”
Fu Sang grabbed Qi Changying’s hair to prevent him from raising his head, but still demanded an answer.
“Hmm?”
“…”
“Knock knock knock!”
The knocking at the door interrupted the intimate atmosphere inside.
Fu Sang frowned and glanced unhappily toward the door.
“Zhuge Fusang, open the door. I have something to discuss with you.”
It was Liu Dongfeng’s voice.
“Shut up and wait.” Fu Sang pinched the cigarette between his fingers and exhaled a smoke ring. His voice was a little hoarse when he spoke.
“I’m busy.”
“What are you busy with?”
Fu Sang closed his eyes, his five fingers tightly gripping Qi Changying’s long hair, and fell into a brief daze. It took him a long time to recover his senses and voice.
He brought the cigarette between his fingers to his lips, his fingertips trembling slightly. He took a drag, then slowly exhaled. The smile at the corner of his lips was malicious yet satisfied.
“…Believe me, you don’t want to know.”
