Chapter 52#

Possession#

Yin Yuheng barely managed to support himself to return to the room, with scratches and dust all over his hands. He carefully washed both his hands with clean water, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes tiredly.

He had to leave here quickly.

Not just because Xue Ciling was moody… more importantly, Yin Yuheng always felt he had forgotten a very important thing. A voice in his heart urged him to hurry and find that person, and once he found them, everything would be fine…

Who was he looking for?

In a daze, Yin Yuheng had a dream. In the dream, someone carried him on their back, walking on a rainy day; someone held a lamp and came before him through the darkness. That person’s face was blurry, and Yin Yuheng couldn’t see his features clearly.

The lantern light occasionally flickered, illuminating the person’s features. Yin Yuheng tried hard to look, seeing a pair of extremely familiar eyes, somewhat similar to Xue Ciling’s.

It could never be Xue Ciling.

In just an instant, Yin Yuheng made this judgment by intuition.

He used all his strength to reach out his hand, hugged the person’s neck, and said intermittently: “Who are you?”

“I am…”

Before the person could finish, Yin Yuheng woke up. He opened his eyes blankly. The night wind blew in from the window, and it was a bit cool.

A puppet shouldn’t be able to perceive heat or cold.

It wasn’t that the wind was cool; he was just lonely.

Yin Yuheng simply got up, pushed open the door, and walked in the small courtyard. Unconsciously, the moon had reached the middle of the sky. Yin Yuheng looked up and saw a round moon, bright and clear.

Yin Yuheng remembered that today was the fifteenth.

The maid had said that the fifteenth of every month was the day when Xue Ciling’s poison flared up.

*

In the courtyard on the west side, Xue Ciling was painfully prostrate on the table, his shoulders trembling, his teeth clenched as he endured the churning pain in his body.

It hurts.

Will someone help me…?

Around him were puppets either standing or sitting; they were handsome in appearance, lifelike, and very quiet. Puppets wouldn’t move, wouldn’t speak, and had no sanity; naturally, it was impossible for them to help him.

Xue Ciling didn’t truly think that anyone would come to help him; he could only rely on himself.

For many years, every month, Xue Ciling had endured this kind of pain alone. It was unavoidable, and there was no escape.

In his childhood, he had been poisoned, and it couldn’t be removed; it could only be suppressed with the Underworld Flower. He often went to the bank of the Ghost River, accompanied by the crying of lonely souls, and reached into the icy river water time and time again. The surroundings were empty, with only the cold and silent wind.

Until that time, when he brushed past Yin Yuheng.

He saw the youth step into the Ghost River, and when he picked the Underworld Flower, his hands were covered in blood. He saw the gentle and satisfied smile on the other’s face, and his expression of treasuring it.

He realized that the other person picked that Underworld Flower not for himself, but for someone else.

Xue Ciling couldn’t say clearly what his mood was at that time. How cold and painful it was to pick flowers from the Ghost River, Xue Ciling knew all too well; how many people in the world were willing to suffer this kind of bitterness for someone else?

At least, Xue Ciling had never met one.

There had never been a single person willing to give everything to wade through the Ghost River for him.

When Yin Yuheng departed, he looked back at Xue Ciling and smiled, like a spring breeze. Xue Ciling stood stunned on the spot, and inexplicably, there was even a bit of jealousy.

Jealousy for that stranger for whom Yin Yuheng picked the flower.

This kind of mood was inexplicable and unreasonable, yet Xue Ciling could not restrain it.

Not everyone in the world has a chance to get warmth, and he was an unfortunate one. He didn’t believe in the human heart and could only pin his feelings on the puppets who would never betray him. But no matter how many puppets he made, he couldn’t get a single Underworld Flower picked sincerely for him.

Xue Ciling lay on the table, his fists clenched, his nails digging into his flesh. The pain when the toxin flared up could destroy a person’s sanity, and it wasn’t until the sun was about to rise that the pain would gradually recede. Xue Ciling was prepared, as in previous days, to endure until dawn.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A faint knocking sound came to his ears.

“Knock, knock.”

Xue Ciling barely raised his head, looking toward the door with bloodshot eyes. It wasn’t a hallucination; someone really was knocking at the door.

Who is it? A flash of ruthlessness crossed Xue Ciling’s heart. This was the forbidden area of the City Lord’s Manor; who dared to disturb him at this time?

“City Lord?” A worried voice came from outside the door, “Are you okay?”

Such a familiar voice… Xue Ciling suddenly reacted, his face changed, and he stumbled to the door and pulled it open abruptly. Before the person at the door could react, he grabbed the youth’s neck, pressed him against a wall on one side, and closed the door with the other hand, shutting those puppets in the room.

The youth’s back of the head bumped against the wall, letting out a muffled groan.

Xue Ciling endured the pain all over his body, tightened the force in his hand, and gritted his teeth: “Who told you to come?”

He used real strength in his hand, tightening it more and more. The youth raised his head in pain, his hair scattered over his shoulders. Under the moonlight, Xue Ciling could clearly see the other’s trembling eyelashes. The other was just a fragile and breakable puppet, which could be destroyed by his mood at any time.

The youth trembled, laboriously gripping his hand.

“Your palm… has blood,” the youth barely managed to squeeze out a few words, “Does it hurt?”

Xue Ciling hadn’t expected the other person to say this, and for a moment he was stunned, and the force in his hand unconsciously relaxed a bit.

Yin Yuheng panted softly, and pulled the hand gripping his neck before his eyes. He lowered his head and gently wiped away the bloodstains on Xue Ciling’s palm.

“Don’t hurt yourself… I will stay with the City Lord. If you are in pain, you can hold my hand, alright?”

Xue Ciling was stunned, and by the time he reacted, his hand was already gathered in the other’s palm.

The sky was high and the clouds were light, the moon was bright and the stars were few.

Xue Ciling’s consciousness was gradually invaded by pain. He was like a beast that had lost its sanity, and the demonic energy around him was violent and crazy. He couldn’t see things clearly and could only act by feeling. Every time the poison flared up in the past, he would gouge out his own flesh in his madness. However, this time, his hand was held by someone and was not let go for the whole night.

*

By the time Xue Ciling regained consciousness, it was already dawn.

Xue Ciling slowly opened his eyes, realizing he was kneeling in the courtyard, with the unconscious youth in his arms.

The youth’s eyes were tightly closed, and there were countless small wounds on his body. Xue Ciling recognized that they were the marks left by the violent demonic energy.

Differing from the other’s miserable appearance, Xue Ciling found that his own body was almost intact, without the usual blood-soaked state when waking up. The only injured hand was firmly grasped by the youth and protected in his arms.

Xue Ciling gradually recalled the events of last night.

How the youth knocked on the door, how he asked him “does it hurt,” how he held his hand; and while he lost consciousness, how he endured the pain of the violent demonic energy and accompanied him silently.

Xue Ciling was stunned and speechless.

The daylight was faint, and the morning breeze was cool. Xue Ciling gazed at Yin Yuheng’s slightly furrowed brow and finally reached out his hand, gently rubbing the marks on the other’s neck from being gripped. He gathered the youth into his arms, tightening his embrace slightly.

This was his puppet.

Xue Ciling suddenly felt a trace of secret joy. Perhaps he could also… possess a warmth that belonged to him.

*

Demon Clan Divine Hall.

Lu Yan sat before the map, his fingers gently sliding over the mountains and rivers. His eyes were lowered, his face expressionless, and the demons standing behind him kept their heads down, not daring to disturb him.

Everyone knew how this new Emperor had fought his way out from the rebellious forces. The blood on the Three Barren Mountains that day had covered the wild grass on the ground.

“All the strange and bizarre techniques in the world are in the Demon Realm.” Lu Yan suddenly said indifferently, “If the Human Clan and the Demon Clan still can’t find a way to make him wake up, I will go to the Demon Realm to search.”