Chapter 78#

I’ll let you pet me just this once#

The days of being oppressed by Sang Baobao were still vivid in Su Ruhui’s mind. Unlike other domestic cats, it wouldn’t obediently crouch at the door waiting for Su Ruhui to return from work, nor would it rub against his trouser legs with soft mews like the little stray cats outside. It didn’t know how to lick its fur, knead, or roll over to show its belly. It turned a deaf ear to Su Ruhui’s calls and occupied half of the heated kang bed every day, forcing Su Ruhui to huddle on the very edge. Su Ruhui had to piously offer up fragrant dried fish and big bowls of meat just to touch its fur; any other time Su Ruhui dared to touch it, the cat dared to scratch him.

Now, this tyrant glutton of a cat was crouching by Su Ruhui’s side. A breath ago, it had been Sang Chiyu.

Su Ruhui felt like he was dreaming.

Perhaps Jiang Xueya hadn’t just slit his throat, but had also damaged his brain, causing him to have terrible hallucinations.

Su Ruhui looked down at it and couldn’t resist reaching out, tentatively scratching its chin. Sang Baobao instinctively moved to dodge, but forced itself to endure, letting Su Ruhui gently pet it. It was soft and warm; Su Ruhui found it unbelievable. This man, as chilling as a blade, was actually a soft, fluffy big cat. Since his rebirth, Sang Chiyu had constantly updated Su Ruhui’s perception of him. He originally thought Sang Chiyu was a formal gentleman, only to later learn his heart was like ice and snow, carrying embers only for Su Ruhui. He had thought Sang Chiyu was mature and reliable, but now he realized this fellow was childish to the core.

Burning socks and underwear—how could Sang Chiyu do such a thing? The former First-Rank military officer of the Esoteric Sect, the current master of the Great Compassion Hall, the “God of Slaughter” in the eyes of the world—how could he do something so childish?

Su Ruhui looked into its glowing blue eyes, trying his best to suppress his laughter, and said: 【I’m not laughing, I’m really not laughing.】

Sang Baobao looked away, unwilling to meet Su Ruhui’s laughing eyes. The mind-reading secret art was still active; it knew Su Ruhui was mocking it.

Su Ruhui asked: 【Brother Sang, what were you thinking when you were burning my socks and underwear?】

Sang Baobao said in a low voice, “I was thinking, a person can only keep one cat. Su Ruhui, you already have a cat, so why do you still want to feed others?”

Su Ruhui picked it up, bringing it face-to-face with him. It was truly large; when it stood up, it was as tall as Su Ruhui’s torso.

With Sang Baobao around, he suddenly felt that other cats who acted cute and spoiled were merely sycophantic, lacking “cat-like” dignity. A cat should be high and mighty, ignoring foolish mortals. All those other cats that meowed around his feet and showed their bellies were cats without cat-virtue!

【I’ll never feed another cat again,】 Su Ruhui promised solemnly. 【You’re right, I already have a cat. A man with a cat shouldn’t pet others.】

One person and one cat, eyes meeting. They heard the clacking of gears turning in the workshop and the rumbling of the cargo-moving puppets’ carts. The world was so noisy, yet so silent. Su Ruhui lowered his head and kissed Sang Baobao’s fluffy cheek, then kissed its cold pink nose. Finally, Su Ruhui kissed its mouth—a light touch like a dragonfly skimming the water, retreating as soon as they touched, but it seemed to ignite a spark that burned all the way to Sang Baobao’s ears.

Sang Baobao pushed Su Ruhui’s face away with its paw pads and said, “Your turn.”

【My turn for what?】 Su Ruhui asked.

“To confess.” Sang Baobao leapt off Su Ruhui’s lap, transformed back into human form, and put on his clothes.

Su Ruhui stared at his backside, but unfortunately, the fellow dressed very quickly. Before Su Ruhui could see enough, he had already put on all his layers. He turned around and asked, “Is ‘Snowflake’ helping you? Did your telekinesis and self-healing secret arts come from it?”

Su Ruhui scratched his head and explained the whole story to Sang Chiyu. Sang Chiyu frowned throughout the explanation, and Su Ruhui didn’t know if he understood. After all, the “System” was too far-fetched; if anyone else heard of it, they would surely say Su Ruhui was dreaming. Finally, Su Ruhui mentioned his father. “My father saved me, but the System disappeared too.”

Sang Chiyu’s expression became grave. He asked, “Is your father still here now?”

Su Ruhui looked around and shook his head.

“Do not place your trust in him,” Sang Chiyu said.

【Why?】 Su Ruhui smiled. 【He’s my father.】

“You don’t trust him either, do you?” Sang Chiyu stared at him.

Su Ruhui was silent for a moment, then nodded: 【True. I’ve been away from him for too long. Even if you count the days before I was twelve, the time we actually spent together could be counted on ten fingers. I’ve known my Senior Sister for so many years, yet I never expected she would slit my throat. Much less my old man whom I haven’t seen in decades. To be honest, I trust the System more than him. But I want to hear your opinion, Brother Sang—why do you think he’s untrustworthy?】

Sang Chiyu took the Kuyue blade from his waist and placed it on his lap. “Fifteen years ago, when you killed someone in the street, I blocked twelve soldiers from the Military Commandery for you.”

Su Ruhui was stunned. 【That happened?】

“Mhm,” Sang Chiyu continued. “I was relieved of my duties and received a hundred military cane strikes in the Wujian Prison. The day I was released, Tantai Jing sent someone to fetch me. At the time, I thought that although the military law was finished, he wanted to execute family discipline. But he didn’t. He took me to Benlang Mountain in Lizhou, the burial ground of the Tantai clan. He led me up nine hundred steps to a tomb.”

【Nine hundred steps!? You had just received the cane strikes!】

Sang Chiyu shook his head. “It was nothing. Su Ruhui, what he took me to see was your mother’s grave.”

Su Ruhui frowned. 【My mother… Did he predict back then that you’d become my wife and specifically took you to pay respects to your mother-in-law?】

Sang Chiyu looked at him expressionlessly.

Su Ruhui covered his heart. 【I’ll stop. Please, go on.】

“He said that back then, when the Sang clan of Bukuguan was exterminated, your mother risked her life to rescue me and let him raise me to adulthood. Thinking back, it was likely your mother who brought me out of the Snow Realm, single-handedly holding off five Demon Ancestors who were pursuing us, and sent me into the human world. He had me pay respects to your mother and tell her one sentence.”

【What sentence?】

Sang Chiyu’s voice was slow and clear: “I have reached adulthood.”

Su Ruhui squeezed his shoulder in comfort. Based on this information, combined with the dossiers he had seen in the Esoteric Sect before, Su Ruhui could roughly piece together a complete story.

Thirty-two years ago, his mother, Tantai Xun, requested to lead an expedition to the Snow Realm to explore the paradise beyond the borders. Tantai Xun led a twenty-person expedition team for a year until they reached the Tianshi of the Snow Realm. They encountered a fleeing Saintess; Tantai Xun intervened to help but was hunted by the Demon Ancestors. Tantai Xun went through untold hardships to bring Sang Chiyu out of the Snow Realm and into the human world, entrusting him to Tantai Jing, while she stayed behind to face the Demon Ancestors alone, eventually dying of exhaustion.

Later, Tantai Jing created an identity for Sang Chiyu as an orphan of the Sang clan and kept him by his side to educate him. Tantai Jing knew very well that half of the demon blood flowed in Sang Chiyu’s body, so for many years, the thing he did most was to strip away Sang Chiyu’s demonic nature and teach him how to be human.

Tantai Jing ordered him to cultivate bitterly, to meditate, to fast, and to keep the precepts. Su Ruhui used to think Tantai Jing was harsh, but now he only felt heartache. For a hundred-year-old bachelor like Tantai Jing to raise a tiny child was indeed a bit difficult for him. The educational methods he adopted were rigid and strict, devoid of human touch, but Su Ruhui couldn’t criticize him too much because he himself had grown up in such bitter cultivation.

He was the heir of the Tantai family. Since childhood, his every movement followed strict protocols; that schedule, precise down to the minute, was not only Sang Chiyu’s but also his own. Proper and rigorous etiquette had long been internalized as his lifestyle and character core. He raised Sang Chiyu based on his own upbringing—this was likely the best education he could think of.

Later, when he broke Sang Chiyu’s right leg and expelled him from the Esoteric Sect, it was probably because he discovered that the demons had planted a mole in the Sect. To keep Sang Chiyu away from the conflict between humans and demons, he had no choice but to resort to such a move. His method was indeed too cruel, but without doing so, given Sang Chiyu’s stubborn temperament, if he knew that Su Ruhui’s empty shell was still lying in the Immortal Cave, he likely wouldn’t have let things rest. What happened later indeed confirmed his predictions. He just never expected that the mole was Jiang Xueya.

【And then?】 Su Ruhui, feeling sentimental, asked, 【Does this have anything to do with what we were talking about?】

Sang Chiyu stroked the black scabbard of Kuyue. “Tantai Jing treated me very well, I know that. But when I heard of his death, I felt no sadness or pain. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

【Could it be because…】 Su Ruhui seemed to understand something.

Sang Chiyu tilted his head to look at him, his cold white profile devoid of joy or sorrow.

“Because there is always a voice in my heart reminding me that their lives have no meaning.”

【Why is it like this?】 Su Ruhui couldn’t help asking.

Sang Chiyu looked down at his own palm. “I don’t know. Is it because I am born an anomaly, naturally indifferent? Parents and teachers are more like ethereal titles to me; I cannot generate much emotion for them. Even though I lived with Tantai Jing day and night, I still felt a very, very long distance between us. This sense of distance isn’t because he sat high on a pedestal, but…” Sang Chiyu paused, then said, “Because I seem to be in a different world from him.”

Su Ruhui understood what Sang Chiyu meant. If Su Guanyu and Sang Chiyu were the same type of person, would Su Guanyu truly care about the bond between him and Su Ruhui? Su Ruhui recalled the illusion of Mount Zhuluo—amidst the lush green peaks and by the gurgling stream, Su Guanyu watched him with a smile. It was clearly a familiar smile, yet it was as cold and strange as a mask.

Sang Chiyu said, “Su Ruhui, you know what is wrong; you just don’t want to believe it.”

Yes. Su Ruhui knew that a heartfelt smile was different from a faked one; the facial muscles they engaged were vastly different. This was the real reason Su Ruhui felt Su Guanyu was eerie—his father’s lips curved, but there was no smile in his eyes.

【He is imitating his former smile.】 Su Ruhui sighed, remaining unexpectedly calm. 【He doesn’t love me anymore.】

“Don’t be sad.” Sang Chiyu patted his head.

【I’m fine,】 Su Ruhui smiled. 【I’m not sad.】

It wasn’t the first time he had faced betrayal, and Su Ruhui had long been psychologically prepared. When his Senior Sister slit his throat, he had held onto hope—that even if she killed him for the sake of the demons, she wouldn’t disregard their past feelings, and perhaps she would prepare a puppet body for him, giving him a way out. Senior Sister mastered the supreme technique of “Super First-Rank Flesh Puppets” and had advisors who could extract others’ memories. She didn’t need to be so thorough; she could have taken his memories, changed his body, and sent him far away so they would never meet again. Although, rationally speaking, he wouldn’t have accepted such an arrangement.

But after his death, he didn’t wake up in another puppet body. Instead, his long-lost father suddenly appeared and brought him back to life.

Senior Sister truly intended to cut the grass and pull up the roots.

He still remembered when they walked through the snow-covered mines. The world was so vast, and Senior Sister walked in front of him. She was always used to walking in front, as if that could block a bit of the wind and snow for him. He remembered her drinking too much and slapping his shoulder, saying “Ah Hui, if you have business, just do it; Senior Sister has your back.” They were friends, and even more, they were family. There weren’t many women in Su Ruhui’s life who held deep meaning for him. Even the glory of the Tantai family, his mother Tantai Xun who died in the Snow Realm, left him with no impression. The woman who left the deepest impression was Jiang Xueya. Sometimes he even felt that his mother must have looked like Senior Sister when she was young.

Su Ruhui smiled bitterly. The one with weak familial bonds wasn’t Jiang Xueya, but himself.

They were no longer family. One day, they would meet again. On that day, they would swing their blades at each other.

The author has something to say:

“Su Ruhui.”

Su Ruhui suddenly snapped back to his senses and found the space beside him empty. Looking down, he saw that Sang Chiyu had turned back into a cat.

Sang Baobao lay down on the repair table, four paws in the air, exposing its soft belly to him.

Su Ruhui’s eyes widened in surprise. 【Brother Sang, what are you doing?】

Sang Baobao closed its eyes and turned its face away.

“Don’t be sad anymore,” it said lowly. “Just this once, you can pet me.”