Chapter 73 - 1#

Chapter 73#

In his excitement, Pei Huang was somewhat dazed for a moment. It took a while before he finally managed to ask:

“Master is saying that you also lik… like me a little bit.”

He stared intently at Xue Jingci, his gaze burning and complex. “Is that what you mean?”

“Can Master explain it more clearly…”

He asked over and over again, acting like a child who had just begun to learn. Even if he understood the words in the book, he was afraid he might have actually misinterpreted the meaning.

Xue Jingci looked at Pei Huang with some amusement: “Aren’t you usually very smart when you’re practicing?”

Hearing this, Pei Huang was finally sure he hadn’t misheard. A surge of immense joy rose in his heart.

All his composure shattered at this moment. Driven by some strange impulse, Pei Huang grabbed Xue Jingci’s wrist.

The unsteady pulse transmitted through the skin to Pei Huang’s fingertips, making him realize that Xue Jingci wasn’t as calm as he appeared on the surface.

Of course, Xue Jingci couldn’t be calm.

In the years he had lived, most of his days had been like a pool of still water.

But now, someone had forcefully intruded into this pool, stirring up massive waves in the bottomless depths.

Seeing that Pei Huang still hadn’t taken the red string, Xue Jingci sighed in his heart.

Since he had decided to accept this person’s affection, he wouldn’t hesitate to open his heart.

Xue Jingci looked at Pei Huang and said with a serious and certain expression: “Don’t you understand yet?”

“It means that Master also likes you.”

Pei Huang’s breath nearly stopped. Like someone drifting in a bitter sea for a long time, he had suddenly caught hold of a piece of floating wood.

He gripped Xue Jingci’s wrist tightly and pulled him away from the crowd, completely breaking away from the prying eyes of others.

The two ran into a deserted deep alley.

Various colored lanterns hung in the alley, their five-colored lights falling on the two of them, flickering along with their heartbeats.

Pei Huang bent down. Instead of taking the red string from Xue Jingci’s hand, he let go of his other clenched hand.

He picked up his own red string and carefully tied it around Xue Jingci’s wrist, his hands even trembling slightly from nervousness.

That red string had been held by Pei Huang for a long time, and it still carried a burning warmth as it gently touched Xue Jingci’s porcelain-white wrist.

He looked up at Xue Jingci, his eyes gradually brightening as if the stars of the entire sky had fallen into them.

“Master, will you help me too?”

Hearing Pei Huang’s joyful yet cautious voice, Xue Jingci nodded. He also took Pei Huang’s wrist and tied his own red string.

After the red strings were tied, Pei Huang grabbed Xue Jingci’s hand again, pressing it against his cheek, and asked further: “Master, my face is burning so much. Can you help me cool down?”

Xue Jingci wasn’t actually used to physical contact with others, but since he had promised Pei Huang, he would no longer avoid it.

Taking the initiative, he raised his other hand, cupped Pei Huang’s entire face, and gently stroked it.

“Is this better?”

Pei Huang was speechless, his body frozen in place. He only felt that the skin Xue Jingci had touched was burning even more fiercely.

Xue Jingci also noticed the change in Pei Huang.

Compared to ethereal emotions, this change in temperature was something he could more easily perceive.

Is this what liking someone is? Even the most calm and self-contained person would lose control because of affection.

Pei Huang tried to calm his heart but couldn’t restrain it in the slightest. Finally, he simply buried his head on Xue Jingci’s shoulder, so that Xue Jingci wouldn’t see his disarmed and disheveled expression.

“Master, I’m not dreaming, am I?”

He murmured, “If it’s a dream, don’t wake me up.”

Listening to Pei Huang’s nonsense near his neck, Xue Jingci felt that this side of Pei Huang was strangely adorable.

He had heard many stories of Pei Huang’s past from the River Demon and A-Su, and knew what the grown-up Pei Huang was like from Jar.

But regardless of which period of Pei Huang it was, he had never looked like this.

He looked exactly like a spoiled child.

For some reason, Xue Jingci thought of a child he had seen in Hangzhou.

That child wanted a candied hawthorn and acted like a spoiled brat to his family. Although he was scolded severely, when Xue Jingci saw him again later, he saw him happily holding a stick of candied hawthorns.

A child dares to ask an adult for candy because they are certain the other person will respond to them.

But the young Pei Huang could only occasionally use his saved money to buy a few pine nut candies, and even then, because they were kept for too long, the candy would melt onto the wrapper.

Xue Jingci returned to his senses and began to respond to Pei Huang’s words one by one.

“It’s not a dream.”

“You can’t do that. If you dream for too long, you’ll get possessed.”

The two of them went back and forth with questions and answers, and before they knew it, a night had passed.

When the two returned to the Demon Palace the next day, they found that Fu Yin was already waiting there.

Thinking about what Xi Feng had told him yesterday, Fu Yin’s expression was strange. He hadn’t expected Pei Huang’s beloved to be his master.

As a result, when he saw his own disciples today, he felt uneasy all over.

Fu Yin regained his composure, looked at the two, and mentioned the matter of the Royal Seal again.

To his surprise, Xue Jingci agreed without hesitation.

Pei Huang remained in a daze long after Fu Yin left.

He had only just exchanged feelings with Xue Jingci last night, and today Xue Jingci had directly agreed to become Dao companions. Everything was moving too fast, like a dream.

Xue Jingci saw the confusion and hesitation in Pei Huang’s eyes.

He shook his head with a light laugh and said somewhat indulgently: “Back then you even dared to covet the position of Demon Venerable, yet now you have so little courage.”

“Did you think I was going to give you a trial period?”

Hearing Xue Jingci mention that old story, Pei Huang was afraid Xue Jingci was angry about being pestered by him.

But when he looked up, he saw that the man’s clear eyes were filled with a bit of laughter.

Pei Huang couldn’t help but smile along.

He hadn’t expected that while Xue Jingci seemed emotionally indifferent, once he decided on a person, he would follow that person with incomparable determination, never turning back even if he hit a wall.

Fortunately.

Pei Huang thought, fortunately, it was him.

He would definitely protect Xue Jingci and never let him be sad or hurt.

In order to endure the power of the Royal Seal as soon as possible, Xue Jingci and Pei Huang formed a Dao companion contract three days later.

Everything afterwards went particularly smoothly. Pei Huang and Xue Jingci glimpsed many secrets of the ancient cultivation era from the memories of the previous Demon Venerable.

The most important one was related to the Heavenly Gate array.

When the demon clan was a scourge to the human world, the human race fought for a hundred years, giving birth to powerful cultivators.

Subsequently, five great cultivation experts joined forces to set up the Heavenly Gate array, imprisoning all the demons within it.

However, no one knew that among these five experts, one was actually a demonic cultivator.

After finishing this memory, Xue Jingci couldn’t help but remark: “Lin Heng曾与我说过，他自幼喜欢研究暗器之术，可他身边之人，都说此乃歪门邪道。”

“But the Xiao family is famous for their Gu techniques and puppet arts, yet they are called the number one noble family.”

Pei Huang remembered how he hadn’t dared to reveal his demonic cultivation to Xue Jingci, and he couldn’t help but sigh: “It can be seen that whether something is righteous or evil is entirely defined by the mouths of the world.”

Now that he had become the Lord of the Demon Realm, he would naturally find a way to turn the situation around.

And the techniques Xue Jingci was researching were the most important link.

Thinking of this, Pei Huang looked at Xue Jingci and asked: “When you went to the various factions of the demon race to set up altars and explain techniques before, did you encounter any obstacles?”

Xue Jingci said: “The Demon Realm is desolate. Many demonic cultivators live scattered in various places, and there are no magical tools that can transmit sound. They didn’t know about the altars at all.”

Sound-transmitting magical tools depend on arrays for power, ideally set up in the sky to transmit messages most quickly. But because of the existence of the Heavenly Gate array in this world, it was impossible to set up sound-transmitting arrays. Even the number one immortal sect like the Lingxu Sect could only rely on cultivators to deliver messages.

Pei Huang was silent for a moment, but suddenly thought of the rumors that had spread in the Demon Palace before.

In just one night, the news that he and Xi Feng were to become Dao companions had spread to every corner.

Seeing that he was not speaking, Xue Jingci asked: “What are you thinking about?”

Pei Huang came back to his senses and said: “I have a way to make the news spread throughout the entire Demon Realm.”

Xue Jingci looked up at him in confusion.

Pei Huang cleared his throat and said: “We can hold a grand wedding.”

He added as an afterthought: “The grand wedding of the Lord—once this news is released, everyone will spontaneously spread it. Then we can take this opportunity to promote the demon clan techniques you’ve repaired.”

Xue Jingci also thought it was a good idea, but didn’t nod immediately, instead staring at Pei Huang.

Pei Huang was embarrassed by his stare and finally admitted: “Most importantly, I want everyone to know that you are mine.”

He knew Xue Jingci didn’t like holding big weddings.

After all, this person liked peace and quiet, while weddings had many rituals and noisy guests.

Before in the Ghost Pearl illusion, Xue Jingci could still endure the first time they bowed to each other, but the next few times he couldn’t sit still.

Pei Huang’s eyes flickered. Seeing Xue Jingci frowning in thought, he thought he didn’t want to do it.

Just as he was about to withdraw the suggestion, he heard Xue Jingci speak.

“Holding a wedding is a good idea, but I won’t be the bride this time.”

At the thought of that swaying bridal sedan chair and the red veil that blocked his vision, Xue Jingci was reluctant to hold a wedding.

“I want to eat the wedding feast outside.”

Pei Huang hadn’t expected that Xue Jingci had been thinking about this for so long.

There was no reason for him not to comply, so he hurriedly said: “Whatever you say.”

In the eyes of outsiders, it didn’t matter which of them was the bride.

What mattered was who was the “wife” during the wedding night.

After finalizing the wedding date, Pei Huang immediately set about preparing.

He let Jar be responsible for arranging the wedding feast food, Shi Ting Shuang help draw up the guest list, and also had people redecorate the Demon Palace and tailor wedding clothes… everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

And the news of the two of them getting married, as Pei Huang expected, spread throughout the Demon Realm within a day.

Being two men and having a master-disciple relationship, the news exploded throughout the entire Demon Realm as soon as it was released.

The River Demon found Pei Huang during the interval of wedding preparations and mentioned that Xie Zheng and Xiao Xun had secretly sneaked into the Demon Realm again. Now that they knew about the wedding, they would likely take action.

“Should we expel them from the Demon Realm first…”

Pei Huang hesitated for a moment but said there was no need, and even asked the River Demon to take the initiative to send invitations to those two.

The River Demon was greatly perplexed and asked: “Aren’t you afraid they’ll cause trouble at the wedding?”

Pei Huang said: “I will make some arrangements in secret for the wedding. Let them come because I want to give them a chance to talk to Master properly one more time.”

He could always remember Xue Jingci’s envious look before the martial arts competition when he watched that pair of master and disciple clear up their misunderstanding and reconcile.

Xue Jingci had given a lot after all, but he didn’t even know why these two had betrayed him.

Letting them come could both untie Xue Jingci’s heart knot and let him have a good fight with these two.

In the eighth year of Qianyuan, the Lord of the Demon Realm held a grand wedding, announcing it to the whole world, and all the people celebrated together.

Counting the wedding in the Ghost Pearl illusion before, this was the fourth time Pei Huang and Xue Jingci bowed together. Unlike the previous times, this time it was Pei Huang who sat in the bridal sedan chair.

The sedan chair was carried by eight people. It started from the Juechen Valley and was carried directly into the Demon Palace.

Countless people along the way celebrated, and the momentum was extremely grand.

However, when the sedan chair was about to arrive at the Demon Palace, an accident suddenly occurred.

Among the crowd, two people rose into the air and actually blocked the front of the bridal sedan chair!

Someone is snatching the bride—

Exclamations broke out from the crowd. Today was the Lord’s grand wedding; did someone have a death wish to dare to snatch the bride?

A group of demonic cultivators who had rushed from the Sand Demon territory shouted loudly to inform the Lord and let these two reckless people taste some bitterness.

To their surprise, after shouting for a while, they suddenly found that the person snatching the bride was very familiar.

It seemed to be… their Family Head?!

Seeing the drama happen to themselves, the group of demonic cultivators hurriedly fell silent and shrank into the crowd, for fear of being implicated by the Family Head.

Xiao Xun didn’t care about them; his eyes were blood-red and filled with bloodshot veins.

He never expected that Pei Huang also harbored ulterior motives for Xue Jingci, and that Master actually indulged him.

No, Master must have been forced…

Just like what he had done to Master back then.

Pei Huang must have used some means to force Master to marry him.

He had to take Master away today…

Xie Zheng’s expression was also extremely complex.

When Pei Huang took action that day and expelled him and Xiao Xun from the Demon Realm together, he took the opportunity to have a big fight with Xiao Xun.

He had always suspected that the fact that the people he sent back then failed to find Xue Jingci was inseparable from Xiao Xun.

However, Xiao Xun did not admit it.

This time, he didn’t hesitate to release his Dharma form and seriously injure Xiao Xun, finally forcing out the truth of that year.

Xiao Xun had actually cast a Gu on Xue Jingci and forced him to marry him.

How could he humiliate Xue Jingci like this!

Xie Zheng hated his own momentary cowardice back then, which gave this madman an opportunity, and he also knew that everything started because of him.

So he tried every means to sneak into the Demon Realm again, wanting to have a proper conversation with Xue Jingci.

To repent to him for everything that happened over the years.

But Xie Zheng didn’t expect that the first night he returned, he heard the news about Pei Huang and Xue Jingci’s wedding.

This person was as crazy as Xiao Xun and wanted to force Xue Jingci to marry him!

Thinking of this, Xie Zheng looked coldly at Xiao Xun and vowed in his heart that he must rescue his master from those two people today.

A person as noble as his master should return to the Upper Realm and be worshipped by thousands of people.

Their gazes crossed, and before they even approached the bridal sedan chair, they began to fight each other.

In an instant, wild winds rolled back and the ground shook, but both of them tacitly avoided the position of the bridal sedan chair, not daring to hurt that person in the slightest.

Xie Zheng came prepared this time and didn’t show any weaknesses to give Xiao Xun a chance to use Gu.

His spiritual power was extremely overbearing and soon completely suppressed Xiao Xun, reaching the side of the bridal sedan chair first.

“Master!”

Xie Zheng knelt on one knee beside the sedan chair, his eyes filled with sorrow, and his face no longer held its former arrogance.

“When I went to your study to organize back then, I accidentally saw several demonic techniques. Among them were several that I had practiced. I couldn’t accept it for a while, so I chose to leave.”

“But I didn’t expect that you had been looking for me.”

“When I was taken away by the Lingxu Sect, they discovered that I had the mark of practicing demonic techniques. They kept asking me where I learned them. I didn’t dare mention you, only saying that I loved reading and accidentally obtained demonic technique manuals…”

“I was afraid they would discover the demonic techniques on you, so I didn’t dare to recognize you.”

Sitting in the bridal sedan chair, Pei Huang listened to Xie Zheng’s remorseful and painful confession and sighed in his heart.

He had already arranged for people to bring Xue Jingci nearby if Xie Zheng and Xiao Xun came to snatch the bride.

Xue Jingci must have heard what Xie Zheng said by now.

Pei Huang just hoped Xue Jingci would understand that it wasn’t that he hadn’t done well, but that these two people—one arrogant and one paranoid—only believed in what they themselves decided, and never trusted him. That was why they had reached this point.

Outside the bridal sedan chair, Xiao Xun also knelt down. This time he didn’t mention everything he had suffered in his childhood.

Instead, he recounted all the wrong things he had done since the two of them first met.

“Master, actually, when Lin Heng went to trouble you back then, it was also my doing. I know that only when a person is in danger will they remember the person who reaches out to them.”

Just like back then, he had also deeply remembered Xue Jingci in his mind in this way.

“The amber Pei Huang gave you was intentionally broken by me.”

“When we left the Ghost Pearl illusion, although I was injured, it wasn’t that serious. It was because I saw you were going with Pei Huang that I broke my own meridians to force you to stay.”

Things he once went to great lengths to hide were all spoken today.

In Xiao Xun’s heart, there was only one last bit of hope, and that was that Master could give him one more chance.

He really knew he was wrong.