VL Chapter11

The dynamic between the person and the ghost seemed to have experienced a certain imbalance; specifically, the Ghost King’s attitude had subtly shifted.

Yan Jiang could not quite explain the reason for this. He actually couldn’t remember clearly what had happened that night; he had been drunk then, only recalling that he ran into a ghost in the middle of the night, panicked, and bumped right into the Ghost King, who even reached out to steady him. After that, his memory cut off. When he woke up again, he was lying comfortably on the inner side of the large bed, while the Ghost King leaned against the outer headboard with an expressionless face, staring at him thoughtfully.

Most of the time, the Ghost King remained that terrifying, untouchable Ghost King, and Yan Jiang was still the miserable scholar living in fear every day just to stay alive. If anything had changed, it was that the Ghost King now called the scholar to his presence more often to tease him. One day he would ask Yan Jiang to paint a folding fan surface for him, the next day he would have Yan Jiang trim his fingernails, and sometimes, seeing him return home drenched in sweat, he would even release a cloud of black mist, startling and freezing him until he shivered.

Things of this nature were all harmless little pranks.

At first, Yan Jiang was terrified, his legs turning to jelly at the slightest provocation. It took him quite a long time to gradually get used to being teased by him.

Occasionally, they would chat a little. Mostly, Shi Xiao would ask questions, and Yan Jiang would dutifully answer. However, Shi Xiao, who was driven by an intent to deliberately make things difficult for him, would always ask questions like, “Yan Huaizhi even dared to assassinate high-ranking generals of the imperial court, so why does he have such a spineless descendant like you?” Not only did Yan Jiang not know the answer, but even if he did, how would he dare to slander his ancestors recklessly? At times like these, a tense expression would unconsciously creep onto his face. With his eyes lowered and lips pressed into a tight line, he looked as though he had suffered some great injustice.

He was good-looking, but unfortunately his expressions were usually dull and rigid, obscuring his fine features. Only at moments like this did a trace of vivid life show through. Shi Xiao thought he looked much better this way, which made him even fonder of teasing him. So much so that even though they were discussing the very enemy who had killed him, he didn’t harbor even the slightest resentment at all but instead found endless pleasure in it.

Yan Jiang assumed the other party was deliberately looking for fault, becoming even more cautious as if walking on thin ice, not daring to say much.

When night fell, several night-luminescent pearls in the bedroom faithfully emitted their hazy glow as usual. Just like the preceding days, wearing only his inner garments and carrying the crisp, clean scent of a recent bath, he knelt on both knees upon the footstool while tilting his neck up toward the Ghost King sitting on the edge of the bed, exceptionally obedient.

Shi Xiao reached over as if teasing a pet and patted his head. His palm slid down through his loose hair to his temple, his fingers threading into the roots as he cradled the back of his head and gently pushed him forward, drawing him closer. The texture beneath his palm was warm and soft, trembling slightly; likely out of fear. Bending down and leaning in, he could even feel the human’s unstable breath.

The human nervously closed his eyes, yet he couldn’t hide the faint flutter of his eyelashes. With his hands hanging helplessly at his sides, Shi Xiao clutched the hem of his clothes while using his other hand to grip the slender shoulder, cutting off his prey’s last avenue of escape.

Yan Jiang felt the icy breath draw infinitely close, and then, the Ghost King’s lips pressed against his own.

The hand cradling the back of his head applied slight pressure, drawing the two even closer together. His fingers clenched tightly around his clothes until his knuckles turned white, yet he still obediently parted his lips to receive the invading force.

Too cold. Whether it was the tongue intruding into his mouth or the bridge of the nose resting against his cheek, the sub-zero temperature from deep underground made Yan Jiang shiver, serving as a constant reminder that the entity pressed intimately close to him was not human, but a ghost.

It was precisely this fact that kept him from daring to harbor the slightest thought of resistance, no matter how terrified he was.

A strange current moved within his body; rising from the lower abdomen and tracing along his meridians, carrying a bizarre warmth as it slowly drifted upward, gliding past his chest and throat.

Yan Jiang could never get used to this feeling. Pleadingly, he laid a hand on Shi Xiao’s forearm, only to feel the other party’s cold yet soft tongue tip press against the back of his throat, softly sucking as it plundered that warm current straight out of his body. A familiar wave of exhaustion swept through him; as his energy was drained away with the warm flow, his previously tense body began to go limp. Kneeling unsteadily, he swayed precariously, nearly toppling over to one side.

Shi Xiao caught him but had no intention of letting him off that easily.

As he swallowed the scholar’s soul energy, he lowered his body even further. The hand gripping the scholar’s shoulder slid down along his shoulder blade, his entire forearm extending across the frail back to forcefully hold him in place, pinning him against his chest in an embrace-like grip.

An unnaturally long tongue pushed deep into the scholar’s warm oral cavity, its rough surface scraping against the soft inner walls as it slowly curled, ruthlessly absorbing his body heat and saliva.

Yan Jiang could bear this least of all.

He couldn’t sense the slightest hint of romance in it, feeling only as though a cold snake was slithering back and forth inside his mouth. The sensation was icy and unsettling as if at any moment fangs might sink into his throat to inject venom. Uncontrollably, he let out a choked, near-suffocating whimper, the outer corners of his brows drooping into a pleading expression.

—Of course, it was completely useless. Far from showing mercy, Shi Xiao kissed him even more fiercely, the tip of his tongue probing straight against the human’s throat, churning repeatedly as it tried to push deeper. His arm tightened its grip, pinning Yan Jiang until his shoulder blades ached.

Instinct drove Yan Jiang to struggle. Wanting to push the source of danger away, his hands fumbled onto the Ghost King’s shoulders, only to lose all courage the second he felt that icy touch. His movement halted instantly; he pitifully curled his fingers, tightly clutching the other party’s sleeve as strained softly from deep within his chest.

Previously, Shi Xiao could extract his soul energy merely by tapping his forehead with a fingertip. He had no idea what had happened, but suddenly, starting from a certain day, it had turned into this. Every time, the Ghost King would press mouth to mouth, entangling tongues until Yan Jiang was left gasping for breath before stopping. Consequently, Yan Jiang’s attitude toward having his soul energy extracted had shifted from submissive cooperation to growing dread.

Yet, he never dared to truly resist, and when he could endure no more, he could only beg piteously, utterly helpless.

Finally, just before the human was about to suffocate, Shi Xiao reluctantly withdrew his lips and tongue, pulling back slightly until their noses almost touched, attentively observing Yan Jiang’s dazed face.

That face was flushed with a lovely crimson tint like a drop of fresh blood falling into plain water, or like painting with cinnabar on blank rice paper; giving off the sensation of a green fruit that had ripened overnight.

He had become exceedingly adorable.

Shi Xiao was immensely satisfied, admiring the sight in his heart.

Even though he had already extracted the soul energy, he still felt it was far from enough. The ghost energy inside his body continued to surge in secret, fiercely craving something deeper. And so, he lowered his head once again and bit down on the scholar’s slightly parted, gasping lips. He used quite a bit of force as if he genuinely intended to tear off that piece of soft flesh and devour it just to quench the burning thirst in his heart.

A faint metallic taste of blood spread between their entwined lips and tongues. Yan Jiang let out a muffled, brief gasp of pain, his eyes turning watery before Shi Xiao finally released his mouth once more.

Still keeping one arm around the scholar’s shoulders and back, Shi Xiao slid his other hand beneath his knees, straightened his upper body, and scooped him directly onto his lap.

It was an unnaturally intimate posture.

Yet, with the atmosphere already set, certain things fell naturally into place without the slightest trace of awkwardness. Though it was clearly the Ghost King’s first time doing this, he handled it with utmost ease.

“You insensitive bookworm.” He scolded Yan Jiang out of nowhere, using the pad of his thumb to rub his red and swollen lips.

Yan Jiang did not answer; or rather, he hadn’t heard Shi Xiao’s words at all. The moment Shi Xiao relaxed the hand supporting his body, he collapsed heavily against the other’s icy chest.

Having lost three parts of his soul energy, his body was fatigued to the absolute limit, so much so that he could barely keep his eyelids open. His mind was an utterly confused, chaotic mess with not a single trace of clarity; only a lingering survival instinct remained, reminding him not to get too close to the Ghost King, driving him to keep trying to crawl away to the side.

Shi Xiao simply wouldn’t allow it.

Without using much effort, he watched the scholar in his arms squirm about within his elbow like a small pet. Only after half an incense stick’s time, having truly failed to find a way out, did the scholar finally quiet down and behave, his eyelids half-drooping as he shivered slightly.

“My Lord, have mercy… I was wrong…” The little pet couldn’t discern his current situation, remembering only to plead guilty first. His voice was exceedingly faint and weak, floating driftily into the Ghost King’s ears.

His fear of the Ghost King had long become a habit.

In truth, it wasn’t that Shi Xiao acted particularly fierce, but rather that the identity of a ghost naturally carried a power that inspired fear. When conscious, Yan Jiang could still use reason to put on a pretense; now, with his mind completely clouded, his innermost feelings were laid entirely bare. His heart pounded wildly, transmitting its thumps with crystal clarity to the Ghost King through flesh and clothing, laying bare his discomfort and panic.

It stirred up a wave of displeasure in Shi Xiao out of thin air.

Yet, after staring down at him for a good while and seeing that the frail scholar was indeed in a terrible state, he lost any desire to press the matter further. With a flick of his fingertip, he released a wisp of ghost energy to drag him into sleep, bringing an abrupt end to this impulse-driven farce.

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