VL Chapter20

Over the course of a day and a night, Yan Jiang had been rushing around and suffering shocks, leaving him thoroughly exhausted. Coupled with being held in Shi Xiao’s embrace the whole time, he inevitably caught a chill. To prevent him from running a fever again, Shi Xiao used a bit of ghostly energy to let him sleep a deep, long sleep.

It was so long that the sun climbed to its highest point and slowly sank back down, painting the outside of the window in a brilliant orange red, yet he still slept peacefully without waking.

Shi Xiao had just finished a round of circulating his energy. When he opened his eyes again, the flickering red light in them had faded, returning to a calm, pure black. By now, the wound piercing through his abdomen and back had largely healed, filled with abundant ghostly energy and possessing power nearly identical to when he left the Ghost Realm, meaning he was no longer restricted during daylight hours.

However…

Shi Xiao entered the bedroom and walked over to the edge of the bed. He opened his palm, releasing a wisp of ghostly energy, and watched thoughtfully as it drifted spontaneously toward the bed without any urging, flying joyfully in circles around Yan Jiang.

The power of the Tengjiao Dagger was far more mysterious and complex than he had believed.

The wound being mostly healed was only a superficial illusion; the Ghost King knew well that there was still a leak deep within his ghostly body that refused to heal no matter what. Most of the time, this internal wound caused him no trouble, but the moment he circulated his energy, it acted like a whirlpool on the open sea, devouring all passing ghostly energy like a bottomless pit.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried using plundered soul energy as a medium to aid in healing, just as he would mend any other wound, and it had even shown some minor results. Yet, whether because the soul energy available for each repair was too scant or because the lingering power of the Tengjiao Dagger was too potent, every time a portion was restored, it would immediately tear apart again, trapping him in an endless cycle of repeated repairs and destruction.

He had ordered Kang Yuan to investigate, but since the Tengjiao Dagger was an ancient artifact, the probability of finding useful information was vanishingly small. And as long as this wound remained stuck here, he would not be able to return to the Ghost Realm for even a single day.

Shi Xiao moved his fingers, recalling the ghostly energy that had been rubbing indiscriminately against Yan Jiang’s face.

Last night, when he had possessed Cai Lide’s body, he attempted to take the man’s soul energy. However, his ghostly body had likely grown too accustomed to Yan Jiang’s scent and heavily rejected the soul energy of others, ultimately making it unusable for repairing the wound.

It seemed to be an inescapable dead end.

Shi Xiao sat down on the edge of the bed.

The resulting movement seemed to disturb the person in his sleep. Yan Jiang let out a vague soft hum, turned over, and curled himself into a ball.

Although he had thinned out somewhat, his frame was actually that of a normal southern man. Yet, because the Ghost King was overly tall and the bed was spacious, it made him appear as a tiny little bundle, looking exceptionally soft.

If Shi Xiao had wanted to, he could easily have refrained from restraining himself to taking only thirty percent of his soul energy and instead taken his soul body directly. He had no one to rely on, no matter how one looked at it. If he were to simply disappear, it certainly wouldn’t disturb the order of the Mortal Realm.

Yet for some reason, he gradually found himself growing quite soft-hearted toward this human.

At first, it was because he was a descendant of Yan Huai, and watching him beg for mercy and kneel under his control, that spineless and cowardly appearance, was quite amusing. But who knows when it started; the dignified Sovereign of the Ghost Realm would actually, in certain moments, suddenly discern this human’s lovable qualities.

Mixed in with that lovableness was also a bit of indescribable desire.

He slipped his hand beneath the covers, feeling around the human’s waist before unabashedly savoring the softness and warmth of the skin under his palm.

Yan Jiang hummed again, his eyelashes trembling as if he had the inclination to wake up. The Ghost King simply scooped him entirely off the bed through the blanket, embracing him into his arms as naturally as picking up his own personal possession, and gently breathed in the soul scent on his body.

When he raised his head again, the scholar had already opened his drowsy eyes, looking completely dazed.

His consciousness had not yet fully returned, and he instinctively raised a hand, wanting to push away the restriction on his body, but he hadn’t expected that the moment his hand poked out from under the covers, it would be forcefully taken over by another hand.

The temperature in Shi Xiao’s palm gave him a start, shocking him into sudden sobriety.

“My Lord,” Yan Jiang called out timidly, his throat still carrying a burning sensation from overuse. His toes curled nervously beneath the covers, wanting to shrink his body back, but there was nowhere at all to hide.

Outside, the sky had already grown pitch black.

Shi Xiao let out an “En” in response, pulled that hand up to his lips, and bit it lightly like a tease, leaving a shallow tooth mark.

Sensing the other person shrinks back in fright, he didn’t get angry at all; instead, with good-natured patience, he placed him back down on the bed.

“Tonight is the full moon, and the Ghost Gates are wide open. Be careful, Ah Fu.” He stood up and scratched the human’s chin like teasing a little puppy. In the dim light, the dark red patterns on his black robes stood out even more distinctly, shimmering faintly as if they possessed life. “After all, other ghosts are not as gentle as this venerable one.”

Like some kind of signal, the moment his voice fell, ravens fluttered up and the air suddenly grew stagnant.

Clang—Clang—

Crisp, ethereal gong strikes drifted in from the hall, their lingering echoes long and ethereal, sounding uncannily like some bizarre chant.

Yan Jiang’s body stiffened. He looked toward the direction of the bedroom doorway, his hand instinctively grabbing onto the Ghost King’s sleeve, twisting the fine fabric into several creases.

“Are you scared?” Shi Xiao’s eyes revealed a faint, subtle amusement as if his plan had succeeded.

Yan Jiang breathed hurriedly, lowered his head as he trembled, and gave no answer.

Before he could mentally prepare himself, he felt the Ghost King’s wrist quickly flip over, turning to grip his wrist and pull him out from the cocoon of the blanket to his side. A large hand clamped onto his jaw, forcing him to raise his head.

“This venerable one was just abandoned once and is terribly sad. Why doesn’t Ah Fu say something nice to coax this venerable one?” The Ghost King lowered his eyes and said in a gentle voice.

His voice was dropped extremely low, spoken practically right against Yan Jiang’s ear in an intensely intimate manner, and even the content of his words seemed to carry a hint of showing weakness.

Yet it was only a hint.

Yan Jiang knew that could never be a true lowering of his stance; rather, it was precisely because he firmly controlled the overall situation that he didn’t mind playing a game of swapping social standing with someone beneath him.

And the one beneath him had no other choice.

Terrified to the extreme, Yan Jiang kept his eyes tightly shut, his complexion as pale as paper.

The lingering echoes of the gong still reverberated in his ears, countless terrifying memories flashed continuously through his mind, and the dim environment served as the absolute best condition for fear to ferment, making it impossible not to uncontrollably suspect whether something was lurking within that darkness.

Even right outside the wall, rustling noises inexplicably began to rise, sounding like chewing, crying, and mingled with the harsh screech of sharp objects being dragged across the ground.

“My Lord, My Lord.” By the time he realized what he was doing, Yan Jiang’s arms were already tightly wrapped around Shi Xiao’s waist while burying his face like an ostrich into the black clothing. Even though the jade embedded in the other party’s belt dug painfully into his forehead, he didn’t dare loosen his grip for even a second.

“I really know I was wrong… I’ll be good, I’ll obediently listen to you, and I’ll never run away again, I can swear it…” He spoke very hurriedly, afraid of startling other things, and his voice was even softer than what Shi Xiao had used just moments ago. “I beg you, I-I’m scared… Don’t leave me alone here…”

He was truly terrified to the point of rambling incoherently, knowing only to repeat a few meagre, desperate pleas. After repeating this back and forth a few times, he finally felt the Ghost King’s abdomen vibrate slightly as if he were laughing.

Shortly after, his arm was pulled away, and Shi Xiao leaned down, bringing their noses tip-to-tip.

“You really learned this without being taught,” he suddenly said irrelevantly, patting Yan Jiang’s face. ” Weren’t you afraid of me just a moment ago? Now you know how to ask me for help.”

Yet, having ultimately accepted the human’s promise, he scooped him up with one arm, pulling his entire body straight into his embrace.

Yan Jiang clenched his back molars, silently hugging the Ghost King’s broad shoulders and back tightly.

He was aware of the humiliation, knowing that yielding and pleading for help from his abuser violated a scholar’s integrity, but the fear was about to strip away half his life, and he had completely broken down, lacking the courage to fight back any longer.

When all is said and done, he was just the most ordinary of people; mediocre and spineless.

Fortunately, having found the Ghost King’s protection, he couldn’t see Kang Yuan’s blood-soaked appearance, nor could he see the dead-silent moonlight outside the wide-open doors, where swarms of grimly dead ghosts wandered back and forth, repeating the scenes of their deaths over and over again.

A newly dead ghost who had hanged herself dangled from the eaves, it was a young woman with a gruesome appearance. Looking over from the window, one could meet her face-to-face: her bulging eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets, her tongue hung long and dark purple, and her abdomen was distended, with something living seemingly hidden inside, pulsing irregularly.

Shi Xiao glanced over, somewhat displeased, and casually released a wisp of ghostly energy to slam the window shut. Only then did he take a seat in a chair and begin talking with his subordinate.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Kang Yuan had long been waiting anxiously, pouring the recent state of the Ghost Realm all into the sound of the gong. Because his emotions were overly agitated, he struck the mallet heavily, making one’s eardrums ache from the vibration.

And the information contained within was exceptionally heavy.

Shi Xiao frowned, pondering in silence while his hand soothingly patted the continually shrinking Yan Jiang.

After a moment, he said to Kang Yuan, “Do everything you can to steady Gui Feng. If necessary, it wouldn’t be out of the question to advise him to directly ascend to the Ghost King’s throne relying on the Tengjiao Dagger.”

Clang—

Kang Yuan replied with hesitation.

Just then, two starved ghosts met in front of the thatched cottage and suddenly fell into a brawl. Their limbs were skin and bones, yet their bellies were bloated high as if pumped with air. As they fought, they let out shrill, piercing screams. One of them had its stomach scratched open, spilling yellowish-white bodily fluids all over the ground, but it seemed completely oblivious, pinning the other underneath and opening its jaw to devour it alive.

That was the reenactment of famished victims resorting to cannibalism before death, though ghosts had no need to eat.

Shi Xiao covered Yan Jiang’s ears and motioned for Kang Yuan to look. Only after the devoured ghost staggered away with half its head missing did he answer his subordinate’s earlier hesitation.

“The throne of the Ghost King doesn’t belong exclusively to this venerable one; it does no harm to let Gui Feng sit on it for a while, and we can just take it back later. But if he is driven to desperation and disrupts the Mortal Realm as a result, I’m afraid once the Immortal Realm steps in, the situation will become impossible to salvage.”

Kang Yuan still didn’t take the lead tonight. Others couldn’t see his expression but could only guess from the drooping movement of his shoulders that he must have let out a helpless sigh.

After a long while, he feebly struck the gong to acknowledge Shi Xiao’s order.