Xun Mingsi stood there, his gaze lingering on the red brocade carriage as it disappeared into the distance. He remained motionless for a long while, lost in thought.
Until Lin Fuqing’s familiar voice broke the silence.
“Mingsi.”
Startled, Xun Mingsi turned around and saw Lin Fuqing and Fang Zhiyuan standing behind him. Lin Fuqing smiled and asked, “Has the Little Demon Boy left?”
“….”
For some reason, Xun Mingsi felt an unfamiliar sense of guilt, as though he had been caught doing something wrong.
In the Immortal Sect, seniority was determined by when one joined the sect. Despite being four years older than both Lin Fuqing and Fang Zhiyuan, Xun Mingsi had always treated them as his senior brothers ever since his arrival at Xuyun Peak. In the years that followed on Taiqing Island, his thoughts were solely focused on the sect, and he had never once reached out to the immortal world.
But today, a stranger had appeared, causing him to abandon his senior brothers in his haste to chase after him. Now, standing before them, he felt a twinge of guilt.
Xun Mingsi cleared his throat, stepping forward and saying, “Da shixiong, second shixiong… Mingsi has not been diligent in his martial arts, and has brought shame to Xuyun.”
Lin Fuqing smiled softly, and his deep eyes seemed to look straight into Xun Mingsi’s heart. He asked, “Tell me, what did Shentu say to you?”
“He…” Xun Mingsi hesitated, unsure how to explain. The little demon boy had been both crying and laughing, and Xun Mingsi was still confused by the whole exchange. It was unusual for him to be at a loss for words.
Lin Fuqing asked again, “Did he ask you to deliver a message for him?”
Xun Mingsi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Da shixiong, you truly have a way of predicting things.”
He handed over the red lotus agate. “The boy said he had done something wrong in the past and was too ashamed to come see you. He asked me to bring this to you.”
Fang Zhiyuan’s expression flickered for a moment, and he murmured, “As expected.”
He took the red lotus from Xun Mingsi, confirming it was ordinary jade before passing it to Lin Fuqing.
Xun Mingsi gently asked, “When did da shixiong become acquainted with Senluo Stone Palace?”
Lin Fuqing toyed with the red lotus, his gaze distant, as if recalling something from long ago. “A long, long time ago.”
…It was indeed a long time ago.
In his past life, Shentu Linchun had been arrogant and wild. Though rescued and restored to sanity by the Demon Emperor, he could never reconcile with Lin Fuqing’s cold, detached nature.
And when he learned of Lin Fuqing’s efforts to suppress the yin wi beneath the Red Lotus Abyss for the sake of the immortal world, Shentu thought Lin Fuqing foolish, kind-hearted, and looked down on him even more.
“I said, Your Majesty…”
Deep inside Snow Bone City, Shentu Linchun threw aside his robe, a red immortal fruit in his hand. He bared his tiger-like teeth with a mocking grin. “With your spineless nature, do you really qualify as a Demon Lord?”
Lin Fuqing sat at his desk in a dark fur brocade robe, long hair cascading over his shoulders as he calmly wrote a letter. He raised the corners of his narrow eyes and said flatly, “I never called myself Demon Lord. If you can get everyone in the Immortal Realm to stop calling me that, I’ll count you as capable.”
Shentu Linchun bit into the immortal fruit with a crisp crunch. “Lu Kuifu used to be one of your Immortal Sect people, and he’s obsessed with repaying favors—he follows you out of gratitude. Chai E is greedy for pleasure, swayed by anyone who offers him enough jewels and beauties, so you got him too. But me, I’m different. Lin Fuqing, I don’t recognize you.”
The Demon Lord lowered his brush and placed the tip into the inkstone. A thin thread of ink slowly unfurled on the page. He dipped the brush again with care, then replied mildly, “Hm.”
Shentu arched his brow, laughing coldly. His voice rang out, clear and mocking, “A wise bird chooses the right tree to roost in. I think the Evil Lord of the Ghost Realm would suit me better. I’ll bring him here to conquer Snow Bone City and offer him your severed head as a token of loyalty.”
Lin Fuqing chuckled. “Very well. Go find him, then.”
He wasn’t angry in the least.
“Lin Fuqing!” Shentu flared, suddenly tearing toward the snow-white letter on the desk. “You’re looking down on me—!”
Before his hand reached the paper, his wrist was seized.
Lin Fuqing’s right hand still held the brush. His left had already gripped the boy’s pulse, pressing down inch by inch without a change in expression.
“I’m writing a congratulatory letter to the new Immortal Sovereign of Liuhua Continent,” he said.
“You’re not allowed to see it.”
……….
In this world of cultivators, where a hundred years could pass in a breath, Lin Fuqing was still too young.
He wasn’t much older than Shentu Linchun, but in every matter, he was calm, steady, and unreadable. No matter how fiercely the Little Demon Boy provoked him, he never rose to it—and that only deepened Shentu’s frustration.
Not long after, Shentu Linchun defected from Snow Bone City.
He truly went to the Ghost Realm and took refuge with the Evil Lord, Gu Wenxiang.
Back then, when Lin Fuqing attained enlightenment in the Red Lotus Abyss, he awakened many cultivators from their madness. Most who regained their sanity willingly pledged allegiance to Demon Emperor Lin.
As for the few who did not… there were always those who refused to yield.
Two years after the founding of Snow Bone City, the territory near the Ghost Domain declared independence, no longer recognizing the Demon Lord’s rule. Its master proclaimed himself the Evil Lord, as if to stand equal with Lin Fuqing.
It was said that the Evil Lord, Gu Wenxiang, was born of darkness and treachery. Cunning and ruthless, he was a vessel of corruption who had never undergone true enlightenment. Naturally, he had no respect for Lin Fuqing and opposed him at every turn.
The Little Demon Boy, Shentu Linchun, defected from Snow Bone City and was granted a lofty title by Gu Wenxiang. Yet… though proud and mischievous by nature, Shentu was sincere at heart. He could not stomach despicable tricks and shadowed schemes. Therefore, within Gu Wenxiang’s fold, he fared poorly. Before long, he requested reassignment and was sent to guard the borderlands of the Ghost Domain.
Lin Fuqing never truly knew how Shentu and Third Xun came to befriend one another. He only knew that, in their previous lives, the two crossed paths on Taiqing Island—dueling beneath Xuyun Peak—and became acquainted through battle.
But how their bond deepened amidst the chaos of war…he could not say.
What is known was this: when the gods from beyond the heavens descended upon the Three Realms, they brought ruin in their wake. Those beings with golden eyes, calling themselves the true gods, stirred the cultivator world with their righteous cries of “purge the demonic.” And thus began the war between the immortals and the so-called evil cultivators.
Their first target was the Wangliang Ghost Domain. Shentu Linchun led his forces into battle, only to suffer a crushing defeat. His demon soldiers fell in droves.
On the run, he was shielded by Third Xun. But Third Xun was soon branded a demon himself. Captured by the foreign gods, he was blinded, all ten fingers severed, and left barely clinging to life.
Heartbroken, Shentu Linchun carried the dying Xun Mingsi back to the Ghost Domain in search of help. But by then, the Evil Lord was entangled in his own troubles. Why would he care for a fallen general—much less one bearing a human cultivator?
With Xun Mingsi on his back, Shentu crossed the eight checkpoints of the Ghost Domain, shouting until his voice turned to blood. Yet not a single pass was issued, not even a single healing pill spared.
His arrogance shattered, Shentu Linchun stood at the end of the road. And Xun Mingsi, gravely wounded, was fast slipping beyond saving.
In desperation, Shentu could only return to Snow Bone City with death in mind. He knelt in the main hall until the floor was slick with blood, begging the Demon Lord to save him.
=========
“…And then?”
Still in the inn at Liuhua Continent, the sun had already dipped low.
Fang Zhiyuan leaned against the window, listening with great interest as his senior brother recounted the story.
Lin Fuqing took a sip of tea. “Nothing happened afterward. I took them in, yes, but the immortal world was already in chaos. A year later, once Mingsi’s health had barely stabilized, I told the little demon boy to take him and go.”
Fang Zhiyuan asked, “You didn’t punish Shentu for coming back?”
Lin Fuqing smiled. His eyebrows curved slightly, relaxed.
“He once said he’d cut off my head to prove his loyalty. I waited for him for decades, but he never showed up.”
He paused. “In the end, he never did anything to harm me or Snow Bone City. If that counts as betrayal…”
He reached out and pinched Fang Zhiyuan’s cheek, eyes glinting playfully. “Then back when you were in Xuyun, plotting your escape every other day, I suppose you betrayed me at least a hundred times.”
Fang Zhiyuan stared at him in a daze. Lin Fuqing’s smile was softened by the fading glow of sunset.
He thought to himself: My shige once said I wasn’t fit to be a ruler—but in truth, it was he who wasn’t suited to be one.
Yet, if he truly was only a foolish, kind-hearted man, how did he manage to lead thousands of demonic cultivators for nearly a century? How did even someone as proud as Shentu Linchun, after being reincarnated, end up saying, “I did wrong. I have no face to see you”?
Fang Zhiyuan said, “You caught me every day. How could some little demon boy escape so easily?”
Lin Fuqing snorted. “What, you think everyone deserves my attention? Just chasing after you already wore me out. Why bother with anyone else?”
Fang Zhiyuan laughed.
“It’s a pity I could only protect them for one more year. Shentu couldn’t save face and always avoided me. After they left, Snow Bone City didn’t last much longer…”
He trailed off and sighed. “Never mind. If I keep going, you’ll get annoyed again.”
“Let’s talk about something else.” He reached out and touched Fang Zhiyuan’s lower abdomen, fingers resting lightly. “How is the inner core settling in? Still painful?”
Fang Zhiyuan’s expression changed in an instant. He recoiled as if scalded. “Tch. Don’t touch me!”
This guy! Does he think he can just grab anything?
Lin Fuqing withdrew his hand, blinking in confusion. “Master Fang, you don’t have to be so jumpy. In our last life, you touched every part of me and never looked so alarmed.”
“How is that the same? You couldn’t even walk back then—you think I had a choice?”
Fang Zhiyuan suddenly had a bad feeling. Were his thoughts too obvious lately?
Lin Fuqing was always perceptive. Could it be that… he’d seen through something, and was toying with him on purpose?
No. Fang Zhiyuan frowned. That didn’t sound right. If your junior starts having improper thoughts about you, it is normal to notice it.
But would a normal person test you by deliberately teasing you?
Lin Fuqing leaned in a little, looking puzzled. “Why do you look so pale? Haven’t recovered properly? That shouldn’t be…”
Fang Zhiyuan’s expression became even worse.
Lin Fuqing quickly said, “Forget it, forget it, I won’t say anything to you. You can’t even scold me…”
Fang Zhiyuan stood up suddenly, his movements so violent that he almost knocked the chair over.
For a moment, he thought that he might as well just open up and confess. At least now his senior brother was his, only his. He could pull him into his arms with one hand and knead him affectionately.
But when he thought of the rumored beauties in the Demon Lord’s harem, he became depressed and disheartened.
…Forget it. That time when his senior brother took his first concubine, Fang Zhiyuan, as the dignified leader of the immortal sect, had already lost all his face outside Snow Bone City.
He stared at Lin Fuqing for a long moment, then abruptly turned and walked away.
Lin Fuqing was left utterly confused. “Zhi…! What’s wrong? This…so hard to coax.”
He took the last sip from his teacup and put it back on the tray.
But when he turned around, he was surprised to find that Fang Zhiyuan was still there, having not really left.
He was leaning against the door, half of his face covered in shadow.
For some reason, Lin Fuqing’s heart skipped a beat. “Zhiyuan?”
Fang Zhiyuan tightened his lips and looked away. He focused on controlling his tone, making it sound as casual as possible, “I almost forgot…to ask you something.”
“Isn’t it time for Ji Na to come to Liuhua Continent?”
“…….”
Lin Fuqing became silent. He thought to himself with amusement and melancholy: I thought this person might really be able to hold back from mentioning it, but it turned out to be impossible.
Fang Zhiyuan cleared his throat and added, “Shige, you’re going to meet him tomorrow, right?”
“I’ll go with you.”
———————————
The author has something to say:
The shame Third Xun felt at that moment was actually similar to the embarrassment of a good student who met an online friend for the first time without telling his parents but was caught as soon as he entered the house.
As for the love line, there is a reason why the senior brother didn’t make it clear. Of course, he wouldn’t deliberately keep the little calamity star hanging just for amusement…He has a hurdle that he can’t get over, which will be revealed in the next Ziwei Pavilion copy.