Fang Zhiyuan had never seen Lin Fuqing cry, nor had he ever thought about what Lin Fuqing would look like with tears in his eyes.
He had never even considered it.
This senior brother of his was like the gentle breeze, the bright moon, and the first snow. No matter what he was compared to, he always seemed noble, pure, and untouchable.
What could possibly hurt his heart? What could be enough to make him feel wronged?
Lin Fuqing lifted his gaze slightly to look at him, then he turned his face to the side and raised his sleeve to cover his eyes.
It was difficult to describe the feeling in that glance. It seemed like a soft complaint, a silent reproach—blaming him for causing so much pain that he lost control of himself.
“You…” Fang Zhiyuan suddenly panicked, completely at a loss. It felt like his flesh, blood, and bones were burning. He stammered, “You… you… how…”
His mind was in chaos. He quickly stepped forward and grabbed Lin Fuqing’s shoulders. “You… Shige? Lin Fuqing? Why… I…”
The man who hadn’t broken even under Fang Tinghai’s torment seemed to collapse in that moment. “Don’t… What’s wrong with you?!”
Lin Fuqing didn’t respond. He only turned his back and quietly wiped his tears away.
This confused Fang Zhiyuan even more. Anxious and flustered, he tried to cover it up with anger. He clenched his teeth and raised his voice. “Don’t cry! Don’t cry, don’t cry… Are you—are you ashamed or something?!”
Lin Fuqing whispered, “I’m not crying anymore.”
“Then turn around and look at me,” Fang Zhiyuan said.
Lin Fuqing gradually calmed down. Slowly, he turned his head. His eyelashes were wet, darker and heavier than ink.
Then, something warm was suddenly pressed into his hand—it was half of the inner core.
“I don’t want it anymore,” Fang Zhiyuan said, leaning in close, almost pulling him into a hug. He whispered, “Take it. Don’t cry. I’m giving it to you…”
The warmth made him shiver.
Lin Fuqing asked quietly, “What would I even do with this?”
The question caught Fang Zhiyuan off guard.
Right… what could Shige do with it?
For a moment, his thoughts scattered.
Fang Zhiyuan tugged at the corner of his lips awkwardly, then pulled his hand back stiffly. “You’re right. You’re not like the rest of those beastly scumbags in the Fang family. What could you possibly want it for… I’ve looked down on you.”
Why had he given it to his senior brother in the first place? He’d shoved the inner core into his hand without even thinking.
Maybe it was because he’d always been low-born, rough, and emotionally clumsy—someone who didn’t know how to give gifts, much less comfort people with kind words.
That little piece of core had once been torn from his flesh. It had been taken from him in agony years ago. And now, after all that time, he finally got it back… To him, if the Fang family had been so desperate for it, then surely it held some worth.
But the moment Lin Fuqing started crying, he panicked—and just gave it away without a second thought.
===================
Lin Fuqing’s palm rested on the rune etched into the iron lock. For a long time, he stayed that way.
He thought, dazed: Did I really cry back then?
So many years had passed in the blink of an eye. So many people, so many things had changed. But the man who’d been scared senseless by his tears that day—he was still here. Even after two lives.
“Zhiyuan?” Lin Fuqing called softly.
Fang Zhiyuan was staring at the rack, lost in thought. He didn’t seem to hear him.
Under the moonlight, Lin Fuqing suddenly noticed how pale the man’s face looked.
Something stabbed at his chest, sharp and soft all at once. Without thinking, he reached out and pulled Fang Zhiyuan away from the rack. “Don’t look at it.”
Fang Zhiyuan jolted, like his soul had just snapped back into place. His face was bloodless, but he shook his head and managed a small response. “It’s okay. I’m fine. Did… Shige call me just now?”
Lin Fuqing sighed. “Alright. Take the inner core. Let’s head back quietly. I’ll ask Huaguo to refine it back into your body tomorrow.”
He stepped forward to the center of the magic circle beneath the rack, knelt down, and reached out to feel the ground. “Is it here?”
“Back then, when you punched the cover, I was too focused on feeling distressed . But now that I think about it…” Lin Fuqing paused. “It was kind of funny.”
Fang Zhiyuan glanced over. “Funny? How?”
“Like… cracking a walnut.”
Fang Zhiyuan shook his head with a laugh.
Lin Fuqing had just broken the seal and retrieved the inner core when he suddenly heard Fang Zhiyuan ask behind him, “Shige, do you know what kind of formation is engraved on this rack?”
Lin Fuqing pulled it toward him and took a closer look.
He said, “It’s a bit weird, like a stacked array. The first layer is a spirit gathering array; the second layer appears to be for the purpose of draining spiritual energy–it should be that secret method; the third… hmm?”
Fang Zhiyuan took over. “The third layer is a spell array that imprisons people, and it’s used in conjunction with the Soul-Imprisoning Lock. People bound by this array can’t release their spiritual energy, and manipulating their spiritual energy will cause them excruciating pain. If the yin monster had not bitten the Soul-Imprisoning Lock, I would never have been able to escape.”
Lin Fuqing’s eyes darkened. “It’s really an evil thing.”
A gust of night wind blew past, and the broken window rattled. Fang Zhiyuan was silent for a few breaths, then he took out the spiritual jade slip and handed it to him. “Although it’s an evil thing, it’s not unusable. Write it down, Demon Lord Lin. If I make you cry again, you can lock me up with a chain.”
“Why would I lock you up? You’re so well behaved now.” Lin Fuqing took the jade slip and engraved the formation with his soul and spiritual energy. “Okay, I’ve memorized it now. Let’s go back.”
They left the abandoned hut and returned the same way they came.
After they entered the dark secret passage, Lin Fuqing took a step back. As if possessed by a ghost, he hugged Fang Zhiyuan from behind.
“……!” Fang Zhiyuan froze, his Adam’s apple rolling.
Lin Fuqing rested his chin on Fang Zhiyuan’s shoulder, half hooked his hands around his waist, and whispered, “Don’t be sad. I’ll comfort you.”
Fang Zhiyuan pursed his lips, and in the darkness, a hint of restraint flashed across his brows. When he spoke, his voice was somewhat hoarse. “I’m not sad. Let go.”
He suddenly realized that something was wrong.
In his previous life, he woke up very late. By the time he truly realized his feelings, he and Lin Fuqing had already separated from each other and went their own ways as immortal and demonic cultivators.
Every moonlit night or even on nights with no moonlight, no matter how the immortal leader tossed and turned, the demon lord who had a harem of three thousand concubines in the depths of Snow Bone City would never know.
Later, the demonic path was destroyed and Lin Fuqing was on the verge of death. At the time, although he was constantly holding his senior brother in his arms, his heart was tormented and naturally he would not have any other thoughts.
But now…
“No.” Lin Fuqing laughed, his breath brushing across Fang Zhiyuan’s earlobe. “Why can you hug me as you please, but you won’t let me hug you? It’s so unfair.”
Fang Zhiyuan felt as if his body was burning hot. He opened his mouth, but no words would come out. Dangerous impulses rolled in his hot blood, stimulating his burning heart to beat harder and faster, and his eyes were bright in the darkness.
He gritted his teeth and repeated, “…Lin Fuqing, let go!”
Tempted by bad thoughts, Lin Fuqing said, “Let me hold you for a while longer. You’re so warm.”
Fang Zhiyuan suddenly let out a deep laugh. He bit his lip and said in a low voice, “Do you know what I’m thinking about now!?”
Lin Fuqing said softly, “I know.”
Fang Zhiyuan sneered, “Forget it, you don’t know anything.”
Lin Fuqing thought to himself: Foolish or not, it was you who doesn’t know anything.
They walked two more steps in the darkness. Fang Zhiyuan stopped again, quickly turned his sharp gaze toward his shige, and said bitterly, “I’m telling you, if you continue like this… you won’t even notice if someone is taking advantage of you!”
Lin Fuqing thought to himself: I’ve told you countless times but you still don’t know. It’s obvious that I’m the one taking advantage of you. You sold yourself out and you’re still afraid I won’t make any money.
After thinking about it again, he said, “You’re not a human, so it doesn’t matter.”
Fang Zhiyuan’s eyes changed slightly.
He then smiled and raised his eyebrows, “Then tell me, what am I?”
=========
Seven years ago.
Xuyun Peak, the top of the main peak.
The night was dark with no moon, and the stars appeared even brighter.
Under the green pine tree, the young Lin Fuqing knelt behind Yin Changxin’s back.
Spring had already arrived at the foot of the mountain, yet the snow at the top had not yet melted. The hem of his white robe dragged in the snow, and it was difficult to tell whether it was cloth or snow.
The twelve-year-old boy was wrapped in a snow-white fur coat, and he said in a clear and tender voice, “Master, he is gone.”
“Who?”
“The child I picked up.”
“Why did he leave?”
“You came back and he didn’t think you would let him stay.”
“Mmmmn.”
“He is seriously injured and in poor health. He has many injuries. He’ll die if he leaves like this.”
“Mmmmn.”
“Master.”
“Hmmm?”
“Master.”
“….…”
“Master.”
“—Ahem! You want to save him?”
“Qing’er wants to.”
“You can’t save him.”
“Why? You said that Qing’er has the destiny of a compassionate immortal and can save the people of the three realms. Isn’t he a human being, a living being of the three realms?”
“He is not.”
Lin Fuqing’s pupils shrank.
The whistling wind stopped and the snow fell silently.
At this moment, the world was silent on the main peak of Xuyun.
Lin Fuqing raised his young face, and the pine branches cast shadows on the corners of his eyes and eyebrows.
The gray-robed Taoist turned around, his eyes cold and indifferent. Yin Changxin stretched out a slender hand and stroked the child’s head. “He is not a human.”
Lin Fuqing’s throat was dry. “Then…”
Yin Changxin said, “He is a star.”
Lin Fuqing lowered his eyes a little sadly. He said seriously, “But he is a good star. I like him and I don’t want him to die.”
He raised his eyes again, “Master, I want to save him.”
Those eyes were too pure, their lights too soft, glowing with a clear and innocent luster. “I will protect him.”
It was like a child had picked up a wounded little animal on the side of the road and then pestered the elders and said: I like it, I want to raise it, I will take good care of it, please let me raise it.
But this was not a little beast, but a Star of Calamity.
Lin Fuqing knew it very well, but in his mind there was no difference between the two.
If he liked something, he would pick it up and take good care of it.
He could afford it and he could protect it.
This was the case with Yu Hongtang back then, and it was also the case with Fang Zhiyuan now.
Yin Changxin seemed to see through his thoughts and tapped his forehead with his finger. “Stars are not fish. They’re not that easy to raise.”
Lin Fuqing insisted, “Qing’er will try his best to raise him.”
“……Well.”
Yin Chang rubbed his hair in annoyance, then he waved his hands like he was shooing away a fly. “Okay, okay, then you go.”
Lin Fuqing bowed his head obediently.
He stood up and hurriedly turned away.
=========
“Star.”
Lin Fuqing smiled and said, “You’re my star. Isn’t that what you want me to say?”
The two came out of the secret passage and saw the same rockery, with moonlight and starlight shining in the sky.
Lin Fuqing poked Fang Zhiyuan between the eyebrows. “Little calamity star.”
Unexpectedly, Fang Zhiyuan grabbed his wrist and looked at him intently. “I’m the Star of Calamity, then what are you?”
Lin Fuqing was slightly startled, feeling that this conversation seemed familiar.
After thinking for a while, he realized that before coming to Liuhua Continent, they had been drinking under the old sacred tree. At that time, Fang Zhiyuan had said exactly the same words.
Lin Fuqing pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, “I’m someone who fishes the star out with his own hands. After I send that star up into the sky, I’ll be the person to look up at the star. Is that right?”
“Wrong.”
Fang Zhiyuan closed the mechanism and covered the secret passage. “Speak again.”
Lin Fuqing had already summoned Tunan, intending to retrace their path. Hearing this, he frowned. “Why is it wrong?”
Fang Zhiyuan turned and sat on Tunan. He said solemnly, “You are the immortal who kills stars.”
“Shige, don’t cultivate the demonic path in this life. Become an immortal.”
The author has something to say:
Immortal Sovereign Fang: (collapse) It’s over. I want to kiss him. I actually want to kiss him so much?! I even want to [silent beep——] him?! It’s over. What if I really lose control and [silent beep——] my shige? What should I do——
Demon Lord Lin: (holding his forehead)… Why did I pick up such a silly star back then?
<< Previous | Chapters | Next >>