ATAVID CH105

His consciousness was hazy and chaotic, but a faint premonition arose deep within Jiang Qunyu’s heart—this particular memory was rapidly drawing to a close.

The Heavenly Dao’s crisp, gentle voice seemed to still echo right beside his ear, saying: “Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, you and I shall meet again.”

Jiang Qunyu had originally wanted to ask when exactly this “not-too-distant future” would be.

Yet before he could open his mouth, the surrounding chaotic void suddenly shattered and dissolved. The boundless, hazy mist receded entirely, replaced by the crisp, familiar chiming sound of jingling bells ringing by his ear.

He forced his eyes open as his blurry vision gradually sharpened. What entered his sight was Wei Xun’s lowered brow.

Beneath the dim, amber glow of the candle, the man’s expression was incredibly gentle. That hand with distinct knuckles held Jiang Qunyu’s slender ankle, his movements light and slow as he fastened a small silver bell around it.

Jiang Qunyu had no idea what kind of new trick the man was trying to pull now. However, likely due to that dream just moments ago, his mood was actually quite pleasant. He simply allowed Wei Xun to have his way, even offering a rather listless critique: “So ugly.”

Yet the exact instant the words left his mouth, he clamped his lips shut again.

This was because his voice at this moment was exceptionally hoarse and dry, as though it had been scraped by coarse yellow sand—weak, soft, and completely devoid of any imposing momentum.

But he only remained silent for a few seconds. Sweeping his gaze downward from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of his collarbones slanting down, covered entirely in a dense, crisscrossing mess of deep and shallow hickeys. Even the skin of his thighs was thoroughly blanketed in marks, visible everywhere his eyes could see.

A sudden surge of anger flared up again, and he gritted his teeth to demand: “Are you a dog?”

Perceiving that Jiang Qunyu was awake, Wei Xun lifted his eyes, the deep tenderness and lingering affection within them not yet fully faded. Leaning forward, he pressed a gentle kiss against the center of the other’s brow, his voice deep, husky, and carrying a hint of coaxing: “You’ve only slept for a short while. Go back to sleep for a bit longer.”

Perhaps because Wei Xun had later patiently channeled demonic energy to soothe him, and had even carried him to the hot spring pool to meticulously wash him clean, Jiang Qunyu didn’t feel the slightest bit of physical discomfort throughout his body. The sole exception was his waist, which still retained a trace of soreness, throbbing with a faint heat at the slightest movement; in a daze, the sensations from just moments ago seemed to still linger, and his lower abdomen felt somewhat fuller than usual.

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

Forcing himself to ignore the far-from-wholesome images flashing through his mind, he stared blankly at the red marks scattering across his skin, wishing nothing more than to kick Wei Xun a couple more times.

Clearly, those hickeys could easily be dissipated using demonic energy, but it was glaringly obvious that Wei Xun was entirely unwilling to do so.

On this particular point, however, Jiang Qunyu could actually understand him. For instance, when he saw that Wei Xun’s chest, shoulders, and neck were completely covered in scratch marks and bite marks left behind by himself, a bizarre sense of delight inexplicably welled up within his own heart.

This bizarre delight reached its absolute peak the moment he noticed that a silver bell of the exact same design was fastened around Wei Xun’s ankle as well.

The corners of Wei Xun’s lips hooked up, his tone brimming with smug satisfaction. He deliberately brought his own ankle closer, pressing it right against Jiang Qunyu’s bell-adorned foot, asserting with absolute certainty: “Jiang Qunyu, you like it very much too.”

Jiang Qunyu naturally refused to admit it. Stiffening his neck, he stubbornly denied it: “Not everyone is as perverted as you!”

Wei Xun nudged him slightly with his foot. As the small silver bells bumped against one another, a crisp, melodious chime drifted into their ears. He raised his eyes and asked, “Does it not sound lovely?”

Staring at their touching ankles and listening to the two intertwined bell chimes, Jiang Qunyu was momentarily struck dumb, unable to utter a single syllable in rebuttal.

Wei Xun leaned down close once more to kiss him, smiling as he teased, “If it didn’t sound lovely, would you have a reaction?”

Jiang Qunyu lay flat on his back with his knees bent, the tips of his ears burning hot, yet he stubbornly forced a cold, detached expression onto his face: “Heh heh.”

Wei Xun’s eyes curved. Gripping the other’s ankles, he dragged him down slightly before leaning over to kiss him yet again.

He was already pressed right against that spot, yet he still maliciously inquired of Jiang Qunyu, “Can’t sleep? Shall we go another round?”

Jiang Qunyu’s breathing turned rapid, a fine layer of sweat breaking out across his skin once more. With a few strands of jet-black hair draping across the side of his face, he pursed his lips, his expression seemingly displeased. After a long moment of deadlock, he finally squeezed out a single, indulgent word: “Fine!”

During the latter half of the night, the darkness grew thick and heavy, and the daybed within the heated pavilion was a chaotic mess.

Wei Xun leaned down, scooping him securely into his arms as he lifted him up.

Jiang Qunyu instinctively tightened his legs, using the momentum to wrap them around Wei Xun’s lean, firm waist. His slender, pale arms looped around the man’s neck, hanging limply onto his body like a soft rag doll as he was carried straight into the bedroom he had seen in his dream.

Because the two of them were still tightly conjoined at that moment, they would press even closer with every step taken. The subtle friction and the occasional fluid sliding down caused Jiang Qunyu’s face to flush a violent crimson.

Likely because he had only ever seen this room within that dream and during the shattering of the glazed lamp, Jiang Qunyu stared blankly at the canopy above the bed. After a good long while, he straightened his upper body slightly to clutch Wei Xun’s neck. Whimpering for a moment, he spoke in broken fragments: “…Wei, Wei Xun, you’d better be secretly rejoicing.”

Wei Xun steadied his waist, tilting his head to press a kiss against the side of his neck. Although this specific angle prevented him from seeing Jiang Qunyu’s face, he could easily guess the smug, triumphant expression the other was wearing right now. Curving his lips, he said, “I am indeed very happy.”

“Tch,” Jiang Qunyu said glefully, “I… just now… mm… had a dream…”

Wei Xun was exceptionally patient: “What kind of dream?”

Jiang Qunyu reached out, catching a few strands of Wei Xun’s hair and twisting them around his fingertips. “Let me tell you,”

He paused for a brief moment, adapting to Wei Xun’s continued deep probing before managing to say: “…I… back during the ninety-eighth year of Changning, I actually met the Heavenly Dao.”

Wei Xun’s movements froze instantly.

He pulled back slightly to create a bit of distance between them, his Adam’s apple rolling slightly. “And then?”

Jiang Qunyu: “…Can’t you keep doing it while we talk?!”

Wei Xun refused: “You were the one who wasn’t focusing first.”

Like a needy puppy, Jiang Qunyu rubbed his face randomly against the man’s neck. “Hurry up!”

Wei Xun thoroughly granted this request, to the point that Jiang Qunyu lacked even a shred of energy to tell Wei Xun about the rest of the dream afterward.

In truth, that could hardly be considered a mere dream.

It was simply that when he had first been reborn and returned, his memories were fundamentally fragmented and incomplete. Coupled with his unstable soul, he had completely forgotten about the events during those countless years he spent drifting within the chaotic void.

By the time both of them had thoroughly recovered, Wei Xun carried Jiang Qunyu to bathe, which naturally resulted in another lengthy delay within the hot spring.

Jiang Qunyu regretted it immensely. Had he known earlier, he would have simply kept his eyes shut to sleep the moment he woke up. Wei Xun was an absolute beast!

Fortunately, just as the sky outside the Yujing Pavilion was about to be dyed with a faint, pale shade of dark blue, Wei Xun finally ceased his activities.

Jiang Qunyu wished nothing more than to bite him to death. At this moment, Wei Xun actually remembered the dream Jiang Qunyu had mentioned earlier, scratching the palm of his hand gently: “And then what happened?”

Jiang Qunyu said with deep resentment, “There is no ‘and then’.”

“I’m sorry,” Wei Xun was by now thoroughly accustomed to admitting his faults. He wrapped himself affectionately around Jiang Qunyu. “Do you want to bite me a couple of times to vent your anger?”

Jiang Qunyu: “You’ll only get more and more excited the more I bite you.”

He could feel Wei Xun burying his head back into the crook of his neck, his breathing turning so ragged that it made him want to laugh.

Wei Xun didn’t conceal his pleasure in the slightest, whispering coaxingly into Jiang Qunyu’s ear: “So, do you want to bite or not?”

Jiang Qunyu fell silent for a brief moment. Unable to resist, he shoved the man away slightly, though a laugh still slipped out as he spoke: “You truly are out of your mind.”

Only after tucking Jiang Qunyu’s slightly cool instep between his own calves did Wei Xun respond lazily, “Mm, perhaps I am.”

Jiang Qunyu didn’t care to bicker further, looping his arms around Wei Xun’s neck as he shared that piece of memory with him.

Originally, Jiang Qunyu had assumed Wei Xun would fly into a rage upon hearing that he had intended to return to the modern world, yet the man’s expression remained perfectly normal.

Jiang Qunyu: “?”

He was perfectly fine, so how did he get better already?

Jiang Qunyu harbored a bit of suspicion for a moment, but as he reached the end of the tale, he couldn’t resist growing smug again, nuzzling against Wei Xun’s shoulder. “That’s why I said you have to be secretly rejoicing. If I had nodded my head and left back then, where on earth would you have gone to find me?”

“Jiang Qunyu,” Wei Xun held him tight, suddenly speaking up, “You are truly so good to me.”

“Of course!” The abacus within Jiang Qunyu’s mind was clicking away continuously. “In the future, all your spirit stones and magic pearls must be placed under my management. Um, you aren’t allowed to forbid me from reading any storybooks I want to read, I can come back whenever I want without you setting a curfew for me, I can kiss you whenever I want, and you have to do whatever I tell you to do…”

He rattled off a massive list of demands, and Wei Xun agreed to every single one of them.

Jiang Qunyu gradually felt that something was amiss, his tone turning peculiar: “…Are you acting a bit abnormal today?”

The corners of Wei Xun’s lips hooked up. “Am I abnormal?”

Jiang Qunyu went quiet for a moment before stating honestly: “It’s precisely because you’re too normal…”

That was exactly why it felt so wrong.

“I thought you would be furious when you found out I wanted to return to my own world.”

Wei Xun sounded rather listless: “I wouldn’t be. No matter where you are, I will always find you.”

Jiang Qunyu found it increasingly bizarre.

However, he was growing quite sleepy, thinking to himself that he would leave the remaining matters until after he woke up.

Suddenly, Wei Xun’s sinister, chilling voice echoed right by his ear: “…You stayed together with that Heavenly Dao for one hundred and ten years?”

Jiang Qunyu, who was right on the verge of falling asleep, was instantly overjoyed upon hearing this: “You’re normal again.”

Wei Xun lowered his eyelids, pulling Jiang Qunyu tightly into his embrace as he spoke with a grim, chilling tone: “He was also the one who burned your body… As expected, I still need to ascend and slaughter him.”

That way, absolutely no one would ever think about tearing Jiang Qunyu away from his side ever again.

He had originally intended to do exactly that. Thus, even though Jiang Qunyu had returned, he had never truly given up on searching for that divine bone.

Granted, because Jiang Qunyu had suddenly vanished at the very end, his worry for Jiang Qunyu had overridden everything else, causing him to forgo entering that secret realm.

But worst comes to worst, he would simply snatch it back later.

Jiang Qunyu pressed a kiss against his eyes, before moving down to kiss the bridge of his nose, his jaw, and the corner of his lips: “Slaughter your grandpappy.”

Then, he snuggled deeper into Wei Xun’s chest: “I’m exhausted to death. Go to sleep. If he hadn’t burned it, I wouldn’t have been able to return either. All this fighting and killing is no good.”

Wei Xun blanked out for a fraction of a second. Ultimately, the churning demonic energy billowing around his body obediently receded back into his spiritual awareness.

Gathering Jiang Qunyu into his arms to press him even closer, he rested his jaw against the crown of Jiang Qunyu’s head, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.