GRMFBS CH307

Xunmu Demon King warmly offered Candle Dragon an explanation, marveling in his characteristically slow, drawn-out drawl: “Unbelievable, right? Even I never saw it coming. Over twenty years ago, Chongming claimed he fell in love at first sight with a human and insisted on taking humanoid form to marry them. Nine-Tailed warned him that a mortal lifespan was far too short. He said being together for a single lifetime would be enough. And so, he married that human. Because Chongming is a demon, he couldn’t have offspring with a human…”

Candle Dragon: …

Xunmu’s sluggish storytelling was enough to drive anyone up the wall.

Just as Xunmu reached the part where they decided to adopt their first child, Zhan Yunkai swooped down. The colossal divine bird landed upon a massive branch, curving his neck to peer down at Candle Dragon—who wasn’t even as long as one of his talons: “Why haven’t you made yourself any bigger?”

Right now she looked like a tiny snake, which made talking far too inconvenient.

Shifting her position on the branch, Candle Dragon lazily draped her upper half across a slightly higher bough: “I just woke up; I don’t have the energy.”

Xunmu Demon King spoke slowly: “You came quite fast.”

Zhan Yunkai: “When Luowang abruptly vanished, I guessed she had awakened.”

Originally, there was no such thing as a dream demon in this world. Candle Dragon had suffered severe trauma, rendering her divine soul unstable; during her slumber, her formidable spiritual consciousness spilled over, coalescing into the minor dream demon known as “Luowang.”

Candle Dragon felt as though her ears had finally been spared: “Chongming, Xunmu said Approaching Science is your son—what is going on?”

Zhan Yunkai was far more brisk and straightforward: “When Tianshi and I married, we both believed the other was an ordinary mortal. Later, we adopted several children. Ghost King Lin Yuan, Rong Sui, and Approaching Science were all adopted by us.”

The vertical eye atop Candle Dragon’s forehead widened into a circle. With her tail coiled around Xunmu’s bough and her upper body raised erect, she stared at Zhan Yunkai with wide, round eyes.

Could she still be dreaming?

Xunmu Demon King leisurely added: “That’s exactly how it went.”

Candle Dragon: …The world changed far too quickly; my brain can barely keep up.

“Wait a second, what’s the deal with you and Tianshi?”

Zhan Yunkai: “Love at first sight. Neither of us knew the other wasn’t an ordinary human back then.”

Candle Dragon’s eye glittered with the sheer delight of gossiping: “Whoa!”

Zhan Yunkai: ?

Candle Dragon: “Ahem, well, I wanted to ask what happened with Lin Yuan? Isn’t he a Ghost King? And Rong Sui—isn’t she from Infinite?”

Zhan Yunkai: “Lin Yuan reincarnated.”

Candle Dragon: “Huh? Why?”

Zhan Yunkai: “He was hiding from Ghost King Wan Yan.”

Candle Dragon’s eye lit up with amused excitement: “Pfft… No wonder Ghost King Wan Yan couldn’t find him no matter how big a fuss he kicked up.”

Zhan Yunkai could tell she simply loved hearing juicy gossip. This behavior was a far cry from the ethereal, aloof Candle Dragon of his past impressions. Come to think of it, Yan Yan was the same—what a quiet and reticent mythical beast Bai Ze used to be, eternally composed, only enjoying an occasional stroll outside. Who could have imagined Yan Yan would have such a lively personality?

Tsk, they really knew how to put on an act back then.

“Rong Sui’s soul was reincarnated, and she didn’t have her past memories when she was first reborn either; we just happened to take her in.”

Candle Dragon swayed her head: “When you two discovered each other’s true identities, it must have been hilarious… er, I mean, shocking, right?”

Zhan Yunkai stared at Candle Dragon, golden light swirling within his double pupils. Candle Dragon shrank back slightly.

Fine, fine, I won’t ask.

Zhan Yunkai couldn’t really hold it against her either; Candle Dragon wasn’t even as long as the tip of his talon right now. He continued: “Yan Yan was also taken in by us fourteen years ago, when he was just six years old.”

Zhan Yunkai recalled the time they had just adopted Yan Yan. He was such a tiny thing, sporting a mess of unruly soft curls, not uttering a single word, merely staring at them with clear, transparent eyes. Over the course of more than ten years, he and Yueming watched this quiet child grow up little by little, transforming from a reserved toddler into a lively, mischievous youth. Those eyes, once so clear they seemed devoid of emotion, now darted about with clever, playful wit, making him adored wherever he went.

…And then Deep Shadow went and abducted him!

A few nights ago, hadn’t they only gone back to check on him out of worry? Yet Yan Yan actually shut the door on Deep Shadow’s room, as if terrified they might interrogate him.

Protecting him like that!

Hmph!

Zhan Yunkai’s tone turned distinctly frosty: “He’s seeing a boyfriend now.”

Candle Dragon: That’s a pretty massive leap. Weren’t you just talking about when he was six? Still, it was understandable. Why were parents always so prickly about this sort of thing?

Zhan Yunkai’s gaze grew even darker: “It’s Deep Shadow.”

Candle Dragon snapped her upper body upright: “Huh?”

With his child dating such an intensely dangerous individual, it was only natural for a parent like Zhan Yunkai to fret. Given their extraordinary identities and hidden alter egos, there were precious few people he could vent to. Having bottled it up for so long, he couldn’t help becoming rather chatty in front of Candle Dragon.

“Tell me, the two of them were completely unrelated—how could it be such a coincidence?” Zhan Yunkai sighed.

It was normal for Yan Yan to attend university, but utterly bizarre for Deep Shadow to do so. Yet by sheer happenstance, Deep Shadow applied for the exact same major, attended the same university, ended up in the same class, shared the same dorm room, and even took the bunks right next to each other. If he hadn’t verified that Deep Shadow wasn’t lying, he would genuinely suspect Deep Shadow had orchestrated the entire thing.

Zhan Yunkai: “Oh, right. The time flow around Yan Yan is strange. Was that your doing?”

Candle Dragon didn’t dare answer right away; having only a single eye made the shifting of her pupil glaringly obvious.

“Ah… well, it does have a little to do with me…” Candle Dragon stammered evasively.

Zhan Yunkai narrowed his eyes: “Why are you looking so guilty?”

Candle Dragon: “I’m not!”

Zhan Yunkai pinned her with a stare. In this world, Candle Dragon was the sole possessor of time-based divine abilities; any temporal irregularities surrounding Yan Yan could only trace back to her. What did she have to dodge about this?

Candle Dragon: “Well, that is…”

Zhan Yunkai: “Hold on, save it for later.”

Wait until everyone was assembled. Monumental secrets were best not relayed over communicators. It was better to speak face-to-face, safely enclosed within an array formation.

Before long, Ji Yueming, Zhan Jinli, and Zhan Suiru all arrived.

Candle Dragon: Your family setup really looks bizarre beyond belief!

“Anyway, back then, his divine ability was half-destroyed, his soul sustained severe trauma, and his condition was dire. I lacked the remaining strength to open a secure temporal rift to shelter him, so I stole a segment of someone else’s time and placed him inside.”

Zhan Yunkai had a premonition: “Deep Shadow’s?”

Candle Dragon nodded.

Oh, so it turns out you were the matchmaker who bridged their fates all along.

Candle Dragon pulled her head in sheepishly: “There was no other way back then, you know.”

Twenty-seven years ago, Deep Shadow, who was meant to remain trapped to his death upon the Supreme Balance, gained his freedom; Bai Ze, who was meant to perish from the self-destruction of his divine abilities, obtained a chance at life. It coincided with Ning Xi linking the destinies of two worlds, allowing Ghost King Lin Yuan to unleash his balance of fortune and misfortune.

Two destinies that were destined to be severed thus became bound together.

However, Bai Ze’s soul had been rattled to the verge of dispersing by the self-destruction of half his divine ability. He needed a secure place to recuperate—a place capable of mending his soul. With no strength left to spare, Candle Dragon stole a segment of safe time from Deep Shadow and tucked Bai Ze inside.

That spanned from Gu Jiancheng’s age of six to his illusory, dream-woven age of nineteen—thirteen years in total.

The mentally impaired Bai Ze turned into a tiny moth within Gu Jiancheng’s dreams, keeping him company through his real years from six to sixteen, and continuing through his illusory years from sixteen to nineteen.

Thirteen years later, Bai Ze re-emerged within this world’s timeline.

With his soul damaged and his memories entirely gone, a bewildered and naive Bai Ze appeared outside an orphanage in the form of a six-year-old human child.

When sixteen-year-old Zhan Yan was selecting his academic path, he seemed to subconsciously hear a joyful voice: “I’m going to become a doctor in the future!”

A doctor?

And so, Zhan Yan also chose to become a doctor. What kind of doctor? He didn’t know. Either way, he felt it shouldn’t be for humans.

Sixteen-year-old Zhan Yan applied for the veterinary medicine major.

Candle Dragon whipped her tail against the branch with crisp thuds: “Deep Shadow’s soul has been tempered within Infinite for who knows how long. Their destinies are intertwined. Likely influenced by him, Approaching Science appears quite normal right now. However, time cannot alter the soul; the soul’s mass remains constant across time. He gained thirteen years of sustenance from Deep Shadow’s time, so upon returning to this world, what he was granted was likewise thirteen years.”

After thirteen years… it all depended on the two of them. Whether they still shared a profound bond comparable to having lived through the exact same stretch of life.

The family exchanged mutual glances.

Last year, Yan Yan turned nineteen; thirteen years had already elapsed, yet he was still bouncing around healthily, hiding everyone’s secret identities, and sneaking off to date his boyfriend in top-notch condition.

This naturally brought them immense relief. At the same time, it revealed one undeniable fact:

He and Deep Shadow had achieved that “profound bond” for at least a full year already!

Splendid.

Yan Yan claimed last time that he and Deep Shadow hadn’t been dating for very long, didn’t he?

Little liar!

Candle Dragon watched them inquisitively, her single eye darting between all four of them.

Their expressions were all so subtle. What had happened?

She desperately wanted to dig into this gossip…

…

As dusk settled, it was once again time for the daily square dancing session.

Having been dragged out by Zhan Yan for several days, Gu Jiancheng had actually gotten used to it. An activity like square dancing was surprisingly vibrant. Recently, the aunties and uncles had even begun incorporating props: folding fans, silk ribbons, and practice swords.

Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng borrowed their props from them; after playing around with the practice swords over the past couple of days, they planned to try out the fans today.

Just as the two were preparing to head out, Xingxing circled around their ankles, meowing incessantly.

Where do you two go at this time every day? Take me along to see, take me along!

Then taking Xingxing out for a stroll would be fine too; dancing wasn’t strictly necessary anyway. Zhan Yan scooped up Xingxing and headed out the door with Gu Jiancheng.

Shortly after getting outside, Xingxing insisted on roaming on his own, trotting this way and sniffing that way, yet never straying far from Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng as he darted back and forth around them.

Gu Jiancheng watched Xingxing for a moment, then quietly hooked his fingers toward Zhan Yan’s palm. Hooking and curling, their fingers finally interlaced.

Zhan Yan watched him secretly grinning. On the surface, it was merely a slight upward tug of his lips, but Zhan Yan knew him well—from the depths of his eyes, he could see that Xiao Gu was practically bubbling over with sheer bliss.

“What’s got you so happy?” Zhan Yan asked, slightly bewildered.

It wasn’t as if they had just started dating; why was he holding hands so stealthily and looking so hopelessly smitten?

Looking at Xingxing, Gu Jiancheng whispered softly in Zhan Yan’s ear: “Doesn’t this look like a family of three?”

Zhan Yan: “Pfft.”

Before he could reply, Xingxing suddenly let out a furious, screeching meow-yowl!

Startled by the racket, Zhan Yan whipped his head around.

Aah, why is Ghost King Wan Yan here?!

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