Chapter 92: The Camellia Blooms, the Man Gone (XI) No matter what the future holds...

The misty black lotus bore Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu through the air, piercing through rock and sand. As soon as they escaped the altar, they heard a resounding explosion, and the secret realm collapsed into ruins.

Ye Qingzhan supported Wen Gu, standing beneath an ancient tree, watching the entrance to the secret realm vanish. Her delicate brows furrowed in a sudden wave of worry.

Finally finding her long-missing parents, she had so much to say to them, to heal their wounds, to wait for them to awaken. But, but, she could only watch helplessly as the scoundrel threw her parents onto the hard rock, powerless to do anything. Before she could do anything, her parents were taken away again.

As she thought of this, Ye Qingzhan's tears welled up uncontrollably, dripping onto the face of the young man leaning against her shoulder.

Wen Gu had her eyes closed, afraid that opening them would frighten her, so she closed them again after entering the black lotus. But the tears falling on his face made him flustered. He gently lifted his head from her shoulder and glanced at her sideways.

"Why are you crying again?"

It would have been fine if he hadn't asked, but the moment he did, Ye Qingzhan's tears flowed even more fiercely. Wiping away tears, he choked back sobs. "I... I, I was too weak. I couldn't do anything. I could only watch my parents being beaten... and I didn't dare to help. I finally found my parents, but I couldn't do anything for them. I watched the bad guys take them away again, and I didn't dare to step forward to stop them. As their daughter, I'm so, so useless!"

The girl blamed herself, but every word she said pierced the boy's heart.

Wen Gu's heart felt like it was being cut by a dull knife.

He was useless.

Burdened with countless sins, filthy, he was defeated by a Taoist priest.

He could command hundreds of ghosts and intimidate hundreds of cultivators, but he was powerless against just one person.

A sudden, sharp pain shot through her heart, and veins bulged in her neck. Wen Gu pursed his lips tightly, using his inner Qi to dispel the increasingly rampant Yin Sha Qi. He bent down, slowly reached out his hand, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"It's not your fault, it's my uselessness."

Yin Sha was the intermediary, and their souls and dreams connected. As they slept in each other's arms at night, Wen Gu had more than once glimpsed Ye Qingzhan's past—a girl who grew up in love, untouched by hardship, always laughing and smiling, her biggest worry being her daily schoolwork. Yet, in just a few days, she faced drastic changes.

Her mother disappeared, her father was wrongly accused, and she herself became blind. It was no easy task for her to sustain herself until now, relying solely on the determination to find her parents. There was no need to be so hard on herself.

Wen Gu stroked Ye Qingzhan's cheek and whispered, "You're already very capable. Leave the rest to me, okay?"

Ye Qingzhan stopped crying and looked up at him, but was startled.

"...What's wrong with your eyes?"

The boy's eyes, whose gaze met his, seemed to be quenched with blood. The pupils, originally as black as obsidian, now revealed a crimson glow.

The red burned more and more intensely in his eyes, constantly absorbing the gaze cast upon him. The blood-red iris between his eyebrows, along with the crimson pupils, became visible.

Ye Qingzhan's gaze shifted from Wen Gu's eyes to his forehead, glancing at the mark of the crimson iris, then returned to his eyes, asking, "How could there be..."

Before he could finish his words, the boy, who had been bending over to gaze at her, suddenly leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

The kiss was urgent. His cold lips and teeth rubbed against the girl's warm, soft lips, as if suppressing something, yet trying to vent something.

Ye Qingzhan fell asleep in this kiss, not hearing the boy's words in his ear: "I'm sorry."

***

After descending on the black lotus, Wen Gu carried Ye Qingzhan on his back, walking along the path back home.

Home - that's what she told him.

Wen Gu recalled the first night they met.

That night, he was filled with murderous intent, wanting to take Ye Qingzhan's life, but one reckless embrace after another made him forget his original purpose.

Initially, he considered Ye Qingzhan a seductress, believing she had played some trick, making him fall in love with her embraces, an obsession bordering on addiction, and unwilling to kill her.

And just as she had planned, he agreed to her request to save his mother on the condition that they sleep in each other's arms every night. Wen

Gu thought it was nothing, as he was already searching for his parents in the mortal world, and helping her find her parents was simply a matter of convenience.

Not to mention, he could gain something even more wonderful

—her embrace, her scent.

It all made him covetous.

Wen Gu didn't know what had happened to him. Deep down, he still stubbornly believed that she was a seductress, like a mermaid in the sea, using her song to seduce mortals and deceive their hearts.

Until the day Ye Qingzhan named him.

Her smile and tears left him at a loss.

The two of them had noodles at Hu Shuo's house. Wen Gu wanted to go home on the black lotus, but when he went out, he saw a man and a woman.

In mortal terms, they were a couple.

The girl on his back said when she was reading to him: "Husband and wife, a pair for life, love each other without doubt."

He didn't understand what she meant, but he remembered that the moonlight was very beautiful that night when she was reading, just like it was tonight.

Wen Gu imitated the couple and carried Ye Qingzhan home.

"Home" - that's what she wanted to give him.

The sleeping girl lay on his back, seemed to be whispering, and said to his ear: "Wen Gu, I miss home."

As her voice fell, there was also a drop of warm tears. The night wind could not cool the wet marks on his cheeks, but this tear burned his heart.

"Wen Gu, do you have a home?"

If he hadn't been able to see his dream in his mind, Wen Gu would have thought she was awake, and mentally asked, "What is home?"

The girl, naturally unable to hear his inner voice, spoke only in her dreams: "If you don't have a home, come to my house. My father and mother are both very kind! I don't know what you look like, but every woman who has seen you says you're pretty. Women have such discerning tastes, and if they say you're pretty, you must be pretty... I seem to have been in your dream. If it's anything like it, then it's truly beautiful!"

Wen Gu paused, a question in his mind: "Have you also been in my dream?"

He couldn't dream; what she saw was his sea of consciousness.

A place as filthy and chaotic as that, wouldn't you be afraid...

"You were so adorable as a child, but you were all alone, you didn't know how to cry out in pain, and you didn't even hide when you got burned. It was really worrying."

Wen Gu watched her dream as she chattered on like an old scholar.

"But you're so pretty, my mother would be happy to see you. If you'd met my mother as a child, she would have raised you to be plump, fair, and tender."

Happy?

If she knew the person her daughter brought home was actually a filthy freak, would she really be happy?

"You can cook, build houses, and fly. You are so amazing that you must be able to please my father." Ye Qingzhan revealed all the words in her dream and her heart, "If I can play chess with him, walk the birds and play with the cat, he will be happier. Of course, you should smile more too. In the dream, no matter how big or small, you always have a gloomy face, as if someone owes a lot of money."

Wen Gu sneered.

Who dares to owe him money?

"The first day you met me, you hugged me and we slept together. Shoujing found out. Now we live in the same room together. In the eyes of others, we are like a family. Although we haven't had a wedding ceremony, it's almost like that. It's hard to explain."

On the second day after they met, when they came out of the dilapidated temple, they happened to meet the wedding procession. She told him about the mundane etiquette along the way. He knew what a wedding ceremony was and understood the difference between men and women.

But he didn't care.

The relationship with her was something that could not be explained.

"Since I can't explain it clearly, I might as well just let it go. When we find our parents, we'll get married. Anyway, we've kissed and hugged each other, and I've eaten the noodles you made, and I'm very satisfied." Ye Qingzhan said, and suddenly his legs tightened and kicked hard, "I forgot, there is a very important premise for us to get married, we can't be enemies! You must not lie to me, and you must not be someone who hurts my family, otherwise, I will - bite you!"

Even in her dreams, Ye Qingzhan had a clear assessment and understanding of her own strength, and she could not beat this young man. The worst result is that she can't avenge her great hatred, and she will die tragically under his sword after a fight to the death with him.

Suddenly, he was bitten on the neck, and Wen Gu stopped again. It didn't hurt. What touched his skin before his teeth were her soft lips and lingering breath.

"If my parents are fine and you have accomplished what you want to do, let's get married." After biting it, Ye Qingzhan closed her eyes and smacked her lips, "It's so hard--" After a pause, as if she remembered something, she continued, "By the way, I don't know if you like me or not, but I really like the food you cook, and I feel comfortable being with you." As if she felt that this statement was not comprehensive enough, she hurriedly added, "It would be better if you were not so clingy. Especially... when sleeping at night."

The voice of the person on his back gradually became quieter, and Wen Gu deliberately shook her, trying to wake her up.

He felt that she was pretending to sleep.

However, it was of no use.

Ye Qingzhan's dream talk continued.

"Why are you running? Don't you like me? Feelings can be cultivated slowly. Besides, weren't you very strong when you kissed me? Why are you so shy now?"

The girl in the dream was bold and did whatever she wanted. She grabbed the boy who couldn't resist and her tone suddenly became serious: "Wen Gu, don't lie to me. I really want to take you home."

The girl lying on his back said no more. The dream also came to an abrupt end when she looked at him.

Wen Gu carried Ye Qingzhan on his back and walked slowly.

He suddenly realized that she was not a witch, but himself. Like a homeless ghost, he experienced the happiness of being a human being with her.

It was the warmth he had never felt in that place.

Even if this warmth had other purposes since they first met.

But so what?

He would still be like a wild dog, and would follow her as long as she beckoned him.

No matter what happens in the future, he would be happy with it.