Chapter 96: The Camellia Blooms, the Person Departs (Fifteen) A sound fell on his heart...

"You erased all my memories of you?"

The gates of hell never see daylight, a jade plate blazing brighter than the sun. A clear moonlight shone on the stage. After the laughter and joy, the ghostly guests of this world dispersed, leaving only the two of them.

Ye Qingzhan looked at the person beside him, his voice colder than the cold moon.

"Who gives you the right to make such a decision? Why?" Ye Qingzhan rose from his chair and stood before him, clutching his collar. "Why did you leave so suddenly? Why did you leave me alone?"

Wen Gu looked up at the sullen girl, his expression gloomy, unsure how to respond.

In his dreams, Ye Qingzhan blamed himself, resenting his own incompetence. He repeatedly expressed his desire for revenge against Hu Banxian, refusing to believe him and telling him to leave. Worse still, in her dreams, Wen Gu saw her seeking the mermaid, desperately seeking her out.

The evil spirit within him was clamoring frantically, trying to break free from his control and devour Ye Qingzhan.

For the first time, Wen Gu felt a surge of fear.

Fear of her rejection of him, fear of her being hurt because of him.

"Qingzhan..." The young man's voice trembled, his words stammering, almost pleading, "Don't be angry, I—"

"What do you mean?" The grip on his collar tightened. Ye Qingzhan lifted his knees, pressing them against Wen Gu's, staring directly at him. "Are you so afraid that I'll hold you back, that I'll get angry and go on my own to seek revenge?"

"No!" Wen Gu panicked under the pressure of the person before him. He wanted to explain, but he didn't know what to say. After a deep sigh, his eyes reddened. After a long pause, he said, "I'm just worried you'll get hurt."

Wen Gu tilted his head, accepting the girl's condescending scrutiny. His eyes were wet, apologetic and flattering, like a young bud in early spring, drenched by rain, lowering its head.

He looked at her with that look again!

The hand that was gripping the collar suddenly loosened, and Ye Qingzhan's anger melted into such a soft look, and her anger disappeared in an instant.

It was obviously him who left without saying goodbye, but why did he look at her as if she was the one who did something wrong?

Ye Qingzhan's heart began to get agitated, and she lifted her knee that was pressing on Wen Gu's leg. As soon as she lifted it, a hand came across her waist and pressed her back on him.

With a lift and a press, Ye Qingzhan sat astride Wen Gu's legs.

"What are you doing?" With her waist being held, Ye Qingzhan moved her body, and the hand around her waist became tighter. This made her panic, fearing that what would happen next would be the same as the time in the courtyard in her memory... Thinking of this, Ye Qingzhan's face flushed, and she raised her eyes and glared at Wen Gu, but after seeing his appearance at this moment, she was stunned again.

The moonlight was gentle, and the aroma of wine was intoxicating.

At a close distance, the young man's skin was touching hers, the red in his eyes gradually spreading to the tip of his nose in the silver light, and on his white jade-like face, it was as if cinnabar had spread, clear and light but particularly moving.

Ye Qingzhan blinked, and in a daze, she felt a weight on her shoulder.

Wen Gu buried his face in the crook of her neck, just as he had done countless times in his memories, inhaling the fragrance of the girl, and said in a deep and hoarse tone: "Qingzhan, I'm sorry."

The breath from her neck was hot and gentle, brushing past her ears, bringing an itch. Ye Qingzhan's body trembled slightly and turned his face to the side.

Sensing the girl in his arms avoiding him, his heart seemed to suddenly fall into an iceberg. Wen Gu raised his head, held Ye Qingzhan's face, and kissed her eagerly.

All the words he wanted to say but couldn't say were all put into this kiss. Deep or shallow, sometimes like a rainstorm passing by, robbing his breath, sometimes like a white feather dropping honey, sketching his lips and tongue bit by bit.

After the kiss, they pressed their foreheads together, panting, their breaths indistinguishable, their entanglement lingering.

Ye Qingzhan, her heartbeat slowing, turned away, glancing up at the moon behind Wen Gu.

The silver moon rose in the sky, perfect and flawless.

Yet, Ye Qingzhan couldn't calm down for a long time.

In their previous kiss, she had penetrated deep into Wen Gu's consciousness, accessing his sealed memories—ones of pain, loneliness, length, and despair.

It turned out that Wen Gu had grown up in the Boundless Strange Realm. In that illusory realm, whenever Wen Gu spoke of him, his emotions would surge, and he would spit blood. It wasn't his fault; that place was truly evil, forcing a young child to repeatedly experience the world's worst dangers, as if telling him over and over again: "

Look, the world is like this, not worth lingering on. The mortal world is filled with evil. You don't need to enter. Simply wield the power of destruction and destroy it with a single sword."

To escape the Boundless Strange Realm, Wen Gu signed a contract with the pervasive evil there, sacrificing his body as a furnace. But now, the evil spirits within Wen Gu were no longer controllable. They tried to devour her several times, only to be repeatedly dispelled by him. What

surprised Ye Qingzhan most was that his goal was the same as his own.

Wen Gu had left that place to find his parents, but because of her, he stayed in Camellia Village.

Initially, Wen Gu was filled with murderous intent, wanting only to kill her with a single strike, thus severing the path to ascension for his only playmate, Black Dragon. She treated him like a trained dog, and he, knowing everything, accepted it with equanimity, relishing it... Later, after sealing all her memories of him, he left in tears.

In the illusion, Wen Gu pursued the Taoist fox because he sensed the presence of Ye Qingzhan's parents in him. This was why, in Shanniang's illusion, he had a fleeting encounter with two chivalrous men, presumably his parents, and decisively departed.

...

Fortunately, thanks to Mu Wanzhou's persistence, Wen Gu spent a few days with them. Later, for unknown reasons, the two were hunted by their own disciples. Fearing the consequences for Wen Gu, Wen Hua and Mu Wanzhou bid farewell and went to the sect to demand an explanation. However, Wen Gu was still surrounded by hundreds of sects. They

were on Jade Butterfly Peak.

Wen Gu had previously rescued her parents, Ye Shaolin, and Jiang Xuejun from the clutches of the fox Taoist priest, hiding in the secret realm of Jade Butterfly Peak.

These past memories were unearthed from memories sealed deep within Wen Gu's consciousness. Ye Qingzhan witnessed him rescuing her parents, and also witnessed him being besieged by hundreds of sects.

It turned out that the fox Taoist priest and Hu Shuo were one and the same. Their every move was strikingly similar, and the Yin Sha within Wen Gu told him that their auras were the same. Pursuing him, Wen Gu ripped off his fox mask with a single sword, finally confirming their identity.

Seeing his true form exposed, the fox Taoist priest raised his whisk, sprinkling a cloud of powder, and the night ghosts began to rise.

The self-proclaimed righteous cultivators, seized by the sound, seemed frantic, slashing with swords. They coveted Wen Gu's power, flocking to him eagerly, even though it was uncontrollable and could annihilate the world at the slightest misstep. They

fought tooth and nail to claim it, even though it was uncontrollable. Amidst the chaos, Wen Gu fought his way out of the encirclement and, with a single sword stroke, slashed a path deep within Jade Butterfly Peak, releasing Ye Shaolin and Jiang Xuejun

, who had been rescued from the Fox Taoist priest. "Did you hide my parents in the secret realm?" Ye Qingzhan leaned back, raising the hand around Wen Gu's shoulders to cup his cheek, gazing into his eyes. "Mingche said it wasn't you who released the monsters from the secret realm, correct?"

The sect's cultivators called Wen Gu "Silent Death" because those who pursued him were never heard from again. The world feared Wen Gu because of the rumor that he, possessing all-powerful powers, had once split the secret realm, unleashing the monsters of the East China Sea to slaughter the mortal world.

But legends are just legends after all, not to mention that they were spread by monks.

What Ye Qingzhan saw in the depths of Wen Gu's sea of consciousness was a completely different picture from the legend.

In the secret realm that Wen Gu split open with his sword, there were indeed beasts, but most of them were injured, and the injuries were caused by the monks' pursuit. They used the gimmick of upholding justice and exterminating demons and ghosts to secretly harm many kind-hearted monsters.

The secret realm is like a paradise, with small bridges, flowing water, green trees and red flowers. After Wen Gu sent Ye Shaolin and Jiang Xuejun in, the soul-repairing beasts stopped the bleeding and healed their wounds, and other monsters and spirit beasts came to help. Wen Gu took a look at them and sealed off the secret realm.

Outside the secret realm, the melee continued. The smiling fox in a white Taoist robe stood behind Wen Gu at some point, staring at him with a smile.

Wen Gu was covered in blood and drew his sword to meet him. Dr. Fox raised his whisk slowly.

The Night Demon's voice rose in volume, commanding thousands of cultivators, like a hundred ghosts passing through a barrier, as they charged towards Wen Gu. With a flash of sword energy, the cultivators formed the Heavenly Punishment Formation.

This formation involves a blood sacrifice that calls down thunderbolts upon those who suffer. And Wen Gu, standing among them, was the sinner in their eyes, destined to be sacrificed to the heavens. With

his sword propped against the ground, Wen Gu knelt on one knee at the center of the formation. His raised eyes were ablaze with blood, and the blood that seeped from them fell on his cheeks, blooming blood-red flowers on the ground.

He tilted his head slightly, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the fox Taoist standing in the air outside the formation, whisk in hand. His gaze was unfathomable, brimming with murderous intent.

The whisk rose, and the cultivators roared and charged.

Wen Gu raised his sword, but the Yin Sha within him suddenly turned against him, erupting from his body and transforming into thousands of sharp arrows. Along with the monks wielding swords, they pierced his heart.

Ten thousand arrows spurted, ten thousand swords pierced his heart.

Seeing this scene in the sea of consciousness, Ye Qingzhan's heart was torn. All memories came to an abrupt end at this scene. Wen Gu's later memory was the encounter with the King of Hell.

In the sea of consciousness, the hurt suffered by the young man who was so close to her, she felt as if she was there in person in the kiss just now.

Thinking of this, Ye Qingzhan lowered her head and kissed him on the heart through his clothes.

Wen Gu was stunned, his eyes full of confusion, and heard the girl say: "It hurts, right? How did those sword wounds heal? Why are you so pitiful... Why are they so bad? It was obviously them who did the bad things, but they blamed everything on you... I misunderstood you, I thought you-"

The voice of the person in his arms was drowned out by the falling tears. The restless heart had already turned into a pool of spring water in these words.

Wen Gu wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Don't blame you. It was me who left without saying goodbye." Wen Gu held the person in his arms, patting her gently to comfort her, "Your parents are living well in the secret realm. My seal cannot be broken by others. No one can hurt them. Don't worry."

At that time, Wen Gu saved the couple, but he was trapped on the way back to Camellia Village. Before the ten thousand swords pierced his body, he thought that it was a good thing that he didn't bring her out.

He had a bad reputation. He was the ghost king who could command hundreds of ghosts and had the power to destroy the world. Those who walked side by side with him would be cursed.

Wen Gu didn't want Ye Qingzhan to be hurt in the slightest because of him.

That's why he chose to leave when the camellia was in full bloom. He watched her being picked up by the returning doctor Li Ying, and instructed the ghosts within a few miles to take good care of her.

Ye Qingzhan had cried enough, and as if she remembered something, she poked her head out of his arms, pointed at the full moon that was always hanging high in the Ghost Gate, and said, "The past has been clarified, let's solve new questions."

Wen Gu laughed, feeling that her mood was like the weather in the world, changing at a moment's notice. He looked in the direction she pointed.

"Wen Gu, don't you think this moon is strange?" Ye Qingzhan moved her body, found a more comfortable position on his legs, and continued, "We entered the gate on July 14th, and now seven days have passed. Why is the moon still so round?" What

Ye Qingzhan found strange was also what Wen Gu was worried about.

He looked at the night sky, and always felt that the full moon in the sky was like a human eye secretly monitoring every move in the gate.

The boys and girls looked over together. The person behind the "full moon" suddenly smiled, turned sideways, waved his sleeves, and flashed in front of the two of them.

"Long time no see, two little ghosts."