GM Chapter19

The mountain was shrouded in thick fog, the cold biting, and the air heavy with yin energy. Having opened up to each other, the two felt a newfound closeness. Song Xiaozhou curled into Lu Heng’s embrace, holding on tightly.

 

Lu Heng was unusually hesitant and said, “Getting close to me will only make you colder.”

 

Song Xiaozhou grabbed his arm and wrapped it tightly around himself. “Then hold me tighter.”

 

“My heart is warm, so I don’t feel cold.”

 

Lu Heng couldn’t help but pull him closer. Song Xiaozhou was small; when Lu Heng held him, he could completely envelop him in his arms.

 

Song Xiaozhou chuckled, leaned against his chest, bumped the back of his head against his shoulder, and looked up at Lu Heng’s face, sighing, “Jinzhi, why are you so good-looking?”

 

A smile appeared on Lu Heng’s lips. Song Xiaozhou then covered his mouth. “Hey, don’t smile like that—”

 

Lu Heng let him cover his mouth and asked in a low voice, “Why?”

 

Song Xiaozhou’s cheeks were red. “It’s too alluring. The first time I saw you, I thought you were a mountain goblin! What kind of ghost looks like that?”

 

Lu Heng kissed his palm. Song Xiaozhou then said, “Do ghosts get old?”

 

Lu Heng thought for a moment and said, “They shouldn’t. A ghost’s appearance will forever stay the way it was the year they died.”

 

Song Xiaozhou shifted in his arms to face him, settling on his thighs. “Then what if, in ten or twenty years, I’ve grown old but you remain so young? What will we do?”

 

Speaking this way, it was as if they genuinely had a bright future to look forward to. Lu Heng smiled and said, “In my heart, Xiaozhou will always be seventeen or eighteen, fresh, handsome, spirited, and lovable.”

 

Song Xiaozhou was stunned. No one had ever praised him like that. He pouted, “You’re lying to me. I’m not as good-looking as you say. My mother said I take after her and don’t look good.”

 

Lu Heng smiled again. “What’s not good about you?”

 

Song Xiaozhou pointed to his eyebrows, eyes, and nose. “My mother said only my lips take after my father and are good-looking. My eyebrows, eyes, and nose are all like hers…” Before he could finish, a kiss as light as a feather and as cold as ice landed on his eyebrows, eyes, and nose. Lu Heng said, “I think they’re all great. Xiaozhou, you are great just the way you are.”

 

Like a puppy who had been praised, Song Xiaozhou beamed with joy and hugged Lu Heng, unwilling to let go.

 

The two whispered to each other in the quiet, dense forest. Before long, Song Xiaozhou grew drowsy. Lu Heng gently patted his back, feeling his breathing gradually steady. Turning his gaze to the grave mound behind him, the smile on his face slowly faded.

 

It was nearly dawn when Song Xiaozhou was startled awake. He instinctively called out, “Jinzhi.”

 

He looked up and saw Lu Heng leaning against a tombstone, a few steps away from him.

 

Song Xiaozhou called out “Jinzhi” once more. Lu Heng’s head jerked up, and a pair of crimson eyes, wild and fierce, locked onto him. Terrified, Song Xiaozhou stumbled back two steps.

 

Lu Heng gasped, dark patterns spreading across his pale cheeks. Black energy coiled over his hands and feet like chains, binding his limbs. The wild, violent ghost energy gave him a terrifying, menacing aura.

 

Song Xiaozhou was terrified. Hesitantly, he took a step closer to Lu Heng.

 

Lu Heng growled, “Don’t come any closer!”

 

Lu Heng struggled to suppress the bindings on him, gripping the tombstone with one hand, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. “Don’t be afraid. In a moment… I’ll be fine in a moment.”

 

Song Xiaozhou was at a loss. He just stared at Lu Heng’s pair of crimson eyes, swallowed, and said, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with you… Jinzhi?”

 

Lu Heng forced his greedy, thirsty gaze away from Song Xiaozhou. The chains on him grew heavier, as if trying to drag him back into the coffin, back into that dark, sunless hell.

 

Lu Heng turned his head away, not wanting him to see his vengeful, ghost-like appearance. He said in a hoarse voice, “Don’t leave and don’t look. Stay there.”

 

Song Xiaozhou’s eyes were getting red with anxiety. He lunged forward, wanting to touch Lu Heng, but he realized Lu Heng’s entire body felt like it was on fire, it was scalding hot. “Jinzhi, Jinzhi…”

 

Lu Heng caught the sweet scent coming from the young man. His adam apple bobbed with a thirst for the flesh, blood, and essence of a living person. Lu Heng closed his eyes, feeling the Soul-Sealing Array and his vengeful ghost instincts fighting each other. One wanted to drag him back into the coffin, and the other wanted him to swallow Song Xiaozhou whole.

 

The Soul-Sealing Array was an evil spell cast on Lu Heng after he died and woke up.

 

Soul-sealing, as the name suggests, is to imprison a soul and sever its reincarnation.

 

Since he got out of the coffin, Maoshi[mfn]5-7 AM[/mfn] is when the sun was about to rise, which was the most difficult time of day for him. The Soul-Sealing Array wanted to suppress him back into the coffin, but he was unwilling and resentful. He had originally planned to walk away, endure it, and then come back.

 

But he was worried that if Song Xiaozhou woke up alone in the mountain and didn’t see him, he would be very scared. Furthermore, the mountain was full of yin ghosts, and those two brothers were also inside. Lu Heng was worried.

 

Lu Heng grabbed Song Xiaozhou’s arm. If he killed the living person in front of him, he could suppress the Soul-Sealing Array at that moment. He took a sharp breath, looked at Song Xiaozhou’s red eyes, and raised his hand to stroke his hair. “Do you remember the flowers you picked for me?”

 

Song Xiaozhou shook his head in alarm, then nodded.

 

Lu Heng said, “I want to see them. Will you go pick a few more for me?”

 

Song Xiaozhou sobbed, “No, no…”

 

He slowly let go of his hand. “Xiaozhou, be good. Walk a hundred steps forward. Don’t go too far.”

 

“Once you bring the flowers back, I’ll be all better.”