The pupils before him dilated rapidly, their long, slender eyelashes fluttering with vulnerability.
Jiang Luoluo stared at the face before him for a long moment before tentatively calling out a name: “Yun Qi?”
The man lowered his gaze and corrected him: “It’s Husband.”
Jiang Luoluo opened his mouth, momentarily speechless.
“No need to rush,” the man said, bending to pick him up. “You’re not used to it yet. You can call me that later.”
A thin veil of crimson gauze, as delicate as morning mist, brushed across his shoulders. Jiang Luoluo looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before him, a sense of unease creeping into his heart.
He tried to reason with the man: “Yun Qi, you know I came for the Ninth-Grade Spirit Mushroom. Chu Xubai is still waiting for that medicine to save his life—”
“Shizun.” The man’s warning gaze, tinged with undisguised displeasure, met his. “Shizun is too good to Chu Xubai. It makes me jealous.”
He stroked Jiang Luoluo’s cheek. “Is it because Shizun thought it was Chu Xubai who entered your room that night you were sleeping?”
The man’s cool fingers cupped Jiang Luoluo’s face, his gaze rapturous. “I lied to Shizun. It was all me from start to finish.”
“There was never anyone else.”
Jiang Luoluo froze, his almond eyes slightly upturned at the corners, wide with shock. “You’ve been lying to me all this time?”
The man shook his head, kissed his lips, and said indulgently, “I love you. That’s the truth.”
“Shizun, have you seen the decorations outside? Tonight is our wedding night. Are you happy, Shizun?”
A smile danced in the man’s eyes as he kissed Jiang Luoluo’s lips again.
The delicate face tilted up to meet his gaze, a hint of fear in the wide eyes. “So you deliberately lured me here? You’re not an ordinary disciple. What’s your true identity?”
“My true form… Shizun has seen it many times before…”
As he spoke, Jiang Luoluo felt his legs being bound. Something like vines wrapped around his ankles, spiraling upward to bind him tightly. He looked down and met the gaze of a long, sinuous tail, its scales shimmering with an eerie black sheen…
Jiang Luoluo’s tiny shoulders trembled in fright. His face paled as he stammered, “S-snake… big snake… go away!”
He was terrified of boneless, squishy creatures like this!
Mo Yunqi, who had never been called snake-like before, wore a complex expression. He glanced at his tail, which he had always been proud of, then at Jiang Luoluo’s pale, frightened face, and sighed helplessly.
“It’s a dragon.”
Jiang Luoluo shrank back, trying to avoid the terrifying tail, his eyes red. “I don’t like it.”
The person holding him stiffened, then suddenly seemed to remember something and let out a mocking laugh. “You don’t like it?”
“When you entered my dreams in the Azure Frost Hall, Shizun didn’t say you didn’t like it, did you?”
Jiang Luoluo looked up at him, bewildered.
“Shizun doesn’t really think you just dreamed of a dragon, do you?”
The dragon tail slithered up his forearm. Mo Yunqi lowered his gaze. “How about I help Shizun refresh your memory of what happened in that dream…”
The Demon Lord residing on Dragon’s Breath Mountain in the Demon Realm held seven consecutive days of weddings, inviting guests from all corners of the realm. For another seven days after, he remained secluded, never showing his face.
Rumors spread that he had married a delicate beauty, a woman of noble birth and shy disposition who disliked meeting guests.
Inside the bridal chamber.
The Little Master, who had not left the room for days, had disheveled black hair and was huddled in a corner of the bed, clutching a blanket and weeping until his eyes were red.
A large hand reached out from the bedside. “Shizun, come here.”
Jiang Luoluo shook his head, his voice hoarse from crying. “No, I won’t go.”
“Is Shizun deliberately trying to provoke me?”
Tears welled up in the corner of the Little Master’s eyes. As if admitting defeat, he reluctantly shuffled forward, trembling as he drew closer to the other’s embrace.
The other man remained silent, simply gazing down at him.
Jiang Luoluo, his eyes still red, leaned in and kissed the man’s cheek, his voice thick with tears as he pleaded for mercy:
“Husband… Husband… Won’t you let me go…?”
The large hand smoothed the hair at the back of his head, the voice unusually gentle.
“No.”
“I thought Shizun loved me, but his heart only belongs to someone else.”
“There’s no one else, no one else…”
The person in his arms sobbed in protest, tears smearing across his face as he clung to him, soft and pleading. “Yun Qi, I love you…”
“I only love you, Husband…”
The arms around him trembled slightly, and thin lips parted to whisper two words: “Liar.”
Yet those arms slowly tightened their embrace.
Mo Yunqi lost track of how many days he spent in a daze on Dragon’s Breath Mountain. He would always carry Jiang Luoluo to admire the flowers, go fishing, and pick fruit.
Then, again and again, he would pull him close, asking repeatedly, “Who do you truly love, Shizun?”
His Little Master would always shrink into his arms, lifting his tear-filled eyes to meet his gaze. “I love you, Husband.”
He was obedient beyond belief.
Mo Yunqi would hold him close, gently patting his back as if asking a question, or perhaps speaking to himself. “Then, Shizun, will you stay with your disciple for a lifetime? Will we never part?”
Jiang Luoluo would simply nod obediently.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Chu Xubai might be dying soon, having never obtained the Ninth-Grade Spirit Mushroom.
His mission was also nearing failure.
What awaited him might be complete death.
Fear gripped him, and he could only cling tightly to Mo Yunqi’s embrace, like a drowning man grasping the last piece of driftwood.
“Husband will be going out tonight and won’t be able to eat dinner with Shizun,” Mo Yunqi said, stroking his head. “Shizun will eat properly, won’t you?”
Jiang Luoluo nodded. “I will.”
The spacious bedroom felt vast as Jiang Luoluo wandered through it countless times. He propped his chin in his hands, boredly gazing at his reflection in the mirror. His gaze drifted to the desk, where he suddenly noticed Mo Yunqi’s jade pendant.
He picked it up and played with it for a moment before taking it to the storage room to retrieve his belongings.
Mo Yunqi had packed away everything Jiang Luoluo had brought to Dragon’s Breath Mountain, locking them in a box to prevent him from dwelling on the past.
Jiang Luoluo rummaged through his Storage Pouch, sitting on the floor and shaking out its contents. A bronze bottle appeared before him—the one his Senior Sect Brother, the Sect Leader, had given him as a life-saving talisman.
Jiang Luoluo held the bronze bottle in his hand, examining it for a long time. Just as he was about to pry off the lid, the System’s urgent notification sounded:
[Host! Something terrible has happened! Host!!]
Jiang Luoluo sighed softly. “Did Chu Xubai die? Did the mission fail? Am I going to die too?”
[No!!!]
The System’s usually emotionless mechanical voice even rose to a shrill shriek. [You’ve been courting the wrong person!!!]
Jiang Luoluo’s hand trembled, and the bottle stopper popped off.
Before his consciousness faded, he heard the System’s voice, frantic and burning with urgency: [Mo Yunqi! It’s Mo Yunqi! The villain of this world is Mo Yunqi!!!]
When he woke again, he was surrounded by a crowd of people.
Familiar and unfamiliar faces stared at him with a mixture of contempt and anticipation.
His wrists and ankles were tightly bound to a wooden frame with thorny ropes, and a soul-destroying talisman was pasted to his forehead. His entire body ached with the pain of blood flowing in reverse.
Jiang Luoluo stared blankly at the people before him, tentatively asking, “Senior Sect Brother?”
The Sect Leader smiled warmly at him. “Junior Brother Jiang.”
“What are you doing, Senior Brother?” Jiang Luoluo asked, confused.
The Sect Leader raised his voice, his voice brimming with smug satisfaction: “Dig out the dragon’s bones, rip out its tendons, extinguish its soul.”
Jiang Luoluo’s face instantly drained of all color.
The Sect Leader sneered. “Does it hurt? Don’t worry, he’ll be here soon, and you’ll be free.”
“He won’t come…”
Jiang Luoluo lowered his head, Mo Yunqi’s face flashing before his eyes. He whispered, “He thinks I ran away. He thinks I lied to him. He won’t come…”
His tiny voice faded into the air. Lightning flashed across the clear sky, followed by thunder. A mass of black mist blotted out the sun, plunging the world into instant darkness.
A familiar scent, unmistakably Mo Yunqi’s, filled the air. Jiang Luoluo raised his head and collided with a warm embrace.
His forehead was gently kissed. The arms holding him trembled. A deep voice murmured in his ear:
“Little liar.”
Jiang Luoluo jerked his head up, meeting those dark, fathomless phoenix eyes. Suddenly, his nose tingled with unshed tears, and a wave of overwhelming grievance washed over him. “Mo Yunqi… I didn’t run away…”
The arms around him tightened further. Mo Yunqi stroked his hair. “Your husband knows.”
The small head in his arms nestled against his shoulder, a tearful voice whining, “I love you, Husband…”
Mo Yunqi looked down at him, his eyes dark and unfathomable.
As he did every morning, he leaned down and kissed Jiang Luoluo’s nose. “I love you too, Shizun.”
[Target’s Favorability: 100. Character Extraction in Progress—]
Jiang Luoluo finally realized what was happening. He frantically raised his head and kissed Mo Yunqi, a broken voice squeezing from his throat. “Yun Qi, Husband, I don’t want to leave, I don’t want to leave…”
The person in his arms slowly went limp. Mo Yunqi’s arms stiffened as he gently stroked Jiang Luoluo’s soft cheek.
Overwhelming pressure swept across Purple Cloud Mountain, forcing countless cultivators to kneel in terror as they stared at the man on the high platform.
“How could you kill him! How are we supposed to restrain the Evil Dragon now that you’ve killed him?!”
“I didn’t kill him! I swear I didn’t!”
Chaos erupted beneath the platform. The pressure intensified, leaving many gasping for breath, already clawing at their own throats.
The man in black turned, the dark energy swirling around him as if to swallow him whole. His crimson eyes scanned the kneeling crowd.
His teeth ground together with a grating sound, his voice dripping with venomous ice. “Damn it all.”
“I only wanted him, yet you dared to take him away!.”
“Then die with him!”
The swirling black mist thickened, spreading outward relentlessly. Cries of anguish and pleas for mercy filled the air, as blood flowed for miles.
It was a scene of hell on earth.
Time-Space Transfer Station.
Jiang Luoluo sat watching the figure on the screen, biting his lip to keep from crying. “I failed to save the villain. The mission failed. Can you send me in? I want to find him.”
[No failure~ No failure~]
The System smiled ingratiatingly. [Our judgment system has been upgraded. It’s now more human-like and based on percentages. One failure won’t be counted as a complete failure.]
[Also, to accommodate your situation, starting from the next world, reaching maximum favorability won’t immediately trigger soul extraction. As long as you wish, you can stay with your husband in that world forever.] [footnote] T/N: I can still remember the relief I felt when I 1st read that in manhwa. The villain deserves a happy ending too(╥﹏╥) [/footnote]
Jiang Luoluo shook his head. [I don’t want to go to a new world.]
The System gritted its teeth, as if steeling itself. A beam of white light entered Jiang Luoluo’s mind. [Dearest host~ Fu Tingchuan is Mo Yunqi~ You’ve been pursuing the same person all along~ As long as you continue participating, you’ll be reunited with your darling husband once you complete the mission~]
Jiang Luoluo’s pupils widened in shock. “What?”
[Yes, dearest host~ Your husband is already waiting for you in the next world~]
The System spun around excitedly, its voice like a child abducting a toddler. [Don’t make him wait too long~ Let’s go to the next world quickly~]
[But before we enter, I must first seal your memories~]
💬 “Loulu dodged love like it was tax season, and I dodged sleep to bring you this chapter. Support your tired translator with a Ko-fi and extra-soft tissues, please!”
