DDAM 13
Li Zhuochen had been playing with his fan, when he suddenly stopped upon hearing those words; the fan remained suspended in mid-air. He felt a piercing gaze from the side, cold enough to make his heart skip a beat.
He spoke in a low voice, “It isn’t as she said. Qingqing, please let me explain…”
“There is no need for explanations.” Jun Jiewu withdrew his gaze, his expression icy. “It has nothing to do with me.”
Yun Xiu’s eyes had turned red, and her voice trembled with indignation.
“How could it not? I saw you with my own eyes coming out of the back of the ancestral hall this morning. Young Master kept vigil there all night; his body was stiff from kneeling for so long, and you…you took advantage of his exhaustion…”
“What is all this noise?”
Yu Zhan walked briskly into the front hall. Her gaze lingered briefly on Yun Xiu’s red eyes before following the direction of her finger to Li Zhuochen; her expression darkened slightly.
As if she had finally found someone to confide in, Yun Xiu spoke tearfully,
“Sister Yu Zhan, it was him! This morning, as I passed behind the ancestral hall, I saw him come out of the very place where Young Master had spent the entire night…”
Yu Zhan’s expression changed subtly at the mention of the “ancestral hall,” and she cut Yun Xiu off.
“It is likely a misunderstanding. You may withdraw.”
Yun Xiu was taken aback. “But, Sister Yu Zhan–”
“Withdraw,” Yu Zhan repeated, her voice gentle yet firm. Yun Xiu opened her mouth to speak but ultimately curtsied; she glared at Li Zhuochen before retreating from the room.
Yu Zhan turned and bowed to Jun Jiewu and Li Zhuochen.
“My deepest apologies to you both; my young master is feeling unwell today and is unable to receive guests. He has specifically asked that you stay the night at the estate. Once he has recovered a bit of strength tomorrow, he wishes to host a banquet personally to thank you for saving him. What do you think?”
The elusive trace of a living soul lingering within the Xie estate weighed on Jun Jiewu’s mind. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded. “Then we shall impose upon your hospitality.”
Yu Zhan breathed a sigh of relief and led them through the covered walkways to a secluded courtyard.
Li Zhuochen followed at a leisurely pace, though his gaze remained fixed on Jun Jiewu’s profile.
When he had heard the words “it has nothing to do with me” earlier, alarm bells had rung in his mind, even though he had maintained a smile on his face. He knew full well that if he actually believed Jun Jiewu’s claim, that wretched Flag-Lowering Spell would likely remain on him for the rest of his life.
As soon as the door closed, Li Zhuochen took a deep breath, turned, and leaned in close.
“Qingqing, don’t be angry. That nonsense about impropriety was just…nonsense. I only happened to stumble upon Ji Wujiu and someone else this morning…”
“I suspect there is a formation laid out within this secret realm, and this place is the eye of the formation.”
Jun Jiewu cut him off abruptly.
Li Zhuochen was taken aback; he swallowed the flippant remark that had been on the tip of his tongue and immediately composed himself.
“What do you mean?”
Jun Jiewu looked at the surroundings. A barely perceptible ripple of spiritual energy permeated the air, weaving in wisps and strands between the pillars and sealing the entire estate within an airtight barrier.
“You must have sensed it too: everything here is an illusion, and none of the people possess a soul or spirit. I initially thought these were merely the remnants of a demon’s spirit re-enacting scenes from the past. But if that were the case, they wouldn’t be able to respond to our words and actions the way they do…”
“That is far beyond the capabilities of a mere lingering spirit.”
Li Zhuochen shed his playful demeanor and sat down opposite him.
“But what kind of formation could grant self-awareness to beings within an illusion? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“The Nightmare Spirit Formation,” Jun Jiewu said as he raised his eyes to meet Li’s with a solemn gaze. “It originates from the Nightmare Demons. The caster uses their own heart’s blood as a medium and their intention as a catalyst to weave a vast, all-encompassing dream. Everyone within the formation is an empty shell devoid of a soul, yet, unlike ordinary puppets, they possess a spirit.”
Li Zhuochen frowned. “Soulless, yet possessing a spirit… doesn’t that mean…”
“Precisely,” Jun Jiewu said. “They can think and act; in every way, they are indistinguishable from the living, so much so that they often believe themselves to be alive. In reality, they are nothing more than marionettes, born from a single thought of the caster.”
“You said you woke up in the woodshed?” Jun Jiewu asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you recall the location? I suspect that your waking up there was linked to this formation.”
“If I am not mistaken, the aura of the living soul you sensed likely belonged to the caster of this Nightmare Spirit Formation.”
Li Zhuochen’s expression changed slightly: “You mean…”
“It seems the demon race was not entirely sealed away,” Jun Jiewu said coldly. “For tens of thousands of years, it appears members of the demon race have been hiding right here in the Hehuan Secret Realm.”
…
Night had fallen, and the entire estate was shrouded in silence.
Jun Jiewu extinguished the lamp. Guided by the moonlight filtering through the window gap, he silently opened the rear window and vaulted down into the backyard. Li Zhuochen followed behind; he landed without so much as a rustle of his robes.
The backyard was far more desolate than the front hall. Low outbuildings used for storage were scattered about; moonlight cast a thin, cold-white sheen over the grey-brick ground.
The two moved stealthily along the base of the wall for a moment before Jun Jiewu asked in a low voice,
“In which direction is the woodshed?”
Li Zhuochen tilted his chin:
“Behind the ancestral hall.”
Jun Jiewu nodded, and the pair made their way toward the building.
Upon reaching the rear of the ancestral hall, Jun Jiewu suddenly halted. The sound of breathing, mingled with the rustling of fabric, was leaking out through the gap in the hall’s tightly closed doors.
Immediately following came a low, teasing male voice: “Brother-in-law, let my brother get a good look… let him see how you serve his younger brother right before his memorial tablet.”
Jun Jiewu’s brows twitched; just as he was about to step back, Li Zhuochen grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the shadows of the veranda pillar. A sliver of dim, yellow candlelight filtered through the gap in the ancestral hall’s doors; by that light, they could barely make out the scene inside.
Amidst swirling incense smoke and the imposing rows of memorial tablets (a place that ought to have been solemn and dignified) a scene of profanity was unfolding. A young man in white knelt on a prayer cushion, his back taut with tension; someone stood behind him.
His robes were pulled to reveal a stretch of pale, slender shoulder and neck. He bit his lip as he looked at the tablet before him, his eyes rimmed with red, yet he forced himself to remain silent.
Jun Jiewu’s pupils contracted slightly; he averted his gaze to the carvings on the pillar, trying to banish the image from his mind.
Li Zhuochen leaned close to his ear:
“This is exactly what I stumbled upon this morning.”
His tone grew even more playful.
“Oh! But the man behind him seems different from the one this morning; the other one was older…”
Jun Jiewu: “…”
Unable to tolerate it any longer, he elbowed Li Zhuochen’s ribs with moderate force. Li Zhuochen hissed in pain and the movement inside the ancestral hall came to a halt.
A wary voice called out from within: “…Who’s there?”
Footsteps were already approaching the door. Li Zhuochen made a split-second decision: he pinned Jun Jiewu against the pillar and lowered his head to seal his lips with a kiss. Jun Jiewu’s back went rigid as he was pressed against the cold pillar; Li Zhuochen’s palm cupped the back of his head. The kiss was not deep, yet it was intense.
Jun Jiewu’s mind went blank for a moment, though out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glimpse of the ancestral hall door and a figure emerging from within.
He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Li Zhuochen’s waist. Li Zhuochen paused briefly before kissing him harder.
Xie Ting stopped a few paces away. He frowned at the two intertwined figures in the shadow of the pillar; the wariness that had initially marked his expression faded as the scene became clear. Moonlight bathed them both, and Li Zhuochen’s profile was buried against the other man’s neck.
After a moment, Xie Ting asked in a low, stern voice: “Who are you?”
Only then did Li Zhuochen unhurriedly release Jun Jiewu. He turned his head to glance at Xie Ting and reached up to smooth the collar he had ruffled.
“We are guests of Young Master Wujiu. We helped Miss Yu Zhan of this residence earlier today, and Young Master Ji kindly invited us to stay the night.”
“We couldn’t sleep, so we came out for a stroll. We hadn’t intended to disturb you.”
Xie Ting’s gaze shifted to Ji Wujiu, who had already adjusted his robes and stepped out of the ancestral hall; his eyes were still red, though he had managed to regain his composure. He glanced at Jun Jiewu, then at Li Zhuochen, and after a moment, gave a slight nod.
Xie Ting withdrew his gaze, though his voice was more tense than before: “Just now… did you two heard anything?”
Jun Jiewu was about to speak, but Li Zhuochen beat him to it:
“Yes, we heard it. Young Master Xie and Young Master Ji are quite the romantic pair.”
Xie Ting’s expression changed; before he could react, Li Zhuochen added softly,
“It was enough to move even my brother and me.”
He reached out and wrapped his arm around Jun Jiewu’s waist.
Jun Jiewu was caught off guard as he was suddenly pulled into the other’s arms. Yet, conscious of Xie Ting’s scrutinizing gaze upon them, he forced himself to suppress the urge to push the man away; instead, he lowered his eyes and allowed Li Zhuochen’s arm to remain around his waist.
Xie Ting was taken aback; his gaze darted back and forth between the two of them: “…You two are brothers?”
Li Zhuochen chuckled softly.
“That’s right. If Brother Xie and his brother-in-law can be together… why shouldn’t my brother and I?”
He spoke softly. Xie Ting’s expression flickered through a range of emotions; his gaze shifted from Li Zhuochen’s face to the hand resting on Jun Jiewu’s waist, then away again.
He eventually gave a perfunctory smile and said, “It is late; the two of you had best return and rest. You wouldn’t want to run into, or offend, anyone else.”
The ancestral hall doors slowly closed behind them, reducing the candlelight visible through the gap to a sliver.
Jun Jiewu’s expression remained impassive as he reached up, pried Li Zhuochen’s hand off his waist, and turned to walk away. Li Zhuochen followed close behind him; he lowered his voice as he laughed,
“Brother, why are you ignoring me?”
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