Chapter 54: Master, Is That You?

In a sudden motion, she drew the half-demonized boy into her embrace. A chill, slick as ice, seeped into her bones. Beneath the dark scales, the flesh seemed to writhe with a life of its own, making her scalp prickle with dread. Yet, faced with this scene that would chill the bravest spirit, she merely shuddered, then clenched her teeth, forcing down every trace of fear and disgust.

Shangguan Chuci drew a deep breath and held him even tighter.

“Lu Chenyuan has fallen to this state for my sake. Now that I risk my life to stay by him, it is only right,” she told herself. “He carries many secrets—most importantly, with but a few words, he helped me recover lost memories. If he dies here, how am I to reclaim what I have lost?”

“He cannot become a monster, cannot simply die—not only for his sake, but for my own as well!”

Inwardly, Shangguan Chuci repeated these words, persuading herself again and again.

Everyone fears death. She, too, was afraid. No matter how bleak this world, she did not wish to die now.

She could throw herself into his arms without hesitation.

But as terror surged within her, she could not help but want to flee, to doubt if she had been too presumptuous, to consider giving up.

In that instant, she understood.

One may not need a reason to begin something, but to persist, one needs countless reasons to endure.

…

Lu Chenyuan saw that the most delectable flesh was not only drawing near, but soon pressed close, clinging to him, binding them together.

As that flesh melded to his body, a wave of warmth washed over him, laced with a captivating fragrance that seeped straight into his soul.

It awakened a primal hunger within him.

“Eat… eat this…”

The ceaseless whisper echoed in Lu Chenyuan’s mind. He fought against it with all his might, but at last could resist no longer.

He lowered his head, and it felt as though he had plunged into a world both strange and wondrous.

Before his eyes, the scene was dazzling and surreal.

Countless towers, neither wood nor stone, soared skyward as if to rival the heavens themselves. Their crystalline walls gleamed; beneath the night, ten thousand lights blazed within, casting the city as bright as day.

The streets were not paved with stone, but smooth as glass. On them roamed innumerable mechanical beasts of iron, needing no ox nor horse to pull them, darting faster than lightning. These endless iron creatures surged like molten rivers across the vast roads, thundering in a deafening roar.

The passersby wore the strangest attire. Men dressed in short, collarless shirts; women, with bare arms and legs exposed, seemed utterly unashamed, walking with natural poise.

Most peculiar of all, each person held a palm-sized, black crystal mirror.

…

They would sometimes make faces at the mirror, muttering to themselves, as the glass flashed with light—as if it could steal their very souls. At other times, they gazed down, fingers gliding ceaselessly across its surface, their faces shifting from joy to rage, as if bewitched by some powerful spell.

Lu Chenyuan’s spirit trembled. This world, though prosperous beyond belief, radiated a sense of alienation and madness.

Everyone hurried about, yet seemed to have no destination.

All were lost within those inch-sized mirrors, oblivious to those around them.

What… what was this place?

…

“Princess!”

As Shen Guizhou and the others cried out, fresh blood stained her pale blue silk robes.

Shangguan Chuci’s face went deathly white, her eyes reddening with pain that nearly brought tears, but she bit her lip and declared fiercely:

“I’m fine! Don’t come any closer!”

…

“Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?” Lu Chenyuan was lost.

The monster’s ravenous instincts spurred him to bite again.

But just as he was about to do so, the vision before his eyes shifted; suddenly, his master, Situ, stood before him!

The contrast between icy skin and scalding blood was shocking.

A thunderbolt seemed to explode in Lu Chenyuan’s mind, filling him with overwhelming guilt and remorse.

He gazed at that familiar face, the taste of iron and blood still lingering on his tongue, and an incredulous thought rose up:

“What… what foolish thing am I doing?!”

…

Shangguan Chuci, enduring pain upon pain in her injured shoulder, suddenly felt the boy in her arms shiver.

A voice, lost and ashamed, murmured in her ear like the words of a dream:

“Master… is that you? Is it truly you?”

Her heart trembled at his words, a bittersweet irony swelling within her.

Yet these tangled emotions were quickly swept away by something deeper and more powerful.

She drew a long breath and pressed her cheek gently to his cold temple, whispering softly:

“It’s me—it really is me… all of it is true…”

…

Suddenly, she recalled his words: “I believe it’s all true,” and a strange feeling welled up inside her.

Lu Chenyuan said with shame, “I did something foolish just now… Are you in pain?”

With a faint, bloodless smile, Shangguan Chuci answered softly, “Your master feels no pain, none at all.”

Of course your master feels no pain, you silly boy—because the one who hurts is me, Shangguan Chuci…

She marveled at her own mood, that she still had the heart to make such a jest.

No, she told herself, while he’s still listening, I must find a way to calm him. If he bites me again later, who can I complain to?

In a flash, she recalled the unique breathing technique he had learned. Inspired, she whispered in his ear:

“Do you remember the mantra and breathing method I taught you? For now, think of nothing else, do nothing else—just recite the mantra in your heart, and regulate your breath…”

“I remember. Everything you taught, Master, I’ve committed to heart, word for word.”

“A heart as still as a deep pool, the breath as silent as a swimming fish.”

“In this place, let your body and mind be as one.”

Within her embrace, Lu Chenyuan softly repeated the mantra passed down by Situ, and gradually, his struggles ceased.

The eyes embedded in his mutated, tentacled arm slowly withdrew into his flesh; the wild, flying tendrils shrank back into human fingers.

The violent, demonic aura that had poured from the boy’s body dissipated, ebbing away.

“Lord Shen, Her Highness… she really did it…” Han Lin could scarcely believe what he saw, as though witnessing a miracle.

Shen Guizhou gave a slight nod, his expression complicated as he watched, thinking:

“The Princess… she’s truly different than before…”

The Shangguan Chuci he once knew would never have led them to Zhenhai River, never would have risked everything at such a moment to embrace a boy on the brink of becoming a monster.

As the boy’s breath grew steady and calm in her arms, Shangguan Chuci felt as if she had walked through the gates of death and returned—her limbs weak, almost collapsing into his embrace.

Just then, Shen Guizhou, ever vigilant, narrowed his eyes and gazed into the depths of the dark woods beyond the courtyard.

For a moment, a faint glimmer seemed to flash in the forest—or perhaps it was merely an illusion.