Chapter Sixty: A Jest Holds a Touch of Warmth, and the Marks of Teeth Are Wishes to Be Cherished for a Lifetime

Shangguan Chuci listened to his words and felt both exasperated and amused. She retorted with a smile, “Brother Lu, your words truly put one in a difficult position. If you really journey to the underworld and meet me there, wouldn’t that mean I’ve followed you as well? With someone like me for company on the road to the Yellow Springs, you certainly won’t be lonely.”

Though she spoke in jest, her words seemed to carry a gentle warmth that seeped into the young man’s heart.

The hollow wound in Lu Chenyuan’s chest seemed to lessen, and an honest, foolish grin unconsciously spread across his face.

Suddenly, he remembered something.

It was a strange scene he had witnessed in a haze of delirium.

At the time, the world before his eyes had turned into a grotesque and surreal vision of flesh and blood.

The figure who took him into her embrace would sometimes transform into a bloodied meal that stirred his primal hunger, and at other times, take on the visage of his master, Situ.

He changed the subject and asked, “By the way, has my master… has she been here?”

Shangguan Chuci did not answer, but gazed at him with a half-smile and countered, “Are you hoping she did?”

Seeing that she did not directly refuse, hope flickered once more in Lu Chenyuan’s heart, and he nodded eagerly. “Of course, I hope so.”

At his response, Shangguan Chuci’s lips curved into a faint, gentle smile—a smile filled with reassurance, and yet tinged with an unspoken melancholy.

“Then she has indeed been here,” she said softly. “She comes to you in your heart, in your dreams, and has she ever truly left you? As for the mortal world… Brother Lu, what do you think yourself?”

Lu Chenyuan was taken aback at first, but soon understood. The hope that had ignited within him was immediately replaced by a boundless sense of loss. He murmured, “So that’s how it is…”

Yes, if his master had resolved to leave, how could she appear so easily?

Thinking back to that moment between life and death, when he had become little more than a monster who knew only hunger, when he had lost all sense of self, the one who had risked everything to hold his half-human, half-demon form in her arms could only have been the person before him…

At this thought, his heart was awash with conflicting emotions—indescribable gratitude mixed with a vague sense of guilt.

He had believed that this Young Lord Chu was a person of deep calculation, always weighing pros and cons, someone who valued only their own gain and loss, and would never risk themselves for others. In the end, he realized he had misjudged her.

Lu Chenyuan lifted his head and said earnestly, “Thank you for what you did last night.”

To his surprise, Shangguan Chuci made no attempt to downplay her actions. Instead, she accepted his gratitude with delight, her brilliant eyes curving like crescent moons as she replied, “Brother Lu, I would be remiss to refuse such thanks.”

“But to be honest, you now belong to me. Saving and protecting you is only natural. Why thank me?”

Lu Chenyuan was left bewildered, confusion written all over his face. “Young Lord Chu, what do you mean by that?”

Shangguan Chuci snapped open her white jade folding fan with a flourish and explained at her leisure, “You shielded me from a deadly blow, that’s true. But unleashing the demon within you was also an act of self-preservation. After all, Wei Zhuo made it clear—he came both for the puppet and for you. Do you admit this, Brother Lu?”

Seeing him nod earnestly, her smile deepened. “And what about me? I could have stood aside, walked away, and left the aftermath to the Demon Suppression Division. Whether you became a monster or were slain by others, what did it matter to me?”

She leaned forward slightly, her bright eyes fixed on Lu Chenyuan. “Yet I did not leave—I risked my life to save you. How do you explain that?”

As she spoke, she gently closed her fan and tapped it lightly on the wound on his chest, which had already healed for the most part. She smiled sweetly and said, “Brother Lu, place your hand over your heart and think carefully. Doesn’t your life now belong to me?”

Listening to Shangguan Chuci’s words, Lu Chenyuan felt much of the gloom in his heart, born from the bloodshed, melt quietly away.

A foolish smile appeared again on his face as he blurted out, “The world is treacherous, and people’s hearts are hard to fathom. In ten years wandering with my master, everyone I met was either cunning as a fox or vicious as a wolf. Even those who seemed friendly always had their own hidden agendas.”

“But only when I’m with you, Chu, do I feel inexplicably at ease. In all my years, I’ve never met anyone quite as… unique as you.”

He had meant to say “woman,” but the words caught in his throat. Seeing her dressed in men’s attire, he guessed she must have reasons for such a disguise, and saying it outright would only be disrespectful. So he swallowed the word, though his face flushed with warmth.

Shangguan Chuci, hearing the sincerity in his words, knew she already held a special place in his heart, unlike anyone else. A gentle warmth rose within her, filling her chest.

When she noticed his awkward pause and guilty expression, her keen intuition told her that this boy had already seen through her identity.

A faint blush crept up her cheeks, and she was about to change the subject when Lu Chenyuan suddenly asked, “By the way, does your shoulder still hurt?”

Lu Chenyuan suddenly recalled something, and the smile faded from his face, replaced by guilt and concern. “When I was delirious, I think I lost control and bit your shoulder…”

At these words, whatever feminine embarrassment Shangguan Chuci had felt was swept away by a wave of amused exasperation.

She deliberately shrugged her injured left shoulder, raised her slender brows, and huffed, “You’ve got some nerve asking! Of course it hurts—and painfully so. But that’s not the worst of it. I’m afraid the mark your teeth left will stay on my shoulder for life.”

Her tone was half-mocking, half-aggrieved, but when Lu Chenyuan heard it, he was so startled that, forgetting his wounds, he tried to get out of bed despite the pain. “That won’t do! My master once taught me a remedy, perfect for this kind of injury. Wait here, I’ll go gather the herbs, crush them, and apply them for you. In three days’ time your shoulder will be as good as new, without a trace of a scar!”

Seeing his earnestness, all of Shangguan Chuci’s annoyance evaporated, leaving only boundless tenderness and mischief.

When she saw he was about to leave, she quickly reached out and gently tugged at his sleeve.

“I don’t want you to.”

Lu Chenyuan froze, turning to her in confusion.

He found her bright eyes filled with an emotion he couldn’t quite decipher. There was mischief in her gaze, but also an inexplicable seriousness. She said softly, “If I use your remedy and the scar disappears, won’t you soon forget what happened today? I can’t have that.”

She paused, watching the boy’s bewildered face, and a faint, enigmatic smile played on her lips as she continued languidly, “I want to keep it, so you’ll see it all your life, remember it all your life, and feel guilty all your life.”

Lu Chenyuan opened his mouth, stunned into silence.

Her words seemed both teasing and joyful, yet their deeper meaning remained a mystery to him. And yet, for reasons he couldn't name, his heart began to race wildly.