Chapter 28 – Can you hug me for a bit?

Translator: Amber.es | Editor: – | Proofreader: –

 

Three hundred years ago, the mortal realm.

On the snow-capped mountain, with thousands of miles ice-covered, a ray of silver light pierced the sky. A dragon-like figure descended from the sky – a snow-like figure, with his long hair tied in a crown, bore a noble and dignified temperament.

However, his handsome eyebrows were tightly frowned, as if angry at a particular someone. Venting his anger, he kicked the heavy fir tree in front of him. “If you don’t let me return, that’s fine. I too don’t want to return!”

The snow rustled onto his head. The youth took half a step back to avoid it, as he heard some laughter in the trees.

The voice was elegant yet extremely soft, as if it happened close to his ear.

“Who? What are you doing sneakily? Come out!”

“Who is sneaking around?” A lazy voice came from the tree, and the youth looked up. The man was leaning on the branch, half of the golden-coloured clothes hanging down, as he tilted his head at the youth. This man smiled. “Little dragon, you’re so unreasonable. I was sleeping soundly here, but you woke me up with your noise. Why are you blaming me instead?”

“A phoenix?” The young man narrowed his eyes, and a trace of obvious displeasure flashed in his eyes. “This forest is so big, who told you to sleep here?”

“I would also like to know. There are more than a hundred fir trees in this forest. Why did you kick this one then?”

The two, one sitting and the other standing, weighed the other, an undercurrent spreading in this silent fir forest. After a while, the youth frowned. “Have I seen you before?”

The man was taken aback. “Have you seen me before?”

Before the young man opened his mouth, a strange sound suddenly sounded in the distance, as if many people were hurrying over. The youth wanted to turn around to look, but he was pulled from behind, and his back slammed into the rough tree trunk.

“Shh, don’t talk.” The man tightly covered his mouth, pulled him behind a tree and hid him, their foreheads almost touching.

The young man stared at the handsome face of the man who was too close, and smelled a bloody smell in his nostrils.

…He was injured?

The pursuers in the distance finally showed their appearances, accompanied with a rather powerful demon breath. The youth’s pupils narrowed slightly. Through the gaps in the bushes, he saw them. This was the first time he had seen demons.

The man’s voice transmission sounded in his mind. “Don’t be afraid, it’s just a few demons who are alone, I can take you away—”

The other person’s words came to an abrupt end, as if some kind of great pain suddenly erupted from his body. The arms around the young man unconsciously tightened; his back trembled uncontrollably.

Yet he didn’t make any sound. Instead, he gritted his teeth and endured all the pain.

The young man lowered his eyes, sighed imperceptibly. Using the strength in his arms, he instantly switched the positions of the two.

“You……”

As if not hearing anything, the young man straightened his clothes. Behind the tree, those demons had already approached.

The young man glanced at the man, stretched out his palm, and a slender silver sword appeared in his hand. “Hang on, I’ll bring you out.”

Then, a clear sword intent suddenly flashed in the forest.

The man leaned against the tree and tried his best to look back. The young man’s face was as profound as water, his figure was sharp, and he quickly beheaded all the demons without any signs of weakness.

A touch of snow-white in the sword’s intent, like a cold light coming out of its sheath, was unstoppable.

This was the last scene he saw before he lost consciousness.

When the man woke up, he was in a wooden house. His shirt was loose, and the wound on his waist and abdomen had been bandaged. The man pulled up the messy knot on the edge of the gauze, and smiled helplessly.

The young man stepped into the house and saw his smile just in time. He paused, a little annoyed. “I saved you, and you still laugh?”

“Not laughing anymore. Thank you, gentlemen, for saving my life.”

The young man placed the herbs on the table with a cold face, and said, “Your injury is not serious, but you are poisoned.”

“Yes.” The man pressed the wound, and said truthfully, “The demon’s poison can’t kill me, but it obstructs my cultivation level, resulting in the loss of spiritual power.”

“Can you resolve it?”

“It takes time.”

“How long?”

“It’s as little as a year and a half, and as much as three to five years or even longer.”

The young man was silent for a moment, and sat beside him. “I remember where I saw you before.”

The man raised his eyebrows, and only heard the young man softly say, “When the demon clans invaded, and the immortals prayed to the heavens to save the world, they had answered. When the gate of the gods opened, I saw a god leading all the other gods as they descended down from the sky. They call that god, Feng Xiao.

There was a long silence in the room. After a moment, Feng Xiao smiled and confessed. “It’s me, and you are?”

“The Dragon Prince of the Lingyuan in the Immortal Realm, Jun Yan.”

.

“Feng Xiao, why haven’t you taken any medicine!” Jun Yan’s voice came from inside the room.

In the courtyard, Feng Xiao withdrew his gaze from looking at the sky, straightened up from the reclining chair, and looked back at the youth who came out with the medicine. With a usual gentle smile on the corner of his mouth, he teased, “You’re calling me by my namesake. No respect for your senior.”

“Who told you¹(formal)) not to drink the medicine properly, my god.” Jun Yan eyed him, and handed the medicine bowl to him.

Feng Xiao couldn’t shirk it, so he had to drink it obediently. “I said before, no matter how good the medicine in your immortal land, it only gives a trivial effect. There’s no need to bother.”

He paused, and told the truth, “If the kitchen is burned down again because of such a decoction, I still have to help you rebuild.”

Jun Yan’s ears were hot. He said angrily, “That was only one time!”

Feng Xiao smiled and said nothing.

Jun Yan couldn’t help but put the empty medicine bowl on the low table at hand, and sat beside Feng Xiao. “What are you looking at when you sit here every day?”

“The Immortal Domain.”

Jun Yan’s eyes darkened, and he said in a low voice, “If it is true as you said, that your surprise attack on the demons was betrayed by people from the Allied Forces of the Immortal Realm, you will die if you return now. And since you have lost all your divine power, you won’t be able to solve anything.”

“I know, it’s just…” Feng Xiao looked up at the sky, with a hint of worry in his expression. “Once a soldier, always a soldier.”

Jun Yan didn’t answer. He followed Feng Xiao’s gaze, and saw that the mortal sky was as clear as ever. People under this peaceful sky would not have imagined that the immortal land in the Nine Heavens was going through a difficult and cruel battle.

Suddenly, the person beside him coughed and almost knocked over the porcelain bowl Jun Yan put on the table.

“Feng Xiao!” Jun Yan hurriedly got up to support him, “Why are you having seizures more and more frequently these days? It’s never been like this before.”

Feng Xiao shook his head; his face was as pale as a sheet of paper, but he gave a soft smile. “The poison that the demons prepared was specially for me. Naturally it can’t be something ordinary.”

Jun Yan pursed his lips, concealing a trace of doubt in his heart. He helped Feng Xiao into the house with some effort. He laid Feng Xiao back on the bed, but at this moment, there was already a thin layer of thin sweat on the latter’s forehead.

Jun Yan knelt by the bed and stared at him blankly.

The handsome man’s eyes were slightly closed. If it weren’t for his slightly unsteady breathing, no one would have noticed how terrible pain he was going through.

Jun Yan’s gaze shifted and fell on the person’s hand. That hand was slender and pale, and as he unconsciously grasped the quilt around him, the veins on the back of the hand bulged, the knuckles tense and white.

Jun Yan’s eyes wavered. Slowly, he stretched out his hand, and held the other’s hand.

The pure celestial power was slowly transmitted through the clasped hands of the two. Wherever the celestial power went, it helped to calm the restless breath in Feng Xiao’s, allowing his body to relax. Time passed until Feng Xiao’s breathing gradually stabilized, and he finally fell asleep.

Exhausted, Jun Yan let go of his hand.

He lowered his head to look at his palm, the strands of spiritual power flowing from his fingertips had not dissipated. That was the power of his Dragon Pearl.

.

“Are you crazy? Giving me the Dragon Pearl? Then what will you do?”

Jun Yan leaned on the bed. His face was pale, and he did not dare to look at him, only lowering his eyes. “These days, I’ve tried it. The power of Dragon Pearl can help you remove the residual poison, as long as the poison disappears, you can recover your divine power.”

“But you—”

Jun Yan interrupted. “You have been in the mortal world for more than two months, and you are tortured by poison every day, but your divine power shows no signs of recovering. Even if you can persist, the Immortal Realm… the Immortal Realm may not last.”

He raised his head and seriously countered, “You came here to save the world. So what if I lost a dragon pearl to save you?”

Feng Xiao saw the young man’s resolute expression, but couldn’t say a word.

A steady stream of warmth spread from the heart. It was the most powerful and purest dragon pearl in Lingyuan Sea for hundreds of years. And it was also the scorching hot heart of a young man.

Jun Yan said, “My imperial father did not allow me to participate in this war, and even drove me to the mortal world and refused to let me go home. If you bring my Dragon Pearl there, then it would count as me doing something. After you defeat the demon clan and seal the demon realm forever, you can just return the Dragon Pearl to me.”

Feng Xiao lowered his head. He raised his hand to press onto his heart. He finally smiled softly, “Fool.”

Jun Yan was displeased. “How can you be like this? I saved you, but yet you still scold me?”

Feng Xiao looked down at him. “Not scolding. I just feel too much heartache for you.”

The age of this youth was a newly matured adult in the Immortal Realm. It was the age with the most intense emotions, the most impulsive, and can’t hide anything on his mind. He raised his head, met Feng Xiao’s gaze, and asked in a low voice, “Then can you give me a hug?”

Feng Xiao was startled.

“It’s very cold.”

“…”

“It hurts to pull out the Dragon Pearl.”

“…”

“Feng Xiao…”

Feng Xiao sighed helplessly, but finally couldn’t resist the boy’s soft call. He bent forward and hugged him into his arms. “Does it still hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Feng Xiao hugged the person in his arms even tighter, and put his face against the other’s cold forehead. He softly asked, “Little dragon, do you know what it means for you to give me the Dragon Pearl?”

“What?”

Feng Xiao said: “Once the Dragon Pearl is circulating in my body, it will be contaminated with my divine power. Afterwards, even if return it to you, you will always have my power on you, and vice versa.”

That was a real sharing of spiritual power, a smooth and harmonious blend. From then on, no matter when and where they were, no matter whether they were alive or dead, there was no way to separate them.

Jun Yan instantly understood what he meant, and a slight blush appeared on his pale face.

“Regretting?”

“Of-of course not!”

“It’s too late to regret it.” Feng Xiao sighed, “You don’t know anything, yet you sold yourself to me like this. You little fool.”

“I didn’t think so much, who would have thought of this…”

“En, I didn’t think of that either.”

He didn’t expect that an ancient god who lived in this world for at least tens of thousands of years, upon reaching the mortal realm, would fall for a little dragon like this.

“How long will it take for your divine power to recover?”

“Ten days.”

“It’s enough.” Jun Yan buried his head in Feng Xiao’s arms, and said softly, “Before the god Feng Xiao returns to save the world, you are mine for ten days.”

Ten days later, Feng Xiao regained his divine power and re-entered the Immortal Realm.

After another three days passed, Lingyuan Sea suddenly sent someone down to bring back the prince Jun Yan who had lost the Dragon Pearl.

Lingyuan Sea, Dragon Palace.

Jun Yan sat quietly on the bed, clutching a purse tightly in his hand, his expression as cold as ice.

A slender young man bearing silver hair with a crown on his head, pushed the door as he entered. “Yan’er, how long are you going to make trouble?”

Jun Yan didn’t answer, as if he hadn’t heard what he said.

“You have lost the Dragon Pearl, and now you are no different from ordinary people. You don’t eat, drink, or take medicine for a few days. You don’t want to die, do you?”

Jun Yan finally raised his head, and he sneered, “Isn’t this what my Imperial Father wants to see?”

The Lingyuan Sea’s Dragon King was stunned. He looked away. “There was a misunderstanding between us. Obediently eat something, and I will explain to you slowly.”

“Explain? Imperial Father should really explain to me carefully.” Jun Yan said, “Explain why god Feng Xiao’s plan to attack the demon clan was leaked, and explain where the poison on his body came from, explain why Lingyuan Sea didn’t say a word when I was with him for three months, but you sent someone to bring me back not long after he left?”

“Is Imperial Father surprised to see him come back intact? You sent someone to tamper with the elixir you sent me. Did you ever consider this day?

The Dragon King’s expression changed drastically. He closed his eyes slightly, and after a while, he said in a hoarse voice, “When did you find out?”

“Feng Xiao discovered it.” Jun Yan said in a low voice, “After Feng Xiao took my medicine, not only did it not alleviate, but the toxicity became more severe, and only then did he realize that there was something wrong with the medicine. He suspected me, so he secretly poured out the medicine without making a fuss. He didn’t tell me the truth until I gave him the Dragon Pearl.”

Jun Yan trembled all over. “You made me almost hurt him…”

“But how can you be sure that the medicine was manipulated by me?”

“Feng Xiao and I don’t even know who did it. Now, those in the Immortal Realm can’t be trusted. Even if the medicine came from Lingyuan Sea, it can’t be concluded that it is related to the Dragon Clan.” Jun Yan lifted his head.

He looked at his father, who was still young and handsome, but with a deeply tired face, a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes.

“But I never told you that I was with Feng Xiao. Why, when you saw Feng Xiao had recovered from his injury, you immediately concluded that something happened to me?”

There was a long silence in the room. After a long time, the Dragon King softened his tone. “What I gave you is not poison, but for him to recover slowly.”

“Why……”

“No reason, I just wanted to protect Lingyuan Sea.” The Dragon King said, “The Demon Realm is in turmoil this time. The immortals pray to the heavenly gods for blessings, but they are only asking for the god Feng Xiao. Feng Xiao is the first phoenix god in the world. He is an ancient god, and his strength is indeed strong. But he is facing the entire demon clan. Do you really think he can win?”

“He can.”

“Naive.” The Dragon King shook his head, “Taking ten thousand steps back, it’s not like he won’t win. They came to help each other. After the battle, they turned around and left, leaving behind a devastated Immortal Realm. Who can afford the damage?””

Jun Yan couldn’t believe it. “It’s just because of this that you plotted against Feng Xiao? He came to help us!”

“I didn’t think about killing him. I found out after you and Feng Xiao met. Originally, I wanted you to delay him in the mortal world. After a year and a half, the demons would conquer the Immortal Realm. Even a god would be hard pressed to turn things around. The Demon race has promised that they will let Lingyuan Sea go after taking over the Immortal Realm. By then, everything will return to the way it should have been. Isn’t it good?”

“…You call that reverting back to what it should have been?”

The Dragon King closed his eyes. He snorted coldly, “It’s fine to tell you then. It’s not only my Lingyuan Sea clan who surrendered to the demons. In these three months, how many Immortal Realms’ soldiers placed themselves first, turning against the rest secretly. Do you still think that Feng Xiao will definitely win?”

Jun Yan’s eyes moved slightly; his face became even paler.

This was… the Immortal Realm he has been living in, this was the Immortal Realm Feng Xiao wanted to protect after being tortured by the devil’s poison for three long months.

Jun Yan turned back, and quickly walked out the door.

But as soon as the door was opened, a shadow of a figure blocked him.

It was the Third Prince, Jun Jue.

Jun Jue’s appearance was somewhat similar to Jun Yan’s, but his brows were more defined. He smiled and asked, “Where is Brother heading to?”

“……Step aside.”

“Stop making trouble, Yan’er.” The Dragon King said, “Now that you understand the matter, I can’t let you even set a foot out. You’ll be staying in the Dragon Palace to cultivate. These days, I have found many elixirs for you. Your Dragon Pearl, if you lost it, you lost it. We will find a way to slowly treat you.”

After he finished speaking, he tilted his head and turned to Jun Jue. “Look after your brother, don’t let him run around.”

“Yes, Imperial Father.”

.

“…I later learned that the proposal for cooperation between the demons was actually suggested to my Imperial Father by Jun Jue. They reached an agreement with the demons, and the demons promised to help him sit on the Dragon King’s throne.”

In the courtyard, Ji Chaoyun spoke softly and slowly, “Because of this, Jun Jue did not dare to let me live until the end of the war. On that day, he wanted to assassinate me when my Imperial Father was not around. But, he was severely injured by the golden phoenix tail feather that Feng Xiao left behind.

” You know what happened after. I took the opportunity to escape, and met Ah Zhuo at the edge of Lingyuan Sea, and asked him to take me to the lower realm.”

Feng Qi hadn’t spoken in a long time.

After a while, he said with difficulty, “But Feng Xiao won in the end. He successfully sealed the Demon Realm.”

“Yes.” Ji Chaoyun touched the golden phoenix feather through his clothes, with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth, “I know he would definitely win, I have always believed it.”

“And after?”

“Later…” Ji Chaoyun paused, and looked up at the distant sky.

The sun had gradually set, and the rays of light in the clouds reflected his facial features softly and clearly.

When he arrived in the mortal world, to avoid those assassins, he hid himself deeply, completely losing the news about the Immortal Realm.

He had been waiting in the mortal world for more than three hundred years, yet before being able to meet the person he had been waiting for, he was killed.

Just before he died, he realised that the war had settled for over three hundred years since. The Gods suffered heavy losses, and all the Gods who were injured in the battle were summoned back to the Heavenly Realm, and the Great Gate was sealed, never to open for a thousand years.

The him who was accidentally reborn to a hundred year earlier, he fell into a demon state, ascended, and once again set foot in this Immoral Realm that he had not seen for a long time.

 

 

The author has something to say:

Three hundred years ago——
Little Dragon: Can you give me a hug? ovo

Three hundred years later——
Little Dragon: Don’t touch me, get out.
Feng Qi: Come out and fight, Feng Xiao! I’m going to die of sourness!!

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  (formal)