Chapter 63: Imprisonment?

Chapter 63: Imprisonment?

Shen Lian looked around and found himself inside a grand hall, with a barrier set up outside of it.

Shen Lian looked away and fixed his eyes on Yan Huaixuan.

"What is this supposed to mean? Are you imprisoning me?"

Yan Huaixuan instinctively reached for his hand, explaining, "No."

"Everyone outside is looking for you right now. Don't go out yet."

But Shen Lian pulled away first, sneering, "Looking for me? Yan Huaixuan, don't you find that ridiculous? Didn't you already kill me?"

Yan Huaixuan's hand lingered in the air, frozen for a moment before he slowly pulled it back. "When you ran away the second time, you leaked demonic energy."

He pressed his lips together. "I was planning to bring you back first."

Shen Lian gave an ambiguous smile: "So you're saying it's my fault for running away?"

Yan Huaixuan heard his sharp accusation and saw the undisguised coldness in Shen Lian's eyes, and the hollow ache in his chest grew stronger.

His own voice came out hoarse and rough. "No."

Yan Huaixuan softened his voice. "You're still hurt. Rest first."

With that, Yan Huaixuan got up. "I need to step out for a bit."

Before he could finish, Shen Lian cut him off: "Shut up! I'm leaving right now."

Yan Huaixuan stopped in his tracks. He didn't turn around. "Shen Lian, even if you hate me, you shouldn't throw your own life away."

Shen Lian stared at his back. "Haven't I made myself clear? I'd rather die than stay with you!"

"I don't want to see you for even one second. It makes me sick, understand? You tell me not to throw my life away now, but back then, why did you run me through with one strike?"

"No," Shen Lian laughed, pressing a hand to his chest as the image of Yan Huaixuan stabbing him twice flashed through his mind.

"You killed me twice, Yan Huaixuan."

Yan Huaixuan slowly turned around, lifting his eyes to meet Shen Lian's. "Back in the lower realm, I didn't kill you. Your spiritual energy was in chaos and about to self-destruct. I used my sword to break through it."

But Shen Lian wouldn't listen. The moment he saw this man, he felt nothing but irritation and disgust.

Yan Huaixuan knew full well how much Shen Lian loathed him. He also knew Shen Lian wouldn't listen to any more of his explanations. "I won't deny what I did. Back then, it was my fault."

"I'm not trying to hurt you now. I just want you to heal first."

Shen Lian wanted to laugh at that. Yan Huaixuan saying he wouldn't deny his actions—was he trying to look noble?

Shen Lian walked up to him and smiled sweetly. "And once I'm healed?"

Yan Huaixuan froze.

Once he's healed?

That question—even he didn't know the answer.

Shen Lian's face suddenly went blank. "Yan Huaixuan, you don't know? Let me tell you. The reason you brought me back now is because you're pathetic!"

A flash of shock crossed Yan Huaixuan's eyes.

Shen Lian said with a smile, "You're not regretful, and it's not some bullshit truth that broken sword told you."

"You just feel like you're missing someone to fawn over you and kiss up to you. It doesn't sit well with you."

"You see me laughing and chatting with others, and you can't stand it."

Yan Huaixuan snapped out of it and immediately wanted to say no.

But Shen Lian kept pressing. "You think someone like you, heaven's favored son, should have everyone revolving around you. Even the things you don't want can't belong to anyone else, right?"

"But Yan Huaixuan!" Shen Lian's voice suddenly turned sharp. "Am I that worthless? Do you have to torment me? Weren't two sword strikes enough? I almost died—wasn't that enough to pay you back?"

Shen Lian didn't realize that even as he spoke, tears were starting to well up in his eyes.

Seeing Shen Lian's red-rimmed eyes and his tightly clenched fingers,

Yan Huaixuan's own eyes went dry. He instinctively grabbed Shen Lian's wrist. "Shen Lian, that's not what I thought."

Shen Lian shoved him off. "Shut up."

"You—"

Shen Lian's voice cut off abruptly because Yan Huaixuan, without warning, pulled him into his arms and pressed his lips to his.

Shen Lian's pupils contracted.

Yan Huaixuan had acted on impulse, wanting to shut Shen Lian up, to stop those cold words from coming out of his mouth.

But unexpectedly, the moment his lips met Shen Lian's,

all those memories from before came flooding back.

He was so familiar with this person's warmth. Seeing that Shen Lian didn't resist, Yan Huaixuan's lashes trembled, and he couldn't help but want to deepen the kiss.

Because he remembered that Shen Lian had once kissed him just as gently.

Yan Huaixuan instinctively wrapped his arms around Shen Lian's waist and tried to slip his tongue in.

But Shen Lian snapped back to reality. He hadn't resisted—he had been completely stunned.

Once he came to his senses, all he felt was pure disgust.

Shen Lian slapped Yan Huaixuan across the face. "Get the hell away from me."

Yan Huaixuan could have dodged. An attack like that couldn't even break through his protective spiritual energy.

But Yan Huaixuan took the slap head-on, his handsome, cold face turning to the side.

A bright red handprint bloomed on Yan Huaixuan's cheek.

The favored son of heaven, once so proud, now looked a little disheveled.

Yan Huaixuan slowly turned his head back. "Shen Lian."

Shen Lian, meanwhile, furiously wiped at his own lips, even forgetting he even had the Cleansing Art.

He wiped and wiped, as if that could wash away every trace of Yan Huaixuan.

Seeing him in this state, Yan Huaixuan's hand beneath his sleeve had clenched at some point.

The person before him felt so close, yet so far away.

Once Shen Lian had finished vomiting, he looked up expressionlessly. "What exactly do you want? What do I have to do to get you to let me go?"

Yan Huaixuan pushed those thoughts aside. "I wasn't lying to you—outside, people are all looking for you."

He swallowed the bitterness in his throat and spoke, "The demonic energy on you... it's rather unusual, but luckily it hasn't merged with you too deeply yet. There's still a chance to purge it."

Shen Lian, though, was getting really impatient. "I don't want it purged, got it?"

Yan Huaixuan frowned. "Shen Lian, the demon race is the enemy of the whole Taichu Realm. As long as you stay on cultivators' turf, you'll be hunted day and night."

Shen Lian gave a faint, mocking smile. "Then I'll just head to the demon realm, won't I?"

Yan Huaixuan froze.

Shen Lian: "Once I'm in the demon realm, no one will be out for my blood, right?"

Yan Huaixuan's throat bobbed, but he still said, "No."

"This won't do, that won't do. Yan Huaixuan, what the hell is wrong with you?"

After saying this, as if something occurred to him, a flicker of disdain flashed in his beautiful eyes, and he yanked his robes open.

"Do you want to fuck me?"

Hearing this, Yan Huaixuan's brow gave a violent twitch.

Shen Lian flashed a smile—bright and guileless—and for a moment, it was as if Yan Huaixuan had been flung back to the lower realm.

But the words that came out of Shen Lian's mouth were like honey laced with arsenic.

"Yan Huaixuan, I know someone like you—you're just regretting you never had a taste back then, right?"

"I remember that day in the cave, you seemed to react too."

Shen Lian leaned in close. "Once you're done, can I go?"

Yan Huaixuan grabbed his wrist in one swift motion. Even he had a flash of anger in his eyes at that moment. "Shen Lian, are you really trying to provoke me?"

Shen Lian said, word by word, "I'm not provoking you—I wish I could kill you."