Chapter 104: Did You Give Me Your Heart Back Then?

Chapter 104: Did You Give Me Your Heart Back Then?

Shen Lian's expression vanished in an instant. He straightened up and coldly swept his gaze over Yan Huaixuan. "If you're done, get back in your body."

With that, Shen Lian turned to leave.

Yan Huaixuan stared at the back of Shen Lian's head, his eyes pitch-black, unreadable.

Once back in his own body, Shen Lian let out a muffled groan. He propped himself up, clutching his throbbing head.

Having plunged into such a chaotic sea of consciousness, Shen Lian's spiritual sense had inevitably suffered some damage.

He cracked his eyes open and saw Yan Huaixuan already awake and sitting up.

Shen Lian frowned and tried to get up, but the stabbing pain in his head only sharpened.

Yan Huaixuan seized his wrist and yanked him into his arms.

"What are you doing!" Shen Lian tried to struggle, but Yan Huaixuan said, "Your body's not in any shape to be moving around. Rest."

He set Shen Lian down on the bed and sat down on a chair to meditate.

Shen Lian hesitated, glanced at Yan Huaixuan, then asked as if offhand, "What's the deal with your inner demon? Is it dead?"

Yan Huaixuan looked at him.

Once an inner demon appeared, none had ever truly disappeared.

Even now, in his sea of consciousness, the inner demon was slowly gathering again.

But strangely, this time, the inner demon wasn't whispering temptations in his ear.

Instead, it was oddly quiet.

It narrowed its eyes. "Where's Shen Lian?"

Shen Lian was speaking to Yan Huaixuan when he suddenly noticed a surge of icy murderous intent flash through Yan Huaixuan's eyes.

Shen Lian flinched.

Catching Shen Lian's gaze, Yan Huaixuan snapped back to reality. The words on the tip of his tongue—"inner demons can't be eliminated"—morphed into, "It's dead."

Shen Lian let out a cold laugh. "Really dead? You're not lying to me?"

At that, Yan Huaixuan said, each word deliberate, "What, are you hoping it seizes my body?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shen Lian frowned. "Would it be a good thing if it possessed you?"

Yan Huaixuan stared at him hard, then said after a long pause, "You'd better mean that."

Shen Lian let out a furious laugh. Whatever faint, strange feeling he'd had toward Yan Huaixuan because of the Consort Xian incident vanished completely.

He fell silent and shut his eyes coldly.

Seeing that, Yan Huaixuan paused. "Sorry. That came out wrong."

But after saying that, Yan Huaixuan remembered Shen Lian's words about the inner demon.

His eyes dimmed for a moment as he grabbed Shen Lian's hand. "Don't be mad."

Shen Lian's face was expressionless. "What is this, a beating and then a sweet treat?"

"Do you think everyone has to cater to you?" Shen Lian tried to pull his hand free but couldn't.

Yan Huaixuan said quietly, "No."

He said no, but his grip didn't loosen.

Shen Lian was at a loss for words. "What exactly do you want?"

Yan Huaixuan said nothing.

Shen Lian couldn't be bothered to deal with him anymore. For cultivators, damage to the spiritual sense and soul was far more severe than physical injury.

He shut his eyes to rest.

Inside Yan Huaixuan's heart, the inner demon ground its teeth. "Where's Shen Lian?"

Yan Huaixuan let out a low laugh. "What do you think?"

"Go do what you wanted to do to him."

The inner demon: "...?"

It flew into a rage. "Yan Huaixuan, do you have no shame?"

But Yan Huaixuan said nothing more, simply letting the inner demon rage and thrash.

Yet it couldn't see a thing.

Ling Yun: "..."

It was the first time he'd ever seen an inner demon this frantic.

Yan Huaixuan, meanwhile, studied Shen Lian's features. He raised a finger and used spellcraft to put Shen Lian to sleep, yet did nothing else—just gently held Shen Lian.

When Shen Lian opened his eyes, he was a little puzzled. How had he fallen asleep instead of meditating?

He looked around, but Yan Huaixuan was gone.

Shen Lian frowned. "Yan Huaixuan?"

The second he spoke, Yan Huaixuan appeared.

"You were looking for me?"

"There are a ton of people looking for you outside right now. Don't go wandering off," Shen Lian said flatly.

Yan Huaixuan gave a soft "mm" in acknowledgment.

The room went quiet, the atmosphere a little cold.

Shen Lian glanced at Yan Huaixuan and pressed his lips together. "Your inner demon... how did it come to be?"

"It didn't come about in any particular way. There are countless reasons a cultivator might develop an inner demon."

Maybe a single moment of lapse in judgment was all it took to give the inner demon a chance to take root.

After that explanation, Yan Huaixuan fell silent.

Shen Lian let out an "Oh," but then suddenly spoke.

"Where'd your heart go?"

Shen Lian's fingers curled slightly, his face blank as he pretended to be indifferent. "Last time you said, in my body—"

Yan Huaixuan pulled open his collar, grabbed Shen Lian's hand, and pressed it against his own chest.

Shen Lian froze. This time, he actually felt a heartbeat.

"But why last time when I—" Shen Lian had stabbed through Yan Huaixuan's heart last time, only to find he didn't have one?

Yan Huaixuan said quietly, "My heart's naturally different from other people's—it's on the right side."

Sure enough, Shen Lian focused and felt it—it really was on the right.

Shen Lian was quiet for a moment, then said, "Oh."

But in his mind, he was thinking—what was he even thinking? He'd actually imagined Yan Huaixuan had given him his heart.

Shen Lian was spacing out.

Until Yan Huaixuan said softly, "Your hand getting tired? Want me to hold it up for you?"

Shen Lian blinked. "Huh?"

He snapped back to reality and realized his hand was still pressed against Yan Huaixuan's chest.

Shen Lian: "..."

And Yan Huaixuan had stayed in that position the whole time, letting him press there. Though his eyes showed he didn't quite get it, he hadn't said a word—instead, he actually held Shen Lian's hand up.

Shen Lian immediately yanked his hand back. "Who asked you to hold it up!"

As if to deflect the awkwardness, Shen Lian said coldly, "I'm going to go refine pills."

Yan Huaixuan hummed in acknowledgment, but noticed the faint flush creeping up Shen Lian's ears beneath his black hair.

His eyes lit up, and the corner of his lips couldn't help but curl up.

Meanwhile, Shen Lian had gone outside—not to refine pills at all, but was feeling annoyed that he'd been spacing out while touching Yan Huaixuan's chest.

What if Yan Huaixuan got the wrong idea?

Shen Lian pressed his lips together and lowered his head to keep refining pills.

Inside Yan Huaixuan's body, the inner demon was still raising a ruckus. "Yan Huaixuan, let me out."

Ling Yun: "...Before, you were always yelling about taking over your master's body."

So why is it "let me out" today?

The inner demon choked. "None of your damn business. Yan Huaixuan, let me the hell out. Didn't you hear Shen Lian say he likes me more?"

Yan Huaixuan said coldly, "That was just to calm you down. If he hadn't stabilized you, how could I have dispersed you so easily?"

The inner demon said, "I don't buy it. Let me out!"

"In your dreams."

"You asked for this."

Shen Lian was refining pills outside when he suddenly felt something was wrong. He frowned, stood up, and pushed open the door. "Yan Huaixuan?"

But he saw Yan Huaixuan's aura inside the room starting to get chaotic again. "What's wrong with you?"

Yan Huaixuan grabbed his hand. "It's nothing."

Shen Lian couldn't help but say, "Are you pushing yourself again?"

Yan Huaixuan's eyes flickered slightly, then he deliberately let the inner demon sense what was outside.

The inner demon heard Shen Lian's voice and instinctively stopped attacking. "Shen Lian."

But the next moment, it saw blood trickle from the corner of Yan Huaixuan's lips.

His body swayed. Shen Lian's pupils contracted, and his body reacted faster than his mind—he caught Yan Huaixuan in his arms.