Yue Jingming directly yanked off that sinister begonia flower and crushed it into powder, his expression cold and stern.

“What kind of ghostly thing dares to come and contaminate, afraid of dying too slowly?” Xiao Chunhe hooked a strand of black root silk, his face suddenly changing, “Xiao Ye, it didn’t do anything to you, did it?”

Liang Ye, who was covering his nape, instantly had his face contort.

A moment later, he knelt bare-chested on the prayer cushion. His lean waist, back, and shoulders were covered with dark blue binding marks, and there were still ferocious handprints at the wound areas. Only a bright red and ambiguous kiss mark on his side neck was particularly conspicuous.

Everyone present was not inexperienced in worldly affairs. With one glance, they immediately understood what had happened, and their faces turned increasingly grim.

Wang Xusui turned around and was about to raise her sword, angrily saying, “I’ll kill it!”

“Ah Xu, calm down.” Liang Hua beside her hurriedly grabbed her, “First check if he’s injured.”

“What did it do to you?” Wang Xusui was so angry her eyes were almost red.

“I fought with him twice, but was unable to harm him in the slightest.” Liang Ye knelt on the prayer cushion with a cold expression, saying sternly, “This creature’s methods are sinister and vicious. I would like to ask Master to help capture him.”

Everyone suddenly fell into silence.

Obviously, His Highness the Crown Prince had not grasped his mother’s meaning.

“Cough, it—” Xiao Chunhe gestured for him to put on his clothes, tactfully asking, “Is it a female demon? Have you fallen into some kind of illusion?”

“It’s a man.” Liang Ye said in a deep voice, “I’m not clear whether that was an illusion or not.”

Xiao Chunhe covered his face, Liang Hua looked at his son with hesitation, and Wang Xusui was so angry she was about to crush her sword.

“Have you engaged in carnal relations?” Yue Jingming asked directly without any expression.

Liang Ye looked at him in astonishment, his face suddenly flushing red with belated realization, “Of course not!”

He wanted to kill that ghostly creature and couldn’t do it fast enough. How could he possibly… Moreover, the other party was such an evil and malevolent monster.

All the adults immediately breathed a sigh of relief without leaving a trace.

“Don’t go out during this period. Stay quietly in the palace.” Yue Jingming said with a cold face, “Your Dao heart is not firm, which allowed the evil creature to take advantage. Don’t worry about anything else.”

“Yes.” Liang Ye lowered his eyes, and the back of his neck was still faintly burning.

That night, in the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace.

A dark hand grasped the soft pillow, but the owner of the hand suddenly changed expression drastically, hurriedly retreating backward, only to be blocked by flying talismans everywhere.

Xiao Chunhe crouched on the beam, tossing the peach wood plaque in his hand, raising an eyebrow and saying, “Oh, it’s actually a fierce ghost full of resentment, and it has cultivated into human form.”

Yue Jingming blocked the doorway, coldly staring at the man wearing a ghost mask, politely saying, “Your Excellency’s cultivation is quite deep. My disciple has no grudges or enmity with you. Why must you make things difficult for a child?”

The man’s back stiffened, then he clicked his tongue in displeasure. The eyes behind the mask showed a hint of laughter as he crossed his arms and leaned against the bed post, saying leisurely, “I found him lovable and was just teasing him. You two don’t need to make such a big fuss.”

“So you ghostly creatures tease children by planting flowers in their souls and bones.” Xiao Chunhe stared at him with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “If we had been half an hour later, our Xiao Ye would have been left with just a skeleton frame.”

“Didn’t I come just in time to resolve it for him?” The man helplessly spread his hands, then let out an “ah” sound, “I didn’t come too late, did I? The person isn’t gone, is he?”

This frivolous attitude successfully angered Yue Jingming and Xiao Chunhe. These two had been formidable figures who stirred up storms in the past, and absolutely could not tolerate such an arrogant ghostly creature. Golden light immediately flashed in the sleeping chamber, with weapons clashing.

Heavy troops surrounded the Eastern Palace. Wang Xusui and Liang Hua stood outside the palace gates, beside them was Taiji Temple’s Temple Master Xiang Meng leading a group of disciples and grand-disciples, apparently determined to capture this thing.

Liang Ye lazily yawned, looking at the talismans and soul-suppressing bells and spirit-fixing threads scattered throughout the secret chamber. He spun the peach wood sword in his hand in a sword flourish. When he was half-asleep, he indeed heard piercing shrieks coming from above, and frowned in disgust.

When dawn was breaking, the secret chamber door opened.

Yue Jingming appeared to have suffered minor injuries, while Xiao Chunhe was uninjured but looked rather grim. “What kind of rebellious thing is this? I find this method familiar – it must be some evil spawn summoned by some disciples.” 

Yue Jingming shook his head, “I don’t recall having such a person among my disciples.”

Liang Ye drowsily climbed up from the prayer cushion. Xiao Chunhe irritably patted his head, “Master scattered its soul with one strike of his whisk. In the future, don’t run around everywhere with Jiao Yan and the others, bringing back dirty things.”

“Thank you, Master and Martial Uncle.” Liang Ye sat cross-legged and nodded obediently.

Yue Jingming took out three yellow copper coins from his sleeve and handed them to him, “Keep them at your chest to calm your soul.”

Liang Ye obediently placed the copper coins in his front lapel. Catching sight of a red cord tassel in Yue Jingming’s sleeve, he curiously reached out to pull it. Yue Jingming didn’t stop him and let him pull out a red cord.

“It’s for binding jade pendants. Take it to play with.” Yue Jingming dipped some cinnabar and pressed it on his forehead, “You’ve been too tired these days. Go back and rest for three days, then I’ll test your studies.”

At the mention of studies, Liang Ye got a headache. Clutching the tassel, he scrambled up and ran, “I know, Master!”

Xiao Chunhe helplessly watched him run off, “You just spoil him.”

Yue Jingming glanced at him coldly with an indifferent expression, “I always feel this evil creature didn’t use its full strength.”

“You noticed it too?” Xiao Chunhe stroked his chin, “I felt something was off just now. When he charged at me, he really intended to kill, but when you came over to block, he suddenly held back his strength. Hiss, could it be that you’ve provoked some— mmph.”

Yue Jingming slapped him across the face with his whisk, “Don’t speak nonsense.”

Xiao Chunhe pouted.

“Return to Taiji Temple.” Yue Jingming stood up and said, “I need to investigate this thing’s origins.”

****

With the evil creature gone, Liang Ye’s life finally returned to normal. He was busy all day long, and at night had to follow his master in cultivation and martial practice. Spring went and autumn came, and in the blink of an eye, he had forgotten about that evil creature.

On his eighteenth birthday, he took Jiao Yan, Baili, Cheng An, and several others to secretly drink the Immortal’s Intoxication that his master had brought, and ended up unconscious while hugging the wine jar.

In his drunken haze, he fell into a strange yet somewhat familiar embrace.

“When you can’t fight, you call your master and parents for help—” The other person stared at him with a sinister expression, grinning maliciously, “Are you an eight-year-old child?”

Liang Ye vigorously patted his shoulder, “I can still drink! Jiao Yan, give me more!”

The man holding him twisted his neck neurotically, his gaze falling on his lips, grinning, “Give you what?”

A chill instantly spread throughout his body. Liang Ye suddenly sobered up considerably, staring at that hideous mask, his whole body bristling with alarm. He violently pushed him away, flipped over and stood up, shouting sternly, “You actually didn’t die?”

“How can someone who’s already dead die again?” The man smiled as he approached him, “What are you looking for? The protective charm your master gave you?”

He opened his palm, and the talismans that had been on Liang Ye’s body turned to ash.

“Or the little copper coins meant to save your life?” He laughed lowly, tossing the small copper coins in his hand, then gently crushed them. The copper coins turned to fragments, clattering to the ground.

Liang Ye vigorously shook his drunken head and reached for his sword, but was suddenly grabbed by the throat. “I’m not comfortable making a move against Yue Jingming, but that doesn’t mean I have a good temper. You made me take a beating. How should you compensate me?”

“You brought it upon yourself.” Liang Ye sneered.

He leaned in, his pitch-black eyes staring straight at Liang Ye, saying patiently, “The matter between you and me is best not to involve others. The more they protect you, the more unhappy I become. Don’t anger me, Liang Ye.”

Liang Ye narrowed his eyes. The willow leaf blade in his hand suddenly spun and stabbed directly into the other’s throat. Dark brown blood splattered all over his face, carrying a strong stench of decay and strange fragrance that almost made him vomit. “Then I’ll kill you first.”

However, the other’s strength didn’t diminish. Instead, he laughed hoarsely, “Very good.”

That person grabbed his hand and pulled the willow leaf blade from his neck. Despite Liang Ye’s full effort, he couldn’t overcome his strength. The blade tip stopped extremely close to his eyes.

“If you behave obediently, I only want your life.” The other person smiled as he leaned in to lick the blood on his cheek, saying intimately and tenderly, “Otherwise, your father emperor and mother empress, and these little companions, I’ll kill them all for you. What I don’t have, you’re not allowed to have either.”

Liang Ye took two heavy breaths, “What exactly… do you want to do!”

The peach wood sword slid down his sleeve and suddenly stabbed into that person’s waist and abdomen. Liang Ye kicked against a wine jar and used all his strength to force the other person back to the wall corner. With both hands gripping the sword hilt, he twisted viciously. Instantly, dark blue flesh and blood flew everywhere, and all the wine jars around burst open, along with that jar of Immortal’s Intoxication, spilling all over both of them.

Liang Ye pressed the person beneath him. Taking advantage of the other’s moment of daze, he thrust a willow leaf blade directly into the other’s forehead. That mask with fangs and fierce features instantly shattered into pieces, revealing a face identical to his own.

Liang Ye was instantly stunned in place.

The other person’s pitch-black and lightless eyeballs stiffly rotated twice, the corners of his mouth curving into a sinister arc. Large begonia flowers bloomed at his nape, and dark blue root systems spread and entangled around his peach wood sword and willow leaf blade, instantly grinding them to powder.

Wearing that face identical to Liang Ye’s, he sighed deeply. Black blood covered his face, but he smiled with crazed distortion, “Of course, I’ve thought of a good way to torment you.”

Before Liang Ye could recover from his shock, he was completely enveloped by the suddenly enlarged begonia flowers. The rich darkness mixed with the strong wine fragrance, along with his gradually drowsy yet forcibly stimulated consciousness, floated up and down in the airtight root systems and petals.

An arm with half a tattered sleeve emerged from the petals. The taut muscles looked particularly beautiful in the moonlight. Stained with blood and wine, it grabbed the window sill, but was then forcibly entangled by the black root systems that extended out and dragged back.

When dawn was breaking, Liang Ye finally regained a thread of clarity with difficulty.

The familiar curtains of his sleeping chamber came into view. The absurd and sensual dream from last night flooded into his mind all at once. Liang Ye’s face instantly darkened by more than half. He abruptly sat up from the bed, his face changing from pale to red, finally turning iron-black.

“Outrageous!!” He was shocked that he would have such an absurd dream, yet secretly relieved that it was only a dream.

Before he could fully exhale that breath of relief, a dark arm hooked around his neck. The familiar demonic fragrance from his dream instantly enveloped his entire being. He whipped around and met those malicious yet satisfied eyes, his face suddenly changing.

The man propped up his head and lazily wound his hair around his fingers, reminiscing, “Your Highness, the taste was very good.”

Liang Ye’s head instantly throbbed with pain. He was so angry he couldn’t speak for a long moment, “You—”

The other person patted his lower back, watching his twisted expression with schadenfreude, and apologized with restraint, “Sorry, I couldn’t control myself.”

Liang Ye looked at him as if he wanted to kill someone.

That ghostly creature patted the gradually healing bloody hole in his stomach and the barely visible knife wound on his forehead, touching the begonia flower roots that stitched together the corpse pieces. He stared at him with great interest, “I searched for a long time for this dual cultivation method. I didn’t want to randomly find some stray cats and dogs to make do with. My own face is still the most pleasing to look at. Sleep with me a few more times, and these wounds should probably heal.”

Liang Ye angrily punched him in the face, but was grabbed by the arm and pressed beneath him. His gaze wandered over his lips as he said in a low voice, “You clearly enjoyed it very much last night, clinging to me and not wanting me to leave. You didn’t take any less advantage either. What are you angry about now?”

Liang Ye stared deadly at his bruised lips. Although last night he had indeed, in his drunken state, somehow inexplicably half-yielded, and although he and this ghostly thing had indeed taken turns… this didn’t mean he could tolerate such absurd behavior.

Moreover, this creature was extremely cunning, and he absolutely couldn’t be deceived.

“I—” Before he could finish speaking, his mouth was blocked.

The bed curtains quietly fell down.

“How contradictory, Your Highness.”

****

Three days later.

Under the bright sun, Jiao Yan looked at Liang Ye’s pale and listless face and was startled, “Your Highness! What happened to you? Although that wine was strong, you couldn’t be drunk like this, right?”

“Ah, didn’t sleep well.” Liang Ye vigorously rubbed his temples, absent-mindedly walking forward.

Of course he hadn’t slept well. That thing had entangled him for three days and nights. He didn’t know what methods it had used, but not a single person came to disturb them. Liang Ye had barely gotten out of bed… Finally, when he really felt guilty about missing class, he coaxed the other party to let him go.

This shouldn’t be happening.

He had thought about telling Yue Jingming, but when examined closely, this matter was really too difficult to speak of. When he arrived at the study, he still couldn’t make up his mind.

He had read many books of sages and had been taught by Yue Jingming and Wen Zong to have integrity and proud character. He knew this shouldn’t be happening, yet he still seemed bewitched. Even though he despised that cunning and malicious creature from the bottom of his heart, he couldn’t control himself from indulging in the pleasure of his first taste of carnal affairs.

He… instinctively didn’t want to tell his master or anyone else about this matter.

He might be able to handle it himself.

After absent-mindedly finishing a day of classes, Liang Ye almost couldn’t wait to return to the palace. However, the palace chambers were already completely empty, and even that alluring fragrance had disappeared without a trace.

Liang Ye tightened his grip on the scroll in his hand and frowned.

He didn’t even know the other person’s name.