Even as innocent as Feng Qingyun was, he still knew perfectly well what the word Desire represented among the seven emotions. The moment he saw the man undo his sash and lean in as though about to pin him down, Feng Qingyun instantly snapped back to his senses. Clutching his robes tightly to his chest like someone being assaulted by a shameless rogue, he turned and tried to flee.
But where the Dao rose one foot, the devil rose ten.
The man behind him didn’t even bother to move much. Wrapping an arm around his waist, he pulled him back with a single motion, pinned him beneath him, and without the slightest pause lowered his head and kissed him.
“Mmph… Mmh…!”
This was nothing like that fleeting peck from before. This time, the kiss forced its way past his lips, prying open his mouth and tangling with his tongue until even the tip of it was numb.
Never in his life had Feng Qingyun been kissed like this.
The kiss left him so thoroughly dazed that he couldn’t even react at first.
Only after he finally regained his senses did an overwhelming sense of humiliation, mixed with an indescribable feeling of guilt, crash over him.
No matter how disappointed he was in Mu Hanyang, no matter how desperately he wanted to sever all ties with him, the divorce letter Long Yin had written on his behalf had yet to be delivered.
At least publicly, he was still Mu Hanyang’s Dao companion.
If that was the case… then wasn’t what was happening now no different from being forced into an affair? The thought made the scalp-numbing, body-weakening kiss unbearable.
Humiliated beyond endurance, Feng Qingyun finally bit down viciously, and blood instantly welled from the wound on Long Yin’s lips. Yet despite taking such a fierce bite, Long Yin didn’t react in the slightest. He simply continued holding Feng Qingyun’s chin, teasing and entangling with his tongue as though pain meant nothing to him.
Instead, it was Feng Qingyun who suffered the consequences.
Blood trickled from the corner of Long Yin’s lips into his own mouth. Though he no longer remembered ever drinking this man’s blood, his body did. The instant that familiar blood touched his tongue, the instincts of the blood rose, long buried and forgotten, surged back to life.
His mind went blank with joy at the long-lost taste, as an indescribable delight flooded his entire body, leaving his limbs frozen. Like a kitten tasting honey for the very first time, he unconsciously licked the corner of his lips, only to accidentally brush against the intruder’s tongue.
Long Yin immediately paused as he caught onto something with startling sharpness. Without hesitation, he bit through the tip of his own tongue. The moment fresh blood welled up, Feng Qingyun instinctively leaned forward and licked it.
Long Yin narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly. Then, with unmistakable malice, he deliberately pulled back, and the delicious scent retreated with him. Feng Qingyun immediately grew anxious. Without thinking, he chased after it, lifting his head as Long Yin lured him forward. Like a little kitten, he began licking at the other’s tongue in small, eager laps.
By all rights, a flower demon of his age should never have been so helpless before such a minor temptation. But Long Yin’s blood had always held a fatal attraction for him. And after all these years, the instincts of the blood rose had never once been satisfied.
Faced with such temptation so suddenly, he lost control in an instant.
Only after swallowing every last drop of blood did Feng Qingyun finally emerge from that trance-like state. The moment he looked up, he met Long Yin’s dark violet eyes, curved in an amused smile.
His heart skipped violently.
It’s over.
And sure enough, Long Yin rested his forehead against Feng Qingyun’s and chuckled softly: “So you’re a blood rose. Has that Mu fellow never fed you properly? Is that why you can’t even walk away after seeing a little blood?”
The innocent flower demon took a moment before understanding the indecent implication behind those words. His face instantly flushed scarlet, and he glared furiously at him. But unfortunately, the heart demon adored that furious expression. He immediately wrapped an arm around Feng Qingyun’s waist and leaned down again.
Feng Qingyun’s face drained of colour as he hurriedly raised both hands to push him away. His palms landed against the other’s scorching chest through the layers of clothing, but he was so flustered and red-faced that he had no attention to spare for what exactly he had touched. With his cultivation sealed, however, his strength was no more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Cornered and desperate, Feng Qingyun blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“…Long Yin!”
He hadn’t actually expected struggling to accomplish anything. After shouting the name, he’d already resigned himself to the fact that if the other truly intended to force himself on him, he would rather perish together than submit. But the instant those words left his mouth, the man’s movements really did stop.
Several breaths passed before Feng Qingyun realised he had frozen. Looking up uncertainly, he saw Long Yin standing perfectly still. A moment later, the violet colour in his eyes gradually faded. The strength imprisoning Feng Qingyun’s waist also slowly disappeared.
Feng Qingyun looked up at him uncertainly. At the moment, he wore only a thin inner robe. After everything that had happened, his clothes were in complete disarray, exposing a patch of snow-white collarbone and the red marks still lingering on his arm. When Long Yin regained control of his own body, that was the sight that greeted him.
At last, he had finally seen the person he had longed for all this time. Yet the one before him was looking at him with more wariness than ever before. His overwhelming excitement at Feng Qingyun’s arrival had caused a momentary lapse in concentration, and that brief lapse had nearly led to disaster.
But even amid the lingering fear…
The heart demons were, after all, manifestations of his own obsessions. No matter how much guilt or regret he felt over what the heart demon had done, he still couldn’t bear to let Feng Qingyun leave.
This was his rose.
How could he possibly let go so easily?
Perhaps sensing his intentions, Feng Qingyun’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately clutched his robe to his chest and sat upright like an alert little rabbit. Without blinking, he stared at the man before him.
After a long silence, he tested the waters, whispering, “…Long Yin.”
He had vaguely realised that the man before him was no longer the heart demon, but the original owner of the body. Yet after being recognised, the real Long Yin said nothing. Upon hearing his name, he simply averted his gaze, refusing even to look at Feng Qingyun.
An indescribably awkward silence spread through the room as Feng Qingyun’s heart trembled. Afraid that something else might happen, he had just opened his mouth to speak… When Long Yin suddenly lowered his head, drew his demonic Qi, and without a word, sliced open his own wrist.
Feng Qingyun’s pupils contracted violently as he watched blood gush from the wound. The next instant, Long Yin took a mouthful of his own blood, and before Feng Qingyun could react, he cupped the back of his head and fed it directly to him.
“Mmph!”
Caught completely off guard, blood immediately spilled from the corners of Feng Qingyun’s mouth, much of it staining the white fabric of his inner robe. But the instant the rich blood flowed into his mouth, instinct compelled him to swallow, and warmth immediately spread through his stomach.
A blood rose could never distinguish between hunger and desire. Fed a mouthful of Long Yin’s blood, Feng Qingyun felt a shiver race up his spine, sending an unprecedented thrill through his entire body.
Alarm bells rang in his mind.
Thinking Long Yin was deliberately trying to tempt him into giving in to his instincts, he braced both hands against the man’s shoulders and struggled with everything he had to resist. Having experienced it once already, this time, Feng Qingyun actually managed to hold onto his crumbling self-control.
But in the end, Long Yin did nothing. He didn’t even deepen the kiss. After feeding him that mouthful of blood, he silently let Feng Qingyun go.
Feng Qingyun sat dazed upon the bed, staring blankly at him. After a long moment, Long Yin reached into his storage ring and took out a pair of cold jade shackles. Only then did Feng Qingyun jolt back to reality and instinctively retreat several inches, watching him warily.
But to his surprise, Long Yin didn’t use the shackles he had prepared for a hundred years. He merely set them casually on the bedside table. Then, without saying a word, he reached out and seized Feng Qingyun’s wrist.
Startled, Feng Qingyun blurted out, “…What are you doing?”
Long Yin didn’t answer. Instead, he removed Feng Qingyun’s storage ring, then slipped his own storage ring onto Feng Qingyun’s finger. Taking Feng Qingyun’s ring with him, he rose and walked out of the bedchamber.
He carried out the entire sequence with effortless familiarity, as though he had rehearsed it countless times in his mind. Feng Qingyun was left staring in stunned silence. Yet from beginning to end, Long Yin never dared look at him. Without saying a single word, he simply turned and hurried out of the chamber.
Feng Qingyun remained frozen on the bed, so bewildered that his reaction came a beat too slow. It wasn’t until Long Yin had walked out and closed the doors behind him that he suddenly came back to himself. He hurried to the entrance, only to discover, as expected, that the doors would no longer open. A barrier had been placed outside.
…What exactly was going on?
Was Long Yin giving up his own bedchamber altogether and simply leaving it to him?!
And why had he taken his storage ring? If the purpose was to imprison him more effectively, then why hand over his own storage ring instead?
Although Feng Qingyun’s cultivation was sealed, his spiritual sense remained intact. A quick probe into Long Yin’s ring revealed mountains of spirit stones, countless rare pills and treasures, and even one or two immortal-grade artifacts of unknown origin.
He was utterly dumbfounded by this bizarre method of imprisonment. Since ancient times, he had never heard of anyone abducting someone by force, then doing absolutely nothing afterward, not only feeding them blood and expecting nothing in return, but ultimately handing over their own bedroom and practically all of their worldly possessions.
…Was this really the Demon Emperor? Or some absurdly benevolent philanthropist?!
For a moment, Feng Qingyun found the whole situation so ridiculous that he could scarcely even feel like a prisoner anymore. And that absurdity only grew stronger with time.
By that very night, the black mist sealing his Dantian had completely dispersed without leaving behind any aftereffects.Evidently, even Long Yin’s heart demon hadn’t been able to bring himself to truly harm him. Unable to leave, Feng Qingyun wandered aimlessly around the enormous bedchamber several times. Only then did he realize how vast it truly was.
There was even an enormous open-air hot spring hidden within, steaming day and night, apparently fed by a natural spring beneath the pool. Unfortunately, the hot spring itself was also surrounded by a barrier. So after circling the entire residence several times and discovering that not even a fly could escape, Feng Qingyun finally gave up.
The entire bedchamber had clearly been enclosed within an enormous restriction laid down by Long Yin himself. With Feng Qingyun having only recently entered the Foundation-Building realm and his cultivation not yet fully stabilized, breaking through it anytime soon was simply impossible.
Not to mention that he had always been a flower demon.
To a flower, as long as spiritual energy was abundant, it hardly mattered where one cultivated. Back in the Xiān Gōng Sect, Feng Qingyun had once remained in secluded cultivation for a full century without descending the mountain. Compared to that, his current circumstances hardly seemed unusual.
So he simply settled down and began cultivating inside Long Yin’s bedchamber as though nothing had happened.Anyone witnessing someone who had been abducted by force calmly cultivating instead would probably be moved by the sheer sincerity of his pursuit of immortality.
Nor was Feng Qingyun particularly polite about using Long Yin’s resources, for whenever he needed spirit stones, he simply took them from the storage ring without hesitation.
There was only one inconvenience.
“…”
Long Yin had taken away his outer robe, ah!
Although Long Yin’s storage ring contained plenty of brand-new robes, Feng Qingyun found the thought of wearing Long Yin’s clothes strangely uncomfortable. In the end, he simply wore his inner robes while cultivating indoors.
Over the following days, whenever night fell, Long Yin would enter the chamber. In the darkness and without a word, he would wrap an arm around Feng Qingyun’s waist and feed him a mouthful of blood. From fumbling resistance and complete bewilderment…
…to an unwilling familiarity he refused to acknowledge…
…the transformation took only a few days.
Even Feng Qingyun himself didn’t dare face the change within him, and silence became the only way he could express his wordless resistance. The truth was that he had always been someone who yielded to kindness but resisted force, so completely by accident, Long Yin had struck directly at his greatest weakness.
Since childhood, Feng Qingyun had rarely received genuine kindness from others, so he had never learned how to refuse it. He even felt ashamed and disgusted by the instinctive joy that welled up inside him because of it, for he had grown accustomed to coldness from those around him.
He knew only how to remain composed amid freezing winds and had never learned how to bask in gentle warmth.
In truth, even during the day, there was almost no visible difference between the heart demon and the original Long Yin. At night, in complete darkness, distinguishing between them was even more impossible.
So as long as Long Yin remained completely silent, almost no one could tell which was the heart demon and which was the true body. Yet Feng Qingyun seemed to be the sole exception.
He simply knew.
Without any proof, he knew with absolute certainty that the one who kissed him night after night had always been the real Long Yin.
But the man was simply too quiet. He wouldn’t even light a candle, unwilling to let Feng Qingyun see his face, and Feng Qingyun was even quieter. Thus, every time darkness descended, the vast bedchamber would sink into an intimate silence where no one spoke.
Only the sound of reluctant swallowing as blood passed his lips, and the faintest traces of moisture where their lips briefly met. It could scarcely even be called a kiss, as it felt more like feeding someone as a matter of routine. Yet because the entire act was carried out with such solemn restraint, it somehow became all the more sensual.
And the way they both pretended nothing was happening was like lovers desperately entwined in bed while stubbornly insisting on addressing each other by formal titles.
The more restrained it appeared, the more intimate it became.
…………………..
For an entire month, they exchanged not a single conversation. Yet in the darkness, Feng Qingyun had been held down and kissed so many times that his lips were nearly swollen, his tongue left numb from endless caresses.
From the moment Long Yin suppressed his heart demon and regained control of himself, he never spoke another word to Feng Qingyun, nor did he offer an explanation… or even mention what the heart demon had meant by calling Feng Qingyun his “beloved.”
The two of them maintained a silent understanding.
Long Yin knew these days had been stolen through dishonourable means. He also knew that one day, dawn would inevitably pierce through this self-deceiving darkness. But for now…
…he refused to think about any of it.
They were like a pair of estranged lovers who remained courteous during the day, only to find themselves tangled together every night. With nothing left to say, even in bed they could only remain silent as they sought comfort in each other’s presence.
Yet Feng Qingyun knew better than anyone what true estrangement between lovers looked like. He also knew what a truly lonely night felt like. That was precisely why he understood it wasn’t courteous distance, nor was it the silence born of resentment.
It was unspoken intimacy, a quiet tenderness that neither dared acknowledge. And little by little, it was eroding both his already fragile reason and the last of the boundaries he had struggled so hard to maintain.
After several more days, the scars on Feng Qingyun’s wrists vanished completely. But even harder for him to accept was the realization slowly taking shape within him.
…he was about to bloom.
The realization nearly broke him in the darkness, for he had no idea how he was supposed to respond to Long Yin’s feelings. Indeed, he was someone who yielded to kindness but resisted coercion, so had Long Yin truly imprisoned him, forcing himself upon him day after day against his will, Feng Qingyun would have fought to the bitter end.
Even if it meant mutual destruction.
But Long Yin had never done that. He had suppressed his heart demon, yet he couldn’t bear to let Feng Qingyun go. Nor did he dare face him openly. And so everything had reached this strange impasse, and Feng Qingyun felt utterly lost.
He knew perfectly well that after disappearing for an entire month, the Xiān Gōng Sect must already have descended into complete chaos. The entire righteous cultivation world was probably in an uproar, discussing how the Demon Emperor had imprisoned Linshuang Sword Master.
And yet, for reasons even he couldn’t explain, he found that he didn’t want to think about any of it. Once upon a time, all Feng Qingyun had wanted was a quiet life, cultivating in peace and practicing his sword without distraction.
And somehow, he had found exactly that within the Demon Palace.
How absurd.
So the days passed, one after another, in that same absurd fashion. Feng Qingyun had assumed that this bizarre yet peaceful routine would continue until Mu Hanyang, driven to desperation over his dying friend, finally stormed the Demon Palace to shatter it.
Instead, the turning point arrived without warning.
It was another tranquil night. Wrapped in his inner robes, Feng Qingyun sat cross-legged upon the bed with his eyes half-closed, quietly absorbing the moonlight’s essence, when the familiar sound came from outside the chamber doors.
He didn’t even bother opening his eyes, allowing the man to push open the doors, step inside, and quietly shut them again before approaching him.
Only tonight, instead of stopping beside the bed as usual, the visitor climbed directly onto it and knelt behind him. The familiar aura enveloped him completely, and only then did Feng Qingyun open his eyes. He even allowed the man’s hand to settle around his waist, as though he had long since grown accustomed to it.
He had already prepared himself for the familiar routine. Long Yin would cut open his wrist, take a mouthful of blood, and kiss him while feeding it to him. He vaguely remembered that for the past ten days, Long Yin had been cutting his right wrist.
The last time he’d switched wrists had only happened because Feng Qingyun had silently reminded him, so this time, feeling a little sorry for him, Feng Qingyun quietly placed his hand over Long Yin’s right wrist again, silently asking him to use the other side instead.
It should have been another wordless understanding between them, but instead…
“So…” a teasing voice suddenly sounded behind him, “does the Little Palace Master feel sorry for me?”
The voice exploded beside his ear, and Feng Qingyun froze. Realizing something, he whipped around in shock, but before he could speak, the man seized his chin and kissed him.
The familiar aggression swept over him, but there was no blood, and no feeding. It was simply a kiss filled with naked desire, and the flimsy excuse they’d both been using to maintain the illusion finally crumbled away. The unspoken ambiguity between them instantly solidified into undeniable intimacy. There was nowhere left for it to hide.
“Mmh…” Feng Qingyun’s eyes flew open, and he instinctively braced both hands against the man’s shoulders, shivering as he tried to push him away.
“Little Palace Master,” the heart demon chuckled after finally pulling back a fraction, resting his forehead against Feng Qingyun’s. “Why do you react so strongly every time I kiss you?”
“He kissed you every night for an entire month, and you never once rewarded him with a slap. So what? Do you really like him that much?”
“…He’s not as unreasonable as you.” Feng Qingyun glared at him over his shoulder.
“Unreasonable?” The heart demon burst into laughter. “You don’t actually think your precious Majesty is some kind of gentleman, do you?”
“That restrained, self-controlled act of his is all for your benefit. He’s terrified of frightening you away. What do you think goes through his head whenever he kisses you?”
The heart demon smiled as he deliberately nipped Feng Qingyun’s lower lip. Meeting those blazing eyes filled with indignation, he ruthlessly exposed every secret his original self kept buried.
“He wishes you weren’t wearing even your inner robes. He wants you lying on this bed as white and smooth as a peeled egg, with your legs spread…”
“…kept here forever.”
Feng Qingyun had never in his life heard such shameless words, and his eyes widened in the darkness. For a long moment, he genuinely wondered whether he’d heard correctly.
“You think that chain is just for decoration?” The heart demon picked up the cold jade restraints lying beside the bed and casually swung them in his hand. “He wishes he could actually use them.”
“He wants to tie you naked to this bedpost so thoroughly that you couldn’t do a thing except lie here waiting for him.”
“Your anger…”
“The dependence you’d develop after being locked away for years…”
“Every emotion you ever felt would exist because of him alone.”
“And you still think he’s some noble gentleman?”
Feng Qingyun’s scalp tingled, and the tips of his ears flushed crimson. After a long silence, he averted his gaze and muttered softly, “…He wouldn’t do that.”
“If he truly had no desire to do it,” the heart demon snorted, “he would’ve let you go long ago. If he refuses to let you leave now, do you think it’s because he’s suddenly become kind?”
“He’s just pretending. Boiling the frog in warm water bit by bit, eroding your boundaries…”
“…until one day you’ll willingly walk into the trap yourself.”
Watching someone insult himself with such enthusiasm left Feng Qingyun momentarily speechless. Yet despite the horrifying picture the heart demon painted, he offered no response. Only when he was pulled into another embrace did he finally come back to himself, as he raised a hand and gently covered the heart demon’s lips.
Eyes lowered, Feng Qingyun said quietly, “…Tell him I’m not leaving.”
“Tomorrow… let me out.”
“I want to look around the Demon Palace.”
He seemed to have concluded that, so long as the original Long Yin remained happy, the heart demon wouldn’t truly hurt him. Therefore, his request was delivered with surprising confidence, making the heart demon freeze.
Apparently, he’d never imagined that after hearing everything he’d just said, Feng Qingyun would still choose to stay. Recovering, he couldn’t help judging Feng Qingyun by his own standards, wondering whether he was lying. Yet he also knew exactly what sort of person Linshuang Sword Master was.
In the end, he could only ask uncertainly, “The Palace Master really isn’t leaving?”
At that moment, Feng Qingyun felt strangely like one of those village girls abducted by demons to become the bandit chief’s wife, sweet-talking him into letting her out for some fresh air. The only difference was…
Those women waited helplessly for some great hero to rescue them, while he…
…simply didn’t want to leave.
So he couldn’t even be bothered to explain himself. Turning his head away, he answered flatly, “…Believe me or don’t.”
Seeing what looked suspiciously like annoyance on his face, the heart demon immediately softened his tone, asking, “If this Lord let you out, what do we get in return?”
Now he was happily acknowledging that he and the original Long Yin were one and the same, shamelessly asking for a reward… But Feng Qingyun had no intention of rewarding him for anything. Seeing him push his luck, he immediately raised a hand and swung it toward his face, and the heart demon got exactly what he wanted.
The slap the original Long Yin hadn’t managed to earn after kissing Feng Qingyun for an entire month, he received the very first time he appeared.
But just before the blow landed, he caught Feng Qingyun’s wrist, pulled him straight into his arms, and kissed him without another word. However, this kiss was rough, demanding, and overwhelmingly intimate.
Feng Qingyun simply couldn’t handle someone kissing him like that, and his face burned crimson as he struggled.
“Y-you… mmph…”
“Let go of me…”
“Don’t move,” the heart demon laughed softly against his lips. “Be good, let me kiss you properly. He’s been suppressing me this whole time.”
“I finally get to see you.”
“Who knows which heart demon will be the next one to come out?”
“At least let me kiss enough to make up for it.”
Feng Qingyun squeezed his eyes shut, overcome with embarrassment. It was obviously the same person, yet he deliberately spoke as though they were completely different people, intentionally trampling all over Feng Qingyun’s already fragile composure.
Bullied to such an extent, Feng Qingyun couldn’t help cursing inwardly, thinking, Anyone would be better than Desire.Please… let the next heart demon come already, ah!
But as though reading his mind, the man paused and raised an eyebrow, asking, “Palace Master Feng…”
“Were you secretly cursing me just now?”
“I wasn’t…!” Feng Qingyun’s heart skipped.
“Forget it.” The heart demon clearly didn’t believe him, but after finally getting to kiss the one he’d longed for, he was in such a good mood that he couldn’t be bothered arguing. Instead, nibbling lightly at Feng Qingyun’s flushed earlobe, he generously offered what he considered repayment for kindness.
“I’ll let you in on some good news. I’ve already delivered that divorce letter for you, so in a few days…”
“…your ex-husband should come looking for an explanation.”
Hearing that, Feng Qingyun froze, but before he could even process those words, the heart demon leaned close to his ear again with unmistakable malice, asking, “But tell me, if I forced him to choose between your life and his friend’s…”
“…which do you think he’d choose?”
Feng Qingyun instantly went rigid in Long Yin’s embrace. The air fell utterly silent, for both of them already knew the answer. Seeing his reaction, the heart demon smiled and released his earlobe.
“Enough. Let’s not waste another moment talking about that bastard surnamed Mu.” Lowering his head until their noses touched, he coaxed softly, “Be good, kiss me once, and tomorrow, I’ll let you out.”
Feng Qingyun lowered his eyes into the darkness. After an unknown length of time, Long Yin caught the faintest trace of floral fragrance drifting toward him. Then, a feather-light, lingering kiss, warm enough to steal his breath…
…settled gently upon his lips.
From that moment onward, Feng Qingyun realized something.
He was no longer a prisoner. He had long become Long Yin’s accomplice, and with full awareness…
…he was choosing to fall.
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