Xue Chenjing awakened from his initial confusion, this time finding himself imprisoned in the depths of the heart sea. Every word from the wish slip had transformed into threads, weaving into familiar tassels that bound him at its center.
He turned to look at the dense threads entangled around his body, struggling to move his arms, but to no avail. They were so thin, yet so tenacious, like steel cables locking down his soul.
His parents' spiritual power had crafted him a beautiful prison.
He was accustomed to being imprisoned. In many past lives, Xue Mingyuan had controlled the body while he existed as a dark shadow that couldn't see the light, a heart demon that everyone would despise.
But in this life, he had finally been treated as a person, given a name, experienced parental love. He had clearly gained control, yet in the end, he was completely abandoned, returning to the same predicament.
With his imprisonment, Xue Mingyuan regained control of the body. The demonic shadows in the heart sea were sealed along with him. Without the layers of dark shadows, this heart sea was unprecedentedly vast and quiet, making the oath monument standing in the heart sea visible at first glance.
Through the interwoven threads, Xue Chenjing gazed at the distant oath monument, crying in despair, his tears falling like flowing water onto the threads that bound him.
What could he do? Master, I'm really useless, perhaps I'll never be able to touch you again.
Just as Xue Chenjing was falling into despair, he suddenly heard a voice penetrate through, "Ah Qiu, when did you come out? Has someone set up a formation here to deal with you? Are you alright?"
Master?
Yi, Yi, Yi—
She's back! She's back! She called my name, she came back for me!
Xue Chenjing suddenly raised his eyes, points of hope rekindling in his pitch-black pupils as he struggled violently, like a moth caught in a spider's web.
He heard Yu Yi's voice again, asking worriedly, "What happened to your eyes?"
After a long silence, Xue Chenjing, unable to break free from the threads around him, forced himself to calm down. Though imprisoned, he could still sense the outside world like before, still perceive Xue Mingyuan's every move.
As long as he stayed calm.
Xue Chenjing stopped struggling and closed his eyes. Gradually, Xue Mingyuan's every action appeared in his mind.
Xue Chenjing only needed one look before becoming enraged again. At this moment, he wished he could kill Xue Mingyuan, wished he could perish together with him right away.
That was his master! How dare that bastard Xue Mingyuan, how dare he?!
Outside the heart sea, by a pond deep in the mountains.
When Yu Yi first saw Xue Chenjing with blood-red eyes and a blood-stained face, she was too shocked to think and immediately crouched down to touch his eyes.
Only when those blood-red eyes looked straight at her, revealing surprise, did she belatedly realize her gesture was perhaps too intimate.
She immediately wanted to withdraw her hand.
Xue Mingyuan noticed her intention and, lowering his eyelashes, actively leaned forward to press his cheek into her palm.
Yu Yi's palm's warmth and the warmth radiating from her entire body were too tempting for him, who currently felt cold to his very bones.
Even though his body was numbed by the cold, Xue Mingyuan could still feel this body's joy arising from within at her proximity. The heart in his chest leaped with delight at her touch.
Uncontrollably, he leaned against her wrist and buried his head in her shoulder.
The damp hair pressed against Yu Yi's neck, the cold spreading to her body. Yu Yi stood frozen in place, internally hesitant.
She should push him away, but he looked too miserable right now, like a fragile ice sculpture melting, his body trembling finely, as if any forceful movement might shatter him.
"Xue Chenjing, I have a fire spirit root. The sword fire from the Green Bamboo Sword should be able to drive away the cold in your body," Yu Yi said, ultimately choosing not to push him away but trying to raise her arms to embrace him and channel spiritual power to dispel the cold.
Hearing her address him, Xue Mingyuan fell silent briefly. For a moment, he considered accepting her care under another's identity.
But along with this thought came an overwhelming sense of absurdity. In the past, it had always been Xue Chenjing who wanted to assume his identity to live, he never thought there would come a day when he would harbor such self-deceptive thoughts.
When Yu Yi received no response, assuming he was too unwell to speak, she took the initiative to wrap her arms around him.
Feeling her warm embrace, Xue Mingyuan ultimately couldn't overcome his inner barrier and said softly, "I'm sorry, it's me."
Yu Yi's movements froze, and she instinctively backed away, asking puzzled, "Xue Mingyuan?"
Xue Mingyuan raised his head, giving her an apologetic smile, nodding, "It's me. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."
Yu Yi carefully examined his expression, trying to determine if this was another of Xue Chenjing's role-playing games, but the person before her seemed to truly be the original.
She really hadn't expected to meet him again under such circumstances and didn't know how to react, saying somewhat stiffly, "No, there's no need to apologize."
The last time she saw Xue Mingyuan was at the Unmasked Tower. They had gotten along quite well then, and when he suddenly disappeared at the last moment, Yu Yi had felt somewhat regretful.
After all, compared to the clingy and unreasonable Xue Chenjing, Xue Mingyuan clearly seemed more normal and easier to get along with. She had even thought then that if she couldn't escape and the system insisted on having someone complete tasks to pursue her, it would be better if that person were Xue Mingyuan.
Normal people would choose the seemingly more normal Xue Mingyuan.
But now, seeing Xue Mingyuan again, Yu Yi found she wasn't actually that excited to see him, at least not at this moment. She wanted to know more about what had happened to the other person.
"What happened to Xue Chenjing? Did he fall unconscious from severe injuries again?" Yu Yi asked.
"No, he was trapped by our parents' thoughts..." Xue Mingyuan's expression changed slightly, immediately realizing something was wrong, and he forcefully cut off his words.
He didn't want to tell her the truth, but his lips seemed to move against his will, ready to spill out his true thoughts as soon as he opened his mouth.
This situation was like being under a curse, but there were no traces of spells on him. Xue Mingyuan thought of another possibility and called out internally, "System, what's going on?"
The system immediately responded, "Master, the truth-telling mode is currently activated. Under truth-telling mode, you cannot lie to the female protagonist."
Yu Yi heard the system's voice and felt increasingly that something was wrong, pressing further, "What about his parents' thoughts? Was it their spiritual power? What happened?"
Xue Mingyuan's mind raced. He couldn't lie to Yu Yi, but he could choose not to answer her questions or respond in vague terms. He tried speaking, "I'm sorry, he probably won't be able to come out for a while."
Yu Yi's confusion remained unresolved, but Xue Mingyuan didn't give her a chance to ask more questions. He hugged his arms and began coughing suppressively. His face, pale from the cold, flushed with a sickly red from the violent coughing, and the tears that welled up in his eyes turned to ice crystals before they could fall.
The ice crystals irritated his eyes, and when he raised his hand to rub them, it only made them bleed.
Yu Yi quickly grabbed his wrist, "Don't rub them, it'll only make things worse." She finally understood why his eyes were so red and swollen - while others shed pearls for tears, he shed ice shards.
"Let me transfer some fire-attribute spiritual power to you, to drive out the cold from within first."
Only after Xue Mingyuan nodded did Yu Yi channel her spiritual power, releasing several sword flames to surround him while pressing on his pulse point to transfer energy.
The warm spiritual power entered his body like a spring breeze, gradually dispersing the cold in his meridians and bones. Mist rose from Xue Mingyuan's body as he gazed through the humid haze at the person concentrating on transferring spiritual power to him.
He didn't know how long it had been since their last meeting. Xue Mingyuan was imprisoned in a temple deep within the sea of consciousness, where Xue Chenjing kept him under strict surveillance, completely cutting off his ability to perceive the outside world.
He could only stay in the temple, reliving day after day the moment when his flesh was cut and blood was drawn, unable to even sense the passage of time. He knew this was Xue Chenjing's revenge, revenge for how he had repeatedly killed him in the past.
When first sealed within the sea of consciousness, Xue Mingyuan had tried to resist, tried to escape, but as Xue Chenjing devoured more demons within the sea of consciousness, the suppression became heavier, until finally he could no longer resist at all.
As time went by, one day, he suddenly felt this wasn't so bad. He could just stay in the temple like this, not seeing anything, not hearing anything, knowing nothing as he passed through this life.
However, just when he had decided to peacefully accept everything, Yu Yi appeared, bringing new variables into play.
"At that time, I thought I would never see you again," said Xue Mingyuan. These were his true feelings; normally he might not have spoken them aloud, but now under the influence of the truth-compelling effect, such thoughts easily slipped out.
Since the words were already spoken, he might as well say everything. His gaze met Yu Yi's upturned eyes as he continued, "After being locked back in the temple within the mountain, I kept thinking about what you had brought before me that day. I seemed to smell a milky fragrance, something very sweet, but unfortunately I didn't get to taste it."
Yu Yi recalled for a moment following his words, "It was ice milk cake, made from milk frozen into shaved ice, with flower syrup drizzled on top."
Though that bowl of ice milk cake had been crushed to pieces by Xue Chenjing when he awoke, with all the shaved ice melting and flowing to the ground.
"Ice milk cake." Xue Mingyuan repeated, his face showing a look of longing. "If I say I still want to receive it from your hands now, would I have that chance?"
