The symbiotic demon was the source of Xue Chenjing's power. The first demon he swallowed at age ten was a transparent, flower-like creature.
That year was filled with natural disasters - first earthquakes, then torrential rains. Groundwater surged up through fissures in the earth, submerging vast stretches of farmland and homes. Famine and plague claimed countless lives.
However, Xue Chenjing remained unaware of the suffering outside. His parents were wealthy merchants with deep resources, unlikely to falter despite the year's hardships.
He and his brother accompanied their parents to distribute porridge to the poor. At ten years old, they could already help their parents, having practiced martial arts since childhood that had built their strength.
Xue Mingyuan rolled up his sleeves and stood by a cauldron, distributing steamed buns and porridge to the queuing refugees. Though Xue Chenjing initially disliked such tasks, hearing the occasional words of gratitude and praise floating from outside made him want to participate.
After much whining and begging to his brother, Xue Mingyuan finally relented and let him take control.
Before letting him start, he instructed: "Stir the porridge before serving, don't make it too thin or too thick. Try to keep the portions even for everyone - don't show favoritism. If they finish and want more, have them queue up again. Don't let anyone cut in line, or it'll cause chaos."
Xue Chenjing obediently listened and agreed, following his brother's instructions when he took over - stirring before serving, maintaining the right consistency, giving everyone equal portions.
But he soon grew bored, not understanding why these refugees were so grateful for plain, flavorless porridge. Looking around furtively, he secretly tossed some of the snacks his mother had given them into the porridge pot.
His brother hadn't forbidden adding ingredients, and surely it would taste better with some snacks mixed in.
The snacks quickly dissolved in the pot. He ladled some into the bowl of the next person in line. The person walked to the side, took a small sip, and their eyes widened. Despite the heat, they gulped down several more mouthfuls, as if drinking not porridge but some rare delicacy.
Xue Chenjing felt quite proud seeing their delight.
The first few people ate quietly, but then someone who received a bowl cried out after taking a sip: "This porridge is sweet! There's sugar in this pot!"
That cry was like a drop of water hitting hot oil, causing an instant commotion. The orderly queues at the distribution shelters immediately descended into chaos as everyone rushed toward his station.
Those already in line worried about losing their chance at the sweet porridge and abandoned all pretense of order, surging forward to scoop directly from the pot with their bowls. Some even lost their bowls in the crush and began grabbing at the porridge with bare hands, soon staining the white porridge with blood.
Xue Chenjing was terrified. A guard snatched him up and carried him out of the crowd to safety.
Sitting bewildered in the guard's arms, he couldn't understand how people could turn into rabid dogs fighting over porridge just because it had some sugar added.
The pot was knocked over, many were injured, and crying filled the air. In less than a quarter hour, people's gratitude toward the Xue family turned to curses. Their eyes filled with venom as they began charging past the guards to grab the remaining supplies in the shelters.
Xue Chenjing watched his parents get swallowed by the mob, the two guards protecting them trampled underfoot while the outer guards couldn't push through to help.
His father's head was split open by one of the clay bowls he had kindly distributed to the refugees, his mother's clothes were torn - Xue Chenjing finally broke down crying in terror.
At that moment, something responded to his call.
Those transparent, flower-like creatures rose from the ground like an inverted waterfall or ascending sky lanterns, more and more gathering together until they merged into something as tall as a tower gate that crashed to the ground with a boom.
Rushing water sounds came from its soft belly as transparent ribbons extended outward, sweeping away the crowd surrounding his parents and killing those who had hurt them.
The sound of rushing water startled everyone present. People cried out that a flood was coming and began fleeing in all directions.
But to Xue Chenjing's eyes, this was clearly no flood. It had a rounded head, with long tentacles floating like a fairy's ribbons in the air - it was beautiful.
The beautiful ribbons wrapped around him, but they wanted to devour him.
The frightened guard threw him to the ground, where the ribbons wrapped around him layer by layer and dragged him into the creature's body. The being crashed about with him like a real flood, destroying many places before escaping outside the city.
This was Xue Chenjing's first brush with death. He instinctively knew that if he didn't eat it, it would eat him. He opened his mouth and bit into it fiercely, tearing off pieces and swallowing whatever it was.
The creature was poisonous. His consciousness began to blur until finally he could neither hear nor see anything. In his mind remained only one thought: he didn't want to die.
When he next awoke, something new resided in his body. Those transparent pseudopods extended from all over him, initially disobedient but gradually becoming tamed.
From then on, he began attracting more and more demons, began having dreams of past lives and lives before that, dreams of tragic deaths in each incarnation.
His relationship with Xue Mingyuan grew strained.
Once, when Xue Mingyuan was in control of the body, he sought out a Daoist temple where cultivators lived in seclusion. He wanted to use the cultivator's spiritual power to set up a demon-slaying formation to kill him.
Unfortunately, that cultivator's resolve wasn't as firm as he'd hoped. When the cultivator realized the formation might drain all his power, he grew hesitant.
When the cultivator withdrew his spiritual power, the formation collapsed. Xue Chenjing regained his vitality and finally truly understood the threat his brother posed. He imprisoned Xue Mingyuan in his sea of consciousness, never letting him out again.
His power grew stronger with each demon he devoured, allowing him to suppress Xue Mingyuan, to survive each life-or-death moment, to recover what he had lost.
Destroying the demons that lived symbiotically within him would be like cutting off his own arms, closing off his path forward.
Xue Mingyuan spent an entire day writing scriptures, while everyone in the sea of consciousness remained quiet.
He wasn't surprised by Xue Chenjing's choice - it seemed this master wasn't so difficult for him to let go of after all.
Xue Mingyuan finished copying the basic enlightenment scriptures, continuing until he reached the chapter on drawing qi into the body. These scriptures should be sufficient. If the child of this manor's master successfully drew in qi, immortal sects would come to accept him as a disciple.
The crane brother had grown tired of fanning the scriptures and was dozing off to the side, occasionally startled awake by thunder, fluttering his wings before fanning a couple more times.
Xue Mingyuan went over to stroke its wings, saying gently, "It's alright, I'm finished. No need to fan anymore - you can sleep peacefully now."
He carried the deeply sleeping red-crowned crane to a soft couch, then turned to take down the dried scriptures, carefully rolling them up and storing them in a brocade box.
Suddenly, his brother, who had been quiet all day in the sea of consciousness, spoke: "Swear an oath - swear that in this life, the next life, for all lives to come, for all eternity, you will never like her, never love her."
Xue Chenjing sat in his prison, looking through the crisscrossing threads at the oath stone.
It didn't matter - he could destroy his own demons, could let himself be slaughtered, could die once more. They had been entangled for so many lives, and he had been killed more than once. In the next life he could start over again. Anything was better than watching her rush unhesitatingly toward Xue Mingyuan like everyone else.
The system said this was supposed to be a sweet story, but he had never tasted sweetness. Even if he could enjoy a little warmth at first, it would ultimately be cruelly torn apart. He wasn't the protagonist of this story, was he? His brother was.
In the end, they would be together, but he absolutely refused to let that happen.
If he couldn't have her, Xue Mingyuan couldn't have her either - not ever.
...
At the reef island.
The lightning here was far more intense than in Liangzhou City. Yu Yi dared not fly, and could only approach the Immortal Ascension Platform on the sea by crossing through the dense reef clusters. Lightning bolts struck down from the sky as electric currents coursed wildly through the seawater.
Her hair stood on end from the electricity, and all her limbs had gone numb.
On this reef beach, there were other cultivators. The lightning here wasn't tribulation lightning, but rather ordinary lightning strikes. This natural lightning field was the best training ground for cultivators with lightning spiritual roots. As long as they could withstand the strikes without being killed, each lightning strike would serve to temper their spiritual roots.
Moreover, this was a place where a powerful immortal had ascended. The presence of such lightning phenomena suggested that the predecessor who ascended here must have also been a cultivator with lightning spiritual roots. If one were fortunate enough to witness the ascension of a powerful being, it would greatly benefit future generations.
Therefore, during the lightning storm season, it wasn't uncommon to see cultivators coming to this reef island to practice. Not far from Yu Yi, there was a cultivator who had been struck so badly that he was barely recognizable and had nearly fallen into the sea.
Yu Yi touched her scorched hair ends, figuring she probably looked just as bad. She had reached her limit for lightning strikes today, as her spiritual root could no longer handle it. She had to retreat and wait until she had fully absorbed the lightning energy within her body before returning tomorrow for another round.
She left the reef beach, initially planning to find a nearby spot to meditate through the night. After some consideration, however, she decided to ride her green bamboo sword, flying close to the ground, back to the courtyard residence.
When Yu Yi returned to the residence, Xue Mingyuan's room door was still open, and she could see Senior Crane sprawled asleep on the soft couch inside. She changed direction from her own room and headed toward the west wing instead.
Xue Mingyuan came out to greet her, his eyes widening as he looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her curled hair ends. "Was the lightning really that powerful?" he asked in surprise.
Yu Yi gave a wry smile, "I was nearly struck senseless. The Immortal Ascension Platform isn't so easy to climb."
Xue Mingyuan smiled and asked, "Would you like me to trim your hair ends?"
Yu Yi picked up her hair and absently rubbed it between her fingers. "Never mind, I'm going back tomorrow anyway. If we trim it now, it'll just curl up again tomorrow. Besides, I'm still charged with electricity and might shock you. I came to take Senior Crane back - thank you for looking after it."
Xue Mingyuan replied, "I didn't look after it - rather, it looked after me all day."
Yu Yi looked surprised, curious about how Senior Crane had taken care of him.
Xue Mingyuan invited her in and showed her the scriptures he had written, "It rained for half the day, and the air was too humid for the ink to dry. Senior Crane helped me fan the scriptures all day."
Yu Yi examined the scriptures carefully, and naturally, many topics of conversation arose between them. After chatting for quite a while, Xue Mingyuan noticed her exhausted eyes and took the initiative to end the conversation, saying, "I asked the residence staff to prepare hot water in your room, keeping it warm with a spell. I thought you might need it when you returned."
This gesture was incredibly thoughtful. Having returned from the reef beach, Yu Yi's clothes had been soaked with seawater, dried, and soaked again repeatedly until the salt had thoroughly permeated them. Even after several cleaning spells, she still felt uncomfortable and indeed needed a good bath.
Yu Yi gratefully said, "Thank you."
Xue Mingyuan frowned, looking somewhat dejected, and sighed, "You don't need to be so formal with me. Hearing you say 'thank you' so many times somehow doesn't make me happy."
Yu Yi looked up at him, and Xue Mingyuan, caught in her gaze, asked awkwardly, "I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?"
"No," Yu Yi shook her head, and hearing his apology, she laughed, "Actually, you could also say 'sorry' to me less often."
Xue Mingyuan was stunned for a moment before breaking into a smile, "Alright. Since you're still charged with electricity, shall I carry Senior Crane over for you?"
"It's fine, let it walk by itself." Yu Yi walked over and touched Senior Crane's beak with one finger, sending an electric arc that jolted it awake with a snap.
The crane tumbled off the couch and looked up drowsily. Upon seeing Yu Yi, its first instinct was to spread its wings to hug her, but catching sight of the faint electrical current still coursing over her body, it instantly became fully alert and fluttered backward eight zhang, hiding behind Xue Mingyuan.
"Gawk gawk gawk gawk!" How could she still be covered in electricity? It had just finally groomed its feathers!
Yu Yi chuckled, "Come on, stop lounging in other people's rooms, let's go back to sleep."
Senior Crane poked its head out from behind Xue Mingyuan, following a few steps behind Yu Yi, waddling on its long legs as they left the room.
As the east wing door closed, Xue Mingyuan's smile faded. He sat by the window, gazing through the verdant banana leaves at another window.
This life, the next life, life after life, for all eternity - he should have been able to vow never to like her, never to love her.
Why couldn't he make such a vow? Wasn't this heart supposed to have stirred only for Xue Chenjing?
