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At the bottom of the Red Cloud Sea.

To avoid being disturbed by his inner demon, Wen Jue rarely closed his eyes to meditate. The moment he closed his eyes, the voice of his inner demon would resound.

This inner demon never had a kind word to say; day after day, it told him that Qin Zhou no longer wanted him. Not only would Wen Jue find it unbearable, but anyone else would be utterly exasperated by it. It would be better not to meditate at all.

Wen Jue took out the barrier stone from his Cosmos Bag and began carving it out of boredom.

Back when he was confined in the Immortal Restraint Prison, ten years felt like the blink of an eye. Could it be that now that Qin Zhou has returned, he can’t bear even a moment of this loneliness?

Wen Jue thought he was being a bit melodramatic.

But as he carved the barrier stone in his hand, it gradually took the shape of a flower. Wen Jue: “…Ahem.”

And behind him, there was already a pile of such flowers. Qin Zhou, do you like flowers?

Wen Jue wiped his face and finally put the barrier stone down. He gathered up all the flowers and stowed them in the Cosmos Bag.

“Wen Jue.” Qin Zhou’s voice suddenly carried across the lake. Wen Jue looked up. “Hmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“…Nothing much. I’m keeping watch over this demon beast.” Wen Jue glanced at the lifeless-looking Duyan and replied.

“Lu San has been found.”

“Oh, I’ve met him.” Wen Jue nodded.

“The Son of the World has been found as well. Lu San’s spirit has possessed his puppet. That Son of the World—as it happens, he’s actually my junior from Realm Beyond the Heavens.”

“A junior from the Realm Beyond the Heavens? He isn’t from the Spirit Mountain Realm?” Upon hearing this, a sense of danger immediately welled up in Wen Jue. “What does he look like? What is his temperament like?”

Qin Zhou’s voice carried a hint of a smile. “He’s pretty and has a quiet, well-behaved nature.”

Wen Jue: “…Oh.”

“No more questions?”

“You probably don’t like that type,” Wen Jue analyzed.

“……” Qin Zhou felt a twinge of embarrassment at being read so accurately. But it actually piqued his interest. “How did you know?”

“If you truly liked him, would he still be your junior?” Wen Jue thought to himself. Others might not understand, but Qin Zhou, though he appeared steady and dignified, wouldn’t just sit around waiting for someone to come to him if he really wanted something.

Wait, why was he even discussing this with him?

“You’re right. I like… someone with a bit more edge,” Qin Zhou replied honestly. Those who were too docile or too cute—though he felt a protective urge toward them—always seemed to be missing something.

Wen Jue snorted lightly. “Is my name really that hard for you to say?”

“Yes, I like you,” Qin Zhou smiled. Before meeting Wen Jue, he had indeed always believed he preferred those who were well-behaved and upright. Wen Jue fell silent.

Qin Zhou smiled helplessly. See? He said it, but he’s not happy about it.

“You… we’re separated by the sea. Could you please stop teasing me?” Wen Jue’s voice was slightly muffled. He was all alone at the bottom of the lake, unable to do anything. And this guy was still spouting those cold, flippant remarks about ‘liking you’—did he have any idea how agonizing it was for him down here?

Qin Zhou：？

That tone—who’s teasing whom?

“Let’s get down to business.” Wen Jue crossed his legs and recited the Calming Mind Mantra. “Your junior is the Child of the World—doesn’t that mean you already have information on the World Tree?” 

“No. Yan Qi doesn’t know anything about the World Tree,” Qin Zhou said.

“Could the World Tree here be hidden in the Tongtian Secret Realm, just like the World Tree in the Zhutian Realm?” Wen Jue speculated.

Qin Zhou didn’t respond. What Wen Jue said was indeed possible. But the World Tree Arena didn’t exist in this world’s lore. Cross-server mode did exist, but since the game hadn’t been released yet and there weren’t enough players, cross-server or cross-region modes were out of the question.

“I’m more inclined to believe that the World Tree appeared suddenly,” Qin Zhou said. “Its emergence likely occurred no more than a hundred years ago.”

According to Qin Zhou’s reasoning, it had been no more than fifty years since this world had transformed from a game into a real world. He wasn’t sure about the rate of time’s passage in this world, but at the very least, the World Tree’s birth couldn’t have occurred before Yan Qi arrived here.

“You’ve got an idea in mind.”

“Mm-hmm.” That was the real reason Qin Zhou wasn’t in a hurry.

As long as the World Tree exists in this world, it must be special. Information from the past hundred years shouldn’t be hard to find.

“By the way.”

“Hmm?”

“What about the Solitary Nightmare?” Qin Zhou asked.

Wen Jue glanced at him again. “He looks like a corpse.”

“Like a corpse?” Qin Zhou seemed to have an idea and said, “Then go check if its spiritual essence is still there.”

Hearing this, Wen Jue jumped to his feet. “I’ve been watching over it the whole time. Are you saying its spiritual essence slipped away right in front of me?” 

“Go check, and you’ll see.”

Wen Jue thought to himself, “That can’t be—I haven’t left this spot for a single moment.”

With that thought in mind, Wen Jue got up and walked over, kicking out with his foot.

“Still not back to life? I already gave you your inner dan. Who are you playing dead for?”

Duyan remained silent, lying on the ground with his eyes tightly shut, as if doing so would prevent Wen Jue from tormenting him any further. Wen Jue kicked him twice more without mercy.

Yet Duyan remained as still as a corpse. Something was off.

Wen Jue crouched down and grabbed the mass of black mist.

With a flick of his merit-infused light, the black mist dissipated, revealing Duyan’s true form beneath it. As a demon beast, Duyan could probably claim the title of the ugliest demon beast.

It looked like a meatball, its body composed of bulging muscle masses—protruding here and there. It was covered in black hair, but it wasn’t thick; rather, it was sparse, like a few stray stubble hairs left behind after a poor shave.

Its appearance was just as repulsive as its aura.

And now, the meatball lay with its eyes closed, completely motionless. 

Wen Jue: “……”

It really did run away. But…

“Its inner core is still here.” Wen Jue reached in and pulled out Duyan’s inner core once more.

“Duyan is a special case. It’s true that his inner core is the essence he’s cultivated over many years, but before he was crushed to the bottom of the lake, he risked his life to split off a strand of his divine consciousness and escape. That strand of divine consciousness was also his last resort for survival. It was meant to be used only when he was finally confronted by the Ten Divine Artifacts.”

It’s akin to a lizard severing its tail. Duyan could be reborn from that strand of divine consciousness, but the cost would be abandoning the body he had cultivated to the Union Realm.

“All these years trapped at the bottom of the lake, Duyan has been secretly training Demon Beast Tamers—not to truly teach them how to tame beasts, but to let them become tainted by the beasts’ evil desires and dark thoughts. When the time is right, Duyan will devour all the Beast Tamers to forge an even more powerful body.”

As for the rebirth of his divine consciousness, he intended to use it only when driven to the brink of destruction by the divine artifact, thereby turning death into rebirth. But the result…

“You probably pushed it too hard. That’s why it ran away.” Just as Qin Zhou had guessed, Yan Qi and the disciples of the Shanning Realm had come to blows, and the rest of the plot was falling apart.

Wen Jue: “…”

Qin Zhou smiled, “It’s run off, so you can come out now.” Wen Jue, however, didn’t smile. “This formation is holding me down, too.”

“Project your spiritual essence.” That was the move he’d usually use while trapped in the Immortal Restraint Prison. 

Wen Jue:?

“I was hoping to put the cultivation of this new body to use,” Wen Jue muttered. Upon learning he could leave, Wen Jue didn’t walk out immediately.

Instead, without hesitation, he raised his hand to cast a barrier, enveloping Duyan’s corpse.

Until all the cultivation energy within the corpse had dissipated completely, from this moment on, not even a single wisp of soul entering or leaving would escape his perception.

Qin Zhou stood patiently by the lake, waiting. Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the water.

A beam of light surged up from the depths.

It coalesced into a tangible form, and finally—

“Splash.”

Qin Zhou looked up, but saw no one on the surface of the lake. What had broken through the water was a bouquet of… flowers carved from barrier stones. Only then did the person he had been longing for appear.

“Do you like flowers, Young Master Qin?” Wen Jue poked his head out of the water, holding the barrier stone flower in his hand, as if afraid the lake water would wet his hair; he had cast an additional barrier around himself.

Qin Zhou was frozen in place.

Now that he was no longer in the Zhutian Realm, he could finally see Lu Yi’s lively side. Was this, perhaps, one of the reasons for coming here?

Seeing that Qin Zhou didn’t respond, Wen Jue’s expression darkened instantly. “Don’t you like it?”

“I do.” Qin Zhou reached out to take the bouquet of barrier stones, then casually pulled him out of the water. Wen Jue took the opportunity to pin him down.

Wen Jue lay on top of him, completely relaxed.

By the lakeshore. The scent of fresh grass lingered in the air, a far more pleasant aroma than the foul stench emitted by the Duyan. “What’s wrong?” Qin Zhou gazed up at the sky—a deep, azure expanse—as his fingers gently stroked the head resting against his chest.

“My inner demon… it was awakened by the Duyan,” Wen Jue admitted honestly.

“Does it bother you?” Qin Zhou frowned.

“It’s fine for now.” It was as if a beast that had been slumbering deep within his heart had awakened, filling his mind with dark thoughts. But the moment Qin Zhou appeared, the knife hanging over his heart finally dropped to the ground.

“It keeps asking me in my head, ‘Who is this Lu Yi? Who was it that stayed by your side for thousands of years when I was in the Zhutian Realm?” Wen Jue said.

Qin Zhou: “…Is it the heart demon asking, or are you asking?”

“The heart demon is me.” Wen Jue stared intently. He understood that the so-called heart demon was merely the dark side of his own mind. “I still seem to be very worried that you might suddenly disappear.”

“It’s just a keepsake,” Qin Zhou offered an analogy. “You can think of it this way: after leaving the Zhutian Realm, I made a new doll in your likeness, but without your soul. I treated this doll as my own child, nurturing it with care to become a better version of itself.”

This was also why Shen Yun had said that Senior Lu Yi was the Creator God’s own son. It wasn’t a father-son relationship in the true biological sense. It was merely an expression of admiration.

“Qin Zhou, you really do like me.” Wen Jue rolled onto him, and the two lay together by the lake. Wen Jue crossed his legs happily and gazed up at the sky.

“So you really did start liking me when I gave you that hairpin, didn’t you?” Wen Jue said smugly.

“…That’s not it,” Qin Zhou said. “It was from the moment I met Wen Jue.”

Qin Zhou was telling the truth. Even though Lu Yi was his favorite fictional character, he had never imagined that one day Lu Yi would appear before him in the flesh.

Wen Jue: “So you like the Demon Lord, then.” 

“I like you.”

Wen Jue suddenly leaned in close, his tone dangerous. “I’m not at the bottom of the lake right now.” Qin Zhou smiled faintly, looking as though he were at his mercy.

Wen Jue sprang up from the ground and leaned down to bite his lips.

Qin Zhou let him kiss him; the vast, beautiful sky before his eyes transformed into Wen Jue’s face, now painted with a look of obsession. If Wen Jue still worried that he might suddenly leave one day, he would never tire of telling him how much he loved him.

His mother had once said that loving someone is like tending to a flower—it is exactly like that.

Until… that hand grasped something it shouldn’t have.

“Wen Jue.” Qin Zhou hurriedly pressed down on his wrist.

“I want to play too,” Wen Jue murmured, his voice slightly breathless as he pressed his face against Qin Zhou’s chest. “Play with yours.”

Qin Zhou shook his head. “We can’t play like that by the lake.” With so many mountain spirits and wild creatures about, he had no desire to be on display.

Wen Jue gave Qin Zhou’s cheek a fierce little bite. “Even if it didn’t refuse me—what gives you the right to refuse? It likes me far more than you could ever imagine.”

What kind of lewd talk is that? Does he even know what he’s saying?

How could someone be so innocent and yet… Wasn’t he the one trembling in my arms last time? Qin Zhou wanted to laugh when he heard this, but he stopped himself again. “We’re by the lake.”

“Then let’s go to the Qi Sea.” Wen Jue was annoyed.

Qin Zhou: “You’ve forgotten—we’re both in our spiritual essence forms.” 

Wen Jue: “……”

Wen Jue could only say resentfully, “You’ll wait for me when I get back.” He poked his finger at Qin Zhou’s nose. “Wait until I make a trip to the Hehuan Sect to learn a thing or two. I’ll make sure you get a taste of it and never reject me again!”

“Fine.” He looked forward to seeing the results of his studies. Little Qin Zhou was looking forward to it too.