Chapter 50: So Hard It Hurts

Such words carried enough weight for He Mu.

All the way until the two returned to the mortal world and their souls returned to their bodies, he gripped Wenren Sheng’s hand tightly without letting go, as if afraid he would go back on his word or worried that upon opening his eyes, it would still turn out to be a dream.

Fortunately, this time it was not.

Wenren Sheng lay on the bed nearby and slept for a full two days before fully regaining consciousness.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw He Mu’s two fingers resting on his pulse.

“Your primordial spirit has returned to position,” he said. “Do you still remember your birth chart?”

Wenren Sheng blinked, quickly sat up, and fumbled around the table in a panic to find a sheet of paper. He bit his finger and scribbled the characters on it.

“I remember!” After writing the eight characters, he hurriedly lifted the bloody paper for He Mu to see. “This is it, right? Brother remembers too—check it against yours!”

He Mu frowned, took the paper, and pinched Wenren Sheng’s bitten finger.

“What’s the rush?” he said. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

Wenren Sheng pouted and pulled his hand back.

“I’m not that weak and frail.”

He Mu wiped the blood off for him, and the wound quickly closed up.

“See?” Wenren Sheng showed him the perfectly healed finger. “All better in the blink of an eye.”

With that, he snatched the paper with the birth chart back from He Mu’s hand and tucked it into his collar like a treasure.

He muttered to himself, “There’s still some time before that year. No need to rush. In the meantime, I’ll cultivate diligently, solidify my dao heart, strive to achieve ascension early, and then…”

Halfway through, he let out an “ah” and suddenly looked toward He Mu.

“What about you? Do you still plan to ascend, Brother?”

He Mu sat back down on the bed without directly answering his question.

“Have you decided on the dao heart you’ve comprehended? No more changes?”

Wenren Sheng pondered for a moment and nodded. “My dao heart won’t change, and I won’t suffer qi deviation. This is something I’ve upheld since birth.”

“Then you truly have exceptional talent,” He Mu smiled at him. “My dao heart has also been decided.”

Wenren Sheng perked up at that and leaned in close. “Really? What is it?”

He Mu wagged a finger. “A dao heart cannot be spoken aloud. I don’t ask about yours, so don’t ask about mine. You’ll know once I ascend.”

He Mu wasn’t bluffing on this point. Yi Jinxiang had told him the same thing—a cultivator’s dao heart could not be casually revealed.

It was no wonder, though. He Mu deserved his past admiration. Even after being demoted to the mortal realm with his cultivation greatly diminished, it hadn’t taken long for him to recover to Mahayana Realm, comprehend a new dao heart, and make ascension a mere matter of speaking the word.

Things others couldn’t accomplish in a lifetime, He Mu had managed in barely two years.

Ah… He wanted to become such a great hero too. How many years had it taken He Mu to gain such power? A hundred years? Two hundred? Surely not over three hundred…

Seeing him lost in thought, He Mu silently tugged him over and pulled him into his arms.

He seated Wenren Sheng on his lap and nuzzled the side of his neck.

Wenren Sheng’s scent hadn’t changed a bit—it was the same as when he was little, carrying a faint orchid fragrance that was utterly alluring.

“Shengsheng,” he murmured into the hollow of Wenren Sheng’s neck. “What did you mean by ‘start over’ in the nine springs below?”

Wenren Sheng let out two soft hums from the nuzzling, his face heating up slightly.

He was already eighteen, yet He Mu still insisted on holding him in his lap and nuzzling him like this.

He shifted uncomfortably to show his unease.

But He Mu had no intention of letting him go. He wrapped both arms around Wenren Sheng’s waist and continued whispering affectionately into his ear.

“‘Start over,'” He Mu said. “Does that mean I can pursue you now?”

Pursue…

Wenren Sheng halted his struggling.

He truly hadn’t considered things from that angle.

Wenren Sheng’s mindset had always been very traditional. He saw himself as the child adopted by the Mountain God. Once grown, he should marry the Mountain God, hand over everything to him, and become his possession. It was inevitable.

So the words he’d said were simply meant to convey to He Mu that things between them were no longer an unconditional surrender of himself in an intimate family bond. Instead, they would shed the “family” identity and begin facing each other as equals.

Of course, after being such close family for so long, jumping straight to strangers was difficult.

On top of that, He Mu made no effort to hide his desire for him—like right now, with that blatant possessiveness practically spilling out from every word and action.

“Y-Yes… I suppose?” Wenren Sheng answered hesitantly.

He Mu’s eyes curved in a smile. “Good.”

Wenren Sheng mumbled a quiet “oh” and ducked his head.

But… was this how you pursued someone?

Yi Jinxiang had protected him extremely well during his two years in Cangzhou City. Any demon that had ever coveted Wenren Sheng had been dealt with by her with utmost vigilance. No one dared approach him the way He Mu did.

Yet He Mu held nothing back, acting as if rejection was impossible, pushing the boundaries time and again and leaving Wenren Sheng utterly flustered.

If Yi Jinxiang saw this scene, she’d probably be furious enough to flip the entire room upside down.

While he was lost in these thoughts, He Mu had already undone the collar at Wenren Sheng’s neck, planting several hickeys along his lotus-white neckline.

The bites itched, and Wenren Sheng couldn’t help reaching out to push He Mu’s face away.

His tone carried a hint of grievance. “I haven’t allowed Brother to do this to me.”

They had only just returned from the Underworld, after all. He needed to pay respects to his master first, make up for the cultivation he’d missed over these two days. How could he be holed up in the room doing such things?

He Mu let out an “mm” and indeed stopped kissing. But his hand remained restless—his fingertip nudged aside a bit of cloth at Wenren Sheng’s shoulder, exposing the pale skin on the side of his nape dotted with a faint mole.

“The illusion arts mark left by Qianxiang,” He Mu said as he lightly rubbed it with his fingertip. “It hasn’t faded yet.”

“…Mark?”

Wenren Sheng’s eyes misted over from the touch. He had no space left to think, merely parroting He Mu’s words clumsily.

“Mm,” He Mu said. “You have a mole right here on your nape. Truth be told, I noticed it back when you were fifteen.”

He spoke slowly, his tone betraying no emotion, his fingertip movements exceedingly gentle—yet more than enough to make Wenren Sheng’s entire body go rigid.

Wenren Sheng poured every ounce of effort into keeping his tail from perking up and swishing wildly. But he couldn’t suppress the fine tremors running through his body, leaving him to tremble pitifully atop He Mu’s lap.

He Mu pulled him a fraction tighter and teased, “So sensitive.”

“Lies!” Wenren Sheng retorted in flustered annoyance. “A-And anyway, anyone would react to being touched like this. Why don’t you admit you’re being a total rogue…”

“What’s rogue about it?” He Mu refused to concede. “I used to kiss you just like this when you were little. I even held you while we slept. Now that you’ve grown up, suddenly it’s ‘rogue’?”

Wenren Sheng’s face burned as he shot back, “That’s completely different. I was just a kid back then.”

“How so?”

As he spoke, He Mu slipped his hand beneath Wenren Sheng’s clothes, tenderly tracing the line of his waist with lingering affection.

“You can’t call it me being a rogue just because you’ve gotten more sensitive… right?”

This time, Wenren Sheng couldn’t hold back. A soft moan escaped his lips.

It wasn’t just that—even his fluffy tail, which had been lying obediently still, lifted uncontrollably and began sweeping joyfully back and forth across He Mu.

“…”

Hearing that sound, He Mu froze for half a second before flipping over and shoving Wenren Sheng down onto the bed.

“Hey!”

Wenren Sheng landed on the bedding completely off guard. Before he could react, both wrists were seized together and pinned above his head.

Looking up, he found He Mu’s gaze shimmering with dark intent—like he wanted to devour him whole.

“Ah, wait—no…” Wenren Sheng hurriedly drew up his legs. “What are you doing? Don’t get carried away, Brother! W-We just got back from the Underworld! I’m still in Master’s palace… What do you even want?!”

He Mu paid him no mind. He used his leg to pry Wenren Sheng’s knees apart, then tightened his grip on those palms just enough to pin him firmly to the bed.

“I’m the one who wants to ask you,” He Mu said. “Why’d you sweep me with your tail?”

Wenren Sheng was on the verge of tears. “I didn’t mean to! Y-You touched me all of a sudden, and it just… happened. I can’t control it…”

He Mu ignored his pleas. With his free hand, he grabbed Wenren Sheng’s thrashing thigh.

“Don’t care,” he said shamelessly.

With one leg pinned, Wenren Sheng bent the other to maintain some distance between them.

“Brother, calm down,” Wenren Sheng pleaded desperately. “What are you even trying to do? I only agreed to let you pursue me—I didn’t say we’d be together. We’re not married yet; we can’t do this… I’m not that kind of person. And you’re not either, so we…”

Like a small animal caught by all four limbs, all he could do was babble nonstop pleas to He Mu, desperately trying to avoid being ravished completely.

Yet even now, Wenren Sheng still viewed He Mu as the epitome of a gentleman. He was convinced He Mu had simply been provoked and wouldn’t truly force himself on him.

He Mu had always been gentle and considerate. Sure, he occasionally played mean-spirited pranks, but he’d never bully him to this degree…

He Mu wasn’t as frantic as before. Hearing Wenren Sheng’s utter trust in him lifted his mood considerably.

His eyes curved into a smile. “So that’s the image I have in your heart—the type to sit still despite temptation?”

Wenren Sheng nodded pitifully. “Brother, please calm down. I really didn’t mean to swish my tail on you earlier. I’ve never done anything like that. You know me best…”

Never done what, exactly?

If it was “seduce,” then Wenren Sheng was doing precisely that right now.

Gazing at him, He Mu felt a restless heat stirring in his body that refused to settle. He drew a deep breath, letting his eyes drift down from Wenren Sheng’s face to the hickeys he’d left on the side of his neck.

So red. Just a couple of bites, and marks like that.

Wenren Sheng felt He Mu’s gaze burn like fire. Though he’d just professed trust in the Mountain God moments ago, the current situation felt far too perilous. Instinct screamed at him to escape.

So he lifted his still-free leg, trying to shift position and prevent He Mu from suddenly pressing down on him.

But after a couple movements, his knee accidentally grazed a certain hard protrusion on He Mu.

“…………”

Wenren Sheng’s breath caught. He looked up and met He Mu’s eyes.

The air plunged into silence.