Wei Huai carried Qixue to the soft couch, stripped off his gauze robe, applied some numbing salve to his snow-white chest, and then heated a slender silver needle over the candle flame until the tip glowed red-hot.
Imagining the needle piercing through soft flesh, Qixue paled in terror. He hadn’t fooled Wei Huai at all—Wei Huai had simply waited until now to settle the score.
He hurriedly clung to Wei Huai and begged for mercy. “Seventh Brother, I really know I was wrong. Please spare me this once. I swear I won’t do it again!”
“You say you know you were wrong?”
Wei Huai lowered his gaze to Qixue and said gently, “Then why don’t you tell me exactly where you went wrong? I’m not entirely clear on it myself.”
“I shouldn’t have stayed out all night, and I definitely shouldn’t have gone to a pleasure house on my own.”
Qixue gazed at him pitifully, lightly biting his plump lips with a look like he was on the verge of tears. “I was just… momentarily confused. It won’t happen again, and I really didn’t do anything—I didn’t touch anyone. I only have you, Seventh Brother…”
He kissed Wei Huai’s lip corner in a piteous manner, licked his thin lips, and tried to tempt him into parting his teeth. But Wei Huai didn’t respond or cooperate, though he didn’t push Qixue away either.
Qixue knew that without stronger measures, he truly wouldn’t escape this ordeal. So he simply straddled Wei Huai’s lap. “Tonight, you don’t need to exert yourself, Seventh Brother. Let me serve you instead.”
He undid Wei Huai’s collar, revealing his well-built torso, then lowered his head to kiss those old scars. His hands weren’t idle either as he went to untie Wei Huai’s belt. Wei Huai didn’t stop him and let him do as he pleased.
Unfortunately, Qixue was terribly inexperienced. Though nominally Wei Huai’s male pet, he didn’t really know how to serve anyone. Usually, Wei Huai took control of him. On rare occasions when he felt aroused, Qixue might whip Wei Huai a few times or give him orders, but it was still Wei Huai doing the serving.
After fumbling around for a long time with no effect on Wei Huai, Qixue was on the verge of tears himself. His eyes reddened at the corners, giving him a pitiful, teary-eyed look as he softly pleaded, “Husband, won’t you help me?”
He rarely called Wei Huai that way. In the past, it only happened in the heat of passion when he wasn’t fully lucid and Wei Huai coaxed it out of him. This was the first time he said it on his own initiative.
He knew Wei Huai loved hearing it. Sure enough, Wei Huai finally looked at him. “How should I help you?”
Qixue thought of the erotic novels he’d read, took Wei Huai’s hand, and placed it on his own abdomen, saying shyly, “I want to bear a child for you, Husband. Help me—ah!”
Before he could finish, Qixue was pressed down by Wei Huai. Wei Huai gripped his waist, leaned over to press against his warm, smooth back, and bit his nape like a beast in heat.
…
The clouds dispersed, and the rain cleared.
Qixue lay in Wei Huai’s arms, exhausted and drowsy. But thinking of those deathly gemstone studs, he forced his eyelids open and murmured softly, “Seventh Brother, don’t make me wear those things. Otherwise, think about it—how will the child nurse later…?”
Wei Huai stroked his soft belly. “Do you really want to bear a child for me?”
To avoid wearing the nipple studs, Qixue was willing to say anything sweet. “As long as you like it, Seventh Brother, I’m willing to bear one.”
Ever since the Cave Abyss emerged into the world three hundred years ago, countless demons had appeared. Among them was a vicious and cunning breed called Bao Sui. Pills refined from their inner cores could make men pregnant or, when combined with the blood of two women, nurture a child.
As a result, after three hundred years of shifting customs, same-sex marriages had become commonplace.
In contrast, Bao Sui had become exceedingly rare, and few Daoist temples still knew how to refine the pills. The original story mentioned that in the entire Great Yong Empire, only Cloud Moon Temple—run by the protagonist Xie Shu—could both capture Bao Sui and produce the pills.
Wei Huai kissed Qixue’s forehead. “Of course I’d love a child born to A Xue. Since you’re willing, I’ll send someone to Cloud Moon Temple to request the pills. Hopefully, we can obtain them before our wedding.”
“Good…”
Qixue responded tenderly, showing no reluctance at all. After all, before the wedding, he would surely have left Wei Huai and wouldn’t fulfill his promise.
But after this encounter, inspiration suddenly struck him: Bao Sui pills worked on male demons too. He could find a way to get some and bear a child for His Majesty!
With an heir, His Majesty wouldn’t make Ji Yuheng the Crown Prince, and the rest of the story wouldn’t happen.
Qixue was overjoyed, his beautiful eyes curving like crescent moons. Wei Huai saw his delighted expression and smiled softly in return.
Wei Huai lightly pinched Qixue’s cheek and teased him on purpose. “What about the gift I gave you? Are you just going to throw it away?”
His tone was light, so Qixue knew his anger had dissipated. He gently pinched Wei Huai’s chest and coquettishly complained, “If it’s thrown away, so be it. Were you really planning to make me wear it?”
“I’ll keep it for you for now,” Wei Huai said. “If you ever truly betray me, I’ll put it on you myself.”
Qixue felt a twinge of guilt but didn’t show it. Instead, he huffed lightly. “And if you betray me? What then? It can’t be that only I get punished.”
Wei Huai laughed. “You can castrate me. If that’s not enough to vent your anger, then kill me. My life is yours.”
Qixue loved hearing that. He took the initiative to kiss Wei Huai. “How could I bear to kill you, Seventh Brother…”
In short, the Weicui Pavilion incident passed without further danger.
Afterward, Qixue gave the finest southern pearls from Madam Xu to Luxiangqiu and asked her to deliver them to Ying Niang as his thanks.
Ying Niang felt guilty for getting Qixue into trouble, so she gifted him a scent pouch in return.
The pouch had no fragrance. Inside were ten tiny fragrance pills she’d made herself. They weren’t ordinary incense but had been infused with the Spirit Fox Clan’s unique Soul-Bewitching Technique.
Just tossing one into an incense burner would put someone into a deep sleep. One pill burned for about two hours, and no one in the room would wake until it was fully consumed.
Of course, she also included the incantation to dispel the Soul-Bewitching Technique—otherwise, accidentally drugging oneself would be laughable.
Qixue found it very useful and happily stowed it away. He even hid two pills in the hairpin he always wore, carrying them on his person for emergencies.
Three days later, the army departed from Nanping County and set off on the road back to Shangjing.
Before leaving, Wei Huai gave Qixue a golden ankle bracelet. “Since you won’t wear it on your chest, here’s one for your ankle.”
The golden ankle bracelet was exquisitely crafted with intricate patterns, inlaid with precious gems and jewels.
Qixue loved it greatly—mainly because it was valuable enough to fetch a lot of money. He put it on immediately and never took it off again.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Wei Huai’s army marched north swiftly and finally entered Shangjing on this day.
As the capital of Great Yong, Shangjing spanned a vast territory, half the size of a county. It was midwinter, the sky dim, the wilds piled high with ice and snow under a hazy veil of pure white.
Despite the harsh weather and biting cold, Qixue’s carriage interior remained warm and cozy.
Sitting inside, he couldn’t hide his excitement. He kept lifting the curtain to peer out, wishing he could memorize every blade of grass and tree in Shangjing.
Finally… he’d arrived in Shangjing at last! Soon, he would see His Majesty!
Qixue’s eyes sparkled, his cheeks flushing red as he began fantasizing about his reunion with Emperor Helan Ji and the wonderful life ahead.
He would strive to win His Majesty’s favor, bear His Majesty’s child, and then use Ji Yuheng and Xie Shu’s skulls as wine cups—one for His Majesty, one for himself—to toast at the child’s full-moon celebration.
Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew through the window, icy and piercing, snapping Qixue back to reality and making him shiver.
He had no choice but to lower the curtain, leaving only a thin slit to curiously observe outside.
Though the world beyond the carriage was a frozen wasteland, it wasn’t empty. Besides the official road where the army marched, the snow-covered farmlands on either side had trampled paths bustling with travelers avoiding the troops.
In such freezing cold, seeing so many people hurrying along in the outskirts was impossible elsewhere. Only Shangjing, the world’s most prosperous and wealthy city, drew such crowds.
Further ahead, Qixue gradually made out the silhouette of the mountain range.
This was the only mountain range within Shangjing’s borders: Cang Mountain. And the world-renowned Cloud Moon Temple was built atop it, at the peak of the main summit.
Cloud Moon Temple was divided into northern and southern branches. Qixue had visited the southern one before and seen how prosperous it was, but now in Shangjing, he witnessed the northern temple’s truly divine status in the people’s hearts.
Though they were still over ten li from Cang Mountain, a long line of pilgrims had already formed amid the ice and snow, all come to burn incense and pray. From afar, the queue stretched endlessly.
When the army reached the foot of Cang Mountain, their pace slowed even more. The sheer number of pilgrims clogged the roads, forcing them to proceed gradually.
Qixue was astonished. He craned his neck to gaze at Cang Mountain. The range stretched for a hundred li, its full shape indiscernible, but it appeared majestic and precipitous. Beneath the blanket of snow, the vegetation remained lush and verdant, untouched by winter’s decay.
Strange rocks lined the winding mountain paths snaking upward, all thronged with worshippers.
The main peak was called the Peak of Seeking the Way. At its summit, several pristine pavilions were faintly visible—that was Cloud Moon Temple, home to State Preceptor Xie Shu.
Qixue stared at the peak with deep hatred for a long time until the army passed below and it vanished from sight. Only then did he lower the curtain.
The next afternoon, the army finally returned to the camp outside the imperial city. Wei Huai first escorted Qixue to his estate near the camp, then entered the palace to report on his duties.
And Qixue was about to begin his escape plan.
