Chapter 26 Part 1: Liao Chen, you really want to touch me right now.
There was only one white jade bed in Liao Chen’s room, but it was clearly not for sleeping. In the past, he only sat on it to meditate and cultivate.
Because of the matter of breaking with Qin Zhongyou, Yan Jingyu was in a bad mood, and Liao Chen had no intention of paying him any attention.
He rested his forehead on the table and slept. He was woken up in the middle of the night when his arm slipped. When he woke up in a daze, he saw that Liao Chen was still sitting upright on the jade bed.
It was quiet around them. The snowstorm had stopped at some point. Through the half-open window, he could see a sky full of starlight.
This was the first clear night Yan Jingyu had seen since he came to the Demon Palace. Although he could still see resentful demons stopping at the window from time to time, without the harsh environment as a backdrop, they looked like clumsy elves wandering in the darkness. The twisted mist formed a face that looked left and right, still with an unwitting malice, baring its teeth, but the impact it gave was much weaker.
Yan Jingyu propped his arms up and sat at the desk, looking at the feather jade in his hand. From time to time, he would look up at the focused Liao Chen.
The pills had already been refined. Liao Chen had a suspicious look on his face before eating them, but judging from the spiritual light circulating around his body, he had clearly tasted the sweetness now. He had finally repaid a small part of the life-saving grace.
A faint spiritual light shone at his fingertips.
Liao Chen had no intention of erasing the mark. After all, he had also cultivated as an immortal. Now, with just a thought, he could call upon the spiritual energy inside. This feeling was actually not bad, but whenever he thought that Liao Chen had left something in his soul-lamp, he felt very strange.
…What on earth is this thing?
Yan Jingyu’s fingers touched and left it again and again. The spiritual energy clung to his fingers like a lotus root breaking, its threads still connected.
Undoubtedly, all of this had happened after they came out of Jiuyi Mountain. But when he started to try to explore that memory, he only had a few simple fragments.
For example, Liao Chen’s gaze was exceptionally gentle, and could even be called docile…
He saw the other squatting beside him, carefully placing the spiritual fruits one by one.
He saw himself stepping on the other’s shoulder, and the other leaning towards him, gently touching his forehead with his.
He saw a vast expanse of climbing vines, and the flame-like flowers blooming in them.
He also saw Liao Chen looking like a good baby—cough, in short, he was very, very well-behaved, and even took the initiative to open his Qiankun Pouch for him to take things…
He glanced at the current Demon Lord sitting upright in front of him.
Thinking of his past annoying words and actions…
It was too much of a disconnect.
Yan Jingyu was about to suspect that something was wrong with his own brain.
How could Liao Chen be like that! Yan Jingyu had always thought that inside the barrier, he must have been bullied very fiercely. But why was the tip of the iceberg he had finally managed to uncover a scene of him bullying the other?
Liao Chen, on the other hand, was respectable, gentle, and even tolerant…
Yan Jingyu rubbed his hair.
He really wanted to ask Liao Chen what had happened, but remembering that Liao Chen had revealed that he had been hollowed out because he had tried to kill him, he suddenly felt that it was probably more his fault…
And he didn’t have any injuries on him. On the other hand, Liao Chen’s face had been particularly terrible after they came out, as if he were silently enduring some great humiliation.
…Why would he feel humiliated?
Yan Jingyu twisted and turned on the table, trying hard to explore that memory, but there were still only a few fragments going back and forth. His head was starting to hurt from thinking. Suddenly, he heard a voice in his ear: “Hungry?”
Yan Jingyu looked up and only then did he realize that Liao Chen had briefly ended his meditation. “Eat something first.”
He followed the other’s gaze and saw that a food box had been brought in at some point. Liao Chen was unwilling to let people find out that he was healing, so he would obviously not let anyone enter the back hall. This must have been brought in by him personally.
Yan Jingyu couldn’t help but feel happy. As he reached for it, he said, “Thank you, benefactor.”
Liao Chen didn’t say anything. Yan Jingyu placed the dishes one by one, and his eyes lit up again. “Red bean sweet osmanthus jelly!”
The one brought last time was plum blossom flavored. This time, it was actually his favorite red bean. He glanced at Liao Chen again, as if he had completely forgotten all the unpleasantness that had happened before. “Do you want some?”
Liao Chen closed his eyes, and a spiritual light appeared around his body again, clearly not preparing to have much conversation with him.
So Yan Jingyu began to eat by himself.
He lowered his head and ate, mouthful by mouthful. But a strange emotion began to ferment in his heart.
Breaking with Qin Zhongyou was not without its effects on him. He knew he had done the right thing, and he knew it was for the best for everyone. But he had not expected that the first meal Liao Chen gave him would have his favorite red bean flavored cold dish from his youth.
He picked up his chopsticks, his mouth constantly moving.
Liao Chen had looked over at him again at some point.
A handkerchief silently floated towards him.
Yan Jingyu stopped his movements, looked at it for two moments, then reached out and grabbed it, blowing his nose hard. The handkerchief, brushed by spiritual light, became clean as new again and rested steadily by his hand.
Neither of them spoke.
Not until he had finished his meal did Yan Jingyu put the plates back into the food box one by one, leaving only the red bean sweet osmanthus jelly that was about to melt. He carefully held it up and gently took a small mouthful.
It was a little different from what his mother had made. Hers always made Yan Jingyu feel that something was not quite right, either too sweet or not sandy enough. Whenever this happened, the other would tap his forehead, scold him for being picky, and at the same time, scold his father, telling him to give him more homework so he wouldn’t just nitpick all day.
But the sweet osmanthus jelly at this moment tasted extremely good, so good that he couldn’t find any fault with it.
He even felt that this was the best sweet osmanthus jelly he had ever eaten.
Whether it was the sweetness, the iciness, or the feeling of the red bean paste sliding across his tongue, it was the most perfect he had ever tasted in his life.
His face was calm and satisfied. He seriously swallowed the last mouthful of ice and looked at the empty bowl, suddenly feeling a little lost.
In fact, he rarely picked on anything now. No matter where he slept, he felt at ease. No matter what he tasted, he felt it was excellent.
The feather jade suddenly gently wrapped around his finger again. Even the iciness in his stomach seemed to be relieved. Yan Jingyu suddenly thought of something and couldn’t help but say, “This… what on earth is this thing?”
Before, he had thought it was a sacred object of the phoenix clan, so it had a protective effect. But this thing could actually be used as an external spiritual sea, and even allow a waste like him to draw spiritual energy from it. This was no longer as simple as just a sacred object.
It wasn’t that it was better than a sacred object, but that the use of a sacred object was generally broader. If it was just an external spiritual sea, it would be of little use to most cultivators, unless it was something created specifically for someone without cultivation.
Then it had a rather personal specificity, and naturally could not be called a sacred object.
“It is my fetal jade.”
Liao Chen’s voice was calm, but Yan Jingyu suddenly felt as if he had been burned. He stared at him with wide eyes. “Fetal, fetal jade?”
Fetal jade was also known as a companion jade, which was a protective jade that had already appeared beside a child before it was born.
This was generally something that parents who loved their children very much would specially prepare… But the main purpose of this jade pendant was actually an external spiritual sea. Phoenix cubs had unique talents when they were born, so they didn’t need this at all.
“Mm.” Liao Chen said, “I am not a pure-blooded phoenix. Back then, my mother fell in love with a human and even became pregnant with his child. Because of this, she was ostracized by the phoenix clan. She was worried that I would be bullied after I was born, so she specially went to Kunlun Mountain to steal a Spirit-Nurturing Jade, placed it in her womb to coexist with me, so that it could be used as an external spiritual sea before I awakened my bloodline.”
Yan Jingyu was stunned for a moment and said subconsciously, “This is actually a Spirit-Nurturing Jade…”
The Spirit-Nurturing Jade of Kunlun Mountain only grew to the size of a palm every thousand years. If it were made into an artifact and placed in the womb before a child was born, it could connect with the child’s bloodline, and as time went on, it would be able to feel the owner’s will more and more. In general, the longer the break-in period, the better it was.
So it wasn’t the jade pendant that was close to him, but…
