Ye Yunlan's neck was grabbed, and his head was forcibly lifted from the puddle of blood. His golden eyes reflected a dark color.
His pupils contracted slightly.
The man holding his neck looked both familiar and foreign. His facial features were as striking as his youth's but much further defined. However, a hostile aura was in his features. His eyes were blood-red, the spitting image of lights and the wickedest evil ghosts from the pits of h*ll, coming to the world to demand human lives.
His long ebony hair fell down, and the shadows flew behind, smothering the light cast by the night pearl on the crown of the dome.
He fully embodied the image of a monster.
"Shen... Shu?" Ye Yunlan struggled to squeeze the words from his throat.
The other party's force that clasped his neck was originally gentle, but at this moment, the slender and pale fingers tightened somewhat uncontrollably.
"What? Was Master surprised when he saw me?" he asked hoarsely.
Ye Yunlan found it somewhat difficult to breathe. A little redness surfaced on his face.
He was completely soaked in blood in his black clothes with white hair sticking to his cheeks. He looked fragile and was in a sorry state.
His newborn body was significantly weak, and even speaking was laborious.
"How did you become... what are you now?"
The man acted as if he had heard something funny. Then he leaned down, and his blood-red eyes pressed against his face, terribly close.
"What do you mean, Master?"
The man's hot breath sprayed on his cheeks, and his thick, pitch-black eyelashes felt as though they were going to pierce his eye sockets.
"You've left me for more than 30 years. Is what I've become still worthy of your concern?"
Ye Yunlan was in a daze.
Thirty years.
He had been in a coma in Time City for more than a month... right.
The time Shen Shu celebrated his birthday and when he bid farewell to the mountain seemed like it was still yesterday.
In a blink of an eye, everything had changed.
Perhaps Ye Yunlan was silent for too long, making the man a bit impatient.
He rested his thumb on Ye Yunlan's lips, pressed it down, and rolled it around. He gazed at the bloodshot, pale, and thin lips, then slowly said:
"Master is still like this. If you don't want to speak about a matter, you won't speak. If you don't want to answer the question, you won't answer. After making a decision, no one can stop you. Even when you wanted to leave, you told no one."
Ye Yunlan frowned because of his playful movements. He wanted to turn his head to avoid it, but his chin was firmly clamped.
"I've been trying to find Master for more than 30 years," he said calmly.
"You said in your letter that you wanted me to travel all over the world. I traveled everywhere, but I still couldn't find you."
Ye Yunlan was slightly surprised.
"I desperately wanted to get Master back alive during the first few years. Later, as the years gradually passed, I thought it would be enough if Master's body could be salvaged."
At this point, Shen Shu smiled.
"I learned a lot of secret techniques. I can make the dead appear alive, possess the living's heartbeat and body temperature, and even be manipulated to eat, drink, and walk. They would act as if they were alive. But the real resurrection spell for the deceased remains undiscovered yet. I've always been a little regretful about this."
The pressing on Ye Yunlan's thin lips paused, and he said in a low voice:
"But, now I'm not."
Suddenly, Ye Yunlan felt a terrifying danger hit his back.
In the next moment, Shen Shu kissed him.
This man's kiss wasn't as dull as his voice. It was extraordinarily compelling and frightfully harsh. The man's palm supported the back of his head, and the other's fingers were inserted into his blood-soaked white hair. The other repeatedly bit his lips, and the tang of blood accompanied the tingling feeling.
Saliva flowed down the corners of his lips, and Ye Yunlan virtually couldn't breathe. Tears glistened from the ends of his eyes.
When he was finally let go, Ye Yunlan couldn't say anything anymore. He could only pant. His lips were bright red like crushed peach blossoms moisturized with water.
The glittering teardrops slid down the mole on the tail of his eye, and Shen Shu's thumb slowly wiped them off.
Shen Shu looked down at him. '
"Master isn't dead. I'm ecstatic." He said, "After this, you will not be allowed to leave."
He picked up the other party from the pool of blood.
It was still arduous to move his ailing body. The winding white hair scattered in the other's arms. The man lowered his head, kissed him on the cheek, then walked into the crack.
Ye Yunlan reached out with difficulty and grabbed Shen Shu's shirt.
"Shen Shu."
Shen Shu lowered his eyes and asked: "En?"
"When Master said goodbye that time, it wasn't..." to leave you deliberately.
However, he could not finish speaking.
The divine fire, without the suppression seal, collided in his body. His body was powerless and unsteady, and it was impossible to suppress. The divine phoenix bloodline prevented the fire from killing him, but it wasn't comfortable. Qi and blood surged, and pain presided everywhere in his meridians.
He coughed, and the golden-red blood slid from the corners of his lips, falling to the ground and sizzling.
The palms covering his back administered spiritual power into his feeble limbs.
"Does it still hurt?" Shen Shu asked softly.
His palm was overly warm, and the arms that held him were strong. However, his face was blank, and the bloody eyes resembling glass were hollow and indifferent.
Ye Yunlan slowly came to.
He lifted his eyelashes, and the other person's face was reflected in his golden eyes. He suddenly didn't know how to deal with this man in front of him, whose temperament had become dreadfully peculiar.
After a prolonged silence, he whispered hoarsely: "Thank you very much."
"Why is Master so polite?" Shen Shu smiled.
His hair resembled thick ink. The heavy hostility embedded in his features and the faintly hooked, thin lips wouldn't lead to one believing he was being cheerful. Only inexplicable chill and fear would generate from the bottom of their heart.
"Master saved my life. During this lifetime, I will never thoroughly reciprocate the kindness Master has given me."
Ye Yunlan didn't comment.
"Master's body is too weak. It won't be good to drag on like this." He stared at Ye Yunlan for an extensive duration, then whispered softly.
A gloomy shadow peeked out behind him and tenderly brushed away the white hair strewn across Ye Yunlan's cheeks.
A hint of brilliance was in his bloody eyes.
They were gentle but also pampering.
The awaiting of minor cruelty came with it.
He said:
"So, I'll be Master's human furnace and help supplement Master's body when we return, okay?"