“Crack—” Another fissure appeared on Liang Deity’s ashen-gray face, a fragment falling off, yet he seemed utterly unaware, still looking at the floating figure beside the bed, speaking in an ordinary, conversational tone.
“You’ve finally come to understand the taste of emotion?” Like an elder brother teasing a younger one.
Qin Deity spoke without the slightest avoidance: “Her ashes are in my body, making it inevitable that I am tainted by her feelings and desires. Is this the emotion you once spoke of?”
Liang Deity: “Whether it is or isn’t, that’s something you should ask yourself.”
Qin Deity nodded. “Mm. In that case, I understand now.”
Liang Deity: “What is it you understand?”
Qin Deity: “Red is indeed very beautiful.”
Liang Deity suddenly laughed aloud. “You really are a frightening fellow.”
When his laughter stopped, Qin Deity continued in that idle, chatty tone: “Then, are you prepared to be devoured by me?”
“You truly did come to devour me today.” Liang Deity sighed.
“What else would I come for?” Although Qin Deity’s expression remained indifferent, Liang Deity inexplicably felt that when he said this, he must have been smiling quite amicably. This deity, shaped through the cruelest methods, was such a terrifying being.
He spoke of devouring, yet the atmosphere felt friendly. As Qin Deity opened his sleeves and the red threads of devouring unfurled, the reclining Liang Deity even spoke in a negotiating tone: “Ai, I haven’t said goodbye to my wife yet. How about you come devour me tomorrow instead?”
If an ordinary person heard this here, they would probably laugh out loud. The visitor had come with ill intent; the blade of death was already at his neck, and suddenly he asked the killer to return tomorrow—who would agree to that?
But Qin Deity really did stop. He inclined his body slightly, the white long sleeves gently drifting, like a guest paying a courteous visit to the master. With great poise and politeness, he said, “Since that is the case, I will return tomorrow.”
Liang Deity wasn’t the least surprised he agreed. He simply said, “Then thank you.”
Qin Deity lifted a red thread in his hand. When the thread floated over to Liang Deity, landed on him, and then disappeared into his hand, Qin Deity nodded once more in acknowledgment. Behind him, the tightly shut doors opened on their own. He was like a white butterfly in the night, drifting away and dispersing.
A sudden gust of wind rose from nowhere, making the silver bells and ornaments in the room emit faint sounds. When the sounds ceased, the doors closed again, and the room returned to dead silence.
───♡───
“As the human representatives of the deity, we possess many rights. Much of the Liang clan’s assets are under my management. And you—do you have no interest in managing the Qin clan’s affairs?” Qi Ji lifted the iced drink she’d requested, took a sip, and asked with a smiling squint.
Luo Yuan had no idea why she’d come so late just to talk about these things, and could only chat idly back, “I’m not particularly clever. I don’t understand many of the internal matters of the Qin clan and would manage them poorly. Besides, the Qin clan runs very well. There’s no need for me to interfere.”
She now fully understood: the deity in the shrine looked like a mascot indifferent to all affairs, but in truth, he held the clan firmly in his grasp. There was no need for her to do anything unnecessary.
If one day the deity weakened, and the clan members no longer wished to worship and believe in him, then perhaps she would fight for the clan’s authority to preserve the deity’s existence—using power to maintain his survival.
“You don’t love power?” Qi Ji teased with a smile. “You only love your deity?”
“But do you really understand what kind of existence a deity is?” she suddenly shifted the topic.
Oh, here it comes. After wandering around the subject for so long, she was finally going to start sowing discord. Luo Yuan straightened slightly, waiting to hear how she planned to stir trouble.
But at that moment, a rapid ringing interrupted Qi Ji’s words. Luo Yuan clearly saw her expression change drastically as she quickly pulled out her phone. After answering, she demanded sharply, “What happened?! Who broke in? How could anyone break in?!”
Whatever was said on the other side made Qi Ji whip her head toward Luo Yuan, resentment and disgust stabbing through the earlier friendly warmth—laid bare in her eyes.
“It’s you?! You and that Qin Deity plotted this! A diversion… what a fine diversion!” She gripped the phone tightly, her voice sharp, her expression as if she might pounce and tear Luo Yuan apart the next second.
Luo Yuan didn’t know what had happened, but seeing her like this, she grew alert. She glanced unobtrusively at the pitch-black night outside and felt a small surge of relief. Thankfully, it wasn’t daytime. There was no sun.
The two of them were talking here; whether people of the Qin clan or those from the Liang clan who had come with Qi Ji, they were all outside in the courtyard. If Qi Ji truly wanted to make a move, Luo Yuan wasn’t confident she could handle it.
Her thoughts turned quickly as she put on a puzzled, harmless expression. “What’s wrong? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“You’re still pretending.” Qi Ji’s eyes were red. “Fine, so that’s how the Qin Deity chose a useless woman as his wife. Turns out you were hiding your strength all along—my eyes failed me. He wants to destroy my deity, then I’ll destroy you! I won’t let either of you have peace!”
Luo Yuan quickly stood up, stumbling back with hurried steps, calling out, “Minghuang!”
In her fury, Qi Ji’s palm glowed faintly as she struck toward Luo Yuan’s face.
With the crash of an overturned chair, the wind in the courtyard suddenly surged.
Luo Yuan raised an arm to block, and suddenly felt a heat at her wrist—it was the red ruyi-knot hand cord growing warm. The wind hissed, and at her ears came the faint sound of fluttering robes. She felt no pain. Lifting her gaze, she saw a white sleeve, and a braid tied with a red butterfly-knot ribbon floating before her.
A hand rested lightly on her shoulder—her Er-ge, floating, half-embracing her from behind.
Qi Ji, face twisted, froze half a meter away. Her hand was still extended, but she could not take even a single step forward. Seeing the appearance of the Qin Deity, the resentment and hatred in her eyes grew sharper. She demanded harshly, “What did you do to my deity?!”
With his hand on Luo Yuan’s shoulder, Qin Deity gently drew her into his sleeve. Looking at the frantic and enraged Qi Ji, he said, “The Liang Deity wishes to say goodbye to you. You should return to see him one last time.”
Qi Ji’s expression changed drastically—she misunderstood, thinking he had already devoured the Liang Deity. Panic drowned out everything else as she turned and rushed out. People from the courtyard, having heard the commotion, arrived just in time to run straight into her.
“Old Madam? What happened?”
Qi Ji shoved him aside violently, screaming, “Go back! Hurry and go back!”
The Liang clan people did not understand, but seeing her so frantic and fierce, they could only follow her. Soon, only the Qin clan members including Minghuang remained. Minghuang walked into the courtyard, face full of confusion. “Sister An, what’s going on with them? They’re acting like the house is on fire, are they leaving? But Liang Wenye is still resting in the back courtyard, they’re not taking him?”
Luo Yuan glanced at the deity beside her and saw that, as usual, the others could not see him.
The deity lowered his head slightly, brushing his forehead against her temple. “An, come back early.”
Luo Yuan instantly forgot Qi Ji. She answered softly, “Alright, I’ll return right away.”
The moment she finished speaking, the sleeve she had been holding withdrew from her grasp and vanished.
Minghuang, unable to hear clearly, stepped closer. “Sister An, what did you say?”
Luo Yuan shook her head. “Since the guests have left, we should return to the old residence. As for Liang Wenye, have someone send him off. Maybe he can still catch up to the Liang people.”
Before long, someone rushed back. “Madam, Liang Wenye is not in the room.”
“He left after hearing the noise?”
“No, inside the room there are… traces of blood and flesh.” The person reporting spoke with a trembling voice.
“Blood and flesh.” Luo Yuan paused, then instructed in her usual calm tone, “Then clean the room.”
By the time Luo Yuan sat in the car heading back to the old residence in the night, Qi Ji had already hurried back to Jinzhou. She trusted no one, brought no one along, and went alone to that secret Liang clan residence. Seeing the broken bells on the corridor, her hair slightly disheveled, she pushed the doors open layer by layer with force, rushing into the innermost room.
“Deity!” She threw herself to the bedside. Seeing the cracked, ashen statue on the bed, she wrapped her arms around it without hesitation, burying herself into the blankets.
“You’re back.” The Liang Deity’s voice was deep and mellow. “The Qin Deity came just now. I remembered I hadn’t said goodbye to you, so I asked him to return tomorrow. Let me see—you haven’t visited in a while, how have you been lately?”
Qi Ji snapped her head up. Large tears spilled from her eyes. “There must still be a way. You can definitely continue living!”
Liang Deity: “I’ve lived long enough, A’Ji. Death is not frightening.”
Qi Ji screamed, “No! I want you to live! Live another million years, longer than everyone!”
“Why did it turn out like this…” As she spoke, her whole body slumped in defeat. Her hands clutched tightly at the bedding, murmuring, “Where did it go wrong, why did it become like this, why does that old thing of the Qin clan still have such strong power now, while you have already become so weak? I clearly worked so hard to make the clan bear children, to make them believe in you, why…”
The Liang Deity’s stone-like hand pressed onto her soft one. “I know, you’ve worked hard. If not for A’Ji, I would have long since dissipated like many other deity. But in the end, one must reap the bitter fruit one sowed.”
Qi Ji was provoked by the phrase “bitter fruit,” her eyes filled with fierce resentment and unwillingness. “What bitter fruit! Why is it that everyone did the same thing, yet you must endure such a severe consequence while the Qin Deity does not?! He’s the one who started devouring his clansmen! Didn’t he obtain new power different from faith by devouring them?! Why can’t you?!”
For more than two hundred years, she had borne this despair of “why,” growing increasingly paranoid.
The Liang Deity looked at her without moving. Her appearance remained fixed at the most beautiful age of nineteen, like a flower sealed in amber. Even after a thousand years, he still remembered how she looked the first time he saw her.
Over a thousand years ago, the Liang clan was at its zenith, surpassing even the Qin clan. The Liang clan’s cities spread across two provinces. Deity clans and kingdoms were different; there were many kingdoms at the time, constantly rising and falling, but the clans were extremely stable, possessing a system entirely independent of dynasties. Every kingdom sought to win over as many great clans as possible, so each year envoys from nearby countries came to the Liang clan.
A’Ji was a princess then, still very young. Curious about what a deity looked like, she secretly blended into the envoys’ entourage and came to the Liang clan. She mistook him for a sickly clansman of the Liang family, and seeing him living alone in a “remote” little house by the lake, she would often sneak over to visit him during her stay.
At first, she only wanted to give him aid. Later, she came every day, promising to find the best physicians to treat him, to not let him be trapped in that small courtyard. By the lakeside, where endless reeds drifted, she would, beneath the autumn sunset, embrace the drifting fluff, waving it about as she chased the radiant gold light. Her laughter was as enchanting as silver bells.
Such a lively child, such a soft and kind child, and in a time when women were heavily constrained, she bravely followed her own heart. She fell in love with him, and thus begged her father, insisting on marrying a sickly man with no status.
The king was furious and had her confined, intending to appoint her a husband for political marriage. But what came instead was the procession of the Liang Deity arriving to marry the princess.
From a princess of a kingdom, she became the wife of the one she loved—the deity’s consort. A thousand years passed. Countless nations vanished, countless clans declined; she too had changed greatly.
His flower-like A’Ji had, in the end… rotted.
