CH 36

Still Worth the Gamble

"Hey... wake up!” Hu Le pushed Xuan Long's body, but the other party did not respond.

He peeled open the lapels of Xuan Long's clothes and took a look. The missing piece of flesh in his chest looked really frightening, and while he could pull out the heart of a human without blinking, he was now panicking.

How could a dragon be so tolerant, bleeding so much without uttering a word?

Perhaps because the dragon had listened so quietly to his rantings all night and comforted him so patiently, Hu Le didn't want anything to happen to him, so he got up and picked Xuan Long up by his legs, ran outside, and flew up.

At the foot of the mountain, deep in the woods hidden by thick trees, there was a cavern. Hu Le took Xuan Long in his arms and kicked through the entrance of the cave: "Old radish! Get out!!!"

A small, fat old man, shaped like a radish, ran out and tremblingly welcomed Hu Le into the cave, where he carefully placed Xuan Long on the rock bed.

Half an hour later.

"What? Pregnant?!"

"You stinky radish spirit, you’re looking for death aren't you? You dare to talk nonsense in front of me!!” Hu Le glared with his cold fox eyes and raised his hand to strike the fat old man.

Although Hu Le is shallow, he has a great talent for cultivation and his magic is quite impressive for his young age, all the little demons in this area are afraid of him.

The fat old man covered his head with his small hand: "This old man is not talking nonsense, this dragon is pregnant, the fainting is due to excessive blood loss and the movement of the foetus. It's obvious that you hurt the man but you want to blame the old man, it's really a sin..."

"You!” Hu Le was about to raise his hand, but the fat old man was so scared that he immediately stopped speaking.

"How can we cure it?"

The fat old man had a smile on his face: "This old man has some spiritual herbs here, if you don't mind, take them and boil them for this dragon to drink."

Hu Le brought Xuan Long back to the hut where he and his brother had lived.

It had been a long time since he had been back, and when he first returned, his eyes warmed as he remembered all the memories he had made with his brother in the past.

He found the clay pot, boiled the herbs as the radish spirit had told him to do, and then cleaned the house carefully. After all this was done, the sun had set. Hu Le poured the medicinal soup into a bowl and fed it to Xuan Long on the bed with a spoon.

He forced Xuan Long's mouth open, but he was so unconscious that he could not even swallow, so the soup flowed out of his mouth.

In the past, his brother had always taken care of him, but he had never taken care of anyone else.

After thinking about it for a while, he poured half a bowl of medicine into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out, and he bent down and used the tip of his tongue to break open Xuan Long's dry lips, feeding the medicine to him with his mouth.

Although he had used his beauty to lure people and killed many dirty-minded dog-men, he had never had sex with anyone before, and it was the first time he had kissed a living creature. After feeding the medicine to Xuan Long, he stared at Xuan Long's heroic eyebrows, and his cheeks suddenly heated up. 

After he finished feeding him all of the medicine, Hu Le sat on the side of the bed and watched Xuan Long for a long time. Xuan Long's originally white lips were warmed by the medicine and had some blood on them. Their thin shape was quite pleasing to the eye, so he tentatively leaned in and kissed him. 

They were soft and did not annoy him, unlike those human beings whose souls reeked.

......

Xuan Long opened his eyes. The sharp pain in his chest caused his breathing to catch, and before he could figure out where he was, he heard a surprised magnetic voice coming from the side of the bed.

"You're awake?"

Xuan Long turned his head to see that it was the fox demon. The coldness he had felt when he first met him was gone, and he was now looking at him with a worried frown on his arched brows.

"You've been asleep for three whole days."

Xuan Long propped himself up on the bed and slowly sat up. He was in a humble straw hut, furnished only with a table, two stools and a shabby wardrobe. Although the place was simple, it was well-kept. The table was covered with a light blue tablecloth, which added a little warmth to the humble room. In the middle of the table lay a small half-used white candle, its small cluster of flames the only source of light in the room.

"Where is this?"

Hu Le paused, "This is where my brother and I used to live."

"Thank you for saving me." Xuan Long spoke hoarsely.

"I was the one who hurt you.” Hu Le turned around, went to the stove, and brought over a plate with two holes. Inside was a whole roasted chicken, which was golden and smelled especially fragrant.

"Eat, you haven't eaten in three days.” Hu Le handed the plate to Xuan Long. "This is my favourite roast chicken, it's all for you."

Xuan Long lifted the corners of his mouth in a rare, very light but genuine smile and took the plate, "Many thanks."

Hu Le casually pulled over a stool and sat beside the bed. He stepped on the wooden steps along the bed and stared at Xuan Long's excessively handsome face through the candlelight, propping his chin up and saying, "You're actually quite good-looking." He blushed a little, like a boy who has seen the woman he loves, but the light was too dim to notice.

Xuan Long was oblivious, taking a chicken leg and eating it slowly. He asked Hu Le if he wanted to eat, but Hu Le said he had no appetite. It was the first time that a living creature had complimented him on his good looks, apart from Yan Yuan, and Xuan Long was a little uncomfortable and replied in a muffled voice, "I am not good looking."

Hu Le frowned, "Nonsense, you are clearly good looking, a different kind of good looking than me... If I had to compare it to something, it would be like a general fighting on the human race's battlefield, heroic and handsome. Of course, those mortals are not comparable to you."

Xuan Long didn't know what to say, so he stopped talking. He had never been used to responding to compliments from others.

After a long silence in the room, Hu Le hesitantly spoke: "The healer said that you are pregnant."

Xuan Long's hand holding the food paused slightly, “Mhmm."

Hu Le raised an eyebrow, "You knew?"

Xuan Long: “Mhmm."

Hu Le was silent for a long moment: "... You are pregnant with a human child?"

"Mhmm." Xuan Long responded indifferently.

It was a normal thing, but Hu Le stood up from the stool with a ‘bang', the hasty movement causing it to fall backwards.

"How can you be pregnant with a human child?" He asked incredulously.

Xuan Long's gaze was calm: "Why not?"

As long as you love them, why not.

Hu Le was so anxious that he spun twice in place, his heart on fire, "That human is clearly using you!"

"Seeing that you are highly skilled in Taoism, he lied to you and said he loved you so that you would work for him!"

"Also, how did you lose the dragon scales on your chest! Did that human pluck your scales off?"

Xuan Long pursed his lips, intending to defend Yan Yuan: "Not everyone is as bad as you say they are."

Hu Le is extremely sensitive to this kind of thing. He doesn't believe that a human can really love a demon, if they could, his brother wouldn't have died: "Then tell me, how did your dragon scales get taken?!"

Xuan Long remembered the way Yan Yuan always asked for dragon scales, and his turquoise eyes darkened slightly, "It has nothing to do with you."

"You are simply, simply stupid!” Hu Le's eyes turned red with anger, “Hopeless!"

Xuan Long placed his plate gently on the edge of the bed, unable to eat anymore.

In fact, there were things that he hadn't been entirely unaware of, so why should anyone else have to say them?

It was just that he kept it in the back of his heart and didn't want to think about it much.

Angry, Hu Le turned around and sat at the table, his back to Xuan Long: "You will regret this. How could a human fall in love with a demon."

Xuan Long's body did not move, his lowered eyes hiding emotions beneath them, "… Couldn't they?"

If you don't gamble, how will you know if they will.

He was all alone and had nothing anyway, so he could still afford to gamble.