CH 115

The Road to Collecting the Soul, Prison – Part Two

The Xuan Long in the last realm of soul consciousness was easy to coax, but this time it was not so easy.

That Xuan Long still had fond memories of being in love with Yan Yuan, but this one, after the truth and lies had been revealed, and after he had been humiliated in prison, the little goodness he had had long since been wiped away, and he was so despondent that he didn't even want to look at Yan Yuan.

No matter how much Yan Yuan begged him, he would not open his eyes.

Not long afterwards, Hua Niang came, sent by 'Yan Yuan' to heal Xuan Long, and after a small jar of elixir, Xuan Long woke up in a daze.

This nightmare was derived from reality, and what happened in the realm of the soul consciousness was what had actually been experienced in reality. Yan Yuan saw the man lying quietly, still having his wounds treated by Hua Niang, and not making a sound even when he was in pain.

After treating his wounds, Hua Niang conjured up a quilted blanket and covered Xuan Long with it. Hua Niang had her daughter at home and would not stay long before having to leave, so Xuan Long was left alone again in the cold prison.

Yan Yuan found that when there were other people around, he could not touch Xuan Long's body and Xuan Long could not see him, probably because he was a foreign intruder and did not belong to the same time as the people in Xuan Long's dream world, so he could not appear at the same time; only when he was alone could Xuan Long see him.

The dream world was illusory and changeable: originally in one scene, then changing in the next.

The space gradually distorted. Xuan Long, lying asleep on the ground, disappeared, and the four-sided opening above him stopped bringing rain and instead brought falling snowflakes.

The man on the wall was shackled by thick, heavy chains around his hands, his shoulder bone pierced by a round hook, his prison garment bloodied and stained against his body, dark red in most places, the fabric around his shoulder bone bright red. He leaned sideways against the wall, his long, messy hair hiding the ugly scars on his cheeks, and from Yan Yuan's angle, he could see his high nose and thin, pale lips.

Xuan Long, who had lost his Tao and was pregnant, was even more fragile than a human, and no one knew how much it hurt to be treated like this, but Yan Yuan felt his heart being crushed as he looked at him now.

He hurriedly got up from the ground, stumbled a few steps over and knelt down in front of Xuan Long with a 'poof', “A'Po..."

Slowly lifting his fingertips, he was about to lift Xuan Long's long hair that hid his face when footsteps suddenly came from somewhere nearby in the tunnel.

"Hey... do you think that demon is really that comfortable? The Emperor comes so often and doesn't mind him being dirty..."

The two sword-wearing jailers stopped outside the door of this cell, the leaner one of them gazing searingly at Xuan Long through the bars. Talking about it, he got a bad idea and opened the cell door with the key in a feverish hurry.

"I'll go first, and then I'll replace you when I've finished enjoying myself."

The tall, burly jailer grabbed the lean jailer's arm to stop him, but the lean jailer waved away the former's hand in disbelief and turned back with a smile.

"Don't worry, it will be fine, he's just a prisoner, would the Emperor really kill us over him?... Besides, if you don't say anything and I don't say anything, who will know…"

"The Emperor's man, don't you want to taste what he's like?"

Then the lean jailer slowly approached the man at the wall, his bean-sized eyes glowing with excitement, and his breathing even slowed down.

Yan Yuan had personally interrogated this jailer, forcing out how he had bullied Xuan Long, but hearing was one thing, and seeing was another.

It was precisely because he knew exactly what was going to happen next that he was all the more frightened and unable to accept it.

Yan Yuan braced himself on the ground and stood up, blocking in front of Xuan Long. If his gaze could lynch people, the jailer in front of him would have been cut into a million pieces in an instant.

"Don't come over..."

Yan Yuan's eyes were burning with anger as he shook his head slowly, and he murmured almost beggingly, "Don't come over..."

The jailer did not hear his voice and continued forward.

Yan Yuan's sanity was crushed by the endless heartache as he raised his hands to deliver a succession of divine power surges.

"Get out!!!"

The transparent torrents of divine power struck the jailer, but only caused his body to sway like a shadow. He was an illusory being, how could he be defeated by the divine power?

The jailer laughed and passed through Yan Yuan's body...

Yan Yuan saw the jailer peel away Xuan Long's clothes, his palms lingering ambiguously on Xuan Long's body.

"No... don't..."

"Don't..."

The sleeping man woke up at the approach of the strange scent, his turquoise eyes looked coldly at the jailer, and he bent his leg and kicked the jailer out, a breathless but still strong 'get out' came out of his pale lips.

If Xuan Long did not want to, he would not submit even if he killed him. It was his willingness to commit himself to Yan Yuan, and no other being would do other than Yan Yuan.

Before Yan Yuan could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw the jailer rise from the ground with a fierce expression and kick Xuan Long in the stomach. Immediately, Xuan Long covered his stomach in pain and bent down, causing the chains on his hands to make a muffled sound.

The jailer went out to find a dagger and came back. The jailer grabbed Xuan Long's hand, which was hanging on the ground, and without saying a word, he pried the thumb nail off with his knife.

Blood cascaded to the floor and Xuan Long grunted in pain, unable to even shout. He seemed to have other places that hurt more, and crouched on the floor covering his stomach and was unable to get up.

He was supposed to be a mystical dragon who flew 10,000 feet in the air, his life was so long that it was almost eternal, and there were not many beings on this earth who could do anything to him, but right now, even a small jailer could trample him underfoot.

The jailer crouched in front of Xuan Long, mocking him.

"You don't even look at your situation today. Who the hell are you? It's your good fortune that I can look at you. It's better to sleep with me than to sleep with the Emperor. I can at least bring you some chicken, duck and fish to eat, what does the Emperor give you?"

"He won't give you anything and will take your life."

"... Humph, wait until the Emperor has played with you thoroughly, then I will come back to pamper you."

After saying that the jailer got up and went out, and the cell door was locked again.

Xuan Long, who was lying on the floor with his slender back rising and falling dramatically with his breathing, did not speak and it was unclear how many of those words he had taken in.

All he had to do was lift himself up to see Yan Yuan and notice his presence. The onlookers had disappeared, and at that moment they could touch and communicate with each other.

But Yan Yuan had suddenly lost the courage to face Xuan Long.

The reason for the shameless jailer's arrogance was the result of Yan Yuan's indulgence. If he had been a little more lenient with Xuan Long in the past, those people would not have dared to treat him like that.

Moreover, what he had done to Xuan Long was far more excessive than the jailer.

At this time, the last person Xuan Long wanted to see was him...

Yan Yuan could not change anything in this nightmare, but he could change himself. He raised his hand and executed a spell, and his face and body instantly took on the appearance of Hu Le.

He gingerly walked over, lifted Xuan Long from the ground and half-embraced his upper body in his arms.

Xuan Long was as limp as if his bones had been extracted, his forehead rested feebly on Yan Yuan's shoulder, and his eyes were blurred with cold sweat, making it difficult to see the man.

Hua Niang's chest was not as broad, Yan Yuan would not have treated him so tenderly, and Hu Le was no longer there. For a moment, Xuan Long could not think of who was holding him, he was so confused by the pain that his head was not clear, and on instinct he asked in a weak voice.

"Hu Le... is that you?"

A burst of sourness rushed to his head and Yan Yuan almost couldn't hold back his tears. He tilted his head and inhaled hard, his lips fell on Xuan Long's hair and he said hoarsely, “En, it's me."

Xuan Long's towering stomach rose and fell irregularly, and as he seemed to be about to go into labour, he couldn't speak well: "You've come... to see me..."

"Hmm." Yan Yuan dared not say too much for fear that he would hear the flaws.

Xuan Long was happy just to be held by ‘Hu Le', and his whole body was much lighter. He quietly leaned against this warm body and said after a while, "Hu Le... I want to go now. "

"With you..."

Yan Yuan choked back a sob and quickly stopped it, replying in a mute voice: "Okay... I will take you away."

A warm wetness fell on Xuan Long's cheek, and he opened his lax turquoise eyes, “Hu Le... why are you crying..."

"Don't cry..."

"Okay, I'll listen to you for everything." Yan Yuan struggled to make his trembling voice sound normal.

A ragged, sluggish gasp escaped Xuan Long's throat and his thin lips quivered slightly, "I don't like it here... I want to go back, to the thousand-year-old pond..."

"Or with you, go find a deserted valley... and build a hut..."

"You, me, and the child... all three of us, in one place."

"As long as it's not here... then it's all good."

Yan Yuan tightened his embrace of the person in his arms a bit, and his breath trembled: "Okay… we’ll do whatever you want."

"Wherever you want to go, we can go."

Xuan Long's voice grew softer and softer, his turquoise eyes half-closed, “Hu Le, you have been gone for a long time… I miss you a lot."

In the past, Yan Yuan had always fought against Hu Le, seeing Hu Le as a love rival and hating Xuan Long for protecting Hu Le at every turn. Such a stubborn person, someone who refused to bow down even after suffering so much, had begged him three times for Hu Le, even going so far as to use his body in exchange for Hu Le's freedom.

He looked back and realised that in such a situation, Hu Le was probably the only warmth Xuan Long could perceive in his heart, and people need love to live.

Although Xuan Long was lonely, it did not mean that he was as insensitive as a stone. He knows how to repay kindness better than anyone else, and he will return the favour if others treat him well.

It must be because Hu Le has treated him so well that he thinks of Hu Le all the time.

As the old saying goes, a melon that is broken by force is not sweet. To possess is to like, to love is to let go.

There was a time when Yan Yuan did not believe in such things, thinking that only when he loved someone deeply would he take possession of them, taking possession of their body, filling their whole heart, and not allowing half a grain of sand to be mixed in.

After all those twists and turns, he now believes in that saying.

Right now, for example, he was willing to turn into the most annoying fox demon he had ever seen to make his A'Po happy.

As long as his A'Po was happy.

Even if the current Xuan Long was just a wisp of a soul, it didn't matter, he felt content when he held him in his arms.

"I know you miss me, so I have come back to see you."

"You can be happy."

Yan Yuan spoke in the gentlest tone of his life.

Xuan Long's thin lips curved slightly, "Happy..."

"I haven't been... this happy for a long time." He was always in pain.

Yan Yuan smiled, “En, then, how about we go home?"

"Okay..."