In the past few days, as Wen Xi’s soul body gradually stabilized, his body temperature also became increasingly cold. Surprised by the coldness of Wen Xi’s hand, Pi Xiu opened his eyes and grabbed Wen Xi’s wrist: “I’m not angry, just a bit upset.”
“Then eat your food before you get fully angry.” Wen Xi withdrew his hand. “When I walked downstairs and went to the kitchen, I saw your chefs busy killing and plucking the roosters. Are you planning to stew all those roosters into soup?”
At the thought of so many roosters being stewed, Wen Xi couldn’t help but grimace: “Really, I don’t really want to drink rooster soup anymore.”
Pi Xiu: “Don’t worry, you won’t have to drink rooster soup anymore. Those roosters will be sold at the night market, fried in batter. They’ll be so good that even the neighborhood weasels will cry with envy.”
Wen Xi was delighted: “Does that mean my soul’s body has stabilized?”
“You’re far away from that, actually. Even the smallest burst of sunlight would make you disappear.” Pi Xiu took a sip of water, reached out his hand, and lifted Wen Xi to make him sit on his lap.
“It’s just that rooster soup has proven to be useless for you, so I’ll personally give you some of my Yang Qi.” While clinging to him, Pi Xiu felt the chilling Qi emanating from the Ghost’s tiny body, causing every pore of his hot body to relax. The piercing coldness reached deep into his heart, surpassing even the coldest depths of a deep mountain or an icy pond.
‘If this little thing could stay by my side instead of reincarnating, I would no longer have to worry about the summer heat anymore. But if he were to reincarnate, my comfortable days would come to an end. Even the coldest springs in the mountains can’t compare to the freezing body temperature of this little one….’
Pi Xiu thought, as his fingers moved slightly to untie Wen Xi’s shirt and moved his hand against Wen Xi’s lower belly, barely touching his underpants. The sudden warm touch made Wen Xi jerk and jump. However, Pi Xiu hurried to press him down.
“Why are you so restless?” Pi Xiu frowned. “Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to obtain my Yang Qi even if they wanted to. I’m about to give it to you, and you still dare make a fuss?”
The nocturnal workers employed under Tudi Gong would always come to Pi Xiu’s Restaurant to eat before they had to visit people’s Ancestral Temples, taking the opportunity to absorb some Yang Qi from this Ancient Demon, so that the wandering ghosts wouldn’t stick to them as soon as they opened the doors of the temples.
However, Wen Xi didn’t seem to appreciate his good intentions. Even as he sat on Pi Xiu’s lap, Wen Xi continued to twist and writhe unceasingly. However, Wen Xi was still unable to stop Pi Xiu from firmly pressing his hand against his belly. Wen Xi’s eyes reddened, and the intoxicating aroma emanating from his bones became even stronger.
Wen Xi gritted his teeth and said: “Then give it to those who want it! But don’t give it to me!”
‘It was one thing for him to hug me as he normally does, and it’s even okay for him to stick so close to me, since both of us benefit from it. But this transference of Yang Qi….’
Wen Xi had already read things like this in old folklore books and erotic-romantic books, where the demons in those stories would use these kinds of tricks as an excuse to enjoy such ‘affairs’.
‘It’s really…… really…..’
“Don’t touch me!” At the thought of the erotic scenes he had read about taking place on a couch, Wen Xi felt even more embarrassed and annoyed.
Losing what little patience he possessed, Pi Xiu made use of his strength to lock Wen Xi in his arms. With one hand pressing down on Wen Xi’s abdomen, and the other pressing down on Wen Xi’s neck, Pi Xiu applied pressure to the bone protruding from the back of Wen Xi’s soul body’s neck.
All of a sudden, two heat waves surged inside Wen Xi’s body, causing him to go numb. A cry escaped from his mouth as he dropped into Pi Xiu’s arms, fully relaxed.
“Still causing trouble?” Pi Xiu lowered his head to look at Wen Xi and his nose was filled with the fragrance that the Ghost’s small body emitted.
The warmth attached to Pi Xiu’s skin gradually penetrated Wen Xi’s skin, clashing with the coldness inside his body. A tingling sensation caused Wen Xi to lose all resistance he had left. Even so, Wen Xi grabbed Pi Xiu’s hand and heavily pushed it away, hitting the edge of the coffee table.
Pi Xiu frowned, released his grip on Wen Xi’s body, and held both of the Ghost’s hands this time, giving them a gentle squeeze. With one less source of heat, Wen Xi could barely regain some strength. However, when Wen Xi tried to sit up again, Pi Xiu grabbed the back of his neck instead.
“You …..”
Wen Xi leaned against Pi Xiu’s shoulder and felt the hand on the back of his neck begin to transfer a steady flow of heat, which flowed down his spine until finally stopped at the lower part of his back.
Pi Xiu gradually transferred the excess Yang Qi from his body, exchanging it with the cold Qi from Wen Xi’s body. Pi Xiu carefully controlled the amount of Qi he transferred, as it could neither be too much nor too little. Otherwise, Wen Xi’s small body might scatter from Pi Xiu’s own Yang Qi.
“Are you feeling comfortable?” Pi Xiu asked.
With a fully flushed face, Wen Xi took some time before he finally asked: “Is this how Yang Qi is transferred?”
Pi Xiu raised an eyebrow and replied: “How else would it be?”
Wen Xi muttered a vague reply. At the same time, he thought: ‘No wonder it is said that mortals are dirty-minded. It turns out that I would also fall prey to having dirty thoughts.’
Upon noticing that Wen Xi had paid no attention to him, and that the expression on his face showed no discomfort, Pi Xiu thought: ‘This little one’s soul body might be more stable than I had previously imagined.’ With this in mind, Pi Xiu transferred a bit more Yang Qi into Wen Xi’s body.
“Mmm!”
Wen Xi felt a sudden surge of Yang Qi flow inside him, and his back tingled somewhat painfully. It was as if his whole body was running out of strength, which only caused tears to well up in his eyes as choked words came out of his lips: “Stop, please stop! It’s too fast! I can’t, I…..”
Pi Xiu’s hand slowly moved upward until it pressed against the middle of Wen Xi’s back and patiently said: “Bear it a little longer, you’ll feel better soon.”
As Wen Xi’s body became increasingly numb, Wen Xi couldn’t even muster enough strength to raise a hand. He could only look at Pi Xiu with tearful eyes and plead with a trembling voice: “Enough….is really enough!”
Pi Xiu asked, puzzled: “Why are you crying? Didn’t you say you felt comfortable?”
‘This little one is really hard to please.’
Pi Xiu wiped the tears from Wen Xi’s face and hugged the little Ghost, who had already turned into a soft mess. Pi Xiu imitated the way Humans comforted children and gently patted Wen Xi’s back as he whispered: “Stop crying. If you cry again, I’ll no longer pay attention to you.”
Wen Xi stared at him and said: “You think I’m crying because I want to?”
‘I can’t help it!’
Wen Xi’s body felt as if it had been immersed in warm water, dispelling all the cold he ever came to feel in his body. The places the old demon’s hand touched felt so comfortable that Wen Xi wanted to moan in pleasure.
Wen Xi sniffed, and whispered: “It’s precisely because it feels so comfortable that I feel this way.”
When Pi Xiu heard what Wen Xi had whispered to him, the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile, but the movements of his hands never stopped. Under Pi Xiu’s control, the Yang Qi circulated inside Wen Xi’s body from head to toe, covering him in its entirety. At the end of the Yang Qi transfer, although Wen Xi’s body still felt as cool as ever, his soul body had become much more stable.
After a long while, Pi Xiu withdrew his hand and used a handkerchief to wipe Wen Xi’s tears. Seeing that the little one looked distressingly pitiful, Pi Xiu felt a mixture of anger and amusement inside him: “Why are you acting as if I had bullied you?”
The residual effects of Yang Qi were still present, and Wen Xi had yet to fully regain his strength. Therefore, Wen Xi narrowed his eyes, and grumbled: “Who told you to start without warning me in advance?”
P Xiu growled coldly: “I was the one who did all the hard work, and yet I’m still not good enough for you?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Wen Xi hesitated for a moment, but finally whispered ‘thank you’ under his breath.
Pi Xiu thought: ‘So you still have some self-awareness.’ After taking a break, Pi Xiu’s hand once again settled on Wen Xi’s waist and abdomen, followed by the familiar hot flow flowing inside his body. Without expecting it, Wen Xi struggled a little and looked up at Pi Xiu to ask: “You…..?”
“We must do it again, it’s good for your health.”
Pi Xiu’s face remained unperturbed, as he continued to exchange the cold Qi from Wen Xi’s body for his Yang Qi. Bit by bit, Pi Xiu’s eyes switched from jet black to bright yellow, while his round pupils became vertical. Just like this, Pi Xiu observed the little one in his arms without blinking.
When the Yang Qi flowed to his lower back, Wen Xi’s vision began to blur again and he protested faintly one more time. However, without being aware of it, these vague and hesitant ‘no’s’ were captured by a talisman hidden in a corner of the room. Said talisman transmitted everything that happened in that room to a room a few blocks away from the Restaurant.
Taotie held the Jade statue with fear, filled with the worry and concern that it would break again.
The room was flooded in total and complete silence, so Taotie cautiously fumbled to say: “Well, it was only a matter of time. The two of them are connected by the red thread of marriage.”
The jade statue trembled slightly, and a glowing light flickered a couple of times, until it subsided again.
Taotie sighed in relief: “Although Pi Xiu is very stingy, he won’t hurt your little brother.”
A sigh escaped from the crack of the jade statue. It was the voice of a woman, who sighed sadly and hauntingly. Hearing this, Taotie’s heart clenched up and he hastened to say: “Please don’t sigh like that. I swear to you that what happened last time was just an accident. I really didn’t know that those people were associated with Feiyi.”
The jade statue glowed again, and the ghost hiding inside it finally spoke. The soft female voice sounded somewhat ethereal, but soft and slow at the same time: “You don’t have to explain so much to me. I simply want to know something. With your recent actions, you have alerted them. Will there be any danger?”
“You don’t have to worry about it. Even if they can sense the Qi of a Dragon, they will only go so far. However, we won’t be able to stay that close to Wen Xi for a while. We can’t let Feiyi lead Yazi here.”
Taotie gently caressed the jade statue in his arms and said: “When the time is right, I will be able to let you and your brother reunite. You just have to wait a little longer.”
“I’ve waited for so many years, I have no need to rush. I will do as you say.” The jade statue shook again, and the sound of Wen Xi’s voice coming from the talisman gradually became smaller. The female voice added from inside the jade statue: “Turn it off. My brother has never liked others watching him since he was a child.”
Taotie complied.
“When you told me about that friend of yours, Pi Xiu, you didn’t mention that he already had a son.” The female voice paused slightly, implying that she was faintly sobbing. “My dear Huaiyu1 has never even had a concubine in the past, and now he has suddenly become a ‘stepmother’….”
Taotie cautiously consoled her: “That child is just a broom spirit that Pi Xiu picked up. Besides, you yourself have heard how that child has become attached to Huaiyu recently. You have nothing to worry about, their relationship is not bad.”
“That’s true.” The female voice paused and a somewhat blurry figure floated out of the jade statue. Slowly, the figure extended a hand and wrapped it around Taotie’s neck, planting a light kiss on his face.
Taotie’s heart trembled. Although he was happy to be near the woman, he was even more worried about her soul’s body: “Hurry up and go back to the jade statue. It took too many years to be able to stabilize your soul a little…..”
“I understand that myself as well.” The woman leaned against Taotie and whispered softly, “Tao-ge, you’ve worked so hard all these years.”
“There’s no need for you to tell me such things. If it weren’t for me, your family wouldn’t have been involved.” Taotie wanted to take the woman’s hand, but his fingers touched nothingness itself.
The woman looked down at her hand, and slowly raised it up to rest it on Taotie’s hand. As he observed the warmth of the hand grip without any physical contact, Taotie sighed: “I’ll help you recover. Just wait a little longer.”
The woman replied ‘yes’ and after kissing Taotie’s face, she returned to the jade statue. Taotie carefully wrapped the jade statue in a black cloth and held it in his arms as he walked out the door. Taotie turned around, waved his sleeve, and the house he was in disappeared. Then Taotie stepped on a white cloud and flew off into the distance.
Not far from that spot, Xiao Tianquan’s footsteps stopped dead in their tracks. He looked at Erlang Shen beside him, said: “The scent has disappeared.”
Erlang Shen opened his third heavenly eye and looked in the direction of the sky, to where Taotie had flown away. Since Erlang Shen’s vision had become blurred, as if obscured by a haze, he realized that someone had casted an illusion, making it impossible for him to detect the slightest trace of demonic energy.
Erlang Shen continued to stare for a long time until he finally closed his third eye. He turned around, and said: “Come, let’s go back.”