Her trembling hand, clutching the flickering candle, was placed before her eyes. With a forced smile, she said to him, "I don't blame you, and I won't hate you..."
Feng Zhu remained silent, gazing intently at the swaying eyes, as if trying to memorize their appearance.
A moment later, Feng Zhu opened his lips and said, "I will marry you."
The next moment, a sharp pain shot through his trembling eyes, and blood mist filled his vision. He trembled all over from the pain, but his heart was filled with an uncontrollable sweetness because of the words Feng Zhu had spoken.
The pain of gouging out my eyes couldn't mask this sweetness.
While inside Feng Zhu's body, Huan Changming witnessed Yao Ye, who possessed Lu Pianpian's appearance, having her eyes gouged out.
He said with a mocking smile, "Lu Pianpian, compared to Feng Zhu, I have been far too lenient and merciful towards you..."
Lu Pianpian looked towards where Feng Zhu was, as if sensing something, but there was only darkness left there.
A note from the author:
This isn't how you lock a story, is it? It was just a kiss, and it was fake. Some people will stop at nothing to change the rankings on Thursday.
Chapter 38
Yun Shu walked into the kitchen. Several lower-ranking disciples saw him and quickly put down what they were doing, cupping their hands in greeting: "Greetings, Senior Brother Yun Shu."
Yun Shu nodded and walked inside, stopping in front of a pile of medicine stoves. "Who are these medicines for?"
"Replying to Senior Brother, these are all prepared for the disciples who were injured while catching demons outside and are now recuperating at home."
"Did you also prepare the herbal medicine that Xi Zhi was taking?"
"It used to be."
Yun Shu glanced at him. "Not anymore?"
“That’s right. Ever since Senior Brother Fengzhu returned to the manor, all of Young Master Xizhi’s medicines have been prepared by Senior Brother Fengzhu himself, without being entrusted to anyone else.”
Yun Shu glanced at the remaining dregs in the medicine jar and asked, "Is the dregs left over from Feng Zhu's decoction of medicine for Xi Zhi here?"
The disciples all shook their heads. "Senior Brother Fengzhu always brews medicine in Young Master Xizhi's courtyard and never comes to the kitchen to cook with us."
After a moment's thought, Yun Shu instructed, "Pretend I never came or asked anything today."
Although they did not know what Yun Shu meant, Yun Shu was of higher status than them, and since Yun Shu had said so, they had no choice but to comply. "Yes."
Yun Shu walked out of the kitchen. The Demon Exorcist's Mansion was decorated with red lanterns and red silk, and the whole place was filled with a joyous atmosphere, as if a happy event was being prepared.
Yun Shu went straight to the dungeon of the Demon Exorcist's Mansion, which was specifically for guarding demons. He and Feng Zhu were the Celestial Master's right-hand men, and they could come and go freely in this forbidden area.
The dungeon was dark and damp, a stark contrast to the brightly lit and decorated outside, like two different worlds.
Yun Shu walked to a cell and saw a person lying inside with white strips covering their eyes, so it was unclear whether they were asleep or awake.
He ordered the prison door to be opened, and the man lying there sat up abruptly like a startled bird. "Fengzhu, you've come to see me?"
Yun Shu waved away the four people and entered the cell alone. He stood in front of him and said, "I am Yun Shu."
With her eyes swaying and blind, she couldn't find Yun Shuzai's location.
Seeing that he swayed from side to side for a while and still couldn't find a face to face him, Yun Shu sighed and squatted down in front of him, "I'm here."
Yun Shu reached out and patted Yao Ye's shoulder. Yao Ye then followed the direction of the touch on her shoulder and found Yun Shu.
She smiled shyly and said, "I'm not used to it yet, I'm sorry you had to see this..."
Yun Shu shook his head, then realized that Yao Ye couldn't see him at all. He lowered his voice and asked, "Yao Ye, do you want to go home?"
"Go home?" Yao Ye seemed a little lost, but then she quickly realized, "Did Feng Zhu ask you to ask me this?"
He and Yun Shu had no personal relationship, so the fact that Yun Shu would come all the way to the prison to ask him must be because of Feng Zhu.
Could it be that Fengzhu is planning to go home with him and get married?
But why didn't Fengzhu come to tell him this important matter in person?
"Yun Shu... Why doesn't Feng Zhu come to find me himself? Has he been very busy lately?"
Very busy.
Busy with getting married to Xi Zhi.
Looking at Yaoyao's innocent and inquiring face, Yun Shu couldn't bear to say these words. "Yaoyao, this is the Demon Catcher's Mansion, not a place for a spirit butterfly like you."
Yao Ye nodded and said, "I know, but Feng Zhu is here. He said he wants to marry me, and once we're married, I'll leave this place..."
"Did you ask Feng Zhu if he wanted to leave?" Yun Shu asked in a deep voice. "Master has already chosen Feng Zhu as the successor to the next Celestial Master, and Feng Zhu has agreed."
The Celestial Master's duty is to eliminate demons and uphold justice, which means that Feng Zhu cannot have any further involvement with a demon.
After a moment of silence, Yaoyao spoke softly, "But he said himself that he would marry me."
Fengzhu already knew his feelings, and Fengzhu was willing to accept him. They would get married and stay together forever.
While swaying in prison, Yao Ye fantasized about a future as peaceful as a candle in the wind. How could she easily give up these readily available beautiful things just because of the obstacle between the identities of a demon hunter and a demon?
Yun Shu remained silent for a long time before speaking again, "Yaoye, do you know that your eyes look a lot like someone?"
"What?" Yao Ye didn't understand why Yun Shu would suddenly say such a thing.
Yun Shu said in a low voice, "You have never seen Xi Zhi's eyes. Before Xi Zhi went blind, his eyes looked exactly like yours."
A bone-chilling coldness spread through his swaying limbs and bones. He reached up and touched the area around his eyes. Even with the cloth covering them, he could feel that there was nothing there.
"Your eyes are special."
Suddenly, the words Feng Zhu had said to him when they first met flashed through his swaying mind.
This was also the first thing Fengzhu said to him.
"Please take me to see Fengzhu..." Yaoye pleaded, tugging at Yunshu's clothes. "Please."
“Yaoyao, knowing some truths might not be a good thing for you,” Yun Shu advised repeatedly. “Go home; this is not a place for you to stay.”
Shaking her head in pleading, "I want to hear Fengzhu tell me himself..."
Yun Shu sighed. Unable to dissuade Yao Ye, he had no choice but to let him transform into his true form and take him out of the prison.
Feng Zhu has been enjoying a string of happy events lately, and his close disciples have invited him to celebrate. He was in high spirits that night and drank quite a bit. When he returned to his courtyard, he saw a figure with his eyes covered by a white cloth standing at the door of his room from afar.
He walked over with a smile, took the other person's hand, and led them into the room. "It's chilly at night, come in."
Feng Zhu lay sprawled on the couch, pulling the man into his lap. His words reeked of alcohol, "In a few days, after we get married, we can be together openly... Why can't you even wait a few days? Is it that you don't want to be apart from me for even a moment?"
"Xi Zhi?"
She swayed stiffly in his arms, like a puppet whose soul had been sucked away, lifeless and motionless.
Just because he was blindfolded, Feng Zhu was able to mistake him for Xi Zhi.
A kiss, still tinged with the scent of alcohol, landed on the crook of his neck. "Xi Zhi, why won't you answer me tonight?"
His trembling hands reached for the knot of cloth tied behind his head. After untying it, the cloth fell off his face, and he said in a trembling voice, "I am not Xi Zhi."
Fengzhu lifted his head from his swaying shoulders, and through his drunken, hazy vision, he saw that Fengzhu's eyes were empty.
He was somewhat sober, but not fully awake.
"The part of your face that least resembles his is your eyes." Feng Zhu slowly reached out and covered the swaying, empty eyes. "If you gouge them out, they'll look even more like his..."
After Feng Zhu finished speaking, he laughed and leaned back, falling asleep as the alcohol took effect.
Two lines of bloody tears fell silently from his swaying, empty eyes, dripping onto his white clothes and splashing out a mournful blood flower.
Fengzhu saved Yaoye's life. Not to mention a pair of eyes, Yaoye would give him her life if Fengzhu asked.
But Fengzhu chose this method anyway.
He took the position of Celestial Master, treated Xi Zhi's illness, forced him to gouge out his own eyes, and then coaxed him into marriage.
Are all human minds as convoluted and complicated as a candle in the wind? A fluttering spirit butterfly could neither see through the candle nor fathom its depths.
Although he is not human, he still has a heart.
He loves Feng Zhu, and he would give his heart and soul for Feng Zhu, but he doesn't want Feng Zhu to lie to him, hide things from him, or take advantage of him.
The pain of having his eyes gouged out was nothing compared to the agony he suffered from being deceived and manipulated by Feng Zhu.
Even the Spirit Butterfly Fairy's heart can ache, break, and bleed.
She swayed as she stepped off the couch, tripped over the screen, and fell hard to the ground, a sharp pain shooting through her forehead.
He reached up and touched his forehead, feeling a sticky, damp sensation on his fingertips.
Is it blood?
Yaoye brought her fingertips to her eyes, trying to see if she was injured, but after looking for a long time, all she could see was darkness.
He then suddenly realized, as if waking from a dream, that he no longer had eyes.
He was the butterfly in the Spirit Butterfly Clan with the best chance of becoming a Spirit Rhinoceros Butterfly. How could he be without eyes? How could he abandon himself because of a love affair that was a conspiracy from the beginning?
Silver-white wings suddenly appeared from his back, and he flew out of Fengzhu's room, finding Xizhi's door by following her scent.
She swayed as she pushed open the door and slowly walked inside.
In the boundless night, the silvery-white wings gradually became transparent, taking on a pale golden hue, shimmering brilliantly.
Xi Zhi was fast asleep when he vaguely felt a pair of hands caressing his bedside. He opened his eyes and saw the swaying figure in demon form. He was shocked. "You're a demon?"
Without eyes, the ears become exceptionally sensitive.
Yao Ye accurately touched Xi Zhi's face, covered Xi Zhi's mouth with one hand to stop Xi Zhi from screaming, and reached out to Xi Zhi's eyes with the other hand, trembling. "I didn't poison your medicine, and I didn't want to hurt you... I just want to take back what's mine and go home."
Xi Zhi fainted from the pain, but Yao Ye applied medicine to him, saving his life.
Swaying, clutching her bleeding eyes, she stumbled out of the Demon Hunter's Mansion and crashed headfirst into someone's chest. He sniffed the air and asked, "Yun Shu, are you going to stop me?"
This time, Yun Shu didn't shake her head. She made way for Yao Ye and said, "Let's go. Don't come back."
"Thank you..."
It swayed and nodded, then transformed into its true form and flew into the night.
His vision had not yet returned, and he was unaware that someone was behind him, holding a sword and standing motionless to block the oncoming pursuers.
Feng Zhu woke up from his drunken stupor and led his demon-hunting disciples to this place, where they were stopped by Yun Shu.