Two days later, at the top-floor office of the newly renovated building that Yangxie Group had purchased, Fu Ye stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the pedestrians and traffic below.
His secretary walked in and said respectfully, “City Lord, the entire southwest region of Gaotu Mountain has been secured. The demons have been cleared out, leaving only the labor force. All the refining equipment is in place. We can begin operations at any time.”
Fu Ye’s lips curled into a smile. “Good. Start immediately. I want the finished product in the shortest possible time. Let me reiterate—the toxicity must be at least four hundred times that of the raw material.” Otherwise, it was meaningless to him.
The secretary bowed in acknowledgment, left the documents, and exited the office. The room fell silent once more.
Fu Ye continued to gaze quietly at the view below. The smile on his lips gradually faded.
“Ye Yang…” He rolled the name around in his mouth, his tone full of probing curiosity.
After his probing the day before yesterday, Fu Ye could be certain that Ye Yang was not the person he was looking for. But Ye Yang very likely shared a similar experience.
Ye Yang must have encountered some extraordinary fortune as well.
For centuries, Fu Ye had been searching for the source of that golden liquid from long ago. He had developed his power in Qishan and tirelessly pursued ways to lock onto that aura. But he had never succeeded.
The aura he had sensed in Ye Yang—Fu Ye had sensed it once before, centuries ago, also in Dongzhou.
He had tracked it back then, but the moment he drew near, the aura vanished without a trace. Exactly what had happened with Ye Yang.
If it hadn’t been for Ye Yang’s appearance, Fu Ye might still be uncertain. But now, he was sure of it: that person was in Dongzhou!
“Finally, I’m going to find you.” Fu Ye’s eyes suddenly blazed with astonishing hatred. Through gritted teeth, he enunciated each word: “My benefactor.”
As he turned, a few streaks of dazzling red flashed through his hair.
·
In the middle of the night, Shen Ming suddenly woke up.
He had dreamed.
Gods did not dream easily. The last time Shen Ming had a dream, he couldn’t even remember when it was.
Tonight, he had dreamed of Ye Yang. And also of a red fox he had never seen before.
The Spirit Serpent had also woken up. It slithered over, its expression grave. The spot on its chest where a scale was missing glowed faintly.
Shen Ming looked down at the Spirit Serpent. “You felt it too.”
The serpent curled its raised upper body, its belly seemingly still aching. Shen Ming couldn’t help but touch his own stomach.
The scene from his dream was still vivid: a rain of fire engulfing the world. Shen Ming fought back with all his strength. Suddenly, he saw a red fox appear—only to be consumed by the fire rain in an instant. Immediately after, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. He had been pierced clean through.
It was a hand, reaching in from behind and coming out through the front.
Shen Ming turned his head. Following the arm upward, he saw Ye Yang’s anxious face.
Ye Yang was shouting something, but Shen Ming couldn’t hear a word.
That was where the dream ended.
Shen Ming sat on the bed, motionless as a statue. The Spirit Serpent had already left.
If it were just a dream, he wouldn’t be this tense. But during the dream, his divine power had been stirred. That had never happened before.
And the source of that stirring came from two places: one in downtown Dongzhou, and the other in Ye Yang’s apartment next door.
In an instant, countless thoughts surged through his mind.
He had always thought Ye Yang was just a somewhat unusual little sea hare. Though he found him interesting, he had never thought much of it.
But now, he couldn’t afford not to. There was definitely something wrong with this sea hare. There shouldn’t be anything in this world capable of stirring his divine power—unless there were other beings from the upper realm still present in the human world.
Shen Ming stood at Ye Yang’s bedside. With a wave of his hand, he carefully examined Ye Yang from the inside out. Ye Yang was sound asleep, completely unaware, his antennae nearly popping out in comfort.
Aside from that scale, there was no foreign power on Ye Yang’s body. The strange suction force from earlier seemed like an illusion.
Shen Ming returned to his own apartment. The Spirit Serpent had just come back from the city center. “I found nothing. The surge of power faded too quickly.”
Then it added, “Shen Ming… the White Tiger, the Azure Dragon is dead, the Vermilion Bird’s whereabouts are unknown. To stir your divine power… could the Vermilion Bird still be alive?”
Shen Ming suddenly found it impossible to remain calm.
The Vermilion Bird had once been his best friend. For thousands of years, Shen Ming had never been able to understand why the Vermilion Bird had suddenly gone mad and attacked him when he was completely defenseless… He hadn’t always been so cold and distant.
From mutual distrust at the beginning to now—though they didn’t interact frequently—he and Ye Yang had truly come to regard each other as important friends.
After a thousand years in the human world, Shen Ming had finally met someone he was willing to open up to. He thought he was close to being healed. But now, it seemed this might be another conspiracy.
Just as he had decided to follow Elder Li’s advice and try something new.
Shen Ming didn’t know what he was feeling anymore. He didn’t want to suspect Ye Yang. But looking back now, Ye Yang’s appearance had been too strange. His background, his experiences… everything was suspicious.
Forcing himself to stop spiraling, Shen Ming instructed the Spirit Serpent—and himself—”Starting tomorrow, closely monitor Ye Yang’s activities.”
The Spirit Serpent opened its mouth.
“Shut up.” Shen Ming’s voice was sharper than ever before. He stared into the Spirit Serpent’s cold, pupil-less eyes and enunciated each word: “Don’t say anything. Don’t forget—you’re just my inner demon.”
·
Ye Yang had noticed that Shen Ming seemed a bit off lately.
Teacher Shen had suddenly become… clingy?
That wasn’t quite the right word, but Ye Yang couldn’t think of a better one.
At first, he just noticed that Shen Ming was taking fewer leaves of absence. By the time finals approached, he stopped taking leave altogether. The students found it a bit strange.
Later, beyond just walking home together on Fridays and going to school together on Mondays, Shen Ming started bringing Ye Yang late-night snacks during the week.
The first time Ye Yang got a call from Shen Ming and went downstairs to pick up a snack, he was completely bewildered. “Teacher Shen?”
Shen Ming gave Ye Yang an inconspicuous once-over, confirming that his recent mission injury hadn’t healed yet but that no unusual aura was leaking, before saying, “I’ve recently taken a liking to making desserts. Made a bit too much. Here’s some for you.”
Ye Yang immediately understood. “Oh, right—you don’t want it to go bad. Thanks so much! I’ll gladly take it.”
A classmate who had just returned from the library stopped in shock at the dormitory gate, missing the turnstile. A few minutes later, a video was spreading like wildfire among the students.
On the way back, the Spirit Serpent said, “Something feels off about this. If you want to examine his spiritual power, why not just do it directly? Isn’t this too roundabout? Aren’t you being overly cautious?”
Shen Ming replied, “When it comes to the Vermilion Bird, no amount of caution is excessive.”
The Spirit Serpent naturally understood his thinking, but it couldn’t help running its mouth. “Still, you’re actually making late-night snacks yourself? You could just buy something.”
“Hmm? That’s not the point—it’s about whether it’s good or not, right?”
“Oh, so that’s your reasoning. Can’t afford any mistakes, even in the details. Fine, fine, fine. That’s you for you.”
…
Ye Yang brought a pile of freshly made rice cakes back to the dorm. Zhuang Li wasn’t there. Out of ten total, Qin Zhi alone ate six.
They were so delicious that Qin Zhi wondered if the rice cakes were made from spiritual rice. He felt like both his physical strength and spiritual power had somehow improved. Only after finishing his meal did it occur to him to ask, “Where did you buy these? They’re so good—I want to buy some tomorrow too!”
Ye Yang said, “Wait, let me ask.”
Shen Xiuyun asked, “Ask who? You didn’t buy them?”
Ye Yang checked his reply and smiled apologetically. “I just asked. Teacher Shen made these himself. You probably can’t buy them anywhere.”
“Pfft—cough, cough, cough!” Shen Xiuyun nearly choked to death on the rice cake still in his mouth. After barely managing to catch his breath, he practically shouted, “When you say Teacher Shen, you don’t mean Shen Ming, do you?!”
“Why are you so worked up? Yeah, him.”
Qin Zhi held his forehead. He’d been thinking about making instant noodles because he was still a little hungry, but now his appetite was completely gone. So what he just ate really was spiritual rice, wasn’t it?!
He asked with difficulty, “Are you saying that Xuanwu—the Northern God, aka the strongest being in the human realm—brought you homemade late-night snacks as a gesture of affection?”
Neither Shen Xiuyun nor Qin Zhi could handle it.
Knowing that Ye Yang’s mentor was Xuanwu, and that Xuanwu taught at their school—that was fine. But what was happening now? They were eating late-night snacks made by Xuanwu!
Shen Xiuyun’s hands and feet went cold. Shen Ming had made this for Ye Yang. Were they really not going to get struck down for eating it?
Ordinary students at most found Shen Ming hard to approach. But those of them who knew Shen Ming’s true identity didn’t dare go near him at all. They didn’t even dare attend his classes. At first, they were even afraid to look at him from a distance.
That was Xuanwu!
Lord Fu Ye might be a great demon, but Shen Xiuyun had, more or less, fought alongside him. Shen Ming, however, was on a completely different level. Unless the sky fell, Shen Xiuyun didn’t know if he’d ever have a chance to witness Xuanwu’s true form in his lifetime.
Ye Yang didn’t understand why they were reacting so strongly. “What’s the big deal? Teacher Shen only gave me some because he made too much. I can’t eat all of it by myself. What’s wrong with you guys having some? It’s not like I don’t eat your food all the time.”
That’s not the same thing at all, kid. Shen Xiuyun was deeply pained, but he didn’t dare say it directly. He had always scrolled past gossip posts about Ye Yang and Shen Ming, dismissing them and thinking he knew better than those ordinary people, looking down on their shipping behavior.
Now, though… he was starting to believe it.
The Northern God cooking with his own hands—was there any explanation other than Teacher Shen actually pursuing Ye Yang? Was there?!
·
Once there was a first time, there was a second. The next time Ye Yang brought back late-night snacks, all three seniors immediately swarmed him as soon as he walked in.
Qin Zhi, thick-skinned as ever, was the first to pounce, practically trying to snatch the container and open it himself. “What’s good today?” He was hoping for more spiritual plants, hehe.
Zhuang Li had heard about it but hadn’t seen it for himself yet. He was very curious. After one taste, he was instantly hooked.
A second time, and Shen Xiuyun still couldn’t get used to it. After a long pause, he said in a daze, “That’s Shen Ming. That’s Xuanwu. The Northern God. Giving you lessons is one thing, but bringing you late-night snacks every day?!”
Even as he said this, he didn’t forget to stuff one of Shen Ming’s small buns into his mouth. They were really delicious—who could blame him!
Speaking of which, Zhuang Li suddenly asked Ye Yang, “Our little one, have you ever seen Teacher Shen’s true form?”
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