I understood: “No wonder. Medicine Immortals only deal with flowers and plants, meeting few people, naturally untouched by worldly hearts, so being naive isn’t strange.” I silently thought, no wonder I was seduced by you. Even if a peerless beauty were placed before me now, I’d probably just glance twice without being moved.
I’d heard that Medicine Immortals occasionally went to the Three Realms to gather herbs, so their cultivation must be extremely high. It seems I was once a powerful immortal too. Unlike now, though my cultivation is better than average immortals, I’m still no match for Mu Chuan.
My hand stopped while eating noodles. If he truly saw me as an immortal novice back then, he must have been immeasurably powerful.
I swallowed and stared at him, asking, “If… your eyes heal, would you start a war with the Divine Realm again?”
Mu Chuan didn’t hesitate: “I don’t know.”
Mu Chuan said without annoyance: “In a few days, perhaps we’ll be able to see it.”
Hearing this, I looked at him again, wondering what kind of expression would be in his eyes. Upon returning to the ghost realm, Mu Chuan went back to his room and immediately fell asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed, truly exhausted.
The man in his sleep was quiet and beautiful, without a trace of hostility. Even while deeply asleep, he still held my wrist – help, it was about to break!
I sat helplessly nearby, watching his brow gradually furrow, his eyes closing tighter, unsure if he was caught in a nightmare. As his breathing became heavier and his grip grew stronger, I winced in pain and shook him: “Mu Chuan, Mu Chuan.” Seeing he wouldn’t wake up, I leaned down and called out, “Ghost King!”
He suddenly opened his eyes and said: “If you call me that again, I’ll twist your neck off.”
I shrank my neck. Although the words sounded threatening, his tone was serious: “I-I understand… hasn’t anyone else called you that?”
“Others can, but you cannot.”
Mu Chuan released his hand, and I quickly pulled mine back. In the light from the window, I saw a circle of bruises. I looked at him unhappily, my head buzzing with a voice.
“From now on, we are completely severed!”
I am still a small medicine immortal in the divine realm, and you are still the ghost king ruling a realm. We shall never interact again!”
I gasped and patted my head. Mu Chuan asked, “Headache again?”
“Mm.”
He sighed: “I’ll have someone check what illness you have.”
“I always remember past events, and remembering makes my head hurt.”
“Since you know the root of the problem, have you thought about how to solve it?” Mu Chuan slowly sat up and pulled me into his embrace. “Perhaps knowing the past will prevent you from being trapped in these painful memories. Since you’re already heartless about past events, I think even if you knew everything, you wouldn’t feel hurt.”
I looked at him, both angry and amused: “Yes, I’m heartless.”
What he said seemed reasonable. Knowing the past might prevent random memories from surfacing. Understanding the past might be a good thing.
Yet, inexplicably, I felt afraid.
I nestled in his embrace, thinking for a long time. When I spoke again, my voice trembled: “Then… tell me everything.”
His embrace tightened, and feeling his heartbeat, even I couldn’t help but feel nervous. I almost wanted to take it back. I bit my lip. Although past events were forgotten, the truth was right in front of me. Enduring it, I didn’t stop him.
“A thousand years ago, when the relationship between the divine and ghost realms was at its lowest point, I was young and impulsive, always thinking that instead of small conflicts, we should have a full-scale war.”
Most court officials also basically agreed, so I planned the war.
I held my breath, ears perked to not miss a single word.
I, Mu Shu, did not know what happened after you returned, and during the war, I tried to avoid meeting you. As a Medicine Immortal, you were not supposed to come as a War God, but on that day, we collided head-on.
His hand caressed my face, gently sliding over my eyebrow and down the corner of my eye: “I still remember your expression of shock and hatred.”
To be betrayed by a loved one would indeed breed hatred. Hearing this, I did not yet feel heartbroken; those entangled memories were slowly being sorted out.
“Shortly after I returned to the camp, someone reported that you wanted to see me. I went to the appointment, intending to take you back to the Ghost Realm. But I did not expect that waiting for me would be the 50,000 heavenly soldiers you had ambushed in the forest. I did not anticipate your hatred for me. After being injured while resisting the heavenly soldiers, I struck you in anger, watching you about to fall into the River of Bones, certain to die. And when I injured you, you did not fight back. I softened and ran to save you.”
I frowned and said, “If I truly hated you and wanted to kill you, I would have joined them in besieging you, not foolishly waiting for you to kill me.”
Mu Chuan said faintly, “Who knows what you were thinking at the time? Perhaps you wanted to die together with me.”
After hearing the past, I sighed.
A love between gods and ghosts has no future, now and forever. Even if he is the lord of a realm, even if he can destroy heaven and earth, I am ultimately a god.
“Shu Shu,” Mu Chuan’s voice suddenly turned cold, his fingertips sliding from my neck to my collarbone, chilling me, “If I remove your immortal bones, you will no longer be a divine being. Would you stay in the Ghost Realm with me?”
Before the last syllable fell, I almost rolled out of his embrace, trembling: “No.”
I absolutely could not let him have this idea. If my immortal bones were truly removed, apart from the pain, and the fact that I could never be an immortal again, staying in a place with such ghostly air, with someone who no longer loved me – I absolutely could not bear it!
Mu Chuan’s tone grew even colder: “I do not like others refusing me, especially you.”
“No…” I protested softly again. I was truly afraid he would do such a thing. The thought of becoming like that made me feel life was worse than death. “If you don’t want me to hate you, don’t do this. I beg you…”
Mu Chuan was silent for a moment before coldly saying: “Who taught you the etiquette of spying on your brother’s room in the middle of the night?”
I was startled, sitting up and looking at the shadow outside the paper door – Mu Yin? I lowered my head to look at my wrist, where the red thread had already appeared.
But I didn’t expect… this kind of danger.
Even with a thousand mouths, I couldn’t explain myself now.
The voice outside the door was thin: “Su Su?”
“I’m here.”
I was about to get out of bed when Mu Chuan stopped me, laughing softly: “You want to meet him looking like this?”
Only then did I remember that my clothes had been torn. Going out now would raise suspicions.
“Su Su? Are you… okay?”
“No, no.” I gritted my teeth. “After applying medicine for your brother, I’ll go back.”
Mu Yin sighed: “I’ll wait for you outside.”
Mu Chuan suddenly spoke: “Your sister-in-law has been exhausted for too long. Put away your childish thoughts and quickly leave the Pear Garden.”
My face must have turned a deep red. That exhaustion was easily misunderstood, especially with two people being tired. I covered my forehead; the sound outside had already disappeared.
Mu Yin, you still lack your brother’s deep scheming.
Mu Chuan was silent for a long time before saying: “Mu Yin and you are the most important people to me. I don’t want him to be hurt, and I don’t want you to be hurt.” Then he added, “I also won’t let you go.”
Mu Yin may have been hurt, but cutting off those feelings now would be the least damaging to him.
But that “I won’t let you go” – who knows how many emotions were contained within.
