Decline
Watching the scene in front of him with a deep gaze, Chen Ying saw the vast expanse of sky and earth, the boundless grassland, the blood-red sun hanging on the horizon, and another sun reflected in the lake. Han Lingqiu and Duan Xu had just presented him with a breath-taking duel here, but he couldn’t hear what Duan Xu and Han Lingqiu had said. Now, Han Lingqiu let go of Duan Xu, his body slowly shrinking, and he hugged his head and cried.
Chen Ying had never seen Brother Han cry before. In his impression, Han Lingqiu had always been a somewhat silent and serious senior, with a tall figure that seemed unbreakable.
But now, draped in the red glow of the sunset, trembling all over, it seemed as if the gloom of the past half month had finally found an outlet, surging out and engulfing him.
Chen Ying was about to ask what was going on when he suddenly felt someone beside him. Turning his head in surprise, he saw He Simu. She was dressed in red, her hands behind her back, earnestly watching the scene before her. The sunlight fell on her pale face, as if she too had become heated along with the sunset.
“Sister Xiaoxiao? When did you come?”
He Simu continued to watch the two people in front of her and replied, “Neither early nor late.”
Duan Xu squatted down to support Han Lingqiu’s shoulders. Han Lingqiu looked up at him, and Duan Xu smiled, as if he knew everything, as if he were still Han Lingqiu’s general, smiling lightly.
“You are no longer the person you used to be. If you were, you would have killed me without hesitation just now. And you’ve learned the art of bone shrinking. My prison couldn’t hold you, yet you didn’t escape in the past half month.”
Han Lingqiu cried miserably. He looked at Duan Xu for a moment, then smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He wasn’t the Han Lingqiu who knew everything, but he wasn’t Han Lingqiu either. He hadn’t figured it out yet, and he didn’t know how long it would take.
Duan Xu was silent for a moment, then patted his shoulder and said, “Lingqiu, can you promise me not to go to Danzhi, not to serve Danzhi?”
Han Lingqiu nodded slowly and solemnly said, “Okay.”
Duan Xu stood up and said, “Then I won’t force you to stay. You can go. We’re only in our twenties, and there’s plenty of time to figure things out. Lingqiu, don’t be afraid, take your time.”
He reached out to Han Lingqiu and said, “Get up.”
Han Lingqiu’s eyes flickered, countless memories flashed through, but settled in the dust at this moment, with Duan Xu in the blood-red sunset. He seemed to be sure that in his twenties, the moment he envied Duan Xu the most was now.
He reached out to grasp Duan Xu’s hand, and was then pulled up by Duan Xu from the ground. Duan Xu said to him, “Goodbye, Han Lingqiu.”
He said, “Thank you, take care, General Duan.”
Han Lingqiu left, walking farther and farther in the sunset, becoming a small dot and then disappearing, taking nothing with him.
On the way back to the tent with Duan Xu’s support, Chen Ying hesitated to speak. He really wanted to ask what had happened between Han Lingqiu and Duan Xu, but he felt it wasn’t the right time, and his third brother didn’t seem willing to talk about it either.
Moreover, He Simu was standing there, silent and cold, making Chen Ying feel a chill, so he just helped Duan Xu back to the tent and quickly slipped away.
Duan Xu lit the lamp and sighed, saying that his younger brother wasn’t thoughtful at all. He was still injured but didn’t even bother to bandage it before leaving. He chuckled as he pushed the medicine and gauze in front of He Simu, saying, “Your Highness Ghost King arrived just in time. Could you please help me?”
He Simu sneered, pushed him onto the bed, and sat down, skilfully unbuttoning his clothes and cleaning his wounds with the medicine and gauze. While cleaning, she said, “What if he hadn’t controlled himself and hurt you fatally? What would you do?”
“It won’t happen. Fortune favours me, and I know Lingqiu… Ah, that hurts! Simu, be gentle!” Duan Xu winced in pain.
He Simu looked up at him and said, “Your reckless habit hasn’t changed at all these years. Even when you infiltrated the enemy camp last time, Little Fox Duan, have you forgotten that you should call me when you’re in danger?”
Duan Xu’s hand covered hers, blinking earnestly, “Are you truly worried about me?”.
He Simu smiled gently, leaned closer to Duan Xu, and looked into his eyes, slowly saying, “Don’t pretend to be pitiful to fool me. Besides, I want to ask you, what’s wrong with your body?”
Duan Xu’s eyes flickered, innocently asking, “What’s wrong?”
“Why did you lose to Han Lingqiu?”
“He improved, I regressed, and I let him win.”
“Duan… Shun… Xi.” He Simu called his name threateningly. She had no patience to beat around the bush and bluntly exposed the reason he didn’t want to divulge: “Your senses are deteriorating.”
Duan Xu couldn’t help but tighten his grip on the bedding. He knew he couldn’t deceive He Simu and admitted frankly, “It’s true.”
“Since when?”
“I… I don’t remember. It’s not severe. Originally, my senses were much sharper than average, so a slight decline merely brings me closer to everyone else. Besides, now that I’m a military commander, I don’t intend to rely solely on martial arts for unconventional actions, so it doesn’t affect me much.” Duan Xu downplayed the situation.
He Simu regarded Duan Xu with suspicion before finally averting her gaze, remarking, “The curse between us has inevitably harmed your body.”
Duan Xu couldn’t see her expression, but he could hear the fluctuations in her emotions from her tone at the moment. He immediately hugged her waist and comforted her, saying, “We changed three times in the first year we met, and only five times in the following three years, which is quite rare. Simu, people are meant to grow old. It’s normal for all senses to decline with age. If you despise me now, what will happen when I’m old? Lust fades and love wanes…”
He Simu pushed him onto the bed. The military camp bed was very hard, and Duan Xu yelled in pain. She looked down at him, squinting her eyes, and said, “You know I didn’t mean that.”
Duan Xu looked at her for a moment, then burst into laughter.
���You want to argue with a patient?”
He Simu rubbed her forehead and pointed at Duan Xu, asking, “Are you really okay?”
“No, I’m fine. Don’t worry. By the way, you’ve been visiting me frequently lately. Isn’t the underworld busy?”
He Simu remained silent for a moment, then rolled over and lay beside Duan Xu, resting her head on his arm.
“It’s a mess.”
Duan Xu thought for a moment and said, “Oh, so you’re deliberately not staying in the underworld to make things messier?”
He Simu seemed pensive as she turned to look at Duan Xu, earnestly gazing into his bright eyes, her favourite pair of eyes.
“Duan Xu, have you settled things with Tianzhixiao?”
“I guess so.”
“How does it feel?”
“It feels light. It feels like I can walk a long way again.” Duan Xu lowered his head and kissed He Simu’s forehead, saying to her, “With you.”
He Simu buried her head in Duan Xu’s chest, sighing as if she had something on her mind. “Let’s sleep. I’ll stay with you. Tomorrow, you have to see a doctor and take your medicine.”
Duan Xu nodded and held her as tightly as he could without hurting his wounds. He felt that He Simu seemed to have something on her mind. She didn’t like to talk about her feelings, but once she felt unhappy in the underworld, she would come to him frequently.
He considered this a kind of dependency and secretly felt happy.
Recently, the underworld had indeed become a mess due to the appearance of Bai Sanxing. All the ghosts were searching, but no one could find him.
Quzhou was under Daliang’s jurisdiction in the mortal realm and under Jiang Ai’s territory in the underworld. And now, the wanted traitor Bai Sanxing was sitting in Jiang Ai’s mansion in Quzhou, drinking.
He appeared to be a handsome man in his thirties, like all evil spirits, with pale skin and a cold body. However, he was even paler than the usual evil spirits, with white hair and eyelashes. He looked as if he were made of snow, and one could see the scars on his arms with a mere stretch of the hand.
In fact, he was more like a porcelain with cracks in the ice than Duan Xu.
“You stole my hundred-year-old Vintage Dream Immortal wine this time, the only one in the world, priceless,” Jiang Ai walked into the courtyard, her face showing displeasure at the sight of the wine in Bai Sanxing’s hand.
Bai Sanxing raised an eyebrow and glanced at her, shaking the wine jug, “What’s the difference between a hundred-year-old Vintage and water? Jiang Ai, after more than three hundred years, why are you still indulging in these meaningless collections?”
He was still the same as three hundred years ago, always refuting all her preferences, labelling them as meaningless. When Bai Sanxing wanted to take another sip, the wine jug floated halfway in the air, and Jiang Ai held her right hand up, saying, “Then don’t drink it.”
Bai Sanxing’s gaze turned cold as he locked eyes with Jiang Ai. The wine jug was pulled back and forth between them by their magic, trembling as it moved back and forth. There was a small red bell tied to Jiang Ai’s white bracelet on her wrist, and the bell suddenly made a soft sound.
It was just a very soft sound, but Bai Sanxing felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He groaned softly, covering his forehead, and the wine jug flew back to Jiang Ai’s side. Jiang Ai toyed with her bracelet, somewhat smugly saying, “Don’t forget, you can’t resist me now.”
Bai Sanxing gritted his teeth, staring at her.
“What’s wrong, not satisfied? Who imprisoned me for two hundred years with their strong magic? The tables have turned now. Do you finally understand how I felt back then?”
“I was imprisoned in the Nine Palaces Maze for three hundred years. Isn’t that enough for you? What more do you want?”
Jiang Ai’s smile became fleeting, she tilted her chin slightly, saying, “Yeah, what else can we do between us?”
After a pause, she waved her hand to the right side of the courtyard, and the water from the wine jug flew like a blade. A figure suddenly appeared and dodged the water blade. Jiang Ai looked at the evil spirit, chuckled lightly, and said, “Right Deputy, since you’re here, why not show yourself?”
Yan Ke stood on top of the courtyard wall, looking coldly at the two of them.
As soon as Bai Sanxing saw Yan Ke, an immense anger surged in his eyes. He shouted, “You dare to appear in front of me,” and engaged in a fight with Yan Ke amidst flashing white light. The momentum was entirely aimed at obliterating Yan Ke. This might have been possible three hundred years ago, but Bai Sanxing had spent three hundred years consuming his magic power in the Nine Palaces Maze and was no longer as powerful as before.
Jiang Ai raised her hand, and with the faint ringing of the bell, she shouted, “Bai Sanxing, come back.”
Bai Sanxing seemed to be choked, disappearing in an instant and reappearing behind Jiang Ai, unable to move.
Yan Ke scrutinized everything that was happening and said, “Back then, it was you who secretly kept Bai Sanxing’s Heart Candle, and now you have awakened him again, and even found a way to control him. Lord Left Deputy, what exactly do you want to do?”
“What I want to do has nothing to do with the Right Deputy, does it? Since the Right Deputy is here, I’d like to ask, if His Majesty knows that her father— the former Ghost King, died by your hands, what would you do?”
Yan Ke’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
Nomad: …