A Good-for-Nothing

189. Dragon Blood (1)

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

Knock, knock, knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

After two bouts of knock at the door, He Zheng heard a voice say, “He Zheng, are you in there?”

It was an impersonal, familiar, male voice. That monster had used Li Zong’s voice to torture him throughout the night, and He Zheng would probably be having nightmares about it for quite a few days. His face instantly darkened.

“Fuck off, you damn freak! I’m not in here. Get as far away from this place as you can!”

Standing outside the doors was an exhausted man who had blazed a way through all manner of obstacles to get here and nearly caused a major incident. Hearing this, hand poised at the door, the man involuntarily felt somewhat resigned.

Li Zong softened his tone. “He Zheng, it’s really me, not some damn freak.”

He Zheng was briefly stupefied. Actually he really found this voice very familiar and a trifle different from that of the monster, but He Zheng had been through too much horror and worried that this was another trick. After thinking for a few moments, he cautiously walked up to the small window, opened it a crack, peeked through it and saw that Li Zong was standing right in the doorway, wearing a black shirt and a pair of pants that fitted his long legs well.

He was so gorgeous, nothing like that goddamn ugly monster.

“Li Zong?” asked He Zheng in a low voice, revealing his two beady eyes.

“It is me.” Li Zong noticed He Zheng, turning his face aside a little. He Zheng observed that his face was somewhat pale, but at the slightly lifted corners of his mouth was a smile familiar to him. He Zheng’s heart started fluttering violently. He also saw a familiar ring on the third finger of Li Zong’s left hand.

He had one of the same style on his hand.

He Zheng’s heart was hammering even harder in his chest. If that was a monster, so be it. He could always use the part of Li Zong’s primordial spirit in him to burn the monster to death.

He needed to meet him.

He Zheng pulled the door open. The sky was beginning to brighten. He instantly threw himself into Li Zong’s embrace, and Li Zong put his arms around him with great naturalness.

He Zheng inhaled deeply twice. The familiar smell made his eyes burning, nearly reducing him to tears, but no on account would patronizing Childe He allow himself to show any signs of such weakness. He just buried his face deeper into Li Zong’s chest.

The two of them stood there for quite some time. It was only when he collected his thoughts that he noticed that Li Zong was holding a sword in his hand, the blade of which was crimson, as though it had just been pulled out of fire.

Li Zong’s whole body felt quite hot as well.

Li Zong stroked He Zheng’s head. The pitch-black sky began to lighten. At first He Zheng didn’t perceive it, but after calming down, he observed that those stores on the sides of the street had disappeared without any trace, and behind Li Zong, a lot of things were burning, as though the whole place had been turned into a battleground of raging inferno.

“What happened–” Before he could say the word “here”, his eyes met Li Zong’s in mid-air. Naturally, he saw Li Zong’s black eyes become double-pupiled, and there were spots of golden light flashing across them constantly.

“Your…eyes.” He Zheng raised his hand to stroke Li Zong’s eyelids. Li Zong didn’t dodge. The golden light was still in there, making him look both scary and charming.

“My internal energy was depleted, but it’s nothing serious. It’ll be restored in a while.” Li Zong patted him on the shoulder, looked down at his flat-chested marriage partner in his arms and asked him in a gentle voice, “Were you afraid? Your husband is here to save you.”

He Zheng, “…”

He Zheng said, “You remind me of that monster when you say that!”

Li Zong gave a faint smile. He Zheng watched him smiling for a quite a while and eventually failed to restrain himself. He abruptly pressed his lips onto Li Zong’s and kissed him really hard, as though trying to suck his energy. After the kiss, He Zheng decisively released Li Zong and the two of them stood side by side.

“Let’s figure out a way to get out of this place!”

“Just wait a few more minutes. The Phantom Market is coming to an end.”

The first light of dawn came into the sky and with that the dark night faded away, and soon it became quite bright.

What happened the night before felt like a dream. He Zheng, with his sharp senses, observed that the surroundings had changed. The flaming bodies of the monsters had all vanished, and so had the stores, streets and Chinese lanterns.

He closed his eyes and opened them again and found themselves to be on an open wilderness; Qiu Luo was sitting cross-legged not far away from them, and beside him was only a small stone house the roof of which was level with the middle of his calf, and inside which three idols could be vaguely seen, but someone had lit the small lamp in front of the house.

“Wh–What happened?” He Zheng was flabbergasted. Probably everybody would be shocked when they saw this kind of sudden change of scene for the first time.

He Zheng’s head tilted up as Li Zong raised his chin. Li Zong supported his head with his fingers as He Zheng watched the sky gradually lightening.

“The day broke.”

He Zheng was thrown into perplexity.

“Last night, you intruded into the Phantom Market by accident. Fortunately you encountered the town god’s temple. Otherwise there’d be a very high chance that you two have ended up dead by now.”

“The Phantom Market? What’s that?” He Zheng was nonplussed.

Li Zong stroked his head, walked up to that miniature stone house and slit his finger with his fingertip. He Zheng confusedly watched as Li Zong did that. He wasn’t sure whether or not he was imagining things, but for an instant, he seemed to see that the blood flowing from the cut in Li Zong’s fingertip was golden.

Li Zong let his blood drip into the oil lamp and the flame instantly flared up to a considerably greater height with a whoosh.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to you for saving He Zheng’s life. I’ll return the favor by offering you three drops of dragon blood to help with your future ascension,” Li Zong breathed to the idol in the middle, bending from the waist.

The eyes of the seemingly cold and callous idol seemed to move briefly.