Chapter 59.1

Editor: SimoB

In the hospital corridor, Shi Qing lazily leaned against Meng Qing as he played with his hands.

The look on Meng Qing’s face wasn’t good.

Shi Qing slowly traced along the faint lines of his palm all the way to his fingertips. While he toyed with the soft digits, the young cultivator, who was unused to being so close to others, subconsciously jerked his hand back.

“We’ve signed a contract. Are you trying to back out?”

The demon king’s pleasant voice seemed to hide laughter within. It tainted Meng Qing’s handsome features with displeasure as he looked down at Shi Qing, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You lied to me. The contract you signed with Chen Zeyu had nothing to do with his lifespan.”

Shi Qing didn’t feel embarra.s.sed at all. He shamelessly gripped the cultivator’s hand even tighter. “Didn’t you say that I’m a demonic fiend? Have you ever met a demon that has never told a lie or two?”

Meng Qing turned away in frustration. As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.

But the demon king had no intentions of letting him go so easily. “I didn’t lie to you when you signed the contract. I just promised you Chen Zeyu’s contract and to return what he gave me in exchange. I didn’t say that that was his lifespan, ah.”

Meng Qing: “You said you received a year of lifespan.”

“Yep.”

Shi Qing’s captivating eyes narrowed as he leaned on the cultivator like he had no bones.

“I did say that, but I never said that the lifespan was from Chen Zeyu. Let’s get one thing straight, little cultivator, you’re the one who misunderstood.”

Meng Qing was silent.

How was he supposed to refute this?

Moreover, the young cultivator still had a hint of doubt in his heart.

Shi Qing clearly stated his intentions to exchange for lifespan before, so how come he made a deal for tears in the end?

A slight suspicion flashed through his mind.

Could it be that Shi Qing also pitied those two…?

No way. Absolutely impossible.

Why would a demonic fiend bend the rules out of sympathy for someone else?

Meng Qing must’ve only come to such a conclusion in a moment of confusion.

…Or was he bewitched by this demon?

Startled, Meng Qing closed his eyes and recited mantras in his mind, trying to ignore Shi Qing the best he could.

Shi Qing didn’t mind the silent treatment. He continued leaning on Meng Qing’s shoulder and talked to himself.

“Little cultivator, I’m going to take you to see fireworks tomorrow.”

“You know, little cultivator, fireworks aren’t allowed within the city limits, but they’re one of my favourite things. I haven’t seen any since they restricted sales some time ago.”

“Little cultivator, do you really plan on ignoring me forever?”

Shi Qing poked him. When he saw there was no reaction from Meng Qing, he softened his voice.

“Come on, I was just teasing you. Don’t be mad.”

“Little cultivator?”

“Little cultivator?”

“Don’t ignore me, I’m really bored by myself.”

The demon’s hands cupped the young cultivator’s good-looking face and turned it towards him.

Meng Qing closed his eyes and silently turned his head back as he recited mantras in his mind.

“So you’re really angry this time?”

Shi Qing stopped fooling around. He rested his head on Meng Qing’s shoulder and quietly said, “I just want to play with youk2026; Hey, you cultivators know that there’s two types of energy in the world, right? One is turbulent and the other is clear.”

Of course Meng Qing knew that.

But he didn’t bother to respond or open his eyes.

Shi Qing: “Did your master ever tell you that demonic fiends like me come from turbulent energy?”

Meng Qing: “???”

He was almost curious enough to open his eyes.

But he remembered just in time that he wasn’t talking to this demon right now and forced himself to continue ignoring him. His entire body radiated a feeling of “no matter what you say, I won’t talk to you”.

Sadness leaked into Shi Qing’s expression. He rubbed his face against the young cultivator’s clothes.

His voice was quiet and hoa.r.s.e.

“Turbulent energy is produced by the negative thoughts of humans. The more people with grievances in their hearts, the more turbidity there is in the world. When it all reached a critical ma.s.s, I was born. You always call me a demonic fiend or a demon. You say that I’m a scourge on the world. But have you ever considered that I might not have a choice?”

Meng Qing felt as if his shoulder had become slightly wet as the demon nuzzled his face against it.

His closed eyelashes trembled incessantly, and he felt a bit ashamed and guilty.

The demon king sniffled: “As soon as I was born, my body was filled with all the negative energy of this world. You righteous cultivators called for my head as soon as you laid eyes on me. I have no relatives, nor friends. There was no one to teach me how to live. I could only rely on myself. I was like a newborn baby then, helpless and ignorant. None of you took care of me then, and now you label me a demonic fiend and monster although all I’ve done is try my best to survive.”

Meng Qing’s eyelashes trembled even more. He could no longer recite those mantras.

“Especially you. I came to see you because I learned you were my fated companion, but you ended up throwing talismans at me as soon as we met.”

Meng Qing tried to keep his eyes closed as he quickly explained, “I didn’t mean to do that. I was just surprised by your lack of a heartbeat…”

The demon’s soft hands that were completely at odds with his aura suddenly grasped his and pulled them to his own chest.

“Do you feel it? My heartbeat. This heart would only beat after I met my fated companion. I’ve been alone and forsaken for so many years. I rushed to you as soon as I could after finding out, but you’ve been nothing but cold to me, ignoring me and calling me a demon constantly.”

Meng Qing felt the powerful heartbeat beneath his palm. He felt his own heart respond in kind, following the pa.s.sionate rhythm of the demon king’s.

He swallowed dryly. His eyes were still closed as his beautiful face became dotted with sweat. Shi Qing’s quiet and husky voice crept into his ear.

“I just wanted for you to stay by my side. You blame me for lying to you, but we’re a pair ordained by fate herself. If you hadn’t ignored me first and refused to hold my hand, I wouldn’t have had to lie. Think about it carefully. Since we met, when have I ever harmed you? But you’ve taken every opportunity to speak ill of me, slap a talisman on me, or try to kill me with your sword.”

The young cultivator’s heart was overwhelmed by a huge surge of guilt.

Yes, he had only heard about the demonic fiend in pa.s.sing, but no one had ever paid attention to where he came from, if he had parents, or who exactly had raised him.

If it was really like what Shi Qing said, that he was an existence created by the world itself, then his wicked temperament was only natural, ah.

After thinking it through, the young cultivator swallowed nervously and spoke, “I didn’t mean it earlier. I thought you were up to no good.”

Shi Qing’s voice became even more aggrieved, “If I really had impure intentions, do you think that a 20 year old cultivator like you would be a match for me? I could send you to h.e.l.l in your sleep, so why would I let you live until now?”

That’s right. Shi Qing was the demon king.

Even his master wasn’t a match for him. If he really wanted to do something to Meng Qing, there was no need to be so nice about it.

This only made his feelings of guilt worsen.

The young cultivator’s eyelashes quivered, “I’m sorry, I was wrong. I won’t treat you like that anymore.”

He was about to open his eyes, but the demon king quickly covered them with his hand. “You’re not allowed to look at me right now! Shame on you!”

He was probably afraid of Meng Qing seeing him cry.

Meng Qing hurried to obediently close his eyes: “This one won’t look.”

Shi Qing: “Hey, do you really know that you were wrong?”

The young cultivator nodded his head with his eyes still closed: “This one knows.”

Shi Qing: “Good. Now promise me you’ll watch the fireworks with me tonight.”

Meng Qing continued to nod: “I promise.”

The demon king leaning on his shoulder seemed to start crying again. His shoulder was further soaked with tears.

The young cultivator became more and more overwhelmed.

All he did was promise to watch some fireworks, but the demon king was actually moved to tears. One could only imagine how life had treated him up until now.

Shi Qing: “I also want to eat cake from the Li Tang Family shop tomorrow. Go with me.”

Meng Qing nodded: “Alright.”

“And don’t always be so aloof with me in the future. You have to spend some time with me once in a while and voluntarily hold my hand. We’re supposed to be a fated pair and you can’t change that no matter what you do.”

The young cultivator who had just readily agreed to everything hesitated.

He fidgeted, “But this one is a cultivator.”

The demon king leaning on his shoulder cried again.

As he felt the moisture on his shoulder, Meng Qing’s heart inexplicably softened.

Shi Qing’s voice was quiet: “I know you are a cultivator and I’m an evil demon so it’s obvious that you would look down on me. You wouldn’t like me no matter how hard I tried. But what can I do about who I was born as? If I had a choice, I would’ve wanted to grow up in Qingzhen Temple with you. There’s nothing I want more than you to accept me.”

“N-no! No! That’s not what I meant!”

Meng Qing tripped over himself to explain, “I just have a duty to the Dao. It has nothing to do with your ident.i.ty.”

“There’s no need to lie to me to spare my feelings. It’s not like you Qingzhen cultivators can’t marry. There’s no conflict between your duty to the Dao and being with me. I know that you’re just looking for an excuse to reject me. You think someone like me isn’t good enough for you.”

Meng Qing felt like he had been spun in circles. He was anxious and unsure of what to do. Someone as socially awkward as him could only try to hastily explain.

“It’s not what you’re thinking, really! I don’t think that at all!”

Shi Qing: “So you like me then?”

Meng Qing was thrown for another loop. “I-I…”

The demon king became depressed again. “As I thought. You really can’t see past my ident.i.ty. Forget it, I shouldn’t have expected too much. I guess I’ll be alone for the rest of my life. I’ll be leaving first.”

He left Meng Qing’s shoulder.

The young cultivator’s brain went blank. He subconsciously reached out in the direction of the sounds, grabbing the hem of Shi Qing’s clothes.

“I like you!”

Saying this, Meng Qing’s heart seemed to stop beating for a second. His face quickly became stained with crimson, and his eyelashes trembled as if they were playing the piano.

The air itself seemed to freeze.

It was a while before Meng Qing felt the demon king’s soft hand squeeze his own.

The demon king should still be standing. His voice was filled with suppressed amus.e.m.e.nt as he softly asked.

“You aren’t lying?”

Meng Qing blushed furiously.

He wanted to open his eyes, but then he remembered that Shi Qing didn’t want him to, so he could only face Shi Qing with his eyes closed.

“This one never lies.”

Demon King: “I don’t believe you. You obviously hate me since you don’t even want to hold my hand.”

“I do. I’ll hold your hand.”

The young cultivator held his hand tightly. He was blushing almost to the point of dripping blood as he asked softly, “You believe me now, don’t you?”

Shi Qing: “No. What if you go back on your word?”

“I won’t.”

Meng Qing held back his shame as he said, “A cultivator always keeps his promises.”

“That’s still not enough.”

Shi Qing waved his hand and summoned a contract in front of Meng Qing: “I’ll believe you if you open your eyes and sign.”

Meng Qing slowly opened his eyes and looked over the contract in front of him.

It was similar to the ones before.

He took the pen that was hovering on the side and carefully signed his name.

After signing it, he watched the contract slowly disappear with a mixture of relief, a bit of nervousness, and a few unexplainable hints of embarra.s.sment and joy.

“That’s more like it.”

Hearing Shi Qing’s satisfied voice, Meng Qing endured his embarra.s.sment and looked up at the standing demon king. He was ready to help wipe away his tears.

But he froze when he looked up.

The demon king’s pale face was clean, and he was looking at him with an ice cream cone in his hand.

Sensing his incredulous gaze, Shi Qing licked the cone and raised his eyebrows with a face that showed no signs of recently crying at all.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You, you…” The young cultivator was flabbergasted. “You didn’t cry?”

“Cry?” The demon king snorted, “Nice one. How could a bonafide Demon King like me cry?”

“But I felt tears…” The befuddled Meng Qing looked at his shoulder and saw a bit of half-melted ice cream there.

Meng Qing: “???”

Meng Qing: “…”

Shi Qing plopped down beside him and followed his eyes.

“I might’ve gotten some there accidentally earlier.”

Then the demon king turned slightly to the side and licked up all the ice cream on his shoulder, letting it melt in his mouth.

Meng Qing: “….”

He stiffened, not even daring to breathe until he felt that soft wetness leave. His chest began to violently heave from anger.

“You, you…!”

“What about me?” Shi Qing reminded him, “You just signed a contract, remember? You can’t go back on your promises.”

Meng Qing: “……”

His beautiful eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment, and he locked eyes with Shi Qing for a long time before spitting out a single word.

“Shameless!”

The demon king shrugged, “It’s not like I forced you to sign it. What’s the point of scolding me if you were willing?”

He leaned on Meng Qing’s shoulder once again and brought the cone to the young cultivator’s mouth.

“Try this. It’s delicious.”

Seeing that Meng Qing didn’t move, he patted the cultivator’s handsome face. “Alright, alright. Don’t be angry anymore and eat quickly. There’s still business to be done later.”

The young cultivator looked at the demon king angrily and opened his mouth to take a vicious bite of the cone in front of him.

Wu….

He chewed a few times and swallowed before taking another bite.

This was pretty good…