After finally being left alone in the room, Zhao Yuan Zhou smiled at the pale man who was still sitting on his bed, relieved that at least something had worked out for them, for what Wen Xiao did with Zhuo Yi Chen had given him relief and at least one thing less to think about and worry about. He had to admit that he now owed her one more thing he could not pay in this life, along with the death of her master at his hands. It seemed that fate was willing to make him suffer in whatever way he chose. Whether it was Wen Xiao and the bond of the Baize token or Zhuo Yi Chen, his soul mate, he simply had his hands full with the blood of their loved ones and nothing could change it, no matter how much he wished for it.
"I know what just happened was a bit unexpected, but it doesn't matter. The most important thing is how you feel right now. The pain should still be there, even if you've hidden it from others, and I'm not just talking about the emotional pain..." Zhao Yuan Zhou told him, and Zhao Yi Chen looked outside. His room was open, allowing the moonlight and night breeze to cool the room.
"The pain is still there, but I can bear it for a while. As I said earlier, I really meant that Bing Yi and I are becoming one, so if I die, the remnant of his soul in me will too. The process of my body transforming into a demon has been delayed, which will gone me some extra time... although if the sword isn't repaired soon, it won't mean anything. I will still be destroyed by his demonic energy eventually." Zhuo Yi Chen confessed.
"So... did he tell you how you can save yourself?" Zhao Yuan Zhou asked hopefully.
"Restoring the Cloud Light Sword will help me with my degradation, and Bing Yi said there's a way to reforge it, but as for becoming a demon... he said it will depend on the decisions I make once I reach the forbidden area of my Clan."
"What did he mean by that? Could he be more specific?" Zhao Yuan Zhou wanted answers from the old, great dragon, not more riddles that would lead them nowhere.
"It's not like he can stay awake all the time, Zhu Yan. If he doesn't sleep to slow the process of his energy ravaging me from within, I'll die sooner."
"Ah, right... then let him sleep as long as he can. We'll find a way to solve this riddle. I promise I'll save you one way or another," Zhao Yuan Zhou said to Yi Chen with all the seriousness in the world. It wasn't that he didn't know how to save him, for he knew a simple and safe way to do it and planned to use it if there was no other way out.
Seeing the great demon so serious, Zhuo Yi Chen sighed wearily. Even if Bing Yi hadn't warned him about transferring a core from one great demon to another, he could see that Zhu Yan had already thought about it. He was, indeed, just like Ying Long in his previous life, always trying to sacrifice himself for someone else, for the greater good, or for his loved ones.
To think that Zhu Yan, the strongest demon in the wilderness, was nothing more than a heartless, bloodthirsty beast was completely wrong. In many ways, the demon who looked at him so tenderly was far better than more than half the human population and their dark hearts. After all, malicious energy was the manifestation of those dark emotions, and now he painfully understood that. Zhu Yan simply carried that darkness for them, unable to help himself, just like him when Bing Yi possessed him.
"Saving me doesn't include transferring your core to me, Zhao Yuan Zhou. You're more readable than you think, and to be honest, I'm looking forward to you wanting to live instead of forcing me to kill you. Believe me, the first time you asked for it in a previous life resulted in the curse we both face now." Zhuo Yi Chen confessed to the great demon, who raised an eyebrow at his words.
"Previous life?" He asked, slightly puzzled.
"You, Zhu Yan, vessel of the world's malicious energy, are as much Ying Long as I am the reincarnation of Bing Yi, already confirmed by the great dragon himself. The curse they placed on us without even knowing it's the result of their 'I want to die to save the world, and you, my soulmate, should do it because I would only want to die at your hands.'" Zhuo Yi Chen finished speaking, watching amusedly at Zhu Yan jaw drop in shock.
"What?" The great demon asked as he suddenly slid onto the bed so fast that Yi Chen barely had time to take a breath in before he found himself mere inches away from being chest to chest with him. Ever since he woke up, Zhao Yuan Zhao had been sitting in the middle of the bed, so it wasn't difficult for him to be close to the other in the blink of an eye.
"Do you want to know their true story, not the incomplete legend we were told?" Zhuo Yi Chen asked in return.
"Of course, I am all ears."
"How about a cup of tea first? To be honest, I'm a little cold right now," Zhuo Yi Chen whispered, and Zhao Yuan Zhou couldn't help but glance at Yi Chen lips, which were truly a little blue from the cold.
"My apologies, I forgot that the demonic energy of Bing Yi is quite cold, but... I can solve that problem without the need for tea..." He suggested and Zhuo Yi Chen blushed under his intense gaze.
"Get lost, you pervert monkey."
"Ape."
"Whatever... I'm in no condition to play games."
"Well, tea is. Can you get up or would you rather I carry you to the table outside?"
"I can walk just fine!"
"Are you sure about that? Your body has been weakened for three days in bed."
"You!" But Zhao Yuan Zhou simply smiled at him.
"Xiao Zhuo, don't get mad, I swear I only have your best interest in my heart."
"I highly doubt it. Now go make me some tea, will you?"
"Okay, your wish is my command." The great demon said that as he stood up and went to prepare the Commander's tea. He watched as Zhuo Yi Chen got out of bed and walked slowly to the table outside. The night was clear, so he had a beautiful view of the stars shining in the dark sky. The stars that Ying Long had created with the radiance of his sacrifice and love for the world.
How does a noble god-like demon with the power of creation end up cursing himself in his future reincarnations? He knew that Nuwa was grateful for his sacrifice and liked Bing Yi, so it was really Chaos who had seen the opportunity to screw things up and curse them eternally? If so, then how could they break the curse, because Chaos was also a god and part of the balance between light and darkness that the heavens so firmly maintain.
"Xiao Zhuo, don't think too much about things beyond your understanding. If I really am the reincarnation of Ying Long, then something divine is at play and it will be useless for us to try to break free from that cycle," Zhao Yuan Zhou said as he placed the pot on the fire next to the table.
"I don't believe we can't break free of it, and Bing Yi believes that too. He said the proof of that is that his blood, which had been suppressed by the stone for so many centuries, was so easily broken by a single tree demon no matter how powerful he is. He certainly wanted to try to destabilize the stone with his demonic energy, but under normal circumstances, it should have been impossible, otherwise the demons would have taken over the heavens long ago.The five-colored stone was an element for mending the heavens... how come it broke so easily, and just when I was at my most vulnerable?"
"Do you think Nuwa knew about the curse and took Bing Yi's blood to stop it when the time was right? That she is somehow trying to correct the mistake?"
"Otherwise a celestial stone shouldn't be broken by any demon, and in the same way Ying Long's sword, made from his bones and soul with the power of creation, wouldn't have been broken like that. Being the reincarnation of its creator, only you could damage the sword, only you could give Li Lun the satisfaction of breaking it and putting me in bed, right next to the stone that had protected my clan for centuries."
"It kind of make sense."
"So the next question is: why were your senses sealed so you lost control and damage the sword? Why did the sword break in the first place? Why did I have to become a demon with Bing Yi's blood?"
"So you could go to your clan's forbidden area. It's said there's a secret well-guarded by an ancient demon there."
"A demon who might give us some answers..."
"And salvation. You're not out of the woods yet, Xiao Zhuo."
"Right... that too." He sighed.
"Take some tea to warm yourself. Tomorrow we can travel to your clan forbidden area and see what is there waiting for us. Salvation or destruction, we will face it together." Zhao Yuan Zhou whisper as he served Yi Chen his tea.
"Then you believe all of this...?"
"I have no reason not to. We all know you don't lie and I witness with my own eyes Bing Yi's awakening. To be honest it was terrifying..."
"Will you show me?"
"Only if you insist..."
"I insist..."
"The come here and kiss me..."
"You stupid monkey!"
"Ape, for heavens sake."
"You don't deserve to be called ape..."
"Yet, that's what I am..."
"I have never see your true form."
"This building is too small for me to manifest."
"Just how big are you?"
"As big as a mountain..."
"Ying Long was a dragon..."
"He die and I inherit a new shape."
"An annoying one."
"Still one you want to save..." Zhao Yuan Zhou whisper and Yi Chen stared at him for a moment, lost into the events that make them enemies, to then become friends and now soulmates. It had been a strange journey, full of ups and downs, dangers and pain.
"Don't make me, Zhu Yan... please don't make me kill you. It will break me as much as it broke Bing Yi."
"I cannot promise what I don't know will happen in the future... but I will promise that I will not seek dead anymore. I have hurt you enough for ten lifetimes... I don't want to break you more than I already have..."
"Then, stay alive... stay with me..." Yi Chen said seriously.
"As you wish..." Zhu Yan smiled mischievously as he pulled Xiao Zhuo by his hanfu and kiss him from the other side of the small table.
"Zhao Yuan Zhou, you pervert..." Xiao Zhuo said breaking the kiss after realizing he was starting to respond it.
"You kiss me first.. this is only retaliation." Zhu Yan teased him.
"That wasn't me..."
"I know demonic energy better than anyone, Xiao Zhuo. Don't fool yourself."
"Fine! I'm off to bed, I have enough warm for the night."
"Oh? I assure you you can have more..."
"You're impossible. Leave me al..." And then Xiao Zhuo stopped mid-sentence, feeling something thick rise in his throat and coughing up blood.
"Xiao Zhuo!" And at that instant, Zhu Yan stood up, lifted the other man back onto the bed, and wiped the blood from his lips and chin with his sleeve.
"Don't worry, it's nothing... I'm dying after all."
"Don't make jokes like that, I won't let you die." Said Zhao Yuan Zhou emotionally.
"Then think of me killing you with my own hands... which is worse?"
"It was never my intention to hurt you with the oath. I did not expect us to become so close."
"But it happens anyway."
"What is done cannot be undone."
"But it can be changed."
"What do you mean?"
"You can still release me from my oath and I sincerely hope that you will before this is all over..." Zhuo Yi Chen whispers before a black void takes him as he faints in his bed, leaving behind a great worried demon and the spark of an escape from his promise to heaven in the burning.
AN: Thanks for reading. I hope this theory of mine make sense and don't ruin the story. Until next time, see you again. Hopefully.