Chapter 69 (069) - Two-in-One [VIP]

Actually... sitting in a car is much easier than walking.

Walking is tiring and strenuous, but taking a car means you don't have to walk and can rest. This car is also quite good; it has natural light from all sides, and you can see the scenery from different angles just by tilting your head.

The space isn't very big, so you have to tuck your legs in and you can't turn over. You can only sit for a long time, and by the time you stop, your legs might go numb.

Yin Chu Jiu thoroughly evaluated his current mode of transportation and came to a fairly satisfactory conclusion. Although it was a prison van, it still had the word "vehicle" in it. He didn't even have a car in modern times, so having one here was already quite good.

While others in prison vans either complain or shout angrily, he, sitting in his van, still had the mind to enjoy the scenery.

Mo Ling walked behind and leaned closer to Yin Chu Jiu, asking in a low voice, "Aren't you sad?" He didn't understand how he could still smile, since he hadn't seemed to be in a good mood when he visited him yesterday.

This time, the group consisted of him, his lord, Zi Zhuo and the black cat, along with five subordinates and Yin Chu Jiu, making a total of ten people. Since their lord already knew the location of the divine herb, they did not need to send more people to protect it.

Thinking about his relationship with Yin Chu Jiu, Mo Ling took the initiative to walk behind. At this moment, he lowered his voice, not afraid that his master in front would hear him.

Yin Chu Jiu took a deep breath and exhaled, as if releasing the gloom in his heart, and said, "How can I not be sad? But no matter how sad I am, I have to keep going, right?" He glanced at Yue Ling's back in front of him, and the sadness in his heart lessened a little. A relaxed expression appeared on his face. "How long until the illusion shatters?"

Mo Ling thought for a moment and said, "It will probably take about five or six days."

"Five or six days?" There should clearly be about seven or eight days left.

“Hmm,” Mo Ling said, “Because the master has regained his memories, so have Zi Zhuo and the black cat. While regaining their memories, they also regained some of their internal energy. The master doesn’t expend any other energy, but Zi Zhuo and the black cat do. Illusions are maintained by energy, and now that the energy is being consumed, the illusion will break down faster.”

"Look around, do you notice that the shapes of those trees have become much blurrier?"

Yin Chu Jiu looked around and saw that it was indeed the case. When Mo Ling had told him before, he had only noticed that some grass had become blurry, but now even the trees were becoming blurry. Perhaps in a few more days, even the virtual figures in the illusion would become blurry. Sure enough, too much energy had been consumed, and the illusion was breaking down faster.

So… Yin Chu Jiu looked at Yue Ling’s back in front of him. His figure was still that of a young man, and his back was the same as the one he had seen countless times, but the person inside was no longer the same.

Regardless of personality or thoughts, the soul within that body is Yue Ling's soul.

He thought he had seven or eight days left, but unexpectedly, he only had five or six days. No, perhaps he didn't even have five or six days left. If Yue Ling found the divine herb and restored all his power, then the remaining energy of this illusion would be absorbed, the illusion would shatter immediately, and he would leave immediately.

"Yin Chu Jiu." Mo Ling hesitated for a moment, then said in a dry, barely consoling tone, "Just forget about all this when you get back."

But Yin Chu Jiu didn't answer. He thought for a moment, then stopped talking and continued to steer his horse forward.

There are two purposes for this trip: first, to search for the divine herb on the cliff; and second, to let Yin Chu Jiu retrace the path that Yue Ling walked back then. In the novel, Yue Ling entered the Moon Forest and traversed almost half of the forest before finally arriving at the vicinity of the village by chance, where he was picked up by the girl Lang Lang.

Yin Chu Jiu couldn't remember where the route started or ended. He sat in the carriage, watching the scenery around him change again and again. He didn't know how much time had passed before he finally stopped in front of a huge tree.

Actually, there was nothing special about this tree. Trees in the Illusionary Demon Continent are all very large, and there are many trees that several people can barely encircle. However, when he looked at this tree, he knew that they had arrived at their destination.

“Back then, I started from here and walked all the way into the depths of the forest. Today, I don’t want you to do anything else. Just follow the route I took back then.” Before he knew it, Yue Ling had arrived beside him. He sat on his horse, looking down at him with his handsome features as cold as ice. “Get down.”

With a click, the brass lock on the carriage was opened.

Yin Chu Jiu stared blankly at the boy in front of him. This was the first time he had seen him so clearly since regaining his memories. The previous two times had been mere torture; he had never been able to see his features clearly.

The events of those two days were shrouded in mystery, making it difficult to see clearly. His memories of those two days were equally hazy; he lived in a daze until this moment, when he seemed to finally come to his senses.

Things are different now.

Yue Ling is different now that she has regained her memories.

His expression, his eyes, his attitude—everything was different.

"Yue Ling..." Yin Chu Jiu opened his mouth, his body moving faster than his thoughts to utter the boy's name. The next moment, the boy's brows furrowed, his eyes filled with a chilling, bone-deep hatred. "Shut up! Don't call me that!"

Yin Chu Jiu froze, his eyes stung, and he hurriedly lowered his head. He had forgotten that the Yue Ling in front of him was not the boy who only had eyes for him, but the Great Sage of Illusion Demon who had regained all his memories.

Mo Ling said that Yue Ling remembered all her memories, and he knew that Yue Ling would hate him. But then he heard Mo Ling say that Yue Ling also remembered the memories from the illusion, and he thought... he thought that Yue Ling might not hate him as much.

He lied. In front of Mo Ling, he said he didn't care, or that Yue Ling hated him, but he also humbly thought that Yue Ling, who had regained her memories, might have some resemblance to the young Yue Ling.

But he was wrong. No, not at all.

Under the powerful memories of those decades in reality, the memories of those few years in the illusion were completely shattered, and even the slightest bit of affection was washed away.

Only now did he realize that the boy he loved was truly gone; he had personally lost him.

Besides him, no one else will remember that cautious yet sweet feeling.

Stepping off the cart, Yin Chu Jiu stood before Yue Ling. He lowered his eyes, avoiding eye contact with the boy; his gaze was fixed only on the tall horse beneath him, and… the boy's strong, long legs dangling beside the horse's belly. He tried to clear his mind, not to look at anything, when suddenly he felt a brush against him. He snapped back to reality and realized it was Yue Ling's horse that had brushed against him.

This… Yin Chu Jiu was stunned for a moment. The horse continued to rub against him, obediently nuzzling him with its head. Its big eyes were black and bright. Only then did he recognize that this horse was the one he and Yue Ling had ridden before. When they were sucked into the spatial rift, this horse was left there. He didn’t expect that Mo Ling would bring it back, and now Yue Ling had even chosen it.

Yin Chu Jiu hadn't felt any special affection for this horse initially, treating it merely as a means of transportation. But now, he wanted to touch it. He and Yue Ling had little left to share—no memories, no possessions—this horse was perhaps the only thing that held their shared memories.

However, just as Yin Chu Jiu was about to touch it, the reins on the horse's neck suddenly twitched, forcing the horse to straighten its head.

"How dare you! You think you can touch my horse?"

The boy's cold voice came from above. Yin Chu Jiu subconsciously looked up and saw the boy with his chin slightly raised, coldly rebuking him. Only then did he realize what he had done and quickly apologized to the boy, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched it."

"Heh." Yue Ling chuckled softly, then stopped talking, spurred his horse, took a few steps, and left. With Yue Ling gone, Yin Chu Jiu didn't know what to do. Standing there, he suddenly felt an overwhelming loneliness.

Mo Ling walked over and said to him, "We'll rest here for now and set off again after we finish eating. And you, you're leaving too." He hinted that he was going to walk. "Here, have something to eat first, or you won't have the strength later."

Yin Chu Jiu was given a piece of meat. He looked down and saw it was a piece of tender meat. When he looked up again, Mo Ling was already gone.

He was going to hike through the forest, and if he didn't eat enough, he would indeed lack strength and it would be very difficult. But would Yue Ling allow him to eat? Wouldn't he be angry if he saw him? He carefully looked up to find the boy's figure and saw Zi Zhuo talking to the boy, seemingly discussing something, completely unaware of what was happening here.

Zi Zhuo said he didn't want to die, so his talking to Yue Ling must have been intentional. After thinking for a moment, Yin Chu Jiu took the meat to the side, lit the firewood, and prepared to roast the meat.

He had no seasoning on him, but the animal meat in this world was so tender that even the plain meat wasn't too bad.

He lit the firewood, skewered the meat on a stick, and began to roast it. The aroma of the meat slowly wafted out, and Yin Chu Jiu couldn't help but sniff. During the two days he had been locked in the cage, he hadn't had any appetite at all.

Just then, the black cat walked over, holding a packet of seasonings in her hand. She squatted down in front of him, staring at him with a deep gaze, her wild, vertical pupils looking at him without any emotion.

In the illusion, the black cat usually looked at him with a smile. The black cat had a pure and innocent nature; it was very enthusiastic when it liked someone, and equally direct in its dislike. Before, he had only seen the black cat's enthusiastic side, but now he was encountering its gloomy side.

He reaps what he sows.

Yin Chu Jiu flipped the meat over, a bitter smile playing on her lips, but a smile on her face as she said calmly, "I thought you didn't want to see me."

The black cat sniffed, its clear black and white eyes filled with undisguised dislike. "If you weren't a decent cook, do you think I would have come over? Here are the seasonings. Make the meat taste better for me, and then share half with me."

"Okay," Yin Chu Jiu replied.

Yin Chu Jiu's compliant attitude surprised the black cat. She had thought Yin Chu Jiu would at least put up a fight, but she agreed so easily. Seriously... how annoying!

Squatting there, the black cat was too lazy to look at Yin Chu Jiu, only staring at the meat in his hand. The more she looked, the angrier she became. Yin Chu Jiu was clearly a bad person who had done so many wrong things and made their lives so miserable, but how could he make such delicious meat? It was just too much!

With its cheeks puffed out, the black cat grew angrier the more it thought about it.

Yin Chu Jiu was unaware of the black cat's thoughts. He focused on grilling the meat, using the seasoning to grill a large, delicious piece of meat, then wrapped it in a clean leaf and handed it to the black cat.

"I'm done."

"It smells so good!" The black cat's eyes lit up, and it reached out to take the meat. But then it remembered the situation and quickly raised its chin, accepting the meat with an aloof expression. Don't think that two pieces of meat will make her forgive it.

Holding the meat, the black cat was about to leave. But she stopped and looked at Yin Chu Jiu. Yin Chu Jiu had given her half of the meat, leaving her with the other half. However, he didn't eat the other half directly. Instead, he divided it into two pieces and placed them on two leaves.

"What are you doing?" the black cat asked, pointing at the two pieces of meat.

“This is for…” Yin Chu Jiu answered with a smile, but the smile on his face stopped the next moment. He seemed to remember something, and his eyes were downcast. The black cat looked puzzled, but he did not continue. “It’s nothing. I want to save it for next time. If I eat it all at once, my stomach will feel very uncomfortable if I don’t eat it next time.”

I'll eat it again next time. Meat goes bad if it's past its prime; it becomes oily and tough, and tastes terrible.

Holding the meat, the black cat turned and walked away. But for some reason, she turned back and glanced at Yin Chu Jiu. He was staring blankly at the two pieces of meat on the ground, as if the meat wasn't something he had specially saved for his next meal, but rather something he wanted to give to someone else, but couldn't take.

Meat that is habitually divided.

The black cat was startled. She suddenly realized that the meat was indeed not left for her by Yin Chu Jiu, but for his master. In her illusory memories, he always cooked for his master. After cooking, he would immediately serve two portions, one for his master and one for herself.

Yin Chu Jiu had just finished grilling the meat, and perhaps because she hadn't yet adjusted to the current situation, she did this subconsciously.

he……

"Hmph! So what! It's only right that he did it," the black cat thought. But as she returned to her seat and looked at Yin Chu Jiu's somewhat forlorn figure, she suddenly remembered the first time she saw Yin Chu Jiu in the illusion. Back then, Yin Chu Jiu was cheerful and lively, and more importantly, he was wholeheartedly thinking of his master. Later, when his master, who had lost his memory, attacked her, he even took the initiative to apologize to her.

At the time, she thought it was Yin Chu Jiu who cared about the master. Now that she thinks about it, it was actually Yin Chu Jiu who was afraid that she would have a bad impression of the master and dislike him, so that she would not be able to help him in the future.

How annoying!

Why do such good things when you're so wicked?

They are clearly rivals in love!

Coughing, the black cat casually mentioned, with a look of utter disdain, "Master, Yin Chu Jiu grilled some meat. Honestly, that's the only thing he's good at—cooking."

Yue Ling lifted her eyelids, her gaze neither warm nor cold.

Not only Yue Ling, but also Mo Ling, who was grilling meat, and Zi Zhuo, who was reading a medical book, looked over. Mo Ling looked nervous, while Zi Zhuo looked interested.

“My lord, I gave Yin Chu Jiu that piece of meat to him. He didn’t ask for it himself. I think that since he was going to walk the same path you walked back then, he should have enough strength. Otherwise, if he had collapsed on the road, it would have been trouble for us.”

He was worried that his master would be angry with Yin Chu Jiu. Although he guessed that his master might still like Yin Chu Jiu, he didn't know how much his master liked her, so he dared not gamble.

Mo Ling explained, but Yue Ling only glanced at him, a cold and indifferent look that revealed no emotion. Then his gaze fell on the black cat. The black cat understood immediately and continued, "He grilled a piece of meat, humph, it tasted alright, but he even took an extra piece. I immediately guessed what he meant."

Yue Ling's eyes were indifferent before she finally spoke her first words, "What do you mean?"

"He wanted to save that piece of meat for you, Master, but who are you, Master? You are the strongest in this world, the master of this world! More importantly, doesn't he realize what he did to you? How could you possibly accept his meat? He's overestimating himself." The black cat scoffed, then picked up the piece of meat from her hand and ate it. "He even lied to me, saying he was saving it for his next meal. How could I be fooled? Once I've eaten this piece of meat, I'll go and get the other piece back and not let him eat it."

"Yin Chu Jiu, this time I don't owe you anything!" The black cat thought to itself as it ate the meat in its hand with resentment.

She simply wanted to repay that favor, not to curry favor with the Lord. The Lord certainly wouldn't eat that piece of meat; you can save the real meat for the next meal.

The black cat thought this, but for some reason, the thought of Yin Chu Jiu eating both pieces of meat by herself made her feel very uncomfortable. It must be the illusion's fault; it was this illusion's fault that caused her to be affected by those memories.

Black Cat had mixed feelings. On one hand, she hated Yin Chu Jiu, but on the other hand, she didn't want to see Yin Chu Jiu looking pitiful. Oh well, no matter what, she had already paid back everything.

She figured her master wouldn't eat that piece of meat, so she planned to finish her own piece and take the piece from Yin Chu Jiu's hand, preventing him from eating two pieces by himself.

Speaking of which, the meat tastes really good. In her memories of the illusion, the master always ate it all up, and... his expression was also very gentle, like any ordinary person, possessing emotions other than indifference.

Having made up her mind, the black cat buried herself in her food and ate voraciously. Just as she was enjoying her meal, a clear, crisp voice suddenly rang out in front of her.

"Black Cat, go and get that piece of meat."

The black cat looked up and saw Yue Ling staring at her calmly, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "This illusion is mine, you are all my subordinates, and that piece of meat is mine too. It's one thing for him to roast the meat, but he actually wants to keep mine for himself?"

Will she take it all for herself? Did she say Yin Chu Jiu would take that piece of meat all for herself?

The black cat froze, but Yue Ling raised his voice, "Hurry up and go!"

The black cat swallowed the piece of meat in her mouth, then walked blankly over to Yin Chu Jiu and asked him to hand it over. She didn't say anything else, only that her master wanted to eat it, and Yin Chu Jiu immediately handed over the meat, his movements very careful, with a hint of anticipation in his carefulness.

Holding the meat, she turned around and handed it to her master. With a cold face, her master opened the leaf and, under her stunned gaze, slowly and methodically ate the piece of meat, leaving not a single bit behind.

Whether it was a misperception or an illusion, a subtle tenderness seemed to flash in the boy's eyes as he ate the meat, but upon closer inspection, she could see that there was no emotion in them.

Lord, what does this mean?

The black cat sized up the handsome young man sitting in front of it, and couldn't help but wonder if he still had feelings for Yin Chu Jiu? Was he also affected by the illusionary memories like it was?

"That might be it," the black cat thought again, but in the next instant, the boy's face immediately turned cold, and a thick black mist filled his eyes. He pursed his lips, threw the leaf in his hand into the fire, and watched without blinking as the leaf was engulfed by the flames and finally burned to ashes.

After lunch, they set off again.

This time, Yin Chu Jiu no longer sat on the cart, but walked. He walked in front, followed by Yue Ling and the others.

Before that, Yin Chu Jiu, under Yue Ling's sharp gaze, said a few words to him, "I don't know. When I wrote it, I only sketched out a few sentences. I don't know the specific route."

“It’s alright, I remember,” Yue Ling replied. “I’ve always remembered.”

Therefore, Yin Chu Jiu is currently following the route that Yue Ling pointed out to him; wherever Yue Ling points, he goes.

The Moon Forest was vast and boundless. It was also very high, with an incline of almost sixty degrees. Walking through the forest felt like climbing a mountain; there were few flat areas, almost all slopes. He soon felt exhausted, breathless, and stumbled. He grabbed a nearby tree trunk to steady himself, the rough bark cutting his palms, leaving them burning.

He didn't stop, but simply let go of the tree trunk and silently continued walking forward.

The further he walked, the clearer he felt everything that Yue Ling had gone through back then.

He only wrote a few words in the novel, yet a young boy had to exert all his strength to carry it out. He felt exhausted just climbing mountains, so what did that boy experience as he traversed mountain after mountain, across vast grasslands?

Besides being tired, is there also pain, and... loneliness?

Just thinking about a boy walking alone on the grassland, climbing in the forest, drinking water from the river when thirsty, eating grass roots when hungry, and sleeping on the grassland when tired, made him feel a dense, throbbing pain in his heart.

No wonder Yue Ling hates him. If someone made him go through all that, he would hate that person too.

He and Yue Ling could never be together, and Yue Ling... could never forgive him. He really should hate him.

Realizing this fact, Yin Chu Jiu felt he should be happy, but he couldn't laugh. Because he understood perfectly clearly that he had really lost Yue Ling, and Yue Ling could no longer be the Yue Ling who only thought of him.

The Yue Ling walking behind him would no longer feel sorry for him.

He had long thought that he and Yue Ling could never be together, and that it would be best if Yue Ling hated him, but when it actually happened, he still felt very sad.

Goodbye, Yue Ling.

It's really goodbye.

Perhaps he had come to terms with it, because the difficult road suddenly felt easier to him, and he no longer felt tired. In a few more days, it would all be over.

All the likes, all the dislikes, all of it, just as he had initially envisioned, is now over.

Hey, his original plan was to let Yue Ling regain his strength and then leave, isn't that exactly what he planned? It just deviated a little bit.

As Yin Chu Jiu was walking in the forest, a deafening roar suddenly came from ahead, startling a flock of birds in the woods.

Author's Note:

The rest of the story will probably be very angsty, both physically and emotionally tormenting the protagonist. Currently, it's about the protagonist's physical suffering, but later it will be about the protagonist's emotional suffering. Once all the angst is over, this story will be finished.

Some readers suggested an on-the-spot breakup, but this plot point is unlikely. The uke (bottom) knows the seme (top)'s hatred towards him, so he understands the seme's actions. If the seme were to mistreat him for no reason, he would definitely break up with him. There will probably be a bit of a "wife-chasing-after-the-husband" scenario, mainly during the parts where the seme is emotionally tormented (even though they didn't actually break up).