Tu Shanche lowered his eyes, trying to force a smile at the corners of his mouth, but his warm golden eyes were filled with an unyielding bitterness.
He reached out, his fingertips trembling almost imperceptibly, and gently pinched Murong Xiao's mud-covered cheek. His voice tried to maintain its usual gentleness, attempting to downplay the shocking analysis from before: "What do you mean, 'can't survive'... Your Highness doesn't actually believe that, does he?"
Murong Xiao didn't move, letting those slightly cool fingers fall on his face.
He stared at Tu Shanche for a long time, so long that the wind in the forest seemed to freeze. On that small face still marked with tears, a bitter smile slowly appeared. His voice was hoarse, carrying a knowing weariness: "Brother."
He paused, each word seeming to be painstakingly ground out from the depths of his throat, crashing into the silent air.
"Do you know what? The way you're smiling now... is even uglier than when I told you I was going to kill you."
Shen Zhaozhao: "???"
What the heck is that?
No, you can just think about it and forget it, but you actually told the person in question!
Are all the methods in the Upper Realm this unconventional?
However, before Shen Zhaozhao could recover from this unorthodox approach, all the expressions on Murong Xiao's face—pain, grievance, confusion, and even that forced bitter smile—vanished completely in an instant.
He abruptly took two steps back, his movements swift and decisive without the slightest hesitation.
He yanked up the mud-stained hem of his shirt, and then, with a muffled thud, his knees slammed heavily onto the forest floor covered with decaying leaves. He collapsed to his knees, as if his spine had been ripped out.
His forehead slammed hard against the ground, making a dull thud.
"Senior sister."
The boy's hoarse voice, suppressed to the extreme, burst forth from between his lips pressed against the ground, carrying a resolute determination to gamble everything.
"I may not be very bright, and all I do is cause trouble, but... but I know you're very capable and have some wild ways to get ahead!"
"I beg you, I beg you! If you have even the slightest way to save my brother, to break this deadlock..."
His voice suddenly rose, filled with an undeniable ruthlessness, "My life is yours from this day forward! Use it however you want, use it to fill holes, as bait, or to shield yourself from harm, I won't even flinch, as long as it can save my brother's life!"
After roaring, he suddenly turned around and slammed his forehead against Tu Shanche's side again. His voice changed from fierce to pitiful and broken.
"Brother, I'm begging you too."
Tears mingled with mud, carving deep furrows into his face.
"Can't you give yourself a chance?"
"Tell me what happened... Don't go and die alone. What will I do if you die?"
"Aren't you the one who loves me the most? Even when I said those awful things... you could forgive me..."
At this point, Murong Xiao almost burst into tears, his voice ripped apart with utter despair, "How could you bear to... how could you bear to leave me all alone?!"
"Brother...can you bear to see me suffer a fate worse than death?!"
"..."
Dead silence.
The wind in the forest seemed to freeze, leaving only Murong Xiao's suppressed, broken sobs echoing in the air.
Tu Shanche's golden eyes, which were always filled with gentleness and tolerance, were now filled with shock and... panic that almost devoured him.
It was as if he was seeing the boy kneeling in the mud, humbly begging for his sake for the first time.
When did that innocent and willful little prince, whom he sheltered under his wing, whose mind was always filled with unconventional ideas, grow up to be like this?
He loved him, protected him, and was willing to give everything for him, including his own life.
But he never considered that his departure was, in itself, an unbearable torture for Xiao'er.
The knuckles were taut and pale beneath the wide sleeves of the robe, and the nails dug deep into the palms, causing a sharp, stinging pain, but it was nothing compared to the sudden, excruciating pain in my heart.
He opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was blocked by scalding sand, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Only those gilded eyes trembled violently, churning with turbulent waves. Something solid was crumbling inch by inch amidst Murong Xiao's desperate kowtows and pleas.
Shen Zhaozhao looked at Tu Shanche, who was completely shattered and could barely stand, and then glanced at the little brat on the ground whose forehead was pressed against the soil and whose shoulders were shaking violently from suppressing his sobs.
She raised an eyebrow, took a small step forward, raised her hand, and lightly patted Tu Shanche's tense shoulder, the force carrying a hint of "bringing him back to his senses."
"fox."
Shen Zhaozhao's voice was low, carrying a hint of detached indifference, yet strangely pierced through the heavy, sorrowful atmosphere. "See?"
"Is my junior brother not as incapable of handling things as you think?"
Tu Shanche swayed almost imperceptibly as Shen Zhaozhao slapped him on the shoulder.
He seemed to finally pull himself out of Murong Xiao's desperate kowtow. He pursed his lips, as if silently resisting something. Finally, Tu Shanche sighed almost inaudibly. The sigh was as light as a feather falling to the ground, yet it carried the weariness of a heavy burden being lifted.
He stepped forward, bent down, and with his long, slender fingers, he forcefully gripped Murong Xiao's elbow, which was clinging to the ground, and pulled him up from the mud.
"Your Highness..."
Tu Shanche's voice was terribly hoarse, "Who are you? How dare you debase yourself like this?"
Murong Xiao was pulled so hard he stumbled, his face still wet with tears, but his bloodshot eyes suddenly blazed with fury, making him tremble all over.
"identity?"
"What is my identity?"
"Brother, let me tell you! I was born in the Nine Heavens of the Upper Realm, where heavenly lightning always strikes around me. I am immortal!"
He suddenly pointed to his chest, his eyes fierce like a small beast driven to the brink of despair: "But if you die, then I'm just a pathetic worm who can't even die if I want to, and can only suffer in misery!"
He roared with all his might, every word dripping with blood and tears, making Tu Shanche's face turn even paler.
Shen Zhaozhao took a half step forward at the opportune moment: "Yeah, fox, since things have come to this point, let's just go all out."
"What kind of death mission did the Immortal Emperor send you? Tell us, maybe we can find a way out for you?"
Seeing that Shen Zhaozhao had relented, Murong Xiao immediately clung to her like a drowning man grasping at a straw, urgently saying, "Yes, yes, brother! Don't let her seemingly low cultivation level fool you, my senior sister is incredibly capable!"
"Let me tell you—"
Tu Shanche: "..."
After listening to his younger brother's account, Tu Shanche was completely stunned.
Pulling...pulling off someone's underwear?
Is this a price-propping measure?
Moral blackmail and excessive praise?
For the first time, a chilling emptiness clearly appeared in his warm, golden eyes.
What kind of people did our precious little prince encounter on his trip down to the mortal realm?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
