Yin Ci was stunned in place by the words "you're back," forgetting to breathe once again.

Even though he had already realized that Shi Jingzhi was most likely his little mute, he still kept this belief deep in his heart. Yin Ci feared that it was just a coincidence, and that the slightest unexpected event would shatter his fragile hope into pieces.

The old house before him was dimly lit, surrounded by a group of demons outside, yet it felt like an unreal dream.

After wandering in the mortal world for hundreds of years, Yin Ci finally felt a hint of "fate's" kindness. The warmth of that kindness was so intense that he instinctively pulled back his hand, feeling suspicious and doubtful.

"little mute?"

Yin Ci cleared his dry throat and attempted to ask his question directly, but his voice came out much quieter than he had imagined. He thought the meridians in his body had long since died, but at this moment, a surge of heat flowed up his spine, bringing with it a sensation of needles piercing his skin.

Shi Jingzhi's embrace tightened even more.

The seal had been lifted, and the fog in front of them dissipated. Shi Jingzhi had never been so clear-headed before.

The intense desire still lurked in his heart, but it had transformed from a blind, ferocious beast into a docile wolf, unable to shake his thoughts.

However, at this moment, Shi Jingzhi still didn't know how to answer. His usually nimble tongue was now stiff in his mouth, like a piece of dead wood without any sense of propriety.

He was torn between explaining the "separation from his death" from before and just casting all the blame on the National Teacher directly. Feeling the warmth of Yin Ci's body so close, he felt both bitter and soft in his heart.

He wanted to joke, "I won't recognize you as my father now that you're my disciple," but it was suppressed by the question, "How have you been these past few years?"

Shi Jingzhi wished he had eight heads to spill out everything he had just seen and heard.

Unfortunately, his throat seemed to be blocked by these trivial words, and only a short "Mm" leaked out.

It's really amazing, Shi Jingzhi thought.

When he was three years old, he couldn't even hug Yin Ci with both arms. Now he could hold him in his arms and even had extra strength to lift up his head and tidy his hair.

Yin Ci trembled slightly, and his body was stiff, not saying another word. Compared to before, just looking at the posture of the embrace, it seemed as if the two had switched positions.

But that vitality and warmth remained unchanged, as if nothing had changed.

How could there be such a good thing in the world?

Yin Ci had a strange thought - perhaps Shi Jingzhi had already died, and he had gone crazy by accident. The peaceful scene in front of him was not real, but just a hallucination in his madness.

He tightly grasped Shi Jingzhi's clothes, accidentally grabbing onto the flesh beneath the fabric, and dared not relax his grip. Yin Ci was afraid that if he let go, the person in front of him would turn into smoke, sand, or something he could never hold onto again.

As Shi Jingzhi was squeezed until he gasped for air, he finally cleared his throat. Instead of struggling, he opened his mouth and began to ramble on, determined to make up for his silence twenty-four years ago.

"There are no flowers in the north. When we return to the Central Plains, I will find some for you. If we encounter any flower demons, I can easily poke them with my flagpole. You can have as many as you want."

"I remember why I'm afraid of ghosts now. Ah Ci, you told me so many ghost stories back then, with such a creepy tone that even talismans couldn't keep them at bay..."

......

As Shi Jingzhi rambled on, his gaze swept over the dim formation, the few remaining pieces of flesh, and Yin Ci's blood-stained clothes.

The smell of the ancient corpses was slightly different from that of a newly dead "body." Chen Qianfan's face showed only surprise, not anger, so it was likely that the "body" was not that of an innocent victim.

He could largely guess where they came from.

The expression on Shi Jingzhi's face darkened, but he didn't blame Yin Ci for hurting himself, nor did he investigate his immortality.

Instead, he recounted the warm moments from twenty-four years ago, one by one, in a soft voice. He continued until the person in his arms slowly regained consciousness and stopped being as stiff as a rock.

Shi Jingzhi had just broken through the prohibition and was already weak. Speaking took a toll on him, and as he spoke, he couldn't help but relax his body, turning the embrace into a mutual support.

"...Alright, rest now."

Yin Ci noticed his exhaustion. He didn't think he could go crazy in such a believable manner either. So he turned his confusion into a sense of relief.

He released Shi Jingzhi and wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve. After cleaning him up, he carefully observed Shi Jingzhi's face as if it was their first meeting, determined to engrave this face firmly in his mind.

"Are you okay?"

Yin Ci looked at him for a long time, realizing that staring was a bit inappropriate, and tried to make small talk. He even wanted to pretend to be calm as usual, and if not for his broken and hoarse tone, Shi Jingzhi would have believed him.

Shi Jingzhi glanced at the nearby corpses, feeling a twitch in his heart. He didn't know how this person had the nerve to ask such a question - even if he had an indestructible body, wouldn't he still feel pain?

Sect Leader Shi didn't care if Yin Ci had lived for two hundred years or twenty years, or if he was Su Zhi or Yin Ci. At that moment, he only felt that his disciple had caused him a lot of pain, half from tenderness and half from anger.

So he leaned back and told the truth: "Not good."

Yin Ci reached out to take the pulse, but was surprised when Shi Jingzhi quickly withdrew his hand, not letting him grab it.

Shi Jingzhi spoke silently, with Old Man Chen facing his back.

[I've lived for over twenty years, and the first person who was good to me was Ah Ci. The last person who might be good to me before I die should also be you. But if you cut yourself into a bloody gourd, how can I be okay?]

Cut into a bloody gourd?

Yin Ci suddenly realized that this person hadn't just recovered his original desire. Shi Jingzhi had witnessed his battle with the giant demon, and might have guessed something...

Suddenly, there were two crisp sounds.

Old Man Chen, who was sitting in front of the wooden platform, couldn't stand the sight of the two men being so sticky and gave them each a punch. Yin Ci was deep in thought, and this was the first time he had received such treatment. His killing intent almost couldn't be suppressed.

"What are you doing, what are you doing? It's almost done, why do you keep nagging on?"

Chen Qianfan skillfully ignored the murderous intent. After spitting his saliva on Shi Jingzhi, he turned his gaze to Yin Ci.

"This kid can't die anyway, you don't need to see him off. Why are you still standing here? I still need materials for my Living Puppet Curse. Go do something useful!"

Shi Jingzhi, acting out of character, didn't continue to stick to his disciple. Instead, he joined forces with Old Man Chen to drive him away.

Sect Leader Shi lay stiffly back on the wooden frame and said sternly, "Old Man Chen is right. The situation is critical, and we must focus on the important matters."

Yin Ci didn't know what counted as "important matters" for a moment.

Is there anything more important than regaining what he had lost for twenty-four years?

If it weren't for Yan Qing and Shi Zhongyu still being outside, he would have risked everything to hold down and tear the Secret Book into pieces, then come back to interrogate Shi Jingzhi thoroughly. If it weren't for the poor timing, he wouldn't have wanted this kid out of his sight at all.

What if he lost him again?

Compared to the anxious and worried Yin Ci, Shi Jingzhi who had the "Object Addiction" was surprisingly calm. It seemed like he was recalling past memories like usual, and seeing someone he hadn't seen in a long time. Under the dangerous prohibition, there seemed to be no intense love or hate, nor any scheming haze.

"Go ahead." Shi Jingzhi urged calmly.

It seemed that they couldn't sit down and have a proper conversation until the current situation was resolved. Yin Ci looked left and right, but the child who used to stick to him like glue was nowhere to be seen.

With a heavy sigh, he changed into a clean coat and strode into the wind and snow.

But behind Yin Ci, Shi Jingzhi turned his head once more. Granny Wei was in an inner room, and there was no one to close the door. He watched as Yin Ci's figure grew smaller and smaller, disappearing into the distance through the snow.

Shi Jingzhi extended his hand, fingers splayed, just enough to block the tall figure from view.

Then, slowly clenching his fist, he finally revealed a smile of having obtaining what he wanted. This time, he paid no attention to Old Man Chen who was watching beside him, nor did he care if his smile was "normal".

He knew what his original desire, and how to get it.

No longer stumbling through life, trying to escape death, he was now running towards his chosen destination - after more than twenty years, he had finally found a heart that he could touch.

"Senior Chen, I beg of you to perform the Living Puppet Curse. Please act quickly, I want to face the Secret Book together with my disciple," he pleaded with Senior Chen.

He wanted to keep Yin Ci by his side, not as his possession, but as a living and breathing "person."

He wanted to live, more than ever before, with every passing moment.

At the same time, in Yi City.

The spring breeze blew impartially, passing through the vermilion gates of the National Teacher's manor.

Jiang Youyue put down his brush and looked towards the nearby shrine - the bonsai on the shrine moved on its own, and the tiny flower buds burst open, their crimson petals swaying slightly. The sweet fragrance of the flowers contained a hint of a faintly fishy smell.

Jiang Youyue was stunned for a moment, and then sighed with a complex expression.

"Master, but has the prohibition left by the Grandmaster been lifted?" His subordinate, still wearing a mask, spoke with a hint of concern.

"That's right."

"Shi Jingzhi's life is hanging by a thread, and he was originally desperate to survive. But now that he has figured out his original desire, he might turn against us and even become our enemy..."

"The heavenly fate cannot be defied."

"If the heavenly fate cannot be changed, then why did the Grandmaster go against it and try to kill him in the first place?" The masked man seemed to have some reservations about the concept of "heavenly fate".

Jiang Youyue raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what the 'original desire' is?"

The masked man looked at his own master, a hint of confusion on his face. This question was simple for him, but when asked by his master in a serious tone, he dared not answer casually.

Jiang Youyue continued, "The matter of an 'original desire' was not originally fated to happen, so how can it be considered going against the heavenly fate?"

The masked man choked a bit and said, "Please enlighten me, Master."

"The desires in this world are complex and overwhelming, and the human body cannot bear them. Therefore, the sages have created a technique: when encountering the most wonderful thing in the world, one will establish their original desire. By concentrating on this one desire, one is not easily disturbed by countless desires, and can maintain their sanity.

"For a youth, they would have already matured and their original desire is difficult to interfere with. However, a three-year-old child is different. My master sealed his original desire, dulling their will. He can resist countless desires, and his original desire is vague, so they do not exhaust all his mental energy. We can easily tame him."

Jiang Youyue made a gesture in the air, and all the flowers on the shrine were shattered, leaving petals scattered on the ground.

"Shi Jingzhi is not like the Mi Lan Empress, who wasted her first sixteen years in confusion, nor is he like Yan Budu, who lived recklessly and without order.

"Now that everything is in place and the grand plan has been realized, all that's left is the crucial element of luck. Regardless of how much he knows, and whether his shell contains a 'heart' or not... It has nothing to do with the great undertaking of the divine person."