Rise and Fall

The bed was not large, but Chen Weichen wanted to hold Ye Jiuya while sleeping, so there was no trouble.

He was used to hiding his pain and sorrow. The few times he made an exception and told Ye Jiuya that it hurt, it seemed like a layer of shackles had been removed. Although it still hurt, he felt much more at ease.

As he gradually calmed down, he intuitively learned some tricks to act spoiled. Sticking to Ye Jiuya's body, he asked with a nasal voice, "Am I annoying you like this? Am I bothering you?"

Only after hearing a "no", he stopped making a fuss and quieted down, his breathing rising and falling lightly.

Ye Jiuya's fingers ran through his hair, soft and smooth, with a hint of coolness. The dim lamplight concealed the snow-white strands.

He remembered that before Chen Weichen left, Xiao Dao had been pondering what summer foods and drinks were the most nourishing. In one night, the person in question had run off to the deep mountains to boil grass and pick flowers to make tea.

His fingertips slid down to Chen Weichen's shoulders. The thin shirt worn for sleeping in summer was very loose. With a slight tug, it slipped off, revealing one of his shoulders, still vaguely rounded, but much slimmer than when he was carefully taken care of in the capital.

Chen Weichen mumbled, "What are you pulling my clothes for?" He went to press Ye Jiuya's hand. He pressed it but didn't pull it away, instead holding it and interlocking their fingers.

Ye Jiuya asked him, "When will you return?"

"Return home? The heart demons might still come to make trouble for me. I can't go back, lest it implicates them."

"You plan to stay in the mountains all the time?"

"It's not good to always stay in the mountains. My cultivation has almost recovered. I plan to go to the South Sea to take a look. Where are you going?"

"Sword Pavilion."

"Just right," Chen Weichen said irritably, "You go north and I go south. Tomorrow we'll part ways. Save me from being injured by your sword energy day after day."

Speaking of sword energy, Ye Jiuya asked about Chen Weichen's recent situation. The answer was that suppressing the heart demon's energy was still quite taxing, likely because the demon world's fortune was churning, affecting him.

He also mentioned that the demon world and human world are separated. This batch of demons emerged due to an anomaly with the Heart Tempering Mirror. How did he come out then?

"I'll tell you, but I don't know if you'll believe it." Chen Weichen traced Ye Jiuya's features with his finger, using a half-joking tone, "The third ancient teaching of your Sword Pavilion is really quite useful. It's said sincerity can split metal and stone. The mortal world also likes to say things like 'sincerity can move the divine'... I just thought, wanting to be human, wanting to see you, wanting it so much my whole body ached. When I opened my eyes, I had arrived in the mortal realm."

Ye Jiuya's fingers stroked through his hair from time to time, not knowing how much of it he believed.

Chen Weichen also didn't bother to figure out why this person had a unique fondness for his hair. He continued with a smile, "I didn't lie to you this time. If I deceive you again, let heavenly lightning strike my head and scatter my soul..."

Just as he finished speaking, a thunderclap sounded outside, the reverberations unceasing. A few breaths later, there was another.

Chen Weichen: "..."

He blinked innocently at Ye Jiuya, "What a coincidence."

Ye Jiuya looked at him expressionlessly, his eyes like a cold pool, his voice also chilly as it sank beside Chen Weichen's ear, "Chen Weichen, do you have a soul?"

"I..." Chen Weichen felt this person seemed a bit angry again. He obediently said, "Being reborn in the mortal world, how could I not have a soul?"

Ye Jiuya looked at him. Seeing his expression was normal, he didn't say anything more.

Chen Weichen could only make amends, softening his voice, "Don't be angry, be good."

Seeing the person unmoved, he said with grievance, "You ignoring me makes me sad. You weren't so cold before, although you didn't smile either... When I crawled out from that abyss-like place and saw you, I was originally very happy. Who knew you wouldn't even pay attention to me. I could only vaguely bring up that person, making you think I had his soul, just so you would spare me an extra glance... I didn't mean to deceive you on purpose."

He muttered, "When he saw you on the peak of Mount Liuxue, that's when I was born. I'm much younger than you. You should dote on me a bit."

Ye Jiuya had no way to deal with him. He stroked Chen Weichen's hair again to show they had made up.

Someone then took a mile when given an inch, "Lord Ye, hug me."

After Ye Jiuya did as told and hugged him, Chen Weichen leaned against Ye Jiuya's chest, quietly closing his eyes.

Outside the window, flashes of white light and unceasing thunderclaps, but no rain.

In the intervals between the thunderclaps, there was also an intermittent rumbling, low and oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

Chen Weichen pressed even closer to Ye Jiuya, his whole body shrinking.

Ye Jiuya noticed his movement, "Scared?"

"Mm," Chen Weichen's voice also lowered a lot. "I fear for my life."

Life - clearly and plainly written on a life chart the moment one is born. The Heavenly Dao ingeniously calculates; a life chart hangs behind the myriad living beings, its ink brush like thunder, having long ago judged prosperity, decline, life, and death.

"Afraid of time, afraid of the Heavenly Dao, and afraid of you."

Ye Jiuya slowly tightened his arms, holding him a bit closer, "Don't be afraid."

Chen Weichen let out an "mm", spoke some nonsense with him, and gradually fell asleep.

A night of thunder scorched a few ancient trees that took several people to encircle. A heavy downpour started in the early morning, breaking countless blades of grass. Only the sound of rain remained between heaven and earth.

After getting up, they met Lord Lanshan, who explained that his group had not returned because their formation was not finalized.

The amiable Master Kong Shan knocked and entered. Seeing Ye Jiuya who shouldn't be here, his expression didn't change. He brought up the matter he forgot to mention yesterday.

It turned out they wanted to use Chen Weichen to test if the formation worked.

Chen Weichen thought it was no wonder; only yesterday, he had been thinking that in Buddhism, all beings are equal. Turns out they're equally worthless, and he was still being singled out.

He waved his painted fan and said, "Master, of course I'm willing to suffer a bit for the sake of all beings, but this move won't work."

Master: "Why do you say that?"

"To be honest, in the heart demon's realm, there's nothing that can compare to me. Your formation, even if it reaches the point of truly being able to suppress other demons, it can't suppress me. If you use me to test the formation, it likely won't succeed."

Emperor Yan was the celestial emperor of the immortal realm, at the third level of the heavenly realm, his connection to demons nearly non-existent. The further from demons, the purer and stronger one becomes. This applies to both humans and demons.

Master Kong Shan glanced at Ye Jiuya.

Ye Jiuya had witnessed him single-handedly tear open the rift and send hundreds of thousands of heart demons back. He said, "Indeed."

Master Kong Shan said, "It's difficult then. We'll have to trouble the young friend to help us catch a heart demon."

Heart demons view mortal forms as nothing. At present, only Chen Weichen can truly touch them. This request wasn't too excessive. The heart demons had not yet appeared in Zhichen Temple, and the mortal world was too vast to search easily.

"I heard the heart demon calamity has already begun at Qingjing Temple," someone said.

It was immediately decided that Master Kong Shan, Lord Lanshan, and Lord Canlong would remain in Zhichen to continue researching the formation, while Chen Weichen, Ye Jiuya, and Kong Ming would go to Qingjing Temple together to seize an opportunity to capture a heart demon.

In Qingjing Temple, Xie Lang was at his wit's end.

"Abbot! Junior Brother Xiao Lan has also succumbed to the heart demon!"

Xie Lang threw down the scroll in his hand. "Where?"

The disciple led him over. As Xie Lang hurried, he ordered, "Send word to the entire temple, everyone must stop cultivating. No more meditating!"

The disciple acknowledged with a "Yes," then anxiously said, "But without cultivation, there will be no progress. How can we deal with the heart demons then?"

"There's no other way. Do you want to wait until you all succumb to the heart demon and die?"

As they spoke, they arrived at the location. In the pavilion, a young disciple sat in meditation, eyes tightly closed, body trembling, enveloped in violent black energy.

Xie Lang quickly surveyed the surroundings and didn't see the pitch-black thing. He breathed a sigh of relief. "The heart demon hasn't emerged. He can be saved."

Several disciples immediately set up a formation and invoked talismans for calming the mind and concentrating the spirit. Xie Lang used pure energy to drive out the heart demon's turbid energy. He placed his hands on the young disciple's shoulders and back, guiding him to circulate his true energy while reciting the mental formula in his ear, hoping to awaken his consciousness.

A few more disciples rushed over to join. After more than half an hour, the young disciple finally spat out a mouthful of blood. His face first flushed red, then turned pale as he collapsed softly. The black energy on his body also disappeared without a trace. His cultivation level would certainly plummet, but at least his life was saved.

Several disciples settled him in and glanced at each other, also sighing in relief. "Fortunately, the abbot arrived in time."

A female disciple wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Also fortunate that it was only succumbing to the heart demon and not the heart demon directly emerging."

"Junior Brother Shen and Senior Brother Huang weren't so lucky the day before yesterday." The atmosphere turned much more somber.

Xie Lang exhaled and slowly opened his eyes.

Several disciples hurriedly gathered around him, asking what to do now.

"When the heart demons are rampant, meditation often leads to succumbing to them. I've already ordered a complete halt to meditating, but..." Xie Lang said.

The disciples also knew what followed his "but"—when the mind was bewitched by heart demons during meditation, one could still be saved. But if the physical heart demon directly manifested and entered the body, the person would immediately die in a state of mental confusion.

"Even the elders have no solution when the physical heart demons emerge," Xie Lang furrowed his brows.

An atmosphere of unease pervaded the entire Daoist temple.

"Before finding a solution, no one is allowed to act alone. As soon as someone succumbs to a heart demon, immediately notify me or the elders. Prepare thunder talismans. If a physical heart demon appears, do your best to obstruct it," Xie Lang arranged.

These busy days of impending disaster had forcibly tempered this young Daoist priest to be much more composed.

The disciples acknowledged and went to relay the orders. Others departed, riding their energy, to notify the branch temples in other locations.

The disciple who had just succumbed to the heart demon had already awakened. Gripping Xie Lang with a face full of terror, he said in a trembling voice, "Junior Uncle Xie, I saw the heart demon in my mind just now. It wanted to drag my soul over. So scary!"

Even knowing this was an extremely painful experience for him, Xie Lang still had to ask further, making him recall, "What exactly was the situation? Think carefully."

The disciple swallowed and said with difficulty, "At first, I was just meditating as usual, but I couldn't calm my mind no matter what, so I had to first settle my thoughts. When settling my thoughts, many ideas surfaced—they weren't my own thoughts, as if another me was speaking. I then knew I had encountered a heart demon. I hurriedly tried to eliminate the distracting thoughts but to no avail. Suddenly, my mind went black, as if I had fallen into a quagmire. I felt dizzy in waves and also felt something dragging me. My ears were filled with a messy cacophony of voices, piercing my eardrums with pain. I couldn't break free no matter how I struggled. When I finally managed to come to my senses and open my eyes, I couldn't resist and closed them again..."

After listening, Xie Lang pensively said some words like "heart demons are raging" and "the Dharma-ending age is approaching," which the disciples didn't quite understand. They only knew the situation was becoming increasingly severe. Xie Lang ordered a few disciples to look after him and let him rest well. He himself wanted to return to his residence, with two disciples following him.

Turning a corner, the two disciples suddenly noticed the abbot's figure stiffen.

"Stop," they heard Xie Lang's voice.

Their hearts were filled with unease. Looking ahead, their hearts pounded violently—a black energy-shrouded thing was suspended in midair a zhang away, its hideous human face in the center facing them, hissing.

"It's mine, don't be afraid."

After Xie Lang spoke, he took a step forward and locked eyes with that thing.

The heart demon leaped up abruptly, its black shadow engulfing them from above. A sharp, deafening roar exploded in Xie Lang's mind.

The danger was imminent.