When Hua Lin Yu returned to the estate, he didn’t waste any time. He picked an empty room at random, sat down in the lotus position, and took a deep breath. After exhaling slowly, he rubbed the smooth surface of the fruit with a smile. “You better tell me some harsh truths! I … I want to know about …” The image of Xin Lan popped up in his mind unasked for.
Hua Lin Yu could only smile wryly. Whenever he was with Xiao Li, he never doubted his decision but as soon as he was alone, he couldn’t help but think about this person.
Xin Lan … he could be a jerk. He had seen how he looked at other people, constantly annoyed at them, not wanting to deal with anything as if the world owed him huge time. But then, he was never like that with him. No, when Xin Lan looked at him, his eyes were gentle and there was the faintest of smiles contained in them.
Of course, he knew that if he was with this man, then he could have a good life. And after being apart for a while, he could feel just how much he actually loved him. It pained him not to be able to see him and he missed those easy days they had spent together both in the mortal and the immortal realms.
Unfortunately, he really couldn’t decide. He felt torn between these two men and he didn’t know what to do about it. Xin Lan was going on and on about how Xiao Li wasn’t the right one for him, how he was a demon and how he was just bewitched. He didn’t want to believe it but deep down, he also realized that he had fallen in love too fast.
He wanted to believe it was fate. He wanted to believe that seeing Xiao Li that day, meeting Bai Mu, and then running into Xiao Li again after Xin Lan had suddenly left him on what should have been their wedding night had been meant to be. That this was the reason he felt for him the way he did. But admittedly, Xin Lan’s persistence had made him the slightest bit doubtful.
He took another deep breath and once again exhaled, then he adjusted his state. He had read about the fruit of the beguiling night tree. The visions it showed you came from the subconscious. What he saw … it would manifest what he truly believed. After he saw that, what kind of doubt could be left?
He smiled to himself, rubbed the fruit again, and then took a bite.
Hua Lin Yu indeed wasn’t like Zhong Jing Yi. His level was high and he had a good grasp of it even though he lacked practical experience in the field. He managed to eat the whole fruit down to the core and then used his spiritual energy to guide the one he had just taken in. Soon, his spirit seemed to fly out of his body, and arrived at a different scene.
His eyes were closed and his body felt hot. He could hear the sound of somebody breathing beside him, a low and somewhat soothing sound but his own heart wasn’t calm. No, it was beating like crazy and his mind was in disarray.
Hua Lin Yu outside of the vision furrowed his brows. He wouldn’t have thought it was like this. He had thought a vision would be something you looked at from the outside but he actually felt as if he was inside of it, an actual person participating in what was happening. It made everything feel a lot more real than expected.
The person in the vision gulped and then slowly opened his eyes. There was carved wood in front of him. He stared at it for a moment and then lowered his gaze to a red sheet below. He continued to stare ahead as if all of this was new.
Hua Lin Yu wasn’t sure if this was because this was a vision so he’d have time to take note of everything but the feeling it gave him was hair-raising. Everything just seemed so … wrong.
The person in the vision finally turned his head, his gaze slipping over the skin of the person next to him and up to his face.
This time, not just the person in the vision but even Hua Lin Yu stared. That face … it was Xiao Li’s. Just that the man was looking at him with disinterest.
“That wasn’t any different.”
Hua Lin Yu was pulled out of his thoughts when the man spoke up but the person in the vision continued to stare at that face. After a moment, he turned his face in the other direction, pushing himself up.
Only now did Hua Lin Yu notice that his body hurt. If this was himself, he would have frowned but the person in the vision simply stood up and walked over to a cupboard step by step. A sword was lying on top and he grabbed it without hesitation.
Behind him, the man laughed. “What are you going to do with that? Don’t take it too hard. It’s nothing personal.”
His words didn’t even seem to register. The person in the vision pulled the blade out of the sheath, letting the latter fall to the ground with a clatter. From the way he grabbed the hilt, it was clear he had never held a sword before.
When he turned around, the man on the bed looked at him with clear amusement in his eyes. “Are you sure you know how to use that?”
He didn’t get an answer. The person in the vision stepped closer and finally, he waved the sword.
Who knew if it was the quality of the blade or the strength behind those slender hands? The sword cut through skin and bone as if it was nothing and that head with the handsome face was thrown to the side. It hit the wall and bounced off, rolling twice on the bed before it was picked up.
For a moment, he just looked at it, staring at those open eyes that were finally filled with surprise. He blinked his own eyes and finally spoke up. “It’s alright. You can fulfill your vows this way as well. I don’t mind it as long as you stay at my side. Anyway, this is what you promised and I won’t let you break your word again.”