He counted to ten, took ten steps back, even gave Lian Ruxin an extra five steps to ask him to stay.

But Lian Ruxin only looked at him intently, expressionless.

...He had always been like this.

In his heart there were only the people of his city, only his duty. And he himself was just a passerby in his long life.

Lian Ruxin wasn't wrong. The world hated the demonic path. He had even smashed someone's temple, causing quite a stir. Staying any longer would only drag him down, even taint the stone god's reputation.

As a demon cultivator, he wasn't even worthy of guarding a stone.

Thinking of this, Yi Shangchen's heart nearly shattered, but the smile on his face grew even more dazzling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Yi Shangchen mocked him as much as he could, "Brother Lian, don't tell me you've fallen for me?"

Lian Ruxin looked at him without saying a word.

Yi Shangchen continued: "I do like you very much. But don't forget, I'm a demon cultivator of the Hehuan Sect. I cultivate through human emotions and love. In the future, there will be many people I like. You don't need to worry."

Lian Ruxin nodded slightly.

Somehow, that slight nod from Lian Ruxin made Yi Shangchen's tears fall straight down.

He had thought he put on a good show of letting go with flair just now, but it was all ruined by a single teardrop.

He was just a boy not yet twenty. He had only just set foot on the path of love in the mortal world, and suffered such a heavy blow. He didn't know if he still had the courage to continue cultivating this path.

At this moment, he only hoped Lian Ruxin hadn't seen his tears and would consider his departure a graceful exit, rather than him being driven away.

With a teardrop as the finale to his failure, Yi Shangchen fled down the mountain in a fluster.

He was born in too terrible of an era, where everyone abhorred demon cultivators like dust on their sleeves, easily brushed away with a flick.

He fled too frantically to notice that over a dozen fireflies followed behind him, lighting up glowing green lanterns so he wouldn't stumble on the mountain path.

Only when his panicked, fleeing figure disappeared from Lian Ruxin's sight did Lian Ruxin turn around. He raised a hand to touch his chest, a look of confusion on his face.

He didn't understand.

Those were just ordinary words, so why did they stab at him like a thousand arrows through the heart?

Fortunately, his face was always cold and he didn't know how to express the look of pain.

At least he had sent him away, that was a good thing.

Lian Ruxin waited on the mountain path for a while. Seeing the time for the sacrifice had passed, he then got up, sealed the barrier, and ascended the mountain.

Seeing Feng Rugu, Lian Ruxin wasn't very surprised.

Feng Rugu sat on the stone god, legs crossed, gazing down at him.

"Lord Yunzhong." Lian Ruxin neatly lifted his robe to kneel and kowtow. "Lian Ruxin has made a mistake and should be punished. However, I am not of the mortal world. This body is difficult to punish by mortal means. I am willing to request my own punishment..."

"Spare the unnecessary words," Feng Rugu interrupted him. "I came only to ask two things. First, your eyes can see the difference between immortals and demons. Please tell me, what kind of person was that man in black?"

Lian Ruxin thought for a moment and answered truthfully: "He was tainted with demonic energy, but had the body of an immortal."

"Second, did he have any words or items he wanted you to bring to me?"

Lian Ruxin thought carefully again: "I met him twice. Once was our first meeting, the other was when he dragged over the corpse. Before leaving, he said if I couldn't kill Lord Yunzhong, I could give you an item. Last time I left in a hurry and didn't hand it over. I present it now."

He took out a pale green jade pendant with a swastika pattern.

As soon as he saw the jade pendant, Feng Rugu's expression turned strange. He grabbed the white tassel tied to it and took it, but didn't examine it closely. He held it to his chest, actually not on guard at all.

He leaped down from the stone god, about to leave, when he suddenly noticed specks of starlight falling behind him, illuminating his path ahead.

Feng Rugu was stunned for a moment. He turned his head and saw Lian Ruxin exhausting the last bit of his cultivation to send a few fireflies to follow him.

Lian Ruxin nodded slightly, his expression calm.

This had already become a habit he had developed over the years of sending travelers up and down the mountain, and he couldn't change it: "Lord Yunzhong, safe travels."

Feng Rugu did not refuse his kindness. He waved the soft fan in his hand, chose another mountain path, and walked down the mountain step by step.

After seeing off Feng Rugu, Lian Ruxin knelt in front of the divine stone and recited a whole book of the divine stone scripture that he had long been familiar with.

He had sent countless people to make sacrifices, and now it was his turn.

Lian Ruxin had withdrawn his wish in advance, so he was spared the last step.

Before his whole body and mind merged into the stone, the last thought that flashed through Lian Ruxin's mind was very brief, even a little abrupt.

— Wind.

He still owed him a gust of wind.

...

Yi Shangchen rubbed his slightly swollen eyes and walked all the way to the foot of the mountain where no one was around, not knowing where to go for a while.

He came with the wind, free by nature, but now he had lost his direction.

He simply stopped moving, wanting to wait for a gust of wind to pass by and point out the direction for him to proceed.

He stood in place, waiting in a daze, until a gust of wind suddenly swept up from the mountains, pointing to the southwest. Surprisingly, the wind carried faint gray snow, like stone dust.

Flowing wind, returning snow, stone dust.

Yi Shangchen's heart tightened inexplicably. Before a complete thought could surface in his mind, he was already in a state of great confusion. He turned around and rushed back up the mountain along the original path.

He used his shallow cultivation of swift movement to the extreme, taking only the time to drink a cup of tea to reach the top of the mountain.

Through layers of zelkova trees, until he saw Lian Ruxin standing safely by the stream, using his fingertips to play with the cicada shell wind chimes hanging on the zelkova trees, as if reminiscing, Yi Shangchen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

... He was really worrying about nothing.

He was safe and sound, how could anything happen to him?

Having gone and returned, Yi Shangchen suddenly didn't want to leave.

He didn't care where the wind was going to blow.

As long as Lian Ruxin was still willing to remember him, he didn't mind being a little shameless.

Thinking this way, he exhaled and was about to reveal himself from behind the zelkova trees—

At this moment, Yi Shangchen saw Lian Ruxin take down the wind chimes from the zelkova trees and let them float on the water surface one by one, drifting away with the current.

Yi Shangchen stood behind the trees, watching Lian Ruxin's every move.

After watching for a while, he suddenly didn't feel sad anymore.

For this person, worldly affairs were nothing more than floating cicada shells on the water, coming with the current and drifting away with the waves.

In just the time it took him to go down the mountain, he was already starting to clean up and remove the traces he had left behind, with no more lingering attachment.

So what was he tormenting himself for?

... It wasn't worth it in the first place.

This time, Yi Shangchen left without any hesitation.

He walked in the direction the wind indicated, towards the southwest, just as he had come—going with the wind.

As he turned around, the newborn god who had just differentiated and been nurtured from the divine stone, and had not yet had time to name himself, seemed to hear the movement and tilted his head to look in the direction Yi Shangchen was leaving, but only saw a desolate and sad back view.

He grabbed the cicada shell wind chime in his hand, played with it curiously again, and then placed it into the stream, letting it drift away.

... He had just been split off from the primordial chaos, and only regarded the little things on the tree as toys no different from the leaves.