CH 112

A man who never lied was extraordinarily provocative when he said this kind of thing. Dong Zhi felt as if his heart had been hit so hard that he was having a sudden attack from the curse.

He thought Long Shen would never be moved by his appearance, but in fact this was just a misunderstanding. According to legends, even the gods preferred beautiful-looking people. Love and hatred were almost instinctive to all creatures, but those who were skilled at restraint would not be perplexed or shaken by this, but it didn’t mean Long Shen couldn’t appreciate beauty.

In a daze, Dong Zhi had already put his arms around Long Shen’s waist, raised his slender neck, and slightly accepted his kiss.

This kiss was long and gentle, and almost all the feelings between them were poured out. The warmth in the beginning from Dong Zhi, the precipitation later, the indifference of Long Shen at first, and the melting later; they were like water flowing deep as light as dust.

It wasn’t only Dong Zhi that was flushed; Long Shen’s breath also became unstable, but he was still able to calmly end the kiss and take the initiative to pull Dong Zhi away.

“Have a good rest tonight. I’ll write an email to Xinchai.”

The corners of Dong Zhi’s mouth twitched, as if it were a kind of laughter that came to an abrupt end.

Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Long Shen explained, “Your curse hasn’t been lifted yet. It’s best to do it as soon as possible.

Dong Zhi raised his forehead. He obviously didn’t mean that.

“Master, why do you always regard me as always a stallion in your heart, regardless of the time?”

In fact, he was already satisfied with being able to hug and kiss like this. His master was slow to warm up, so he even planned to spend his whole life in platonic love, but who knew they were progressing so fast that they skipped sex and advanced to divine intercourse? If this was him in the past, he wouldn’t even have imagined such a step.

Hearing this, Long Shen was puzzled by his words and said strangely, “But I have heard that men’s desire for sex is often greater than love. Are you not like this?”

After all, he himself was a transformed artifact, so his desires were weaker than those of ordinary humans. When he heard about this view before, he felt that it was logical and wasn’t difficult to understand. Ordinary humans had a variety of feelings and emotions, and they wouldn’t deliberately restrain themselves. When they met someone they liked, this desire would only become stronger.

Dong Zhi had to justify humanity. “I can’t say no, but there are exceptions. Besides, compared to sex, I actually want to experience what happened last time more.”

Long Shen looked at his embarrassed expression and smiled. “You mean divine intercourse?”

Dong Zhi coughed lightly.

Even though he had experienced divine intercourse and knew that it was purely spiritual and didn’t have any erotic undertones, he couldn’t help but blush a little when he heard this term.

Long Shen pinched Dong Zhi’s chin and dropped a kiss. His other hand held the back of Dong Zhi’s head, and he pressed his index finger onto the jade pillow point*.

*Also called the Yuzhen point, located 2.5 inches straight above the center of the posterior hairline and 1.3 inches to the side. Picture.

Dong Zhi felt a buzzing in his ears. Suddenly, his vision darkened, and his body slid downward in a weightless state.

He didn’t realize that in reality he had also softened his legs and fallen softly into Long Shen’s arms.

The light was not in one piece but lit up bit by bit in the distance.

He found himself suddenly in a vast universe, surrounded by stones of various sizes. In the distance or beyond, there were different shades of brightness, and he was one of many meteorites slowly moving forward, involuntarily, as if there were a force pulling him into the darkness.

The force was like an indescribable joy; like the uncontrollable feeling of having a secret meeting with his sweetheart on a snowy night; like the joy and anxiety of first love. He didn’t know what was waiting for him, but he knew that it was something he had been looking forward to for a long time, and all he could think about was it.

The closer he got, the stronger the joy. He seemed to know what it was subconsciously, but the anticipation in his heart didn’t fade. The light was getting brighter and more dazzling. He closed his eyes and allowed the warm light to envelope him. It entered every inch of his body; like a spring breeze turning into trickling rain. A lazy comfort washed over the bones of his limbs so that he couldn’t help but keep his eyes closed, like he was soaking in a hot spring while being wrapped around by his beloved. It was the most moving happiness in the world and the ultimate bliss that words couldn’t describe.

He didn’t need to look, didn’t need to listen, as all the voices had left a mark on his body, pushing the warmth into it. Finally, the light and stone fused turning the unknown meteorite into a star. One day, he would become a star that could shine on others and warm them.

And everything was brought about by this light.

Time turned into nothingness; the sea changed into mulberry fields; the desolation became the past. Even the brilliant stars were fleeting. What remained was the mind that was unchanged, becoming eternal.

His body shuttled between light years while his consciousness was frozen in the years. Every cell was decomposed and swayed in the universe, and when it condensed again, it was gently arched in arms that were carefully placed down, properly treasured, until the end of time.

Dong Zhi’s eyelashes trembled several times before he slowly opened his eyes.

Outside the window, he saw the high-rise buildings of Hong Kong. The ships were sailing in and out of the port in the distance. The realism of modern society instantly slapped him in the face, making the experience he had of jumping between time and space feel illusory, until he saw Long Shen slowly opening his eyes.

The last time they had divine intercourse, he was caught off guard and didn’t fully perceive everything. He was overwhelmed by the storm of information that hit him from beginning to end, just like a person who had never seen water was suddenly thrown into a hot spring. Even if the hot spring was pleasant, he didn’t have time to notice it because he was preoccupied with something else.

Compared with the last one-sided initial exploration, this time it could truly be called divine intercourse.

Divine intercourse wasn’t a glimpse into the other’s mind, but an opening to their sea of consciousness, allowing the other person to enter. The two ideologies meet and merge, starting with probing, approaching, and then understanding. It was far more impactful than a verbal confession. In this process, one party couldn’t guard against the other, so if the other person had ill intentions and wanted to take the opportunity to plot, no matter how strong the other side was, this moment was like peeling off the hard shell protecting the soft heart and having it at their mercy.

For practitioners, who have been walking in danger for so many years and have a heavier sense of preparedness than ordinary people, the fact that Long Shen did this undoubtedly showed his attitude. Dong Zhi’s curse was still unresolved, and there could be other mechanisms at play that they didn’t know about. The mark still remained on Dong Zhi’s body. In this case, Long Shen bore a great risk that his heart could be invaded due to this.

Compared with sweet words, Long Shen was more willing to use action to show that if he wasn’t sure, he would never export easily. Just like when he heard Dong Zhi’s confession on the phone, he had cleanly refused, but as long as he said it himself, it would certainly be honored.

Neither of them spoke.

At this time, words seemed superfluous.

Compared with the calm from last time, Long Shen was obviously more emotional, as his face was slightly red.

Dong Zhi was still immersed in the scene just now.

He saw Long Shen’s completely open consciousness. It was a magnificent and endlessly dreaming universe. It was the end of the stars, the place where all things returned. Its beauty and grandeur couldn’t be described in words. In that sea of consciousness, his own “string” had docked and merged with Long Shen; the two seas of consciousness finally started to slowly connect, just like strings and music instruments finally composing a song together. Even though the timbre was still monotonous, they were indeed gradually forming.

And this kind of satisfaction was greater than any kind of sexual intercourse he could imagine.

“Master, what did you see?” he asked Long Shen.

Long Shen was silent for a moment.

“I saw the top of a snow-capped mountain. Everything was as white as the eye could see. The wind was blowing snow, and it was freezing to the bone.”

Dong Zhi was taken aback. Could it be that the scenes seen by either side weren’t the same during divine intercourse?

“Then what?”

“Then I saw a small plant emerging from the snow. The world was gray, and it was the only green. Its life was tenacious and vigorous. I walked over and used my hand to cover it from the snowflakes as it began to grow slowly. It eventually became a sapling, standing side by side with me, then continued to grow taller to become a towering tree on the top of my head, shielding me from the wind and rain.”

Long Shen’s tone was slow and calm, but Dong Zhi’s eyes were slightly moistened as he listened to him speak, as if he could see the vigorous life going towards the most prosperous trajectory.

“When I looked at it, I felt happy inside,” Long Shen said. The corners of his mouth curled up, causing Dong Zhi to unconsciously follow that smile.

—-

The response from the white robe master this time was unexpectedly fast. In the evening of the next day, Master Xinchai sent an email to Long Shen.

He told Long Shen that Songen was a man who was once a prominent witchdoctor in Myanmar. Decades ago, he joined the rebels during the war in Myanmar, where he was regarded as a guest of honor. When the rebels were defeated, he also disappeared, but in the decades since then, he was still known. It was rumored that he was still quite famous in the area, and even those unscrupulous drug lords who passed by Songen’s territory would be honest and respectful, daring not to offend him even slightly.

Because of this, once Qi Rui provided the two keywords, “Songen” and “Northern Thailand”, Xinchai quickly helped Long Shen find him and even provided the specific location. Further north in Thailand, on the edge of the dense forest was a small village called Xianda, which was Songen’s territory. For those who sought him, they had to travel thousands of miles to Xianda, then ask someone to report to Songen first and obtain permission before they could enter Songen’s stockade.

Just as Long Shen and Dong Zhi were still reading the email, Xinchai called and suggested that he wanted to go with them. It would be great if he could persuade Songen to lift the curse on Dong Zhi, but if not, he might still be able to help.

Naturally, Long Shen wouldn’t refuse. He thanked Xinchai, and the two sides made an appointment to meet in Chiang Mai and then go north together.

When Long Shen hung up, he told Dong Zhi about it.

Dong Zhi felt a bit odd. “Why does Xinchai want to come with us all of a sudden?”

Long Shen said, “Songen is a black-robed witchdoctor, so he’s at odds with Xinchai. Except for Han Qi, Songen has been using his techniques to harm the people of his country. It’s just that he’s extremely powerful, so few people dare to provoke him. Xinchai isn’t sure he will win. Now that we have joined forces, he naturally wants to take the opportunity to eradicate Songen. Xinchai is also a master of curses. With him joining, this will increase our winning chances.”

Dong Zhi understood what he meant. After all, they not only had to deal with Songen this time but also the heavenly demon behind him. It was conceivable that this would become a bloodbath.

Through Qi Rui, Songen already knew that they would come to his door sooner or later. When they arrived, what awaited them could be a well-prepared trap, but Long Shen and Dong Zhi had no choice. If they kept hesitating, the long night would be fraught with dreams*. It was better to solve the problem directly and head-on. Long Shen suggested they take a short break and then set off immediately, to which Dong Zhi had no objection.

*(夜长梦多) Metaphor referring to undue delay may bring trouble.

However, they encountered an episode before their departure. He Yu had sent a message to Dong Zhi, concerned about his curse. Dong Zhi gave him a general description of the progress of the matter, to which He Yu enthusiastically said he wanted to come and help him. This was unfortunately seen by Long Shen, who immediately deducted half a month of his bonus as punishment for intending to go AWOL on his post. Seeing this, He Yu didn’t dare mention anything else.

After confirming the information and route, Long Shen immediately booked tickets to Chiang Mai. When the two arrived, they soon met with Master Xinchai, who was waiting for them nearby.

Xinchai’s face was dry, and his figure was thin. He had piercing eyes that made people afraid to look at him for too long. In general, witchdoctors were out of place in society, which made people uncomfortable, but Xinchai was connected to the royal family and frequently attended public events, so he blended in so well to normal society that he could even be considered humorous on occasion.

He also brought an apprentice named Kenta. Both were dressed up as monks, which was common in the local area. Xinchai’s reputation and status in his country were indeed well-known. When the local administrator heard of his arrival, he wanted to come and treat them to a feast personally but was politely declined by Xinchai’s apprentice. The four of them didn’t delay much and took the train all the way north the next day.

The train terminal ended at the border, and the next part of their journey had to be done by car. The four of them made a big round trip, and only after an arduous journey did they finally arrive in the village of Xianda that Xinchai had mentioned.