At five or six in the evening, the sky was completely dark.
A small lamp was lit in the living room. Yan Lanyu sat on the sofa, staring at the cardboard box in front of him, feeling only one thing.
—What had to come would come.
He never believed he could leave the Esoteric Sect smoothly from the beginning.
What kind of place was the Esoteric Sect? The darkest world of Japanese Onmyodo, a hall where power was highly concentrated. For hundreds of years, only a very few people had managed to escape from there, but those who left alive ultimately could not escape the fate of soon treading the path to the Yellow Springs.
Fortunately, no matter what was coming now, it wouldn’t involve anyone else.
Yan Lanyu took a deep breath, cut the transparent tape with a small knife, and opened the box. The orange-yellow light illuminated a palm-sized round box inside. The lid was carved with intricate and blurred patterns covered in greenish copper rust.
Yan Lanyu picked up the round box, his expression subtly shifting.
—It was, unexpectedly, a bronze mirror.
In a small noodle shop downstairs in the residential area, the north wind howled through the dilapidated interior. In the kitchen, a hot pot was lifted, and swirling white mist mixed with the aroma of chopped green onions wafted out.
“Your beef noodles—”
The black-clad youth took the bowl, returned to his seat, broke apart the wooden chopsticks, and began to eat.
“Hiss… hiss…”
The youth’s sleeve moved slightly. A moment later, a thumb-sized head, resembling a snake but with horns, poked out and moved towards the noodle bowl, beginning to drink the soup.
The youth didn’t mind. However, this snake-like, dragon-like creature drank a few mouthfuls, then its entire body slid out of his sleeve and began to climb up his arm to his shoulder. Its body was covered in black scales that shimmered faintly, not noticeable on the youth’s black clothes. It quickly climbed onto his shoulder and coiled there, looking around.
The youth gave a low reprimand.
The small dragon buried its head, then plunged into his collar, and with a slide, disappeared.
The noodle shop owner, who happened to be walking by with a bowl, didn’t notice this scene, but heard the youth’s reprimand, which was not in a Chinese accent at all. He couldn’t help but look back.
He saw that the youth was about seventeen or eighteen, wearing only a black T-shirt and a black jacket in the dead of winter. He had a pair of fingerless leather gloves on his hands, the edges of which were noticeably worn. His skin was slightly dark, but his features were very distinct and handsome, especially his brow bone and nose bridge, which were very deep and prominent. At a glance, his features didn’t look like those of a Han Chinese, but rather had a feel of an ethnic minority from the southwest.
There were only a few scattered customers in the shop. The owner listlessly wiped the stove with a rag, idly sizing up the black-clad young man.
An outsider? A migrant worker in Beijing?
Not going home for the New Year, he wondered what kind of job he had in Beijing. Times were tough these days.
At this moment, the youth seemed to sense the gaze on him. He looked up and glanced at the owner. In an instant, it felt as if a cold wind brushed past his neck, and the owner suddenly shivered.
—What… what bright eyes!
Like the sharp, glittering gaze of a hawk locking onto its prey, it made one feel an unspeakable sense of intimidation with just a single look.
“Curiosity killed the cat…” the youth murmured in Miao, then finished the last mouthful of noodle soup and put down the bowl.
At this moment, his gaze passed the shop door and suddenly saw someone walking out of the residential area gate across the road. In the dead of winter, they were only wearing a shirt, looking particularly thin in the wind. They crossed the intersection to a private car by the roadside and leaned in to say something to the driver inside.
The youth’s eyes narrowed slightly.
—That person was Yan Lanyu.
The youth tossed a fifty-yuan note onto the greasy tabletop, then abruptly stood up and strode out of the shop, directly crossing the road.
Just then, a sudden change occurred ahead. Yan Lanyu suddenly grabbed the private car driver by the collar and began to punch him!
The driver immediately struggled and screamed.
Normally, there weren’t many people on the streets on a winter night, but when the driver screamed, the sound carried far, attracting the attention of the security guard at the residential area gate and the few customers in the noodle shop, who all peered out. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Yan Lanyu cleanly flipped the driver out of the car, throwing him onto the road, then bent down, trying to get into the car.
“Carjacking! Carjacking!” The driver looked as if he had seen a ghost, scrambling backward and shouting, “Help! Carjacking!”
People from afar started running towards them, but their movements were not as fast as the black-clad youth’s—he quickly rushed across the intersection, took a leap forward, directly grabbed Yan Lanyu’s arm, and pulled him out of the car with a backhand.
Yan Lanyu looked up, “Who are you?”
The voice was unusually hoarse and unpleasant. The black-clad youth paused slightly, then saw that Yan Lanyu’s eyes were astonishingly double-pupilled!
—Only those possessed by demons or ghosts would exhibit double pupils!
“Who are you?” the youth said coldly, striking Yan Lanyu’s back of the neck with a backhand!
Yan Lanyu moved incredibly fast, as if “sliding” out of the youth’s grasp and out of the car, then struck back at the youth’s back. In that swift moment, a snake-like, dragon-like creature suddenly darted out of the youth’s collar, opening its mouth at Yan Lanyu in a terrifying, silent roar. The sound waves created a terrifying force in the air, directly pushing Yan Lanyu to the ground!
The youth suddenly let out a sharp cry, and the few passersby who had intended to investigate not far away hesitated and stopped.
“My car…” The driver struggled to get up, but then the youth bent down and pressed a strong, slender finger on a spot behind his ear.
With just that simple press, the driver immediately fell down with a thump, not even making a sound.
“So it’s you.” Yan Lanyu shakily got up, staring at the creature coiled on the youth’s shoulder, the double pupils in his eyes reflecting an eerie light. “The legendary old dragon, I didn’t expect to encounter you here… Are you the legendary ‘Cleaner’ Long Jiu of the Special Department?”
The black-clad youth didn’t answer. While keeping a close eye on Yan Lanyu, he dragged the driver to the roadside.
Yan Lanyu scoffed, “I heard that Cleaners only appear when big things happen. Why are you here?”
“…I was sent to protect this person you’ve possessed.” Long Jiu finally spoke. It was clear he didn’t speak much Chinese; his pronunciation was a bit stiff and difficult. “You’re a demon servant refined by someone. Who is your master?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you that.” “Yan Lanyu” smiled strangely, then swiftly pulled out two short daggers from the sides of his thighs!
—Long Jiu’s eyes instantly narrowed. The blades were as thin as cicada wings, and their edges actually gleamed with a poisoned blue light.
“My mission is just to take him, but it doesn’t say it has to be a whole Yan Lanyu. If necessary, a missing arm or leg is fine too.”
The demon servant made a gesture of bringing the blade to Yan Lanyu’s wrist, then said maliciously, with Long Jiu’s gaze instantly darkening, “So when we fight later, be careful, otherwise this little beauty might die by your hand…”
At the same moment, Jiangxi.
Yu Jingzhong had just finished a meeting and was walking down the hotel steps, exchanging pleasantries with someone, when his phone suddenly rang.
The two people beside him politely smiled and stepped away. Yu Jingzhong made an apologetic gesture, then looked at the caller ID on his phone, his brows instantly furrowing.
“Hello, Long Jiu?”
“Something happened to Yan Lanyu.”
Yu Jingzhong’s expression immediately changed. “What’s going on? Where are you?”
“…Yan Lanyu’s house.”
In the dim living room, the black-clad youth breathed slightly, sitting on the floor, covered in blood. Beside him was the cardboard box with the delivery slip still on it, and on the coffee table lay a shattered bronze mirror.
“The Japanese Esoteric Sect sent Yan Lanyu an ancient bronze mirror, in which a very powerful demon ghost was sealed. As soon as Yan Lanyu opened the mirror, the demon ghost came out and possessed him.”
Long Jiu swallowed a bloody mouthful and said, “Just now downstairs, I saw Yan Lanyu carjacking. I tried to stop him but couldn’t. Now the demon ghost is probably trying to get to Japan with his body.”
Long Jiu couldn’t express more complex things in Chinese, so he spoke in old Miao dialect. Fortunately, Yu Jingzhong understood: “Why couldn’t you stop him?!”
“Because the demon ghost is the top-tier immortal spirit child of Japanese Onmyodo, extremely difficult to deal with. Moreover, it used harming Yan Lanyu as a way to engage in a mutually destructive fight with me. If I angered it, Yan Lanyu’s life would be in danger.” Long Jiu briefly recounted what happened downstairs, then added, “It can only use human transportation methods to get Yan Lanyu out of the country. It should be going to the airport now.”
On the hotel steps, the wind whistled past, and Deputy Yu’s face was exceptionally grim.
“I understand,” he said in a deep voice after a long pause, “I’ll handle it now.”
Yu Jingzhong hung up the phone, then immediately turned to his contacts and dialed Zhou Hui.
Ten minutes earlier, Beijing Airport.
The departure hall was as bright as day. Chu He wore sunglasses, crossed his legs, and flipped through a magazine in his seat.
Zhou Hui carried coffee, walked through rows of seats, and leaned down to kiss Chu He’s cheek, completely disregarding the strange looks from the surrounding crowd. He asked, “When did you start reading these fashion magazines?”
Chu He looked composed. He flipped the cover of the magazine, revealing a yellowed copy of “Bao Shi Zi” wrapped inside.
“…” Zhou Hui asked incredulously, “Why do you keep reading your own diary all day? Haven’t you gotten tired of it after thousands of years?!”
Chu He took a sip of coffee from Zhou Hui’s hand and said seriously, “Everyone has their own hobbies and persistence. For example, I don’t know why you always refuse to buy two cups of coffee, but insist on sharing each other’s saliva…”
“Don’t be like that, darling. We’ve shared more intimate things than that, what’s a little saliva? What time is it now?”
“Boarding starts in twenty minutes.” Chu He said tactfully, “Actually, I think it’s not good to go directly on a trip after just returning from Hell without reporting back to the unit…”
“Oh, it’s fine, what could possibly happen in just a few days? Besides, we have Jia Louluo and the little beauty.” Zhou Hui sat down nonchalantly beside him, saying boisterously, “The little beauty is so reliable, even thinking of us when making a birthday wish. Why isn’t such a sensible child my daughter? You know, if I just smacked him dead with a shoe sole right now, would he reincarnate as our third daughter…”
Chu He was practically speechless. “Wake up, Yu Jingzhong would smack you dead with a shoe sole first, alright?”
Zhou Hui shook his head with immense regret, grabbed his bag, and started rummaging for his boarding pass, pulling out all sorts of random things Phoenix had brought back from Buzhou Mountain.
These random things included, but were not limited to—Maha’s childhood doodles, Jia Louluo’s shed teeth, Zhou Hui’s special cheating poker cards bought from the human realm to avoid doing dishes, and the fluffy down that fell everywhere when the little phoenix first hatched…
Zhou Hui finally found his boarding pass and incidentally pulled out a soft bag. Opening it, he saw several green eggs. “What are these?”
“Jia Louluo’s favorite Hell snake eggs. They can be brought to the human realm for artificial breeding, so he’ll have an endless supply of snakes to eat.”
“…” Zhou Hui said sourly, “Oh, you truly are a good mother.”
Chu He turned a page in “Bao Shi Zi” and said gently, “Darling, we will never reach a consensus on parenting… Speaking of which, I’ve always been unable to understand why you can’t get along well with Jia Louluo. Honestly, sometimes I feel like you’re deliberately making things difficult for him. I think in some matters, it’s completely unnecessary…”
Zhou Hui immediately retorted guiltily, “I didn’t!”
“You did,” Chu He said. “Last night, you secretly emailed Jia Louluo, demanding that he get plastic surgery to look less like ‘the handsome, dashing, and elegant’ you, otherwise you’d charge him copyright fees. I saw it all.”
Zhou Hui: “…”
Zhou Hui hummed a tune, opened his phone, and started playing Candy Crush, pretending not to have heard anything.
Chu He didn’t press his advantage, continuing to sit and read his seemingly endless “Bao Shi Zi,” whose contents no one but himself knew.
The face of the fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy had a beauty that transcended gender. Wearing sunglasses, the small exposed portion of his face was almost indistinguishable between male and female. The bright lights of the waiting room made his skin appear pure and translucent, and his lips a very faint pink, making him look as beautiful as a disguised celebrity.
One of his shoulders was leaning against Zhou Hui, their intimacy unconcealed, clearly a couple with a significant age gap. Almost every passerby glanced at them with curiosity and surprise.
This scene should have been very intimate, harmonious, and beautiful, but the ever-restless Boss Zhou remained quiet for less than five minutes before starting to tease again:
“Speaking of which, what exactly did you write in your diary?”
“Nothing much.”
“If it’s nothing, why do you read it so much? Is there any longing for an old lover inside?”
“No.”
“If there’s nothing, how can you read it so much? Really nothing?”
“Haven’t you read it already?”
Zhou Hui put down his phone, dissatisfied. “It’s useless! My brother-in-law said that ‘Bao Shi Zi’ appears in different forms to everyone. To me, it’s only a dozen pages, alright! And it only records a few outdated Heavenly Dao gossip and recipes copied from the human realm. Anyone who reads it would think you’re a virtuous and good wife!”
“There are indeed recipes,” Chu He said serenely. “When we first came to live in seclusion in the human realm, one day you wanted to eat ‘Buddha Jumps Over the Wall,’ and we even specially went to the imperial kitchen to copy a secret recipe. Have you forgotten?”
As he spoke, he flipped through “Bao Shi Zi” and pointed to a page for Zhou Hui to see. On the yellowed, brittle page, a whole page of recipes was neatly copied in small script: how many ounces of chicken, how many ounces of ham, how many bamboo shoots, how much shark’s fin…
“…” Zhou Hui stretched his neck. “What else? What’s written before that? Let me see!”
Chu He flipped back a page: “On a certain year, month, and day, Maha wet the bed and secretly washed the sheets in the middle of the night to cover it up, but was discovered by Zhou Hui, who ruthlessly mocked him…”
“Further back, there’s more further back!”
“On a certain year, month, and day, Jia Louluo lost two teeth, secretly hid them under his pillow, but they were discovered and taken by Zhou Hui. Jia Louluo cried inconsolably for three days…”
“Why am I always bullying children? You must have remembered wrong!” Zhou Hui snatched “Bao Shi Zi,” pulled out his Montblanc gold pen from his pocket: “Hmm, I’ll revise it for you. These untrue statements must be crossed out, and I’ll also check if there’s any other content slandering my noble character…”
Chu He was utterly exasperated. He stood up to snatch the diary, but Zhou Hui jumped up and dodged him, running like the wind. As he dodged, he kept flipping through the diary, muttering to himself: “Things like dragging the floor with Maha’s tail, making shuttlecocks from Jia Louluo’s feathers, being lazy and not cooking, only feeding the two kids plain boiled eggs… None of these are true, they all need to be crossed out…”
“Zhou Hui!”
“Ah, there really is an old lover!” Zhou Hui exclaimed as if he had discovered a new continent: “On a certain year, month, and day, compared to Sakyamuni, Zhou Hui is indeed more—”
“Give it back!” Chu He pounced to snatch it, but Zhou Hui ran away like the wind.
Boss Zhou ran like an unbridled wild horse, crossing the departure hall in a few seconds and disappearing into the restroom. Chu He’s body hadn’t fully developed yet, making it impossible to keep up with that whirlwind-like, wild pace. After chasing a couple of steps, he gave up.
He was quite certain he hadn’t written “compared to Sakyamuni, Zhou Hui is so and so” in his diary. That sentence was most likely made up by Zhou Hui on the spot—but to make up such a thing just to snatch the diary, he really went all out…
Chu He turned around a little depressed, just about to return to his seat, when the corner of his eye suddenly caught a familiar figure not far away.
“Hmm?”
Chu He narrowed his eyes and saw the person wearing a shirt, not seeming cold at all in the dead of winter, looking up at the boarding gate information board.
“…Yan Lanyu?”
Why was Xiao Yan here, perfectly fine, and alone, without even a coat?
Chu He was a little puzzled. He instinctively glanced at the restroom where Zhou Hui had run in, then quickly walked towards Yan Lanyu.
