If He was Ever in Love

Getting dazed at the thought of her? Xu Rouguang's teeth began to dig on his lip again. His brows furrowed deeper as soon as Lai Mingjie covered his face. He knew that Lai Mingjie was fearful of that murderous look on his face, but he couldn't help it today. It didn't matter if it was indeed his fault for bringing it up.

"Jie..." Xu Rouguang wanted to break away from the feeling as well, but his mind was too fixed on thinking about it. "If you see her again, what will you do?"

"Hmph, depends on what she is." Lai Mingjie recalled his hand from the general's face. He then leaned on his arms stretched behind him. His head turned away and noticed something amiss in the supposed placid Crimson Lake. However, he didn't point it out. "If her neck is as brittle as chalk, I'd break it. You don't know how cunning that bitch is.

"Poisoning the entire city just to make sure I would ingest it? Bathing in it as soon as she realized the infused poison was too weak for me to feel?" He shook his head and glared at the water as if he was suspicious of its movements. "She was called Poison Flower because she seduces a lot of princes from the wealthiest empires to the immortal dynasties. She only stopped when she met General Xu once, and she had been pinning for him since then.

"'Your head will be my dowry', dammit. Guess she was so thirsty for a screaming tin can that she killed almost half of her people. It makes me puke every time I think about how she acted like I was interested in making love with her." Lai Mingjie gritted his teeth again, grinning in resurfacing anger that he had long forgotten. "She was just food to me, flesh in my belly. So audacious to think I would...

"Argh! Asking me to talk about her is making me really angry. Can we not talk about this?" Lai Mingjie sighed, giving up on his revenge long overdue. "No matter how I put it, General Xu was still the person who killed the great Emodao the Bleeding. Since everyone knew that I was bound to decimate Poison Flower's city, they all thought General Xu saved a damsel in distress... of course, the future wife..."

Xu Rouguang's eyes suddenly flickered upon hearing the words 'future wife'. Based on what Lai Mingjie said, this Poison Flower wanted him—Xu Rouguang—instead. However, she was speaking of Emodao lusting over her body. She was also the root of Emodao's downfall at that time. By theory, shouldn't General Xu be grateful to her? Marriage was also feasible, but why would he be angry at her? Why did Botangca make him believe she was to blame for his disgust towards beautiful women? So much disgust that he wasn't even whipped by the Goddess Nuwa herself?

The tooth dug in his already-bleeding lip was lifted, and Xu Rouguang twitched as he felt the slight pain in his mouth. He only licked the puncture and the blood before talking to Lai Mingjie again. "What happened to her then? After your death?"

Lai Mingjie shook his head again. He turned to the general and frowned as he saw a pearl of blood forming on his lip. "No one knew. They all said she suddenly vanished the next night. A lot of rumors said General Xu didn't feel proud of his victory and decided to take his anger out on her. A poisoned foe is an unworthy enemy after all."

"Did you believe it? Do you think General Xu killed her?" Xu Rouguang disengaged from his position and only sat on the floor. Emodao was already dead, and Xu Rouguang had no memories; all he could do was to ask what the others think. For a moment, he felt like he would be a bit happy hearing that Poison Flower could have been dead all along.

"...No. General Xu is still a servant of heaven nonetheless. Even if he held no allegiance to things, he would never kill civilians. Whether he did blame her for the improper victory or not, it's impossible for him to personally kill a human." Nonetheless, a grin showed from his face. "Hehe, keyword there is 'personally'. If anything, the demon race would also associate her with my death. If someone snuck in to kill her—chances are, General Xu might just ignore it. I mean, with his sonic speed, he could have saved her or something.

"Then again, no one had claimed responsibility for Poison Flower's disappearance. She could have died because of her own foolishness instead. Either way, General Xu isn't a saving type." Lai Mingjie started nodding as if he was giving support to his own views. He then looked down at the poor confused man with a twitching grin of annoyance. "Since I answered your questions, you should answer mine. Who told you about that bitch?"

"Miss Botangca." Xu Rouguang murmured under his breath as he turned away in embarrassment. "She said this Poison Flower must have made me hate beautiful women."

"Hah... well, who wouldn't if someone thinks all beautiful women would be as cunning as she was?" Lai Mingjie only waved his hand. "Don't think about her or any other beautiful—"

"What about the phantom princess, Jie? Do you think she's cunning?"

Lai Mingjie's eyes descended from his eye-level to meet Xu Rouguang's. For some reason, the general was behaving oddly; and it wasn't too so Xu Rouguang to speak too much. He could only shake his head and chuckle lightly. "All this talk about Poison Flower making you feel sour instead? I don't even remember that girl. How would I know if she's cunning or not? Appearance-wise, she's a bit too heavenly not to be broken. Best guess was that she has quite a hidden brutal..."

It felt like his voice ran out the longer he stared at Xu Rouguang. He then made a bitter grin and reached out to ruffle the general's already rowdy hair. "No need to think all about them. Hehe, if you're looking for too much trouble, you might not like what you will find. I'm a demon king known all throughout the land. A lot of cities had thrown their daughters to me as if it'll help them escape my army. I met a lot of immortal princesses, but they're all dead inside my stomach. Food... that's all.

"No matter what they said, I'm never interested in women." He waved his hand again.

From the back of his mind, he couldn't help but remember the only beautiful maiden stuck in his head. If he was never interested, then why did he feel so warm in the embrace of that phantom princess? If he never caught any feelings for a human, then why was he so ready to calm down at the company of this woman? He had completely forgotten the name and the voice of this woman so why did she keep on coming like she was how his mind would make him be at peace?

If he was ever in love with this phantom princess, then why was his heart calling for Xu Rouguang ever since they met again?

Before either of them could speak again, they felt a weird movement of the water underneath them. Xu Rouguang sensed the entirety of the water, only to find a vortex forming at its basin. Even though the current was weak, it was still making waves in the placid lake. Strangely, Xu Rouguang couldn't 'see' the source of the movement. If a sinkhole appeared at the bottom of the lake, it would affect the entire city.

"Jie, stay here!" Xu Rouguang hurriedly jumped into the water and swam towards the vortex. He could hear Lai Mingjie calling him, but he paid no attention to it for now.

He was aware that both of them felt the depths of their souls shiver that very instant, their guts warning them of fatal danger.