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Although there were many ghosts as well as evil spirits pouring out of the passageway, the escort team was made up of talented elites from various divisions. It wasn't impossible to escort a single person through the two worlds.

Foreigners had entered the ghost city. The moment living beings from the human realm entered Ghost City, their position had always been in Xu Qiu's eyes. Although he was no match for his boss, he was still the second-in-command and wasn't a weakling.

If he sat on the second highest position without any strength or ability to back him up, he would have been crushed by the other ghosts a long time ago.

"How bold." Xu Qiu praised, but there wasn't a trace of emotion on the young and handsome ghost.

Too many things have happened recently. Ever since his boss came back to Ghost City, not only did he fail to obtain a holiday, he instead found himself becoming busier.

However, he dare not complain. If it were before, he would still dare to face his boss's cold face and hint for him to take over some of the work.

But now, he didn't even have the courage to go closer, let alone endure the storm.

When he realised that his boss had returned a few days ago, Xu Qiu had emotionally gone out to receive him.

Yet, the first thing he noticed were the other person's scarlet eyes. He wore the same dark robes that contrasted against his pale skin as in his memories, but the originally expressionless face was now extremely terrifying. The left side of his face had twisted.

Like an evil spirit…

When ordinary ghosts lose their rationality and warp into evil spirits, they would undergo an increase in overall abilities at the expense of their consciousness, and turn into a complete monster.

Scarlet irises and a twisted expression symbolised his boss's gradual loss of control as he warped into an evil spirit. At that time, Xu Qiu's entire person(ghost) was frozen. He dared not imagine such a terrifying thing and even thought his (dead) heart leapt up in fright.

The only thing worth rejoicing was that he hadn't yet completely transformed and still retained a part of his rationality as he sent out an order that very day to attack the human realm. Apart from this, he never spoke another word.

For Xu Qiu, it wasn't difficult to understand the cause and effect of this matter but the problem was that even if he knew, there was nothing he could do.

His boss directly locked himself in his study once he came back. Nowadays, apart from executing the 'attack the human realm' task, he risked his life to bother the person in the study twice a day.

He saw the worsening situation. If this continued, his king would truly become an irrational monster…

This transformation was irreversible, at least it was the case for every single instance it had happened. This made Xu Qiu feel deeply powerless.

His heart was already full of irritability and now, before he could even order the ghosts who'd charged into the human realm to attack, people from there came knocking on their door. It would be a miracle if Xu Qiu didn't torture those intruders to death.

"Lord Xie Lan." Xu Qiu had just given the order to exterminate when a familiar figure entered his sight. He immediately got up.

"Do not spare a single living human." The man's pale and handsome face had merged with the twisted half, resulting in a strange and aloof beauty, just like the cruel words he just said.

Ever since his beloved was stolen away, he developed an instinctive hatred for the living. The ghost king could no longer tolerate the existence of any living beings. Once he perceives them, they must die.

"…Yes, this subordinate understands." Xu Qiu lowered his head to answer. His lord most probably couldn't hear anything and his words were all based on his subconscious. Nonetheless, he would obey them loyally.

Regardless, he was this person's blade. He would carry out any order. Since he chose to vow his loyalty to this man hundreds of years ago, Xu Qiu never once regretted it.

Because of the extermination order, the escorts didn't have an easy time as they did when they first entered the passageway. The random rogues they met in the passageway were completely different from the elite spirits sent to kill them.

"Here is good enough." After entering the city, the youth sitting on the wheelchair got everyone to stop as he stood up. The crutches were finally put to use.

Gu Yan's words meant that those who had escorted him here could return. His current position was near the capital. If they tried to forcefully enter, there was a high chance their whole team would be wiped out. Since he had come sufficiently close, he would have a way to reach his destination.

The escorts' mission was to send the youth into Ghost City and obey his instructions. But once they heard this, they all hesitated on the spot.

"Your mission is over. Thank you everyone for bringing me here." He smiled habitually and nodded towards the team leader.

Time is running out. The ghost city could destroy the human realm at any time. Gu Yan could only think of stroking and awakening his lover who thought he was dead now, so he didn't say anything else but only thanked them. Then, he took out a teleportation talisman he had prepared before entering the ghost city.

This talisman teleported him to where he wanted to go but there was a limitation, which was why Gu Yan needed to reach this position.

After choosing his target destination, the spell needed ten seconds to activate. He didn't think and directly chose to teleport into the study room he was most familiar with in the capital.

As the youth finished reciting the incantation, the escorts who were still hesitating watched dumbly as the person they had been protecting disappeared.

The distance wasn't big so there wasn't much motion sickness. Gu Yan quickly stabilised himself as he glanced around the room. He realised that things were slightly out of his expectations; his family's Qiuqiu wasn't in the study.

Although he wasn't 100% sure, with Gu Yan's understanding of his lover, he knew that the study was the most likely place he'd return to after coming back to the ghost city. But now, he had made a mistake and could only spend more time to find him.

A whole team wandering around the ghost city was too obvious but a single person wouldn't be discovered as easily.

Especially in the very core of the ghost city where security was the most lax because their king hated to be disturbed. Said person was also the most terrifying existence in the entire Ghost City.

Since he was not in the study, the next most likely place was the palace. With this in mind, Gu Yan no longer concealed himself and simply walked out of the study. He was confident that the ghosts in this area wouldn't dare do anything to him once they saw him.

"L-Lord Gu Yan…" A passing retainer happened to see the dark-haired youth walking slowly. He stared in bewilderment, looking left and right, but there was no one else around to give him an answer.

He had heard that the ghost city was violating the peace treaty between both realms and according to this logic, all living beings were their enemy.　　

But the youth in front of him was their king's precious treasure. Some time ago, he even personally witnessed Lord Xie Lan's attitude towards the youth that could be called 'complete obedience'. Even if there was a war between the two realms, he was sure that he couldn't hurt this person.

Hearing this greeting, Gu Yan nodded towards him. Back when he stayed in the ghost city for a month, he had familiarised himself with the appearance of all the ghosts living in the palace. This was also why he dared to walk around openly.

The study wasn't far from the palace hall but his mobility was affected so he couldn't move quickly.

To sprain his ankle at such a critical period of time, there was truly no one else like him.

If he went around telling people that he didn't save the world in time because of a sprained ankle, anyone who heard it would probably laugh and give him a look that said 'you must be kidding'.

But he wasn't here to save the world…

Selfishly speaking, this was not his top priority. Gu Yan simply wanted to see his lover.

When he reached the palace hall, he saw a few guards as expected. The guards rotated in shifts and coincidentally, those standing guard did not recognise him.

All living beings must die. For someone to actually sneak in without them noticing was simply a disgrace. The expressions on the guard's faces changed and they immediately acted.

The commotion from outside the hall caused Xu Qiu's expression to sink. His instincts told him there was a living being in their palace. He had sent out many personnel to seize the intruders but didn't expect that there was someone who actually managed to sneak in without being detected.

He wanted to see which old fart from the spiritual world had come. He turned to look at his cold-faced and scarlet-eyed boss, before leaving with anger.

Was it easy for his boss to love someone after so many years? But those people who were tired of living actually dared to act so recklessly. Now, look. They'll only be happy once they're all dead.

With rage, he was prepared to vent his anger on the 'old fart' who had stumbled in front of his gun. In the end, once he walked out of the hall, Xu Qiu nearly tore the whole door out in surprise.

Staring at the clearly-alive youth, the thousands of words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat. After he experienced an emotional fluctuation equivalent to what he had felt over hundreds of years combined, he finally forced himself to calm down. "You… Lord Xie Lan is inside. He really wants to see you."

Then, he recalled something else and quickly added, "Lord Xie Lan's current condition is a little… abnormal. You must be prepared."

"Only you can calm him down now." Although he was clear that his boss was currently in a half-twisted state of abnormality and nearly losing himself, Xu Qiu still wanted the youth to give it a shot.

The guards previously refused to cooperate so he had no choice but to use violence and once Xu Qiu spoke, he nodded and stepped into the hall.

There was a living person just a few steps away but the pale and noble ghost didn't react. His scarlet-eyes were fixed on the human but he didn't follow his instincts and attack the other.

There was something even deeper than his cruel and violent instincts. His gaze fell onto the dark-haired youth a distance away, almost greedily, like a pair of invisible shackles that couldn't wait to tie him up and lock him away.

If the living person who came closer was someone other than the dark-haired youth, their head might have already been separated from their body.

He had really been given a scare…

Looking at the scene before him, Gu Yan clearly realised this fact as he came closer, until he was close enough to reach out a hand to touch the other person. The half-ruined face was right in front of him.

Losing oneself and transforming into an evil spirit was irreversible. But was it truly the case?

Gu Yan leaned in without a care and kissed the left side of his face. The other person didn't attack him. In fact, allowing himself to be touched was already a very clear and definite answer…

Those blood-red eyes were fixed on the youth until a kiss, full of warmth, fell upon him. The owner of that pair of eyes suddenly reached out without warning. He grabbed the dark-haired youth who had kissed him.

He didn't control his strength in the beginning but loosened his hold afterwards. He instinctively did not allow himself to hurt this person but also did not allow any room for escape.

Even if there was a day were he completely lost himself and became a mindless monster, he wouldn't forget—

This was his beloved, the precious treasure that belonged to him.