The heaven-sent ... Bride?!

Meanwhile, almost two weeks had passed and Ying yue recovered quickly. Only the fractures still restricted him a little and although he could have seen another doctor in this condition, Zhen yan refused to let him go.

»If you trip and fall on the way, the fracture will reopen and you will miserably die in the ditch in front of my house. My house will be the first thing these mortal peasants try to burn!« he explained angrily. Ying yue pressed his lips together to a narrow line, his heart was pounding wildly, again and again this demon managed to make him furious.

Zhen yan sat at a table in front of an incense burner, which spread the scent of cedar wood, and read a book. He had his elbow on the table and his head in his hand, while he held the book with his other hand and turned the pages regularly. Ying yue stared at him openly and frostily. The demon was attractive, there was no denying that; if he were to go down the mountain, women would fall at his feet.

His arched brows had drawn together in concentration as he occasionally formed the words he was reading with his lips. His breathing was calm and even, the upper half of his black hair was neatly combed back and tied into a simple elegant knot at the back of his head, held in place by a plain white hairpin that looked suspiciously like a splinter of bone.

The rest of his long black flowing hair fell around him like liquid black jade. Ying yue took a deep breath in and out. Although he was quickly feeling better, he was still shaky on his feet. His leg and ribs had not yet fully healed. With anyone else, he would have understood if he had advised him to stay in bed for a while, but he wanted to leave Wushan and the demon's estate quickly behind. He couldn't classify the nature of the being.

He had encountered many arrogant types of his guild, but so far, without exception, every one of them had tried to kill him. Instead, Zhen yan raised him with a marriage contract that was made before heaven and earth and the gods, and cared for him. He didn't like the feeling that arose in Ying yue when he looked at Zhen yan's face. He wanted to pierce him with Xiaodan, but he had saved him, and murder would be ungrateful.

So for the time being, he had no choice but to devote himself to his meditation, which proved difficult, as every page of the book disturbed his concentration, as did every deeper breath of Zhen yan. So Ying yue pressed his lips together and furrowed his eyebrows, pretending not to be disturbed by anything.

»Why did you fall, anyway?« the demon asked suddenly.

Ying yue opened his eyes and looked directly at Zhen yan. This question disturbed him. The demon could hear his accelerated heartbeat and labored breathing. Ying yue's eyebrows were now so tightly pressed together that they touched, and he had bitten his lips so hard that they were bleeding. Zhen yan put his book aside and watched the small round drop roll off his lower lip, resisting the urge to catch it.

»It wasn't an accident, apparently... am I right?« A smile played around his lips, but Ying yue abruptly turned his head away and closed his eyes again.

»None of your business!« he said sternly. »You destroyed my roof, are lying in my bed in my house and eating my food...«

»I didn't ask you to do any of that. If you let me, I'll leave immediately and you'll never see me again!« Ying yue interrupted him harshly.

Zhen yan put his book on the table and took a deep breath. He couldn't make the young man feel guilty. He thought to himself, ‚Then do it another way.'

"The Wushan is my home. If I try hard enough, can I find more of you? Maybe even a whole night hunt?" he asked openly.

A night hunt was the term used to describe the hunt for one or more demons or ghosts or other supernatural beings. As soon as they caused trouble and threatened the common folk, cultivators were sent out to destroy them. This type of hunt was publicly advertised and anyone could participate. This had been the case for thousands of years and would always remain so.

So if a cultivator of a renowned clan ended up here, it was most likely that a night hunt had blown him onto his mountain.

»And if I find something like that, isn't it my right to defend my home?« he asked defiantly. Zhen yan enjoyed the pressure he was putting on the young swordsman. But when Ying yue gave him a murderous look, the euphoria subsided. This man had no blush on his face anymore and he didn't look down in embarrassment, he looked the demon directly in the eye and would plunge his silver blade through his black heart at just one more wrong word from him.

Zhen yan sighed. »Even if...« he appeased Ying yue. »You've been here for two weeks already, no one will be there anymore,« he said. His face darkened at the thought. Night hunts are subject to strict rules. But no one had looked for Bai Yingyue. Even though his estate was hidden by more than a few protective mechanisms, he would have noticed if someone had approached it.

Even if one assumed that he hadn't survived the fall, honor dictated that the fallen member of a hunt be recovered. That meant he had been left behind. Zhen yan's finger twitched, a brief flare of anger, then it was gone. He put his fingertips over his mouth to stop himself from talking nonsense. The young man's anger was not directed at him, but at those who had betrayed him.

Ying yue lowered his gaze, without saying anything, he straightened his back and returned to his meditation. Zhen yan had lived for more than fifty thousand years, he had experienced more betrayals than a human being could ever endure in a lifetime. He put the few puzzle pieces together. A night hunt had been called, nothing unusual about that.

The squad Ying yue was in pursued the demon to Wushan. That was more peculiar, since Zhen yan made sure that there were no other demons on the mountain that could cause him trouble. He wanted to be left alone. So they had lured him here and pushed him down. But why? Zhen yan remembered the finely embroidered pattern on the high-quality robe.

Ying yue had said that this material was of high quality and magically reinforced. He must therefore belong to a respected clan; who would dare to harm a member of such a family? The demon could sense neither malice nor hatred in the young man; he was sincere and steadfast. Although Zhen yan had given him back his sword, he had made no move to use it against him.

Even though he was a demon and had made it clear to Ying yue what he expected from encounters with demons, it was not decent for him to use it against him. Zhen yan leaned back and opened his book again, but instead of devoting himself to the pages, he kept his eyes fixed on the young man's fine features and watched his regular breathing.

More days and weeks passed and Ying yue began to train with the sword whenever Zhen yan was not present and to let the Yang energy flow within him. Surprisingly, the mountain pulsated with life and was full of energy, even though such a high-ranking demon lived on it.

Shouldn't he be corrupted according to the principle? Zhen yan's demonic energy should have corrupted the mountain completely if he had been living here for several hundred years. Either he was powerful enough to control his energy, or he was too weak to influence anything. Ying yue furrowed his brow while he and Xiaodan were performing some sweeping strokes.

Neither was suitable. Zhen yan was by no means weak. A demon who was so weak that he barely exuded energy would not have survived here for long, but if he was so strong, why had he never heard of him? Ying yue had grown up in a family of esteemed cultivators, he had read all the books about the great and small demons, and internalized the principles and teachings of the clan.

Lost in thought, Ying yue performed a few sword strikes when he missed Zhen yan by a hair's breadth. Only millimeters from his throat, Xiaodan came to a stop. Ying yue looked at the demon's neck. His fair skin and the Adam's apple resting beneath it.

»Bai Gongzi?« the demon asked gently. Ying yue raised his eyes only a few millimeters and remained fixed on Zhen yan's full lips. He didn't want to look him in the eye. The dark green, in which a fire glowed that he couldn't identify, made him dizzy.

»Mhm!« he grumbled and let his sword drop, though he didn't immediately put it back into its sheath. Zhen yan put the bundle of clothes he had brought with him on the bed. »You've made a full recovery,« he said, leaving unspoken the fact that Ying yue could walk. Ying yue nodded and put Xiaodan back after all and leaned it against the bed.

When Zhen yan made no move to leave, he turned around again. He would certainly not undress in front of him. Zhen yan regarded him with his usual amused look, as if he had only waited for a moment of carelessness, but admitted defeat and retreated when he caught Ying yue's sparkling look. Only when Ying yue could no longer hear his footsteps did he cautiously open his robes and take off his clothes.

When he finally put on his dark blue robe and silver belt again, he felt a bit safer and whole again. He put Xiaodan back in its place and then turned to leave. To his surprise, the demon hadn't left at all, but had been waiting for him outside the room. Ying yue's ears turned red and he avoided looking at Zhen yan.

»What did you expect, that I would let you two stumble around headless all alone on my estate?« Zhen yan asked amusedly. He led Ying yue over the bridges and walkways that connected his estate until he pointed to a path that disappeared into a dense forest.

Bai Ying yue had just gathered up the courage to thank him when Zhen yan turned to him and easily lifted Ying yue's chin with two fingers. He leaned a little too far towards him. »Time to say goodbye, my love,« he whispered. Yingyue flushed again, pressed his lips together, and furrowed his brows so deeply that they touched.

He pushed Zhenyan's hand away. His heart was beating abnormally fast, and he had to make a great effort not to pull Xiaodan and cut the demon's head off.

»You are shameless, impossible!« he scolded angrily, then he stepped energetically past him, head red with rage, and didn't turn around once until he had disappeared behind the dense wall of trees.

A little later.

Zhen yan sat on the porch of his main house and looked down the path of the mountain. Ying yue's bright red head had disappeared from his view hours ago, but the big demon continued to stare at the spot where he had last seen him.

He raised a wine jug to his lips and let the alcohol slide listlessly down his throat. In the beginning, it had been fun to tease the serious warrior. His head was red with rage and his eyebrows were so close together they almost touched. But when he thought of the young man's black, shiny eyes, his thin lips and serious face, something other than mischief twisted inside him.

In all the millennia of his existence, not even the most beautiful mortal had made his heart beat like this. Zhen yan let his thoughts wander. »In a way, we really are married,« he murmured to himself. He thought of the night Bai Yingyue fell through his roof, of the red ribbon he got tangled up in, and the fact that they had bowed three times. Involuntarily, a smile stole onto his face.

»As a decent and loyal husband, I shouldn't let my wife go on such a dangerous journey alone,« he said lightly, swinging the rest of the alcohol in the jug. He thought of Ying yue's pale skin, the fine scars on his back. The way he breathed when something upset him, his furiously sparkling eyes and the thin lips that were always pressed together into a line. His name, Bai Ying yue, suited him. White, reflecting moonlight. He always showed himself from his best side, so that no one recognized the scars under the beauty.

»Mhm,« Zhen yan had made his decision. He put down the wine jug and followed the path down the mountain with swinging steps. Before he left his territory, he sealed his estate. He hesitated for a moment, how many years had it been since he had left his mountain? Ying yue's face appeared before him.

»Shameless!« he swore angrily. A grin spread across Zhen yan's face. The idea of Ying yue's anger when he suddenly appeared in front of him made Zhen yan very happy. His emerald eyes looked around furtively; the last time he had felt such excitement was when he had first entered the mortal world as a young demon.

Behind him, the fog thickened into an impenetrable wall and completely engulfed the estate, along with all its bridges, walkways and ponds, while Zhen yan crossed the cedar forest for the first time in over four hundred years.