Chapter 80   - Ghost Eyes

“Have you found it?” The man dressed in a red robe was sitting on the king’s chair, coldly looking at the rows of spies who were kneeling on the ground, with an uncontrollable expectation in his tone.

The head of the spies clenched his teeth, and moved a step forward on his knees as if he was accepting his death, “Your majesty, we have not found it for the time being.”

Xiao Chen looked at the scene in front of him with some bewilderment, he was looking around when a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.

‘How is he Jing Hezhi?’

After he saw the person in the seat more clearly, he walked over with a smile of joy

However, after two steps, he realised something was amiss.

The Jing Hezhi in front of him does not seem to be the same Jing Hezhi he remembers, his Jing Hezhi always wore a smile on his face, with genuine tenderness and love in his eyes which could always eliminate all the anxiety and fear of being abandoned in his heart.

But this Jing Hezhi...

something is definitely not right.

His whole body exudes such a level of coldness that would keep all strangers away, his eyes look fierce as if he is ready to kill, such that he can’t even hide the ruthlessness and coldheartedness in his bones.

It was as if Xiao Chen was looking at another Jing Hezhi

But at the same time, Xiao Chen still subtly feels that the Jing Hezhi in front of him was the Jing Hezhi he knew.

The man sneered, his expression reflected the impatience he felt. The body that had been sitting upright leaned lazily on the king’s chair, he didn’t even bother looking at the group of people who were kneeling on the ground, his fingers tapped the edge of the chair lightly.

That symbolised his anger.

The man waved his hand, and the eunuch who served him walked forward in fear, fearing that he would be decapitated if he did not do a good job.

Jing Hezhi didn’t even bother looking at him and coldly said, “Since all of you have no capabilities, then there is no point for me to keep all of you here anymore.”

The man spoke so monotonously, without even a slight fluctuation in his tone, as if he was saying that today’s weather is not good at all.

“Bring them out, and kill them.” The man’s eyes reflected how coldhearted he was.

So coldhearted that anyone would have been scared.

Xiao Chen froze up, blatantly watching the people who were kneeling on the ground being dragged out by another group of people who rushed in from the door. Soon after, he heard the sound of flowing liquid coming from outside the door and a loud ‘pong’ which sounded like a rock hard item being smashed onto the ground.

However, the man remained emotionless, as if he could kill without even blinking his eyes.

Xiao Chen grew up seeing so many ghosts and spirits and was completely numb to such scenes of death.

Furthermore, compared to the killing, he was much more curious if the man in front of him was Jing Hezhi.

If he was, then where is he at and why did Jing Hezhi become like that?

Xiao Chen pursed his lips.

From the moment he stood there, he realized that everyone around him couldn’t see him. He was like a bystander, watching what was happening in front of him. No one knew who he was or where he came from.

No! Something isn’t right!

Xiao Chen paused for a while and cast his eyes on the man sitting in the king’s chair.

If he truly wanted to know why he was there.

The answer is very straightforward.

He was there for him.

Jing Hezhi stood up from the chair, dragging his seemingly heavy body, and walked out without any expression, with the long red robe dragging across the ground.

When he walked to the place where Xiao Chen was standing, he paused, as if he had sensed something, he looked around the spot, and his heart twitched violently.

Xiao Chen watched the man stroll back and forth four or five times around where he was standing, staring at where he was standing for a long time as if he knew there was someone standing here.

Could it be that he saw him?

That was what Xiao Chen thought.

Jing Hezhi endured the sudden tingling of his heart and squeezed his fists. Eventually, his heartless grey eyes sank again, becoming even more empty than at the beginning, with pain.

Then, the man-made up his mind to stop feeling conflicted, turning around while flicking his sleeves and walked away without even looking back.

He couldn’t find him. He hasn’t found his precious sweetheart.

Xiao Chen was dumbfounded and stayed at his position while watching the man leave, and for some reason, he felt that his back had an unexplainable feeling of loneliness.

Xiao Chen hurried forward.

The man picked up the picture scroll wrapped in cloth on the desk, and then took it out carefully.

There were a lot of things on the table, and the man frowned. He didn’t know if these things were an eyesore. He violently waved his arm, and slapped all the things on the table to the floor, with a cold face.

The eunuch lady guarding outside the door trembled, but she seemed to be used to it. At this time, no one came in to disturb and no one cleaned up the mess.

Xiao Chen watched him with a face of confusion.

So violent and so irritable, simply not caring for his own body.

Xiao Chen felt so much pain seeing him act this way, he stopped moving forward, hesitating and did not know what to do.

How could he not recognize the man he loved?

Even though his temperament changed drastically, Xiao Chen is absolutely certain that this person is his Jing Hezhi.

One and only, unparalleled in the world.

Jing Hezhi flattened the picture scroll and slumped it open on the table. He stared at the person in the picture without saying a word, rubbing his fingers on the drawing paper lightly, as if looking at a fragile and rare piece of treasure.

Seeing him like this, Xiao Chen stepped forward and looked at the painting suspiciously.

What was making him so obsessed?

Xiao Chen glanced at it and was stunned on the spot.

The painting was not a simple portrait of a beautiful woman!

Xiao Chen blushed, his face flushed red.

That was clearly a sexual scene.

And it involved two men, one attacking, one receiving.

When Xiao Chen moved in closer and took a better look at the people in the portrait, the bitter feeling flew away immediately.

The young man in the painting has a pair of charming phoenix-shaped eyes, which are slightly raised, flirting with the other guy, and there is a pair of tattoos on his back, a rose and a snake.

The entangled roses and snakes were like the two men entangled in the painting. The love was so deep, no one could pull themself out. They were so in love.

Xiao Chen could not express the unhappiness he was feeling, he could only continue to stare at the man’s every move.

Jing Hezhi placed his fingers on the face of the young man in the painting, looking at the person in the painting affectionately.

“Precious, where are you!” Jing Hezhi was steaming, and even going crazy to a certain extent, “Why can’t I find any news about you even after all these years!”

Xiao Chen heard the man’s voice and felt bitter and sad. He wanted to rush to give Jing Hezhi a hug, but his hand passed through the man’s body as soon as he stretched it out.

He couldn’t touch him.

Just as if they were in different dimensions.

Xiao Chen’s hand hung in the air, and he slowly clenched his fist, lowering it down.

This was the first time Xiao Chen felt so powerless.

His teeth were clenched, tightly biting his lower lips.

His lover was just right in front of his eyes, but they could not reunite. They were only a few centimetres apart, but it felt like they were separated by mountains and oceans.

Xiao Chen tried to hug Jing Hezhi as if he was trying to comfort the man.

“I’m here, Jing Hezhi, I’m right beside you!”

Xiao Chen kept repeating this sentence, looking at the very unstable man in front of him, he couldn’t express the discomfort he felt. Even though he knew that the other party could not hear his own voice at all, he still did it over and over again, because he felt that it was the only way he could convey his emotions to the bottom of the man’s heart.

“I’m here, I’m right beside you.”

I have never left your side.

And will never leave you too.

Jing Hezhi paused slightly with his hand rubbing on the scroll, and his eyelids twitching suddenly.

He seemed to have sensed something. He stood up, looked around, walked around the desk, walking back and forth a few times.

Why? He was feeling as if he could sense his precious sweetheart!

The man clenched his fist.

In the end, it was all for nothing, just hallucinations.

He stretched out his fingers to rub his temples.

Precious! Where are you!

Xiao Chen was like Jing Hezhi’s shadow, wherever Jing Hezhi went, Xiao Chen followed.

Xiao Chen also realised that he couldn’t see any ghosts here, and he was calm just like how the world should have been.

He observed Jing Hezhi’s every move, regardless of day or night, watching how this man was ruining his own body, and how he became so lovesick.

Tyrant! Incapable king!

That was how everyone called him.

The people under his rule were all suffering.

He was ruthless! Kill without blinking his eyes! Doesn’t bother with any social issues! Doesn’t even ask about politics!

He doesn’t care about the suffering of the people under his rule, and left them to fend for themself. Whenever someone refutes the court, they will be beheaded to scare the public. He will do things his own way, without any care for humanity.

But just as everyone knew that he was a tyrant, the whole world knew that this man who was even more terrifying than a scourge was focused on looking for someone.

He was looking for a man with a rose and a snake tattoo on his back and had beautiful phoenix-like eyes.

Hilarious! Pathetic! Hated!

The king, don’t even care about his people, and was even gay!

Going through so much trouble just to find someone from his dream.

It was just a hallucination, an illusion, no one even knew if that person existed!

So many years have passed, yet no news at all!

Why is he so stubborn and can’t let go.

Time flew past in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Chen found out that he would be jumping to different locations and even different times.

Even though he didn’t feel that time had passed, his lover in front of him is turning sicker and older every passing moment.

Ultimately, he is a mortal, and ageing was inevitable.

Xiao Chen stood quietly on one side, watching the man age calmly.

The man sat on the chair as if he was dozing off, the beard on his chin also began to appear, and his hair was greying quickly.

On the table laid countless paintings drawn by men.

In the paintings, it was all the same person

The man in the painting was still so handsome and radiant, young as always, but the man who painted it has long since had greying hair and grew much older.

Xiao Chen squatted down next to the man, leaning closer to observe the changes of the man over the years.

So that was how Jing Hezhi looked when he grew old.

Xiao Chen felt so upset and pitied Jing Hezhi at the same time.

“Your Majesty, the attacking traitors are already near the city, please leave now.” It was Li Gui, the old eunuch who had been serving Jing Hezhi. He rushed into the study and knelt down straight away.

Jing Hezhi opened his eyes faintly, looking at the kneeling man, his grey eyes had not changed in any way from when he was young, cold and ruthless, without even the slightest fluctuations.

He could hear the distant sound of swords and killing, and even the pitiful screams of the court ladies and eunuchs as they were being killed.

Chaotic and tragic.

“Where do I go?” the man sneered, “in a world without him, where else could I go?”

No one knew clearer than Xiao Chen who the ‘him’ Jing Hezhi was referring to.

Before Li Gui could convince him, the study’s door was brutally kicked open with so much force that a loud ‘pong’ sound accompanied.

Xiao Chen stood up immediately, and his pupils were dilated.

When the person who charged in saw the man sitting on the chair, his eyes became sharp and smiled triumphantly. He held a long sword in his hand with the tip of the sword stained with fresh blood, so much so that some of the blood flowed down the sword onto the floor.

The person stabbed Li Gui, who struggled for a short while before breathing in his last breath.

Yet Jing Hezhi remained emotionless and reflected no sense of fear.

Xiao Chen was so anxious and loudly screamed, “Jing Hezhi, are you mad? Why aren’t you standing up yet, don’t you want to see me, I’m right beside you! Stand up now!”

But no matter how loudly Xiao Chen screamed, Jing Hezhi remained emotionless.

In a world where his lover did no exist, suicide has crossed the man’s mind countless of times, his only hope was that he could find his lover.

But having lived to now, he barely had any hope left.

The attacker was so suspicious of how emotionless Jing Hezhi was, he held up his sword but didn’t dare to step forward.

After a slight hesitation, the man mustered up his courage and stabbed Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen’s pupils shrunk suddenly, as he tried to shield the man’s body with his hands, and used himself to block the man’s body, but the long sword still went straight through his body and penetrated towards the heart of the man without any hindrance.

The attacker stabbed so violently that blood splattered everywhere.

Right before Jing Hezhi was stabbed, his bleak grey eyes seem to have seen something unbelievable, he tried to reach out his hand to touch the man before his eyes.

It was his precious sweetheart!!

But when the sword was completely pulled out of his chest, he also lost all his energy and took his last breath.

Xiao Chen stood dumbfounded in his spot, looking at the scene in front of him at a loss.

All of the sudden, his teary eyes froze, without even a blink, he watched the man’s soul leave his body, becoming a spirit, appearing right in front of his eyes.

The man looked exactly like how he was when he was young, in his peak with a red robe and green lace, exactly like how Xiao Chen remembered him.

Jing Hezhi obviously did not expect things to turn out this way and stared right at Xiao Chen, he stepped forward and raised his hand, trying to touch Xiao Chen to check if it was just an illusion.

Xiao Chen throbbed, trying to hug him, but before he could even move, a strong force suddenly restricted his movement and pulled him backwards, before he completely disappeared from his original position.

“NO!” Jing Hezhi exclaimed out loud.

He totally did not just see his lover disappearing right in front of his very eyes yet again!

Why! WHY!

The man’s grey pupil became blood red, with anger overwhelming his brain, a gust of black air rushed out of his body soaring to the sky, just like a crazy beast that had completely lost any rationality.

At that moment, the weather changed, the originally sunny day was all of a sudden clouded by dark clouds, just like the solar eclipse. The sun was covered by a gust of black energy and then devoured.

There was only complete darkness left.

Not a single spark of light.

All the court ladies, eunuchs and soldiers became ghosts and began killing the traitors who attacked.

In the dark.

The smell of blood consumed the whole place, which was endlessly painted red.

The violent screams of ghosts filled with hatred filled the place.

The king of the ghosts!

He was born!

Return him to me! Return him to me! Return my precious sweetheart back to me!

Go and die! All of you go and die!

No one will be spared!

Xiao Chen opened his eyes abruptly from the darkness, staring at Jing Hezhi, who had been staring at him, and took a deep breath,he suddenly stretched out their hands and tightly hugged his neck, burning his head in Jing Hezhi’s neck in fear that they will be separated again.

The man laughed and patted the kid’s back lightly, “what happened, did you have a nightmare?”

Xiao Chen sniffled, he had yet to recover from the fear of seeing Jing Hezhi being stabbed, he took another deep breath and rubbed the man’s neck.

The kid doesn’t usually call Jing Hezhi by his full name.

“Why, what’s wrong?” The man hugged the kid tightly.

“I will never ever leave you again!”

Every time Xiao Chen remembers the look of despair on the man’s face when he disappeared, his heart would ache.

When the man heard those words, his grey eyes changed and had a look of confusion.

The next moment, he buried his head in the kid’s hair and calmly said,” Of course, I know”

Because I will never ever let anyone take you away from my side.

You! Are mine!

—

Hi everyone! I’m DKP, the new translator for DTSB. I’m an amateur translator so please take care of me alright!! I’ll be posting once every week so do look out for new chapters each week 😛 (unless I’m feeling extra generous of course hehe)