Holding On to My Man

Chapter 105

During the short month since his return to the immortal realm, Gu Bai had actually long guessed many things from various signs and the relief sculpture in that old tomb. He had long prepared himself to welcome the truth, but when his memories truly returned, he was still thoroughly heartbroken from everything in his past.

The memory Yin Li spoke of that day was mostly the truth. He truly was a puppet Yin Li had refined when he was still a cultivator, and he had unexpectedly gained a human’s spiritual wisdom.

Not only did he gain a human’s wisdom, he was also the only puppet in the world which possessed its own soul. He was blessed by the heavens and had the world-defying ability to control puppets of equal cultivation.

And a puppet assistant was an essential item for practically every cultivator. Regardless of whether or not it was in the cultivation world or the immortal realm, his existence was a threat to everyone.

Even if he had the immortal emperor’s support behind him, the entire population of the immortal realm rejected him. To be more accurate, it was not only the immortal realm, but the entire six realms that could not tolerate his existence.

However, when Gu Bai was still Yin Baigu, he did not realize everyone’s feelings and only instinctively felt that no one liked him.

As a puppet person, although he had intelligence, in the end, he was unlike a real person. He possessed a very high IQ, but an incredibly low EQ.

When it came to his heart, even though he had followed Yin Li in making their way around the immortal realm, and lived for thousands of years, his inner heart still resembled his exterior appearance. He was forever only seventeen or eighteen, his heart clear and transparent like a crystal.

The immortal realm’s rejection made him long to become a real person with flesh and blood, but he did not know how to do it, until one day, when Lu Yaoji told him.

“Baigu, do you really want to become human? There’s a rumour that there’s an unusual treasure in the demon realm called an eternal life flower. It possesses a powerful and mysterious power. If you can find it, perhaps you can really become a real person with flesh and blood…”

“Really?”

The him of that time did not understand that human hearts were complicated.

Aside from Yin Li, only Lu Yaoji and Feng Siming treated him well in the entire immortal world. Therefore, when he saw Lu Yaoji smile and nod, he did not notice the other’s peculiar gaze.

After all, a puppet person’s heart was unlike a human’s.

He heard that the eternal life flower of the demon realm was at the lifeline of the demon realm.

The demon clan was different from those of the immortal world. Although they also could absorb the world’s spiritual energy and raise their cultivation, they needed demonic air, and the eternal life flower was the source of the circulation of the entire demon realm’s demonic air.

Therefore, the eternal life flower was extremely important to the demon clan, and it had been guarded by successive generations of the demon realm’s war god. And this generation’s demon realm war god was Ye Cang.

He had also heard of the name Ye Cang because his cultivation was said to be extremely high, and no one knew specifically how high it was. However, someone once said that his strength did not lose out to any of the six realm’s monarchs, and also because of his existence, the demon realm had been the richest and most powerful realm in the six realms three thousand years ago.

Although Gu Bai had the nature-defying skill to control the world’s puppets, this was only limited to puppets equal to or below his cultivation. At that time, he was just at the cultivation level of an immortal lord, and was unable to dare compare to the warlike powerhouses of the six realm monarchs.

But he longed too much to become a real person; this sort of desire spurred him to make a move, as he secretly left the immortal realm and entered the demon realm.

Although he was someone of the immortal realm, he was a puppet, so he had no immortal breath on him. After concealing his breath, it was very easy for him to infiltrate the demon realm and find the location of the eternal life flower at the end of the demon realm.

Just as the rumours said, the eternal life flower was guarded by the war god Ye Cang.

That was his first time meeting Ye Cang. Regardless of how long had passed, his memory remained just as clear.

Beside the eternal life flower, a man dressed in black armor was sitting on the ground.

He was leaning back against a boulder, a leg straight and another bent, his arm resting on his bent knee. His visible side-profile was handsome and steadfast, and his body exuded a hard-to-describe powerhouse’s mighty pressure. There was even a fierce Taotie mythical beast beside him.

The aura of a powerhouse made Gu Bai extremely terrified, but his desire to be a real person was too deep. He dared not use force and could only pace around nearby to find a chance to make a move; he only needed a single petal.

Since he could not use force, then he could only outwit him. As a result, he gathered all his courage and poked his head out from the boulder that hid his figure, opening his mouth and shouting.

“Are you Ye Cang the war god?”

God knew how scared he was at that time. After all, everyone had spoken of how absolutely terrifying, how absolutely unfeeling the war god Ye Cang was. Those who had provoked him were all killed and fed to the Taotie by his side.

When the man heard the voice, he turned and looked. A trace of an unusual expression appeared on his face the instant he saw him. As a puppet that had been meticulously carved, he possessed what could be said to be perfectly refined looks. Everyone who saw him would reveal this sort of expression.

Beautiful and gorgeous things would always gain more preferential treatment, and beauty was also a type of weapon. Even if Gu Bai’s EQ wasn’t high when he was Yin Baogi, even he understood this principle.

When he was still in the immortal realm, he had used this appearance to confuse many enemies and led them to think he was a beautiful and easily bullied little flower, and then they relaxed their guard enough to be defeated in his hands.

Perhaps this was Yin Li’s thoughts when he first created him, since under the circumstances where they had no soul, a puppet was just a ‘weapon’ in a cultivator’s hand. A cultivator creating a weapon like this was very common.

It was precisely because of this that he dared to boldly come out to strike up a conversation. Even if outwitting him was unsuccessful and he couldn’t beat Ye Cang, running away was still possible.

“Leave!”

Just as he imagined, Ye Cang did not make things difficult for him. He merely said a word to drive him away, then withdrew his gaze and no longer looked at him. The unfeeling war god would not be easily confused.

But regardless of whether it was the past Yin Baigu or the future Gu Bai, they both did not give up easily, so he continued to gather his courage to strike up a conversation.

“Can I come to you? I want to talk to you…”

He still continued his action of sticking his head out, his eyes staring fixedly at the man. Blinking and blinking, his gaze was sincere and clear as he smiled lightly.

That smile was extremely beautiful. When Ye Cang heard his voice and turned to look at him again, his heart could not help but suddenly stop as his hand stroking Taotie’s fur tensed.

Taotie sensed its master’s movement, and assuming that its master was angry, got up and assumed the posture of wanting to pounce over to bite him, but was then pulled by its tail.

“Come over ba…” Ye Cang took a breath and made his suddenly frozen heart start beating again before he spoke callously.

Obtaining his permission, Gu Bai happily came out from behind the rock and ran over to crouch down before the man, curiously looking at the other as he continued smiling.

“Turns out you look like this ah. I’ve long heard about you, even from the immortal world. You ascending to the demon realm is even more amazing. Being the demon realm’s war god already sounds really impressive.”

Though he was said to be of high IQ but low EQ, this low EQ could only be regarding himself. He was clear and transparent like a crystal, unable to understand a human’s genuine complexity.

But as a puppet that had lived for thousands of years, he had still learned to be very slick when fawning over someone. Added with that smiling face, no one was able to dislike him.

Ye Cang did not speak, but when looking at Gu Bai, an indiscernible uptick appeared at the corner of his lips.

“Did you come just to flatter me? Who are you? Don’t you know this is a restricted area? What did you come here for…”

“I came to find you. I’ve admired you for a long time. I’m Baigu, Yin Baigu. How about becoming familiar with me?”

The him of that time went to seduce him without a change in his expression.

He naively thought that he was so smart to actually think of such a good plan. When they became familiar with each other, asking for a petal from him would definitely be effortless!

But he didn’t think that this seduction wouldn’t help him attain his goal while he had already thrown himself in…

Like the rumours from the outside world, Ye Cang truly was a very callous person. Wanting to approach him and obtain his goodwill was not so easy.

Though Ye Cang, for the first time, had not directly killed him for trespassing into a restricted area, his attitude was very cold. He did not fall for his seduction during their first meeting.

But Gu Bai would not give up. His seduction still did not succeed today, so the little immortal planned to work hard again tomorrow. He did not leave and instead thickened his skin, staying behind.

In any case, there was nothing to do in the immortal realm, and his master was also in seclusion. At this time, there was no one to discipline him, so he was free to arrange his own schedule. If he could not wrangle this cold man, he would not be called Yin Baigu, and his name would be read backwards!

As such, he began circling around the man every day, thinking up all sorts of methods to get close to him and garner his goodwill. But the man truly was too hard to deal with, as he was simply indifferent.

Gu Bai was helpless. The other did not fall for his persuasion while he was not so bold as to use force. Just as he was about to give up and was resigned to reading his name backwards, Ye Cang saw his ears drooping like a pitiful and abandoned puppy, so his attitude suddenly softened.

“Don’t act in front of me. Speak ba, for what reason did you come to me and tried to ingratiate yourself with me?”

He wanted to say it but didn’t dare to. What he wanted was the lifeblood of his demon realm. If he said it aloud, with the man’s appearance of not being amenable to soft or weak tactics, wouldn’t he just be beaten to death?

He was very distressed, but finally, under his longing desire to become a real human, he still gathered his courage to quietly speak up.

“God Ye Cang, c-can you give me a petal from the eternal life flower?”

He barely finished when the surrounding air solidified.

The man’s gaze felt like a burning torch. At the side, the demonic beast Taotie also straightened its back and assumed an attacking posture. The eternal life flower was the lifeblood of the demon realm, so how could it be so easily given?

“I just want a single petal; I won’t hurt the eternal life flower at all. I’ve heard that it’ll automatically wither and bloom again once every thousand years. I don’t want a fresh one, and even giving me a petal that withered and dropped off is fine. I can exchange it for items… If not, then forget it, I-I won’t demand it.”

At that time, Gu Bai naturally also understood this principle. The formidable pressure frightened him, and he took a step back, hurrying to explain himself.

When he said the last part, he looked at the drooling Taotie and stammeringly added a sentence. Though he really wanted to become a real person, he did not want to be swallowed up by a demonic beast.

Even if he had lived for thousands of years, accompanying Yin Li to experience the dangerous immortal realm, only his cultivation had grown. His mentality and temper still resembled his appearance. Never having been enlightened, he was mentally merely seventeen to eighteen years old. When faced with danger at this time, he could not stay indifferent.

Ye Cang gazed at him doing his best to straighten his back and not look pathetic, yet stuttering out words fearfully, and his heart moved slightly for some reason.

After staring at the youth for a long time, he took out a petal that was wrapped up in demonic qi to maintain its freshness, and then a slightly pondering smile appeared on his face.

“You said you can exchange items for it, but the eternal life flower is the demonic realm’s most valuable treasure. What could you have that is equal to its worth?”

This question conversely made it difficult for Gu Bai. He usually collected a lot of treasures, but there really wasn’t anything he could exchange with that could be of the same value.

As such, he could only say with a worried face, “I don’t have anything right now, but tell me what treasure you want in exchange, and I’ll search for it for you…”

“I don’t lack treasures. On the contrary, I lack a person…”

This sentence seemed to have poked at Gu Bai’s thoughts as the smile on the man’s unfeeling face grew.

Under Gu Bai’s indescribable gaze, Ye Cang strode over and reached out to grasp his waist. He pulled the person to him, held his jaw and kissed him.

The taste was just as beautiful as he had imagined. Ye Cang tightly hugged his waist and held onto his lips, rolling and sucking on them, strongly yet gently plundering the sweetness in his mouth.

People of the demon race had always done things with only their hearts, as they were not particular about the established standard. He wanted to kiss him and thus did so. This was the demon race’s strength.

Gu Bai could not forget that day’s scene for a lifetime. He could not describe what sort of feeling it was, but he felt his heart stop as his body stiffened. He was completely dizzy and was unable to breathe.

It was only when the other stopped could he pant for air. Ye Cang even repeatedly licked his reddened and moist lips before forcefully saying without any acceptance of refusal, “Yin Baigu, from today onwards, you’re mine!”

Suddenly pushing Ye Cang away, he covered his mouth and stared wide-eyed at the powerful yet happily laughing person before him. He could not say what feelings were in his heart, and he only felt that his heartbeat that had just stopped suddenly began pounding, and he abruptly turned and ran.

That day, he did not achieve his goal for coming to the demon realm, and instead his lips were branded a scalding imprint by the lips of a person here. A seed was planted, waiting to be watered, and germinated in his heart.