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436 pages, Paperback
Published September 26, 2023


Li Wuxin had reached the limit of his patience. [...] "Do you dare proclaim yourself the creator of the Sigil of the Returning Billows?!"
Chu Wanning lifted his eyes and considered him stonly. He took another sip of tea before leisirely replying, "Darent't I? Then I'll tell you now."
Li Wuxin stared at him in confusion.
"I created the Sigil of the Returning Billows."

High above them, Mo Ran's brows were drawn low in a frown. "Didn't I fucking say that no one is to touch this barrier?" he asked darkly. "Tell me, are you deaf or stupid?!"
He may have loathed Chu Wanning, but that was between the two of them. Be it in his past life or this one, on pain of death, he would never permit anyone but himslef to touch so much as a hair on Chu Wanning's head.



"No way..." Mo Ran choked on a low sob and clutched at his head. He murmured helplessly, "No way..."
"The stairs are still stained with a trail of blood; that's the road he took to bring you home." Xue Meng's hatred made him ruthless. "Go look for yourself, Mo Ran. Go look."


"Ge." Xue Meng had finally stopped crying, but his voice was flat like he was dead. "We don't have a shizun anymore."


Chu Wanning's human soul had lost its sight, couldn't tell one voice from another, didn't even know what day it was. He'd likely returned to the world of the living because he believed he'd done something wrong, had made a mistake, and felt bad about it. Wanted to make up for it.

"Shizun, if you just come back, I'll listen to everything you say... I'll respect you, I'll cherish you, I'll treat you right..."


"It's useless. Mo Ran, I used the last of my life to summon Jiuge. This is the end for me. But if you... yet have any clarity in your heart, then please... forgive..."

Chu Wanning raised a trembling hand, and a cold fingertip - as if out of pity, but also almost tender - poked lightly at Mo Ran's forehead. "Then please forgive... forgive yourself..."


Mo Ran didn't believe - he refused to believe - that Chu Wanning could just die like this. That the great zongshi of an era, that high and lofty man, his shizun, the person he despised more than anyone, could just die like this. Lying in his arms at the edge of heeavenly Lake, dyed red with blood. Growing cold bit by bit, cold as frost, frozen like ice.

Between the flashed of lighting and crashing of thunder, he reached out without thinking and pulled Chu Wanning into a tight embrace. Frenzied heartbeats againts quivering soul. Chest to chest.

Chu Wanning lay asleep on this fur rug. He was the kind of person who, though he appeared resolute and undaunted, was in truth ever a little uneasy deep down. This manifested most clearly in sleep - he always slept curled up, shriking into himslef to make himslef smaller. As if he was trying to keep warm, but also as if he was afraid to take up too much space. Seen like this, he looked frail and a little pitiful.

"When Chu Wanning's eyes fluttered open, he found himslef lying in Mo Ran's embrace. The look of concern on the young man's face, those features that had yet to fully mature, was an expression the likes of which he'd never seen. He furrowed his brow and thought that perhaps this was some kind of dream. Thus, after a moment, he sighed and closed his eyes once more.
"Shizun?" someone called by his ear. It wasn't Wanning this time. "Shizun! Shizun!"
Chu Wanning's phoenix eyes flew open.


5 'Beautifully painfull' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 'My baby shizun' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4,5 'Wontons, stairs, and Mo Ran's childhood' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐
4,5 'Farm arc' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐
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tbr"A misunderstanding of one year is a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding of ten years is an injustice. A misunderstanding of a lifetime, from life unto death, is fate."
"Ge." Xue Meng had finally stopped crying, but his voice was flat like he was dead. "We don't have a shizun anymore."
""No way..." Mo Ran choked on a low sob and clutched at his head. He murmured helplessly, "No way..."
"The stairs are still stained with a trail of blood; that's the road he took to bring you home." Xue Meng's hatred made him ruthless. "Go look for yourself, Mo Ran. Go"