He didn’t want to go anywhere, he simply didn’t want to stay with Xiao Du and listen to those disturbing words. Although escape was shameful, it was useful.

He wandered aimlessly. In his mind, he listed clues, people and evidence about Gu Louyin’s origin one by one in his mind, feeling suspicious no matter what. But he did everything he could and the blood ban spell was tested twice. Why didn’t he want to believe it? Could it be that Xiao Du was right, he was really deceiving himself?

Xiao Yuan stopped and found that he had unknowingly walked into a secluded courtyard. He remembered that this was Gu Louyin’s temporary residence. After hesitating for a moment, he walked in.

The familiar chill hit; the courtyard was much colder than outside. The windows and the door were closed tightly. Xiao Yuan knocked on the door and felt a layer of frost under his hand.

There was no movement in the room. Xiao Yuan had a bad feeling, so he pushed the door in directly. The cold in the room was even worse. Gu Louyin sat on the couch with his eyes closed, his silver hair hanging on his chest, and his expression was bone-chilling, as if he had been sitting alone in the ice and snow for a long time.

Gu Louyin should be meditating. Xiao Yuan stood quietly so as not to disturb him. He looked at Gu Louyin’s long feathery eyelashes and inexplicably remembered how they felt sweeping against his cheek.

For some unknown reason, Gu Louyin’s eyebrows twisted slightly and his complexion became a little pale, which made Xiao Yuan somewhat nervous – Gu Louyin wasn’t going crazy again, was he?

Just as he hesitated whether to awaken Gu Louyin, Gu Louyin’s breathing suddenly sped up, his hostility rose sharply and his cold jade-like face showed a trace of grimness.

In desperation, Xiao Yuan summoned Bihai Chaosheng to drag Gu Louyin out of his nightmare but his wrist was caught suddenly.

Gu Louyin opened his eyes and they were scarlet.

Xiao Yuan let him hold on to him and asked, “Gu Louyin? Are you okay?”

Gu Louyin looked at him for a long time, the scarlet in his eyes receding slowly and his breath gradually calming down.

Xiao Yuan felt that Gu Louyin’s appearance was a bit like when he was confused by the guqin in the secret passage of Yunjian Pavilion, so he guessed: “Is it your heart demon?”

Gu Louyin didn’t seem to have recovered yet and it took a while before he nodded.

“What did you see?”

Gu Louyin said, “You.”

Xiao Yuan pretended to feel relaxed and said, “Did I jump off the cliff in your dream again?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

Gu Louyin’s gaze fell on his fingertips, “Fingers.”

Xiao Yuan said suspiciously: “What happened to the fingers?”

Gu Louyin paused, “It’s okay.”

Xiao Yuan smiled angrily: “You, what kind of a person are you? Can you say more than one word at a time and say it all? If you do this again, I will… I will not talk to you in the future.”

After saying that, Xiao Yuan began to regret it. Was his last sentence a threat? Why did it sound like a squeak of a little girl making a fuss in front of her lover? Xiao Yuan’s scalp felt numb; he couldn’t stand being so fussy, so he added, “and I’ll beat you up again.”

Gu Louyin raised his eyes and said slowly: “I saw you in Yunjian Pavilion when the Acacia Gu attacked.”

“En?” Xiao Yuan looked for this memory in his mind. He did stay at Yunjian Pavilion but hadn’t yet broken his relations with Yunjian Pavilion at that time. He found an uninhabited mountain peak to hide and wanted to get through it alone, but Mu Yingyang found him and took him back.

“Was there anything wrong with that matter?” Xiao Yuan asked, “Why do you see it when you’re under the influence of your heart demon?”

“I came a step late. When I found you, you…” Gu Louyin’s breath hitched, “You were with Mu Yingyang.”

Xiao Yuan’s heart thumped. He thought that he was in heat in front of Mu Yingyang because of the Acacia Gu only at that time in Xingtian Sect. Was there more than that? Thinking that Gu Louyin had seen him kissing another man, Xiao Yuan blushed and said depressed: “I said it, if there is no antidote, I can’t control myself when the Acacia Gu attacks.”

Gu Louyin said “en”.

Xiao Yuan tentatively asked, “What did I do with my shidi that time? At most, it was just a kiss and a hug, nothing else.”

Gu Louyin frowned, “Did you kiss?”

Xiao Yuan was stunned on the spot; he felt as if he had said something wrong.

Gu Louyin said nothing, but Xiao Yuan could clearly feel his distress. After a good while, Gu Louyin said, “I mind that.”

Xiao Yuan suddenly understood why Gu Louyin wanted to ‘behave badly’ when Mu Yingyang came last night. It turned out that he was taking the opportunity to retaliate. Xiao Yuan said, “In the future… you will never see it again.”

Gu Louyin said, “There will be no ‘in the future’. Just one word from you.”

“If you are talking about exchanging hearts…”

“I’m talking about the heart demon.”

Xiao Yuan was speechless. If Gu Louyin wanted to live longer, he needed to eliminate the obsession in his heart. If Gu Louyin’s obsession was really to hope that he would be safe for the rest of his life, the two of them exchanging their hearts could indeed be said to be saving him.

After a while, Xiao Yuan said softly, “But I would mind too.”

Gu Louyin’s eyes widened slightly.

“Mind… you being in heat with others.”

Gu Louyin said, “I said I won’t.”

Xiao Yuan smiled, “You don’t know anything about the power of the Acacia Gu.”

Gu Louyin said, “But I know you.”

“Me?”

“Nothing is more unbearable than you.”

Xiao Yuan savored Gu Louyin’s words carefully and said slowly: “You mean, I’m also a Gu?”

Gu Louyin was quiet for a while, “En.”

Xiao Yuan suddenly asked, “Last night, why did you leave after kissing?”

Gu Louyin: “…”

Xiao Yuan showed an aggressive stance: “Why dare to do it and dare not speak about it?”

“If I didn’t leave, I was afraid I would do… some things.” Gu Louyin asked rhetorically, “Would you want that?”

The words ‘some things’ made Xiao Yuan dumbfounded. He could imagine what could happen after the two men kissed in bed. Xiao Yuan’s ears felt hot, so he stopped thinking about it, pretended to be calm and said, “Give me time to think about the exchanging of hearts.”

“Okay.”

“Also, be ready. I need you to take the souls of Shen Fugui and Cai Xunnian to Xuanle Sect.”

Gu Louyin could guess Xiao Yuan’s intention and didn’t ask much but only said, “Are you going with me?”

Xiao Yuan thought for a while and said, “No, I have other things to do.”

Gu Louyin’s eyes narrowed slightly, “En.”

As he looked at Gu Louyin’s white hair, a sense of loneliness surged in Xiao Yuan’s heart. It would be great if… Gu Louyin was not Gu Hang’s son.

Meng Chi moved quickly and brought the souls of Shen Fugui and Cai Xunnian over the next day. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and troubles, she controlled the souls with a soul-attracting lamp and also disguised the two.

After learning that Xiao Yuan was not going to travel with Gu Louyin, Xiao Du became Xiao Yuan’s good brother again. He asked Xiao Yuan to go back to Xingtian Sect with him, but Xiao Yuan said, “No, I might have to go to Lizhou.”

“Lizhou?”

“Yes,“ Xiao Yuan said as if nothing had happened, “with Mu Yingyang.”

Xiao Du raised his eyebrows. He finally got rid of Gu Louyin and now there was Mu Yingyang?

“Why go to Lizhou?”

“Clues related to Li Xianting might be found there.“ Xiao Du hadn’t said anything yet and Xiao Yuan said preemptively, “Mu Yingyang is my shidi, not the son of the enemy. I’ll travel with him and my brother can’t have any opinion about it.”

Xiao Du smiled and said, “I dare not. If Ah Yu wants to go, he can go. Ah Yu and I will go together.”

“No, you have been ‘in retreat’ for so long, you should go back to Xingtian Sect to keep watch.”

Xiao Du smiled when he heard this and asked, “Must Ah Yu be like that?”

Xiao Yuan shrugged, “There is no ‘must’, but I want to.”

Xiao Du calmly lifted the corners of his mouth: “Okay, go ahead. However, you must come back.”

Whether Xuanle Sect could be drawn into their camp was the key in the way they would deal with Yunjian Pavilion. Naturally, Xiao Du would not let Gu Louyin go alone. Li Yanzhi was ordered to accompany Gu Louyin. Before leaving, Xiao Yuan called the two of them, handed them a dagger and said, “This dagger has been tempered by Qingyan. You take it and tell Master Shen that Qingyan belongs to Xingtian Sect, and as long as Xuanle Sect is willing, Xingtian Sect can share Qingyan with them.”

Li Yanzhi smiled and said, “Don’t worry, young lord, this subordinate will do it properly.”

Xiao Yuan nodded, glanced at Gu Louyin and said, “No time to waste, set off immediately.”

After watching the two leave, Xiao Yuan sat alone for a while, feeling a little unhappy and suffocated. He wanted to go out for some air, but when he went out, he saw a touch of silver like an afterglow. Gu Louyin stood at the door with his sword in his arms, looking intently, and when he met Xiao Yuan’s gaze, there seemed to be a stream of light in his eyes.

Xiao Yuan said in confusion: “Didn’t you leave?”

Gu Louyin said, “I’ll take another look at you and leave.”

Xiao Yuan was taken aback. Under Gu Louyin’s gaze, he didn’t even know where to put his hands.

Gu Louyin looked at him for a while and said, “I’m leaving.”

Xiao Yuan recovered and smiled: “Go early and return early.”

The two immediately set off for Xuanle Sect. After a day of travelling, they found an inn. Settling down the two souls, Li Yanzhi said, “According to our progress, we will be able to reach Xuanle Sect tomorrow. Is Master Gu hungry, shall we order something to eat?”

Gu Louyin asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Li Yanzhi smiled and said, “Anything is good, I like to eat everything.”

Gu Louyin ordered a few dishes and asked the waiter to serve them. Li Yanzhi was happy when he saw the dishes and said with a smile: “Have I been seen through again?”

Gu Louyin paused, “No.”

‘Li Yanzhi’ smiled and said, “You’re really cooperative.”

While speaking, ‘Li Yanzhi’ returned to his original appearance. Without waiting for Gu Louyin to ask questions, Xiao Yuan started with the arguments he’d prepared in advance: “After thinking about it, I decided I’d better go to Xuanle Sect personally, otherwise I would worry too much.”

Gu Louyin smiled faintly, “When did you change your mind?”

“When you said you wanted to look at me one more time.” Xiao Yuan showed a slightly playful smile but his eyes were a bit dodgy, “If you want to see me, I’ll let you see me so much that you won’t want to see me again.”