“I don’t know…” Tang Lici’s voice sounded somewhat blurred. “We’ll talk about it… later…” Liu Yan pushed him. Tang Lici’s eyelashes drooped low and he had no further response. Liu Yan suddenly panicked. “Hey – get up! Don’t sleep here! Get up!” This was the outskirts of Luoyang City. Though it was a dense forest, it was by no means a secret place. With his disabled legs, if Tang Lici was unconscious, he couldn’t take him away. If enemies suddenly appeared, what would they do?

The sky was bright – it was now noon. In the deep autumn season, it was cold at all times. If it reached evening, with wind, frost, and freezing dew, could Tang Lici’s severely wounded body withstand it?

Not knowing how much time had passed, a cool sensation touched his lips. Tang Lici’s chaotic mind trembled slightly and he suddenly awakened. Opening his eyes, he saw stars and moon shining above his head. The clothes on his body had dried, and his lips still felt cool – someone had just poured clear water into his mouth. Turning his gaze, it was Liu Yan.

The black veil on Liu Yan’s face was gone, and much of his sleeves had been torn away. His mangled face contrasted with his flawless white jade arms, making him look even more terrifying. Seeing him awaken, Liu Yan sighed in relief, though his tone remained cold and hard. “Feeling better?”

Tang Lici sat up. The wounds on his back and abdomen had been bandaged and were no longer bleeding. Looking around, he was still in the same dense forest from daytime. He smiled slightly. “Thank you for your trouble.”

Liu Yan turned his head away. “If you can stand, let’s go quickly. Today we were fortunate no one passed by, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.”

Tang Lici laughed. “Are you planning to stay here and fend for yourself?”

Liu Yan said indifferently, “Kill me.”

Tang Lici’s brow furrowed slightly. Liu Yan sneered. “You’re a pillar of the martial world, I’m an evil cult villain. Punishing evil and eliminating wickedness is only proper. If you kill me, countless people in the martial world will cheer for you.”

In an instant, Tang Lici’s hand shot out like lightning, grasping Liu Yan’s throat, his five fingers tightening bit by bit. Liu Yan’s breathing stopped, his throat in severe pain, his neck bones creaking. Suddenly he heard Tang Lici cough softly twice. “Sometimes… I really want to kill you. You’re soft-hearted and can’t accomplish great things. You can’t distinguish good people from bad, won’t listen to what you should hear, yet believe what you shouldn’t. Even when causing trouble, you make it irreparable. But no matter what… I know that from childhood to now, you… you have been the best to me.”

The five fingers grasping his neck slowly loosened. Liu Yan coughed violently, breathing heavily. “Cough cough cough…”

Tang Lici swayed as he supported himself against a tree to stand, then grabbed Liu Yan. “Let’s go.”

Liu Yan was greatly shocked. “Put me down!”

Tang Lici ignored him, holding Liu Yan with his right hand and circulating his true qi to rush toward the distance.

He ran toward Luoyang. Liu Yan struggled desperately. “Put me down!” How far could Tang Lici go carrying someone like him? Moreover, he was severely wounded, and soldiers were searching everywhere for suspicious people. If palace masters found them, what would he do? He struggled with all his might. Tang Lici’s hand loosened and he fell to the ground with a thud. His heart startled as he looked up to see Tang Lici’s forehead covered in cold sweat, quite dizzy. “A’Li…”

Tang Lici’s lips curved slightly. “If you move again, I’ll crush the bones in one of your hands. If you say another word, I’ll crush the bones in both your hands.”

Liu Yan had originally sought death, but now he was stunned. Tang Lici took a short breath, picked up Liu Yan, and moved forward again.

Why was he returning to Luoyang? Liu Yan was carried in his hand. Tang Lici ran very fast, flowing like clouds and water, showing no sign of stumbling. Liu Yan closed his eyes and didn’t move. Before long, they were outside Luoyang’s city gates.

Night had fallen deep, with few pedestrians on the road. Tang Lici charged toward the city gates with his burden. The gate guards only felt their eyes blur as a white shadow flashed by like a ghost. They immediately shouted and flew to report to their commander.

In just a short moment, Tang Lici had brought Liu Yan back to Xingyang Bookshop. Bursting into the room, they saw blood everywhere, tables and chairs still there, but the several people who should have been in the room were gone. There were many footprints in the blood pools on the ground, crisscrossing chaotically.

Liu Yan suddenly said, “They—”

Tang Lici pressed his hand to his abdomen and coughed softly. “Shut up!”

Liu Yan stopped talking. Tang Lici closed his eyes and supported himself on the table surface. After a good while: “They were probably taken away by the Imperial Guards.”

Liu Yan remained silent. After a while he suddenly said, “What are you thinking?”

Tang Lici slowly opened his eyes. “If I had acted before the Shaolin Seventeen Monks fought with you, perhaps… I wouldn’t have alerted the Imperial Guards, and they wouldn’t have been taken away.”

Liu Yan sneered. “If? You clearly knew Ren Qingchou was tracking you, lurking outside waiting for an opportunity. If you had fought the Shaolin Seventeen Monks, just one opening would have been enough for him to take your life!”

Tang Lici coughed once, slowly raising his hand to cover his mouth. He began vomiting alternately blood and clear water. Liu Yan was startled. Seeing him vomit for quite a while, the red flush on his cheeks completely turning to deathly pale before gradually stopping, but even while vomiting he maintained his composure, not vomiting unsightly. After finishing, he reached for a piece of brocade to wipe himself and stepped back two paces.

“Your wounds…” Seeing him vomit so painfully, Liu Yan couldn’t help asking, “Where exactly did you connect Fang Zhou’s heart?”

Tang Lici had superior genes. As long as injuries weren’t fatal, his wounds healed several times faster than ordinary people, and wounds never became infected. From childhood to now, Liu Yan had seen him suffer countless injuries, but none had ever made him look so exhausted.

Tang Lici discarded the brocade and laughed softly. “I don’t understand medicine, so I connected all the blood vessels I could connect. In any case… his heart is beating and hasn’t died.”

Liu Yan stared at him rigidly. “Do you really think you’re immortal?”

Tang Lici’s eyes crinkled, full of laughter. “Aren’t I?”

Liu Yan flew into a rage. “What nonsense are you talking? You’ve been a madman since childhood! You’re still a madman now! You really haven’t changed at all! Your father said you were an ‘XYY’ freak – he wasn’t wrong at all!”

Tang Lici suddenly looked up. With a thunderous crash, the table in front of him exploded into hundreds of fragments. Liu Yan broke out in cold sweat all over. A hand passed through the debris to grasp his neck as he heard the gentle voice: “What else did he say?”

Liu Yan turned his head and pressed his lips together without answering. Tang Lici gently lowered his head, speaking even more softly by his ear: “What else did he say about me?”

Liu Yan closed his eyes. “He… he never trusted you, because – because although he and Aunt Liu gave birth to you, although they spent a fortune asking the hospital to choose the best genes for you and even made genetic modifications, after you were born the hospital discovered you were ‘XYY,’ perhaps related to making too many changes to the fertilized egg. ‘XYY’ is a criminal gene…” He opened his eyes, not daring to look at Tang Lici’s face, only staring intently at the ground. “So your father’s disappointment in you wasn’t because you didn’t do well enough somewhere – it was from the moment you were born… from your birth he was very disappointed. He… he knew your personality would be different from others, and Aunt Liu she…”

Tang Lici exhaled and said gently, “So my mother looked at me like she’d seen a ghost.”

Liu Yan nodded. “So when you were small they locked you up, and you – and you later hit people and took drugs, and went to mix with the Three Cities Thirteen Sects… and liked arson…”

Tang Lici took a sharp breath and laughed. “Then what about you? Since you knew long ago, since I’m so terrifying, weren’t you afraid that following me around all day, one day my lurking violent genes would act up and I’d kill you for no reason?”

“At that time I felt you…” Liu Yan’s voice gradually calmed down. “I felt that although your personality was very bad, you weren’t a bad person. You just had a very strong desire for control. You didn’t like things that wouldn’t obey your commands. Apart from that… you weren’t as scary as they imagined.”

Tang Lici took another breath and laughed. “What about now?”

Liu Yan raised his hand to grasp Tang Lici’s wrist that was gripping his throat. “You… you still have a very bad personality.” He gripped Tang Lici’s wrist tightly. “But now I know your strong desire for control… isn’t because you want to be king and dominate, but because your protective instinct is also very strong… that’s all…” He forcefully pulled Tang Lici’s hand outward. “I know you’ve always considered yourself a bad person. Letting people know you want to protect everyone in your heart – you find it very shameful, right? So you never let people know… Others fear you, suspect you, hate you… all because you deliberately – cough cough – deliberately guide others to think of you as very bad…”

Tang Lici slowly released the fingers gripping his throat. Liu Yan gasped heavily. “Even me… even I thought you killed Fang Zhou because you… you loved money and power. I suspected you became like this because you were naturally that way. Why do you insist on forcing others to fear and hate you? Do you like everyone hating you? Do you really feel safe and completely unhurt when everyone misunderstands you, suspects you, fears you, and hates you? You – madman! For whom do you risk your life and shed blood? For whom did you go from Kaifeng to Haoyun Mountain and then travel thousands of li back from Haoyun Mountain? You offended Fengliu Shop, you offended the Imperial Guards. You have comfortable, luxurious days you don’t live – for whom are you wading through these muddy waters? Have you gained any benefits? Having clearly given so much, why must you pretend as if nothing happened? Why must others misunderstand you before you’re happy?”

He finished speaking.

The room was completely quiet. No lamps were lit, so Tang Lici’s expression couldn’t be seen clearly – only silence.

He didn’t answer and didn’t move.

“A’Li?” Liu Yan raised his hand toward him. “Is allowing others to understand you really so difficult? Why must you drive yourself mad…”

“Shh—” Tang Lici’s voice was very quiet. “Let’s both stop talking, okay? You don’t talk, and I won’t talk either.” He stepped back several paces, sat down against the wall, and didn’t move.

Liu Yan’s outstretched hand stopped in mid-air and slowly withdrew.

A’Li really… hadn’t changed at all.

Exactly the same as when he was little. When despicably bullying others, his eyes flickered with mad, joyful, and lonely confused light… He wouldn’t let others approach his heart because no one had ever approached his heart. All timid and weak people always reject and fear unknown, strange things, lacking the courage to accept them. Ridiculously, his lack of strength manifested in extremely harsh forms, appearing… extremely evil, full of aggressive wildness, seemingly invincible.