The cool evening sea breeze, carrying a chilling breath, blew in from the floor-to-ceiling windows of the balcony into the warm interior.
Beside the bedside table, a night lamp cast a dim glow on Lu Zhi’s face. Even in his deep sleep, his brow remained furrowed, his lips tightly pressed together, as if tormented by nightmares, occasionally trembling with spasms of pain from the overuse of his body’s energy.
The closed room door was suddenly pushed open from the outside. Shen Qi, carrying a stone bowl and a pestle, sat leisurely on the edge of the bed.
The soft mattress dipped gently, and Lu Zhi’s prone body tilted slightly towards Shen Qi. The soft lamplight illuminated his scarred face. Although the bleeding had stopped and the wounds were slowly healing, at this pace, it would take at least a week.
Shen Qi took the stone bowl in his hand and used the pestle to crush the plant inside, which glowed with a verdant fluorescence. The plant in the bowl was ground into a dark green paste.
A faint, fresh scent of grass and wood emanated from the bowl. Tiny green dust motes, like evening fireflies, slowly diffused throughout the room, filling it with a dreamlike aura.
As Shen Qi continued to grind, the dark green paste gradually turned white, finally becoming crystal clear and transparent, as if a star from the heavens had been crushed into the bowl.
Confirming that the medicinal properties were fully activated, Shen Qi stopped grinding. He dipped his finger into the translucent medicinal film and carefully applied it to Lu Zhi’s injured face. His eyes were as cool as water, and his voice carried a hint of nonchalant coolness, “Why wouldn’t you yield and beg me?”
As the medicinal film touched the injured areas, the wounds healed at a visible rate, becoming completely intact in a blink of an eye.
Shen Qi gently brushed aside the stray hairs on Lu Zhi’s forehead, his fingers smoothing his furrowed brow. Following the bridge of his nose downwards, his fingertips gently massaged his full lips. He suddenly let out a short, low chuckle, “If you had begged me for help, I might have been even more angered.”
Lu Zhi’s injuries exceeded his expected bottom line. If Lu Zhi couldn’t kill Di Meila within the allotted time, he would have personally intervened, but he would have felt disappointed in Lu Zhi.
Yet, Lu Zhi had succeeded. Although it took him an extra thirty seconds beyond the deadline, during those thirty seconds, Lu Zhi’s current physical body had endured pain akin to his meridians and bones being crushed and ground.
Shen Qi lifted the covers, revealing Lu Zhi’s swollen arm. The bone was shattered and pulverized. Even though extraordinary individuals possessed bodies stronger than ordinary people and had regenerative abilities, it would take a full month for this arm to recover to its peak condition.
He picked up the remaining medicinal film in the bowl and meticulously applied it. The film was instantly absorbed into his skin, integrating with his bones and blood. Lu Zhi shuddered violently, his pale lips involuntarily letting out a soft groan of pain.
Shen Qi: “Good boy, it will be over soon.”
As his bones reformed and grew, feeling like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart, Lu Zhi struggled to open his eyes from his sleep. His eyelashes cast a shadow beneath his eyes. He looked hazily at Shen Qi, who was sitting on the edge of the bed applying medicine to him. He moved his lips slightly. Shen Qi looked up at him and gently covered his eyes with his hand, “Sleep, you’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Lu Zhi, unable to resist the heavy drowsiness, fell back into a deep sleep.
The next day.
Lu Zhi sat up abruptly in bed, drenched in sweat, his eyes filled with a dazed blankness.
Seeing the familiar room and feeling no fatigue or injuries, Lu Zhi thought he had experienced a very long and profound dream.
Barefoot, he got out of bed and walked out to the balcony from the floor-to-ceiling window. The scorching sunlight warmed his body, and the sea breeze ruffled his hair.
Footsteps sounded from behind him. Without looking back, Lu Zhi asked, “What time is it now?”
Shen Qi walked to stand beside him, gazing into the distance, “The second day after your deicide.”
Lu Zhi turned his head to look at him, his eyes remarkably calm, “I’m actually still alive.”
In fact, after exceeding the time limit to use divine power and then fainting, Lu Zhi had believed he would never wake up again.
Suddenly, Lu Zhi’s jaw was grasped by Shen Qi’s cool fingertips and forcefully turned towards him. Lu Zhi met Shen Qi’s beautiful, glazed, silver-grey eyes again. Lu Zhi calmly asked, “What are you doing?”
Shen Qi narrowed his eyes, “You’re angry with me.”
It was a statement, not a question.
Lu Zhi replied plainly, “No, I’m angry with myself.”
Lu Zhi raised his hand, and with little force, easily pushed away Shen Qi’s hand from his chin. He turned to walk back into the room, but when Shen Qi grabbed his wrist, he violently yanked it away.
Shen Qi’s eyes flickered with changing light. He lowered his head to look at his own arm that had been shaken off, then at Lu Zhi’s profile. He tilted his head and suddenly let out a light laugh, but the laughter didn’t reach his eyes, and his voice was cool, “Truly angry? Is it because I didn’t help you when you were injured, or because I didn’t save your friends and your school?”
Lu Zhi pursed his lips, closed his eyes, then opened them again, looking back at him, “I’m not angry.”
He had no right to be angry.
From the very beginning, he and his students had stood on different grounds and from different perspectives.
He had Shen Qi, and he knew Di Meila’s identity. He could have told everyone to prevent their deaths, but because of his indecisiveness, he had caused the deaths of his friends and classmates, leaving him to live alone.
Even though he had succeeded in deicide in the end, he felt no joy or relief. The lives lost weighed on his heart like a mountain, making it difficult to breathe.
He wanted to shout, to argue, to say that none of this was his fault, it was Shen Qi’s!
But that was just self-deception. Everything Shen Qi had done was merely to inform everyone in advance that the truth was so cruel.
Humans couldn’t even defeat a minor god; facing invasions from higher-level gods in the future, could the nation of China have any future?
Shen Qi reached for Lu Zhi’s hand again. This time, it wasn’t shaken off. “You don’t resent me?”
Lu Zhi looked at him, silently observing, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “Because you stood by and watched? Or because I hesitated?”
Lu Zhi bit his lower lip tightly. Suddenly, his forehead rested against Shen Qi’s shoulder, his voice hoarse, “Shen Qi, I feel so terrible.”
Shen Qi held him quietly, his fingers gently stroking his black hair that fell past his ears. The warm moisture soaked through his clothes, making his heart ache. He lowered his head and kissed Lu Zhi’s earlobe, sighing softly, “What should I do with you?”
“Don’t cry,” Shen Qi lifted Lu Zhi’s chin, somewhat roughly wiping away the tears that flowed freely from his eyes. He then took his hand and walked towards the balcony. “Look over there.”
Lu Zhi’s eyes, which had pooled with two drops of water, followed where Shen Qi pointed.
In the distance, beyond the beach, a group of handsome men and beautiful women, dressed in casual summer attire, were screaming and playing wildly.
At that moment, a red-haired girl with a high ponytail excitedly waved in Lu Zhi’s direction, her lips forming the words, ‘Come and play~’.
Lu Zhi turned his head in disbelief to look at Shen Qi, who was leaning against the balcony railing. A gentle smile spread across his silver-grey eyes. “Aren’t you happy now?”
Lu Zhi didn’t hesitate to rush forward and embrace Shen Qi.
Shen Qi held the person who had thrown himself into his arms tightly, his eyelids half-closed as he gazed into the distance.
Principles? How important were they compared to his wife?