The Abyss knew no daylight.
The sky was forever smothered beneath a heavy canopy of darkness, with a blood-red moon hanging low overhead.
Now and then, pale green auroras twisted across the horizon. They should have been a magnificent sight, yet they carried an eerie, deathly stillness, casting the entire world in a sinister glow.
Xiao Rangchen, dressed in black, strode across the jagged gray-black rocks. The cold light of the blood moon fell over his profile, making him appear all the more aloof and solitary.
Lou Yue slept deeply in the crook of his arm, her brows faintly furrowed and her face pale.
Qinglin followed at Xiao Rangchen’s side. Leading them was a small ghoul, humanoid in shape, with rough gray-green skin and murky green light gleaming in its eyes.
Along the way, ghouls caught the scent of living humans and stirred restlessly in the shadows.
Yet the moment they met the icy killing intent rising in Xiao Rangchen’s eyes, they shrank back into crevices and darkness. Only pairs of grim green eyes remained, fixed upon him and the person in his arms.
After passing through layers of shattered cliffs, broken walls, and drifting black mist, the ghoul guiding them stopped before a mountain of rocks enclosed by sheer stone walls.
There, a towering figure sat cross-legged upon a throne of piled gray stone. Its limbs were bound by black chains that stretched out from deep within the rock face.
Its horned head hung low. Its gray-green, withered skin was cracked and wrinkled, covered in fine markings and old scars.
Only when Xiao Rangchen came to a halt did it slowly raise its head.
A pair of vertical, ghostly green pupils flared to life, blazing with two piercing flames of green that struck straight at the soul.
Xiao Rangchen immediately wrapped Lou Yue in the protection of his spiritual energy.
The creature stared at that faint glimmer of power, greed and amusement flickering in its green eyes.
“A living human... carrying a child on the verge of death.”
Its hoarse voice seemed to grind up from beneath the earth, dull and labored, steeped in decaying deathly energy.
Xiao Rangchen held Lou Yue closer, his spiritual energy cold and heavy around him. “You can save her.”
As though it had heard something absurd, the creature let out a grating laugh that made its chains rattle. “Save her? Human, you are standing on my territory.”
Xiao Rangchen replied calmly, “Since you had your subordinate lead me here, you must have a reason.”
Its green eyes narrowed as it studied him, as though he were some toy that had caught its fancy.
With a tap of one shriveled finger, a green orb of light drifted from its hand and slowly circled the two of them.
After a moment, the orb returned to its palm.
“In your human terms, she possesses an exceptionally rare body of extreme yin—a treasure in the world beyond.”
It ran its tongue over its cracked purple lips and smiled wickedly. “But in the Abyss, where yin energy runs rampant, this body of hers will become the richest nourishment this land could desire.”
Its ghostly green gaze swept over the streak of white in Xiao Rangchen’s hair before it continued, “You used a life-sustaining art, but you cannot stop her life force from draining away. In the end, you will waste away with her.”
“What will it take for you to save her?” Xiao Rangchen’s cold eyes were filled with chilling menace.
The green light in the ghoul’s eyes shifted. Then it suddenly broke into a shrill, piercing laugh.
“I cannot save her. She should have died when the two of you fell in three months ago. She has only endured until now because you forcibly used your own life to sustain hers.”
Xiao Rangchen’s expression darkened. Cradling Lou Yue in his arms, he turned to leave.
“But—” the creature said, “I can send her out of the Abyss.”
Xiao Rangchen’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
He slowly turned around, his gaze razor-sharp. “You yourself are imprisoned here, unable to move even an inch. How could you send her out?”
The ghoul’s withered hand, wrapped in chains, rose unhurriedly to rest against its forehead. Its cracked purple lips curled into a sinister yet certain smile.
“Believe it or not—it is up to you.”
Xiao Rangchen’s voice was low and composed as he spoke two words.
“Your terms.”
Its vertical green pupils, like twin ghostly flames, swept over Xiao Rangchen from head to toe. Greed gradually surfaced in its previously indifferent gaze. Enunciating each word, it said in a hoarse, cruel voice:
“I want you to sacrifice your own soul.”
The ghoul race had been sealed here for thousands of years. To escape, they had to abandon their physical bodies and be reborn within a human vessel. Yet ordinary humans who fell into the Abyssal Realm could barely survive, much less bear the burden of its formidable consciousness.
But he was different.
From the moment he had fallen into the Abyssal Realm, it had noticed his uniqueness.
Any human who entered this place would have their soul eroded by the ghouls’ miasma. The woman in his arms had fallen unconscious not because her life force was fading, but because she was being devoured by the ghoul aura permeating this realm.
Yet he remained utterly unharmed. His soul was innately capable of merging with the ghoul aura.
He was the perfect vessel for its consciousness.
So long as he willingly offered up his soul, it would have a way to free its consciousness from the chains and enter his body. At that point, nothing in this world would be able to confine it any longer.
Watching the silent figure below, it condensed an emerald-green bracelet and tossed it down.
“Put this on her. It will awaken her.”
With that, its eyes closed. The chains gave a faint clink as it added, “Come find me once you have made your decision.”
Xiao Rangchen caught the emerald bracelet, closing his hand tightly around it. He stood where he was for a moment before turning away, carrying Lou Yue into the thick black mist.
After his figure vanished into the darkness, the ghoul seated upon the stone throne slowly opened its eyes. Green light flickered faintly in its vertical pupils.
He would agree.
If he was willing to risk his own life to save her, how could he possibly give up the only path now before him?
At most, within ten days, he would return.
It closed its eyes once more and waited quietly for that day to come.
Qinglin followed Xiao Rangchen back to the cave where they had rested earlier.
Watching him carefully lay Lou Yue on a rock cushioned with soft padding, Qinglin could not help but cry out, “Woo, woo!” 【Brother, you’re not going to agree to it, are you?】
Xiao Rangchen did not answer. He merely sat beside Lou Yue, brushed the stray hair from her face with his fingertips, and gazed intently at her sleeping face. Little by little, he stroked her cheek.
“Woo, woo, woo!” 【Brother, that ghoul wants your soul! You mustn’t believe it!】
Xiao Rangchen looked at Qinglin. His eyes were so dark they seemed bottomless, and his voice allowed no argument. “Don’t tell her. Don’t say anything.”
“Woo, woo!” 【Brother!】
Xiao Rangchen lowered his gaze again. “Go stand watch outside.”
Qinglin immediately understood what he intended to do. It stamped its feet anxiously on the spot, but in the end, it reluctantly withdrew.
Only after it had gone some distance did Xiao Rangchen slowly help Lou Yue sit up, letting her lean against his shoulder with her face turned toward him.
He reached out and untied her sash, then pulled down the back of her collar, revealing a smooth, pale stretch of her back.
He lifted his right hand and gently pressed his palm against the spot on her back directly behind her heart.
After a moment, he slowly raised his hand.
Where his palm had rested, an ancient golden character—“Fate”—flashed briefly before sinking back beneath her skin.
Xiao Rangchen silently straightened Lou Yue’s clothes, then drew her tightly into his embrace. He lowered his head and buried it deep in the curve of her neck, as though he wished he could meld her entire being into his flesh and bones.
“Lou Yue…”
His low, hoarse voice slipped from his throat, trembling faintly.
After an unknown length of time, he loosened his hold slightly and took out the dark green bracelet.
He put it on his own wrist first. After waiting for a while and confirming that nothing was amiss, he removed it and slipped it over Lou Yue’s slender wrist.
He kept hold of her hand, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the bracelet, afraid that the slightest mishap might occur.
“Xiao... Rangchen...”
A voice engraved upon his soul murmured beside his ear.
Xiao Rangchen froze. In the next instant, he abruptly lowered his gaze and looked into her opened eyes.
The haze in Lou Yue’s vision gradually cleared. Seeing the familiar line of his jaw, her awareness returned.
She sat up in Xiao Rangchen’s arms and looked around. When she saw the gray rock all around them and the dim light at the mouth of the cave, her eyes brightened.
“We’re in the Abyss of Chaos. We made it out alive, didn’t we?”
Xiao Rangchen looked at the glimmer in her eyes and slowly gave a quiet assent.
Lou Yue jumped down from him. Xiao Rangchen steadied her with a hand. She straightened herself, feeling a little weak but otherwise unharmed. She paid it no mind and walked straight to the cave entrance.
When she looked up and saw the blood moon hanging overhead, she finally felt the reality of being in the Abyss of Chaos.
Xiao Rangchen came to stand at her side. After exchanging a glance with Qinglin, he turned to Lou Yue.
“Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
Lou Yue shook her head. She turned back, about to say something, when her gaze suddenly halted.
“What happened to your hair?”
Xiao Rangchen paused.
Frowning, Lou Yue took out a mirror and held it up to him.
The man reflected within had sharply sculpted features and ink-dark eyes as deep as an abyss. Yet amid his black hair were two conspicuous strands of snowy white, startlingly bright beneath the blood moon’s glow.
Xiao Rangchen’s fingers stilled. Watching Lou Yue’s furrowed brows, he was silent for a long while before saying in a calm voice tinged with faint amusement,
“It seems my hair doesn’t like the Abyss of Chaos.”
Lou Yue shot him an irritated look. Who would like the Abyss of Chaos?
She put the mirror away and reached out to touch the two white strands. Xiao Rangchen caught her wrist, his tone gentle.
“It’s nothing. Perhaps it will return to normal in a few days.”
Seeing how unconcerned he appeared, Lou Yue hesitated briefly with her hand near his hair, then withdrew it. But then she noticed the dark green bracelet resting against the skin of her raised wrist.
She lifted her arm and gave Xiao Rangchen a meaningful look.
Xiao Rangchen glanced at the bracelet, the corners of his lips curving upward. His tone was entirely natural.
“It looks good on you.”
Lou Yue lowered her hand and fiddled with the bracelet, which was hardly a thing of beauty. She thought his taste was questionable, but she didn’t take it off.
“How long was I asleep? When did we arrive in the Chaotic Abyss?” she asked.
Xiao Rangchen parted his lips. “Three days ago. You’ve been asleep for three days.”
Lou Yue raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t pass out?”
A faint bitterness flickered in Xiao Rangchen’s eyes, though his expression stayed easy.
“Mm. Good thing I didn’t. Otherwise, when you opened your eyes, all you’d have seen was a gray-green ghost mask.”
Lou Yue’s lips curved. If he could still joke, then he was probably all right.
She walked back into the cave and looked around. “So we’re staying here from now on?”
According to the story, the male lead, Long Aotian, didn’t break through the seal imprisoning him and leave the Chaotic Abyss until after he’d wiped out all the ghouls. In the book, it took him three years. With just the two of them, if they worked at it, they could probably manage in one.
She glanced at the cave entrance opposite the stone platform and gave a scoff. “We need to hang a curtain here. I don’t want those ghouls sneaking peeks at me while I sleep.”
As she spoke, she took a fur cloak from her storage ring and tossed it to Xiao Rangchen. “Use this.”
Then she pulled out a message butterfly and fiddled with it for ages, but couldn’t get a message through. Giving up, she tossed it back into her storage ring and dug out some blankets and cloths, spreading them over the floor and stone platform.
Xiao Rangchen’s gaze rested quietly on Lou Yue as she bustled about. His fingers tightened around the cloak, little by little.
Lou Yue shot him a sidelong glance. “Come on. What are you standing there for?” Then she turned back to inspect the cave.
Xiao Rangchen turned around and carefully fastened the two ends of the cloak above the entrance.
“Wait… Shouldn’t we make Qinglin a little nest?”
Xiao Rangchen’s voice was even, giving nothing away. “No need. It can sleep in the cave next door.”
Outside, Qinglin was still anxiously pawing at the ground, completely unaware it had just been banished to the neighboring cave.
Lou Yue said at once, “Then should I hang a curtain over your cave, too?”
Xiao Rangchen’s hand paused. He turned to look at her.
Lou Yue raised her eyebrows at him, deliberately teasing.
Xiao Rangchen lowered his hand. His voice was earnest. “Lou Yue, I want to stay with you.”
Lou Yue ran the tip of her tongue along the roof of her mouth.
The cave was so small. “Stay with you,” indeed. He might as well just say he wanted to sleep with her.
Xiao Rangchen’s gaze stayed fixed on her face.
Lou Yue took two steps back and leaned against the stone bed she’d made, folding her arms as she looked at him. She said nothing.
Xiao Rangchen walked slowly toward her and stopped in front of her. His fingertip brushed the outer corner of her eye, bright and alive now. His voice dropped, carrying a trace of pleading. “Will you?”
Lou Yue looked at the tender affection that spread through Xiao Rangchen’s eyes as he lowered his gaze.
Unlike her, who had always suspected the Chaotic Abyss might be survivable, Xiao Rangchen believed what Cangya Lan and the others did: that it was a place where one step inside meant the destruction of one’s soul.
And yet he had still listened to her and jumped down without hesitation.
What had he been thinking as he leaped?
Something in her heart softened, quite unexpectedly.
