The cellar.
Mu An Xiao stood on the snow-covered ground, arms crossed in front of her. After surveying her surroundings, she turned to A Long, who was staring at her, and asked, "Why are you looking at me?"
"You're stepping on You Ping's hand."
Upon hearing this, Mu An Xiao's eyes widened. She looked down at the old man lying in the snow and swallowed. Just as she was about to speak, the old man turned to her and asked, "Why did you push me down?"
Mu An Xiao moved her foot away, her face a mask of surprise as she looked at the old man's youthful features. "I didn't want to listen to your nonsense anymore," she said casually.
"I wasn't talking to you," the old man replied, standing up.
Mu An Xiao looked at the man before her, now young again, and swallowed. "A Long, what's going on?"
A Long calmly observed the old man's youthful face and his upright posture. "You'll find out soon," she said.
In response to Mu An Xiao's question, the old man looked down at his now unwrinkled hand and exclaimed in shock, "Why is this happening, A Long?"
"....." A Long refused to answer. She shot the old man a glare, then swung her arm to seal the exit above them with wooden planks once more.
Upstairs.
As the wind began to stir, Feng Qi Shi's eyes widened in surprise the moment the wooden planks covered the entrance. "What's going on?" he asked, quickly stepping forward.
The old man followed him and said, "Only in this way can A Long's magic recover quickly. This might be her solution."
Hearing this, Feng Qi Shi stopped in his tracks and looked down at the perfectly flat ground, devoid of any cracks. "Mu Sha Zi is wearing so little, won't she freeze to death?" he asked, turning to the old man who had stopped beside him.
The old man replied, "I haven't been down there, so I don't know."
"..." Feng Qi Shi was speechless.
Downstairs.
Mu An Xiao followed A Long and the old man into a room carved from ice.
As they walked, the old man said, "A Long, I can stay with you."
A Long stopped beside the ice bed and looked down at the old man's body on it. "No need," she said. She then turned to Mu An Xiao and the old man who had followed her.
The moment Mu An Xiao saw the old man's physique, she was shocked again. "The young him."
"I used demon arts to make him young," A Long explained, glancing at the old man, whose soul had also become younger. "As long as his soul is near here, it will also become younger. But now, I don't think it's necessary."
"What are you going to do?"
"I used a lot of my demonic energy to save his wife just now. Now, I need to absorb all the demonic energy stored in his body so that I can..." A Long's eyes darkened. "...save him."
The old man was startled. "I can..."
"Can you stop saying that you can stay with me?" A Long interrupted him coldly, turning to the stunned old man. "It's really fake."
"I'm serious."
"Serious?" A Long repeated, scoffing. "I think you're only doing this for yourself. You just don't want to owe me because you feel it's shameful to owe a demon. You'll feel disgraced when you go back. Don't think I can't see your little schemes."
A Long's words struck a chord in the old man's heart.
Just as A Long had surmised, the old man was indeed acting on his own desires. He didn't want to owe A Long, for he knew in his heart that he owed A Long the most in this life.
Therefore, he wanted to compensate her.
Of course, he didn't feel ashamed for doing so, nor did he value his pride so highly. Hearing her words now, he had only one thought: to explain.
"I do feel like I owe you, but I don't feel ashamed of it, A Long," he said with deep affection. "I truly want to be by your side. I am willing to become a demon like you and stay with you forever."
"If you come with me, what about your wife? Can you not be so selfish? Can you..." A Long clutched her chest, her face gaunt. "Can you stop always saying one thing and doing another? You're really annoying like this."
"A Long..."
"You don't owe me; I owe you. I owe your family, I owe your son. If I hadn't appeared, your eldest son wouldn't have become such a scoundrel, and you wouldn't be like this. You and your wife would have been the most loving couple. It's all because I," A Long swallowed, "disrupted your family's rhythm. I've occupied you for decades, and now it's time to return you to your wife." She then began to cough.
Mu An Xiao asked, "Are you alright?" She started to feel genuine pity for A Long.
A Long stopped coughing and waved her hand. "I'm fine." As she spoke, a bloodstain appeared on her lips.
The old man's eyes widened when he saw this. "You're spitting blood?" he exclaimed, reaching out to grasp A Long's wrist.
A Long looked down at the old man's hand and said, "My spitting blood has nothing to do with you. Let go."
Upon hearing this, the old man released her hand.
Mu An Xiao glanced at the old man's young face, then at his sleeping body on the ice bed, and said, "A Long, let's begin."
"Okay." A Long nodded, wiped the bloodstain from her lower lip, turned back to face the bed, took a deep breath, and leaned down, placing her face close to the old man's.
Mu An Xiao asked, "You're not going to... suck your demonic energy out of his mouth, are you?" She swallowed.
A Long nodded, closed her eyes, and kissed the young old man's lips with all her might.
The old man's eyes widened the moment he saw A Long kiss him.
Mu An Xiao had never witnessed such a scene up close before, and she found it difficult to accept. Without thinking, she grabbed the old man's arm and blurted out, "Don't look!"
The old man stiffened. Just as he was about to turn to look at Mu An Xiao, she pulled him around, facing away.
Immediately after, the old man looked down at Mu An Xiao's flushed ears and chuckled.
Mu An Xiao didn't notice the old man's amusement at her. She released his arm and wondered if her actions would truly be effective.
The old man: "...." While Mu An Xiao was lost in thought, he turned to look at A Long's retreating back, his eyes darkening.
Upstairs.
Feng Qi Shi stood at the entrance of the thatched hut, looking with surprise at the slowly illuminating green light from the direction of the bed. "What's going on?" he muttered, stepping over the threshold and entering.
The old man followed his steps.
Then, Feng Qi Shi stopped by the bed and bent down to touch the bare wooden planks. "It's so cold."
The old man explained, "Below this bed is the cellar."
"It seems the cold air is drifting up from below," Feng Qi Shi said, straightening up.
The old man nodded. "Yes, but from my observation, there's only an entrance on the side of the door. There's none here."
"I see that," Feng Qi Shi replied, looking around the room. He then felt the temperature inside. "In the summer, this would be a great place to escape the heat. If this place were developed, it would surely make a lot of money."
The old man looked bewildered.