Chapter 584: The Right Weapon

    On the other end of the call, Shen Nianzu’s brows subtly gathered into a frown. "The Nightmare’s weakness... does it really exist?"

    It’s not like he doubted Grandpa Song. The fact that the other person had left behind such a message must mean that he had discovered something. Yet it had cost him his life. If it was something even Sword of Heaven couldn’t handle, could it still be considered a ’weakness’?

    In response, Xu Zhao let out a muffled chuckle as though sensing the silver-haired man’s apprehension. "Who knows?" he drawled on his words lazily. "Maybe it does exist, maybe not. Why don’t you consider this from another angle? Perhaps it’s the wrong weapon that has been drawn. To chop off a piece of tough meat, of course you can’t choose a dull knife."

    Shen Nianzu’s grip instinctively tightened around the phone. The Oracle’s words were vague, laced with hidden meaning. But alas, Shen Nianzu was just too perceptive for his own good because he grasped what the other person meant to say almost immediately. And for the first time, he hated that he did.

    Wasn’t he implying that whether the Nightmare’s weakness truly existed or not, it depended on who delivered the fatal damage? Sword of Heaven had failed. And that was because, at the end of the day, he was still a human being and would be subjected to the mental corruption imposed by the Nightmare.

    But what if... what if it was changed to another person?

    Someone who wouldn’t be affected by the Nightmare, someone who could stand their ground against that entity...

    A gentle touch on his lips snapped Shen Nianzu out of his reverie, and only then did he realize he had unconsciously bitten his lower lip too hard. He blinked, meeting Jin Jiuchi’s intent gaze tinged with a hint of concern and confusion.

    The bedroom was dark, and the only source of light came from the dim moonlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling window, bathing Jin Jiuchi’s back in a soft glow.

    Amidst the dim lighting, those heterochromatic eyes shone inhumanely, like a cold-blooded predator crouching in the dark, yet they exuded a tender warmth and affection that left Shen Nianzu’s heart aching.

    He caught Jin Jiuchi’s retreating hand and squeezed two of his fingers in reassurance. "Do you mean to say," he said to the phone, enunciating each word, "that weapon is in my hands and it’s up to me whether to brandish it?"

    "Aha," the oracle cackled softly, mirth apparent in his tone. "This is why I like talking to smart people!"

    "Why are you telling me this?" A hint of doubt crept into Shen Nianzu’s tone.

    In a way, his evaluation of the Divine Oracle was more or less the same as Ying. The man didn’t seem like the type who wished for the Nightmare’s downfall; if anything, he truly enjoyed the thrilling adventures brought by the Cycles. That’s why it struck Shen Nianzu as odd that the man would willingly offer him advice on how to defeat the Nightmare.

    "Hey, hey," Xu Zhao protested, sounding a little affronted. "What kind of person do you think I am? I’m still a human— why the hell would I side with a freaking monster? Geez, why the hell does everyone always assume the worst of me whenever I try to be generous?" he lamented with an exaggerated sigh.

    Shen Nianzu pondered for a while and felt that what he said made sense. He decided to give the oracle the benefit of the doubt for the time being. "I see..." he muttered, taking a deep breath. "Thank you for the information. I’ll consider it carefully."

    Without waiting for the response from the other side, he hung up on the call, tossed the phone aside and smoothly drilled into Jin Jiuchi’s embrace, burying his face into the crook of the man’s neck like an ostrich.

    Jin Jiuchi froze for a second, taken aback by his jade doll’s initiative, but he soon recovered and tentatively wound an arm around Shen Nianzu’s waist, bringing the two of them closer together, while his other hand slid into the silver tresses, absentmindedly twirling the silken strands around his fingers.

    "Nian’er...?" His tone was hesitant, careful. He could sense that his jade doll’s mood was off, though he couldn’t pinpoint the reason why.

    Following his instinct, he buried his nose into Shen Nianzu’s temple and took a deep inhale, analyzing his scent, "You’re anxious and... afraid. Why? What is Nian’er afraid of?"

    Shen Nianzu’s lips moved, muttering something unintelligible. Each movement caused his soft lips and warm breath to brush against the side Jin Jiuchi’s neck, making him so ticklish that his focus scattered in an instant.

    He resisted the urge to squirm while asking, "What did you just say?"

    With a helpless sigh, Shen Nianzu withdrew a bit to gaze at his lover’s visage. He raised his hand, his fingers delicately moving from Jin Jiuchi’s sharp eyebrows, the corner of his eyes, down to his tall nose bridge, mapping out each curve and contour. The tender and fleeting strokes of his fingertips made Jin Jiuchi so comfortable that he couldn’t resist narrowing his eyes in bliss, a low purr forming on the base of his throat.

    He tilted his head slightly to press a soft kiss on the inside of Shen Nianzu’s wrist before grazing his sharp canine lightly on the porcelain skin, wishing he could rub himself all over the jade doll to express his overflowing affection.

    He heard Shen Nianzu’s breath falter ever so slightly, then a soft murmur, "...No one can take you away from me."

    It was spoken in such a quiet and small voice that Jin Jiuchi would have missed it altogether were it not for their current proximity. He raised his eyelids and, upon noticing the rare vulnerability in the shimmer of those pale purple eyes, felt his heart melting into a puddle of rainbow goo.

    His Nian’er wasn’t only pretty, smart, brilliant, but he’s also very good at acting spoiled!

    Rare as it might be, these fleeting glimpses of weakness and dependency always gave Jin Jiuchi the visceral urge to seize all the good things under this realm and present them under his feet. Hell, he could even cut his chest open and gouge out his beating heart so long as Shen Nianzu wished for it!

    Alas, as things stood, all he could do right now was embrace Shen Nianzu tightly and nuzzle his cheek on top of Shen Nianzu’s head in an affectionate gesture.

    "No one can take me away from you," he affirmed, his eyes radiating such conviction which spoke volumes of the length he was willing to go through to make it happen.

    But Shen Nianzu did not seem reassured yet, as a troubled sigh escaped his sweet lips in the next second.

    Still with his chin resting on Shen Nianzu’s crown, Jin Jiuchi racked his brain for a while before tentatively asking, "Nian’er... do you not trust Ying?"

    "If it’s her, I might be willing to take the chance," Shen Nianzu replied in a muffled voice. "But not the people around her. I can’t trust any of them."