Song Ci was under a tree basking in the sun this one day. 

The boundless sky cleared up after the heavy rain, turning so blue that there was no single trace of impurities among those white clouds drifting by leisurely.

He was lying in a soft chair in a casual pose, with half of his body stretching out of the tree shade, exuding laziness all over.

Rong Bai strolled out from the room. Specks of golden light sparkled in his warm eyes as he stopped before Song Ci with a smile. He had only just stood still when he saw Song Ci lifted his thick, black eyelashes to look at him. 

Rong Bai moved the fruit in his hand to Song Ci’s mouth and casually asked, “Are you done sleeping?”

Song Ci bit down on the fruit and said vaguely, “I wasn’t sleeping. I was only thinking of a question.” 

Rong Bai sat down beside the soft chair and rested his head on Song Ci’s shoulder. He lifted his eyes and took in the entire sight of that vast, clear sky into his blue eyes with those fine specks of glittering golden light. Stirred by the breeze, his hair playfully brushed against Song Ci’s fingers. 

Song Ci picked up his hair and caressed that soft hair in his palm, soothing along it a stroke at a time with intimate, natural movements. 

“What question?” Rong Bai’s contented and absent-minded voice rang out.

Song Ci shifted his body and leaned his head against Rong Bai’s hair. He said in a soft voice, “I was wondering exactly when was it that you fell in love with me.”

This seemed to be a question every person would be curious about when it came to his or her lover. It was inevitable for Song Ci to ponder over it too. If he were to think about it carefully, he had never really done anything for Rong Bai. Even if he had participated in his past with the help of the array, he was only merely a transient passer-by.

Rong Bai had never once hidden his fondness for him, but Song Ci could not tell why. 

After asking, Song Ci’s ears inexplicably turned red. He felt as though he was a delicate maiden mulling blindly over it. This was not something a man like him should be struggling over.

All he heard in his ears was the sound of the wind, gentle and unhurried. 

This soothing tranquility lasted for quite a while. Song Ci kneaded Rong Bai’s hair until it was almost all tangled. He thought that this question had perhaps stumped Rong Bai. After all, it had been so long ago. It was only normal for him not to remember it clearly.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to move the topic along, Rong Bai spoke. 

“It’s a long story.” His voice was like warm spring warm water trickling through the bottom of Song Ci’s heart.　　

Song Ci’s heart leaped as he pricked up his ears to listen carefully.

The wind swept through the dense canopy, sending the leaves on the tree rustling. Dancing leaves fluttered all over and landed into the surging waves of grass.

Rong Bai’s eyes slightly narrowed as his gaze grew more and more distant until it stopped on the horizon. Only then did the memories of the past from a long time ago sprang up in his mind.

It was a long story.

Come to think of it, there was not much he could say, because there were many details that Rong Bai could no longer remember clearly. But their first encounter back then remained fresh in his memory.

Song Ci was wearing old clothes, and his hair was a little messy. There were even smudges of dust and dirt on his face. But his eyes were so bright that it was hard for him to ignore. He had simply just stood there, looking at Rong Bai.

The gaze that very instant gave Rong Bai a surreal feeling. 　　

It was as if he had known this little demon for a very long time. Because there was curiosity, timidity, and astonishment among the emotions exposed in the little demon’s eyes, but not unfamiliarity. 

Even Rong Bai himself had never expected there to be a second person in this world who could command Du’e. But, the moment Du’e transformed into an arrow and went shooting at him, the instant the grass swirled all over, he caught a whiff of a familiar aura. 

An aura that belonged to himself. 　　

Song Ci was like a man who had descended from the Heavens. He seemed to have no past, no origins. 

He stood before Rong Bai with a smile so brilliant that it broke through his haze. And there was a kind of emotion in his pretty eyes that gave Rong Bai a sense of deja vu. He gently opened his lips and said, “A pleasure to meet you, Tu Shan Rong Bai.”

Ever since his birth, everyone had said that he was honorable and important, and so they had always flattered him to the skies. But none of them could make him feel his own importance. Even Rong Sang, his mother who doted on him and loved him, had time and time again made concessions to the family and to Tu Shan Bi. 

But this man – this man whose name was Song Ci, and who had come from a place far away – had said to Rong Bai, “I’ve come for you.”

The blood flowing in Rong Bai’s body seemed to resonate with Song Ci. Every time he went near him, Rong Bai would feel comfortable. He could fill Rong Bai’s empty heart all at once. Even Rong Bai could not explain this inexplicable feeling.

Song Ci, a vivid life in himself, slowly filled in his faded black-and-white life with colors until it turned vibrant and dazzling. When they were together, he did not have that close of a sense of intimacy, yet the pining was hard to bear when they separated.

Rong Bai’s mood rarely fluctuated. But to date, he could still remember that heartbreaking feeling the time Song Ci disappeared amidst the sea of fire.

He left as abruptly as he came, disappearing without any hesitation. As big as the Six Realms was, there was not a single trace of his aura. Rong Bai had nowhere to start looking for him. 

He went to many places and used many ways. His thought was that the Six Realms were so vast that perhaps Song Ci was at some corner he had yet to find. He still existed somewhere out there, except that Rong Bai still had no idea where.

Waiting, in itself, was hard to bear. What’s more when the more he waited, the more he realized how slim the chances were. His temper grew more and more violent. 

Even he could not understand why he had to find Song Ci. Was it because of the kindness the latter had shown him? Or was it because of his own inner guilt? 

It was neither. Rong Bai later came to realize that it was because Song Ci was one of the very few people who were important to him.

Even though he massacred the Demon Realm and sat on the supreme throne surrounded with countless demons, Rong Bai still felt empty.

Not having Song Ci was tantamount to having nothing. 

Two missing pieces in his life. Rong Sang’s death completely disheartened him, but Song Ci’s disappearance plunged him into the abyss.

Rong Bai clung on to a single thought. He stubbornly believed that Song Ci was still alive, that he was still around. He kept looking for him persistently, even if he was merely searching for a needle in a haystack.

And then, one day, Rong Bai suddenly realized that he seemed to have almost forgotten what Song Ci had looked like, how brilliant his smile was.

Looking back, it had been so many years.

Fear filled Rong Bai’s heart. This emotion, which he had not had for so many years, once again preoccupied his mind. He feared that if this continued, there would come a day when the name Song Ci would completely vanish from his heart as if it had never existed, leaving behind only a touch of regret that came from nowhere.

The time a deity had was way too long. Ten of millions of years of time. And yet such a heart wrenching matter would, in the end, become a mere superficial scratch. Rong Bai would not let Song Ci turn into that shallow scratch. He would rather Song Ci remain like a sharp blade piercing through his heart, hurting every single moment, than for him to disappear this soundlessly. 　　

So he used a part of his soul to seal all the memories of Song Ci within his own body, then handed the way to unlock the seal to Song Ci. 

He believed that if they could encounter each other again one day in the future, Song Ci would definitely unlock this seal.

If he was really so unfortunate not to have the chance to meet Song Ci again, then he might as well turn into a handful of ashes in the wind along with this important man in his memory.

But after being unfortunate for so long, he finally ushered in a tiny bit of luck into his life and met Song Ci again on that night when that Demon Gate opened amid the hubbub of human voices. 

He finally re-possessed that vibrant, bubbly Song Ci, one with an origin and a past. 

Fate reunited them. It let the trajectories of their lives coincide at that very moment, allowing Rong Bai to gain a new lease of life. 

And thus, all his waiting in these long, endless years became worthwhile.

“Come on, tell me.” Seeing his long silence, Song Ci could not help but urge him. 

Rong Bai curved his lips into a smile. He turned his head and rose to climb onto the soft chair. Then he pulled him into his arms and planted a soft kiss beside his ear. 

Song Ci’s ears grew hot from the scorching breath. All he could smell was Rong Bai’s unique scent. He went along with it and embraced him. 

“I just like you.” Rong Bai whispered, “From the moment I first laid my eyes on you, I felt as if we were made for each other.”　　

Song Ci snorted with laughter and probed no further. 

It seemed as though there was really nothing else to ask, because Song Ci himself did not know when he had fallen for Rong Bai. 

This feeling was not intense at first. It was like a small stream of trickling water, flowing very, very slowly. By the time he looked back again, it had already built up into a pond. 

Knowing it was there, was enough.