Arriving at the villa, Bai Liang followed Li Ziyang to the pool. He stood watch in curiosity and anticipation as Li Ziyang undressed and uncovered his gauze before entering the water. He usually saw Li Ziyang’s scales in bed, but now that it was under the sunlight, the deep indigo scales by his abdominal lumbar shimmered resplendently.

Li Ziyang grasped the amulet in his palms and plunged into the water. There was no movement for a long while until the water completely stilled when the ground suddenly shook and the water glowed a purple light.

Bai Liang could feel the powerful surge of energy gathering into Li Ziyang within the pool, merging and condensing into a ball. The pool boiled and bubbled until a minute later, the shaking slowly receded and the light dimmed.

He knelt down by the pool side to see what happened when Li Ziyang suddenly emerged to the surface right in front him and pounced at him. He blinked and stared at Li Ziyang’s dripping visage in a daze when he felt something cold coiling his leg.

Finally noticing the long, glistening tail, Bai Liang’s eyes sparkled, “You’re a mermaid!”

“This is my complete form in this world,” Li Ziyang caressed Bai Liang’s face. “Now, this body can properly protect you.”

Realizing why Li Ziyang was born a ‘defect’, Bai Liang felt a lump in his chest, “Forgive me, Master. Because of me–mm.”

Li Ziyang blocked Bai Liang’s words with his lips. He kissed him until his lips swelled and all his thoughts melted before letting go, “What should you be saying right now?”

Bai Liang couldn’t contain his love for his master. He reached out to cling to him and switched their position with a roll. He buried his face down and his words softly muffled.

“Praise me…”

“You did great, My Little Jade. I’m very proud of you,” Li Ziyang petted Bai Liang’s hair tenderly. Feeling the intangible law catching up to him, his eyes slightly gloomed and propped Bai Liang up, “My time is almost up.”

Bai Liang felt unwilling but he understood breaking the seal would only cause harm for his master. He gave a small nod, “Mn…”

Li Ziyang lowered Bai Liang’s face and solemnly kissed his forehead. Bai Liang shuddered when his master’s spiritual force entered his body and spread to his veins. He knew this was the exchange his master promised to replace his amulet.

A mark formed briefly on Bai Liang’s forehead and dimmed. When he opened his eyes, Li Ziyang’s eyes had returned to normal. Seeing him silently assessing the situation, unlike Dantalion’s fluster, he became a little worried.

“Uncle, are you alright?” he carefully asked.

Li Ziyang stared at Bai Liang with deep, incomprehensible eyes, “…”

Bai Liang unknowingly shuddered and hesitantly backed away, “Uncle…?”

Li Ziyang caught Bai Liang’s arm, not letting him escape. He slowly propped himself up without breaking his gaze off Bai Liang, “Who is he?”

Bai Liang’s heart skipped a beat, “Huh…?”

“That man who took over my body,” Li Ziyang’s jaws clenched, his eyes becoming colder and colder. “That man who ‘perfected’ me with a part of him that you kept. Who is he?”

Bai Liang’s mouth opened and closed but no words formed, too flustered about the situation. Was Li Ziyang conscious the whole time his true self took control? Did that have anything to do as to why his master could take control this long compared to that time as Dantalion?

No…it wasn’t like his master had 2 souls living in his current body. His ‘true’ self was only his state when all his power and memory broke free from his seal. Then, the seal was defective? Or was that only his misconception?

Xue Liang: [Master, you can’t tell Grandmaster anything involving our task!]

‘I know. But I don’t want to lie…’

Xue Liang: [Dodge it, Master! Act cute and seduce Grandmaster out of it with your beauty like always! Besides, hasn’t Master been looking forward to getting punished!?]

Bai Liang, “…”

It seems like he would have to schedule a re-education for Xue Liang’s attitude.

“…It’s him, isn’t it?” Li Ziyang lowly said. “The one you truly love.”

Bai Liang’s thoughts came to a halt. He blinked a few times and looked at Li Ziyang blankly, “Huh?”

“I understand,” Li Ziyang laughed in self-ridicule. “You’re loving him through me. I don’t know how or when you met him, but it all makes sense now. You did bewitch me.”

“Uncle, wait a min–mph!”

Li Ziyang clashed their lips, gripping Bai Liang by his nape and restraining his arm behind his back to hold him in place. Remembering how that other entity kissed Bai Liang while he trapped him in his own psyche, he felt his mind going crazy and kissed Bai Liang even fiercer.

Bai Liang used his only free hand to try to push Li Ziyang away, “Uncle…mh! Ngh…let me…mn…let me explain!”

Li Ziyang couldn’t hear Bai Liang’s words and transformed his tail back to legs. He pulled Bai Liang up and tossed him to the pool chair. He stood in front of him with immense pressure, “Bai Lun, I warned you the day you seduced me that I’ll make you mine. Only mine. I will never let anyone and anything, even demons or ghosts, take you away from me.”

Bai Liang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He thought Li Ziyang was angry or wary that his body could be taken over out of his will. Now that he knew Li Ziyang was actually jealous of himself, he couldn’t help but think it was both funny and cute.

He fixed his position to properly rest his back on the backrest and helplessly smiled at Li Ziyang, “Anything I say will sound like an excuse right now, so punish me all you want, Uncle. Claim me to your heart’s desire. I accept all of you.”

***

“Ahh…Ha…Uncle…”

Li Ziyang slowly combed down the back of Bai Liang’s hair while the youth weakly lay in his arms like a boneless person. Bai Liang was already half-conscious for a while and his body continuously trembled from the non-stop pleasure and stimulations overwhelming his nerves. When he spoke, his voice was almost gone.

“Are you…still mad?” Bai Liang appeasingly licked Li Ziyang’s neck, unable to raise his head anymore. “Don’t be mad, Uncle. I want to make you happy…”

“…” Li Ziyang’s gaze lowered, “…Who is he? Who is he to you?”

“He’s you…” Bai Liang answered in his daze. “I…love you.”

Hearing the same answer again, Li Ziyang finally gave up. He lowered Bai Liang to the bed and kissed him deeply as he thrust until the two of them climaxed for the last time.

“Sleep,” he lowly said.

Bai Liang stopped resisting his exhaustion and let his eyes close. It didn’t take 5 minutes for him to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Li Ziyang picked him up and brought him to the bathroom to get washed. Once both of them were clean, he returned to the bed and tucked Bai Liang in before lying down himself. He stared at Bai Liang with heavy eyes.

Even after his continuous questioning, Bai Liang didn’t give him a single piece of information about the person. Not even a name.

On one side, he did felt an inexplicable connection between him and that person. He could feel the bottomless emotion inside of him towards Bai Liang. Every second of fulfillment from touching Bai Liang, every second of anger, frustration, and distress from Bai Liang’s pain, and the mix of guilt and love etched deep within his soul.

On the other side, he couldn’t accept it. The way Bai Liang looked at this person was different. It was more tender and more vulnerable. At that moment, he felt like he was seeing Bai Liang for the first time.

He thought he finally understood what being loved was, but all this time, even if Bai Liang truly loved him, he wasn’t giving him his true love. It was only a part of his love that he formed especially for him. A replacement.

In the end, he really was a mere sailor being lured by the siren to be cruelly eaten.

Li Ziyang slowly reached out and caressed Bai Liang’s neck with unknown eyes. He noticed Bai Liang shifted in his sleep and the youth touched his hand only to move it to his face and snuggle to it.

“I’m sorry…” he muttered.

“…”

Li Ziyang shifted closer to Bai Liang. He closely held him in his arms and closed his eyes.

He knew and admitted that he was a bad person. Maybe this was his punishment, his karma. That entity or god himself must’ve been dissatisfied with him living in the beautiful dream Bai Liang weaved for him and forcefully slapped him awake.

If that was so, then he would accept this new reality. He would accept Bai Liang’s cruel love.