The Simp’s Heart is Sealed in Cement; The Demon Lord Falls Hard! - Chapter 5

Su Mo looked at the youth before him with complex emotions, unsure of what to say. Yan Yichen was the primary shou (protagonist) of this novel! He was the currently popular “calculating crybaby” type. He possessed a tragic background and had approached Wen Muli with impure motives precisely because he wanted to change his fate. As for Su Mo, he was merely an important supporting character who existed only in the early stages of the novel. After all, he was the fuse that ignited the pair’s intense, sadomasochistic romance…

Thinking of the future plot, Su Mo felt a flash of pity for the youth before him. The suffering he was about to endure would be no less than his own…

“Don’t feel guilty. This is all of my own free will; I don’t blame you.”

He sighed lightly and raised his hand to gently wipe away the tears on Yan Yichen’s face. Whether the guilt was genuine or merely an act, it didn’t matter. In the end, they were both “tools” serving the plot!

Su Mo’s expression was so sincere that it actually made Yan Yichen feel uneasy. He did indeed have his little schemes, and he intended to use feigned pity to lower the man’s hostility toward him. Yet, seeing how open and willing the other man was, completely devoid of resentment, actually made him feel a pang of heartache. This stupid man—his life is his own and he only gets one; is it really necessary to sacrifice everything for a man who doesn’t love him?!

Having developed a sense of compassion, Yan Yichen almost blurted out a warning, but he managed to pull himself back just in time to avoid breaking character. Su Mo was simply too powerful. If he were not weakened, they would never be able to conquer the Phoenix Capital…

Gritting his teeth, Yan Yichen let fall two more cat-like tears. “Thank you for being willing to save me. In this life, I will work like a beast of burden to repay you! Please rest assured, I will never compete for favor with you. I will respect you as I would my own older brother, and I will take care of you for the rest of my life…”

“You really are a kind child.”

Su Mo smiled faintly and shook his head. He didn’t love Wen Muli, so where could there be any “competition for favor”? As for “taking care of him,” that was even more absurd, for in the near future, he would fall in battle during a war he had planned himself!

“Chen-er, are you finished talking? We cannot miss the auspicious hour!”

Wen Muli’s urging voice rang out. Both of them sensibly ceased their conversation. A group of people filed back in. Wen Muli took a pill into his mouth, gently tilted the back of Yan Yichen’s head, and kissed him, passing the pill into his mouth. As the medicine took effect, Yan Yichen’s eyelids grew heavy. He clutched Wen Muli’s sleeve anxiously, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something.

“Sleep… when you wake up, you will have a healthy body.”

With softened eyes, Wen Muli leaned down, planted a fleeting kiss on his brow, and spoke softly. Once the youth fell into a deep sleep, Wen Muli turned around, his expression solemn, and nodded to the imperial physician.

“Empress, please follow me to the side chamber…”

The process of extracting a spiritual root was too bloody; he didn’t have the stomach to let the Human Emperor witness it. Bowing his waist, the physician spoke respectfully to Su Mo. Su Mo nodded and followed him as he prepared to leave. Behind them, Wen Muli spoke up abruptly.

“Take good care of him… don’t let him feel pain.”

In the end, he was soft-hearted after all.

“Understood!”

In the side chamber, as the veteran official who had been by Wen Muli’s side the longest, the imperial physician Mo Xiyuan had witnessed the full extent of the love and hatred between the two. He had been there during Su Mo’s most glorious moments and his most desolate ones. As a subject, he had no right to question his master’s actions, yet he felt a pang of pity for the gentle, broad-shouldered man before him.

“Your Majesty… still has you in his heart. It is only the trauma from the past that makes him unable to see this fact. Please, do not hate him…”

“Hmm, I don’t hate him. Let’s begin, Dr. Mo.”

Su Mo smiled and nodded, his eyes perfectly calm.

“Alas…”

The more nonchalant he was, the more helpless Mo Xiyuan felt, and all that helplessness eventually turned into a soft sigh. “This is a pill I refined; it can reduce the pain of having your spiritual root extracted… endure it, and you will be fine.” Handing over the pill bottle, his eyes were full of sympathy.

Su Mo said nothing; he took it, opened it, poured out a pill, and swallowed it. Having practiced medicine for nearly five hundred years, Mo Xiyuan had treated countless difficult and complicated cases. As a descendant of a legendary physician, he had never felt his heart tremble when facing a patient. Yet, at this moment, his hand was shaking, a first in his life.

“Please proceed.”

Su Mo smiled and silently closed his eyes. Mo Xiyuan gritted his teeth, his trembling hand reaching toward the back of Su Mo’s neck. Having taken the pill, Su Mo could not feel the pain. He could only hear the snip-snap of clothes being cut open, followed by the sound of rustling as things were extracted. Then, a numbness spread through his neck, his strength was drained away, and he passed out completely.

About an hour later, a palace servant frantically knocked on the door of Wen Muli’s sleeping quarters and knelt on the ground, calling out in panic. Wen Muli’s expression shifted, and without a second thought, he rushed out the door and headed straight for the side chamber.

Creak,

The heavy doors were kicked open. What met his eyes were numerous servants carrying basin after basin of bloody water out of the room!

“Your Majesty, you must not! The blood will tarnish your noble body…” Seeing him, some servants rushed forward to stop him.

“Get out of my way!”

The thread of reason in Wen Muli’s head snapped. He kicked a servant aside and rushed frantically into the inner chamber. Su Mo, who had been full of life just a short while ago, was now lying on the bed, hovering between life and death. Fresh, bright red blood continued to spill from the back of his neck, impossible to stop.

As a cultivation genius, even when he intentionally suppressed his aura, he still possessed a presence no less than that of the Human Emperor. Yet at this very moment, his life force was nearly extinguished, as if he might slip away into death at any second…

“Damn it, why is it like this!”

With scarlet eyes, a frantic Wen Muli rushed forward, grabbed Mo Xiyuan by the collar, and roared in a breakdown.

“I, I don’t know… it shouldn’t be like this… the Empress was originally strong and healthy…” Mo Xiyuan shook his head in a panic.

“Save him! If you don’t, I will have your dog’s life!”

Wen Muli commanded through gritted teeth. He climbed onto the bed, pulled Su Mo tightly into his arms, and channeled his spiritual energy into his body.

“Su Mo, you are not allowed to die, or I will not let you off… What you owe me, you must repay by staying by my side for lifetimes to come… Did you hear me? If you dare to die on your own, I will execute Ye Lin and make her wish for death but be denied it! I mean what I say…”

His tone was so helpless, so filled with… sorrow and panic. Crystal-clear, searing tears dripped onto Su Mo’s cold, pale face.

Time ticked by second by second. Su Mo was lucky; under Wen Muli’s nurturing—which cost him more than half of his own spiritual energy he managed to scrape his life back from the brink. Wen Muli stayed by his side, never once changing his clothes, for three full days. Only when he was certain that Su Mo was out of danger did he remember Yan Yichen, who had been awake for a long time.

“Take good care of him. Do not tell him that I stayed by his side; anyone who violates this will be severely punished!” Wen Muli warned in a hoarse voice.

“Your Majesty… you clearly have him in your heart, so why do you always insist on deceiving yourself…” Mo Xiyuan sighed and tried to persuade him.

“Shut up. Do not speak nonsense.”

Wen Muli denied it with a livid face and left the side chamber. After that day, Su Mo remained in a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Wen Muli focused all his attention on Yan Yichen, who had now acquired the spiritual root, and never once came to visit him again!