Chapter 158

Ke Xingzhou didn’t notice Nie Chen still standing at the door until a moment later, and his expression suddenly became a bit surprised: "Are you done with your work?"

But Nie Chen stood still, not moving.

He had been with Ke Xingzhou for over a decade, and with the memories of Lian Cheng in his mind, he was more familiar with Ke Xingzhou than anyone else. He easily noticed that when Ke Xingzhou first saw him, his eyes were a bit unfamiliar. After a moment of reaction, his expression returned to its usual familiar look.

Nie Chen immediately realized what was wrong – that soul lamp!

Ke Xingzhou had little interaction with the demon realm, and he was peacefully sleeping at home. How could he suddenly awaken memories from his past life? Moreover, the timing of Luo Hou’s visit was too coincidental, and he even brought flowers.

It seemed almost like it had been premeditated.

But, even if he knew the reason, what could he do?

No matter how close he and Ke Xingzhou were, he had no right to stop Ke Xingzhou from retrieving memories of his past life. Moreover, judging from Ke Xingzhou’s reaction, it seemed that he wasn’t opposed to Luo Hou’s actions.

The scene Nie Chen most feared had come to pass.

Nie Chen had once asked Ke Xingzhou if, should he regain memories of his past life, he would hesitate between him and Lian Cheng. Ke Xingzhou had said that the past was the past, and even if he regained his past memories, he wouldn’t regret anything he had done.

But at that time, it was only a hypothetical.

When the hypothetical became reality, Nie Chen suddenly realized he couldn’t comfort himself with Ke Xingzhou’s previous answer at all.

His heart suddenly ached painfully. The top heir of a trillion-dollar conglomerate, who normally dealt with billion-dollar projects with a calm heart, now had the urge to throw away his armor and avoid facing reality.

Nie Chen and Ke Xingzhou exchanged glances for a moment, forcing himself to calm down, not to overthink, but at that moment, he didn’t know how he should respond.

Luo Hou, smug and arrogant, said: "Dear friend, come see, I specially picked these roses for you. I heard these are very expensive, and I even managed to find one from the richest family in the capital, secretly plucked them."

The richest family in the capital…

Ke Xingzhou didn’t comment on Luo Hou’s flower-stealing behavior, his attitude naturally as if this was just how things were.

Nie Chen deeply watched the interaction between Ke Xingzhou and Luo Hou, his mind immediately racing with thoughts, but he stood still, his expression darkening, his throat feeling dry.

He silently watched, and sure enough, Ke Xingzhou’s gaze was quickly drawn to the delicate and passionate roses.

In that moment, his heart almost stopped beating.

The bouquet that Luo Hou had stolen was indeed beautiful. Just looking at the fullness of the petals, it was clear they had been well cared for. The petals even had dew on them, as if they had just been plucked and delivered right to him.

It was beautiful, but—Ke Xingzhou curled his lips and pushed the bouquet of "Three Million Roses," also known as Juliet, back: "Sorry, I don't like flowers."

Luo Hou was taken aback: "What?"

Ke Xingzhou repeated that he didn’t like flowers, not even lingering his gaze on Luo Hou, and quickly passed by him, pulling Nie Chen’s hand.

He glanced at the clock in the living room: "Working this late? Didn’t you say the company hired a bunch of pretty useful executives? At least the chicken soup is still warm. I’m about to starve."

Ke Xingzhou said this while pulling Nie Chen toward the kitchen. Judging by the strength, he really was hungry. Nie Chen was caught off guard and almost tripped as he was pulled along.

Nie Chen suddenly looked up, staring blankly at Ke Xingzhou’s back.

Ke Xingzhou had clearly just woken up. His hair was messy, standing up, with signs that it had been ruffled by the owner’s frustration. Ke Xingzhou’s palm was warm, likely from the heat carried over from the bed.

With his understanding of Ke Xingzhou, Nie Chen suddenly realized that Ke Xingzhou had probably just wanted to get some fresh air when standing by the window.

As for why he didn’t just get some air in the room but went downstairs—

Nie Chen glanced at Ke Xingzhou’s phone, charging on the coffee table.

He was somewhat incredulous, confirming, "Why didn’t you call me?"

Ke Xingzhou replied nonchalantly: "I didn’t bring my charging cable. Zhu Chu forgot to remind me again. I’ll secretly deduct his performance next time... forget it, managing such a big Xiyao Sect isn’t easy for him. I won’t deduct it for now, but you can give him more homework."

He rambled on, and although Nie Chen still felt something odd, it no longer felt as unfamiliar as before.

Nie Chen blankly followed Ke Xingzhou, the smell of the chicken soup that Jiang Wanru had made and kept warm filled the air, the warmth in his palm was real and comforting, like returning to over three years ago.

Right after graduating from university, he became a full-time employee at the company where he had interned. Sometimes he worked late on projects, and when he got home, Ke Xingzhou was always like this, hurriedly dragging him to find something to eat.

Nie Chen swallowed and, in a daze, asked, "Why don’t you eat first?"

Ke Xingzhou answered just like when they were in their honeymoon phase: "How can I eat alone? Besides, I just woke up, so I’m only a little hungry."

After saying that, Ke Xingzhou paused and furrowed his brow as he addressed Luo Hou: "Move aside, we’re eating."

Luo Hou stood in their way, still trying to give Ke Xingzhou the roses: "You like flowers, why say you don’t? In the past, I’ve brought you all kinds of rare flowers, and you were always happy."

Nie Chen was also observing Ke Xingzhou’s expression.

Now that Ke Xingzhou had memories from his past life, he was inevitably influenced by his past self’s personality. How would he react when questioned by a former friend?

Ke Xingzhou suddenly said inexplicably: "You already said that was in the past. I liked flowers before, now I like food. Is that hard to understand?"

His expression was one of "Aren’t you from the demon race?" which made both the human and demon present pause.

Luo Hou paused, processing Ke Xingzhou’s expression, and then realized, oh, he was from the demon race.

The demon race had always valued doing as they pleased. It was normal for them to like something one second and hate it the next. Ke Xingzhou was like that. Otherwise, how would they have become friends in the first place?

But hadn’t Ke Xingzhou already regained his past memories?

Didn’t his past self have any influence on him in this life?

Luo Hou skeptically followed into the kitchen and found that after dragging Nie Chen into the kitchen, his previously hands-on friend, who liked to take charge of everything, simply stood there. He watched as Nie Chen took the chicken soup simmering on a low heat, picked out the chicken leg he loved from a pot of meat, peeled off the skin, and placed it into a bowl, then added a generous spoonful of the clear chicken broth with no oil on top.Nie Chen: "Scallions?"

Ke Xingzhou: "…No."

Nie Chen: "Goji berries?"

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

Nie Chen skillfully opened the cabinet, found a small bag of goji berries, and added a few to the soup.

The golden chicken soup immediately became very enticing.

Nie Chen also poured a bowl of chicken soup with no meat, as if he didn’t feel the heat, steadily carrying both bowls of soup to the dining table outside.

The European-style long table that Ke Zhengye had customized with great expense, the two of them just found two chairs and squeezed into a corner, heads touching, drinking soup and eating meat, taking turns.

Neither of them remembered Luo Hou.

Luo Hou: "…"

It’s not that he cared about a bowl of chicken soup, but these two didn’t seem to have forgotten to serve him soup—they seemed to have forgotten his existence entirely.

Before coming here, Luo Hou was actually a bit hungry.

In modern society, it’s really hard to find something to eat out of fear, and he ran a long way to eat at a place called "Haunted House"—those friendly ghosts there were protected by talismans and couldn’t be touched at all. So, he’d been hungry all the way from stealing flowers back to here, still thinking about celebrating with Ke Xingzhou before going to eat some human delicacies.

Now, seeing this scene, he suddenly felt full for some inexplicable reason.

"Wait, hold on." He tried to remind them, "Ke Xingzhou! You’ve recovered your memories from your past life! Why are you not reacting at all?"

Nie Chen, hearing this, paused his spoon midair, his gaze landing on his own reflection in the soup bowl.

Ke Xingzhou lifted his head from the bowl, displeased at Luo Hou interrupting his meal. "What reaction should I have? Didn’t you already tell me about it?"

"But before, it was just talk! The soul lamp has your memories! All your memories from your past life!" Luo Hou gestured desperately, "Don’t you remember? In your last life, you, me, that Longsheng guy, and that noisy tool spirit—we all ventured into the ancient secret realms together!"

Ke Xingzhou remained unaffected, dismissing him, "Ah, yeah, I got it. The Ke Xingzhou from my past life says hello to you. Now, stop blocking the way, if you want some soup, get your own bowl."

Luo Hou: "…"

Who wants some?!

His gaze fell on the soup bowls in front of the two, but his stomach honestly grumbled twice.

Five minutes later.

Luo Hou sat at the table, head down, drinking soup. By the time he finished the fifth bowl of chicken soup, the entire demon city felt warm, with a sense that he was about to sweat.

He rubbed his slightly protruding stomach, let out a burp without any grace, and still couldn’t understand, "You’ve remembered everything from your past life, why are you still… like this?"

"Like what?" Ke Xingzhou had finished drinking, ordered some fried chicken takeout, and waited to eat. Hearing this, he returned his phone to Nie Chen, raised his head, and looked over, "How should I have turned out?"

"Just like you were in your past life, liking strange flowers and plants, doing everything yourself, not following the rules, traveling around with me…""You keep saying it's from the past life." Ke Xingzhou repeated his earlier words, "What does my past life have to do with this life?"

Luo Hou: "…"

Ke Xingzhou: "Don't talk about the past life, even the me from the last second has nothing to do with the me right now. The past is gone, and people can’t live in the past forever."

Luo Hou fell silent again.

This sounded right, but he still felt something was off.

Until Ke Xingzhou pulled out his fully charged phone, brought up the payment code, and transferred it to him: "You stole roses from my boyfriend's house, one costs 600 dollars. I roughly calculated, you stole 99. The door and the chicken soup don't count as your money, just pay me for the flowers."

Luo Hou: "…………"

So you're waiting for him to pay, huh!!

--

The demon lord, who didn’t have money to pay for the flowers, fled in embarrassment, and the kind-hearted leader of the Xiaoyao sect didn’t chase after him, as the fried chicken delivery hadn’t arrived yet.

He stared at the delivery guy's route on the phone, his stomach grumbling again, even though he'd just drunk several large bowls of chicken soup.

Nie Chen finished washing the bowls, dried his hands, came over, and pulled him into his arms, asking, "Are you hungry?"

Ke Xingzhou nodded.

Nie Chen wasn’t surprised.

When he first received the memories of Lian Cheng, he went through the same phase. Perhaps it was because of excessive brain use that his energy consumption was high, making his body constantly feel hungry, needing to eat a lot before feeling full.

Later, the calm demeanor he displayed in front of Lian Cheng was actually just for show.

At that time, he was alone, and the panic of nearly losing Ke Xingzhou almost drowned him.

Luckily, when Ke Xingzhou went through all of this, he was there.

Nie Chen lowered his gaze, carefully studying the lover in his arms, feeling incredibly calm inside.

He lowered his head and kissed Ke Xingzhou's forehead: "Do you want to talk to me about the soul lamp?"

Ke Xingzhou hummed, not hiding anything: "I had a very long dream this afternoon."

It really was a very long dream.

In the dream, he almost relived the entire life of the Ke Xingzhou from ten thousand years ago.

When he was born, there was an extraordinary omen. While others awakened their spiritual roots at the age of five, he began following a celestial master to the mountains for hard cultivation at the age of three. Along the way, he achieved the titles of the youngest in body refinement, foundation building, core formation, and Nascent Soul… and even the titles of the Mahayana period. His cultivation never encountered any bottlenecks, and he easily passed his thunder tribulations. Everyone who saw him couldn’t help but admire how much the Heavenly Dao favored him.

Aside from cultivation, Ke Xingzhou actually didn’t have many friends, the few that Luo Hou had just listed were all of them.

As for those divine beasts of Xiang Ting, the relationships between the realms ten thousand years ago weren’t very harmonious. It wasn’t until the God and Demon War that he interacted with them.

Ke Xingzhou: "I was wondering why Xiang Ting seemed to have a grudge when he first met me. Turns out, during the God and Demon War, he competed with me to see who had more war achievements. He was originally far ahead of me, but in the end, I sealed all the demons, and he didn’t manage to defeat a single one. He got so angry."

Ke Xingzhou paused."Also, that guy Duan Changsheng, he was actually my disciple! In this life, I even used the words I once coaxed him with to make him call me 'Master' so many times!!"

Thinking carefully, Ke Xingzhou's past life was actually rather unremarkable, with even fewer friends than others.

But after thousands of years, even though most of the time was spent cultivating, when he woke up, Ke Xingzhou almost believed he had truly become that "Chen Xiaoyao" from ten thousand years ago.

He instinctively picked up his phone to call Nie Chen, but the phone was just out of battery. While searching for a charger, he spent a long time doubting who the soul inside his body truly belonged to.

Was he Ke Xingzhou, or "Chen Xiaoyao"?

It wasn't until Nie Chen came back.

Ke Xingzhou plugged in the phone, and when he looked up, he saw "Chen Xiaoyao" on the window glass.

It was a face completely different from his own, like a projection reflected on the glass, yet it moved freely, leaning on the window frame and glancing outside.

"Wow, the human world has become so interesting?" 'Chen Xiaoyao' put his hand on the tent and looked outside. Although standing on the first floor of the villa, it seemed as if he could overlook the mountains, rivers, and seas. "Everyone can use 'spiritual tools,' even the elderly, weak, women, and children? And they’ve ascended to the heavens!"

He looked up, his brows and eyes curving into two crescents.

"How nice," he said.

As soon as the words left his mouth, "Chen Xiaoyao" heard the sound of the door crashing and turned to look at the door. Upon seeing Luo Hou, he then repeated the words Ke Xingzhou had said earlier, "You broke my door again."

Ke Xingzhou: "But later, he left."

"Left?" Nie Chen was surprised.

Everyone who knew him had been trying to revive him. Finally seeing such a completely different world, "Chen Xiaoyao" left so quickly?

Ke Xingzhou nodded, his tone growing a bit distant: "He said he didn’t like farewells. He said goodbye ten thousand years ago, and doing it again would be too heavy."

Nie Chen fell silent.

From the memories in his mind, this was indeed something "Chen Xiaoyao" would do.

Nie Chen pulled Ke Xingzhou closer: "Did he mention anything else?"

"Lian Cheng?" Ke Xingzhou thought for a moment. "It’s all in the past."

No one can live in the past. On this point, both the "Chen Xiaoyao" of the previous life and the Ke Xingzhou of this life shared an unexpectedly consistent view.

Ke Xingzhou suddenly sat up, leaning on Nie Chen’s legs, and looked at him seriously: "There’s one more thing."

Nie Chen supported him: "Hmm?"

"When I was looking for a charger, I found a medical record," Ke Xingzhou added, "Yours."

Nie Chen's gaze froze, remembering the sudden illness three years ago that had caused their breakup. That was also the only time a medical record could have ended up in Ke Xingzhou's hands.

This memory wasn’t a pleasant one. To this day, he still recalled the confusion and unease he felt when he woke up from a dream and found himself back at the Nie family’s home, with Ke Xingzhou nowhere to be seen.

Adding to the conversation they just had, he couldn’t help but feel nervous: "What’s wrong?"Ke Xingzhou: "You had a ring hidden in your pocket at that time, were you planning to propose?"

Nie Chen: "..."

He was silent for a long time before speaking, his tone helpless: "Since you already know, why ask?"

"I took the ring," Ke Xingzhou patted his pocket and, as if performing magic, took out a ring box from his pocket, usually filled with talisman papers. "Do you want it back?"

This question...

Nie Chen's breathing quickened as soon as he saw the ring box. A person who was usually calm and composed suddenly became a bit flustered. He reached out to take it but then hesitated.

In the end, he took it but didn’t dare to open it.

After thinking for a long time, he said, "This ring is an old design. I’ll go have a new one custom-made."

But Ke Xingzhou stopped him, not letting him move.

"Nie Chen," he said, "I don’t want a new one, I want this one."

His gaze was intense, staring at Nie Chen, as if saying, "Old people, old things, I don’t want to lose any of them."

Nie Chen’s heart raced, and his fingers holding the ring box tightened slightly, trembling a little.

He took several deep breaths but still felt it wasn’t right: "It should still be a bit more official..."

Ke Xingzhou: "Will you propose or not?"

Nie Chen: "..."

Nie Chen panicked for a moment, then heard Ke Xingzhou say, "If you won’t, I will."

Their current position wasn’t very elegant. To prevent Nie Chen from running away due to his concerns, Ke Xingzhou directly kneeled on one leg on his lap and took out another old ring box from his other pocket, worn by time.

"Nie Chen, I have money now, I won’t be so poor I can’t even pay for your medical bills. Will you give me a chance to try again?"

—"Will you give me a chance to try again?"

Five years ago, on a narrow single bed in their dorm room, Nie Chen had also pinned Ke Xingzhou down, carefully asking this question.

Nie Chen’s throat moved slightly as he looked up into Ke Xingzhou’s eyes, ripples appearing in them.

He softly responded.

Midnight.

Ke Zhengye, who had been dragged by his wife and two sons to stay in a hotel, secretly snuck to his phone during a late-night trip to the bathroom. After turning off the silent mode, he opened the surveillance and quietly started watching the living room’s surveillance playback.

Half a minute later—

"Ah!!" An angry scream suddenly broke the quiet night, and the other members of the Ke family in the presidential suite woke up instantly, hearing Ke Zhengye's hysterical shouting from outside: "Get up!! What are you two doing on my Italian leather sofa?! Ke Xingzhou!! Get off that little boy!!"

Ke Chenyi, the eldest of the Ke family, who was about to put on earplugs and continue sleeping, suddenly sat up, not even bothering to put on his coat as he rushed out: "Dad!! You installed surveillance in Xingzhou’s room?!"Jiang Wanru and Ke Yuanbai, who hadn’t noticed anything wrong at first, immediately woke up upon hearing this and hurriedly opened the bedroom door.

"Mr. Ke, according to Article ** of the Criminal Code, you’re secretly filming, violating others' privacy. If Ke Xingzhou sues you, I’ll testify for him."

Jiang Wanru was even more direct, taking off her slippers and throwing them at Ke Zhengye’s head: "Are you trying to die?! Hurry up and turn off that damn phone! Chenyi! Take your dad back to bed!"

Ke Chenyi and Ke Yuanbai quickly obeyed the order, one pulling Ke Zhengye toward the master bedroom, and the other snatching his phone and throwing it onto the nearby sofa.

Considering it might infringe on the privacy of Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen, Ke Chenyi didn’t even dare to look, acting as if he was avoiding inappropriate sights.

The three almost escorted Ke Zhengye back to his room, their emotions incredibly stable, showing no curiosity about what Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen might have been doing at home.

Only Ke Zhengye was still burning with anger: "Let go of me! I’m going back! You still say there’s nothing between Ke Xingzhou and that little boy? They were practically kissing! Is that ‘nothing’? Get me a car, I’m going back now! Or do you want Ke Xingzhou to lose his reputation?!"

If it were before, the authoritative head of the family would have been this angry, and Jiang Wanru and her son would have obediently apologized and let him do whatever he wanted.

But now, Jiang Wanru was no longer the same as before, and neither was Ke Chenyi.

Ke Yuanbai didn’t even need to be mentioned.

He had never really felt part of this family. By the time he returned home, Ke Zhengye’s once-dominant presence had already been greatly diminished.

So, in the face of Ke Zhengye’s furious outburst, the three of them chose to ignore him.

Ke Chenyi and Ke Yuanbai, the filial sons, rummaged through drawers to find two new sheets, tied Ke Zhengye up, and sent him back to bed.

Mrs. Jiang initially thought about asking the front desk for a blanket to continue sleeping, but when she looked at her husband lying next to her, she paused for a moment. Then, holding her pillow and blanket, she got up and went to the only remaining guest room.

Ke Zhengye: "??????"

Ke Zhengye couldn’t believe it: "Wanru! Where are you going?! Are you really standing on their side, with those two gay boys? Wanru! Untie me! Jiang Wanru!!"

Mrs. Jiang ignored him, holding her pillow and blanket and shutting the door lightly. The excellent soundproofing of the five-star hotel’s presidential suite immediately cut off Ke Zhengye’s frantic screams.

The entire world became quiet.

Mrs. Jiang felt a sudden relief, as if her milk ducts had cleared up, her mood greatly improved as she went to the guest room to sleep, not noticing the gray mist quietly spreading on the sofa in the living room.

The mist seemed to have come from nowhere, slowly creeping up the hotel’s genuine leather sofa, gradually covering the phone Ke Zhengye had left behind.

Then, the mist transformed into a human shape, looking somewhat similar to Ke Zhengye, even mimicking his gesture of holding a phone.

The phone had already automatically locked. "He" placed his finger on it, and to everyone's surprise, Ke Zhengye’s phone unlocked normally and jumped to the surveillance record page Ke Zhengye had just viewed.

The gray shadow imitated Ke Zhengye’s actions, tapping on the phone’s screen.

The phone’s light reflected on "his" face, and "he" adopted a thoughtful posture.

If the Star Lord of Doom were here, he would know that this gray shadow was the one who had once tempted him to start the great war between gods and demons, resulting in the gods being stripped of their identity as heavenly envoys—

Zhuo.

Zhuo quickly connected these actions with the results they caused, blending all knowledge together. Finally, he returned Ke Zhengye’s phone to its original place and pulled out an identical phone from his body.Surveillance? Interesting.

Humans in modern society seem to have installed such things everywhere, so let’s see what’s going on with those divine chess pieces of the gods that he had easily manipulated into causing chaos.

Zhuo connected to the domestic surveillance systems and even radar systems, quickly finding information related to the gods through the newly acquired knowledge, retrieving and magnifying it—

What he saw were the star constellations desperately working above a certain location. The area was filled with thunder and sandstorms, and the star constellations were exhausted, some of them already running out of energy.

Zhuo watched everything with satisfaction, thinking that if the star constellations were this tired, that place must already be in shambles, right?

After the sandstorm cleared, he saw a desolate wasteland, the entire plain devoid of tall buildings. The few large buildings that were left were scattered in ruins here and there.

Zhuo couldn’t help but laugh three times, thinking to himself, "If the Heavenly Dao sees what the human world has become, and the culprits are still those gods I once entrusted with the task, I can’t imagine how regretful they’ll be!"

However, the next second, as the sandstorm completely cleared, what was revealed was a clean and tidy field. There were no signs of tall buildings ever existing on the ground, and the scattered shadows Zhuo had seen hidden in the sandstorm finally revealed their true form—

They were expensive wind turbines.

The star constellations, exhausted to the point of near death, panted heavily and said, "Huff...huff...wait, isn’t this work the Wind God’s? He just has to blow the wind and the job is done, right?"

"Where did he go? Doesn’t respond to messages, doesn’t answer the phone, and has pushed the work onto us. Doesn’t he want merit anymore?"

"Isn’t the Rain God also missing? I think the HR manager was right. Their relationship is really too close. I’ve never seen coworkers so inseparable like them."

"God, they’re not really...ugh!"

Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen were whatever. They already looked like they were biologically incompatible, and the image of them together was simply unbearable!

The star constellations were gossiping, rushing to the next mission while continuing their mutual flattery: "The next task seems to be finding some kind of oil? Earthly Star Lord, this is your expertise, you know underground things best. This time, you’ll need to put in more effort."

The Earthly Star Lord laughed heartily: "Oh no, no, no, you’ve all worked hard to accompany me on this trip."

"Sigh, who knows how much merit we’ll get for this trip. Merit is really hard to earn these days. Our gods really live hard lives!"

Despite saying this, the star constellations’ faces showed no sign of unwillingness, and their flying speed remained fast, even with a subtle competitive atmosphere.

Such great merit!

The Wind God and Rain God don’t want it, but they do!!

Zhuo, watching all of this on the screen: "…………"