Chapter 104: Flying with the Demon King
The next evening, the demonic council came to an end.
The high-ranking demons filed out of the Demon King’s office one after another. Only after they had crossed the corridor did they dare breathe properly again.
“I think His Majesty smiled at me today!”
One of the demon nobles wore a look of absolute horror. “Am I finished?!”
Another’s pupils shook. “His Majesty smiled at me too!”
“I saw it as well…”
“This is way too terrifying!!!”
When they saw Jiang Yiwen walking toward them from the end of the corridor, the upper-ranking demons rushed at him as if they had found a lifesaving straw, grabbing at his legs. “Vice Commander Jiang, is His Majesty planning to kill all of us?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Jiang Yiwen finally managed to pull his leg free and smooth the wrinkles from his clothes. “His Majesty is just in a good mood.”
The demon nobles looked blank. “His Majesty can be in a good mood?”
“No, when His Majesty is in a good mood… he smiles???”
Jiang Yiwen: “…”
What exactly did all of you think His Majesty was—a cold work machine?!
The high-ranking demons were dying of curiosity. “Why is His Majesty in such a pleasant mood?”
If they found out what made Demon King His Majesty happy, then would they not never have to fear being chopped up again?!
Their faces were full of anticipation, but Vice Commander Jiang only waved a hand at them mercilessly.
“You lot won’t do.”
Jiang Yiwen smiled. “If you want His Majesty to be in a good mood every day, you’d better place your hopes on the lord of Angel City.”
“Thank him. Because of him, warmth has come to the Demon Realm.”
“???”
All the demon nobles looked utterly confused, but somehow they still found themselves following along and singing.
Praising that lord of Angel City who had made His Majesty happy again.
At the same time, inside the Demon King’s office—Gu Qinian had efficiently completed a full day’s worth of work as the Demon King and stood up to leave.
His mind was full of the way the little angel had sat on top of him last night and spread his wings…
For the first time in his life, the workaholic Demon King felt: working is so annoying.
Why did he have to work at all?
How could any of it compare to hugging a soft, fragrant little angel?
He wanted to go back and hug him right now!
But just as he reached the doorway, his vice commander blocked his path.
Jiang Yiwen said, “Your Majesty, please wait.”
The moment their eyes met, Vice Commander Jiang shivered on the spot.
The demon nobles from earlier really ought to see this.
This was the expression His Majesty made when he truly wanted to kill someone!
Knowing full well how impatient His Majesty was, Jiang Yiwen spared the extra words and directly handed something over. “Your Majesty, one of Angel City’s elders has offered up a crystal ball. But no matter how I look at it, it seems to belong to the city lord…”
Gu Qinian’s gaze fell on the smooth, transparent sphere.
It sparkled.
It really did look like something his little angel would like.
After Angel City fell, all the angels had plunged into the Demon Realm. In the chaos, those once-powerful archangels and elders had divided up the city’s wealth among themselves and occasionally offered pieces of it to the Demon King to secure a comfortable life in the Demon Realm.
“That bunch of old things really know how to present someone else’s flower as a gift.” The priest appeared at some point, flicking his long robe behind him and smiling lightly. “Little do they know that the only reason His Majesty treats them well is because of the city lord.”
To have his own belongings taken by his former subordinates and then offered up to the invader—no matter how sunny and cheerful the little angel was, he would inevitably feel hurt.
After a moment of thought, Gu Qinian said, “Leave it here with me for now.”
Once he found the right opportunity, he would bring it back to return it to the little angel.
“Yes!”
Vice Commander Jiang understood what the Demon King meant and carefully set the crystal ball in place.
The priest looked at the crystal ball and suddenly said in a low voice, “It is said that the crystal ball of Angel City’s lord can foresee both past lives and the future. Is Your Majesty not curious…”
Before he could finish, he turned—and the Demon King was gone.
“…” For a moment, the priest was a little stunned.
How could someone disappear more completely than a vampire like him?!
Jiang Yiwen kindly explained, “His Majesty was in a hurry to see the city lord. He had run out of patience long ago.”
After saying that, he looked up and found that the priest was gone too.
Vice Commander Jiang: “???”
What was going on?!
So every last one of them was hurrying back to secretly meet their angels, and he was the only lonely, abandoned one?!
Jiang Yiwen suddenly felt as though he were living like a frog.
A frog stuffed to death with dog food.
—
Gu Qinian returned to the sleeping palace and folded away his bat wings.
Before entering, he adjusted his clothes, smoothed his hair, and even carefully straightened his two majestic black horns.
Then His Majesty the Demon King pushed open the door in his most handsome posture, intending to charm the little angel inside to death.
But the moment the door opened, the vast sleeping chamber was empty.
The little angel had vanished without a trace!
The Demon King’s pupils shrank at once.
Suddenly, a figure dropped down upside down in front of him.
“Ta-da!”
Gu Tang shouted and made a playful face at him.
His wings had recovered enough that he could finally fly just a little.
So he had spent the whole day planning how to pull a prank and frighten Young Master Gu.
He had calculated the Demon King’s usual time of getting off work, sneaked up onto the vaulted ceiling of the bedroom ahead of time, and hidden there, planning to suddenly attack the moment he came in.
Who knew the other would not react at all? Not even a twitch of the brow.
“Aw, I didn’t scare you.”
Gu Tang flipped down from the air and landed lightly. “The prank failed…”
He had only taken one step when the man hugged him from behind.
“You did scare me.”
The broad chest behind him pressed against his back, and even the man’s voice carried that vibration.
The Demon King rested his chin in the hollow of his neck and murmured with lingering fear, “I thought you had flown away. I was really scared…”
His tone sounded fragile and helpless.
Almost like he might cry.
For a moment, it became impossible to tell which one of them was the demon and which one was the angel.
Gu Tang felt a bit guilty. Even though he could hear the tea-like tone in the other’s words, he still hurried to comfort him. “I already told you I’ll stay with you forever. I’m not leaving.”
“A person should keep their word.” Last night Young Master Gu had undone the chains, and Gu Tang had promised he would not leave.
Promises had to be kept.
“Mm.”
Gu Qinian answered in a low voice, then tightened his arms around the young man’s waist. “Say you love me.”
Gu Tang: “…”
“You’re really childish.”
Though he said that, Gu Tang still turned around and cupped the demon’s head, kissing him several times with loud smacking sounds.
And as he kissed him, he said, “Love you, love you, love you!”
Each time the little angel dropped a kiss, the corners of the Demon King’s mouth lifted a little more.
The straight line of his thin lips gradually curved into a happy arc.
Gu Tang kissed that sexy curve and muttered, “Your lips are so dry. Didn’t you drink any water?”
Demons did not need food or water, but the Demon King still obediently shook his head.
Gu Tang immediately felt his heart ache.
His Niannian had been out working all day and had not even drunk a mouthful of water.
He reached into the fruit bowl, picked up a bright red berry, and fed it to the man’s lips. “Here, eat a strawberry.”
Though demons did not require nourishment, because it was being fed by the little angel, Gu Qinian parted his lips obediently.
He took the bright red strawberry into his mouth.
And took the chance to suck lightly on the little angel’s pink fingertip.
All ten fingers were connected to the heart.
Gu Tang instantly pulled his finger back, his cheeks going a little red.
Looking at the Demon King’s thin lips now moistened by strawberry juice, Gu Tang stuck out his tongue and licked his own lips. With a flushed face, he said, “It looks really tasty. I want to try some too…”
Rising onto his toes, he leaned in and kissed him of his own accord.
Unexpectedly—the Demon King’s pale face turned red.
Confronted with the little angel’s enthusiasm, the demon’s black eyes seemed not to know where to look.
Gu Tang found this extremely interesting.
In this desire fragment, the demon of ultimate indulgence would, in certain moments, become incredibly innocent.
For example, whenever Gu Tang took the initiative, demon Young Master Gu would show just this kind of shy, helpless expression.
It was unbearably cute!
Gu Tang’s eyes shifted, and he deliberately teased, “Niannian, do you like strawberries too?”
Gu Qinian nodded once. “If you like them, then I like them too.”
“Good.”
The little angel seemed almost to have sprouted a tiny demon’s tail behind him. One pale finger poked and poked at the man’s firm chest. “Then tonight should we use the red bottle? I think that one is strawberry flavored too…”
The priest had said that the balm in the red bottle had aphrodisiac properties.
It could be used to help set the mood.
“Alright.”
The Demon King’s Adam’s apple rolled heavily, his face red all the way to his ears.
Once he accepted the little angel’s invitation, that meant he could kiss him.
Gu Qinian lowered himself, breathing slightly tighter, aiming for the little angel’s lips—
“Tonight.”
Gu Tang, however, pressed a finger to his chest and widened the distance between them. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat first.”
He smiled so mischievously that it was almost as if a little demon tail were wagging behind him.
The little angel was hungry.
So the Demon King had no choice but to suppress his desire for the moment and lead him to the dining hall.
At the long, splendid dining table, the angel and demon huddled together in only one corner, pressed close to each other.
Every single dish worthy of being placed on that table happened to be something Gu Tang liked.
The Demon King folded his arms and sat motionless, watching him eat.
That was already the result of Gu Tang refusing to let him feed him.
Otherwise, he would have been sitting in the demon’s lap, being spoon-fed bite by bite.
That would have been far too embarrassing…
After a few bites, Gu Tang found the food quite delicious and looked up to ask, “Aren’t you eating?”
Now that he thought about it, ever since crossing into this fragment world, he had never once seen demon Young Master Gu eat.
Though Young Master Gu had never been someone particularly obsessed with food anyway, humans still needed to eat to live. Surely he could not have fully transcended eating?
But demons truly could.
Gu Qinian explained, “Demons don’t need to sleep, and they don’t get hungry. So not eating isn’t really a problem.”
No need to sleep…
That explained…
Gu Tang immediately remembered all those nights when he had already fallen asleep while Young Master Gu was still full of energy, and his scalp tingled.
He genuinely could not understand. “But you aren’t a perpetual-motion machine. You still need some kind of energy source, don’t you?”
“For demons, satisfying desire is the best energy source.”
Gu Qinian looked at him with burning eyes. “Lately, I’ve been eating very well from you. I’m not hungry.”
Gu Tang’s face exploded red.
Demons truly were the most shameless race of all!
Unable to continue talking to Young Master Gu, Gu Tang lowered his head and drank his soup.
After only one sip, his eyes lit up.
The soup was rich and fragrant, and the taste was incredibly familiar. It was exactly the same as what the Gu family’s chef used to make. He had drunk it since childhood and always loved it.
Young Master Gu had actually preserved even these tiny little preferences of his in his subconscious.
So why, then, could he still not be awakened?!
The more Gu Tang thought about it, the more annoyed he became.
Seeing the little angel’s brows furrow, the Demon King asked, “You don’t like it? It doesn’t taste good?”
“No, it’s really good.”
Gu Tang finished the soup and licked his lips in satisfaction.
The chef standing nearby quietly wiped the sweat off his forehead. Thank goodness, his life was safe…
Gu Qinian looked at the little angel with concern. “Then why were you frowning?”
Gu Tang answered, “I was thinking about something troubling.”
“What is it?”
The Demon King immediately asked in concern.
Gu Tang could not tell him the truth directly, so after thinking for a moment, he decided to use the chance to drop a hint for Young Master Gu.
Maybe it would help wake him up.
He carefully arranged his words and said slowly, “Recently, I often feel as though nothing around me is real…”
Gu Qinian: “?”
“Haven’t you ever had that feeling?”
Gu Tang looked into the demon’s black eyes, guiding him. “Isn’t it possible that we are actually inside a dream, and waking up would be reality?”
Now the pressure was on the Demon King.
Gu Qinian frowned tightly. “You mean I’m fake? And your love for me is fake too?”
“No! What kind of nonsense is that?”
Gu Tang tried his best to drag the other’s line of thinking back onto the proper track. “Even in reality, we’re still in love.”
“I won’t allow you to be in love with anyone else.”
The Demon King leaned in and gave the little angel a deep kiss.
So that the little angel would not say anything hurtful again.
Gu Tang: “…”
Well, that had failed.
The demon Young Master Gu’s thought process twisted around nine bends and eighteen turns. There was no way to straighten it out!
When the Demon King kissed the little angel, all the chefs and servants present turned around at once.
Everyone: Oh my my my…
This is not something we’re allowed to see!
Gu Tang was kissed until both cheeks turned red. He pushed at him a little. “…Not here.”
The Demon King instantly understood what the little angel meant.
With a wave of his hand, he ordered, “All of you, leave.”
“Yes!”
The chefs and servants retreated hurriedly.
And did not forget to shut the dining hall doors behind them.
The Demon King was extremely pleased. He mentally awarded the chef a merit and planned to have the vice commander raise his salary later.
Then he picked the little angel up and set him on the dining table.
Right under the little angel’s shocked gaze, the Demon King slowly lowered his exalted head…
Gu Tang turned his head away, red-faced, not daring to look at what Young Master Gu was doing.
He bit his lip, his body trembling helplessly, while his fingers truthfully slid into the man’s hair, and even his toes curled in pleasure.
For a time, he could hear nothing else.
His mind buzzed blankly.
He only heard Young Master Gu ask in a thick, wet, indistinct voice, “Does that feel good? Do you still think this is fake?”
Gu Tang’s chest rose and fell, his breathing unsteady. “That’s enough…”
“Really?”
“…”
Gu Tang could not speak, and yet his fingers very honestly stayed tangled in the man’s hair.
A moment later, he was panting, his mind completely blank.
The Demon King finally raised his face. “See? What you feel is real. This place is real. I’m real too.”
“If you don’t believe me, you can touch and see for yourself.”
Gu Qinian took his hand and placed it against his own cheek.
Gu Tang let his fingers follow the structure of the man’s face, tracing from the corner of his eye down to his jaw. He opened his mouth slightly, but not a single word came out.
The Demon King dressed him properly again, put his pants back on, and settled him carefully in his seat.
Only then did Gu Tang finally recover a little. Red-eyed, he stared at him in disbelief. “How can you… how can you…”
The Demon King said calmly, “You need to eat, and so do I.”
“What’s the problem?”
The demon licked the corner of his lips with lingering satisfaction, elegant and composed, giving no sign at all of the indecent thing he had just done.
Gu Tang, lacking such a thick skin, sat there blushing furiously.
Only afterward did he learn that the desire energy demons needed was that kind of thing…
The less he thought about it, the better. The less he understood it, the better!
After they had both eaten and drunk their fill,
the Demon King suggested, “Shall we go digest?”
The moment he heard the words “digest,” Gu Tang tensed and shook his head on reflex.
The last time demon Young Master Gu said he would help him digest, he had not stopped until dawn.
As though he knew exactly what the little angel was thinking, Gu Qinian laughed. “Come on. You’ll like it.”
The demon spread his giant black bat wings and wrapped the little angel inside them.
Gu Tang only felt darkness swallow his vision.
Then his body seemed to be jerked hard.
When the wings opened again and his sight returned, he could not help crying out in surprise.
In only the blink of an eye, they had moved from the dining hall of the Demon King’s palace to the highest peak in the entire Demon Realm.
The wind howled around them.
Below, the Demon King’s palace rose high into the clouds.
Within the whole domain of the Demon Realm, lights shone everywhere. Whether demon tribes or angels, all were living their lives within this territory.
Far away on the horizon, Angel City could still be faintly seen floating there.
Only, that once glorious city had now become ruins.
Not because of the invasion of the Demon Realm, but because of a meteor.
A blade-shaped meteor had pierced straight into the heart of Angel City. If the Demon Realm had invaded even a little later, both Angel City and all the angels would have been destroyed by that meteor.
“You already knew Angel City had been cursed, didn’t you?”
Gazing at the ruined city floating in the distance, Gu Tang asked softly.
The Demon King gave no clear answer. “Why do you ask?”
Gu Tang turned to face him. “For many years, the Demon Realm and Angel City had occasional conflicts, but there had never been large-scale war.”
“Then suddenly the Demon Realm invaded Angel City. The Demon King personally abducted the city lord. All the angels fell into the Demon Realm, supposedly as captives, but in truth, except for those angels who chose to stay and work in the Demon King’s palace, the rest live as freely as all the demon tribes do.”
Gu Tang stared into the Demon King’s dark eyes. “I don’t remember you ever being such a meddlesome person.”
So the little angel had seen through him.
After a short silence, Gu Qinian said in a low voice, “If they had all died, you would have been sad.”
“And you might have cried.”
“Other than in bed, I don’t want you crying anywhere else.”
As always, he could not stay serious for long.
Even so, Gu Tang was deeply moved and stepped forward to hug the demon. “I knew it. Niannian isn’t a bad person at all.”
“If it weren’t for that meteor, you would only have taken me away. You might even have been too afraid of scaring me to take me at all.”
“No matter how much you missed me, you’d only watch from afar and drool in the direction of Angel City!”
“Hmph. Cowardly Niannian.”
Gu Tang buried his cheek in the man’s firm chest and rubbed against it again and again. A little dampness gathered at the corners of his eyes.
Very quickly, the demon bent and kissed those wet traces away with care.
“This isn’t the bedchamber. Why are you crying here?”
Gu Qinian rubbed the young man’s hair. “If you keep crying, I’ll think you’re giving me a signal. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind using this mountain as a bed.”
“…”
Gu Tang’s feelings of being moved vanished within one second.
He had not forgotten how Young Master Gu behaved on the private island beach they shared.
Being out under the open sky completely suited his perverted tastes.
And now that he had become demon Young Master Gu, the condition could only be worse.
“Alright. I didn’t bring you here to say all this.”
Gu Qinian lowered his head and kissed the little angel’s hair. “We’re here to digest.”
Gu Tang felt fingers brush over his shoulder blades, making him itch slightly.
The Demon King asked, “Your wings have recovered, haven’t they? Do you want to try flying?”
Gu Tang had wanted to do exactly that for a long time, only he had never had the chance.
Humans were naturally obsessed with flight.
And Gu Tang loved new things. Since he had gone through the effort of growing a pair of wings, it would be far too wasteful not to try soaring through the sky.
He nodded excitedly. “I do!”
“I’ll take you.”
The Demon King’s strong arm wrapped around his waist as his giant bat wings spread wide.
The next second, Gu Tang felt his feet leave the ground and his body rise into the air.
The higher they went, the stronger the wind.
At first, Gu Tang could not even open his eyes. It took him a while to gradually adjust.
“Want to try?”
That deep, magnetic voice sounded above his head.
Gu Tang spread his white wings and tried opening and closing them.
“Have I ever told you?”
The Demon King looked at the little angel in flight. “You look beautiful when you spread your wings.”
Blushing, Gu Tang reached out and twisted him in the chest. “Don’t get horny in the sky.”
He had not really managed to twist anything, but it still served as an effective warning.
The Demon King put aside his teasing expression and lowered his head to kiss his forehead. “Ready?”
Gu Tang nodded. “Mm!”
“Then I’m letting go.”
Caught between fear and anticipation, Gu Tang nodded once more.
The arm around his waist loosened.
Weightlessness followed at once.
Gu Tang did not stay suspended in the air—he started dropping fast.
Gu Qinian dove after him at once, descending alongside the little angel as he looked at him. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
As long as Young Master Gu was here, he would never let him get hurt.
Gu Tang steadied himself.
Then he began flapping his wings calmly, doing his best to regain balance.
At last, he found the rhythm that fit the wind, and with only one or two light beats of his wings, he truly rose.
“I can fly!”
Gu Tang shouted in excitement, flapping freely through the night sky.
Not far away, the Demon King fixed his gaze on that streak of white gliding through the darkness, his eyes deep.
That was a true angel.
Whenever the little angel took flight, it was as though holy light gathered around him.
Even after being defiled and stained by him, he was still pure.
How could a filthy demon ever be worthy of a pure, lovable angel…
“Niannian! What are you spacing out for?”
Just as the Demon King was sinking into his own dark mood, the little angel suddenly turned around and fluttered back to him.
Then took his hand.
“Let’s fly together!”
The clarity in the little angel’s eyes threw Gu Qinian into a brief daze.
As though somewhere, at some time…
he too had once been led along like this by a little angel.
Only those hands had been tiny at first,
then gradually grown larger.
From the soft little hands of two children, they had become long elegant fingers intertwined tightly together…
Why were such images appearing in his mind?
“What’s wrong with you?”
Seeing that something was off with the Demon King, Gu Tang waved a hand in front of his eyes.
Gu Qinian snapped back to himself and forced a slightly stiff smile. “Nothing.”
“Are you scared you can’t keep up with me?”
Gu Tang laughed and bumped him lightly with his shoulder. “Come on, catch me.”
The Demon King lifted a brow. “And what do I get if I catch you?”
“The reward is…”
“If you catch me, you can do whatever you want.”
The little angel curved his eyes, his sweet smile especially brilliant in the dark.
That very night, above the Demon Realm, the demon chased the angel through the sky. Once he caught him, he wrapped both himself and the little angel up inside his black bat wings.
All the demon tribes and angels below saw clearly—black gradually devoured white.
The demon and the angel together disappeared into the night sky.
—
Inside the Demon King’s office.
His Majesty sat upright at his desk, handling official affairs.
He looked perfectly serious, to the point that no one would ever guess that his mind was replaying scenes too unspeakable to mention.
When he thought of how the little angel had clung to his arm that morning, sticking to him and softly telling him to “come back early,”
Gu Qinian could not help curling his lips in a good mood.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the crystal ball on the corner of the desk.
“A glimpse of past lives and future…”
His long, well-defined fingers tapped lightly on the table. In the end, he still could not resist and picked up the crystal ball.
He cared far too much about the image that had flashed in his mind last night—those two little hands held together.
It felt like something very important had been forgotten.
Gu Qinian tapped lightly on the round crystal ball with one finger. “Show me what Gu Tang looked like as a child.”
Mist began to appear at the center of the crystal ball.
It curled and twisted until it formed a hazy cloud.
Gradually, within that cloud, scattered images took shape—First came a cute little child with a round face.
Just from those bright, clear amber eyes alone, Gu Qinian recognized him at once.
—This was his little angel.
“So cute…”
The Demon King reached out and touched the child’s cheek with a fingertip, though separated by the crystal ball, he could not actually feel him.
That made him feel a little regretful.
If only he could have grown up together with the little angel…
Just as he thought that, another little boy appeared beside the little angel.
The moment he saw that little boy, the little angel lit up with happiness.
For no reason at all, Gu Qinian frowned.
Then, just like the scene he had seen in his mind the night before, the little angel took that boy’s hand.
Two little children, hand in hand.
And once those two hands joined, they never let go again.
As they grew older, the shapes of the children lengthened, and those hands gradually became elegant and slender too.
The way they held hands changed as well.
From a simple clasp, it became fingers tightly intertwined.
Gu Qinian was jealous beyond measure.
He wished he could dive straight into the crystal ball, toss the man holding the little angel’s hand aside, and replace him himself.
But just then, the man turned his face.
Gu Qinian’s pupils shrank violently.
Reflected in his dark black eyes was a face exactly like his own!
