Returning from the Immortal World

Tears trickled down Zhang Xinya’s face as she looked at Tang Xiu in a dismayed daze. A pang of regret bit her heart as she had asked her sister, Zhang Xinyue to take her place at the opening ceremony of the Emperor Gauze Villa Complex back then. If… if she had been there herself, such an incident between her sister and Tang Xiu wouldn’t have happened.

“A-and then?”

She wanted to know what happened next. The urge was pressing here, even though the final fact could never be changed.

“I didn’t know where I was and what happened to me when I lost my reason,” continued Tang Xiu. “When I woke up, only then did I realize that Zhang Xinyue used her body to help me detoxify the poison. She saved my life and I’m very grateful for that, yet I don’t love her. When I was in dilemma thinking about how to shoulder this responsibility, she told me that nothing happened between us. She asked me to keep everything a secret forever and once we leave Qingcheng Mountain, we’d never see each other again.”

The burden inside Zhang Xinya’s heart eased down a lot in that instant. Countless justifications for the incident swirled inside her mind, but none of them felt much better than Tang Xiu’s explanation.

At this moment, she even thought that what her sister did was the right thing. After all, the main point is that she did that to save Tang Xiu’s life. Regardless of not having feelings for Tang Xiu, she probably found it difficult to just watch him die. Additionally, it also meant that Tang Xiu owed her sister a life-saving grace.

Seeing the constant changing expression on Zhang Xinya’s face, Tang Xiu forced a bitter smile and said, “I’ve been suppressing this issue, and have been keeping it buried inside my mind. I thought I’d never tell any soul about it in this life. But I don’t want to hide it from you anymore now. Just please don’t blame Xinyue. All the blame is on me, so blame me. She saved my life, after all.”

Lips squirming, Zhang Xinya bit her lower lip and shook her head, “I don’t, and would never blame her. Instead, I’m very grateful to her for… she has saved the man I love.”

Tang Xiu forced a smile and said, “You still love me even though such a thing happened between me and Xinyue? After all, with all the things between us, there’s no way we can…”

“I don’t care!” Zhang Xinya waved and interrupted him loudly. “I don’t care whether it was Xinyue or other women who took that role. As long as you’re safe and sound, I don’t care even if you want all the women under the sun. I’d still see it to the end. You can say that my love is way too extreme. You can say that I’m too stubborn in love. But this is the true feeling I have. As long as you’re okay; so long as there’s a place for me in your heart, no matter how small it is, I’m willing to love you. I will always follow you.”

“Sigh… but why?” sighed Tang Xiu helplessly.

“I never knew what it felt like to love, nor how to love someone before, and I’ve never loved any other man,” said Zhang Xinya. “But I’ve decided and imprinted that feeling to you and only you. I can either live my life alone and spend my days until death in loneliness if you don’t want me—or, I can give you the love of a lifetime if you want me. The love that is ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times beyond the love you can give me.”

Tang Xiu paced forward to the front of Zhang Xinyue. He could see the tenacity and the firm expression on her face. He reached out and gently pulled her into his arms and whispered, “Once upon a time in the Immortal World, I was a Supreme. Once upon a time in the entirety of my life, I thought I could only love her. But after I came back to Earth, a realization came to me and changes happened to my heart. You can say I’m a man with a melancholic yet passionate heart. You can argue that I had a change in heart and mind after I left broken-hearted. You open your heart to me, and I’ll also take you to be my woman by my side for thousands of years.”

Leaning her head on Tang Xiu’s chest, Zhang Xinya said with her whole body, “For millenniums or even eons, even if the seas dry up and the rock decay—even if the world comes to an end, I’ll never give up on you. I’ll never leave you.”

Tang Xiu gently released her, but his hands still held her shoulders. He looked at her with a solemn expression, vowing in a deep voice, “You, Zhang Xinya, are now Tang Xiu’s woman from now henceforth. And you have no chance to object nor take your words back after tonight.”

“I’ll never regret it, nor do I need such a chance,” replied Zhang Xinya firmly.

“You’re a fool.”

Tang Xiu hugged her again with eyes staring at the night scene outside the window, yet while containing a very fulfilled feeling, happiness, and unusual affection.

Ten minutes passed by.

Knock, knock…

The door was knocked from the outside, causing Tang Xo to release Zhang Xinya from his embrace. He waved his hand to open the door. He saw Spectre walk in while dragging the two middle-aged men who had been monitoring Zhang Xinya. Then, he ordered Gu Tao and Zhang Jue who also tagged along, “You two stand guard outside and keep an eye on any suspicious people in the vicinity. Should you find any, report to me at once.”

“Understood!”

Both of them replied and went out.

Tang Xiu turned and came to the sofa. He took a seat and asked, “So, what’s the result of your interrogation?”

“These rabbles are nothing but a spineless bunch, Boss. I didn’t have to spend much energy, yet they already spat out everything they know,” said Spectre. “The culprit who sent them to monitor Ms. Zhang is Alloway, a famous gangster in the Mekong River area. There, he controls most of the entertainment venues in a radius of tens of kilometers with hundreds of hired thugs at the ready. Additionally, he’s also Songzan’s underling, a rather famous fella in Bangkok—a two-faced businessman.”

Tang Xiu creased his brows and looked at the two middle-aged men as Spectre threw them before him, asking, “So, those street thugs are Alloway’s hatchet men, the fella who got trashed by Xinya’s bodyguards. Then what about you two? Who sent you?”

The two middle-aged men exchanged glances. They had obviously been beaten badly given their swollen faces and bloody noses. One of them sneered, “Hmph, you’re not from around here, are you, Mister? You command quite the good English; mind telling us who you are?”

“Nope,” said Tang Xiu.

“You don’t want to tell us anything about you, so why the hell should we tell you our identities? Hmph,” snorted the middle-aged man coldly.

A knife appeared in Tang Xiu’s hand out of thin air. He stabbed the man’s arm with it, but the man didn’t even make any noise and just gritted his teeth. Tang Xiu then lightly said with a smile, “You got quite some hard bones, eh? Definitely not the likes of those street thugs. You wanna know about me? I got your life in my hands and I can you kill at any time given my mood. Afterwards, I’ll throw your dead body into the Chao Phraya River.”

The man shot an angry and hateful glare at Tang Xiu and said, “You won. Songzan is our Boss, the Underboss who controls the fate of thousands of people in Bangkok. Your men have injured Alloway and those he sent to monitor you. Just wait for our Boss to send his men to hound you.”

“So, your Boss is gonna stand up for his men, huh?” asked Tang Xiu with a strange expression. “He won’t ever let us go?”

“Maybe you can leave Bangkok safely, but that is if Ms. Zhang apologizes to our Boss first,” sneered the middle-aged man.

“So this Songzan fella has no goodwill whatsoever, huh?” Tang Xiu shook his head and said, “If so, I might as well help the Thai lawmen remove the tumor of the society here. Spectre, kill them and throw their corpses into the Chao Phraya River. But do remember, you’re not to kill good people, though I do allow you to massacre those evil ones at your will. Certainly, spare me all the troublesome shits afterward.”

“Hehe. I got it, Boss.” Spectre grinned.

Tang Xiu waved his hand. As Spectre directly killed the two men and took their bodies out, he then turned to talk to Zhang Xinya, “I’m sorry you had to witness the killings, but some people must die, else they will keep pestering us and give us trouble. Also, you’ve chosen to be beside me, so you must be prepared for some killing. After all, the path I’m taking is destined to contain slaughter to move forward.”

Zhang Xinya had already seen Tang Xiu murder people, even dozens of them at one time with a very ruthless and powerful method. But she was not afraid of it. As long as she could be with Tang Xiu, it was enough to give her the sense of security she needed.

“I’ll learn.”

Tang Xiu pulled her to make her sit beside him. He forced a smile and said, “I’m an immortal cultivator and I’m not going to stay on Earth for a long time. You might be feeling disgusted and indignant to murder, but you’ll know that later on, some people will be hell-bent on killing us even if you don’t wanna resort to homicide. The path of an immortal is one ridden with battles; only the strong will survive. The brutality you’ll see in the other world is a million times crueler than this.”

Dumbfounded, Zhang Xinya asked, “You always mention this another world, but where is it? What is immortal cultivation, exactly? Is it like becoming some kind of celestial beings?”

“You can say that it is becoming a kind of celestial being,” said Tang Xiu. “This another world is called the Immortal World—a higher plane in the universe. There are things I can’t tell you for now, but I’m gonna teach you an immortal cultivation art to cultivate. I’ll also lead you to the Immortal World should you wish to come, and I’ll tell you some important matters about it then.”

Zhang Xinya smiled and repeatedly nodded, “I’ll follow you wherever you go. I’ll be the tail that follows you everywhere as long as you don’t give up on me.”

“Haha. Then my little tail of mine is too tired now.” Tang Xiu couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Alright, go take a shower and have a good sleep! The commercial filming is gonna be put on hold for now, and you’ll return back to the mainland with your crew. I’ll take you on a trip to Thailand someday later.”

“Alrighty!” replied Zhang Xinya happily. It was a pleasant surprise for her.

Tonight, Tang Xiu held her in his embrace until she went to sleep. After she soundly phased away to the dream world, he quietly nourished her body with his Primal Chaos power to repair and adjust her system’s functions.

The next day came, and when the first wisp of sunshine pierced through the slit of the window curtains in the early morning, Tang Xiu woke up from his sleep and looked at the mobile phone vibrating on the counter. He looked at the soundly-sleeping Zhang Xinya, quietly got up, and then picked up the mobile phone as he walked to the living room.

“It’s me,” said Tang Xiu in a low voice.

“Boss, I investigated last night and found some info about this Songzan fella.” Spectre voice came reporting, “His men have already found those two dead bodies, and currently, there are many thugs near the hotel we’re staying at. I reckon they should have been sent by Alloway and Songzan.”

“Take Gu Tao and Zhang Jue and get two heads to send to Songzan,” said Tang Xiu. “Tell him to wash his neck clean and wait for me. I’ll visit him in person in two days.”

“Eh? Didn’t you say that you hate troublesome things, Boss?” Spectre chuckled. “Might as well let me kill them directly, I think.”

“I really don’t like troubles. But we can get more profit by solving the trouble in another way, though,” said Tang Xiu. “I’m gonna see this Songzan; we could get a happy surprise from him. Alright, just carry out my order as I told you.”

“Roger that!” complied Spectre as he hung up.