The master said not to judge people by their appearance

It is March [-]rd of the year again. According to the customs of Daxia, this day is the Lantern Festival.

It's just that in the past few decades, because of the forgetfulness of the Dragon God, almost no one in the capital celebrates this festival anymore, but this year, as early as half a month before the arrival of March [-], the people in the capital began to prepare.

In addition to the spontaneous preparations by the people, Yuan Lang also issued an imperial decree, ordering people to prepare the ceremonial guards and tributes for the sacrifice. At that time, he will lead all the civil and military officials to personally go to the Dragon God Temple to worship the Dragon God.

On the day of March [-]rd, the celebration began in the early morning, and parade floats lined the streets and alleys of the capital, making it very lively.

When night fell, almost all the people in the city went to Simamenchi Road to watch the lanterns. The guard of honor organized by the royal family came from the side of the Dragon Tower. They danced gorgeous dragon lanterns along the way and played celebratory gongs and drums. The dragon candle lanterns were lit one by one as the team marched, and the candles were burning brightly, making the night full of light.Call Xi.

Yuan Lang led all the civil and military officials to the front of the Dragon God Hall and respectfully burned a stick of incense.

In the past half a year, Beijing suffered two catastrophes, one because of his father Yuan Shuo, and one time because of his second brother Yuan Yi, and at the end of the disaster, it was Zhulong who appeared to subdue the demon.

Yuan Lang was grateful for the kindness of the Dragon God, and also rejoiced for the safety after the catastrophe. After worshiping at the Dragon God Temple, he held a big banquet in the palace. All the officials can drink happily tonight, and there is no curfew in the city. The common people can visit freely in Beijing and celebrate the grand ceremony together.

This is an extremely lively day, everyone is happy, children are chasing and playing with dragon lanterns in the street, adults are parading together, laughing and watching various lantern shows.

On the streets and alleys, there were lively and festive crowds everywhere. Xie Yunlan walked alone among the crowd, obviously surrounded by bustle and bustle, but there was a kind of loneliness that didn't fit in him.

He had just returned from the palace banquet. Although the palace banquet was not over yet, he was really not in the mood to continue, so he found an excuse to leave early.

He returned to his house, which was empty.

The servants of the guards in the mansion also went out for the festival, and when he returned to the mansion, no one opened the door.

Xie Yunlan followed the old method and turned into his house.

The outside world is brightly lit and noisy with people's voices, but inside the house is a solitary darkness, the gap is as big as two worlds.

Xie Yunlan came to the warehouse in the dark, took a jar of apricot blossom wine, then returned to her bedroom, sat on the newly made swing in the yard, and drank alone against the moon.

It has been more than a month since the last battle in the capital. Shen Fan burned his soul to light up the endless night.

He grew dragon horns again, was once again made a god by the heavens, and he also returned to the distant heavens again, and never came back.

Xie Yunlan sipped the slightly astringent wine, looking back on the past few months, the most recent contact between him and Shen Fan was probably the kiss under the snowy night. From the beginning to the end, Shen Fan never told him about his love, nor did he He didn't have time to confirm the real meaning of that kiss with Shen Fan.

I wanted to find a chance to ask after the war was over, but I didn't expect that this was almost a farewell.

Xie Yunlan is one year older. He is already 25. He can probably live for another few decades. For ordinary people, he still has a lot of youth to squander, but for Shen Fan, his lifespan is not worth mentioning. It may be like a blink of an eye for a short time. After the blink of an eye, Zhulong is still guarding the souls of all living beings in the nether world, just like the ancient years in the past, but the world has been a hundred generations, and he has probably turned into a handful of loess long ago, never to exist again.

Will Shen Fan come back?

Maybe not.Xie Yunlan thought so, he may be a little special in Shen Fan's heart, but it's not that important.

He picked up the wine jar and poured all the wine in the jar. He drank a lot, but a lot of it spilled on his clothes and face, making his whole body in a mess.

With a "crash", he threw the empty wine jug on the ground casually, his eyes gradually began to blur, as if he was a little drunk.

He was leaning on the swing unsteadily, and in a daze, he seemed to see a tall and tall figure suddenly appearing in the empty courtyard.

Xie Yunlan thought it was an illusion, but when he looked again, the figure was still there, and it became clearer and clearer. He could even see the white robe of the other party clearly, and the handsome face he thought about day and night. hole.

"Shen Fan..." Xie Yunlan was in a daze, he thought it was a dream, so he kept his tone very soft, lest he would wake up the dream.

"En." Shen Fan in the dream responded to him. He walked in front of Xie Yunlan, noticed that Xie Yunlan was in a mess, and seemed to want to ask, but then he noticed the swing that Xie Yunlan was sitting on, and asked said, "Where did this come from?"

This is not the one that Wang Tai made for him, this is a new swing, and a shelf is specially set up to hang in the courtyard. It is bigger and stronger than Wang Tai's, and it can swing higher and farther.

"I made it just for you." Xie Yunlan thought it was a dream, so he was very bold at the moment and said what was in his heart.

He stood up from the swing and invited, "Want to try?"

"Okay." Shen Fan agreed.

He sat on the swing, and Xie Yunlan slowly pushed the ropes of the swing behind him. He was absent-minded, pushing the swing with his hands, but his attention was all on Shen Fan.

He looked at Shen Fan's long black hair hanging behind him, and couldn't help but pick up a strand and stroke it with his fingertips, it was as smooth as silk.

Xie Yunlan felt a little strange. In ordinary dreams, can the sense of touch be so real?

Driven by drunkenness, he didn't delve into it, but continued to play with Shen Fan's long hair.

Shen Fan seemed to have noticed something, he turned his head and looked at Xie Yunlan.

Xie Yunlan was caught off guard and met Shen Fan's gaze. He didn't panic after being caught, drunk and emboldened. He had a kind of unscrupulous arrogance at the moment. Anyway, it was all a dream. After waking up, everything disappeared. He had nothing to be afraid of. of it.

In reality, Shen Fan will not come back again. In the fantasy dream, does he still have to tie his hands and feet and watch from afar?

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Shen Fan turned his head, he raised Shen Fan's chin, and rubbed his thumb against the other's lips, wanting to feel the slightly cold softness again.

Shen Fan looked at him, but didn't move. I don't know if he didn't react, or he didn't want to refuse.

But just when Xie Yunlan was about to kiss those lips, he stopped suddenly.

He was very close to Shen Fan at the moment, so close that he could feel the entangled breath, warm and real.

It was so real that Xie Yunlan began to doubt, is this really a dream?

He backed away slightly, touched Shen Fan's face with his fingers, pinched it tentatively, it was soft, very elastic, and had a lively temperature.

He squeezed his own again, this time he exerted strength and felt a clear and intense pain.

The pain makes people sober, Xie Yunlan shook his head, as if shaking off the hazy drunkenness, he went to look at Shen Fan again, Shen Fan was still sitting on the swing, touching the piece of skin that Xie Yunlan had pinched just now, his expression Somewhat inexplicable, as if he didn't understand what he was doing.

Xie Yunlan: "..."

"You, you're back..." He stammered, hardly daring to look at Shen Fan.

Shen Fan said "hmm" again, he looked at Xie Yunlan's rapidly turning red ears, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly imperceptibly where the other party could not see.

"You, why did you come back... No, it's why you came back suddenly... It's not right..." Xie Yunlan was a little incoherent, he temporarily stopped talking, and took a deep breath to relieve the embarrassment.

After finally getting some relief, and the red on the ears faded a little, Shen Fan said, "I'm here to find you."

Xie Yunlan's ears turned red again, and even his face was a little flushed, but fortunately it was not too obvious under the cover of night.

He forced himself to be calm and said, "Are you looking for me specifically?"

"Yeah." Shen Fan's tone was very casual, he said casually, "I've come to do something, and I'll leave when I'm done."

Xie Yunlan was stunned for a moment, as if someone had poured cold water on her head, and her excited mood suddenly cooled down.

After a while, he remembered and asked, "What's the matter?"

Shen Fan tilted his head to look at him, and didn't answer, just asked: "Why is it so noisy outside?"

The loud voices came from far and near, almost penetrating the courtyard wall.

Xie Yunlan looked out and said, "It should be a passing float. By the way, today is the Lantern Festival. Have you seen the lights in the city? This is a festival for you."

"Lantern Festival..." Shen Fan recalled it for a while before he remembered that Wang Tai had introduced this festival to him, but it hadn't been held in Beijing for decades, just like the deserted Dragon Temple.

"The common people know that you saved them, so they come to worship together tonight." Xie Yunlan suddenly remembered something while talking. He observed Shen Fan's appearance and couldn't see any injuries, but he couldn't see Shen Fan. Whether Fan's soul is intact as it looks, he can't help but worry, "Are you not injured?"

The magic dragon said that the end of burning the soul is the destruction of body and spirit. Although Shen Fan was reborn in the soul fire of all living beings, Xie Yunlan was still worried that the other party would be hurt.

"No." Shen Fan replied.

That's good.Xie Yunlan breathed a sigh of relief, and then he asked again: "Have your dragon horn and soul fire returned?"

"Dragon horn..." Shen Fan hesitated for a moment, "I guess I'm back."

"As for the soul fire..." He spread out his empty palm, and the candle was burning fiercely, hotter than ever.

Just as Xie Yunlan was about to let go of her heart, she heard Shen Fan say, "I only have one soul fire."

Xie Yunlan's heart suddenly tightened, and he said anxiously: "Then what should we do? What impact will this have?"

"It doesn't matter." Shen Fan said calmly and didn't care.

He said: "Actually, I shouldn't have a second soul fire."

He told Xie Yunlan about his past. When he first took on the destiny when he was a teenager, the sky said to him: "Zhuyin, you are the god of death, life and darkness. Your mission is to illuminate the path of reincarnation with soul fire. Protect them from evil spirits."

But Shen Fan at that time was a bit confused about this, he asked the sky: "Is it just me?"

Tian Qiong was silent, and there was a faint flash of thunder among the clouds, as if something came into being along with his question

Shen Fan didn't understand it before, but he understands it now. Along with his question, what came into being was the calamity after thousands of years.

Everything was already doomed at that moment, even the tiniest mortal fire could break through the eternal darkness, but he didn't believe it.

After the calamity was set, even though the sky gave him the second soul fire and told him that it was the most intense fire in the world and should not be invaded by any evil spirits, he still wavered in front of the eternal darkness.

The inner demon took advantage of the void and had already taken root in his soul hundreds of years ago. Even the thunder of heaven could not expel it. Unless it was smashed together with Shen Fan to ashes, the inner demon would never die.

Tian Dao had already deduced and calculated this point. When Shen Fan asked that question, he predicted the calamity that Shen Fan would experience after thousands of years.

At the same time, he also deduced a glimmer of hope to survive this catastrophe. The only way is to demote Shen Fan's divine book, abolish his dragon body, make him truly a mortal, and let him take this most insignificant The fire of mortals, peeking through the illusion of heart demons.

"I am transformed by the soul fire of all living beings. I was born to illuminate the eternal darkness. I never need a second soul fire. I am the most intense fire in the world." Shen Fan said.

So after burning out his soul, he didn't suffer any damage, because he was the soul fire itself, the body of the candle dragon, but it was transformed into an acquired illusion.

Because of this, he can be reborn in the soul fire of all living beings after breaking the demon barrier.

"It turned out to be like this..." After listening to Shen Fan, Xie Yunlan had the answers to all his confusions so far, so the sky never regarded Shen Fan as an abandoned child, and the sky thunder in Jeju City did not really want to destroy it. Shen Fan's death is nothing but karma.

"Where are you going after that? Are you still staying in the Netherworld?" Xie Yunlan asked again.

"En." Shen Fan nodded, he is the god of death and life, and it is his duty to protect the nether world from the beginning to the end.

"Then I..." Xie Yunlan wanted to ask if he could see Shen Fan again in the netherworld after his death, but he thought, at that time, he was already an old man covered in wrinkles, why would he still go to see Shen Fan? He didn't continue talking, but tried his best to raise his smile and asked again: "What are you going to do?"

Even if Shen Fan finished this matter and left, he would still try his best to help Shen Fan complete it.

"I'm here to find someone to fulfill the promise I made." Shen Fan looked at him and said.

"Who?" Xie Yunlan was stunned for a moment, besides him, did anyone else make any promises to Shen Fan?

Wait, Shen Fan is talking about...

"It's me?" Xie Yunlan realized it from Shen Fan's gaze, but then more confusion arose, did he have any promises to Shen Fan that he hadn't fulfilled?

The only swing that was not made by himself, he made a new one for Shen Fan, what else...

Xie Yunlan suddenly remembered something, he stammered: "Could it be..."

The smile in Shen Fan's eyes could no longer be hidden, he said, "Didn't you say you wanted to marry me?"

Xie Yunlan was stunned on the spot, as if knocked out by the great joy, he didn't react for a long time.

Until Shen Fan asked him: "Do you want to go back on your word?"

He just woke up and said hastily: "No! It's not... just me, me..."

He couldn't continue, because a pair of slightly cool lips sealed what he hadn't finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment, staring at Shen Fan's eyes with a slight smile, restless His heart suddenly calmed down, he closed his eyes, and devoted himself to the kiss with all his heart.

He was not eager, he kissed Shen Fan gently and delicately.

After all, the night is long and the rest of life is long.