Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The moisture in the cabin hadn't completely dissipated, and the bitter smell of soapberry mixed with Chen Xuan's unique, chilling aura wafted through the cramped space.

Chen Xuan stood up from the wooden tub with a splash.

This unfilial son has completely lost his sense of shame. He doesn't even try to hide it, just striding out of the wooden tub in a very casual manner, leaving water stains all over the floor.

He casually grabbed a black undershirt from the rack, draped it over his shoulders without fastening the sash, leaving his chest wide open and dripping water.

His face was still incredibly sour, with lingering hostility in his eyes, making him look more like a demon who had just returned from killing someone than a noble young master who had just finished a bath.

Su Chang'an floated in mid-air, watching this wretched thing with its wet hair sticking to its face, water droplets flowing down the ends of its hair into its neck, then sliding over the still unhealed sword wound, and finally seeping into the black fabric.

"Tsk."

Su Chang'an couldn't help but smack his lips in disgust.

Although she is currently in a spiritual state and cannot touch physical objects, this does not prevent her obsessive-compulsive desire to be a father from flaring up.

With a slight twitch of her fingers, pure soul power instantly condensed in mid-air, transforming into a large, soft-looking towel.

"come over."

Su Chang'an floated to the edge of the soft couch, beckoned to her rebellious son who was about to grab his sword, and spoke as naturally as if she had never left him all these years, "You want to sleep with your hair still wet? Are you waiting to have a headache when you're old?"

Chen Xuan's body stiffened abruptly.

His knuckles, gripping the broken sword, turned white instantly, and his bloodshot eyes stared intently at the "towel" formed from soul power in Su Chang'an's hand.

That's fake.

He knew it was fake.

The inner demon is best at imitation—imitating her tone, her actions, and even these trivial details of life, in order to break down the psychological defenses he has painstakingly built.

"Get out of here."

Chen Xuan's voice was hoarse, with a hint of ruthlessness, "Don't try to test me with such disgusting tricks."

He cursed fiercely, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot, and he didn't move an inch.

Su Chang'an rolled her eyes dramatically.

This unfilial son, all he has left is his mouth to be tough.

Without wasting words with him, she floated over and pressed the soul power towel in her hand onto Chen Xuan's wet head without saying a word.

"Don't move!"

Feeling the person under his command tense up, his muscles instantly hardening like a rock, and even his protective aura about to explode instinctively, Su Chang'an slapped him on the forehead in annoyance.

"When you were little, wasn't it always me who dried you off after your bath? Now you think you're so great? You think you're all independent? You don't even listen to your father anymore?"

The slap wasn't very forceful; there wasn't even any pain. It was just a bluff.

But Chen Xuan's about-to-explode aura seemed to be shattered by this slap, instantly subsiding.

He stood frozen in place, letting the non-existent "towel" rub haphazardly on his head.

The sensation of soul power touching the skin is quite peculiar.

There was no roughness of the fabric, only a warm current that seeped into his scalp little by little, as if to soften the taut string in his mind.

Chen Xuan's hands, hanging by his sides, were clenched into fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his flesh.

so similar.

The pressure of her rubbing, the way she kept nagging about how stiff his hair was while rubbing him, even the faint scent of her fragrance, all of it drove him crazy.

If this is an illusion, then this inner demon is far too real.

He was so dedicated that even knowing it was poison, he couldn't resist wanting to swallow it whole.

"Look at you, how old are you? Don't you know how to take care of yourself?"

As Su Chang'an dried his hair, she looked at the hideous old scar on the back of his neck. Her heart ached, but she didn't hold back. "You're as skinny as a monkey. It's uncomfortable to even pick you up. Only those blind girls would think you have some kind of brokenness. In my eyes, you're just malnourished."

Chen Xuan lowered his head and remained silent.

The stray hairs on his forehead obscured his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression.

Only his slightly trembling eyelashes betrayed the turmoil raging within him.

Just when the atmosphere was unusually warm, even a little eerily peaceful.

"bite--!"

A sharp, piercing alarm rang in Su Chang'an's mind.

The sound was so loud that it made Su Chang'an pause in his movements.

【warn!warn! 】

[The countdown to the "Death Tribulation" of the target Chen Xuan has been detected!]

[The fate line is converging...]

The Imperial Path of Central Continent has opened, and Chen Tianyou, the imperial son of the Chen family, has emerged from seclusion, blessed with divine mandate. Chen Xuan, chosen by the Chen family as their "sharpening stone," is having his fortune forcibly stripped away to nourish the true dragon!

[System Prompt: The fate of a whetstone is to break under the True Dragon Blade. This calamity is a near certain death; please prepare yourself!]

Su Chang'an abruptly stopped drying his hair.

That carefree and lazy air vanished without a trace in an instant.

A cold glint suddenly flashed in her beautiful peach blossom eyes.

Whetstone?

Screw the whetstone!

The child I raised with all my might, the future emperor I fed with every bite of rice and every drop of soup, is just a stepping stone for that Chen Tianyou in the eyes of you bunch of bullshit Heavenly Dao?

Is it still a matter of life and death?

Su Chang'an sneered in his mind.

"System, listen to me carefully."

She replied in her mind, word by word, her tone arrogant beyond measure, "Don't tell me he's some Chen family prince. Even if the Heavenly King himself came and wanted to use my son as a sacrifice, he'd have to ask me for permission first."

"Even if it's just a rock, it's still the stone I used to mend the heavens!"

Seemingly sensing the sudden burst of killing intent emanating from Su Chang'an, Chen Xuan, who had been keeping his head down, abruptly raised his head.

Those dark eyes were fixed on Su Chang'an, with a hint of wariness and a deeply hidden panic in them.

"What are you thinking about?"

Chen Xuan's voice was tense, as if he was afraid she would suddenly disappear, or as if he was afraid she would suddenly turn into a monster with a blue face and fangs.

Su Chang'an snapped out of his daze and instantly suppressed his murderous aura.

Looking at the young man in front of her, who was covered in wounds but had eyes like a frightened wolf cub, her anger instantly turned into a bitter feeling.

That silly boy.

Having been used as a whetstone and schemed against for so many years, I'm still foolishly oblivious.

"I wasn't thinking about anything."

Su Chang'an dispersed the soul power in his hand, casually ruffled the boy's half-dry hair, turning his originally smooth hair into a bird's nest, "I was just thinking, is the food in the Chen family too bad, that's why you've turned out like this."

Chen Xuan remained silent.

He just stared at Su Chang'an, as if trying to discern the truth or falsehood in her words.

After a long while, he seemed to suddenly realize how much he had been craving that tenderness, and he abruptly reached out and grabbed Su Chang'an's wrist.

The force was terrifying, as if it was going to crush her wrist.

"Have you had enough of acting?"

Chen Xuan suddenly pulled Su Chang'an into his arms.

The distance between the two instantly closed, their noses almost touching.

A black storm raged in Chen Xuan's eyes, a mocking smile curving his lips, but his voice trembled slightly, "This kind of sentimental drama only disgusts me."

"Do you think I'll believe you just by pretending to be a loving mother?"

"You think you can make me forget you're my inner demon just by drying my hair?"

He gritted his teeth, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with bloody hatred, "Inner Demon, you underestimate my hatred, and you overestimate your acting skills."

Su Chang'an stumbled as he was pulled, and his whole body pressed against his chest.

Through that thin inner garment, she could clearly feel the heart pounding wildly in her unfilial son's chest.

Boom, boom, boom.

It was so fast it looked like it was about to explode.

They say it's disgusting, and they say they don't believe it.

But the hand gripping her waist was so tight, as if it wanted to meld her whole being into its very bones.

Su Chang'an neither struggled nor refuted.

She simply looked at Chen Xuan quietly, at the shattering facade in his eyes.

"Is it disgusting?"

Su Chang'an raised an eyebrow, his tone slightly mocking, "You're disgusting, yet you're still holding on so tightly? Let go."

Chen Xuan's body stiffened for a moment.

He looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, a flash of anger and embarrassment crossing his eyes.

"Shut up!"

He let out a low growl, and instead of letting go, he suddenly lowered his head and buried his face deeply in Su Chang'an's neck.

I took a deep breath.

That was an almost perverse greed.

He was absorbing her scent, the scent that haunted his dreams, caused him unbearable pain, yet allowed him to barely survive at this moment.

"Just a little while..."

Chen Xuan's voice came out muffledly, with a barely perceptible sob and pleading tone, "I'll let you lie to me a little longer, you liar."

"When I wake up... I'll kill you."

"I will definitely kill you."

He said the harshest words, but did the most cowardly things.

That tall figure was trembling slightly, like a child who had suffered all kinds of injustices outside and finally found his way home, clinging tightly to the adult's clothes and refusing to let go.

Su Chang'an felt as if something had clenched his heart tightly.

That idiot.

She sighed, and her hand, which she had intended to push away, turned in mid-air and gently landed on Chen Xuan's broad but thin back.

one more time.

Patting gently.

It was like when she was coaxing the little kid who was having nightmares to sleep in that dark, sealed cave.

"Alright, alright, kill, kill, kill!"

Su Chang'an's tone was perfunctory, with a hint of helpless indulgence, "After you wake up, you can kill me however you want, even tear your father to pieces. Now go to sleep."

Chen Xuan didn't say anything more.

That familiar rhythm, that familiar temperature, and that familiar scent that seeped into his bones, were like a fine net, gradually enveloping his extremely tense nerves.

Over the years, he has never had a good night's sleep.

Every time I close my eyes, all I see is a sea of ​​fire, and the image of her slowly dissipating in his arms.

But now.

In the embrace of what he considered his "inner demon," the ever-present weariness finally surged up like a flood bursting its banks.

His breathing gradually became steady, and his tense muscles gradually relaxed.

But the hand gripping Su Chang'an's waist remained tight, as if afraid that if it loosened its grip, this beautiful dream would end.

Chen Xuan held Su Chang'an in his arms, then his body swayed and he fell directly onto the soft couch next to him.

Su Chang'an was also knocked down by him and was forced to become his human-shaped body pillow.

The cabin fell silent.

Only the occasional sound of the wind from outside the window and Chen Xuan's heavy, steady breathing remained.

Su Chang'an lay on his side on the soft couch, looking at the face so close to his.

As Chen Xuan slept, she lost some of the fierceness and gloom she had when she was awake. You could still vaguely see the shadow of the boy who used to follow her around calling her "sister" in her eyes.

Even in his sleep, his brow remained tightly furrowed, as if hiding an unyielding sorrow.

Su Chang'an stretched out his hand, his fingertips hovering in the air, vaguely tracing his eyebrows and eyes.

From those striking eyebrows to those tightly closed eyes, and then to those thin lips that always seem to utter hurtful words.

"A whetstone..."

Su Chang'an murmured something under his breath, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes.

She withdrew her hand, gently brushed the stray hairs from Chen Xuan's forehead to one side, and then lightly tapped his brow.

A gentle surge of soul power seeped into his fingertips, smoothing the furrowed brows of his face.

"Go to sleep, you silly boy."

Su Chang'an's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing this sweet dream.

"Even if the sky falls, Dad will hold it up for you."

"If anyone tries to use you as a whetstone, I'll break their knife first, then smash their hand."

She let Chen Xuan hold her, her gaze drifting through the cabin window to the pitch-black night sky.

Zhongzhou, the Chen family.

Since you guys are so eager to play, then I'll play along with you properly.

Let's see in the end who sharpened whose knife.