"Ah, you mean that little maid of yours?" The Phantom Lord shrugged his shoulders. "I couldn't control it. I set a ward up around the mountain so that only those worthy of replacing my love can hear the luring sounds. She happened to hear the song, but it was never within my intention to offend you, Celestial Prince. Besides, wasn't I kind enough to warn you all not to step out of your chambers after midnight?"

So, it was Bao Bao who stupidly broke the rules.

Zhanying didn't move from where he stood. "You seemed secretive about your motives the first time we met, yet you willingly told me of your contorted lifestyle. Why so?"

At his words, the Phantom Lord let out a sinister laugh which echoed throughout the hall. He crept closer to Zhanying and clutched onto his feather mask. "Why? Because I want to tell you something." The Phantom Lord cracked his neck, making awry popping sounds. With that, he pulled his mask off and tossed it onto the red carpet.

The Phantom Lord took a step closer towards Zhanying. A wide derisive smile etched across his face at his identity reveal, but Zhanying, unable to see what the Phantom Lord wanted to show beneath his mask, remained rigid. The Phantom Lord's smile dropped into a frown. "That's right. How could I forget, the Celestial Prince is blind." He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "You probably can't see me, so you probably don't know that I also can't see you."

Zhanying inhaled deeply. "You are blind."

A crude chuckle wheezed out of his lips. "That's right. I can't see you, Celestial Prince, but even then, I know you are also blind. You've traveled all the way from Heaven to the mountain not to patrol the land, but to consume the Jade Fruit, am I right?" He didn't leave room for Zhanying to answer and continued, "Do you know how long I've been a Phantom Lord and lived up on the cover of the mountain? Since before you were even born! I am the Master of the Jade Dragon Mountain, but look at these eyes, they are still blind. They are cursed to forever be blind!"

For the first time, Zhanying felt something weigh down his heart. His eyes wavered, but he held a firm stance. "What are you implying?"

"The Jade Fruit acts as a health benefit, yes, that's no myth, but curing blindness?" The Phantom Lord broke off into a maniacal laugh. "One drop of blood, ashes eat away frost, the heart blossoms a Jade Fruit, return all that is lost. The Jade Fruit can only activate its true potential with one drop of blood from the person you love most, but all the same, that very person must also reciprocate that love; a mutual love. . .

"But you see, Mei didn't love me. I gave her my whole heart, but all she returned to me was eternal days of darkness. She didn't love me, and she refused to love me. Even when I offered to give her the world, even when I forced consummation on her, even when I would rage war for her, she pushed me away. All that I had given her was in vain, and my blindness could never be cured. . ." The maniacal laugh he had one moment ago turned into a soft and sad laughter, rolling off his tongue. "Out of fury, I stained my hands with her blood, and I could never forgive myself for it."

Zhanying clenched his jaw, feeling sick. He breathed in the smell of medication to stabilise his mind. There was no more doubt about it; if love was a tool, it was the one that could blind a person and rob them of their sanity. And if the Phantom Lord's actions were because of his so-called love, Zhanying was determined that, in his life, he wouldn't stray down such a path.

The Phantom Lord held his chin high as he glared at Zhanying. "When you stepped foot in here, I told you of my romance, yet you never understood my reasoning. You have never understood love. And for that very reason, I decided to tell you all of this."

Zhanying's eyes flickered like the lightning amidst the sky, foreboding a storm. "I do not understand."

The Phantom Lord laughed. "I just want you to know that even if you are a high deity, the revered God of War, you are forever cursed to be like me. A person who cannot love and a person who cannot be loved, you will never cure your blindness, Celestial Prince, never."

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