This Little Space is Our Whole World...

When Su Yang made a breakthrough on all three parts of the Half-Withered Crimson, twenty-seven days had passed since Gu Feidi was poisoned.

During this period, Gu Feidi’s condition worsened each day. Now he coughed up blood almost daily. Fortunately, he could still stomach food, had a clear conscience, and was able to write as usual on the couch table.

While for Su Yang, the Apparition lake in his body went into a frenzy again when he broke through the second part of the mental skill, causing him to lose consciousness for a frighteningly long time. Gu Feidi endured the agonizing pain from the Poisonous Gu as he warmed Su Yang with his internal energy.

Thankfully, everything was on schedule and within their plan, nothing unfortunate appeared during their stay.

Su Yang returned to the main room and dragged his ice-cold body to sit down in front of Gu Feidi.

The brush paused, creating a faint circle of ink on the paper. Gu Feidi was completely unaware of the mess, even though his eyes were still fixed on the paper. He asked gently, “You made a breakthrough?”

“Yes, I did,” Su Yang nodded. “So…Er. When do you want to start detoxing?”

Gu Feidi put down his brush and looked at Su Yang. “All depends on you. I am fine with any time.”

Coughing softly, Su Yang pretended to be calm. “Then we should start as soon as possible, the earlier the better in case we come across any impediment…”

“All right,” Gu Feidi's expression was tranquil. There was no sign of any emotion.

The atmosphere turned slightly awkward as both men stayed silent for a while. Su Yang moved first as he got up, walked to Gu Feidi’s side, and sat down beside him.

He licked his lips unconsciously, trying to suppress the indescribable uneasiness in his heart as he turned toward Gu Feidi.

Gu Feidi also looked at him. The glow of fire reflected in those dark pupils, creating a mysterious air around the man.

Being stared at by those eyes, Su Yang became more nervous. 

“Yo-you, stop looking at me like that. Close your eyes!” Su Yang snapped. “No peeking!”

Gu Feidi chuckled and obediently listened to Su Yang’s order.

Su Yang summoned the courage to move forward. He tried this several times, but he still couldn’t do it.

He raised his hand in frustration and bit his nails. He scolded himself: Stop being a wimp. Under the Jade Mirror Lake, he gave Gu Feidi CPR with no psychological pressure. But why couldn’t he do it now? Could it be...

Could it be because of the light from the torches?

That was right, that must be it. It was pitch black in the cave under the lake, so there wasn’t as much mental pressure. 

Thinking of this, Su Yang uttered, “Hey, let’s move to a different place to detoxify…”

Gu Feidi opened his eyes doubtfully, but once he saw Su Yang was at a loss across his whole face, a fond smile appeared on his face. “What’s wrong?”

Su Yang fabricated with a straight face, “It’s too bright here. I can’t do it when I can see you.”

The emotion in Gu Feidi’s eyes darkened, as he questioned in a low tone, “You…couldn’t handle being with a man…?”

“No, no, that’s not it,” Su Yang immediately denied. “It’s just, I am…a little nervous. I…fear that you couldn’t handle it.” He ended with a few awkward chuckles. 

Gu Feidi brought up, “When we were under the lake, did you also hesitate like this?”

Su Yang tried to act tough as he firmly believed it was the light. “There was no light in the cave, that’s why I wasn’t nervous!”

Gu Feidi laughed, shaking his head. He stood up and agreed, “Then we move to a different place, how about the room where the inscription is kept.”

Su Yang quietly followed Gu Feidi into the archway that led to where the Half-Withered Crimson stone tablet was stored.

After turning two corners, they reached a pitch-black room.

Gu Feidi coaxed, “All right, there is no light here. You can do it.”

Su Yang swallowed as he raised his hand to search for Gu Feidi’s position.

Once he touched the other’s robe, his wandering hand was suddenly held in a warm palm and moved upward to the other’s soft cheek.

Their surroundings were dark and quiet. They could only hear each other’s slightly disordered breathing. 

Su Yang thought he would be calmer if he couldn’t see his target, but instead, he was even more on edge in the new location. So much so that his throat felt dry and he couldn’t form words. 

Gu Feidi let go of Su Yang’s hand. Following the sound of breathing, he held the other’s cheeks with the palms of both of his hands. 

Su Yang attempted to escape from those hands as he tried to find a foothold. “You…you don’t have to be so nervous. I…I’m only detoxifying you.”

Gu Feidi smiled. “I’m not nervous.”

Su Yang tensed. “This is nothing, really. Just think of it like drinking a bowl of herbal soup.”

Gu Feidi ginned. “It doesn’t hurt, come on.”

Su Yang mumbled to himself, “If you can’t handle it, after detoxification, you can…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Su Yang felt that one of Gu Feidi’s hands that were holding his cheek moved slightly, as it slid to the back of his neck.

A force came after, not violent but confident, moving him forward.

Then he felt a hot breath, then two soft-warm objects landed on his lips.

A numbing feeling raised from his heart and rushed outward into all of his limbs as if something strange had opened a gateway. His entire being was submerged in an indescribable and dangerous wave. 

So this was what a kiss felt like.

This simple concept popped into Su Yang’s mind.

This was not for detoxification. This was not for healing. This was not for saving lives.

This was just an…innocent and simple...

Kiss.

It was quiet in this lightless space.

All the senses gathered and concentrated in one place, the lingering warm breath, and the touching lips.

It was like this was the only place left in the universe.

This square cube was their whole world.

A light peck after the gentle kiss.

Gu Feidi quickly pulled back.

After a moment’s silence, he whispered, “This is how you do it, see, it doesn’t hurt.”

Su Yang is in a daze. “...Oh.”

Gu Feidi lightly chuckled again.

“Then, we will start for real,” Su Yang forcefully remained calm. “Come on.”

Once he finished, he held Gu Feidi’s cheek and went for that pair of lips without hesitation.

It wasn’t until the tip of his tongue touched his teeth that Su Yang vaguely realized that he had forgotten something.

He quivered suddenly and pushed Gu Feidi away.

“What?” Gu Feidi asked.

Su Yang was silent for a moment to gather his thoughts. He sighed, “We forgot to make a cut on our tongues…”

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Gu Feidi started to laugh. Once the first wave escaped, he couldn’t stop laughing. He rested his forehead on top of Su Yang’s shoulder, as he dropped his whole body on top of him.

Gu Feidi’s laughing embarrassed Su Yang at first, but later, he unconsciously raised his mouth and laughed with Gu Feidi. 

After laughing for quite a while, Su Yang pushed away Gu Feidi, who was laying on his shoulder. “Enough, we will start for real. Stop distracting me.”

Gu Feidi didn’t answer right away.

Su Yang urged, “Did you hear me? Are you ready? You haven’t bitten your tongue already, have you?”

After another long silence, Gu Feidi whispered, “...There’s one more thing.”

Su Yang lamented, “What is it?”

Gu Feidi pondered for a moment and inquired in a serious tone, “Are you certain you know a way to completely get rid of the Poisonous Gu after using the Half-Withered Crimson to suppress it?”

It was this question again, the same one Gu Feidi brought up several times.

Su Yang rolled his eyes in the dark and flattened his lips. “Then what if I’m not sure myself?”

Gu Feidi declared, “If you’re not sure yourself, then I’ll never pass you the Blood Gu.”

Fighting the urge to tremble, Su Yang humphed—posturing and then reassured, “You said you believed me, yet you keep asking this question. Do you really believe me or not?”

Gu Feidi didn’t answer his question, instead, he mumbled, “If you want to use your life to exchange for my own, I also would…lose the meaning to live.”

Su Yang’s mouth gaped, but no words were formed.

Finally, he sighed, “Don’t worry. I’m not so noble to save you at the cost of my own life. I’m sure there’s a way to get rid of the Poisonous Gu on the southwest snowy mountain, but to get rid of the cursed thing first, we must suppress it first, so that’s why I brought you here. Once we lure the Poisonous Gu into my body, I’ll immediately head out to the mountain to get rid of it completely.”

After another silence, Gu Feidi added, “Then, let me accompany you.”

Su Yang thought about that specific plot, which was already a trip that the protagonist and heroine would take after the detoxification. Now he took the female lead’s role to detoxify Gu Feidi, it seems that there was nothing wrong for Gu Feidi to join him to seek medical treatment from the miracle doctor in the snowy mountain. 

So he conceded, “Fine, we will go together.”

After reaching a consensus, the two men repeatedly went through the process of extraditing the Blood Gu to confirm they were on the right track. They bit the tip of their tongues and pressed their lips together.

They smelled the fresh scent of iron, but neither of them shrank back. They touched their wounds together and curled against each other. Suddenly, a sharp pain arose from where they met. 

Su Yang used his internal energy and began guiding the Blood Gu toward him according to how it was described in the inscription. 

But after a few breaths, Gu Feidi’s breath suddenly paused as it became a little unsteady. Sometimes it was urgent, and sometimes it was slow as if he was going through immense pain. As soon as Su Yang showed a sign of stopping, Gu Feidi abruptly stopped him by holding his body and neck tighter. 

Gu Feidi wrote a simple word on Su Yang’s back with his other hand: Gu.

Su Yang understood that Gu Feidi was using his internal energy to urge the Blood Gu to go up. This process was undoubtedly extremely painful to the host, but it was a necessary and unavoidable step.

So he raised his hands and looped them around Gu Feidi’s waist. He patted him twice on the back for comfort.

Very quickly, the Blood Gu arrived where their tongues were touching. Along with the blood, it went toward where Su Yang’s internal energy was coming from, and slowly penetrated into where his blood was leaking out from. 

Su Yang groaned and trembled. The hand that was originally comforting Gu Feidi’s back clenched down on the fabric as he was shivering with pain.

An intention to push Su Yang away and break the process came through Gu Feidi’s mind, but it was Su Yang’s turn to hold the back of Gu Feidi’s head and force him to stay.

This degree of pain was beyond Su Yang’s expectations. He was completely unprepared as cold sweat started to drip from his forehead.

He unintentionally slowed down his internal energy slightly and the poison suddenly stopped. For a moment, it seems to be retreating to its original host.

Su Yang let out a muffled groan from his throat as tears gushed out uncontrollably. But he didn’t loosen his arms as he stubbornly held his ground on the battle in his mouth and continued to use his internal energy—the more he delayed, the longer the pain would last. If he failed, he would have to endure the pain again. He knew that.

Gu Feidi moved his lips against Su Yang’s, but he couldn’t speak, so he began to hum the song Su Yang taught him for comfort. He rubbed his hand slowly on Su Yang’s back as if to coax a frightened kitten, gentle but with a purpose.

Finally, the Blood Gu completely exited Gu Feidi’s body and entered Su Yang’s.

Gu Feidi gently sucked on Su Yang’s bottom lip before leaving those soft lips. He moved his arms around Su Yang to hold him tightly as he said in a tender voice, “Would you consider this as sharing one’s joys and pains…?”

After the Gu Bug entered Su Yang’s body, the chilling internal energy enveloped it along with the Apparition, suppressing it as an extra layer. There was no way for the Poisonous Gu to cause trouble.

Su Yang bonelessly fell on Gu Feidi’s chest and used the other’s shoulder as his tissue to wipe the tears that were forced out of his eyes. He breathed heavily and complained, “That fucking hurt! What joys were there? We clearly only shared our pains!”

Gu Feidi smiled brightly and lifted his hand to wipe the sweat from Su Yang’s forehead.

His fingers travelled downward from Su Yang’s cheek to jaw as he gently raised Su Yang’s chin and gave him another tender kiss.

It was a long time before the lips separated. 

Gu Feidi hummed, “Then why did this hardship taste as sweet as honey to me…”