Chapter Text
Zhuyan was the strongest demon of the wilderness.
A demon who terrified everyone with his power.
But there was a thing about Zhuyan that few people knew.
Zhuyan was like humans more than any other demon.
The great demon liked to act like humans all the time.
The reason was simple.
Zhuyan loved humans.
Without these creative and intelligent creatures, the world was a boring place to live.
Demons lived a simple life.
The only interesting thing demons did was fight with each other.
And in the wilderness, only Li Lun could compete with Zhuyan in power.
So after a few centuries, both of them got tired of fighting each other.
It didn't take long for Zhuyan to get bored with this simple life.
So Zhuyan decided to look for a new hobby in the human world.
It was then that he was able to find a new hobby.
Humans
These weak, mortal creatures were surprisingly interesting.
Zhuyan wanted to be like them
So he tried his best to become like one of them.
And he kinda had succeeded.
By spending time among humans, he had learned about these interesting creatures.
He had learned how they spoke and behaved.
Humans had interesting skills that demons had no understanding of.
Zhuyan was desperately trying to learn these interesting skills.
Although most of those skills were useless to a great demon like Zhuyan, this fact did not seem to have much of an effect on the demon's enthusiasm to learn and use those skills.
So the great demon learned a lot of interesting but useless skills during his time with humans.
One of the human skills that Zhuyan had tried so hard to learn was the art of flirting.
Being able to defeat someone using words alone seemed like a really tempting idea to this playful monkey.
He enjoyed teasing others.
However, he had lost his interest in violence.
This new skill suited Zhuyan perfectly.
He was only 1000 years old when he first tried this interesting skill.
It was a normal day in the demon's life.
While leaning against a tree next to his friend Li Lun, he thought about how he could tease his serious and bad-tempered friend this time.
Li Lun had already been the butt of many of Zhuyan's jokes, and there was little that could really get on the tree demon's nerves.
Enduring a stupid monkey for 1000 years was not an easy task.
Zhuyan had decided to get creative this time and try something new.
And what better target than his dear friend Li Lun?
While the demon's large eyes sparkled mischievously, he stared at his friend who was napping.
He leaned towards Li Lun, mimicking a man he had seen in one of the brothels in the human world.
Li Lun sighed and opened his eyes as he felt his friend getting close to him.
Seeing his friend's strange expression, he knew that he was about to be the target for another of the stupid monkey's harassments.
This was not the first time this was happening to him.
And it certainly wasn't going to be the last.
You could say that he was somewhat used to his stupid friend's behaviors.
He had been waiting with a sullen look to see what the stupid monkey was going to do next.
However, this time, Zhuyan wasn't going to throw a fat, ugly bug at him or use a magic powder that would make Li Lun's body glow ridiculously for weeks.
This time, Zhuyan was going to try a completely new and different method on his dear friend.
The demon, his gaze sparkling mischievously, had wrapped a strand of Li Lun's hair around his finger.
He had winked at Li Lun, who was looking at him in confusion, and had whispered, "Would you like this great demon to teach you how to make babies?"
Li Lun stared at the monkey's seductive smile with wide eyes.
The next moment, Zhuyan received the worst beating of his life from Li Lun.
It was very clear that his dear friend didn't like this new hobby of his at all.
Zhuyan enjoyed teasing others, but he definitely didn't like being beaten.
He wasn't a masochist, after all.
At least not enough to enjoy Li Lun's merciless beatings.
That's why he didn't try this new skill on his grumpy friend ever again.
However, he didn't intend to let go of this interesting skill.
After all, not everyone was an emotionless tree like Li Lun.
There were definitely many people who could entertain Zhuyan with their interesting reactions.
The interesting reactions he received from others had caused the demon to become addicted to flirting after a while.
Without even thinking, he could utter words that would make people blush, both humans and demons.
Unfortunately, his age hadn't helped to reduce this addiction either.
In fact, it seemed that the demon had become even more seductive with the passage of time.
If he wanted to, he could seduce anyone, man or woman, with his sweet words.
In seduction, Zhuyan could even rival the nine-tailed foxes.
And that was without considering his beautiful appearance.
Zhuyan was beautiful by both demon and human standards.
The demon's hair was softer than silk.
with gray streaks that were mixed in the blackness of his hair.
His face was as perfect as a god's statue.
And his eyes always sparkled with a lovely mischievousness.
Just one look from him was enough to make a mortal give him his heart and life.
However, it had been a long time since Zhuyan had used his skills and appearance to seduce people.
To him, it was like a funny joke.
The old demon simply enjoyed making others flustered.
Anyone who knew Zhuyan knew this well.
Flirting for demon was like greeting.
There was no intention behind the demon's shamelessness.
Of course, what the demon didn't know was that it wasn't easy for people around him to find this out.
Wen Xiao was definitely one of the victims of Zhuyan's dumbness.
The price of finding out that the stupid demon treated all living things this way for the poor girl was a broken heart at the age of 16.
The stupid demon probably didn't even know that his friend's student had feelings for him one day.
Not that Wen Xiao was ever going to tell anyone about her embarrassing crush on this stupid monkey.
However, it wasn't long after her reunion with the ape demon that Wen Xiao came to the conclusion that she might have made the wrong decision not to explain Zhuyan's bad manners to the others.
Because it seemed like his inexperienced nephew had been blushing at the stupid demon's flirts for a while now.
And that was not good at all!
****
Yuanzhou was beaming with happiness as always, unaware of the consequences of his actions.
The reason for the demon’s happiness was the same as the girl’s worry.
Zhou Yichen.
The young commander of the Demon-Hunting bureau.
Yuanzhou felt that after years of living, he had finally found the best victim to tease.
The young commander was perfect in every way.
The way he get angry and blush when he heard Yuanzhou’s sweet and shameless words?
It was perfect.
The way he turned his head and cursed the demon under his breath in response to Yuanzhou winking at him?
It was lovely.
The man’s shocked look when Yuanzhou flirted with him shamelessly was definitely one of the best sights the demon had ever seen in his life.
Yuanzhou had never enjoyed teasing someone this much.
The young man was like a shy, cute kitten, and the old demon couldn’t help but want to tease him more.
Watching Yichen’s reactions never got boring for Yuanzhou.
This interest had reached the point where the evil demon would start his day thinking of new ideas to embarrass the poor boy, and at night he would go to sleep after remembering the sweet memories of teasing Yichen.
It seemed that the world had decided to be kinder to this old demon.
Yuanzhou’s teasing hadn’t made Yichen to hate him.
Although the young boy still entertained the old demon with his cute reactions, he no longer seemed to have any intention of stabbing Yuanzhou with his sword.
And this was a good development in Yuanzhou's eyes.
He had finally found a friend he could have a good time with for a long time.
Yuanzhou was quite satisfied with his success.
Until he wasn't.
-Yichen has a crush on me?!
Yuanzhou spilled all the tea he was drinking on his clothes in shock.
It seemed that the demon had heard the most unbelievable thing in the world.
Wen Xiao sighed and sipped the tea in his cup.
Obviously, the stupid demon would react like this.
This man was a complete idiot when it came to romantic feelings.
Yuanzhou stared at Wen Xiao in confusion and astonishment: "Are you sure you're not wrong?"
Wen Xiao rolled her eyes. Did that demon think everyone else was as stupid as him?
- Of course I'm sure. I've known Xiao Zhui for more than eight years. It's clear from his eyes that he has feelings for you."
The demon blinked. His tone was uncertain: "Is it... because of my behavior...?"
Wen Xiao nodded.
Yuanzhou stared at Wen Xiao in silence for a few moments.
The demon was too shocked to speak.
Did Xiao Zhuo like him?
romantically?!
Xiao Zhuo???
And worst of all... was this Yuanzhou's fault?!!
Yuanzhou finally thought about the young man's reactions with a new perspective.
Now that he thought about it, maybe Xiao Zhuo was blushing a little more than usual to his flirtations.
And maybe trying to save your sworn enemy wasn't really out of platonic love...
Yichen had saved him because he liked him?!
Right now, he didn't know which was more shocking.
The fact that Yichen liked him
Or the fact that he hadn't realized it until now!
The signs were so obvious that for a moment, Yuanzhou suspected that the near-death experience had seriously damaged his brain.
Wen Xiao set her teacup down on the table.
Her tone was serious as she spoke, "I guess you didn’t realize it yourself. But Xiao Zhuo took your jokes seriously. Even though he didn’t say it, I know he likes you. And he thinks you feel the same way."
Yuanzhou stared at his own reflection in the teacup.
At that moment, the demon looked lost and even a little scared. "What should I do?"
Wen Xiao sighed.
Although she wanted to be angry at the stupid demon, she couldn’t ignore the man’s sincere concern.
It wasn’t like Yuanzhou was playing with Yichen’s feelings.
No matter how human-like Yuanzhou looked on the outside, he was still a demon.
It was hard for demons to understand the complicated hearts of humans.
Yuanzhou had no idea what his actions might mean in the eyes of others.
And it wasn’t like Yuanzhou was an emotionless bastard.
Wen Xiao knew that the demon truly cared about Xiao Zhuo.
The only problem was that his emotions wasn’t the kind if emotions that Yichen had for him.
Since the demon was too confused to use his power, Wen Xiao handed the demon a tissue to wipe his wet clothes: "You shouldn’t say that to him directly. Xiao Zhuo is an dignified man. It will hurt his feelings even more to reject him so… directly. Just try to stop these flirtations. He’ll understand what you mean. Xiao Zhuo isn’t stupid. Just don't give him confusing signals and let him deal with his feelings on his own."
Yuanzhou nodded silently.
It was clear from the demon's face that he was going to be lost in his thoughts for a while.
What Wen Xiao didn't know at that moment was that Xiao Zhuo had changed more than she thought.
And the advice she had given the demon was going to make things worse.
****
After hearing this shocking truth, Yuanzhou locked himself in his room for a whole week.
During this whole time, the Great Demon had been staring at an unknown spot and thinking.
Except for Wen Xiao, who was the main culprit behind the Great Demon’s current condition, everyone was worried.
Even Pei Sijing, who had heard the reason for the Demon’s condition from Wen Xiao, looked worried.
Yuanzhou was not usually someone who would stay away from others for such a long time.
Bai Jiu had tried to convince the Demon to let the young doctor check his health.
But after Wen Xiao assured him that the Great Demon was in perfect health, he finally gave up.
Ying Lei had tried to make delicious food for Yuanzhou in the past few days to improve the Demon’s mood. However, the food dishes behind the door were getting cold, but no one opened the door.
Yuanzhou had completely isolated himself from the outside world.
Yichen was the most worried of all.
The young man knocked on Yuanzhou's door every morning, even though he knew he wouldn't get a response.
His voice trembled subtly when he called the demon's name.
Yichen's beautiful face was full of worry.
Although he tried to appear calm in front of the rest of the group, Wen Xiao had seen the young man many times staring sadly at the closed door of the demon's room.
The atmosphere in the group was completely tense.
Wen Xiao was starting to lose his patience when the demon finally came out of his room.
The demon was the same as always.
It was as if he hadn't been worrying everyone for a whole week.
His behavior with everyone almost was the same as before.
Almost
The demon's behavior with one particular person had changed.
This change was obvious to everyone.
Yuanzhou seemed to have drawn an invisible line between himself and Yichen.
Invisible was not the right word to describe this line.
Because even the youngest member of their group had noticed the change.
The demon no longer joked with the young hunter and didn’t argue with him like he used to.
Even though everyone knew about Demon’s great love for physical contact, Yuanzhou was clearly trying not to touch Yichen.
And Yichen had noticed all these changes very well.
Demon’s behavior with everyone was the same as before.
He talked and laughed and joked.
But he barely even made eye contact with Yichen anymore.
Yuanzhou had never treated Yichen so coldly, Even when they were still enemies.
When they were still strangers.
After all this time together, Demon had decided to suddenly change his behavior.
There was no explanation.
Yichen’s mind was full of unanswered questions.
But he didn’t dare to ask them.
Because the demon didn’t seem to be willing to answer them.
And just like that, Yichen changed from "Xiao Zhuo" to "Zhuo-Daren" again.
After a while, the rest of the group got used to this change.
On the outside, even Yichen seemed to have come to terms with Yuanzhou’s change in behavior.
But if you looked more closely, you would notice the differences.
Yichen’s eyes had lost their sparkle.
A sparkle that had not been long since returned to the young man’s eyes.
And now Yichen was like an empty shell again.
Yuanzhou was so busy avoiding Yichen and understanding his own confused emotions that he didn’t realize the heavy cost his decision had on the young man.
And just like that, they returned to their normal lives.
Until that happened.
Something that forced both of them to finally stop pretending.