TMWTGD CH45

Because his appearance had been discovered, the skeleton Lu Li seemed somewhat nervous. He pulled his hood down further and hid his hands inside his sleeves, refusing to expose even a sliver of white bone.

But he was a skeleton to begin with; his body was thin and frail, and the black robe hung empty upon him, emphasizing his hollow frame.

So empty that it made one’s heart ache.

Xie Jianwei froze for a moment, then sighed heavily after a long pause.

Yan Ke: “…” Why has the Lord Marshal turned into a skeleton? What kind of trick is this? Wait, no, how can anyone play tricks like this!

Xie Jianwei didn’t say anything, merely turning to treat Loren’s wounds.

Yan Ke’s strikes had been vicious and precise; he was likely a professional assassin. The fact that he managed to wound an immortal, undying Reaper to the brink of death was proof enough.

Loren groaned and whimpered, looking as if he were breathing out more than he was breathing in. Xie Jianwei knew he was faking it.

As long as a Reaper had a single breath left, they wouldn’t die. He was probably in quite a bit of physical pain, but what hurt most was likely his pride.

Stomped mercilessly into the ground, and ground under a shoe to boot.

Xie Jianwei treated him in silence, completely ignoring the little skeleton beside them.

The little skeleton stayed rooted to the spot, unmoving, yet his unease radiated visibly from his frail frame.

However, Xie Jianwei didn’t say another word to him.

Once Loren’s wounds were stabilized, the sky had completely darkened. Xie Jianwei helped him up, intending to return to the Intermediate Realm.

Loren was built like a tank. Xie Jianwei struggled to support him, especially since he had to avoid pressing against his wounds, making their posture even more awkward.

Just as he was about to move, the skeleton Lu Li reached out. Even without words, Xie Jianwei understood—he wanted to help.

Xie Jianwei shook his head and supported Loren forward.

The little skeleton retracted his outstretched hand. Though apprehensive, he still followed behind.

Although Yan Ke had taken away the binding rope earlier, its lingering side effects remained. Unable to use magic, Xie Jianwei could only trudge back slowly.

This trek lasted until dawn.

For an entire night, Xie Jianwei hurried along in silence. Loren slumbered like a dead pig. The little skeleton trailed three paces behind, not daring to draw closer, yet unwilling to leave.

When day broke, Xie Jianwei felt tired. After leaning Loren against a tree, he sat down to rest.

A while later, just as his throat felt parched, a large lotus leaf filled with water was offered before him.

Cradling the lotus leaf was a pair of hands made entirely of white bone. The pale bones looked exceedingly startling under the sunlight.

Xie Jianwei didn’t look at the water, keeping his eyes fixed entirely on those hands.

The little skeleton wanted to pull his hands back, but fearing he might spill the water, he could only keep holding the lotus leaf, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.

Xie Jianwei stared at him for a while, ultimately accepting the lotus leaf.

The little skeleton visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to look at Xie Jianwei, but terrified that looking up would frighten him, he could only keep his head bowed forcefully.

Xie Jianwei took a sip of water, then fed some to Loren.

Having done so, he leaned against the tree trunk, trying to recover his stamina.

The little skeleton turned and left again. Before long, he returned cradling an armful of fruits. He placed them in front of Xie Jianwei and prodded them with a bony finger.

Xie Jianwei was somewhat hungry, but having no appetite, he shook his head.

The little skeleton left once more. This time, he brought back a different pile of fruits—redder, fresher, and plumper, looking delicious at a glance.

He assumed the previous batch hadn’t suited Xie Jianwei’s taste.

As Xie Jianwei looked at him, the little skeleton hurriedly lowered his head. Xie Jianwei said, “Look up.”

The little skeleton: “…”

Xie Jianwei said, “I won’t eat them.”

Hearing this, the little skeleton hurriedly looked up. His expressionless bone face remained devoid of life even bathed in the morning glow.

Xie Jianwei reached out, seeming as if he wanted to touch him. Yet just as his fingers drew near, the little skeleton quickly stumbled back several paces, then bowed his head again, letting the thick brim of his hood conceal him completely.

Xie Jianwei’s hand paused mid-air, his fingers curling inward.

In an instant, silence enveloped the atmosphere once more.

The little skeleton got up again. This time, he caught a plump little beast.

Xie Jianwei didn’t eat it, so he went and caught fish. When Xie Jianwei still didn’t eat, he pondered for a moment and somehow brought back a clucking hen.

Early in the morning, Xie Jianwei sat before a patch of unknown fruits, several unrecognizable small beasts, a few thrashing fish, and a hen clucking incessantly…

Yan Ke whispered, “My Lord… the Lord Marshal is so pitiful…”

Did Xie Jianwei’s heart not ache? From the very first glance, his heart had ached until it felt ready to split open.

This was a dream, he knew.

But just how little must Lu Li think of himself, and how little must he think of him?

The little skeleton bustled tirelessly all morning, but after all his frantic efforts, he finally realized.

Xie Jianwei was unhappy.

He hesitated for a moment. A bone finger emerged from the black robe, its sharp tip scratching against the dirt.

With a single glance, Xie Jianwei saw what he wrote.

“Are you angry?”

Xie Jianwei: “…”

The little skeleton wrote again, “Is it because of me?”

Xie Jianwei remained silent.

The little skeleton flinched. His fingers trembled, seemingly hesitating for a long time before finally writing, “I’ll leave after I escort you home. It’s not safe right now.”

Leave? Xie Jianwei looked at him. “Where are you going?”

The little skeleton shook his head. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t say, but that he didn’t know.

Xie Jianwei stared at him for a long time, finally letting out a sigh.

He stood up and approached him. The little skeleton was thin but tall. Xie Jianwei had to rise to a half-kneel to look him in the eye while he sat.

“Look at me,” Xie Jianwei commanded.

The little skeleton hesitated, lowering his head to write, “I’ll scare you.”

Xie Jianwei repeated, “Look at me.”

Slowly, very slowly, filled with apprehension and unease, the little skeleton raised his head.

A face of white bone, appearing eerie and terrifying even in broad daylight. Gone were the handsome contours that should have been there, gone were those pitch-black eyes. Yet even in this state—stripped of expression, devoid of a gaze—Xie Jianwei still saw love on this inorganic face. A dense, profound love carved straight into the marrow.

“Stop degrading yourself like this.” Xie Jianwei’s palm settled against the back of his neck, pulling him close until their foreheads rested against each other.

One felt piercing cold rigidity, while the other felt unimaginable warmth and softness.

The little skeleton went rigid, not daring to move an inch, as if caught in a wondrous dream, terrified that the slightest distraction would jolt him awake.

Xie Jianwei rarely got angry. He had almost never been angry with Lu Li. Even when those previous dreamscapes had turned out so chaotic, aside from heartache, he had felt no anger.

But this time… he was genuinely angry.

Why turn himself into this? Neither human nor ghost—was it agonizing?

It had to be agonizing. Setting aside how he would live like this, merely the process of transforming into this state… must have been a torment Xie Jianwei could hardly fathom.

Lu Li certainly wasn’t born as white bone. He had encountered something, endured something, to become this way.

Just thinking about it made Xie Jianwei’s heart ache terribly.

The little skeleton didn’t dare to move. His bones went stiff, yet he couldn’t bear to pull away.

Xie Jianwei finally touched his freezing bones. Just as he imagined, they carried a snow-like chill—hard, rigid, devoid of life.

The skeleton didn’t pull away this time, but he didn’t dare look at Xie Jianwei either. His hollow eye sockets were pitch-black; he feared that meeting Xie Jianwei’s gaze would only make him hate him more.

Yet Xie Jianwei did something that nearly caused the little skeleton to fall apart.

He kissed him.

Upon those jaws containing nothing but teeth, he kissed him with lips as soft as newborn petals.

The skeleton Lu Li was completely stunned. Xie Jianwei closed his eyes, and though not a single tear fell, Lu Li felt as if he were weeping.

That realization sent a piercing throb, akin to a twisting heart, echoing through the little skeleton’s hollow chest.

He was at a loss. Raising a hand, he wanted to comfort him, but the moment his sharp fingertip brushed against his skin, it drew a streak of blood.

Skin so fair and delicate had actually… actually been injured by him.

The little skeleton panicked, not knowing what to do.

Yet Xie Jianwei chuckled softly. Swiping away the blood casually, a smile blossomed from the corners of his lips and reached his eyes—warm as early winter sunlight, capable of melting all ice and snow.

The skeleton Lu Li wrote on the ground, “I’m sorry.”

Xie Jianwei said, “It’s fine.”

The skeleton Lu Li didn’t relax, secretly resolving never to touch him again, not even once.

Yet Xie Jianwei grabbed his hand, pressing those pale bone fingers into his own palm.

“So thin,” Xie Jianwei remarked.

The little skeleton’s fingers curled inward, eager to pull away.

But Xie Jianwei held on firmly. “Though I can tell it’s you.”

The little skeleton clearly didn’t understand those words.

Xie Jianwei lowered his head and kissed the back of his hand.

The little skeleton’s bones turned entirely to mush under that kiss.

Xie Jianwei asked, “Do you want to touch me?”

The little skeleton: “…”

Xie Jianwei took his hand, flattened the palm, and rested his own cheek against it. “It’s fine like this.”

The little skeleton dared not move. He couldn’t articulate his feelings at this moment, nor could he describe the sensation against his palm.

The softest fruit in the world couldn’t compare to his delicate skin, and the gentlest warmth in the world couldn’t match his body heat. Even the rising sun at his back was reduced to a mere backdrop at this moment.

Could he touch him?

The skeleton’s palm twitched. Xie Jianwei smiled at him, eyes curving. “Yes, you won’t hurt me like this.”

The skeleton Lu Li thought to himself that if he had a face, it would definitely be redder than the red berries lying beside him.

Xie Jianwei shed his previous cold demeanor entirely. Though angry, he couldn’t stay angry for long. From the moment Lu Li had ingratiatingly fetched him water, his resolve had already crumbled.

What could he do? What else could he do?

This was his Lu Li. No matter what he became, he was the Lu Li he loved.

Since he felt insecure, he would simply give him reassurance.

With his mood relaxed, Xie Jianwei felt somewhat hungry.

Reapers needed to eat as well. Their diet differed slightly from humans; they generally didn’t consume living creatures, sustaining themselves entirely on fruits grown on trees. Furthermore, they wouldn’t eat fruits from plants that would die once their fruit was gone.

Simply put, they ate fruits from bountiful branches, where taking a few more or less caused no harm.

Xie Jianwei released the clucking hen. The other small beasts, having resisted violently, had all been dispatched by student Skeleton, leaving no need to release them either.

From the remaining fruits scattered on the ground, he picked one that looked pleasing to the eye and washed it.

He took a bite… and froze.

The little skeleton drew on the ground, “Is it good?”

With his teeth practically dissolved by sourness, Military Advisor Xie said with a straight face, “Sweet. Very sweet.”

Skeleton-kun naturally lacked expressions, but the eerie aura around him diminished noticeably, clearly delighted.

Xie Jianwei surveyed the ground full of fruits solemnly, attempting to pick out one that was genuinely sweet.

Consequently, Skeleton-kun handed him another fruit identical to the tooth-dissolving menace from earlier.

Xie Jianwei: “…”

Yan Ke unkindly burst into laughter.

Xie Jianwei’s mouth twitched as he said, “Let me try a different one.”

Skeleton-kun retracted his claws with a hint of disappointment.

Unable to bear seeing him like this, Xie Jianwei’s heart softened. “Give it to me.”

The little skeleton hurriedly looked up and handed him the fruit. Forget eerie, the aura around him was practically bursting with little red flowers!

Xie Jianwei bit the bullet and took a bite. The sensation of sourness in the mouth and sweetness in the heart was truly unparalleled!

Thankfully, there were only two of those sour fruits; once eaten, they were gone.

The little skeleton wrote on the ground again, “You like these. I’ll go get more, I know a big patch of them.”

Xie Jianwei panicked uncharacteristically, hurriedly insisting, “No need to go through the trouble! I want to try the others too.” He added, “Since you picked them all, they’re definitely all delicious.”

The little skeleton was overjoyed once more.

Seeing him like that, Xie Jianwei couldn’t help muttering internally: It’s over, the most adorable skeleton in the world is definitely his Lu Li.

Having finally filled his stomach, they prepared to set off back to the Intermediate Realm.

Loren was built like a brick house. Unable to use magic, Xie Jianwei was a weakling, panting heavily after carrying him for just a short while.

Skeleton-kun followed behind him initially. After hovering for a bit, he couldn’t help but raise a hand and wave, toppling a massive tree nearby.

Xie Jianwei was startled.

The little skeleton hurriedly waved his hands.

Xie Jianwei asked him, “What are you doing?”

Student Skeleton’s fingertips were exceedingly sharp, slicing through iron like mud. With a few swift swish, swish motions, he carved a neat, square wooden board from the massive trunk.

Bewildered, Xie Jianwei wondered what this was for.

The board was only twenty centimeters square—not too large, not too small.

But he soon discovered its purpose.

Skeleton-kun satisfyingly crushed a pile of red berries onto the board, then used his sharp fingertip to write on it: “Let me carry him.”

Xie Jianwei: “…”

Yan Ke: “Oh my god, what a brilliant Skeleton Marshal.”

Xie Jianwei: Brilliant my foot. He went through all that effort just to make a writing board?

The skeleton Lu Li wrote again: “I’m very strong.”

Xie Jianwei thought to himself, Incredibly strong indeed. Two Greater Demons were no match for you.

The skeleton Lu Li continued writing: “I’ll be careful and won’t hurt him.”

Xie Jianwei was genuinely tired from carrying him, so he simply said, “Alright, I’ll leave him to you.”

Despite his frail appearance, the skeleton Lu Li possessed innate superhuman strength. With just a hook of a finger, he lifted the burly Loren.

With that sorted out, their travel speed increased significantly, and they finally returned to the Intermediate Realm half a day later.

Back in the Reaper’s domain, they were much safer, no longer needing to worry about demons kidnapping them.