Rest in a Demon's Embrace

Seeing Jiang Yao, the smile on Luo Xiao's face grew a few points bigger, his eyes sparkled with happiness, and he could not contain the sweetness in his heart.

It had been a week since he last saw Jiang Yao, but now that he was here, the longing melted away like snow in front of the sun, his heart finally found a place to settle.

"Jiang Yao!" He called out and rushed towards the older male, but to his surprise, he found that Jiang Yao was not looking too happy, a gloomy air hung around him, and his eyes were glaring after Jin Chuan.

"What is wrong?" Luo Xiao was extremely sensitive to Jiang Yao's emotions, and he could feel that something was not right, but what could be behind his sudden sulkiness?

"Who was that?" Jiang Yao repeated his question as he kept looking into the distance where Jin Chuan had vanished, and Luo Xiao cocked his head slightly as if not understanding why Jiang Yao was so worried about his friend.

"Her name is Jin Chuan," Luo Xiao introduced her, "she is my first and only real friend here at the academy."

Luo Xiao thought nothing of introducing her properly, perhaps she resembled someone that Jiang Yao knew, or probably that something was wrong, but he would trust in Jin Chuan and knew she would never harm him, just like he knew Jiang Yao would never hurt him.

"Your friend?" The voice of Jiang Yao got dangerously low, and his eyes glowed with a suppressed malice.

Inside Jiang Yao's heart was a beast that was struggling with all its might to break out. Luo Xiao had never before been close to anyone apart from him, and he was used to being the only person who mattered to Luo Xiao, so suddenly hearing that he was getting someone else into his life, Jiang Yao was jealous.

His heart was uncomfortable, and the beast within his heart was baring its claws and brandishing its fangs, ready to jump out and make Luo Xiao know that he belonged to Jiang Yao, that he could only think about Jiang Yao and that there was no space for others within his heart.

Although Jiang Yao was usually very domineering, he held back this beast and tried his best to calm himself down. He understood that if he truly did this, then he would scare Luo Xiao, and if Luo Xiao truly became scared of him, then it would be impossible to repair their relationship and return to how things were now.

But although he managed to control the jealous beast inside of his heart, he was not happy with it, and instead, he reached out, his hand locking around Luo Xiao's slender wrist and then he dragged the younger man into his embrace.

When Luo Xiao reacted, his nose had hit the sturdy chest of Jiang Yao, tears were welling up in his eyes as a result of the impact, and when Jiang Yao looked at him, his heart softened.

He placed his hands on both sides of Luo Xiao's face, tilted his head towards him, and lowered his body.

Luo Xiao was stunned when he suddenly felt a pair of lips press hard on his own, his face flushed red in embarrassment, but he did not struggle to get away.

Instead, he tried to tentatively respond to the kiss, in a rather unskilled manner. However, this was enough to drive Jiang Yao insane. He started nibbling on the lips, licking them and sucking them as he sought entrance into Luo Xiao's mouth.

Luo Xiao's brain was addled; he was unable to focus on what was happening to him entirely, his heart was bursting with nervousness but also sweetness.

The kiss lasted for a long time, it was filled with hegemony and possessiveness, Jiang Yao was not willing to let go before he saw that Luo Xiao was almost incapable of breathing, and then he smiled as he finally let the younger man free.

Luo Xiao was dazed and confused; his heart was beating rapidly in his chest, and he was incapable of thinking straight.

Even his body had turned to mush, leaning into Jiang Yao's embrace and allowing for the older man to hold him up, or he would have become a puddle on the floor.

"You're mine," Jiang Yao whispered with a domineering voice that entered Luo Xiao's ear, "you can only be mine for the rest of your life."

Luo Xiao could hear the declaration, and instead of feeling upset, he felt sweetness in his heart. He had never thought that the illustrious seventh prince would become jealous of a mere friend, but this also proved how important he was to him, and he would never complain or make fun of it.

Instead, Luo Xiao reached up with his arms and wrapped them around Jiang Yao's neck, leaning into his embrace, and tried to show with his actions that he too wished to be only his, never to allow another person to take him away.

Sensing the feelings of Luo Xiao, Jiang Yao chuckled slightly. He knew that Luo Xiao was his and that his heart was on him, but he was still incapable of controlling his feelings whenever it came to this youngster, he was incapable of letting go.

Jiang Yao bent down and swept Luo Xiao off his feet, he carried him like a princess and entered into the house, feeling blissfully happy.

What Luo Xiao was unaware of was that at the same time, a young man was standing not far away, looking at the scene with hatred in his eyes. Looking closer, Luo Xiao would instantly recognize it as the ninth demon prince, Jiang Bai.

He had seen, from the beginning, how Jiang Yao had been jealous, how he had kissed the younger man and how he had carried him inside.

He could not help but feel that his older brother was being tainted. It was indeed a match like mud and cloud together. Although he had to admit that Luo Xiao was better than he had initially thought, he was after all commoner from a backwater kingdom.

He might be working hard, and he might be doing his best, but the truth was that he was so far away from Jiang Yao that they would never fit together. He would not approve of them being together.

Thinking like this, Jiang Bai grit his teeth, even more so because he knew that Jiang Yao had noticed him, but he did not even care about what his younger brother observed, he wanted to show their love for one another, and he would gladly make him hateful.

Jiang Bai turned around and went back to his residence with a belly full of anger, but no way to vent it.

In the house, Jiang Yao went towards the bed, and sat down, placing Luo Xiao on his lap and waiting for him to return to himself from the intense kiss.

When he finally regained his senses, Luo Xiao was feeling bashful and dared not look at Jiang Yao. Although they had kissed many times, this was the first time it had been that intense, and he had even responded! It was simply too embarrassing, but Jiang Yao just chuckled when he saw Luo Xiao's reaction.

Jiang Yao was feeling happy when he saw the youngster's reaction. He could not help but think that he was too cute, and also adorable and a chuckle escaped his lips, a rumble went through his chest, and Luo Xiao could feel it in his body.

"Shy?" Jiang Yao asked as he placed a finger under Luo Xiao's chin and lifted his head so that their faces were meeting one another.

Luo Xiao looked away, but the red hue on his cheeks had already betrayed him and answered the question.

"Want to have something to eat?" Luo Xiao decided to change the subject. He was feeling far too embarrassed to look at Jiang Yao, and wanted to cook some food for him; this way, he could slowly adjust his emotions again.

"Sorry, I can't stay for long today," Jiang Yao said as he tightened the grip on the youngster in his arms. "I only came to tell you a few things," he continued, and Luo Xiao finally listened to what was being said with curiosity.

"I came today because my royal father has planned a tournament for the students in the academy. There will be different branches, depending on one's strength, and each class will have crowned a winner.

"You are currently a High Sky Ranked cultivator and will have to fight against the other Sky Ranked cultivators unless you break through to the Star Rank. Although you might not have as much experience as the others, you should focus on your techniques.

"I have a few techniques for you," he continued and then with a flourish of his hand, withdrew three jade slips from his storage artifact.

"These three abilities are for you to train," he began, "Two of them are offensive while one is defensive. I want you to focus on them for the next two months, and after that, it is time for the tournament.

"I think you will likely break through into the Star rank, and thus you will have to fight against those who are higher ranked than you, but if you learn these abilities and rely on your Astral Soul, you should have a chance of at least reaching top three.

"I want you in the top three because the rewards are very handsome and can help you in the future, so do your utmost to win!"

Luo Xiao looked at Jiang Yao and nodded his head. He was quite shocked when he heard that there would be a tournament, and even more so when he saw that Jiang Yao had sourced techniques for him, he had never expected this, but he felt sweetness and happiness as he knew that Jiang Yao would do anything for him.

"The techniques are the Stalwart Shield Defense, a defensive technique that allows for your Spiritual Energy to take the shape of a shield of varying size and protects you against attacks.

"The first offensive attack is the Soul Reaping Palm, a palm attack that relies on your ability to attack the opponent's soul. As long as you have purer spiritual energy than the opponent, you can daze them and make them unable to return an attack for a short while. The weaker they are, the more effective the attack, you might even be able to shatter the soul of an opponent if you genuinely want to do so.

"The final attack is called the Devouring Starry Sky. This attack is not aimed for only one person but a whole area of attack. It can force someone who is in hiding out, it can attack someone who is too fast to be targeted, or it can attack multiple people at once.

"What you do is that you create thousands of spheres of Spiritual Energy, and these will resemble the starry sky, as they will start to descend at the speed of a shooting star. It devours all energy on its path and increases the intensity of the attack, the more it absorbs.

"These three attacks are the strongest ones I could find at home," Jiang Yao said smilingly, and Luo Xiao could guess that they were indeed not simple attacks, they could in no way be compared to the techniques he had obtained at the school.

However, to be able to learn all three before two months were past, this was indeed an impossible feat, but Jiang Yao had given him them, so he would do his very best to live up to his expectations.

Seeing the determination in Luo Xiao's eyes, Jiang Yao smiled and felt happy. He knew that Luo Xiao was doing his very best and would not slack at all, he would do what he could to make Jiang Yao proud.