2. Shades Of The Exorcist's Smile
Lìngxiāo is the same boy Chóng Fēi believed he had killed indirectly by exposing him.
Since the time Lìngxiāo was Eighteen, he has carried a strange condition that never lets him show pain or anger. As an independent exorcist with no controlling clan above him, he roams the land with three burning aims: to save the common people from darkness, to clear his own name—from his own father's murder—and to unravel the mystery behind the man who raised him before disappearing right after he learned to stand on his own.
Was his father killed? Or was there something deeper than that?
Who was that bloodless "uncle" who used to teach him what is distraction and what is destination? Were those teasing words—"A wave of pleasure"—something more than what he took too long to understand?
Soon, his destiny took an unexpected turn. His hometown Yún Xi calls him back—not as who he used to be, but as a professional exorcist. A town haunted by a Red Robe Ghost, where no exorcist who answered the call has ever survived.
When Lìngxiāo arrives, a silent surprise awaits him. The ghost is one groom or something else? why isn't his calculation matching? who hunts the heir this much?
That heir is Chóng Fēi.
He has spent more then seven years carrying the weight of a death he believes he caused—the death of Xiǎo Lìng, the boy who once protected him from his father's cruelty. He has spent years trapped between his father's control and the skull mummy who haunts his every step.
Now, Chóng Fēi finds himself drawn to the mysterious, perpetually smiling exorcist. Something about Lìngxiāo feels familiar. Something about him makes Chóng Fēi want to trust—and want to run. He doesn't know that the man he's falling for is the same boy he's been mourning.
During the investigation—through a ballad of needles and fear, all for the sake of keeping the heir alive—Chóng Fēi's one-sided longing grows into deep love. It becomes his reason to walk slower. To share belongings. To share his trauma.
And Lìngxiāo, who has been searching for answers about his father and his uncle, begins to realize that the demonic energy haunting Yún Xi isn't just around him. It's around Chóng Fēi too.
The ghosts are not the villains. They are victims of someone else—a mastermind who has been watching, waiting, pulling the strings. And there is more than one. The unknown one seems to be above the other.
Can someone who roots for power and legacy move for the songbird whose nature is flying around, searching for his origin?
And who even bothered enough to raise a hopeless boy without purpose—only to leave just when he had started to fly high and wanted to hear that simple "Do not worry, boy"?
Let's find out on the surface of tears and smiles—which is not even the start or the end, but the middle of something far more complicated but ends into someone else's epic.
It's slow burn and contains intimate scenes after chapter 100. Dark themes included but handled with care. (My babies are THE MEN this world requires so yeah, I believe you would fall in love with them!)
Bonus book: For The Four Arms, One Soul [a book inspired by Chóng Fēi's shelf! say thanks to him for being such a story bug!]
