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When Dan Heng finally returned to the Astral Express after the tiring events and endless battles that had transpired on the Xianzhou Luofu, he was met by Jing Yuan, who handed him a nondescript storage card.
"It's his stuff," Jing Yuan said. "I thought I'd better give it to you."
Dan Heng gave the man a tight frown at the implication. "Dan Feng is dead."
"I know…" The white-haired general just gave him his characteristic smirk. "But you can dream, right?"
At the mention of "dreams", Dan Heng couldn't hold back anymore. He snatched the memory card out of Jing Yuan's extended palm with a cold expression before turning his back and boarding the train without another word or glance back at the general.
Dan Heng didn't know how Jing Yuan possibly could have learned about the reoccurring dream he was plagued by. Could the general really see through him so well?
The dream was always the same… His breath would be coming in uneven pants as he desperately kissed someone over and over again, as if he couldn't get enough. His groin would be engulfed in a strange heat, and someone's arms were always wrapped around his neck, shouting the same name again and again into his ear as his hips thrust into their warmth…
"Dan Feng… Dan Feng…"
Dan Heng always woke up with a start when the person in his dream called out that name. He would come back to his senses to find himself sweating profusely, his crotch sticky, and exhaustion overwhelming him.
Dan Heng felt as if he were a white horse who snuck out of his stall every night to gallop across the starry sky… Except there was always something holding onto his rein, dragging him down until he faltered and fell.
The dreams were truly beginning to prevent him from getting a good night’s sleep.
Ever since he had come to the Xianshou, he’d been forced to accept the tumultuous memories of a past that didn’t even belong to him. And with those reminders, unpleasant dreams visited him more and more.
The illusion of chasing after his own pleasure with that mysterious person reminded him of the man with the monstrous red eyes. That man, who always called him Dan Feng, with unparalleled conviction and bloodlust in his voice.
This was his other recurring dream.
Time and time again, Dan Heng had stabbed Cloud-Piercer through his chest. He’d straddle his torso as he sunk the tip of that spear through his flesh, leaning down to remind the man, “I am Dan Heng.”
As the dirtied bandages wrapped around Blade’s palm came loose from the battle, blood seeped down to his fingertips, staining them an ugly color. He would wipe the crimson blood onto the corner of Dan Heng’s right eye, coughing up a puddle of blood as he smiled… “How dare you say that you are not him…”
Dan Heng would dislodge his spear from Blade’s chest, only to bring it back down with a sick ‘thud’, piercing the man’s heart directly.
Blood would overflow from the corners of Blade’s lips, running down his chin as his pupils gradually dilated, losing focus. The hand that rested its fingertips on his cheek would slip down, now unmoving and lifeless.
Blade would die again.
But no matter how many times Dan Heng repeated this, no matter how many times he ended the man’s life in his dreams, Blade would still stubbornly call him Dan Feng.
Dan Heng would stand up and remove Cloud-Piercer from the man’s chest, shaking the weapon to dispel the blood. This weapon had been with him for as long as he could remember, and it was worthy of its name. Even if he fought a thousand times, the tip would never dull.
He raised his hand to wipe off the remaining blood that had been left by the man laying dead in the corner of his eyes. The sticky sensation of the cooling blood made him feel a little ill.
Undoubtedly, Dan Heng hated Blade, just like he hated the cold whispers in his ear from when he was still in prison and those absurd dreams he could not escape. The existence and conviction of that man served as a constant reminder that, no matter how fast he runs, or how far he escapes, the past will always catch up to him… And he will never be truly free.
Dan Heng had gazed at the starry sky thousands of times while roaming the galaxy, without the cover of the atmosphere to block them out or dim them. Countless stars would wink at him from that dark canvas of the sky, their arms wide open to receive him. Every night, when he’d be hastily woken from a nightmare, he would look into that sky and silently ask all those stars if they were exiles, too.
They never answered.
…
Dan Hen felt at home the moment he boarded the Astral Express now, with the events of the Xianzhou Luofu behind him. When he woke up in the morning, Himeko greeted him with a cup of coffee. Welt Yang was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper, and Pom-Pom was carefully mopping the floor. March 7th eagerly held up her shiny camera and called him over to pose with her, the flash of the camera nearly blinding him. But it was familiar, and it was pleasant.
On the Astral Express, there were no dark prison walls closing in around him, no screams of a fleeing crowd stricken with terror, no bloodthirsty man seeking his vengeance, no pools of blood or haunting red maple.
However, his good mood must have invited trouble into his mind, because that night, the sex dream returned. However, this time, the image was much clearer.
Dan Heng could discern the form of the person he was with much better now. Nested in the crook of Dan Heng’s neck, he could clearly see the soft swell of his partner’s chest, the nipples a bright pink, and the supple skin covered in a bright sheen as if it were a glazed candy. The man was clinging to Dang Heng quite tightly, and a stray strand of hair was tickling the tip of his nose.
The other man called to him over and over again, “Dang Feng… Dan Feng…!”
Without him even thinking about it, Dan Heng opened his mouth within the dream and said… “Call me Dan Heng.”
At that, the whole dreamscape shattered like a broken mirror, and Dan Heng woke up with a gasp.
As he sat up, he realized his groin was dirtied yet again. As usual, he stood up, putting on another pair of clean pants before entering the bathroom.
Fall asleep, dream, wake up, change his pants… It was becoming routine for him. Some nights he’d be woken up by these erotic dreams several times in a row. He was so familiar with this process now that he could lie to Marth 7th without a hitch, his face unchanging.
The first time, Dan Heng had told her that he’d been too hot to sleep, and he’d gone to the bathroom to take a cold shower. March 7th had rubbed her eyes sleepily while glancing at the control panel to the Astral Express’s central air conditioner, which was set to a constant 24°C… But wisely she didn’t make any comment on it. Instead, she simply yawned and wished Dan Heng a good night’s sleep as she returned to her room.
The dream had also become far more frequent ever since returning from the Luofu, and it had certainly become more tangible as well. Since he’d returned to the Atral Express, he’d realized that the dream wasn’t taking place from his perspective, but rather from the perspective of his predecessor. It was Dan Feng who was rolling around in bed with that other man every night, not him. He had no control over his actions in these scenes.
Tonight, his dream was taking place on a narrow bed that was pressed against an unfamiliar wall, where Dan Feng and the other man were kissing in complete ecstasy, their entangled tongues were connected with a sticky strand of saliva every time they separated to gasp for air. Maps and spreadsheets and calligraphy papers were strewn across the room, covering the walls, the bookshelves, the desks, and even the bed they were laying on. Dan Heng could smell the scent of wet ink under his body as Dan Feng pressed the other man onto the mattress, pinning his hands behind his back. His partner’s shoulder blades were almost touching as Dan Feng pushed into the man’s depths, grabbing a fistful of his pale hair as he thrust into him. Dan Heng couldn’t see the man’s face—and he never could, in these dreams—but he could hear the breathy sobs of pleasure from him.
However, the other man wasn’t weak. With some effort, he was able to wiggle out of Dan Feng’s grasp and turn his body around, grabbing Dan Feng’s neck again, and pressing him down into the sheets as he kissed the delicate line of his mastoid, his teeth grazing the skin. There were black marks on the pale skin of the man’s chest from the wet papers that were scattered on the bed.
Dan Feng picked up the man’s waist again, and pressed his hips down, burying his length inside the man for the second time. His fucked-out partner let out a pitchy moan and threw his arms around Dan Feng’s shoulders again. The man hung there, his lips whispering into Dan Feng’s ear again…
“Dan Feng, Dan Feng…”
But I am Dan Heng , he thought.
And according to his previous experiences, that thought should’ve broken him out of this erotic dream, as it defied the memories of Dan Feng’s body. But this time, the dream continued.
Dan Feng was still fucking the man mercilessly, all while he still called out that accursed name. As the man’s voice became louder and more desperate, his sturdy legs hooked around Dan Feng’s waist, the muscles trembling. His entire body and lower abdomen twitched on occasion, and he was clearly reaching his limit. Dan Feng seemed to sense this, and his thrusts became harder and faster a few more times before he pulled himself out of the man and took himself in his hand. Dan Feng’s cock jerked a few times as he came onto the man’s swollen chest, his orgasm so strong that a few drops of sticky fluid even splattered onto his partner’s chin.
Dan Heng watched as Dan Feng took his thumb and wiped the white essence off of his partner’s chin before going limp, collapsing onto the man’s chest as if his bones had turned to jelly. Dan Feng’s ear was pressed against his ribcage, and Dan Heng could hear the man’s heartbeat. The man inserted a few fingers into Dan Feng’s hair, caressing the long, soft strands in silence.
Finally, Dan Feng opened his mouth and said… “—”
Dan Heng woke up immediately, his body feeling as though it were falling from a great height. He sighed and collapsed back onto his pillow. He still didn’t know the name and face of the object of Dan Feng’s affection, even at the end.
Without enough sleep, there’s always a risk of collapse. Dan Heng had noticed the increasingly obvious dark circles underneath his eyes in the mirror, and his mind wandered to the idea of that mad who was always chasing him catching up to him in that moment of weakness. Dan Heng finally made up his mind to solve his problem… Which was why he was finally willing to take a look at the memory card that Jing Yuan had given him and had suggested might help.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Dan Feng was still his past life, after all. The person who tied the bell is the one who must untie the bell, and this problem of Dan Heng’s revolved around his previous incarnation’s troubled love life, so there must be some kind of solution among the things that Dan Feng left behind.
Dan Heng had told his friends that he needed to rest before disappearing into his room, making sure the door was locked behind him. He inserted the memory card into his tablet, and immediately a video file opened onto it.
Dan Heng clicked the ‘play’ button, and his eyes were immediately assaulted by the image of Dan Feng’s bare back. There was another person under him, with his legs clamped around Dan Feng’s waist, the toes on the feet curled up in ecstasy. Without Dan Heng checking the volume of his tablet first, the sound of panting and wet squelching began to echo in Dan Heng’s room.
Startled, Dan Heng dropped the tablet onto the ground.
Imbibator Lunae, the high elder of the Xianzhou Luofu his ass!
Dan Heng was trembling with anger. Dan Feng not only left him with the curse of a vengeful enemy but also made him experience his erotic memories in the first person every night… And now, he was even poisoning his room with this disgustingly foul language! How could anyone of that status record a sex tape of themselves? The Imbibator Lunae of the Xianzhou Luofu was simply a big whore, and Dan Heng was ashamed of it!
Dan Heng’s face had become so red and hot that he was sure he could use it to fry an egg. He pressed the back of his hand to his face in an attempt to cool himself off, but the action had the opposite effect. His entire body felt flushed with heat, and a wave of anger was rolling through his body, traveling down his limbs all the way to his fingertips. Dan Heng felt like he might become a fire-breathing dragon at any moment.
His mind wandered back to the scene he’d witnessed on video. The way Dan Feng had two muscular arms wrapped around his neck, and the fleshy thighs clamping his waist. The way the man whimpered and yelled every time Dan Feng moved, his voice as sweet as sugar cubes soaked in water.
… It was almost mesmerizing.
Dan Heng covered his eyes and turned on the video again, his hands trembling slightly. The moaning and wet noises filled his room again.
He paused the video.
Played it again.
Pause, play, pause.
Play.
Dan Heng’s face grew even more red and shameful as he felt his crotch stir, growing hard against the pants that contained it. He could feel the heat radiating off of him. He told himself that this was just a normal physiological phenomenon. A healthy reaction to a sex scene playing out right in front of him. After the matter was resolved, he could finally rid himself of Dan Feng’s curse.
As the video continued to play, Dan Feng changed his posture on screen. The other nameless man seemed a bit exhausted from the fucking, and his legs could not stop slipping from Dan Feng’s waist, so he set his partner down on the bed, leaning over to whisper something into the man’s ear as if telling him to look into the camera. The man shook his head vigorously, and his hands flew up to cover his face, slipping under his mess of pale gray hair. Dan Feng didn’t force the man to show his face, but he did reach his hands around his hips and lifted him onto his dick, thrusting into him again.
Dan Heng was forced to watch the vicious movements of the two people on the screen, trying to observe the promiscuous behavior with a detached and rational eye. However, he was now fully erect, his cock throbbing painfully in his pants, making a rather obvious tent in the fabric. Dan Heng covered his mouth with one hand and put the other into his pants. His hand trailed over the sensitive head, circling the tip as pre-come wet his fingers, adding to the mess that was taking place on his screen.
The sound of Dan Feng’s thrusts into his partner almost sounded too messy and wet, Dan Heng thought… And he soon knew why.
As Dan Heng’s hips continued to collide with the other man’s body, the sound of moaning from him became louder and louder. Even if the mysterious man was covering his face and doing his best to control himself, he couldn’t cover up the fact that he was about to come. Dan Feng reached for the camera in that moment and turned it until the angle displayed the place where the two of their bodies were joined.
He… he has a…. Dan Heng thought in a daze. He wasn’t expecting Dan Feng’s partner to have a vagina.
Dan Feng was still fucking into the man, and every time he pulled out and thrust back into the other man’s wet hole, the force of the impact left a red mark. The man gasped and sobbed, his legs twitching as Dan Feng suddenly removed himself. Instead, he used four of his fingers to dance around inside the other man’s cunt, his thumb drawing circles around his throbbing clit. The man was practically begging for mercy, but Dan Feng was relentless and removed his hand as well. Slick poured out of his wrecked hole onto the bedsheets. Dan Feng rubbed the sticky substance all over the other man’s abdomen.
Then, almost without warning, Dan Feng raised his hand and shamelessly slapped his partner’s swollen mound. The man let out a pitchy yell, and his waist rose uncontrollably. His abdomen tensed as his clit twitched violently, and a large gush of fluid ejected from his cunt. The force of his orgasm was so strong that some of the sticky fluid splashed onto the lens of the camera, where it left wet marks as it dripped down.
“You’ll get dehydrated if you keep doing that,” Dan Feng’s voice said, his tone full of pity. However, his actions told a different story. He gripped the man’s thigh, which was smeared with his own fluid to the point where it was slippery.
Dan Heng was starting to get the feeling that Dan Feng was quite the bastard, as the man he pressed down into the bed began to curse and scold him as Dan Feng began to fuck into his overstimulated body again. Dan Heng listened carefully, but he couldn’t understand everything that was said. All he knew is that is wasn’t good.
But Dan Feng had turned a deaf ear to it, and the more the man under him cursed at him, the harder he fucked him. Dan Feng and his partner didn’t even have the strength to moan anymore by the time Dan Feng reached his own orgasm. Dan Heng watched with morbid curiosity as Dan Feng pumped shot after shot of his cum into the other man’s cunt, until it was almost enough that he could see a bulge there. It was befitting of a high elder of the Vidyadhara, he supposed.
The other man on the screen continued to cuss Dan Feng out as soon as he recovered, his voice hoarse.
Dan Heng nodded along, agreeing with Dan Heng’s poor partner… He barely stopped to consider the fact that perhaps he wasn’t qualified to have an opinion on the matter, considering that he was masturbating to the scene.
After Dan Feng was finished, he pulled his dick out of the other man’s hole, a waterfall of thick semen and slick pouring out after it, staining the sheets. The man with white-gray hair grunted in annoyance and kicked one of his legs toward Dan Feng’s crotch. Dan Feng simply smirked and grabbed the man’s ankle, raising his leg until the man’s pussy was exposed, and the cum began to flow out of it faster.
The whole scene was too lewd and exciting for Dan Heng’s virgin eyes. It was almost embarrassing.
Dan Feng’s partner clearly agreed. As Dan Feng grabbed the camera and began to move the lens up slowly, Dan Heng could see the man’s quivering stomach and chest. Dan Feng’s hands barely had time to grope the soft flesh and hardened nipples before his hand was slapped away, and the scene blurred into darkness as a hand flew up to cover the camera.
“No,” the man said. “That’s too much.”
The man’s voice was familiar, so familiar… But who was it? Dan Heng couldn’t recall. He couldn’t even tell if it was familiar from Dan Feng’s memories, or his own.
“You really don’t want to show your face?” Dan Feng said pitifully, with a hint of something more sarcastic and teasing in his voice. “I just want to keep a memorial…”
“It’s not happening.” The man said assertively. “Don’t ask again, or I’ll break your horns off.”
There was a rustling sound, and the camera was thrown aside, the lens shaking as the camera settled in some dark place.
I wouldn’t want someone to see my face after that, either… Dan Heng thought.
The man’s entire body had been fucked out, his nipples swollen and red while semen and slick drenched his soft skin. Although, he felt as though it were a bit hypocritical for him to be so lustful and allow Dan Feng to ravage his body like that, and then pretend to be innocent.
Dan Heng also began to feel a little resentful when he could hear the soft gasps and sounds of kissing from the dark screen, all while his dick throbbed in his hand. The displacement of the camera had left him to masturbate alone in his room while the other two enjoyed each other’s company.
However, when Dan Heng looked at the recording, he realized there were still several minutes left to go as he dragged his finger over the progress bar. Perhaps he’d get want he wanted after all.
Sure enough, the camera was suddenly placed back into position a minute or so later. Dan Feng had turned the man over, placing him face down. His shoulder blades flexed a few times as Dan Feng grabbed his hips again, and began inserting a few of his fingers into his ass carelessly. Dan Feng played with and stretched the man’s puffy ring a few times before pulling his hand away and slapping the man’s upturned butt. Then, he rubbed his cock against the entrance and pushed inside without warning. The man’s curse turned into a gasp as Dan Feng bottomed out inside.
Dan Feng closed his eyes and frowned in pleasure as he thrust forwards a few times. The man’s anus wasn’t as moist as his pussy, but it was warmer and tighter. The walls of the man’s hole practically clung to him as he dragged his cock back and forth.
Dan Feng was clearly wrapped up in his own pleasure, because a few pale shimmering dragon scales appeared in the corner of his eyes, and the red marks under his eyelid as well as the glowing of his irises and horns grew more vibrant and intense. His nails grew a little longer, leaving marks on the pale skin of the other man’s hips.
Most shockingly, his genitals began to change size and shape, becoming almost reptilian as a second dick protruded from his groin. The head of the new addition rubbed against the perineum of Dan Feng’s partner before slipping between the wet folds of his pussy until it bumped against the man’s swollen red clit.
The man couldn’t even make a sound as Dan Feng inserted both of his dragon dicks into his partner's eagerly awaiting holes. If Dan Heng could not see the bulging veins on the man’s clenched fists, he might have thought Dan Feng had fucked him to death.
Dan Feng had no mercy. The man was fucked until he barely had the strength to breathe, with Dan Feng leaning over his back to nibble his ear. The sharp draconian teeth drew a bit of blood, which seeped down until it dripped onto the red earring that the man was wearing. The white-haired man could barely move his head away in time as Dan Feng tried to draw his tongue over the crest of his inner ear.
His skin was covered in sweat, which shone under the light of the room.
Dan Feng also took it upon himself to begin groping his partner’s chest, roughly twisting and pulling as the man’s nipples, teasing the swollen buds torturously. Dan Feng left no part of his body sacred or untouched.
Dan Feng had taken his place as the green dragon rising from the ancient sea, his actions beautiful but vigorous and dangerous. The dragon was leaving everything else behind; war, hatred, eyes that would never close again, corpses that were chewed apart and eaten by flies, the unending passage of time, and the dangers of the world… All of these things were left behind and forgotten in lieu of love and lust. The dragon was finally completely free as he explored the starry sky of his partner’s body, his skin shining like the moon.
Overcome by his instincts and love, Dan Feng bit the back of the man’s neck, piercing the flesh with his sharp teeth, leaving a mark that would likely take days to disappear completely. Under the stimulation of pain, the man climaxed together with Dan Feng, who reveled in the joy of their coupling.
Dan Heng watched to the very end, short of breath as he stared at the picture on the screen. Even the movement of his hands on his own dick had slowed down.
He watched as Dan Feng raised the camera again, approaching the messy scene that lay between the man’s legs. Thick white semen slowly oozed from both his nearly fucked-out pussy and his wrecked ass. The man’s legs were twitching, and after a moment, he let out another soft noise, and more slick gushed out of his cunt. The picture continued to move up, showing the congealing flecks of come from Dan Feng’s previous orgasm, before featuring his miserable chest, clearly sore and covered in marks from Dan Feng’s rough grip. His nipples were swollen to nearly twice their previous size, and his entire chest quivered with the man’s uneven breathing. The screen then showed the man’s deep-set collarbones, which were drenched with sweat and tears.
Dan Feng was showing Dan Heng his entire body… Up, up, up, all the way to his face.
The man’s eyes were covered with one of his arms, though his swollen lips and teeth were visible. Dan Feng carefully moved the man’s arm away from his face, one of his hands gently stroking the man’s flushed cheek, wiping away the tears that had been streaming down the skin.
“Smile, Ying Xing.” Dan Feng said.
The man slowly opened his eyes, his eyelashes clumped together with tears before he blinked a few times, his pupils focusing on the camera in front of him. His gaze was misty and blissful, but he forced some coherency into his face. Ying Xing stayed still for a few moments before flashing a smile at the camera.
It was a face that Dan Heng was so familiar with, after years of being hunted, chased, and tormented. He recognized every one of those sharp features. However, it was an expression he was completely unfamiliar with, and one he never would’ve fathomed he’d see from that man.
A chill raced up his back as his mind practically imploded.
Without a second to spare, his dick throbbed in his hand, and cum violently splattered d all over the face of Ying Xing… Blade… Who was still on his screen.
Dan Heng sat on the bed for a long time with his pants pulled down, absolutely shell-shocked from what had just transpired and what he had just learned. It was so long that Dan Feng’s sex tape had replayed three times before he came back to his senses. He wiped the cold sweat off of his face and pulled up his pants with trembling fingers.
He removed the memory card from his tablet and crushed it in his fist, before ejecting the remains into the void of space through the garbage shoot of the Astral Express.
…
After that, the erotic dreams hadn’t stopped as he had hoped. Instead, the gratifying object of his lust simply had a face and a name. The face and name of his enemy, and a cold reminder of his past.