After I Became the Second Male Lead's Dodder Vine - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The moment Yu Zi’an appeared, I swiftly stretched out my branches, sending a small vine to wrap around his wrist and sway there.

I nuzzled him gently. “Ah Yu, let’s make up.”

Yu Zi’an said nothing. His fingers brushed over my leaves, and he took out a spirit herb, holding it out to me.

My nose stung. I should have been happy, but I still felt wronged deep down.

I was Yu Zi’an’s parasitic demon. Over the past several decades, we had almost become each other’s other half.

But ever since he met a Peach Blossom Demon some time ago, he had been constantly distracted. Every other word out of his mouth was Yaoyao.

Even when I failed to take human form and needed time to recover, all he cared about was keeping that Peach Blossom Demon company.

When the Peach Blossom Demon was injured, I wrapped my branches around him and refused to let him go. For the first time, his face turned cold toward me.

“Sang Luo, stop making trouble for no reason! You dodder vines really are born this way, selfish and greedy.”

The words stabbed straight through my heart. I withdrew every last vine.

“Go, then. When you come back, we’ll dissolve the contract.”

His steps faltered slightly, but in the end, he left without looking back.

Crying, I wound myself in circles, peeling myself down from his true form, the great elm tree, and lay on the ground for the entire night.

The next day, I woke beneath the blazing sun. A ring of spirit herbs had been placed around me.

Yu Zi’an had returned at some point and was carefully wiping the mud from my branches and leaves.

In silence, I pulled my branches back and said coldly, “Since you’re back, please dissolve the contract.”

Yu Zi’an refused.

Stubbornly, he held my branches and tried to wrap them back around his true form, his eyes faintly red. “I was awful. I said the wrong thing and hurt you. Ah Luo, I truly never thought that of you.

“Hit me to vent your anger. I’ll chop down my true form for you to use as firewood. Will you forgive me then?”

As he spoke, he really sent a burst of spiritual power into his true form, and a thick branch came crashing down in an instant.

Yu Zi’an’s face turned snow-white, and he looked ready to cut down a second one.

I hurriedly wrapped around his hand. “Are you insane?”

He pressed his lips together, then could not help laughing. “You really still can’t bear to lose me.”

I did not argue.

Over the next few days, Yu Zi’an searched everywhere for spirit herbs to win me over. I did not bring up dissolving the contract again, but I never gave him a pleasant expression either.

Until today. Looking at that bare, chopped-off branch, I could not help softening after all.

I gnawed on the spirit herb Yu Zi’an had brought back and did not notice the obscure, complicated look on his face.

Once I had eaten and drunk my fill, I wound around his wrist to digest the spiritual power.

Yu Zi’an’s hand stroked me until the leaves along all my branches rustled. Then I suddenly heard him say,

“Ah Luo, your natural talent is lacking. You failed to take human form last time, and I’m afraid you may never be able to do it successfully in the future.

“Give this demon core to Yaoyao, all right?”

I went rigid. It felt as if my entire body had been plunged into an icy spring, so cold I could not stop trembling.

Dig out my demon core.

Did he know what he was saying?

Instinctively, I tried to break free from his hand and flee from his side.

But Yu Zi’an formed a hand seal and bound me in place. His face was filled with pain and reluctance, but his movements did not hesitate in the slightest.

He forcibly separated my roots from one of his own.

The pain brought tears streaming down my face. I wept and begged him not to dig out my demon core.

Yu Zi’an’s movements paused, and for an instant, hesitation crossed his face.

But soon, he formed another seal and dissolved the contract between us.

The backlash from the contract left me with no strength to resist at all.

The relationship between a parasitic demon and its host was mutually beneficial. Once my demon core was dug out, Yu Zi’an’s cultivation would suffer as well, so he dissolved the contract first.

He had considered it so thoroughly. How had he never considered whether I, who had just failed to take human form, then had my roots torn away, then suffered the contract backlash… could endure having my demon core dug out on top of one heavy injury after another?

Yu Zi’an’s voice was as gentle as ever, filled with genuine heartache.

But that heartache could not compare to the Peach Blossom Demon.

“After the demon core is removed, you can keep cultivating on my true form. You’ll recover very soon.”

I stretched out my vines and wrapped them around his fingers, tangling around him in layer after layer in a desperate attempt to stop him.

Crying, I begged him, “Ah Yu, don’t dig out my demon core. I’ll die. I really will die.”

Yu Zi’an’s face was full of guilt, but he still did not change his mind.

“Be good, Sang Luo. It will only hurt for a little while.

“You only formed this demon core because of me. Be obedient and give it to me, all right? After this, I’ll find even better spirit herbs for you. I promise I’ll nurse you back to health.”

Yu Zi’an suppressed all my struggles.

My roots were severed, exposing the glowing green demon core within.

Under the terrible pain, all my vines tangled tightly together. The ground was covered in my fallen leaves.

Yu Zi’an’s face filled with joy. The moment his hand loosened, I fell from his fingertips.

Without my demon core, my once vast true form withered by more than half in an instant, leaving only one weak little sprout.

Yu Zi’an turned and left without looking back at me once.

“Yaoyao is still waiting for me. Sang Luo, I’ll be right back.”

With the last shred of strength I had, I hooked onto the hem of his robe.

Did Yu Zi’an truly not know how many great demons lived in this territory? In my current state, even an ordinary rabbit could come along and chew me up.

He knew.

He was simply thinking only of Yaoyao and had no attention left to spare for me.