"Ah," Qiu Yunru croaked. His voice sounded pitifully terrified even to himself, dry and hoarse like stone grating on stone. He needed to get ahold of himself! "What sort of stories does my lord enjoy most?"
The Maw rumbled in thought. The air shimmered with heat.
"HMMMMM. WHAT A STRANGE LITTLE HUMAN CREATURE YOU ARE. ASKING QUESTIONS OF ME SO CALMLY...." Its great, stony mouth curled and twisted, as though considering something.
Suddenly, the slits that made up its eyes flashed a blinding blue, widening with excitement. "TELL ME A STORY OF HUMAN ROMANCE!"
Qiu Yunru's mouth started moving before his thoughts. What came out of his mouth was:
"Ah, of course. Ah....There once was a beautiful woman who lived in the moon. And there was a man who...."
What he thought in his head was:
Why the fuck is a Demonic Deity interested in human romance?!
What's more--why did it have to be romance?! He could tell a good ghost story, or an adventure story. He'd read so many of those! But a romance? Would he have to include a kiss scene? Whatever, whatever! He'd heard plenty of fairy tales in his life, and those were often romances. Maybe it wasn't too bad. As long as the Bloodred Maw didn't want anything salacious, it shouldn't be too hard, right?!
"NO!"
Stones rained down as the Bloodred Maw boomed at him in fury. Clearly, it hadn't enjoyed whatever he'd blabbered out.
"NOT THIS KIND OF STORY! IT'S SOMETHING PERSONAL I THAT I WANT!" The Maw snorted coldly, burning steam rising from its lips in billows. "WHAT VALUE IS THERE TO A STORY THAT ANYONE CAN TELL? NO, NO! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS, BOY--WHAT ROMANCE HAVE YOU HAD IN YOUR LIFE?"
"...Ah..." Qiu Yunru's voice cracked. "Well, ah..."
What should he do? His brain was running on two percent, all of his energy sucked up by this deadly heat. Without thinking, he started spouting off some imaginary tale:
"When I was younger, there was a girl at my sect. We often trained together, and we grew up there together. One day, I realized that she had feelings for me--"
"YOU DARE MOCK ME?" The Maw roared. The sound tore through Qiu Yunru's ears, and he winced. He wasn't going to have any eardrums left after this, holy shit! "DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT I AM? I CAN SENSE THAT YOU LIE BEFORE YOU OPEN YOU LIPS! SPEAK ANOTHER, AND YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK AGAIN! PERSONAL ROMANCE, I SAID! PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!"
"Okay, okay!" Qiu Yunru gasped. He could feel his consciousness beginning to slip. It seemed his body had sweated all its sweat out, and nearly run out of water. If he stayed here, suspended like this, much longer, he was going to shrivel up into a raisin and die anyways! "I haven't had much romantic experience, but there's someone I like! It's a man, at my sect! His name is Li Chenyuan..."
At this point, he was again babbling without thought. There wasn't enough juice left in his brain to consider what to conceal and what to share. All that was left was that terrifying thought that he really was going to die if he didn't make this creature happy! So, what spilled from his lips was unfiltered and true: from the moment he had met Li Chenyuan at the Li manor years ago, to the moment they were separated in Heixi Gorge, everything tumbled from his lips.