On the other hand, Qing and Yue appeared inside the spatial domain, and the moment Qing’s feet touched the ground, he immediately looked around. He expected to see the hidden Demons or the Formation Core, but instead, the scene before him was completely different from what he had imagined.
The entire place looked like a city, but there was something wrong with it, something that made Qing’s expression change the moment he took in his surroundings. Burning buildings stretched in every direction, flames covered the streets, and thick smoke filled the air, yet there wasn’t a single living soul anywhere in sight.
Qing’s eyes widened as he stared at the burning city around him. He didn’t understand why he was seeing this place, but the scene itself was far too familiar for him to mistake it for something random. The burning buildings, the empty streets, and the flames consuming everything around them reminded him of something from his past life. His mind instinctively tried to reject the memory that was resurfacing, but the more he looked at the scene, the clearer that memory became.
A memory resurfaced in his mind, a memory of one of the most precious people in his life burning alive in a situation almost identical to this one.
His mother.
The moment that memory appeared in his mind, Qing’s expression completely changed. His thoughts stopped for a moment, and his mind went blank as if every other thought had been forcefully erased. His body reacted before he could even understand what was happening, every muscle tightening as his instincts sharpened to their limit.
The flames around him continued to burn, but Qing barely noticed them anymore as his mind had already connected the scene before him with the memory buried deep inside him.
There was only one thought remaining in his mind: "Kill all the Demons."
The moment that thought surfaced, something changed around Qing. The space surrounding his body began to distort violently, as if the very structure of the spatial domain was being affected by the force that had suddenly erupted from him. The air around him began to tremble, and an Unimaginable amount of killing intent suddenly released from his body.
A think red and black pressure completely surrounded the entire area around his body.
It wasn’t something Qing deliberately tried to release, nor was it something he was consciously controlling. It came out naturally from the depths of his being as his memories and instincts collided with one another.
The Spiritual Energy in the surrounding area immediately began to react to it. Sparks appeared in the air before disappearing almost instantly, while the Spiritual Energy around Qing scattered away from his body instead of naturally circulating through the area. It was as if the Spiritual Energy itself was being forced away by the killing intent surrounding him, unable to remain close to Qing while that terrifying pressure continued spreading through the spatial domain.
Qing’s eyes remained fixed on the burning city in front of him. His expression had become completely different from the calm one he had maintained since coming into the Stoneheart Sect, and the hatred buried within his body was now being released without restraint.
Yet Qing himself wasn’t aware of any of it.
His mind had already been dragged into that memory.
The scene in front of him continued matching the memory from his past life, and as it did, his instincts responded to it as if he had returned to that moment. His body wanted to move, his instincts wanted to find the Demons responsible. His mind only screamed as if it wanted to kill them in the most brutal way possible.
Just as the killing intent around him reached its peak, Qing suddenly heard a voice.
"Qing! Qing Lan! Wake Up!!"
The voice was smooth and soft, but it was also urgent as it reached Qing’s mind through the Illusion. He didn’t react immediately because his mind was still trapped inside the scene before him, but the voice continued calling his name. Qing’s brows slightly moved as the familiar voice finally broke through the haze surrounding his consciousness.
"Qing! Qing Lan!"
The moment he heard his name again, his consciousness finally started returning.
The burning city around him instantly started fading away.
The flames disappeared first, followed by the burning buildings and the empty streets. The entire scenario that had surrounded him only moments ago slowly vanished from his vision as if it had never existed in the first place. Qing’s expression gradually changed as his consciousness returned to reality, and the killing intent that had erupted from his body also began settling down.
When his vision finally became clear, Qing saw Senior Yue standing directly in front of him. Her expression was slightly tense as she looked at him, and Qing immediately noticed something lying on the ground behind her.
A Demon.
The Demon was withering on the ground, its body already losing its strength as it lay behind Yue. Qing stared at it for a moment before his eyes widened further, and he finally understood that the burning city he had just seen wasn’t real.
He looked back at Yue in confusion, "Wh-what? Was that an Illusion?"
Yue nodded, "Yes, it was."
Her answer was simple, but she didn’t immediately explain anything else. Instead, she continued looking at Qing, her expression becoming more serious as she recalled what had happened only moments ago. She had seen the entire change in Qing’s condition after they entered the spatial domain, and what concerned her wasn’t simply the fact that he had been affected by an Illusion.
It was the killing intent.
Yue had immediately noticed the enormous amount of killing intent that had erupted from Qing’s body, and even though Qing was only at the Qi Refining Realm, the killing intent he had released had been completely abnormal for someone at his Cultivation Level.
Yue glanced toward the Demon lying behind her before looking back at Qing, "That Demon was the cause."
Qing’s gaze shifted toward the Demon again. He now understood why Yue had been standing in front of him when he returned to reality, and why the Illusion had disappeared so suddenly. The Demon must have been responsible for creating the Illusion, allowing it to affect his mind the moment they entered the spatial domain, ’Tch, My Cultivation level was too low to endure the effect of a high ranking demon’s illusion.’
Qing remained silent for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts. He still remembered the burning city clearly, and even though he now knew it wasn’t real, the memory connected to it was real. His mother’s death was something that had happened in his past life, and the Illusion had simply used that memory against him.
Yue continued staring at him.
"But..." Her voice became quieter as she studied Qing’s expression, "Your killing intent..."
Qing’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Yue’s expression showed genuine confusion because she couldn’t understand how someone at Qing’s Cultivation Level could possess such terrifying killing intent. Even after the Illusion disappeared, she could still feel the remnants of it around Qing. That alone was enough to make her take him more seriously than before, "It was far beyond anything a cultivator at your stage should have."
Qing didn’t answer immediately.
Yue took another step closer while looking at him carefully, her eyes carrying a mixture of curiosity and disbelief, "How much blood have you even shed for you to have that much killing intent?"
Qing’s expression became complicated as he heard her question. For a moment, the memories of his past life flashed through his mind again, countless battles against Demons, countless lives lost, and countless times when he had been forced to fight simply because there was no other choice.
He had spent his entire previous life fighting. He had killed Demons regardless of their Rank, and he had continued fighting until he finally stood before the Demon King himself. The killing intent that Yue had sensed wasn’t something he had gained from a few battles after arriving in the Azure Heaven Realm. It was the result of an entire lifetime spent fighting Demons.
He remained silent before speaking, "I am sorry but... It is related to my past which I wouldn’t want to talk about."