Before the two could fly out of the Demon Realm, a large group of demons appeared to block their path. Li Sichen quickly summoned Yanpo to engage them, fearing that any delay would mean never leaving the realm alive.
At the critical moment, Yu Huaixin dismissed the blocking demons with a casual wave of his hand, sending them crashing to the ground. He then tightly gripped Li Sichen’s waist and led him away at high speed.
Just as they cleared the borders of the Demon Realm, a crimson blade shot toward them from behind. Li Sichen instinctively moved to shield Yu Huaixin, but Yu Huaixin was faster. A burst of white light from his fingertips instantly formed a silver barrier, reflecting the blade.
Li Sichen awkwardly let go of Yu Huaixin.
Indeed, a master was a master. If not for those few moves, Li Sichen would have almost forgotten that the man before him was the Chief Elder of Moxiang Peak, second in strength only to the Sect Leader. It seemed that a powerful figure like Yu Huaixin did not truly need his protection right now.
As the blade was deflected, a red figure flew toward them and landed in their path. Upon seeing Li Sichen, she covered her mouth and giggled. “Little brother, we meet again.”
Li Sichen thought, is this what they mean by finding something without even looking for it?
“Master, can you defeat her?” Li Sichen asked quickly.
Knowing that Li Sichen was anxious to avoid a pursuit from the Demon Realm, Yu Huaixin gave him a reassuring smile. “Do not be afraid, Xiao Chen. Your Master can defeat her.”
With Yu Huaixin’s confirmation, Li Sichen felt as though a weight had been lifted from his chest. However, in the next second, a familiar pain struck. He clutched his heart in agony and fell to his knees. The pain was more intense than ever before. He did not know why this was happening, but he hoped Yu Huaixin would deal with Wu Minye quickly so they could escape.
Li Sichen’s sudden reaction startled Yu Huaixin, who immediately knelt to check on him. Taking advantage of this distraction, Wu Minye released a plume of toxic smoke. When the mist cleared, Yu Huaixin had vanished.
“Master?”
Li Sichen scrambled to his feet, intending to fly after him, but no matter how many times he recited the incantations, they failed. His body felt empty, his condition no different from that of an ordinary mortal. Panic finally set in.
On the other side, Wu Minye was secretly delighted. She had worried her strength would be insufficient to complete the task assigned by the Demon Lord, but she had succeeded quite easily.
For the second time, the immortal in white proved remarkably easy to capture. Wu Minye thought her victory was secured, but as she reached the desolate mountains near the Demon Realm, the man she held bound in red silk suddenly opened his eyes. He severed the silk and landed gracefully upon the mountain peak.
Wu Minye pursued him, but in the next instant, the Yuxue Sword pierced her shoulder. The speed was so great that she had no time to react before falling heavily from the sky.
Lying on the ground, she looked at Yu Huaixin in disbelief. “You were faking?”
Yu Huaixin walked toward her slowly, looking down with an indifferent expression. “Yes.”
“Why? You intentionally let me bring you here. What do you want? To kill me?”
Yu Huaixin shook his head gently. “The people of Luofu Village were all killed by you. You hate them for hurting you, so you continue to take revenge. Is that right?”
Wu Minye was stunned to hear him state her motives so clearly, but she quickly accepted the fact and let out a cold, knowing laugh. “That is right. Is the immortal going to uphold justice for them and kill me? Heh, I do not understand. Do they not deserve to die?”
“Of course they do not deserve that.”
Hearing those words, Wu Minye expected a lecture on mercy. Her expression grew twisted with pain. “Why not? Is it up to you people to decide what is deserved? Those people sold me into a ghost marriage to a wealthy family for money! Everyone kept it from me, even my own parents! They sent me to my death! Where were you then to say they should not have done that?”
“I only killed them to avenge myself. What did I do wrong? Why do they not deserve death? They even killed the man I loved most in this life! When I saw him, he had been beaten to death and his face was unrecognizable! Do you know how much my heart ached? You can kill me. I lost because my skills were inferior. But if I die to pay for the lives of those animals, I will never accept it!”
Wu Minye’s hysterical cries finally elicited a moment of pity in Yu Huaixin’s eyes. He knelt slowly and leaned close to her ear, speaking at a measured pace. “Of course you should not have killed them. Since you hate them, why let them die? Is it not more satisfying to let them live a life worse than death? If you hate someone, you must not grant them a quick release.”
Hearing Yu Huaixin speak such words so calmly, Wu Minye stopped crying and stared at him in disbelief. She realized Yu Huaixin was not her enemy; perhaps they could actually communicate.
“I thought immortals were supposed to be kind.”
“Kindness,” Yu Huaixin murmured. He stood up with a smile. “Kindness? All living beings suffer, yet when has the world ever been kind?”
“Then, what does the immortal mean?”
“I have a type of poison. If you want someone to live in agony, you give it to them. When it takes effect, it rots the intestines, yet leaves a sliver of consciousness so they can feel every bit of the sensation. If you want them to live, you give them the antidote so they can survive just enough to experience it all over again.”
As he finished speaking, Wu Minye suddenly felt an unbearable pain in her abdomen. It felt as though countless small insects were gnawing at her organs. She rolled on the ground in agony, unable to utter a single word of help. She wanted to die quickly to end the suffering, but the pain felt intentionally prolonged, like an endless road with no destination.
“Just as you feel now. If I do not give you the antidote, you will die soon. However, if you find it useful, perhaps you can try it on them in your next life.”
Wu Minye’s cries grew weaker until she finally stopped breathing. Yu Huaixin did not spare her another glance, walking past her with an indifferent gaze.
Kindness?
Yu Huaixin had once been kind, but what did it get him? He was betrayed by his most trusted disciple and became a plaything for anyone to abuse. While being humiliated by those people, he knew exactly how lowly he had become. Under the influence of drugs, his body was numb to the pain and the insults. He could only beg them like a pet to satisfy his desires.
In the end, not even a whole corpse remained. And what happened to those who hurt him? They lived perfectly fine lives. No one loved him in this world. Since he had paid such a high price to crawl back from the Underworld, he would cherish this opportunity to make everyone who hurt him pay the price.
Innocence? What did that have to do with him? He was a ghost who crawled out of hell, not a god.
As Yu Huaixin walked forward, a black mist blew toward him, effortlessly trapping his body. Gradually, the mist shifted into a human form. It was the Demon Lord, Feng Ji, who had recently been nearly killed by Yu Huaixin’s blade.
Feng Ji’s strong arms tightly bound Yu Huaixin’s slender waist. A cruel smile spread across his face. “This time, let us see how you escape.”