The earth-shattering explosion shook the very floorboards. Immediately after, faint cries of alarm and commotion drifted in from the distance.
Pei Chuan, startled by the sudden blast, released his hold and looked toward the door. “An explosion?”
Shen Zhuo quickly gauged the direction. “It seems to be the Pavilion of Zen Friends where Master Jian resides.”
As they neared the pavilion, the acrid scent of char grew thick in the air. When the Pavilion of Zen Friends came into full view, one side of the small building had collapsed by nearly half, leaving debris and rubble scattered everywhere as black smoke spiraled upward.
A crowd of cultivators had already gathered. Several were interrogating a servant who had just scrambled out of the pavilion in a state of distress.
The servant’s face was pale with terror as he pointed a trembling finger at the ruined loft behind him. “It, it blew up! He blew up Master Jian!”
Shen Zhuo looked where he pointed, seeing only billowing smoke. A nearby cultivator pressed, “What blew up? Speak clearly! Who did this?”
“It was Chen, Butler Chen!”
The cultivator immediately shouted back, “How could it be Butler Chen?”
“It is true! Immortal Master, you must believe me! Butler Chen has gone mad!”
Although Shen Zhuo’s group had already deduced the butler’s betrayal after finding the pendant with Chen Gouzi and learning of the secret key given to Song Yan, the news still came as a shock. Hearing that Butler Chen, who had been missing for two days, had suddenly reappeared to destroy the pavilion and attempt to kill Master Jian was unexpected.
Providing for Song Yan out of distaste for Master Jian’s tyranny fit his past character, but murder and explosives were far too extreme for an old man.
As Shen Zhuo prepared to ask for details, a violent bout of coughing and the sound of shifting rubble erupted from deep within the ruins. Everyone’s gaze shifted. Within the smoke-filled debris, a hand thrust out from between the broken timber and bricks, struggling to clear a path. A figure scrambled out of the ruins.
The man’s luxurious brocade robe was charred and tattered, covered in burn marks and holes. His face and body were a mess of black ash and clotted blood.
“It is Master Jian!” a sharp-eyed cultivator cried out.
Xie Yuan arrived a step late, catching sight of Master Jian crawling out of the rubble. “What happened here?”
Master Jian’s eyes were filled with the frantic terror of a survivor. Upon seeing Pei Chuan, he lunged forward, death-gripping the other man’s sleeve. “Young Hero Pei, save me! Butler Chen is mad, he wants to kill me!”
Before he could finish, his strength seemed to desert him. His legs gave out, and he began to slump toward the ground. Pei Chuan was swift, catching him firmly despite the soot and ash covering the man.
Before the crowd could process the shocking news, a surge of black Qi began to spread from the edge of the ruins. A low, raspy voice slowly called out Master Jian’s name:
“Jian Hong.”
Startled, everyone turned in unison toward the source. An old man stepped slowly out from the wreckage. Shen Zhuo narrowed his eyes, recognizing him as Butler Chen.
His current appearance was unrecognizable from before. His once humble face was now greenish-black and distorted, his body enveloped in thick black Qi, and his eyes burned with overwhelming hatred.
Butler Chen stared fixatedly at Master Jian, who was being supported by Pei Chuan. His voice was icy. “Even that could not blow you to death. You truly have a stubborn life!”
Master Jian’s soul nearly left his body at the sound. He grabbed Pei Chuan’s arm, desperately trying to hide himself.
Watching the transformed butler, Xie Yuan whispered to Shen Zhuo, “Is that still Butler Chen? Why does he look completely different from before?”
“He is no longer entirely himself,” Shen Zhuo replied, watching the butler’s eyes, which were entirely eroded by resentment, the whites of his eyes as murky as ink. “The resentment in the jade pendant has completely swallowed and controlled him. He now carries the obsession of that resentment; he only wants revenge, and his first target is Master Jian, who stole the pendant.”
“But the pendant is in our hands. How was Butler Chen controlled by it?”
“Master Jian wore the pendant for a long time, and Butler Chen was always by his side. The resentment must have been accumulating in his body for years.”
By now, Butler Chen had lost all reason, ignoring the wary cultivators around him. His eyes held only his mortal enemy. As he stepped closer, Shen Zhuo’s gaze sharpened, and he suddenly gripped his sword hilt.
“Something is wrong!”
Pei Chuan, still supporting Master Jian, turned his head. “What is wrong?”
“If it were truly years of resentment erosion, Master Jian should have been the first to go. Senior Brother, get away from him!”
“Heh, heh.”
Butler Chen let out a grotesque laugh. “If you cannot be blown to death, then I suppose you simply lack that fortune!”
“Someone is manipulating the resentment from behind the scenes to control Butler Chen!” Shen Zhuo realized instantly, violently pulling Pei Chuan back. “Senior Brother!”
Before the words fully left his mouth, Butler Chen raised his hand. The black Qi around him surged violently. Before anyone could react, the thick resentment shot directly into Master Jian’s body and vanished.
The moment the resentment left him, Butler Chen collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. The surrounding cultivators, intimidated by the phenomenon, dared not step forward to help.
The resentment that had entered Master Jian, however, fell into an eerie silence. The scene lapsed into an unnatural stillness. Shen Zhuo became instantly alert, his long sword clearing its scabbard with a sharp metallic ring that pierced the silence.
“Xiao Zhuo?”
Just as Pei Chuan spoke, the weird quiet was torn apart.
“Ugh, AAHHHHH!”
Master Jian erupted into a piercing howl that was no longer human, a shriek that swept through the entire Jian estate. His body arched back at an impossibly twisted angle. Lumps began to bulge and writhe across his skin as if something were burrowing frantically beneath it.
The resentment that had entered him exploded, merging completely with the wickedness he had accumulated over the years. The black Qi no longer just swirled around him; it pierced every inch of his body, twisting his flesh and bone entirely.
Tear!
His robes were shredded by his swelling form. His skin rapidly turned a bruised greenish-black. He looked like a balloon being frantically over-inflated, losing his human shape in seconds.
“Save, save me!!”
The last traces of a human silhouette remained on Master Jian’s face, etched with ultimate terror. Soon, even this final sliver of clarity was swallowed by the darkness.
Master Jian, no, what stood there now, was no longer him. His body had bloated into a greenish-black mass of flesh, with twisted, irregular limbs branching out, forming a completely non-human monstrosity.
Shen Zhuo felt the air turn thick and heavy, making every breath a struggle, as if an invisible pressure were crushing his throat. Pei Chuan sensed the danger immediately and pulled his junior brother back. Shen Zhuo felt his body go light; after a brief moment of weightlessness, he found himself standing on the roof of a neighboring courtyard.
“This thing is not right.” Pei Chuan frowned as he saw Xie Yuan leap up beside them. “What are you doing following us?”
Xie Yuan swayed his jade fan. “This thing is too dangerous. I feared you could not handle it alone. Besides, I am here to protect Xiao Zhuo.”
“Xiao Zhuo has me to protect him. What does it have to do with you?” Pei Chuan stepped between Shen Zhuo and Xie Yuan.
“Pei Qingtian, you are practically infringing on personal freedom here,” Xie Yuan teased before turning serious. “Fellow Daoist Shen, do you know what Master Jian has become?”
Shen Zhuo stared at the horrifying creature still mutating below. “Resentment has entered the heart, and a demon has been born. He has become a Resentment Demon.”
From their vantage point, they noticed the resentment Butler Chen had unleashed affected more than just Master Jian. Within the ruins of the pavilion, servants began to crawl out, each trailing wisps of black Qi. Fortunately, their exposure was shallow and had not pierced their heart meridians; like Chen Gouzi before them, they simply began attacking anyone nearby indiscriminately.
Mortal strength was no match for cultivators, and with so many present, the possessed servants were quickly knocked unconscious. However, no one dared approach the horrific demon that Master Jian had become.
The greenish-black mass of flesh writhed and gurgled, a sound that set teeth on edge. Suddenly, it raised a mutated, razor-sharp claw and lashed out at the crowd. Shen Zhuo prepared to engage, but Pei Chuan stopped him.
“Xiao Zhuo, your cultivation is still shallow. Stay here. I will go.”
As Pei Chuan gave his instructions, Xie Yuan’s white jade fan flew from his hand, hovering over the crowd and erupting in a brilliant white light that barely blocked the demon’s strike. The other cultivators snapped out of it, summoning their spiritual tools to aid Xie Yuan.
Pei Chuan dove down. With a flash of sword light, the demon’s hideous limb was severed. Black, foul blood sprayed out as Pei Chuan pivoted in mid-air, landing steadily back among the crowd.
“It is Pei Chuan!” “With Pei Chuan here, what is there to fear!”
The disciples of various sects were heartened by the clean strike. Pei Chuan, however, ignored them, his eyes locked on the demon. “Careful. It will not stop here.”
Indeed, the blow had fully enraged the creature. A horrific mouth split open at the top of its head, letting out a piercing roar. Its massive body dipped before lunging into the air, straight for Pei Chuan!
“Scatter!”
Pei Chuan shouted, but he himself did not move an inch. Facing the immense pressure, he shifted his sword technique. Three blades of light materialized before him, crashing violently into the lunging demon. The demon was sliced into several segments, hanging suspended in the air.
Before anyone could sigh in relief, those severed parts dissolved into strands of black Qi. A moment later, they reconsolidated, restoring the mass of flesh to an unharmed state!
The cultivators behind Pei Chuan cried out in shock. “It can regenerate? How do we deal with this!”
Shen Zhuo shouted down toward Pei Chuan, “The Resentment Demon has no fixed form; it moves only with the resentment! You must use spiritual energy to tear it apart and disperse it!”
Pei Chuan’s sword style shifted instantly. Before the black Qi could act, several sharp sword auras pierced the air, striking the target. The newly formed demon was again shattered by the light, scattering into churning black mist.
As the mist tried to regroup, the sword auras did not vanish. Instead, driven by Pei Chuan’s sword wind, they erupted into a brilliant azure glow! That azure light was the color of Pei Chuan’s spiritual energy.
The black Qi fled frantically under the assault of the blue light, losing the strength to reform. After several failed attempts to cluster, the mist suddenly turned and fled toward the distance, trying to escape Pei Chuan’s range to regroup.
Suddenly, a black-clad figure landed gracefully, cutting off the path. Xie Yuan swayed his fan. “Pei Chuan is busy today; he has no time to play hide-and-seek with you.”
With a wave of his white jade fan, spiritual light forced the escaping mist back into the range of Pei Chuan’s sword aura. Pei Chuan understood the opening. He pointed his fingers like a blade and slashed through the air. The sword lights resonated with one another, instantly weaving into a sword array!
The array acted like an inescapable net, thoroughly grinding the resistant gas into nothingness. The suffocating pressure in the air finally began to lift.
Pei Chuan sheathed his sword, and Xie Yuan closed his fan. A sense of relief washed over the survivors. But before it could turn into a cheer, another change occurred.
Shen Zhuo stared at the spot in the air where the black Qi had been crushed. Probing with his spiritual energy, he discovered the resentment had not truly vanished. Instead, it had transformed into fine, almost invisible black dust, spreading silently through the air.
Looking out, it was like a silent black snowfall, drifting down and settling on every cultivator.
“Ugh.” A cultivator suddenly clutched his chest and let out a muffled groan. His companion rushed to support him, but in the next second, the companion also felt a tearing pain in his chest.
Shen Zhuo looked up, realizing the snow had reached the roof. In the next moment, a wave of groundless irritation and palpitations struck him, and suffocating fragments of memory began to flash uncontrollably before his eyes.