“You’re in qi deviation and don’t remember me right now, so I won’t hold it against you.” Xiao Chunhe lowered his voice and caught Yue Jingming’s bone-cold hand. “Stop.”
Yue Jingming flung his hand away and stared at him coldly. “I remember you, Xiao Chunhe.”
Xiao Chunhe froze. “Jingming…”
“You faked your death and deceived me, borrowed my name to commit wrongdoing and swindle others, refused to repent after being exposed, then stayed by my side to make use of the Myriad Demons Scroll,” Yue Jingming said coldly. “Full of sophistry, murderous nature unchanged. Execute.”
Xiao Chunhe glared at him with reddened eyes, his chest heaving twice. “So this is what you really think of me? Then what about everything you said before?!”
Yue Jingming said blandly, “I was moved by emotion, blinded by lust, unable to distinguish truth from falsehood or good from evil. I betrayed my original heart long ago, mixed with a fox demon, and fell into qi deviation. I too should be executed.”
Xiao Chunhe trembled with fury. “Fine. Fine! So that’s how it is. Because I lied to you before, no matter how many sincere things I say to you, you’ll never believe them again!”
Yue Jingming looked at him without expression. The true qi around him grew increasingly fierce, sealing every escape route for everyone present.
“Martial Uncle, Master is in qi deviation. Everything he’s saying is nonsense. He definitely doesn’t really think that!” Ye Shijiu struggled to his feet against the violent gale, raising an arm before his face as he tried to approach them.
Fang Jingyi said, “Eldest Senior Brother isn’t wrong! Fox demons are naturally cunning. He must have fallen into qi deviation because that fox deceived him!”
Xiao Chunhe’s fury peaked. He turned a vicious gaze on him. “You want to die?”
Fang Jingyi stiffened his neck. “My Eldest Senior Brother hates fox demons most. Didn’t you hear him? You’re the one at death’s door!”
Hearing him, Yue Jingming looked over. “Noisy.”
Fang Jingyi choked, then said aggrievedly, “Eldest Senior Brother, I’m Jingyi. Don’t you recognize me?”
“Slow-witted and indolent, unwilling to improve. Execute,” Yue Jingming said calmly.
Fang Jingyi stared blankly. “Huh?”
Yue Jingming ignored everyone inside the formation. He formed seals with both hands, true qi surging around him as overwhelming demonic-path qi crashed down, intent on destroying every living thing inside without mercy.
Feng Qingying had the highest cultivation and immediately tried to dissolve into black smoke and flee. But an even denser stream of black qi followed, seized her by the throat, and slammed her to the ground as powerful true qi drove straight toward her dantian.
Feng Qingying cried out in pain and struck to the side with one palm. Yue Jingming neither dodged nor retreated. The Clear Breeze Sword stabbed straight toward her dantian. Feng Qingying’s pupils contracted in horror. A wounded dantian still left a chance to start over, but if her yuan core were carved out, she would be finished completely.
She instantly grabbed Xue Lezhi beside her and dragged him in front as a shield.
Caught off guard, Xue Lezhi crashed onto Yue Jingming’s Clear Breeze Sword. He did not even manage to finish calling “Fellow Daoist Yue” before the blade mercilessly pierced his chest and continued through into Feng Qingying’s dantian behind him. Just as Yue Jingming was about to pour in demonic-path qi for a full-powered strike that would scatter both their souls, a red shadow suddenly knocked him to the ground.
“Yue Jingming!” The enormous fox demon pinned both his wrists beneath its front paws. Black veins stood out across its face as a low warning growl rumbled from its throat. “Calm down! Don’t do something stupid!”
Xiao Chunhe was furious beyond measure, but he also knew that anyone else might scatter a person’s soul and get away with it. Yue Jingming alone could not. Given this Daoist’s nature, if he recovered his senses later, he would probably regret it so deeply that another inner demon would be born.
Yue Jingming stared coldly at the fox demon before him. He drove one knee and foot straight into the center of its chest. Agonizing pain tore through Xiao Chunhe’s barely healed wound. His massive fox body shuddered and staggered backward. Yue Jingming immediately closed the distance and smashed a palm into his chest.
That palm carried abundant true qi. With his meridians badly injured, Xiao Chunhe could no longer maintain such a huge demon form. He crashed heavily to the ground and was forced back into human shape. Yet the pain running through every bone and limb could not compare with the pain inside his heart. He raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at Yue Jingming advancing step by step with sword in hand.
Yue Jingming’s eyes had been completely stained black by the qi. His expression held an almost merciless severity as he looked down at the fox demon driven to the end of his road. Demonic-path qi filled the Clear Breeze Sword once more, and without the slightest hesitation he stabbed straight at him.
The explosion of true qi was deafening. Ye Shijiu lunged over in an attempt to save Xiao Chunhe but was violently thrown aside. Fang Jingyi rushed forward to catch him, only for both of them to be blasted away together. Their organs screamed with pain, and they spat blood.
“Martial Uncle!” Ye Shijiu shouted in panic.
Yue Jingming turned toward him, the Clear Breeze Sword changing direction in his hand.
“YUE JINGMING!” A hoarse, vicious voice slowly rose from the dust.
The Daoist in qi deviation paused and looked back at the fox demon who had risen again, covered head to toe in blood. One brow lifted in surprise.
Savage blue-black veins covered Xiao Chunhe’s neck, and the outline of a ferocious fox face showed faintly across his features. His fox ears and tail were fully exposed. Though still in human form, a deep growl came from his throat as he wrinkled his nose. The instant Yue Jingming turned toward him, Xiao Chunhe launched himself forward.
Human and fox moved so quickly that even Ye Shijiu and Fang Jingyi could see only two afterimages. Demonic-path qi and demonic qi collided in repeated explosions. The Demon-Locking Formation abruptly expanded, then shrank. Stones flew, trees and mountain slopes collapsed, and powerful gales split the earth into fissures several zhang deep. The ground shook like an earthquake.
Since descending the mountain, Yue Jingming had mostly focused on guiding, saving, and resolving danger. Even when cornered, he rarely used his full strength. Xiao Chunhe, restrained by the demon-gu and puppet nails and perpetually half-sick, preferred tricks and shortcuts. If something could be solved with his demon body, he would never waste another ounce of effort. And because man and fox were devoted to each other, they had never truly fought to the death. Neither had ever known the other’s actual limits.
By the end, the Clear Breeze Sword and folding fan had both been mostly destroyed. They simply discarded their weapons. Every move now used their full strength. Surging demonic qi and true qi smashed together, every strike aimed to kill. Even fully conscious, Xiao Chunhe had to give the fight every shred of concentration. Yet when the decisive moments came, he still hesitated for an instant.
Between experts, one instant was enough. Yue Jingming caught him by the throat and slammed him heavily against a tree. Blood immediately spilled from Xiao Chunhe’s mouth and nose. He tugged at one corner of his mouth. “I lost. If you’ve got the nerve, kill me.”
Without hesitation, Yue Jingming gathered power and brought one palm crashing toward the crown of his head.
“!” Xiao Chunhe’s pupils contracted. He slammed his tail into Yue Jingming’s lower back and used the instant of instability to flash aside, only to have his shoulder seized and violently wrenched backward.
Xiao Chunhe felt the bones in his shoulder crack inch by inch. He flipped his palm, revealing a long needle steeped in charm poison, and without hesitation drove it toward Yue Jingming’s wound. Yue had old injuries and reacted a fraction too slowly. The poisoned needle sank into the wound, and the fierce toxin instantly rushed through all four limbs and hundred bones.
Xiao Chunhe’s fox eyes were blood-red. The hand clutching the long needle trembled uncontrollably. He hurriedly sealed several major acupoints on Yue Jingming’s chest, then gathered what strength remained and struck the back of Yue’s neck hard with the edge of his hand.
Yue Jingming swayed. For an instant, clarity returned to his lightless black eyes. He saw Xiao Chunhe staring at him through tears, furious and heartbroken. Without the slightest hesitation, the hand Yue Jingming had been about to drive into Xiao Chunhe’s dantian abruptly changed direction and slammed into his own.
At the instant his meridians broke apart inch by inch, the heaven-swallowing demonic-path qi vanished with them.
Xiao Chunhe caught him, but with no strength left himself, the weight forced him directly to his knees.
The wind and sand settled. Only Xiao Chunhe’s heavy breathing remained. Inside the slowly dissolving Demon-Locking Formation, Xue Lezhi’s fate was unknown, Feng Qingying was pinned firmly in place by a horsetail whisk, and Fang Jingyi and Ye Shijiu lay unconscious and badly injured. For several li around the forest, hills had been flattened and trees destroyed. The place had nearly been leveled.
Filthy black blood dripped from Xiao Chunhe’s mouth and nose onto the face of the man in his arms.
Xiao Chunhe blinked slowly, painfully raised his sleeve, and wiped the blood from Yue Jingming’s face. Weakly, he gave a breathless laugh. “Stinking Daoist… pretty impressive.”
Footsteps approached from the distance. Xiao Chunhe, still looking down, went rigid.
A gentle-featured young man stood not far away with his hands tucked into his sleeves and spoke unhurriedly. “No one has ever forced you to use your full strength like this. It seems Yue Jingming truly does live up to the rumors and has inherited Su Ji’s teachings deeply.”
Xiao Chunhe slowly raised his head. His vision was blurred red with blood. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on Yue Jingming’s ice-cold hand and said, “You had Feng Qingying poison him.”
“Back in Zhongzhou, if you had obeyed me and killed him instead of returning to Zixu Mountain with me, I wouldn’t have needed to expend so much effort.” Xiao Wen sighed helplessly. “Chunhe, stop indulging in wishful thinking. Look at who you are and who he is. There is a sea of blood and hatred between you. You can never be together.”
Xiao Chunhe’s gaze sharpened. “What do you mean?”
“I promised your mother I would never tell you this.” Xiao Wen looked at him with pity. “The group that ambushed her and caused her death back then was led by none other than Su Ji, the head of the Zushan Sect.”
Xiao Chunhe’s pupils trembled.
“And Yue Jingming’s parents were Su Ji’s closest friends. They died after a fox demon with profound cultivation ate their hearts. Back then, your mother had only just given birth to you. To save you, she had no choice but to descend the mountain in search of a human heart. The heart of a Daoist is an excellent tonic.” Xiao Wen spoke with regret. “Who would have thought those two Daoists had such powerful connections? That was ultimately what brought disaster down on her.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Xiao Chunhe’s scalp prickled. He glared viciously at Xiao Wen, eyes splitting with fury. “That’s impossible!”
“Back then, the two of you were surrounded and attacked by those Daoists. You were barely alive. Your mother stayed behind to buy time so I could take you back to Zixu Mountain!” Xiao Wen said sharply. “There is a blood feud between you and him. Even if you’re willing, once he learns the truth, do you think he’ll still be willing to stay with you?”
The hand Xiao Chunhe had wrapped around Yue Jingming’s began trembling uncontrollably.
“Stop being naive, Chunhe. Qi deviation or not, he cultivates the No-Thought One-Mind Art. The thoughts he has now are merely thoughts he has held before. Even without all this blood debt and hatred, the two of you are still human and demon walking different paths.” Xiao Wen tried to persuade him earnestly. “Didn’t you already see it inside the Glazed Treasure-Reflecting Mirror? Your previous lives were already an ill-fated entanglement that could never be sorted out. This life won’t have a good ending either.”
Xiao Chunhe stared at him without expression. “I’ll investigate what really happened back then.”
“You’ve stayed with these people so long that you’ve picked up their habit of fretting over every possibility. Fine. Investigate all you like. There are plenty of people who know about what happened.” Xiao Wen shook his head in exasperation. “Today is the fifteenth. If you don’t return now, your body and Dao will perish. Even if only for your mother’s sake, I have to take you back.”
Xiao Chunhe said, “What if I refuse?”
“Then everyone inside this formation dies. Oh, and the pregnant woman farther away, and the future emperor back at the inn.” Xiao Wen smiled with his hands tucked into his sleeves. “Once all these people die, the fates of everyone under Heaven shift with them. Imagine how much karma that would create.”
Xiao Chunhe clenched his teeth and tried to gather demonic qi. But all that remained in his limbs was agony. The puppet nails driven into his major acupoints pinned him so firmly he could not move, while the demon-gu had already crawled up to the back of his neck. The more unwilling and resentful he became, the more unbearable the pain grew.
…Why? Why did it have to be him?!
As though seeing through his thoughts, Xiao Wen smiled helplessly. “Forget it. The seven emotions and six desires were never yours to enjoy. Chunhe, listen to me. This is their mortal world, not yours. You are only a nameless fox demon belonging to something unreal and nonexistent, born outside the red dust. Why involve yourself in their karmic ties?”
Xiao Chunhe lowered his head to the man in his arms. He let the puppet nails pierce through his wrists and used his blood-covered hands to carefully arrange Yue Jingming’s hair. His nose suddenly stung. He bent down and gently brushed the tip of his nose against Yue Jingming’s forehead. “Good Jingming… I’m sorry. I’m the one who failed you.”
Xiao Wen watched coldly, the corner of his mouth lifting almost imperceptibly.
“I’ll go back with you.” Xiao Chunhe carefully laid Yue Jingming down, then struggled to his feet and looked at the old fox before him. “But you let them go.”
“Heh.” Xiao Wen found it laughable, but agreed anyway. “Fine. For your mother’s sake.”
Xiao Chunhe looked once more at the Daoist lying on the ground. His heart felt as though a knife were twisting through it, but in the end he still followed Xiao Wen away. Xiao Wen could not help sighing. “Come on. They are human. You are a demon.”
And humans and demons had always walked different paths.