"Li Yu... Li Yu..."
"Who... who is calling me?"
"Li Yu... Li Yu... do you want to gain power?"
"Who exactly are you?"
It was as if a call from the depths of his heart had appeared, guiding him to leave the group alone for a while.
At that moment, what appeared before Li Yu was a witchfolk mud house—a crude dwelling made of rough mud mixed with plenty of weeds to improve its cohesion.
Before he knew it, Li Yu had stepped inside the house. There was no one within, only a fire pit dug into the center of the room, where a strange blood-colored flame was burning.
Amid the shifting firelight, a human face faintly emerged. It was unmistakably Li Yu's own face.
Although the Little Sage of the Apricot Altar had all his Confucian Way power suppressed by the Witch Era, his state of mind remained extraordinary. Faced with the strange firelight, Li Yu merely furrowed his brows.
He said in a low voice, "What are you? How dare you invade my mind?"
The strong possessed the heart of the strong and would never retreat before adversity. Even when facing a monster like Ji Fa, who had nearly hammered him to death, he had only been hammered to death—that was all. At the Purple Firmament Cup three years ago, Li Yu had never backed down. Of course, he had been knocked unconscious at the time.
"I am you, Li Yu... the truest you... Come, throw yourself into my embrace." The firelight shifted, and the face that had emerged grew increasingly sinister. "Come with me and enter the embrace of the Blood God."
Li Yu suddenly clasped his hands and said calmly, "A gentleman does not stand beneath a collapsing wall. Farewell."
With that, he turned and left,