Se Erti looked at the Shadow Spikes piercing his body, his lips trembling as he forced a mocking smile.
"No, when it comes to private punishment, you surpass him. If tormenting an old man like me gives you pleasure and lets you savor revenge, then do as you please."
Kou Ying smiled. Beneath his gentle, handsome exterior lay a heart that wanted to devour his enemies alive and flay them.
"Torment? I would call it punishment. Punishment for a Betrayer."
The Shadow Spikes hoisted Se Erti up in a sorry state. His eyelids twitched. "As you wish. But this old man cannot bear the name of traitor. It was only for our ideals. Everything was for our ideals."
Kou Ying coldly watched those eyes, lost in self-consolation.
"Don't sully the word 'ideals.'"
"Wasn't it?" Se Erti raised his head and looked at him, yet seemed to be looking through him at someone else.
"You know. You know there is no path to survival for the Present World. You know full well that the dynasty of Calamity has already been established. You even saw it yourself-that fallen world, already beyond saving.
The Present World is like a leaf sealed inside a glass jar, but outside lies a rotten, decaying winter. Once the glass jar breaks, that rot will ultimately contaminate and assimilate the leaf.
The entire world is murky and black. That green is its only sin. Kou Cheqie'er, you clearly saw everything, so why do you still cling to an illusory ideal that can never possibly be realized!"
Kou Ying frowned. "You have the wrong person. I'm not him."
But Se Erti seemed to have already lost his mind. He did not listen to him at all, instead speaking to Kou Cheqie'er, who had been dead for years, and frantically