A short while later, a group of rogue cultivators arrived together and cautiously approached.
"Miss... Miss Ruan?"
The gray-robed old man named Shi Yue stopped some distance away.
He had come for Zhang Mu, the Lone Cultivator. Now, bewildered by the scene before him, he asked, "What happened?"
Not only was Zhang Mu dead, but his death had been so gruesome that Shi Yue was deeply shaken.
From what he had overheard, Ruan Meizhen and that Zhao lad were the ones suffering from severe poisoning. Chen Haoming and the others had even abandoned them.
Chen Haoming carried a keepsake belonging to his son. Through it, Shi Yue had eavesdropped in secret for a long time and knew exactly what this group had done.
While Zhang Mu traveled with Chen Haoming and the others, Shi Yue had seen no chance whatsoever to avenge his son. He had simply followed in silence, waiting bitterly for an opportunity.
He had waited and waited, until Zhang Mu finally left the group and his chance finally came.
Yet Zhang Mu had died before he could act.
Meanwhile, Ruan Meizhen and that Zhao lad, whom he had assumed were long dead from the poison, were still very much alive.
"Zhao Changfeng, don't you dare speak! Not one unnecessary word!"
Ruan Meizhen turned and shot Zhao Changfeng a vicious glare, warning him in an exceedingly quiet voice.
Only then did she slowly rise with an arrogant air and tell the four rogue cultivators casually, "I killed Zhang Mu."
Zhang Mu's hideously mangled corpse lay right before their eyes. The truth was plain to see.
Naturally, the four rogue cultivators led by Shi Yue did not question that. What truly puzzled them was... how had Ruan Meizhen managed it?
And what condition was Ruan Meizhen in now?
The desert at night was cold and forbidding, much like the chill in Ruan Meizhen's beautiful eyes.
She displayed extreme impatience, waving a hand as though shooing away flies, and said coldly, "Get lost. Stop bothering me!"
The exposed portion of her delicate hand was as white as congealed cream, indicating that the virulent poison was not troubling her-or that she had already refined it away.
Human hearts were treacherous. She dared not gamble on them at all.
She knew perfectly well what Shi Yue had come for. Though she was not his real target, she still dared not let down her guard.
"Miss Ruan, both my sons are dead. When I left Tamu Town this time, I never intended to return alive."
Choosing his words carefully, Shi Yue said sorrowfully, "Along the way, we encountered many people whose souls had been devoured by Soul Devouring demons. There were nine of us originally. Now only four remain."
Ruan Meizhen frowned, her expression growing even more impatient. "Why tell me this? What does it matter to me how many of you die?"
"Miss Ruan, you know what I want..."
Shi Yue lowered his head slightly, looking somewhat embarrassed, and said softly, "Zhang Mu had a keepsake belonging to my son. It's only a little bell. Could you give it to me, Miss Ruan?"
Having said that, he raised his head and looked past Ruan Meizhen, his gaze settling on Zhao Changfeng.
Zhao Changfeng was right beside Zhang Mu's bloody, mangled corpse, holding a spirit stone in each palm. Even now, he had not forgotten to cultivate diligently.
"Since I killed Zhang Mu, every spiritual material on him belongs to me-including your dead son's keepsake!"
Ruan Meizhen's tone was utterly resolute, leaving no room for negotiation.
Her exquisitely beautiful face was cold and stern. She advanced several steps with her alluring figure and said gravely, "Shi Yue, you should know my temper!"
"I do."
Shi Yue nodded hastily.
Without another word, he led his three silent companions in an immediate retreat.
The other three rogue cultivators, whom he had hired for a hefty sum, were desperadoes willing to take desperate risks. They even dared to target disciples of the Crippled Demon Sect.
As the three backed away, they scrutinized Ruan Meizhen and Zhao Changfeng with probing gazes, plainly hesitating.
"Wait."
Zhao Changfeng, whom Ruan Meizhen had sternly forbidden from saying even one unnecessary word, suddenly stood and smiled. "Senior Sister Ruan, why waste words on them?"
All four, including Shi Yue, froze for a moment.
Zhao Changfeng strode over, a deep crimson gleam suddenly rising in his eyes. He grinned at the rogue cultivator who was clearly coveting Ruan Meizhen's beauty. "What were you looking at just now? What were you thinking?"
The sinister-looking rogue cultivator had already suspected that Ruan Meizhen was in poor condition. At those words, he stopped retreating and grinned back. "Guess what I was thinking?"
"Guess your fucking mother!"
Zhao Changfeng raised his hand and unleashed a black-and-red blood shadow. Within it, shifting, contorted images writhed like twisted souls bearing a heart full of murderous malice.
He had infused this Blood Shadow Possession with the unknown power inside the cauldron, using it to test the effect.
The instant that warped, savage power appeared, Zhao Changfeng knew the nameless rogue cultivator was certain to die. Once again, a smile appeared on his face that made even Ruan Meizhen's heart tremble.
"You!"
The rogue cultivator had only just opened his mouth when the blood shadow containing the cauldron's strange power possessed him. A savage, distorting force that seemed capable of tearing all things apart instantly engulfed his entire body.
Bang!
Like a giant watermelon dropped from a great height, the rogue cultivator, who had not even given his name, exploded into a spray of severed limbs and shredded flesh.
"Huh. The power inside the cauldron really is extraordinary. Killing someone above my realm is this easy?"
Zhao Changfeng scratched his head.
Ruan Meizhen froze for an instant, looking at him as though he were some demon or monster. Suddenly, she regretted choosing such a harbinger of calamity to take her disasters for her.
Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!
Seeing their companion reduced to that ghastly state, so thoroughly mangled that they probably could not even piece him back together, Shi Yue and the other rogue cultivators were scared out of their wits. They immediately drew on every last ounce of their potential and fled wildly in three different directions.
Zhao Changfeng wanted to give chase, but realized that he seemed unable to run as fast as they could. He could only give up regretfully.
Ruan Meizhen stared blankly at Zhao Changfeng.
She had never seen anyone produce such a savage, violent effect with the Blood Shadow Art.
Never mind cultivators who had just entered the yuanqi stage like him-even formal disciples who had reached the primordial spirit realm did not wield the Blood Shadow Art like that.
"The bell probably does exist, but Zhang Mu didn't have it. I already checked."
Zhao Changfeng moved his hand, a blood shadow pulsing in and out of his palm. As he felt the overwhelming force produced by combining his Demonic Cultivation Art with the cauldron's strange power, he did not forget to explain, "They were able to find Zhang Mu, the Lone Cultivator, and follow him all the way here. They must have heard those two talking through the bell on Chen Haoming."
"They might even have been secretly eavesdropping through the bell for a long time, and known that you and I were poisoned."
"We were poisoned but somehow survived, while Zhang Mu died right beside us. No matter how you look at it, we must have exhausted ourselves."
"Especially you."
"Precisely because your dantian was so depleted, wicked thoughts stirred in their hearts. Asking you for the bell was nothing more than a probe."
"Senior Sister Ruan, trying to drive them away was actually another way of showing weakness."
"Being truly forceful means not wasting a single word on them. Just get up and kill them."
Zhao Changfeng spoke with a cheerful smile.
Ruan Meizhen drew a deep breath and said coldly, "The Lingxiao Sect was wiped out, and you, Zhao Changfeng, were the only survivor. There really was a reason for that."
"You truly are ruthless. If you could treat your fellow disciples that way, killing rogue cultivators would naturally be nothing to you."
Unbothered by her mockery, Zhao Changfeng was already rummaging through the scattered limbs and shredded flesh for the rogue cultivator's belongings.
Ruan Meizhen's expression darkened further, and she cursed inwardly, He's certainly practiced at this!
What she needed most right now was spirit stones to restore her fighting strength.
She had gotten none of Zhang Mu's. She had intended to swallow her disgust and loot the rogue cultivator's corpse, but judging by Zhao Changfeng's behavior, he had no intention of giving her the chance.
"What a long night."
After an entire night of upheaval, Zhao Changfeng glanced at the faintly brightening sky, then sat down where he was and resumed cultivating diligently.
Ruan Meizhen frowned. Seeing that Zhao Changfeng had no intention of paying her any attention, she hesitated, then quietly left.
"This lowly bitch has been pestering me for ages. I might as well kill her so you won't keep worrying!"
Before the gates of the Primal Demon Temple.
Holding the Demon Sword, which shimmered with purple light, Zhao Changfeng walked resolutely toward Ruan Meizhen, calling her a "lowly bitch" over and over.
Yet every step pierced his heart with pain, and his legs felt heavier than a thousand tons.
The young, innocent Ruan Meizhen lay in a pool of blood, staring blankly at him with a gaze that shattered his heart and made it tremble without cease.
With tremendous willpower, he steadied his emotions. It took every effort to keep his sword hand from shaking as violently as his heart, while he also watched Zhan Jingsi's expression out of the corner of his eye.
An indescribable, stabbing pain seemed to erupt from his flesh, blood, bones, and marrow, pushing him to the brink of endurance.
Ruan Meizhen looked as though she had lost her soul, gazing at him without moving.
Zhao Changfeng kept walking, his expression savage and vicious, while his heart felt precisely the opposite.
"I said that's enough."
At last, Zhan Jingsi's voice rang out to stop him.
Boom!
Zhao Changfeng jolted awake in horror from the nightmare-like experience. He discovered that he had bitten his tongue bloody, and a large patch of blood stained the front of his clothes.
"The gates of the Primal Demon Temple."
"Zhan Jingsi. Ruan Meizhen."
"Xu Lang!"
Sweat poured off Zhao Changfeng like rain. Head bowed, he panted incessantly, his eyes thick with bloodshot veins, like a bloodthirsty beast that had endured ten thousand years of ravenous thirst.
The energy within him ran wild. His flesh and bones ached unbearably, and his mind felt as though needles were stabbing into it.
"I actually suffered a backlash. The obsession and inner demon Ruan Meizhen never managed to resolve have now become my karmic burden too."
Zhao Changfeng's heart sank into the depths.
Only then did he finally understand why Ruan Meizhen could not overcome her Heart-Demon Obsession, failing her attempts to break through again and again.
"Too terrifying. Her inner demon really is lethal. Even I nearly died."
The mysterious Small Cauldron bestowed upon him from the void beyond the heavens had helped suppress the poison throughout his body. Within it, a strange power born from Ruan Meizhen's Heart-Demon Obsession was still brewing, but it had also transferred her tangled karma to him.
From this moment onward, that Heart-Demon Obsession would haunt him too, becoming a great terror whenever he attempted a Realm Breakthrough.
"Xu Lang was the one who started all this. What does it have to do with me, Zhao Changfeng?"
"Why should I have to bear the sins he committed?"
Zhao Changfeng was utterly distraught.
P.S. Please remember to read all the way to the end while the book is still new. I know you might not be in the habit, since new books have so few words. Even I, Old Ni, tend to let chapters pile up when I follow a book.
But this affects the book's early performance, so sorry for the trouble, everyone~~