Revenge

Just past midnight, in the eastern part of Nuoding City.

The two squatted on a low wall. The courtyard was a typical old-style courtyard house in Nuoding City, square in shape, with the main house and side rooms forming a circle. The ground was paved with bluestone slabs and was swept clean.

A gray wolfhound was chained in the corner of the yard, fast asleep in its cage. Before coming, Wang Xingyu had flicked a pinch of poison powder towards the cage, enough for it to sleep until noon tomorrow.

Both of them had changed into black clothes. Xiao Wu lowered her voice, "Is this the place?"

"Just like Grandpa Ma Xiunuo and Su Yuntao said. It's this house." Wang Xingyu's gaze fell on the window in the main room that was still lit.

A man and a woman were talking inside. The woman's voice carried a tentative gentleness, while the man's voice was muffled, as if he had been tired all day.

"Honey, the kids are asleep... do you want some?"

"Maybe next time, I'm a bit tired today."

The woman's tone suddenly changed; her gentleness shattered like a thin layer of ice, revealing a cold, hard undertone. "Tired? If you're tired, why did you go out and find someone else?"

The man was taken aback for a moment, but instead of the expected excuses, he shouted angrily, "You dare to follow me!"

"I've been following you." The woman's voice, surprisingly steady, carried a hint of smugness. "If you dare to mess around outside again, I'll tell the city lord everything about you."

"You!" The man grabbed the woman's neck. A smile played on her lips, as if she had expected this. Her voice, broken and choked, remained calm and unhurried. "If you strangle me... the whole town will know about it the next day."

The man loosened his fingers one by one.

The woman's smile deepened.

But her smugness didn't last long—the hand that had loosened its grip stopped, and not just the hand, the man's entire arm and body froze, like a stone statue that had been struck by acupuncture.

A Blue Silver Grass had somehow wrapped around his waist, its tendrils running along his spine and upwards, with thin branches disappearing into the back of his neck.

The woman almost instinctively jumped back.

But a flash of red light appeared, and her back slammed into a sharp, metallic object. Immediately afterward, a hand reached out from behind, a cold dagger pressed against her neck, and a young woman's voice rang in her ear.

"Don't shout, don't yell, or I'll kill you."

Wang Xingyu walked in from outside, the Blue Silver Grass glowing faintly at his fingertips, the other end connected to the frozen man.

The blue lines on his forehead lit up— Mental Interference activated. After a brief moment of clarity, the man's gaze unfocused again, as if he had been pulled into another world.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The woman's voice trembled, but she tried to remain calm. "Money? How much do you want? I can give you—"

"More than ten years ago, in the back mountains of Holy Soul Village," Wang Xingyu's voice was flat, as if confirming details of a document, "You killed a young couple. Do you remember?"

The woman's eyes flickered. "I don't remember killing him. You must have the wrong person!"

She denied it outright; Wang Xingyu could tell she had no recollection of it at all.

Another strand of Blue Silver Grass wrapped around her wrist. Wang Xingyu didn't ask another question, and Life Drain.

This was the first time he had used his Life Drain life force from others.

The woman's body began to go limp uncontrollably, the color drained from her skin at a visible rate, and her lips began to turn pale.

This feeling is like being slowly coiled up by a snake; you can feel your strength draining away, but you can't break free no matter what you do.

"I really didn't kill him... You must have remembered wrong... I'll give you anything you want..."

Wang Xingyu looked at her, thinking to himself—is this villain really that stubborn? Shouldn't we break her arm or chop off her leg first? But he didn't do that.

The blue lines on his forehead lit up again, the Mental Interference combined with the Illusion Creation pulling the woman's consciousness into another dimension. Then he asked again, "Did you kill her?"

This time, the woman didn't deny it. She just murmured, "How would I know? Useless commoners, once they're dead, they're dead. Who will remember them?"

Wang Xingyu did not ask a fifth time.

He controlled the illusion, causing those she had killed to appear one by one within it, walking towards her one after another.

The people were dressed in tattered, coarse cloth clothes, their faces bearing the exact same expressions she remembered. In the hallucination, she screamed, struggled, and begged for mercy, but it was all in vain.

She could only be killed again and again in that nightmare she herself had created.

The man who had been frozen in place had already regained his sight.

He watched as his wife convulsed before his eyes, screamed silently, and writhed on the ground like an insect whose shell had been turned inside out.

He opened his mouth, trying his best to shout out—he thought he had shouted, he felt his throat vibrating, felt the sound bursting out of his chest.

In reality, however, his lips only moved slightly. That was a new illusion Wang Xingyu had created for him, an illusion that made him believe he had shouted.

Wang Xingyu turned to look at the frozen man and asked, "Do you remember?"

The man suddenly laughed. Not a pleading laugh, nor a manic laugh, but the kind of laugh born of knowing he was going to die and no longer caring about anything. His mouth was wide open, his voice hoarse and grating. "Will you remember how many ants you've stepped on?"

Wang Xingyu stared at him for two seconds, then his eyes turned cold.

"As expected. Every era has its share of people like you."

With a flick of his finger, the Blue Silver Grass tightened, dragging the man into the illusion as well. Those he had oppressed, hurt, and trampled underfoot lined up in the illusion, walking towards him again and again.

Xiao Wu suddenly turned her head and looked towards the door. "Xingyu."

Wang Xingyu followed her gaze. Outside the door, a boy of about eight years old was peeking through the crack in the door. His eyes met Wang Xingyu's.

Without hesitation, Wang Xingyu fired a Sleeve Arrow, which flew through the crack in the door and pierced the child's body. The boy fell to the ground, not even having time to utter a sound.

Before he came, he asked Ma Xiunuo. Ma Xiunuo's grandfather said that the family had two children, the older one was eight years old and was not a good person, often bullying other children, and the younger one was six years old and he hadn't had much contact with him.

The man lying on the ground was still twitching slightly, but the woman was no longer moving.

The boy outside the door gradually fell silent. Wang Xingyu looked down at his hands, then raised them and pressed them against his chest.

My heartbeat has slowed down. Ever since Old Jack revealed the truth, it felt like something had been gripping my heart, all the way from Holy Soul Village to Nuoding City, and right here in this courtyard.

The force has now loosened.

He withdrew his hand and said to Xiao Wu, "Let's go."

The two people lying on the ground had their Spiritual Power and life force drained; even if left unattended, they wouldn't last much longer.

Xiao Wu glanced towards the side room. "There's still a child. What should we do?"

Wang Xingyu pushed open the door to the side room. Inside, there were two small beds side by side, their bedding rumpled and lying around; the room was empty.

He went in, silently looked around, then bent down, grabbed a corner of the sheet, and lifted it up. The six-year-old boy was curled up under the bed, his hands tightly covering his mouth, tears streaming down his face.

Wang Xingyu leaned down to meet his gaze, his tone as calm as if he were discussing a trivial matter. "Don't worry. I'm just here for revenge. You may be a child of this family, but you're still just a child. I'll give you a chance—next time we meet, I won't hold back."

After saying that, he stood up, turned around, and walked out. The boy's hands were still covering his mouth, but a glimmer of light gradually appeared in his eyes—the hope of surviving a disaster.

Wang Xingyu walked to the door and suddenly stopped.

He turned around, his tone light, "What a coincidence. We meet again."

Blue Silver Grass shot out and wrapped around the child's body. The illusion was activated.

If the child really hasn't done anything wrong, it's really hard for him to do it; he can only eliminate the problem while feeling guilty.

The child had only been in the illusion for two seconds when he said, "So what if I bullied you?"

Wang Xingyu retrieved the Blue Silver Grass, "They're all villains!"