by M. Q. Kajack
“Watch out for my beloved Ye Bai. He will reduce your achievements to dust,” You Ye said while laughing. She had a dazzling smile on her face.
Both guys gulped. Damn Ye Bai.
“Huh? Look, isn’t that Shu Yi and Shu Er?” You Ye pointed to two figures lying on the floor surrounded by thousands of broken crystals.
They were unconscious, but they were complete. They were no longer cripples. Their limbs had grown back, the missing arms and legs appeared again, attached to their bodies. They were perfect—the newly grown parts didn’t have any flaw. Now that they had recovered, their beauty was accentuated even more, especially for Shu Er.
Chu Xian and Li Qi looked at each other with a dejected smile on their faces.
Damn Ye Bai!
“Stupid motherfucker ruins! We almost died! What nonsense final test? Why are we being attacked again if we’re done with the ‘final’ one?” Chu Xian exclaimed with his blade full of blood. “Where did so many monsters come from?”
“Fortunately, we didn’t fail to protect Shu Yi and Shu Er. Otherwise, Brother Ye would have blamed us,” Li Qi said.
“My husband won’t blame us! He is not that kind of man,” You Ye said with a radiant smile on her face. Her clothes were a total mess, exposing some parts of her body, and her shining golden hair was stained with blood.
Chu Xian and Li Qi wanted to cough blood. How shameless could this girl be? Since when did Brother Ye become her husband? Sighing, both young men understood that You Ye became dumb the moment she had fallen in love with Ye Bai.
The three of them were always competing against each other, but the Ancient Ruins drew them closer. They were satisfied with the trip and they became sworn brothers. As for You Ye, she became Ye Bai’s first wife, at least that was what she claimed herself to be.
Li Qi found the Ancient Qi path. Thanks to this, he was able to breakthrough to Qi Refining stage 11th Rank. Chu Xian also managed to control his bloodline a bit more, therefore breaking through to Core Foundation 1st Rank and Muscle Tempering 2nd Rank, bringing his cultivation to a new level. After all, his bloodline was related to body cultivation. You Ye awakened the potential of her body and broke through to Core Foundation 1st Rank. The Ancient Ruins labelled her as the possessor of the Sun Spiritual Body.
This was totally new. There had never been a Spiritual Body attribute listed on the Holy Crystal. Li Qi, who was the one with the most knowledge among them, guessed that it might be something related to the Spirit King stage.
Shu Yi and Shu Er were still unconscious, and the youths didn’t know how to wake them up. Both of them weren’t responding to anything. The strangest thing though was that the twins held hands together, and no matter how much the trio tried, there was a force preventing them from separating them.
“Don’t worry. Since they are the maids of my husband, I will take proper care of them when we are back at our sect,” You Ye assured them.
The boys didn’t know what to say, so they just nodded, wondering what was Ye Bai’s opinion on all of this. Could it be that something happened between them? She was left alone with Ye Bai, after all...
“Look! The portal to the exit is here!” Chu Xian said while rushing to the portal.
You Ye happily followed after Chu Xian, but they were abruptly stopped by Li Qi’s shout.
“Wait!”
“What’s wrong, Brother Li?” You Ye looked at him with a weird face.
Li Qi lowered his head. “Sister You... I didn’t want to be the one telling you this, but something must have happened to Brother Ye...”
“What the hell are you saying? Nothing will happen to my husband!” You Ye angrily shouted, her body betraying her feelings as she was shivering.
Indeed, something was wrong. They had all succeeded, but where was Brother Ye? Why were both of his maids there without him? You Ye had already realized that something went wrong, she just didn’t want to accept it. Right now, the evidence was in front of her...
When the last test of the Ancient Ruins ends, a massive portal would always appear, so that the people would be able to exit. That was not the exact issue. The issue was that once the portal appears, every person alive would be teleported near the portal. That was the reason why Chu Xian, You Ye, Li Qi and the twins were together.
“It’s okay, I know. I choose to believe in him,” You Ye said without looking back, her eyes tearing up.
“Brother Ye will be okay. He’s a monster, after all,” Chu Xian said, laughing afterwards. “Let’s go!”
“I just hope Xiao Wu didn’t turn the situation for the worse. Otherwise, I’m afraid Brother Ye will be hunted by his own country,” Li Qi said to the both of them. They needed to understand the situation accurately.
“Then...” You Ye seemed to get the message Li Qi wanted to get across.
“Xiao Wu didn’t see what happened to us, after all. We will fabricate a story just in case Xiao Wu made things difficult for Brother Ye. We will maintain our relationship secret,” Li Qi explained his plan to them.
“But—”
“Drop it, Sister You. Li Qi is right. We can’t help Brother Ye if they associate Brother Ye with us. We don’t have high support within the sects, so we need to get stronger for his sake if something goes wrong. I doubt your mother’s influence could cover us, Sister You. The only problem is them.” Chu Xian waved towards Shu Er and Shu Yi.
Li Qi gritted his teeth “I don’t have any idea for them.”
Biting her lips, You Ye made up her mind. Two tokens appeared on her hands.
“Enslave!” she shouted.
The two tokens radiated a red light, flying towards Shu Er and Shu Yi. Both tokens placed themselves above their hearts. However, their shining red light suddenly stopped, and several seconds later, both tokens turned into dust.
This was not the first time the three of them had seen how people got enslaved, and as such, they had also seen the enslaving process fail. However, this was a first—never had the enslaving tokens turned into dust. The tokens could be easily destroyed with Qi, therefore people needed to be unconscious to be enslaved. The tokens You Ye used were enough to enslave a Core Foundation cultivator, and both women on the floor couldn’t defend themselves. There was no Qi fluctuation from them.
What exactly happened?
You Ye turned to look at Li Qi with pleading eyes.
“I don’t know, Sister You...” Li Qi said, lowering his head.
“This is troublesome. Perhaps nothing will happen to them?” Chu Xian said.
The three of them discussed about what to do with Ye Bai’s maids. You Ye was getting crazier with each moment, as none of the solutions they found had a good ending for Shu Er and Shu Yi. After spending so much time talking, they understood that the chances of Xiao Wu telling everything about Ye Bai were too high. If they failed to protect his maids, how would they dare look into his eyes again?
Both women were resting silently on the floor. If one didn’t focus, they wouldn’t even notice they were still breathing.
As they were conversing, no one noticed a small part of the space tearing up, forming a small black hole that grew with each passing second. By the time Li Qi turned his head to check on both women, it was too late. The black hole was big enough to engulf them and it was exactly what happened. Before anyone could react, the black hole closed.
You Ye stared at the black hole with her mouth agape… then, she lost consciousness, her slender body slowly falling on the brown ground. She had fainted.
“L-Li Qi, what was that?” Chu Xian said in a shivering voice. His bloodline had activated, and he was trying hard to suppress it. The dark presence he felt when looking inside the black hole was threatening enough for his bloodline to awaken on its own.
Li Qi’s body was trembling, half-kneeling on the floor with his face as white as paper. Cold sweat ran down his spine. He couldn’t find the words to describe what happened. All he knew was that the presence inside the black hole was way too terrifyin
g. If it didn’t show mercy... Li Qi was absolutely sure everyone would have died.
Shu Yi’s and Shu Er’s bodies were lying in a dark and desolate land which didn’t harbour any kind of life. Their surroundings were dark and cold, so dark that nothing around them could be seen. If it wasn’t for the slight color difference of the floor, anyone would think they had gone blind.
Despite being engulfed by the terrifying black hole, both women were still holding each other’s hands, still unconscious.
“Look! They are out!” someone within the crowd shouted, pointing at the immense portal.
Everyone focused on the three figures who just appeared—two young men and a beautiful girl. Her beauty was not enough to overshadow Wei Beiyu, but it was still a beauty that stood out. Her long golden hair, dancing with the wind, made her gorgeous face truly shine.
Within the crowd, Wei Beiyu’s face twitched. She didn’t like losing her spotlight. When the three of them appeared, she was happily being flattered by the newcomers of the sect and some new senior brother she met.
“Mother!” You Ye shouted as she spotted her mother talking with Xiao Wu.
Li Qi frowned. This wasn’t good news. He could see that there were way too many people waiting at the portal. He recognized the three Nascent Soul cultivators beside You Ye’s mother. The four of them were in charge of the Inner Disciple test this year. Worst of all... there was a Dark Wood Sect Elder among them. He must be furious that every disciple under the Dark Wood Sect was killed.
Li Qi’s eyes rested on Xiao Wu, and they made eye contact. Xiao Wu trembled.
Chu Xian and You Ye understood the meaning behind Li Qi’s look and Xiao Wu’s reaction. Brother Ye had been exposed.
“Ye’er!” You Ye’s mother shouted, her eyes slightly watering.
She reached over and embraced her daughter. It was a strange sight to see this mother and daughter pair. They looked so similar that they could pass off as sisters. You Jin’s age didn’t match her appearance at all.
Some youths in the crowd gulped upon seeing this embrace. The sight a young woman’s bosom pressing against a bigger and more mature one caused many dirty thoughts to form in their minds.
“Where is that boy named Ye Bai? Where is he?” Old Yi shouted. He couldn’t endure it anymore.
Based on how enraged Old Yi from the Dark Wood Sect was, things were clear. Xiao Wu spilled everything out. The three of them had agreed before to hide their relationship with Brother Ye. Since both Brother Ye and his maids had disappeared, things were a bit easier now.
“We don’t know. In the last room, after talking with Xiao Wu, he disappeared,” Li Qi slowly explained what the three of them discussed before. “Each one of us accepted a different test and after we finished them, we appeared together. Ye Bai didn’t show up at all… perhaps, he’s dead?”
“Spit out the truth!” Old Yi raged, then he turned to look at Xiao Wu. “You can’t lie? You said you can tell if someone is telling the truth or not. Is that youth telling the truth?”
Trying to trick an elder of the Dark Wood Sect. They sure think they are smart.
Li Qi paused. How stupid, they had actually forgotten Xiao Wu’s curse. Damn it!
Xiao Wu wasn’t an idiot. She knew they were covering for Ye Bai due to her curse. She blinked, struggling whether to talk or shut her mouth. She already made things difficult for Ye Bai, but nevertheless, he remained her benefactor.
“GET OUT OF MY MIND!” I shouted, spilling blood.
A baby sleeping in his mother’s arms started crying due to my sudden shout. Everyone stared at me. I could hear their voices.
“Hurry up, let’s go. Look at how he’s dressed. He’s a lunatic.”
“Go, let’s go.”
“Hey, don’t come over here.”
Someone pushed me, and I fell to the floor. I could feel my mind being silently tortured, the whispers telling me to kill them, to eat them. The piercing pain in my soul was not getting any better. The annoying cries of the baby were too much. Even the littlest of sounds were making it worse.
Kill them, silence them, they are annoying...
Panting, I struggled my way out of the crowd surrounding me. Supporting myself against a building, I reached a dark and old alley. The whisper of death invaded my mind even more, and my senses were failing me.
Rolling on the floor, a new wave of pain filled my soul. I was so confused. What happened? Where was I?
“He’s there. Look, that’s the lunatic we talked to you about.”
“Right, he molested a young mother and a baby”
“Impossible...” I muttered. I forced my eyes to look properly at the figure. A cop? Was I back in my previous world? How?
System! Help me, please!
Ding!
The s... tem... oov... la... ed... be.... ful....
Hos... da... co... e
System! System!
What was happening? The System was not working? I could barely notice what those around me were doing. All my focus was on my soul. Thanks to my second soul, it was a little easier to resist the pain. However, my second soul was being damaged at a high speed, and at this rate, it would soon cease to exist. I couldn’t think of things properly.
The cop grabbed me—
“Don’t!”
My fuzzy line of sight saw how the cop who just grabbed me convulsed and started rotting. Several seconds later, he turned into a pool of blood and flesh. The guys who came with the cops ran away, yelling for help...
I needed to hide. I tried to move, but it was impossible. The pain was too overwhelming. I could only endure the pain... A new wave of death engulfed my soul. Right, it all started because of the Death Core and those stupid mirrors...
“Don’t move or we will shoot!”
“Put your hands behind your head!”
Words echoed in my mind. More cops?
Right... more cops... fuck you! the whispers finally succeed. I lost my mind. Kill them... eat them... they don’t deserve to live...
“Where were you when my mother needed you! You rotten police!” My body was moving on its own. The less I struggled against the Death Force affecting my soul, the better I felt. Release it! I needed to release it.
The cops fired, however, the bullets were ineffective to me. It didn’t even itch a little bit. They didn’t have much time to react. Before their mind could process what exactly happened, I decapitated them with my Scythe.
I couldn’t care less. I gave in to the Death Core’s wishes. I needed to feel better, the pain was too intense. I expanded my soul, releasing along with the Death Energy in my soul.
Ding!
Sk... ear... Sou... /00…
I released a dark and profound roar that came from the depths of hell itself. I could feel it, a subtle connection to somewhere. My soul pushed through everything in a hundred-meter radius. Everything in that area froze, several thousand people’s eyes became blank. It happened in an instant. Every living being dropped dead to the cold floor. Thousands of souls filled my sight. I wasn’t in control of my body, but I could feel a pleasant feeling—control, power. My mouth opened, a black small whirlpool forming inside of it. The souls didn’t have a chance to flee, and they ended up being sucked inside me. I still didn’t know what was happening or where I was. The only thing I knew was that these poor souls didn’t have a chance to be reincarnated. They were utterly finished—3740 souls of men, women, children, even babies.
I felt nothing.
No sadness or pain.
Why would I feel something? I didn’t know them. What did they have to do with me? My only feeling was confusion and a slight swelling of pride.
Time went by. I didn’t move, I remained in the same spot. The world I was seeing blurred, and somehow, I recovered. Was that my world? Was everything real?
For some reason, I felt strange, as if something inside of me changed. Looking at my surroundings, I realized that I was back. I recognized this place, the Ancient Ruins. This was
the last place I remember being in. Broken mirrors were around me everywhere... then, my memories came back.
I was the one who destroyed those people with my Scythe.
I was observing the immense portal in front of me. I wasn’t in a hurry to cross it. I didn’t know what it was. Another test? An exit?
Using my soul to detect my surrounding gave me no new piece of information. There were only mirrors, some broken, some whole, inside. Honestly, this time, the confusion I faced was huge, far worse than back when I was a just ball. Waving my hand, I pushed every broken shard away on the ground, creating a safe spot to sit cross-legged. Calming down my breath and closing my eyes, I gathered every memory I had.
I tempered myself and broke through to Muscle Tempering 6th Rank with all the Death Point I gathered on all the test. Not bad, considering I was already at the 4th Rank.
Body Cultivation: Muscle Tempering, 6th Rank (231/22,000)
Hmm, so I can still see the System information on my mind.
I didn’t understand what I was supposed to do on this test. I tried many things but nothing worked. I had already destroyed all the mirrors, so what else was there for me to do? I became crazy after two days, and in my state of desperation, I used my Scythe. The unexpected happened. My Scythe could crush those strange mirrors without reflections into dust. What’s more, each broken mirror got me 100 EXP. I remembered levelling up to Qi Refining 6th Rank. I must have destroyed around a million mirrors.
Qi Cultivation: Qi Refining, 6th Rank (3451/2,200,000)
Indeed, I was right, I truly broke through, then... What was the problem?
No matter how much I tried to think, I could not come up with an answer. I was glad I became strong, but I didn’t like this situation. This feeling I had deep inside my soul was annoying, I couldn’t even begin to describe it. It confused my very own soul as if I was not myself or I never was myself to begin with.
I managed to throw my confusion deep inside my soul. For now, I needed to figure out why I was returned to my old world. Was it truly an illusion? Everything felt so vivid.
