She said, she also wanted to love him deeply.
Xue Chenjing's heart was filled with joy. He wanted to raise his hand to caress her face, to respond to her, to tell her, "Alright, you must love me deeply. In this world, only you will love me." But his consciousness felt like it was sinking into water, rapidly descending, and he wasn't sure if he had actually spoken those words.
Xue Chenjing finally remembered everything from their previous life, all the memories that had been forgotten. He sat high on his demon throne, watching the person who approached him with a sword, and spoke with a playful and malicious tone, "Is it you? Have you come here to be my sister-in-law?"
Back then, he didn't fully understand the jealousy hidden in his words.
During his time lurking in the Lishan Sword Sect, he thought of himself as merely an observer, coldly watching Xue Mingyuan fall for her, obsessed and tormented, yet never daring to cross the line. He enjoyed seeing Xue Mingyuan suffer, so he often deliberately took control of their shared body to perform ambiguous actions, to touch her, to smell her. He believed that everything he did was just to torment Xue Mingyuan.
He thought that the sleepless nights, the gnawing desire for her, were all influenced by Xue Mingyuan.
He hated that Xue Mingyuan could affect him. In this life, he was the one in control, and he couldn't allow himself to be swayed by Xue Mingyuan's emotions again.
So, after leaving Lishan, he sealed Xue Mingyuan back into the Heart Sea Temple, fully taking control of their body. He deliberately reminded himself not to pay attention to her, not to think about her, and treated her as part of Xue Mingyuan, discarding her like a worthless object.
He reclaimed the fire that was missing from his body, released the demons of Wangye, and led countless vengeful spirits to sweep through the entire cultivation world, venting their hatred. He had too many things to do, too much resentment to unleash, so he had no time to dwell on the person who had once made him crave.
Until Pei Jingchao appeared before him, holding a sword that carried her scent. The thirst that had been suppressed in Xue Chenjing's heart was ignited by the scent on that sword.
He thought she was dead, and he went mad, wanting to kill Pei Jingchao. He led the demons in pursuit of the fleeing righteous cultivators, destroying one lofty immortal mountain after another, staining every inch of the sacred grounds with blood.
Just as he was about to plunge completely into the madness of slaughter, Yu Yi reappeared. She stood before him, holding that familiar sword, her face cold as she declared her intent to kill him.
Xue Chenjing stared at her face, feeling no anger, only an uncontrollable excitement. He was so excited that his entire body trembled, and his demonic essence uncontrollably spread around him, encircling her, capturing her breath, her warmth, her scent.
He desired her so much that he wanted to devour her, to merge with her, to make her a part of himself, a co-existing being.
He thought about it, and he acted on it.
They fought to the death in the demon palace. Yu Yi was more formidable than he had imagined, far more powerful than Pei Jingchao, the so-called chosen one. When her sword pierced through his heart, Xue Chenjing was momentarily stunned, but as the intense pain spread through his body, he couldn't help but complain, "It hurts, it really hurts."
Yu Yi lay half under him, perhaps startled by his tears.
Sharp tentacles seized the opportunity to slice open the skin over her heart, and the tips extended into the wound, just a hair's breadth away from implanting his demonic essence into her heart.
Unfortunately, he ran out of strength.
His blood rained down on her, staining her completely. Xue Chenjing looked at the scene and inexplicably felt happy. His scent had finally marked her, completely covering her.
He cried halfway, then laughed, delighted, "It's wonderful, you look so beautiful drenched in my blood."
Yu Yi looked at him as if he were a madman.
Xue Chenjing lost his strength and was flipped onto the ground by her. Yu Yi straddled him, pulling out her sword and stabbing it into his heart once more.
As he was about to die, he heard her breaking down in tears, angrily shouting, "Why isn't it working! Why did it fail!"
Xue Chenjing heard another voice from within her, regretfully saying, "I'm sorry, host. The demon king before you is merely a manifestation of chaos. Your task is not simply to kill him, but to take Pei Jingchao's place and use this sword to split the chaos, allowing the clear qi to rise and open Heaven's Gate, while the turbid qi descends to restore the demonic path, bringing order back to the three realms."
"Unfortunately, you never grasped the true meaning of the Ninth Sword, nor did you truly possess a compassionate heart for the world. Therefore, the mission was judged a failure."
Yu Yi was stunned for a moment, then mocked, "What true meaning? What compassionate heart? You dragged me into this world without a thought, leaving me alone and helpless, with parents and relatives I can't see, a home I can't return to. You even expected me to fall in love with your chosen one, to willingly sacrifice myself for him, to have my heart ripped out and my blood taken. And you still want me to love this world? Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"Like him, I hate this world so much that I want to destroy it." Yu Yi pulled out her sword, the sharp blade pressed against her neck, despairingly saying, "I just want to go home, that's all."
The system sensed something was wrong and shouted sharply, "Host, stop!"
The memory fragments suddenly shattered, and Xue Chenjing's consciousness pulled back from the past. The current scene was eerily similar to that day. Except this time, the person holding the sword was no longer so cold.
He raised his eyes to look at the person whose expression was gradually panicking, watching her trembling fingers gripping the sword, tears continuously falling from her beautiful eyes.
"No, I've already understood the Ninth Sword, you should be separated by me..." Yu Yi was truly panicked, her mind blank. She didn't know what had gone wrong this time, but the fear of another mission failure gripped her heart tightly.
She remembered the first time she failed the mission, when Xue Chenjing had cried out in pain. Her grip on the sword grew even more hesitant as she whispered, "A-Qiu, I'm sorry, does it hurt a lot?"
Xue Chenjing mustered all his strength to raise his hand, covering hers and wrapping his fingers around the sword, pushing it further into his heart.
"It doesn't hurt at all," Xue Chenjing smiled and said, "A-Yi, no matter what you want to do, I'm willing to fulfill you."
He didn't want to see her look so desperate again.
The Green Bamboo Sword beneath their hands began to violently tremble, and a silhouette emerged from the blade—the shape of the Primordial Sword.
The Primordial Sword shot like lightning, piercing into the wound in his heart and slicing into the Heart Sea. The temple deep within the Heart Sea crumbled under the lightning, and another consciousness was released.
For the first time, Xue Mingyuan and Xue Chenjing existed simultaneously within this body. Their consciousnesses overlapped, yet they still couldn't merge. Both could feel the senses of the body, both could feel the tears falling onto their face.
Xue Mingyuan, through these eyes, finally saw the face he had longed for. The memories of the previous life also returned to him, all of them.
In the previous life, he had been unable to control his feelings for her, and in this life, it was still the same. He had once foolishly thought that this feeling was because of Xue Chenjing, because they shared the same body.
In the previous life, he had been forced to reject her, and in this life, he had still missed her. The person he loved, holding his face, seeing only his younger brother's name in her eyes, calling out to him.
But even so, it didn't matter. This time, no matter what she wanted, he was willing to fulfill her.
The sky darkened with heavy clouds, hiding all the rosy hues. Within the clouds, purple lightning rolled, and thunder rumbled across the land. A massive lightning bolt descended from the heavens, passing through the remaining flame atop the Demon Suppression Tower and falling down.
The demons were all terrified by this overwhelming thunder, scattering in all directions. The lightning reflected in Xue Chenjing's eyes, illuminating them brightly, and also casting the silhouette of the person before him in sharp relief.
As the lightning approached, he summoned all his tentacles and, with all his strength, pushed Yu Yi away.
Crane Senior Brother tumbled out of the pouch, pecked off the talismans binding him, and grew in size, spreading his wings to carry Yu Yi away.
Xue Chenjing was engulfed in the lightning, his body melting like water beneath the blade, evaporating into vapor under the intense power of the heavenly thunder. They were reduced to their most primal state, then torn apart.
The Green Bamboo Sword shot out from the lightning and returned to her hand. Yu Yi's shout was swallowed by the roaring thunder.
In the midst of the thunder, the Demon Suppression Tower collapsed with a loud crash. Yu Yi saw two figures falling from the top of the tower in the blinding white lightning. She quickly urged Crane Senior Brother to fly toward them, catching the two elders on his back. She used her spiritual energy to protect their bodies and then stored them in her storage pouch.
By the time she looked back, Xue Chenjing was already gone.
After the tower fell, demons began to flee in all directions. The cultivators who had been setting up formations outside quickly took to the air, attempting to stop the fleeing demons.
On the vast land of Wangye, a narrow crack suddenly appeared in the earth, revealing another world within. The fleeing demons seemed drawn to this other world, and the black mist surged back, as if tired birds returning to their nests, finally finding their way back to the realm of demons.
The righteous cultivators descended from the sky, standing amidst the vastness of the heavens and earth. In the distance, they faintly heard the sound of a great bell, and above the clouds, the vision of Heaven's Gate began to appear.
The disordered world began to restore its order. The long-delayed trial of the Dao Heart and the pressure of the heavenly tribulation returned, causing many cultivators to panic. Some even had their Dao Hearts shattered on the spot, resulting in fatal injuries.
The pressure of the tribulation hung over their heads, leaving the righteous cultivators struggling to cope.
Yu Yi, seated on Crane Senior Brother's back, also felt the pressure of the two tribulations she had missed—the Gold Core and Nascent Soul tribulations.
Seeing the demonic army returning and the demonic rift beginning to shrink and close, Yu Yi gritted her teeth and pulled out a talisman, which she slapped onto Crane Senior Brother's back, shrinking his form back into that of a small bird.
Crane Senior Brother let out an uncertain "chirp" before being grabbed by Yu Yi and thrown onto the back of a demon. The demon, startled, shook violently, causing Yu Yi to lose her grip and fall, barely managing to hang onto another demon.
In the midst of the chaotic demonic swarm, she couldn't see what she was holding onto, but she did her best to swing her body and use her flexibility to propel herself upward, kicking away something hard. She slid into the hole she had created.
A painful howl roared past her ears, and only then did Yu Yi realize that she had kicked out one of the demon's protruding front teeth. She now found herself clinging to the edge of the big-headed demon's mouth.
Yu Yi crouched inside the demon's mouth, blending in with the demonic army, and together they entered the demonic rift.