Chapter 26:

Mu Xuanling trembled as she reached up to touch the warm spot between her brows. “I couldn’t feel its presence before…”

Sang Qi gradually calmed himself, smirking slightly. “At that time, when the Xian Alliance gathered their divine forms in Yongxue City, he probably feared someone might discover your spiritual aperture, so he concealed its existence. However, he can fool others, but not me.”

“How did you know?” This was also the part that puzzled Mu Xuanling.

“Do you often feel sharp pains in your chest?” Sang Qi saw the expression he desired on Mu Xuanling’s face and smirked. “Because I placed a curse on you—it has a beautiful name, called ‘Spiritual Sympathy.'”

“A shared spiritual connection between hearts,” Sang Qi murmured slowly. “Therefore, no matter where you are, I can sense your location and any changes in your body. I knew about your shattered cultivation and the opening of your spiritual aperture even before you did. Xuanling, since I already knew you harbored feelings for Xie Xuechen, how could I not prepare precautions?”

“So you manipulated people’s hearts and set up so many schemes, all to obtain the Jade Palace Sutra,” Mu Xuanling coughed lightly, bitterly smiling. “Now that you’ve captured me again, it’s for the same reason.”

“I had no choice,” Sang Qi sighed. “Although cultivating demonic arts enhances my power, it still cannot change the fate of a half-demon. My lifespan is nearing its end. However, if I open the spiritual aperture, I can continue cultivating, surpassing a thousand years of life, perhaps even longer.”

“What’s the point of living that long…” Mu Xuanling couldn’t understand Sang Qi’s greed for immortality.

“Because I still have a very important task to complete,” Sang Qi’s eyes flashed with cruelty. He looked down at Mu Xuanling and gently caressed her hair with fake tenderness. “Through Spiritual Sympathy, I can learn the Jade Palace Sutra from you, although you might have to endure some suffering. Xuanling, you’re still my disciple after all. Although you hate me, I won’t truly harm you.”

Mu Xuanling sneered.

Sang Qi extended his left hand, holding a black porcelain bottle in his palm. With a flick of his gaze, the bottle’s lid fell off.

Mu Xuanling warily stared at the bottle, hoarsely asking, “What is this?”

“This is a medicine to help you forget pain,” Sang Qi smiled gently. “It’s a secret elixir from Xuantian Temple, called ‘Awakening Heart.’ When a Xuantian Temple practitioner ascends to the divine form, they must abandon all worldly emotions and attachments, sever familial bonds, and forsake small love to achieve boundless compassion. Drinking this potion allows one to remember worldly matters and the people around them, but upon recollection, there will be no more love or hatred, no more emotional turbulence. This medicine is extremely rare, with only a few remaining in the world. I obtained a bottle twenty years ago and refined it anew. This version differs from ordinary Awakening Heart: by adding a single drop of blood into it, the drinker will only forget their love for the owner of that blood.”

“All your love for Xie Xuechen, and your hatred for me, stem from him. If you forget your love for him, naturally you won’t hate me anymore. There will be no more resentment between us as master and disciple, and only then will I feel safe leaving you alive.”

Mu Xuanling stared at Sang Qi in shock and trembling, shaking her head. “No, I won’t drink it…”

“It’s for your own good,” Sang Qi gently reassured her. “Xuanling, harboring feelings for a human can only bring harm. Human hearts are fickle. They may whisper sweet words today and turn cold tomorrow. I can’t bear to see you hurt.”

Backed into a corner, Mu Xuanling tightly covered her mouth with both hands, scalding tears sliding down and wetting her wrists.

“After drinking this, you’ll no longer have any worldly affection for Xie Xuechen. You’ll only know that you approached him on my orders to deceive him and steal the Jade Palace Sutra,” Sang Qi’s silver pupils gleamed with icy cruelty. “And when he realizes he’s been deceived, it might even give him a heart demon, which would be even better.”

Tears streaming down her face, Mu Xuanling pleaded with her eyes.

“Xuanling, you’re too weak,” Sang Qi’s gaze slowly turned cold. An invisible force pulled her hands apart and pinned them firmly to her sides. Sang Qi gripped her chin, forcing her mouth open.

The blood-red liquid seemed to come alive, crawling out from the mouth of the black porcelain bottle, hovering in the air, and slowly flowing toward Mu Xuanling’s mouth.

She whimpered and struggled fiercely but was ruthlessly restrained by Sang Qi. Tears gushed out helplessly as the icy liquid slid down her throat and into her stomach.

It was extremely cold. The piercing chill spread slowly from her abdomen, almost freezing her solid.

Sang Qi released his hold. Mu Xuanling trembled all over, collapsing on the ground, dry-heaving and uselessly trying to vomit out the poison.

“It’s useless. Once it’s ingested, there’s no turning back,” Sang Qi chuckled lightly.

Mu Xuanling covered her mouth, sobbing, her expression a mix of crying and laughing, madness creeping in. She slowly raised her head, her eyes bloodshot, feeling the chill creeping over her heart.

“Sang Qi, have you ever loved someone?” she rasped.

Sang Qi’s smile gradually faded.

“She hurt you, didn’t she? Twenty years ago, who caused you to lose an arm?”

“Silence!” Sang Qi coldly interrupted, exuding a terrifying aura.

Mu Xuanling laughed, tears spilling out. “But Sang Qi, you’ve been deceived, you’ve been hurt, and yet you still refused to drink the Awakening Heart. Why?”

“You didn’t want to forget even that little warmth she gave you, even if it might have been false.”

“I don’t want to either!” Mu Xuanling cried.

The bone-deep coldness froze her entire body. She closed her eyes, tears streaming as she slipped into unconsciousness.

The memories of their first meeting, the seven years she had cherished and relived day after day, the growing longing for him, the times she had considered ending her life to follow him into death. But half-demons have no souls after death; where could she find him in the underworld?

The belief to avenge him, the yearning for him, sustained her through seven hellish years in the demonic realm until she met him again.

That he had forgotten her didn’t matter. As long as she could see him alive, she was happy.

Faintly in her fading consciousness, Xie Xuechen’s face appeared.

——Demons are inherently evil, and the Yao clan excels at deception.

——But there was one truth.

——Which one?

——The one that said I liked you.

Xie Xuechen…

I didn’t deceive you…

Excruciating pain spread through her. The memories were so vivid, yet all the colors were fading, layer by layer, being sealed in ice. In her recollections, he was no longer special; thinking of him now brought her neither joy nor pain.

—Then what meaning is there in living?

She had never had a meaning to begin with.

Ever since she could remember, she had been a beast lurking at the fringes of human society. She was agile, her limbs strong, her senses sharp. At a very young age, she could easily hunt for food to fill her stomach. She secretly took discarded, tattered clothes from nearby villages to cover herself, learned to cook food with fire like humans, and even learned to speak. She liked hiding in the shadows watching them live. Humans were much smarter than the animals in the wild. She had even heard that the teachers at the village schools were the wisest, so every morning she would hide in the trees outside the school, basking in the warm sun, eavesdropping on the teacher’s lessons. After school ended, she would watch with interest as human children played and laughed.

She wanted to play with them too; they looked so happy.

That day, she carefully washed her face and hands, neatly arranging her patched-up clothes, wanting to join the children in play. She thought she was just like them, a human child. But her appearance startled the others. They pointed at her face, saying she must have been so ugly that her parents abandoned her. She touched her face with a slight sense of grievance. There were golden patterns on her face, making her different from others. A tall, strong boy pushed her, trying to drive her away. She felt a little sad and gently pushed his hand away. Somehow, he flew backward. The other children were terrified, screaming and calling for adults. A middle-aged man with a sword approached fiercely, tied her up with a rope, and said she was a half-demon, a vicious creature that had harmed people, and that he would take her to the Mingyue Manor.

From then on, she became a Yao slave at Mingyue Manor, wearing a Spirit Lock Ring on her ankle with the number “00.” She had no name; “00” became her name.

She heard that the previous “00” was also a half-demon who had died at the age of sixty. Half-demons possessed bodies far stronger than ordinary humans, often living two or three hundred years. But as Yao slaves, affected by the Spirit Lock Ring and endless labor, they typically died before reaching a hundred.

The Yao slaves surrounding her mostly wore numb expressions, seemingly devoid of consciousness and unwilling to utter a single word. They mechanically obeyed the overseer’s commands to avoid beatings and secure an extra bite of food.

She was still young then, maybe five or six, maybe seven or eight. In her heart, she still yearned for the freedom of the wild. She tried to escape several times, but due to the Spirit Lock Ring’s restraint, if she left Mingyue Manor beyond thirty miles, the Spirit Lock Ring would grow sharp thorns that pierced into her shin bone, making her bleed and faint.

She was caught and brought back, assigned by the overseer to do dirty, exhausting work, carrying burdens many times heavier than herself, step by step, each step leaving a bloodstained footprint.

“Half-demons are strong; they’re the best suited to be Yao slaves,” the overseer remarked casually while lashing someone. “It’s fortunate we have Mingyue Manor keeping them in check. Otherwise, these half-demons roaming freely would wreak havoc on countless lives.”

She pouted, thinking she had never hurt anyone.

At most, she had only taken discarded, tattered clothes that humans no longer wanted.

The overseer said that half-demons had human bodies but grew beastly features, which were unsightly, so some half-demons had their beast ears cut off or tails severed. Those who had their ears cut off became deaf, and those who lost their tails walked unsteadily. Once, while she was feeding the horses, the young lady saw her face and was startled, then disgustedly lashed her face with a whip, telling her to stay away. The overseer apologized with a smile, beat her, and ordered her to wear an iron mask, forbidding her to scare others. If he ever saw the mask fall off, he would weld it onto her face.

She was terrified and never dared to remove the mask in front of people again.

She gradually learned to control her Yao power, preventing the Spirit Lock Ring from piercing her bones again. Her right foot had been in pain for so long that it eventually became numb. As the years passed, she gradually grew accustomed to that life.

She thought she would probably end up like the previous “00,” living a numb life at Mingyue Manor for decades, never speaking another word, and finally dying silently.

Until six years later, she met someone.

She met him during a snowstorm. He asked if she was cold.

For the first time in over a decade, she heard such a question.

“I’m a half-demon. Half-demons don’t feel cold,” she replied.

He took off his fur-lined coat and draped it over her shoulders, wrapping her frostbitten hands in his warm palms. He said nothing, but his deep eyes were filled with a heaviness she couldn’t understand.

The stabbing pain and itching from the warmth made her realize that half-demons could also feel cold—it was just that no one had ever cared.

He gently removed her mask, unfazed by her supposed ugliness. His calloused fingertips tenderly traced the demonic markings on her face as he smiled and whispered, “Beautiful.”

(Note: “妖纹” is translated as “demonic markings” to convey the supernatural connotation while maintaining readability. Alternative translations could include “supernatural patterns” or “otherworldly sigils” depending on the desired tone.)

She blushed instantly.

Hearing her stomach rumble with hunger, she lowered her head in embarrassment. But he hugged her, soared into the air on his sword, let her hide in his arms to avoid the snow, took her to a nearby town, rented out an entire tavern, and let her eat the most satisfying meal of her life.

Biting her chopsticks, she tentatively asked, “I’ve heard that wine is a delicacy of the human world…”

He gently shook his head. His youthful voice had a slightly moving hoarseness, and he firmly refused her unreasonable request: “You’re still young; you can’t drink.”

“Okay,” she obediently nodded, her eyes darting around nervously as she asked, “Why are you so kind to me? Are you… trying to make me do something for you?”

His beautiful phoenix eyes shimmered with gentle, warm light as he softly said, “I just want you to be happy.”

She suspiciously furrowed her brows, her heart fluttering. “Could it be that you… are my long-lost father?”

The young man was startled, then lightly flicked her forehead with a wry smile. “Do you wish that were true?”

She lowered her head slightly, disappointed. “If it were, that would be nice.”

“Why?”

“Then you would take me with you, right?” A hint of yearning appeared in her eyes. “You’ve left me alone for so many years; you should compensate me… right?”

“Hmph…” The young man chuckled softly, his long lashes covering the complex emotions in his eyes. “Then how do you want me to compensate you?”

“I want to wear pretty clothes, eat delicious food, live in a big house, and sleep for two hours every day!” She spoke with a dreamy expression, describing her fantasy of a happy life.

“Alright, I’ll take you there,” he affectionately ruffled her hair. “Now that you’re full, shall I take you to buy some clothes?”

“Okay, Dad!” She sweetly called.

The young man laughed, shaking his head. Holding her hand, he earnestly said, “Don’t call me Dad.”

“You won’t even tell me your name,” she grumbled unhappily. “Then what should I call you…”

“Anything but that.”

“Then… can I call you Big Brother?”

“…Alright.”

That was the happiest day of her life. He smiled indulgently as she frolicked about, fulfilling many of her reasonable and unreasonable requests. Such a cold and refined man, yet his palm was so warm. He held her hand the entire time without letting go. Awkward yet patient, he helped tie up her soft, long hair, tenderly wiping away both old and new wounds. He wanted to use his heavy sword, Wanren, to break the Spirit Lock Ring, but it only made her tremble in pain all over.

“The Soul-Sealing Ring cannot be destroyed by ordinary force,” he frowned. “Unless one possesses the power of a Dharma Body, but I am merely at the Nascent Soul stage.”

“Forget it, don’t force yourself,” she said, her face pale and her right foot trembling slightly. “After all these years, I’ve already gotten used to it.”

His eyes darkened as he said, “I will go to the Moonlight Villa and make them release you.”

“Big Brother, who exactly are you? Will they listen to you?” she asked curiously.

She remembered that many years ago, the young master Nan from Yunxiu Villa had said the same thing, but in the end, he hadn’t taken her with him either.

“Big Brother, it’s okay, don’t force yourself,” she comforted him by covering his hand. “Even though it’s only been a day, I’ve been very happy.”

Although she was a bit worried that she had skipped her duties today and would be punished tomorrow, the joy of this full day was enough for her to cherish for a lifetime.

Still, she felt some regret that Big Brother wasn’t her long-lost father.

“Ring, I will definitely take you away,” the young man gently stroked her hair and said lovingly. “In the future… you must live well.”

“I’ve always been fine,” she said with a grin.

“Foolish girl,” he said sorrowfully, looking at the scars on her hand.

He took her back to the Moonlight Villa, told her to hide, and went to meet the villa master himself. She obediently stayed hidden, but the steward still followed the Soul-Sealing Ring’s direction to find her. He scolded her for slacking off and stealing the young lady’s clothes, and dragged her to see the eldest young lady.

The eldest young lady looked at her and turned her head away in disgust. “This isn’t my clothing; I don’t know where it came from. Give her fifty lashes and lock her up. With so many guests at the villa these days, don’t let people see us making a mockery of ourselves.”

The steward nodded and bowed, then ordered people to take her away for punishment.

To avoid disturbing the guests, they stuffed a cloth in her mouth and laid her down in the side courtyard to receive fifty lashes, leaving countless bloodstained wounds on her body.

As night fell, she drowsily wondered whether Big Brother had already left.

Suddenly, firelight flared up around her, accompanied by terrifying roars and shouts. She struggled to lift her eyes and saw darkness before being grabbed and thrown into a room.

An old voice said, “This demon slave has a similar build to the young lady. Dress her in the young lady’s clothes; I’ll take her to lead the pursuers away.”

“She has demonic energy on her,” the steward said.

“I can conceal demonic energy.”

Dazedly, she recalled that this was the voice of the elder.

She was hastily dressed in the young lady’s luxurious clothes and thrown over the elder’s shoulder. Feeling the wind and frost on her face, she was carried away from the Moonlight Villa by the elder.

At that time, she didn’t yet know what had happened. She slightly opened her eyes and saw many dark shadows chasing after them. The elder fought while retreating, and the pain on her body became unbearable, causing her to soon lose consciousness.

When she awoke again, she was already lying in a pool of blood.

She was tightly protected in someone’s arms. Her nose caught the scent of snow and plum blossoms. Warm drops fell on her forehead. Dazedly, she raised her head and saw Big Brother’s clear and pale face.

“Big Brother…” she rasped.

Beside her lay a sea of corpses. He tightly embraced her thin body, his breathing becoming heavier and his strength fading. Hearing her call, he lowered his head and gave her a gentle smile.

“Ring, don’t be afraid.”

They were surrounded by demon soldiers. The elder had already died, and Big Brother was severely wounded.

“I’m not the Gaos’ daughter; you’ve made a mistake,” she cried out to the demons.

But those bloodthirsty demons paid no attention to her words.

“Kill that sword cultivator; he’s almost done for!” the leading demon bared its sharp teeth.

The young man took a deep breath and suddenly raised one hand, gently pressing it on the back of her head, pulling her into his chest, his voice soft. “Ring, don’t look.”

Darkness enveloped her vision, and all she could hear was the strong beat of his heart and a stifled groan from his throat.

A thunderous boom erupted behind her, and she heard countless demons scream. It was as if, in that instant, the sun had risen beside her.

The strong beat in his chest slowed abruptly, his breathing grew heavier, and he weakly let go of the arm holding her. Finally, she could lift her head to look at him.

Ten thousand peaks shattered into dust. His face was devoid of color, and his eyes held a sorrowful smile.

“Ring, you must leave quickly…” Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth as he struggled to speak. “Sang Qi will come soon…”

“Big Brother…” she trembled, trying to wipe the blood from his lips, but it only flowed more, and she was terribly frightened, more frightened than she had ever been before, as if the most important thing in her life was being slowly taken away from her.

“Big Brother, what’s wrong with you? Are you in a lot of pain?” Tears fell heavily as she sobbed, caressing his face, wanting to give him her warmth, just as he had given to her.

“Ring, please, go quickly,” he tried to push her away but had no strength left. “I’ll be fine. The people from the Immortal Alliance will come soon. You must go!”

He almost used all his remaining strength to shout at her, but she didn’t leave, kneeling beside him, helplessly holding him.

“Big Brother, let’s leave together. You promised me, you said you would take me with you!” she couldn’t help but cry out, almost yelling at him. “You can’t lie to me! I don’t want to be alone!”

“Ring…” he weakly called her name, his lips parting slightly. “You must live well…”

“I’m not fine, not at all!” she cried. “I’m just a demon slave; no one cares for me, no one loves me, except you. I believed you when you said you would take me away! When they hit me earlier, I wasn’t even sad, because I thought Big Brother would come and take me away soon, and from then on, we could be together every day. Just thinking about it made me very happy.”

“Big Brother, wherever you go, I will go with you…”

To the ends of the earth, to the underworld, I will go with you…

She was strong and carried him on her back, tears blurring her vision so she couldn’t see the path ahead. Warm blood flowed down her neck, but the person on her back grew colder and colder, like snow. She bit her lip hard, trying not to cry out, but she couldn’t stop her whole body from trembling.

“Big Brother… don’t leave…” she called out shakily, but received no response.

Overexerting herself, she staggered and fell into the snow, the young man’s cold body collapsing beside her. She quickly crawled over and tightly hugged him, her tears soaking his chest.

“Big Brother, wake up…” she touched his face, pressing her ear to his chest, but could no longer hear even the faintest heartbeat.

His fingers were stiff and cold, no longer able to gently hold her hand.

She knelt beside him, dazed, as the wind and snow came fiercely, as if holding a grand funeral for someone.

Her heart suddenly convulsed, a metallic taste rose in her throat, and she spat it onto his chest. She reached out to wipe the blood from his chest, afraid of dirtying his body, but the blood kept spreading, and no matter how hard she tried, it could not be removed.

Snow fell layer upon layer, covering his eyebrows and eyes, his body, trying to take him away from her.

“Aaaa—”

She tightly gripped his hand and let out a painful cry. A sharp pain exploded in her chest, and she felt something being pulled from her body. Her vision blurred, and all she could see was a vast expanse of white, and scattered red plum blossoms.

It seemed as if demons were chasing her again…

She staggered to her feet—she couldn’t let them find Big Brother’s body, or else they would desecrate it.

He was a person as pure and noble as snow and as solitary and proud as plum blossoms; he must not be insulted again.

In a daze, she ran through the snow, wanting to draw them away.

Her Big Brother remained forever in that snowy field.

After an unknown amount of time, she opened her eyes again and saw a crimson moon.

“We half-demons are abandoned at birth, with no birthdays and no names,” Mu Xuanling heard Sang Qi’s voice from above. She raised her head and saw the tall, black-robed priest standing over her.

“I was abandoned beneath a mulberry tree at a crossroads, so I named myself Sang Qi,” Sang Qi looked toward the black demonic tree at the edge of the void sea and said indifferently. “You were born at the hour of demons, as a Xuanling flower, so you shall be called Mu Xuanling.”

“You have suffered alone since childhood at the Moonlight Villa. Today I accept you as my disciple. Remember, your enemies are those cruel human cultivators who have harmed and degraded you. One day, you will stand above them and make them call you Queen!”

Mu Xuanling heard her childish voice say, “Not all human cultivators are like that…”

A white-robed youth’s back appeared in her mind.

“So what?” Sang Qi sneered. “It’s time they experienced our suffering.”

Those treasured memories, one after another, passed through her mind like a slideshow, eventually fading into pale images that stirred no emotion at all.