The sect-protecting array of the Heavenly Sword Sect was broken.
Following the shattering of the array, a world-shaking boom suddenly erupted from the direction of the Sword Tomb in the back mountains.
A surge of scorching earth qi shot into the sky, mixed with the stench of sulfur and char, melting the accumulated snow in an instant.
Then came tens of thousands of shrill wolf howls.
"Awoo—"
In the sky-filling dust, thousands upon thousands of dark shadows scrambled out of the Sword Tomb.
They appeared to be a pack of frenzied wild wolves, their bodies covered in messy, filthy fur. Some even had rotting flesh, exposing stark white bones.
"They... they're out! The monsters in the Sword Tomb have broken out!"
A few Heavenly Sword Sect disciples who still retained their sanity shrieked in horror as they watched the approaching wolf pack.
Some instinctively drew their swords, trembling as they tried to slay these evil spirits.
Li Zhaoye stood amidst the ruins.
The Azure Peak Sword in his hand was still dripping with blood—stains left behind from when he had swung his blade in the extreme chaos, not even knowing who he was hitting.
He watched the pouncing wolf demons.
Under the shroud of Jian Huaishuang's 【Lie Sword Domain】, what he saw were not wolves, but people dressed in rags and covered in blood.
Some wore the daoist robes of the Heavenly Sword Sect from ten years ago; they were the martial uncles who had gone missing during the great war with the Wolf Court.
Some were just children; they were the junior brothers sent up the mountain a few years ago, only to die in battle during the encirclement of the Wolf Court's wolf demons.
"Senior Brother... I'm so hungry..."
"Zhaoye... why..."
A wolf demon at the very front opened its bloody maw.
But in Li Zhaoye's eyes, it was a youth with a face covered in tear stains, reaching out his hands and desperately begging him for help.
He recognized this youth, though he didn't know his name.
He was an orphan Li Zhaoye had rescued from a wolf's mouth three years ago while down the mountain to slay demons. When he brought him back to the sect, the child had smiled and said he wanted to become a great hero just like Senior Brother Li.
Li Zhaoye hadn't paid much attention back then; he was simply doing what Senior Sister Bai Ling used to do.
He only wanted to be like the old Bai Ling, fighting for the people of the Northern Region to have a world of peace and tranquility.
Later, Li Zhaoye never saw the boy again and assumed that since he lacked a spiritual root, he had been sent back down the mountain.
So... so he had been here all along.
Right here in the Sword Tomb, suffering the torture of sword qi piercing his heart day and night.
Li Zhaoye's hand holding the sword trembled violently. He wanted to swing it; it was an instinct he had practiced for twenty years—slaying demons and protecting the common people.
But...
"Ugh—"
Li Zhaoye suddenly collapsed to his knees in the snow, his stomach churning.
He remembered the piece of meat he had just eaten in the main hall—the succulent, melt-in-the-mouth "snow wolf tenderloin."
Was that the boy's flesh? Or his martial uncle's? Or perhaps that of some junior brother or sister who had supposedly died in battle?
"Aaaaahhh!!"
Li Zhaoye let out a beast-like howl. He frantically shoved his hand into his mouth, desperately clawing at his throat.
He wanted to vomit up everything he had eaten. He wanted to purge those twenty years of cultivation, to spew out every bit of this flesh and blood until he was clean.
It was too filthy.
This skin and flesh, this sword heart—they were all too filthy.
A wolf demon pounced on him, its sharp fangs biting through his shoulder.
Li Zhaoye did not resist. He even opened his arms, wanting to embrace this long-overdue punishment.
At that moment, a repulsive force instantly sent the wolf demon flying.
Chen Zhou walked slowly up to Li Zhaoye, his black karma-fire robes snapping in the wind and snow.
He looked down at this former chief disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, who was now huddled on the ground like a dog with a broken spine, vomiting.
"Can't take it already?"
Chen Zhou's voice was cold, yet carried a strange hint of temptation. "Weren't you just vowing with such conviction to slay demons and devils?"
"Kill me... please... kill me..."
Li Zhaoye looked up, his face a mess of blood, tears, and vomit, his eyes already vacant.
"Kill you?"
Chen Zhou chuckled. He crouched down and looked Li Zhaoye straight in the eye.
"Killing you would be too easy. You ate them. You owe them your life. Do you think you can settle that debt just by dying?"
"Look at them."
Chen Zhou pointed to the wolves around them that were still frantically biting and howling.
"They were originally humans, but were forcibly turned into demons. They are still alive, but they are living in hell."
"Do you want to die and be done with it, or do you want to personally send the person who created this hell into hell yourself?"
Li Zhaoye's pupils constricted violently.
The person who created this hell.
His master... Xu Yunzi.
"But..." Li Zhaoye looked at his hands—the hands that held a sword, and the hands that had eaten people.
"There are no buts."
Chen Zhou flipped his palm, and a seed burning with black flames emerged.
The 【Seed of Resentment】.
"Since you can't be a clean human, then be a clear-headed ghost."
"Accept it."
"Let resentment become your spine. Let rage become your blade."
"As long as the hate in your heart remains, you will never truly turn into a beast."
Li Zhaoye stared at the ball of black fire.
It was the only light he could see in his despair.
He reached out with a trembling hand, grabbed the Seed of Resentment, and pressed it into his shattered chest without hesitation.
"Boom—!!"
Black flames instantly ignited his soul.
His originally pure and noble spiritual energy was completely transformed into resentment as dark as ink in that moment.
Li Zhaoye stood up. Though he still possessed a wolf's form, the wounds on his body stopped bleeding and instead emitted billowing black smoke.
He picked up the Azure Peak Sword from the ground.
The blade had been dyed black. It was no longer the gentleman's sword meant for slaying demons, but a reaper's blade meant for taking lives.
Not far away, Xu Yunzi's massive wolf form was still bound by Chen Zhou's Hate Prison.
Though the old wolf demon was covered in wounds, his aura remained terrifying.
He looked at Li Zhaoye, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes before turning into mockery.
"Zhaoye, have you turned into a demon as well?"
"Master already told you that the power of a demon is eternal. Come, become a part of your master. We, master and disciple, shall join forces..."
"Shut up."
Li Zhaoye's voice was hoarse. Like a madman, he dragged his sword and walked toward Xu Yunzi step by step.
"Rebellious disciple! Since you seek death, I shall grant it!"
Xu Yunzi let out a furious roar and struggled within the prison. He managed to extend a wolf claw with great difficulty, swinging it down with a fierce wind.
Even though he was restricted by bone spikes and burned by Hatred Fire—and even though more than half of his cultivation could not be used—the physical quality of a sixth-stage body was still not to be underestimated.
Li Zhaoye neither dodged nor avoided it.
"Puchi!"
The wolf claw pierced through his chest and abdomen, pinning him to the ground.
But Li Zhaoye smiled.
He gripped the wolf claw tightly, letting the blood spray. Using that force, he lunged forward like a moth to a flame.
The black sword in his hand carried all his resentment, all his pain, and all his despair.
With a violent thrust, it stabbed into Xu Yunzi's exposed wolf heart—the one connected to countless human hearts.
Rate on N.U.
