When Luo Chengan heard Xiyu call out Zhiyue’s name, the shock on his face gave way to infatuation. A mist gathered in his eyes as he silently mouthed, “Lanxing… it’s been so long.”
You’ve finally… come back.
At that moment, Xiyu stood motionless like a puppet, watching helplessly as the black mist surrounding Lu Zhixing surged higher and higher before gradually dissipating.
Zhiyue’s face became clearly visible.
And yet, it wasn’t Zhiyue…
After a long while, the corners of Xiyu’s eyes reddened. He murmured, “How… how could you be… a demon…”
Lu Zhixing could no longer hold Chen Yu. Or rather, he was like a child who had done something wrong, throwing away the weapon he had used to commit his crime, as though doing so might spare him from being blamed.
All the blood in Lu Zhixing’s body seemed to freeze. Looking at Xiyu, he felt as though countless blades were scraping against his heart, carving it to pieces until it was drenched in blood. His voice hoarse, he asked once more, “What did you just… call me?”
Lu Zhixing’s repeated question struck like a thunderclap, finally jolting Xiyu out of his frozen stupor.
His eyes turned bloodshot, and the murderous aura around him surged. In an instant, he flew to Lu Zhixing and seized him by the throat, squeezing so hard that his knuckles turned white.
Xiyu slammed him against the wall with tremendous force. The impact left a shallow dent in the stone. His eyes were bloodshot, the veins in his neck bulging as he roared furiously, “You’re a demon! How could you be a demon?!”
Lu Zhixing’s face flushed red from suffocation, but he seemed unable to feel the terrible pain in his body. Stubbornly, he questioned Xiyu, “You… just now… what did you call me?”
When Xiyu heard the word Shizun—Master—his ears began to ring.
His shoulders trembled. His hands trembled, too. An overwhelming terror and bone-deep chill swept over him, leaving him unable to speak.
He looked at Zhiyue’s face and at the demonic aura within his body, now fused with his spiritual power.
The arrival of a Demon Venerable did not frighten him.
But the realization that the new Demon Venerable was Zhiyue made him feel as though he had fallen into hell, condemned to a life worse than death.
“When did you recognize me…?” Lu Zhixing looked at Xiyu imploringly. “Please, tell me… Please…”
The anguish in Lu Zhixing’s eyes was too intense. Xiyu’s lips moved.
“Zong…”
He managed to utter only a single, brief syllable before he could no longer speak.
But Lu Zhixing already understood.
So early. You recognized me that early…
Lu Zhixing no longer knew whether he should be happy. His Master had recognized him long ago, yet he had thought his disguise was flawless.
Tonight, when Xiaoyu had abducted him and breathed a wisp of demonic aura into his ear, he had known he could no longer keep his identity hidden.
So Zhuohua had fallen here to suppress the ancient demonic sword.
Only when Zhuohua returned to Xiyu’s hands and the restraints on Chen Yu were lifted could he help Chen Yu break through the barrier.
But he was so unwilling to accept it. So unbearably unwilling.
That was why he had wanted to take a gamble. He would seize Chen Yu and escape, then wait until the day of the Nine Stars Aligning with the Moon to activate the Execution Array and strip away his demonic bloodline. Perhaps then his Master would never discover his identity.
Or perhaps, if he appeared in his divine form at that time, even if his Master recognized him, he might not necessarily kill him.
But fate seemed determined to toy with him, making every gamble he took end in complete defeat.
When Chen Yu rushed toward him, his identity had not yet been fully exposed. But then his Master had called him…
What had his Master called him?
His Master had looked at Lu Zhixing’s face and called him Zhiyue.
How could he still run? Where could he possibly go?
Even if he activated the Execution Array, there was still a chance his soul would scatter.
Rather than die inside the array when the time came, he might as well die at his Master’s hands.
“Shizun…” Lu Zhixing blinked and raised his hand to grasp Xiyu’s wrist. His long, narrow phoenix eyes were filled with boundless love and pain. “I missed you so much.”
Lu Zhixing’s quiet utterance of Shizun drifted into Xiyu’s ears.
That face, that person, that word—Shizun—he had longed for them for a thousand years. He had yearned for them for a thousand years.
Yet now that master and disciple had finally reunited, why did they have to meet under such circumstances?
His once-proud disciple. His Zhiyue, whom he had cherished and spoiled beyond measure. The person he had only just realized he had fallen in love with.
That person had now become the very demon he hated most, the one he loathed so deeply that he wanted to strip away his skin and tear his bones apart.
How could he accept this? How could he possibly accept it?!
“Why does it have to be you…?” Xiyu was on the verge of breaking down. His eyes ached and burned, filling with tears, but he stubbornly refused to let even a single drop fall. He wanted his vision to remain blurred, as though, as long as he could not see clearly, everything would remain nothing more than an illusion.
But the tears kept gathering, growing heavier and heavier until they finally spilled over the corners of his eyes. The face before him became clear, shattering the last remnants of his wishful thinking.
“Why does it have to be you?!” Xiyu clutched Lu Zhixing by the throat and screamed until his voice broke. “I thought of everyone in the Nine Heavens, but you were the one person I never imagined it could be!”
“You knew perfectly well that I despise the demon race more than anything! Why?! Why on earth did you do this?!”
Xiyu’s fingers had sunk into the flesh of Lu Zhixing’s neck. The wound left by the dagger had reopened, and scarlet blood stained Xiyu’s pale, bluish-white fingertips.
Lu Zhixing said nothing. His eyes were webbed with blood vessels, as though they might bleed at any moment. Yet he continued gazing at Xiyu’s face with longing and anguish, as if asking him, Do you really need to ask?
Do I really need to ask? Xiyu thought.
A god could summon demonic energy through obsession and fall into demonic corruption.
What was Zhiyue obsessed with? Did he really need to ask?
What had caused his resurrection? Did he really need to ask?
All at once, Xiyu’s strength deserted him. The hand gripping Lu Zhixing’s throat no longer posed any real threat, yet he still did not let go. His voice trembled so badly that he could barely form the words.
“What did you use to recreate my body?”
Now his physical body was complete, proving that he had not been resurrected by borrowing the body of someone named Xiyu.
His resurrection had been accomplished by Zhiyue, who had defied Heaven’s will and recreated him from nothing.
But what had Zhiyue used to fashion his body that it could bear Zhuohua’s spiritual power without suffering any strain?
“Answer me!” Xiyu pressed his fingertips against Lu Zhixing’s chin, forcing him to look directly at him. “What did you use to recreate my body?!”
The secret chamber was so quiet that even a needle dropping could have been heard.
Lu Zhixing’s lips moved. He uttered two words so softly they were almost inaudible.
“Divine bones.”
Chapter 164: Today, Your Master Will Personally Send You on Your Way
Just as he had thought.
Just as he had thought!!!
Xiyu’s hand finally slipped limply away from Lu Zhixing’s throat.
But in the next instant, his fist crashed into Lu Zhixing’s face. He then seized him by the collar, like a ferocious beast driven into a dead end, and let out a helpless, anguished roar.
“How dare you? How dare you?!”
It hurts so much…
A dense, unrelenting pain surged through every inch of his flesh and bones.
Xiyu’s face was so pale that not a trace of color remained. Only his eyes were red, as though he were weeping blood.
The pain was so great that he could barely stand. Even his back had begun to bend.
Why does my heart hurt so much…?
Divine bones!
Zhiyue had used his own divine bones to recreate Xiyu’s body!
He had used his own divine bones to reconstruct Xiyu, which was why Xiyu had not suffered even the slightest discomfort when he reclaimed Zhuohua and returned to his divine station.
How could someone who had been a High God for hundreds of thousands of years not know how painful it was to have one’s divine bones extracted?
For this entire thousand years, his Zhiyue had fallen into demonic corruption, and he had known nothing about it. Instead, he had been marveling at how incredibly fortunate he was to have been resurrected.
What good fortune?
It was nothing but Zhiyue carving out his own bones to recreate him!!!
Xiyu knew Zhiyue’s stubbornness and obsessive nature all too well. That was why, during the war between gods and demons, he had extracted Zhiyue’s memories. He would rather endure Zhiyue’s hatred and resentment than allow him to do something foolish.
He had been afraid that Zhiyue would follow him into death.
Yet even after doing all that, he had still failed to protect him. He had allowed Zhiyue to fall into the terrible state he was in now.
He had become the new Demon Venerable, capable of summoning Chen Yu, a being whom the Heavenly Realm could never tolerate.
“You fool! You absolute fool!” Xiyu was in so much pain that boundless hatred began to rise within him. “Do you know that everything I did has been rendered meaningless because of you?! All of it! Everything was for nothing!!!”
He had been so careful, so cautious in protecting Zhiyue. Why wouldn’t Zhiyue listen to him? Why had he been so disobedient?!
Destroying the demon race had been Xiyu’s obsession. He had died willingly for it. Zhiyue should never have had to endure such endless suffering on his behalf, much less recreate his body!
All he had wanted was for Zhiyue to live happily. All he had wanted was for Zhiyue to live in peace, free of attachments and worries, safe and happy for the rest of his life!!!
But Zhiyue had destroyed all of that. How dare he? How dare he?!
Zhiyue was his disciple. Xiyu had even been the one to save his life. That meant Zhiyue’s life belonged to him, and Zhiyue should live according to his wishes!
No one had the right to change any of this—not even Zhiyue himself!
An overwhelming hatred welled up inside Xiyu, mixed with thunderous fury and murderous rage, as he stared straight at Lu Zhixing.
Under that gaze, Lu Zhixing felt as though he were being torn apart. At last…
At last, they had reached this day.
His identity had been discovered, and he was now hated.
Xiyu’s words reached his ears, but he interpreted them in an entirely different way.
His Master hated what he had become.
Of course. A thousand years ago, his Master had been willing to die alongside the demons to wipe out their entire race. Yet now Zhiyue had become the new Demon Venerable, possessing boundless power and the ability to summon Chen Yu.
It was as though he had made his Master die in vain.
“It wasn’t for nothing.” Lu Zhixing smiled.
He reached out, seemingly wanting to touch Xiyu’s face. But perhaps he feared that Xiyu would find his touch repulsive, because in the end, his hand settled on the wrist gripping his collar instead.
His voice was hoarse, like an old, broken bellows.
“Zhuohua can kill me. As long as you strike, Shizun, the last demon in this world will die. I won’t fight back.”
He would never raise a blade against his Master.
Lu Zhixing looked at Xiyu’s face, which had now fully transformed into Lanxing’s. Even though the overwhelming hatred in those eyes had already torn him to pieces, he still could not bear to look away.
This is my last chance to see you.
This really is the last time.
Let me look at you a little longer…
Just a little longer.
When Xiyu heard Lu Zhixing’s words, the corners of his mouth curved into a faint smile. Yet his beautiful, shimmering eyes were filled with gloom, like a still, secluded pool whose waters were terrifyingly cold.
He released Lu Zhixing and took several steps backward.