With that, he raised his hand and swung down, thrusting the sword straight through!
Yet at that very moment, a streak of green suddenly flashed before Jiang Ye Xue’s eyes. He abruptly withdrew his sword and retreated, his long brows rising sharply in shock.
“Bamboo Warrior?!”
The one that had blocked his killing strike was precisely the Bamboo Warrior made by Murong Chu Yi. The green-skinned puppet wielded a curved blade, letting out a battle cry as it guarded Yue Chen Qing.
Jiang Ye Xue was startled, thinking that Murong Chu Yi had awakened. But when he turned around, Murong Chu Yi was clearly still lying unconscious in the pool of blood, his eyes closed.
A chill suddenly settled in Jiang Ye Xue’s heart, and he immediately realized—
It was Yue Chen Qing!
Yue Chen Qing’s earlier helplessness had actually been an act!
Back when they fought the Sword Demon Li Qing Qian, Yue Chen Qing had once summoned the Bamboo Warriors to protect him with nothing more than a scream. These Bamboo Warriors’ first master was Murong Chu Yi, and once Murong Chu Yi lost consciousness, the second person whose commands they would obey was Yue Chen Qing.
So, in truth, while Jiang Ye Xue had been talking, Yue Chen Qing had already quietly summoned all the Bamboo Warriors wandering throughout the cavern back to him.
Jiang Ye Xue abruptly turned his gaze toward Yue Chen Qing. Although Yue Chen Qing’s expression was filled with extreme grief, he no longer looked as dazed and vacant as before.
Jiang Ye Xue gritted his teeth.
“Yue Chen Qing… I truly underestimated you!”
Yue Chen Qing coughed up blood and raised his head with difficulty, panting.
“…I told you… I am already the head of the Yue family… So how could I…” Blood foam stained his lips and teeth crimson. “How could I… allow you to… run wild in Hunyuan Cave…?!”
Then he shouted sharply:
“Attack!”
Dozens of Bamboo Warriors obeyed the command. In an instant, they sprang out from behind the rocks above, one after another pouncing toward Jiang Ye Xue. They released sharp shrieks as a fierce battle erupted.
Taking advantage of the huge number of bamboo mecha entangling Jiang Ye Xue, Yue Chen Qing broke free of the restraints on his wheelchair. Swaying unsteadily, he stood and walked over to Mo Xi.
To Mo Xi, who could neither speak nor move because the demonic poison had not yet been removed, he said, “Lord Xihe… I’m sorry… The Yue family’s affairs have dragged you into this for no reason.”
Yue Chen Qing’s dark eyes were moist. He looked utterly exhausted, but there was a certain resoluteness flickering within them.
“But… I won’t… I absolutely won’t let Fourth Uncle and you suffer this injustice and hardship for nothing…”
After saying this, he dragged his battered body around and began walking step by step toward the blood pool.
Mo Xi suddenly stiffened—
Was he planning to sacrifice himself to the resentful spirits and take Jiang Ye Xue’s life?!
Jiang Ye Xue had clearly seen Yue Chen Qing’s intention as well. He cursed under his breath. The golden light around the blade in his hand suddenly blazed intensely. With a violent shake, he blasted away most of the Bamboo Warriors surging around him like a tide!
Immediately afterward, a golden chain shot out, striking directly toward Yue Chen Qing’s legs!
Although Yue Chen Qing was physically weak, he had followed Mo Xi through two years of campaigns outside the capital. He was not as weak and useless as his elder brother had imagined. Despite his injuries and agony, he managed to avoid the chain.
Yue Chen Qing panted, tears clouding his eyes. Yet mixed into his hatred were many other emotions.
“Jiang Ye Xue, I’ve never liked making a fuss. I’ve never liked fighting, and I hate fighting over things even more… If your selfish desire was simply for me to return everything that belonged to you, then why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”
Jiang Ye Xue sneered. “What, you want to abdicate and yield your position to someone more worthy? Don’t be foolish, Yue Chen Qing. Every position of power in this world must be seized. Even the Crown Prince is no exception.”
“To seize power, did you really have to kill so many people?! Now that you’ve obtained the Yue family while standing on these piles of bones, can your heart truly be at peace?”
“How could it not be at peace?” Jiang Ye Xue laughed coldly. “I’ve long since passed the foolish age of worrying about whether my conscience is at peace. Let alone the people of Hunyuan Cave—even if I needed cultivators from all across the Nine Provinces to pave the road for me, I wouldn’t feel the slightest bit troubled.”
Yue Chen Qing’s eyes were bloodshot as he looked at him. He seemed unwilling to say anything more, and merely murmured weakly,
“…You won’t get your wish. Whether it is the Yue family or Fourth Uncle, you’ll never have either.”
With that, he leaped toward the blood pool.
But at that very instant, a golden cord suddenly wrapped tightly around Yue Chen Qing’s waist, forcibly stopping his attempt to sacrifice himself.
Yue Chen Qing abruptly turned his head—
Xiao Lan’er stood there expressionlessly, holding the chain and looking at him with extreme coldness.
It turned out that when Jiang Ye Xue’s previous attack had failed to hit Yue Chen Qing seriously, he had transferred the spiritual power of the chain to the puppet Xiao Lan’er behind Yue Chen Qing. Xiao Lan’er had used this opportunity to launch a sneak attack from behind. Caught off guard, Yue Chen Qing was tightly bound and unable to break free.
Jiang Ye Xue seized the opportunity to violently shake off the Bamboo Warriors surrounding him. Amid the exploding fragments of bamboo and billowing smoke, this seemingly refined and scholarly man walked forward calmly, his expression sinister.
Step by step, he approached.
Eventually, he reached Yue Chen Qing and raised his hand, grabbing him by the throat.
“Yue Chen Qing, you’re eager to die, and I would be more than happy to send you to the Yellow Springs.” Jiang Ye Xue tightened his fingers. Yue Chen Qing’s face instantly flushed red under his vicious grip, and he could not utter a single word. “But you can forget about jumping into the blood pool. Don’t even think about making a deal with those monsters in the pool using your soul and interfering with my plans!”
The violent spirit core he had taken from Xiao Lan’er surged with powerful flames and lightning inside his body.
“And another thing, please stop ridiculously claiming the identity of the head of the Yue family. The resentful spirits of Hunyuan Cave are destined not to obey you. After you foolishly self-detonated your spirit core just now, you have already become a cripple. You can no longer become the head of the Yue family.”
“And the second heir is me.”
With that, he suddenly raised his palm and slammed it down directly over Yue Chen Qing’s heart!
Yue Chen Qing spat out a mouthful of blood.
The hissing spiritual current instantly shattered his already precarious spirit core into dust…
A cold light like a vulture swooping down upon its prey flickered in Jiang Ye Xue’s eyes. He seemed determined to make Yue Chen Qing feel utterly powerless, to make him feel that all hope was dead.
Therefore, after completely destroying Yue Chen Qing’s spirit core, he suddenly raised his hand and shouted sharply,
“Obey my command!”
His voice echoed throughout Hunyuan Cave.
Immediately afterward, countless shrieks rang out within the cavern. The resentful spirits and demons that had previously been dazed and uncertain suddenly understood who their new master was. They stretched their necks and opened their mouths, unleashing roars that shook the rock layers.
The blood pool churned even more violently, scarlet waves surging. More evil spirits that had not yet leaped from the surface of the pool began restlessly howling beneath the blood-red water.
Jiang Ye Xue laughed loudly. Then his smile twisted into something ferocious as he spoke to Yue Chen Qing in a tone filled with contempt.
“Yue Chen Qing, do you understand who the master of the Yue family is now?! You can no longer command them because you’re simply not worthy!”
“He isn’t worthy.”
Suddenly, a cold voice sounded behind Jiang Ye Xue.
“Then what about me?”
Jiang Ye Xue froze.
The arrogance and conceit had not yet faded from his face when he suddenly realized what he had heard. He immediately turned around.
“Chu Yi?!”
Murong Chu Yi had awakened at some point.
He struggled to his feet, covering his wound as he rose from the pool of blood. He looked more disheveled than ever. His white robes no longer fluttered with that immortal, godlike elegance.
Yet what was unsettling was that his composure and indifference had not diminished in the slightest.
If anything, they appeared even stronger against his face, which had become exceptionally pale from excessive blood loss.
Murong Chu Yi looked indifferently at Jiang Ye Xue.
“Yue Ye Xue, am I worthy?”
They were both illegitimate sons. Jiang Ye Xue was the son of Madam Xie, while Murong Chu Yi was the son of Lady Chu. Once the legitimate son, Yue Chen Qing, had lost the ability to control the resentful spirits, then as far as the spirits in the blood pool were concerned, Murong Chu Yi and Jiang Ye Xue were actually equal.
Murong Chu Yi likewise ignited blazing spiritual flames. Their light illuminated his sharp phoenix eyes, making them extraordinarily bright.
He shouted solemnly,
“Obey my summons!”
The resentful spirits churned once more.
The evil ghosts that had previously obeyed Jiang Ye Xue’s orders turned around again at Murong Chu Yi’s command and began advancing toward Jiang Ye Xue and Xiao Lan’er.
Jiang Ye Xue’s expression darkened, though he remained cold and composed. He narrowed his eyes.
“Chu Yi, you know you are no match for me.”
Murong Chu Yi did not answer. He simply continued offering his spiritual power to the blood spirits without end.
Jiang Ye Xue said, “What nonsense are you playing at now? When it comes to spiritual power, you can’t possibly beat me. What’s more, I can control your mind again. You—”
“Rise!”
Murong Chu Yi shouted sharply.
All the resentful spirits shrieked and lunged toward Jiang Ye Xue.
Jiang Ye Xue swept his sleeve, violently increasing his spiritual flow as he tried to pull the evil spirits back under his control.
But at that moment, he heard Murong Chu Yi give a cold laugh.
“Yue Ye Xue, you’re right.”
“You steal people’s spiritual power, destroy their spirit cores, feed them poison, and manipulate their minds. I can’t compare with you. My strength is inferior to yours.”
“…”
Jiang Ye Xue stared intently at him, not understanding what he meant for the moment.
“I’ve grown sick of being your puppet. But to protect Yue Chen Qing, I endured it all this time. No matter how disgusting it was, I bore it.”
“…”
“To tell you the truth, I’ve reached the end of my patience. I don’t want to concern myself with the Yue family’s affairs anymore either.”
When Jiang Ye Xue heard him give up, he almost felt relieved. He stepped forward.
“Chu Yi, if you don’t interfere in today’s matter, then for your sake, I can…”
But Murong Chu Yi simply looked at him calmly.
“Jiang Ye Xue, you don’t need to negotiate terms with me. In this lifetime, you will never control me again.”
Jiang Ye Xue froze.
There was a faint trace of sorrow in Murong Chu Yi’s expression. He spoke quietly.
“More than twenty years. Between you and me, it is time to settle everything.”
Jiang Ye Xue suddenly understood.
He lunged forward and cried out in horror,
“Chu Yi—!”
But it was too late.
The rustling sound of fabric swept through the air.
He grasped at empty space.
Murong Chu Yi’s sleeve brushed past his fingertips.
Before Jiang Ye Xue could pull him back, that bloodstained white robe suddenly fluttered and fell into the surging molten current of the blood pool!
Silence.
For a moment, neither Yue Chen Qing nor Jiang Ye Xue, nor even Mo Xi, could believe that this was real.
Murong Chu Yi had been too decisive and too clean.
Just like everything else he had ever done, once he had made up his mind, he simply did it. He said nothing more, did not linger with anyone, and offered no explanation to anyone.
Or perhaps he knew that Jiang Ye Xue would soon be able to control his body again, so he had not given Jiang Ye Xue any opportunity to stop him.
Murong Chu Yi had always seemed heartless.
Even toward himself.
For one brief moment, Mo Xi thought Murong Chu Yi would soon emerge from beneath the edge of the pool, riding Zhaoxue back to the ground like an immortal descended from heaven, just as he had when he killed the Sword Demon Li Qing Qian, that same casual yet utterly confident figure.
But he did not.
The blood pool bubbled and churned.
What erupted once more from it was a gigantic scarlet wave. The wave transformed into the twisted shape of an evil spirit, shrieking as it charged toward Jiang Ye Xue to hunt him down!
Yue Chen Qing finally came back to his senses amid the torrent and screamed with all his strength,
“Fourth Uncle!! No, nooooo!!!”
As for Jiang Ye Xue, he remained rooted to the spot, his eyes wide and his pupils seeming ready to split apart.
He raised his hand.
He could clearly have blocked that instantaneous attack.
But before his eyes, he could still see Murong Chu Yi being swallowed by the blood pool. In his ears, he could still hear Murong Chu Yi’s final words.
He did not even feel that this was real.
In his calculations, he had calculated the deaths of everyone. Anyone’s life could be used as a bargaining chip.
But he had never calculated for Murong Chu Yi.
Jiang Ye Xue stood there rigidly. Perhaps even he himself did not understand why he had frozen in place.
Before he had time to question his own heart, before he could even understand what he truly felt, the raging current of the blood pool swept furiously toward him—
And violently engulfed him!
In an instant.
Those intense shades of red filled his entire field of vision.
Jiang Ye Xue could not help murmuring in a trembling voice,
“…Did you really… really hate me that much?”
No one answered.
The scarlet before his eyes seemed to become that old plum tree from many years ago, leaning against the pale pink wall, its blossoms blooming brilliantly…
Back then, he had been young, upright, and spotless, having never wronged anyone.
Holding an umbrella, he walked behind the boy standing with his back to him and gently said with a smile,
“Whose child are you? Why aren’t you holding an umbrella in such heavy wind and snow?”
Murong Chu Yi turned his head.
There had been no hatred in his eyes, nor the disappointment and sorrow that would come later.
He had simply looked at him quietly.
Different from their first meeting, in a daze, Jiang Ye Xue seemed to see Murong Chu Yi smiling brightly at him.
Against the backdrop of wind, snow, and plum blossoms, the boy said,
“Nice to meet you. My name is Murong Chu Yi.”
Jiang Ye Xue’s heart suddenly ached.
Twenty years of the past pierced into his chest.
In the first half of his life, he had steadfastly upheld the righteous path and failed to obtain justice from the world. But at least Murong Chu Yi had trusted him and protected him.
In the second half of his life, his hands had become stained with blood. He had schemed and calculated everything, and just when he was about to gather all power into his hands, he discovered—
The person standing in his way was the very same person.
But Murong Chu Yi had once protected him.
When everyone had distanced themselves from him and old friends had avoided him as though fleeing from danger, it was Murong Chu Yi who had given him a place to stay, given him recognition and encouragement, and given him a home.
Perhaps Murong Chu Yi had not hated him.
Perhaps it was Jiang Ye Xue himself who, at the moment he fell onto the demonic path, had personally killed the Jiang Ye Xue whom Murong Chu Yi respected.
With his final awareness, the only thing he heard was Yue Chen Qing’s heart-wrenching wailing and sobbing.
“Fourth Uncle!!!!!!”
He isn’t your Fourth Uncle.
That was what Jiang Ye Xue thought.
At the very beginning of the story, he was clearly only mine…
If only our time had stopped in that year, on that day, beneath that old plum tree.
How wonderful would that have been…
“Fourth Uncle… Fourth… Fourth Uncle…!!”
The torrent of resentful spirits swallowed him.
The blood tide receded, carrying away the remains of the Bamboo Warriors along the shore. Even the resentful spirits that had leaped out of the blood pool were swept back into it.
Xiao Lan’er collapsed on the ground, completely unconscious.
Yue Chen Qing dropped to his knees with a thud and stumbled as he crawled toward the blood pool. His face was covered in tears as he cried out in grief.
“Fourth Uncle… don’t… don’t leave me… ah…”
In the end, his voice became nothing more than an unintelligible, grief-stricken wail.
“I won’t be angry with you anymore… Please… please…”
As though finally responding to his plea—
Suddenly, a warm white light rose from the depths of the blood pool.
Yue Chen Qing abruptly raised his head.
His pupils contracted. His entire body trembled, and all color instantly drained from his lips.
He was so desperate, yet so filled with hope.
Using both hands and feet, he scraped bloody trails across the ground as he crawled toward it.
“Fourth Uncle…”
The figure that emerged above the surface of the blood pool was indeed Murong Chu Yi.
But he was already in the form of a sacrificed soul.
He had no more spiritual power and no more time. His pure-white body had already begun to turn transparent.
It was exactly like before, whenever Yue Chen Qing caused trouble and Murong Chu Yi came out to save him.
Murong Chu Yi’s sash fluttered, his sleeves billowed, and the light of Zhaoxue’s sword enveloped him, making him appear like a heavenly god descending to earth as he landed.
But unlike before, whenever Murong Chu Yi had saved him in the past, he had always looked impatient, never even looking directly at him, much less speaking to him.
Yet this time, freed from the black magic curse Jiang Ye Xue had placed upon him, Murong Chu Yi no longer needed to worry that getting too close to someone would cause the demonic aura to spread to them.
At last, just as Yue Chen Qing had once longed for, he gently lowered his eyes with a smile, raised his hand glowing with white light, and softly placed it on Yue Chen Qing’s head.
Yue Chen Qing sobbed uncontrollably, tears finally pouring down like rain.
“You’ve already done very well, Yue Chen Qing.”
Murong Chu Yi’s voice drifted like smoke through Hunyuan Cave after the great calamity.
“It’s only a pity that Fourth Uncle never properly stayed by your side, taught you, or cared for you.”
“No… No!! You treated me well! I was the one who failed you! I was… Fourth Uncle, don’t go! Take me instead, please, take me instead…”
“What foolish things are you saying?”
Murong Chu Yi extended two fingers and lightly tapped Yue Chen Qing’s forehead.
“You are still young. You still have a long road ahead of you. This is the last time I will save you. From now on, you must work harder and strive diligently. Remember, you are not merely Murong Huang’s son.”
He paused before speaking gently.
“You are also my nephew, Yue Chen Qing.”
After saying this, he walked to Mo Xi’s side and placed his hand over Mo Xi’s chest, slowly transferring the last of his soul power into him, dispelling the demonic poison that had been so difficult to relieve.
Mo Xi coughed up a mouthful of blood and finally regained the ability to move. His throat was deep and hoarse as he whispered,
“Murong…”
Murong Chu Yi shook his head and asked quietly,
“You still haven’t told Gu Mang that I am his brother, have you?”
“…”
“Then never tell him.”
Murong Chu Yi spoke softly.
“I’m sorry, Lord Xihe.”
His hand moved away from Mo Xi’s chest.
The phantom became increasingly indistinct, increasingly faint, almost becoming an unrecognizable illusion of flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water.
“Everyone has their own fate, and every bond has its own depth. It seems that he and I were destined to have no fate together. I ultimately cannot keep our appointment tomorrow. Please tell him… tell him to take good care of himself.”
The final trace of light gradually faded away.
Only Murong Chu Yi’s voice remained lingering throughout the cavern, carrying a tenderness that no one had ever heard from him all these years.
“Don’t wait for me anymore…”