Things had suddenly taken a strange turn. Song Liang studied the elegant man in the portrait for a long while, looking thoughtful.
“Could the genes simply be that strong? Father and son looking identical?”
After all, this was a fictional world. Anything could happen.
Xue Yan asked instead, “When did your grandfather succeed to the position of city lord?”
Song Liang genuinely gave it some thought before answering:
“I don’t know.”
Xue Yan: “…”
Song Liang looked innocent.
“I really don’t. Before you arrived, I was always ill, lying in bed every day. The day you came was the first time I’d left the city in years.”
“…”
Xue Yan regarded him steadily, then asked a question that had long been on his mind.
“When we first met in the forest outside the city, you seemed to know I was there. Why?”
3085: 【You can’t tell him, Host. Conserve electricity. You wouldn’t want me wasting energy electrocuting you, would you?】
Song Liang was clearly an environmentally conscious person, so he told Xue Yan:
“Do you believe in fate? That day, the Heavenly Dao guided me. It said the love of my life was waiting there. Then I discovered my illness had healed, so I went looking for you.”
Xue Yan watched him impassively for a moment.
“Do you think I would believe such nonsense?”
Song Liang: 【He was easier to fool in his last life. He believed everything I said.】
3085: 【Love had gone to his head. Being lovestruck is terrifying.】
Song Liang: 【Terrifying? He was adorable.】
“What are you smiling at?” Xue Yan asked.
“Oh, was I smiling? My apologies.” Song Liang gave a bashful smile. “I was just remembering our sweet, loving days together in our previous life. I couldn’t help myself.”
Xue Yan said, “The Taixuan Sect performs exorcisms as well as subduing demons.”
Song Liang: “…”
3085: 【Hahahaha!】
The system’s brazen laughter was deafening. Song Liang promptly muted it and told the man beside him:
“Don’t forget, you still owe me your life.”
“My destined death does not lie there,” Xue Yan replied without turning, still examining the memorial tablets.
In other words, he would not have died even without Song Liang’s help, so he owed him no life debt.
“Oh? Who can say? Don’t assume I’m easy to fool just because I’m mortal.”
“Once cultivators reach a certain realm, they can sense their own opportunities and dangers. Through the study of fate, they can also divine their trials of life and death.”
“That impressive? Have you ever divined your own romantic fate?”
“…”
Xue Yan’s hand paused against the portrait. Just then, the ever-burning lamps flickered, casting wavering shadows across his face. The shadow of his brow concealed his deep-set eyes, making his expression unreadable.
“No,” he said.
Song Liang immediately smiled and stepped closer, cradling the sword in his arms.
“Then how do you know I’m not the one destined for you?”
Xue Yan looked up at him. His gaze traveled from the frost-colored longsword in Song Liang’s arms to the face made all the more radiant by the lamplight.
“A mortal’s life lasts scarcely a hundred years. To me, that is little more than the span between morning and night. You need not waste your time on me.”
“…”
“Even without spiritual roots, you possess extraordinary gifts. You could become an emperor or a great commander, or simply indulge in all the mortal world offers. You have your own Dao. I am not part of your path, nor should you be part of mine.”
“…”
“I do not know where this obsession of yours comes from—”
“Are you finished?” Song Liang interrupted coolly. “Are you saying all this because I’m a mortal without spiritual roots?”
Xue Yan gazed at him for a long time before answering:
“Yes.”
“All right.” Song Liang nodded and raised the sword he was cradling. “Can I still borrow this, then?”
Xue Yan was silent for a moment. “Of course.”
Song Liang moved close again to study the portrait with him. “Have you noticed anything?”
In the quiet room, the rustle of their robes brushing together was startlingly clear. A trace of warmth came through the fabric, and Song Liang’s scent lingered with every breath. They were so close Xue Yan could almost make out each of his long lashes and the fine lines on his lips.
He had no idea how long he’d been staring until Song Liang spoke beside his ear.
“There’s something I want to know.”
“What is it?” he asked without thinking.
“Do cultivators lie to their own hearts, too?”
Song Liang turned to look at him. There was hardly any space left between them. Their breaths mingled, and it felt as though Song Liang’s very presence had seeped into Xue Yan’s chest. His pupils contracted slightly. Instinct told him to step back, but he held himself still.
“Why aren’t you stepping back?” Song Liang asked, his gaze calm and sharp as an arrow. “Afraid it’ll give you away?”
“…”
“I don’t really understand you cultivators, and I have no wish to. But if I were to cultivate, I’d do what I wanted to do, walk the path I wanted to walk, and hold on to the person I didn’t want to let go.”
“…”
“Whether my tribulation brings life or death, I never turn back once I’ve chosen my path. And once I’ve set my heart on someone, I won’t change my mind, whether he’s human or demon, mortal or immortal.”
“Immortal Venerable Shuanghua, did you honestly think I wouldn’t recognize your Shuanghua Sword?”
Song Liang lifted his eyes, his gaze suddenly keen as it held Xue Yan’s.
“So a sword cultivator can just lend out his life-bound sword to anyone, can he? Hmm?”
Xue Yan abruptly stepped back, unaware of the flash of red hurtling toward him from behind. Just before it pierced him through the back, a streak of frost-white sword light cut across it, cleaving it in two.
Almost at the same instant, the alarm on Xue Yan’s face vanished. He struck with his palm at something behind Song Liang. They swept past each other, each attacking what lay hidden in the shadows behind the other.
A piercing, beastlike shriek suddenly rang out. The ancestral hall shook violently, and hundreds of ever-burning lamps went out at once. The room seemed to sink into utter night, without a single glimmer of light.
Eerie sounds of crawling came from every direction. In an instant, the two were engulfed in the stench of blood and decay.
Without hesitation, Xue Yan raised his hand, conjured a sword, and slashed overhead. Dazzling sword light swallowed the ancestral hall. A heartbeat later, daylight blazed around them. The hall had turned to ash, leaving only Song Liang and Xue Yan standing side by side.
Drawn by that tremendous strike, cultivators hurried over to find the city lord’s residence all but reduced to rubble. Two men stood shoulder to shoulder amid the ruins, each holding a frost-white longsword, the ground beneath them blanketed in ice and frost.
“Immortal… Immortal Venerable Shuanghua?”
“Is that Immortal Venerable Shuanghua?”
“Which one is he?”
While the cultivators argued over which of the two was the real Immortal Venerable Shuanghua, Chen You stared down at the residence in horror.
“A demon domain…”
At those words, the arguing ceased. Everyone looked toward the residence. Crimson demonic aura was rising steadily from the ground, no longer in wisps but in vast sheets that surged into the sky above them, spreading visibly by the second.
“Demon thralls! They’re demon thralls! There are so many of them!” someone cried.
Startled, the cultivators looked down. Demon thralls were pouring out into the streets all across Xiushui City, lunging at passersby and biting through their throats. The once-bustling streets filled with screams as people scattered in terror.
“It’s a demon domain! Run!”
“It really is a Demon King!”
“Run! Once the domain takes shape, none of us will get out!”
The cultivators went pale and scrambled onto their swords, fleeing toward the outskirts of Xiushui City.
Jing Feishuang watched it happen, then plunged down without hesitation, sword in hand. With a single stroke, she took the head off a thrall that was devouring someone. The Yaoshang disciples drew their swords and followed her.
“Form the array!” Chen You shouted.
Yun Yao frowned and raised a hand to summon an enormous parasol. Seven-colored light enveloped her. Wherever its radiance swept, the demon thralls twisted and dissolved into black, bloody liquid.
Even that could not stop the endless stream of thralls from pouncing on more mortals. In the blink of an eye, all of Xiushui City had become a living hell.
“What is that?” Song Liang asked, looking up at the demonic aura overhead.
“A demon domain. Once it takes shape, nothing alive inside can escape, and the demon thralls will keep coming.” Xue Yan’s expression was grave. “That demon means to devour the whole city.”
Song Liang stared at the scene before him and suddenly understood what had happened to Xiushui City in the original novel.
Xiushui City had ceased to be a city. It had become a demon domain, and every last person inside had turned into a thrall, stripped of their humanity.
【Beep!】
【Current instance: “After My Engagement Was Broken Off, I Became the Darling of the Immortal Sects.” Main storyline progress: 1%.】
【Hidden main mission 3 unlocked: Save Xiushui City.】
Để lại một bình luận