Twisted Love, Sober Hatred
“A dead end? Hahaha...”
Su Rui let out a wild, savage laugh, the sound piercing through Yan Mingli's oppressive aura like a knife: “Yan Palace Lord, you wouldn't naively think laozi only plundered your daughter's primordial spirit and did nothing else, would you? Are you really sure your precious little girl is... safe and sound right now?”
His words barely finished, without any visible spellcasting, he casually snapped his fingers with a crisp crack.
“Snap!”
The sound wasn't loud, yet it rang like a death knell!
“Urgh—!!!”
Yan Qingci, shielded behind Feng Xi, suddenly unleashed a shrill, heart-wrenching scream. Her delicate body convulsed violently as she clutched her head with both hands, as if enduring the cruelest torment in the world.
Twisted black patterns emerged and writhed beneath her pale skin like living things, exuding an ominous demonic aura. Her aura withered visibly before their eyes, her life force flickering like a candle in the wind, on the verge of snuffing out!
“Qingci!!”
Yan Mingli's flawless face drained of color, all her poise and majesty shattered in an instant!
She was, after all, a mother—a mother for whom her child held an irreplaceable place in her heart.
Her figure flickered as she moved to rush to her daughter's side regardless of the cost.
But would the trash boss give her that chance?
“Wanna go? Did you ask laozi first?!”
Su Rui's eyes flashed coldly. The demonic god phantom behind him roared silently once more, its massive fist wreathed in boiling black flames crashing down like a meteor, shattering mountains and splitting earth as it hammered toward Yan Mingli!
Desperate to save her daughter, Yan Mingli hastily reformed her barrier to take the blow head-on.
Boom!
Another brutal clash with no frills!
Though Yan Mingli's cultivation far surpassed Su Rui's, caught off-guard and mentally shaken, she was once again blasted back dozens of feet by the punch's eerie colossal force and tyrannical demonic flames. Only after much effort did she dissipate the terrifying momentum, looking somewhat disheveled.
“Mingli! It's a restriction! There's an extremely insidious and hidden restriction inside Qingci! I've never seen this technique—it's entangled too deeply with her primordial spirit origin. Forcing it will only hasten the collapse! I... in my current state, I can't undo it!”
Feng Xi's anxious voice rang in Yan Mingli's ears. She had tried to shatter the restriction with her holy power, but it clung like a maggot to rotting bone, absorbing her strength to grow stronger instead. Terrified, she immediately stopped.
Yan Mingli's heart chilled with horror. Feng Xi was a holy phoenix—her flames unmatched in power, and her mastery of formations and restrictions profound. If even she was helpless... what was this kid's background?!
But there was no time to dwell. Watching her daughter writhe in agony, her life force ebbing away, Yan Mingli's heart twisted like a knife. Yet Su Rui clung to her tenaciously, leaving her no chance to break free.
“Mingli, I'll hold him off. You save Qingci!”
Feng Xi's voice carried undisguised weakness, yet it was resolute as iron.
The brilliant holy phoenix radiance around her had dimmed noticeably, like a dying ember. Clearly, her earlier attempt to break the restriction had wounded her vital energy, costing her precious lifeblood essence.
Linked in mind and spirit with her, how could Yan Mingli not know she was at the end of her rope? But with her daughter's crisis imminent, she could only hope Feng Xi held out a moment.
“I'm counting on you, Feng Xi... don't push yourself too hard!”
Before the words faded, Yan Mingli's figure had become a streak of light, racing toward Yan Qingci.
Su Rui didn't stop her. His eyes burned hotly as he eyed the approaching Feng Xi: “Laozi was waiting for you! You got lucky and slipped away earlier—now don't dream of escaping laozi's grasp again!”
With his words, the demonic god phantom's giant palm flipped over like a sky-obscuring storm cloud, carrying spatial locking might as it clamped viciously toward Feng Xi.
Feng Xi mustered her holy power into a blazing white streak, dodging desperately, but Mu Xueyi slashed out a peerlessly sharp sword beam, sealing her best escape route.
In that split-second delay, the demonic god's massive hand closed like catching a chick, effortlessly seizing the streak of light that was Feng Xi!
Within the demonic palm, holy white light clashed fiercely against pitch-black demonic qi, hissing with corrosion.
Feng Xi grunted, golden blood trickling from her lips, her radiance dimming sharply.
Su Rui keenly sensed her state, smirking: “Heh... you're pretty weak right now! Looks like breaking laozi's restriction earlier burned up a ton of your life essence, huh? No wonder you managed to escape!”
He had wondered—his hastily set restriction wasn't ordinary; how had she broken it so easily? Turns out she'd paid a near self-destructive price!
“Feng Xi!!”
Yan Mingli, fully focused on suppressing the restriction in Yan Qingci, saw this and burned with anxiety, yet she couldn't split her attention.
Su Rui grinned triumphantly at Yan Mingli's dilemma: “Yan Palace Lord, looks like you can't keep us today! Take good care of your precious daughter—we'll meet again!”
With that, he commanded the demonic god phantom to clamp down tighter on the weakening Feng Xi, shot Mu Xueyi a look, and the two fled as one black and one white streak of escaping light, vanishing from Yan Mingli's sight in a blink.
Yan Mingli bit her lip until blood welled.
But for now, she could only tend to Yan Qingci. Profound spiritual light flowed from her fingertips, vast mana pouring like mercury to peel away the bone-clinging restriction bit by bit.
It took a full incense stick's time. With a faint pop, the last wisp of black qi finally annihilated under her power.
“Cough...”
The agony faded from Yan Qingci's face like receding tides, color returning to her pale lips. The moment clarity returned, she clutched her mother's sleeve desperately, her voice weak with sobs: “Mother! Quick... go save Sister Feng Xi! It's all my fault... I got her in trouble...”
“Qingci, don't blame yourself. Mother has it handled.”
Yan Mingli gently patted her daughter's hand, her phoenix eyes brimming with suppressed icy fury and heartache.
She swiftly layered protective restrictions around Yan Qingci, then took out a messaging jade talisman, infusing it with spiritual power to alert the Eternal Night Palace elders to come at once.
That done, she wasted no more time. Her graceful figure became a purple comet tearing through the sky, vanishing in an instant!
Her speed surpassed the limits of ordinary divine sense detection!
Above a sea of clouds spanning ten thousand li, two streaks of escaping light streaked one after the other, ripping through the heavens.
Su Rui had already dismissed the massively draining demonic god phantom. In his arms lay the comatose Feng Xi, her tall, graceful body softly nestled against him, fiery red hair cascading like a waterfall, accentuating her ethereal beauty now tinged with fragility.
Yet contrasting this seemingly intimate scene were the layered restrictions binding her body.
Dark demonic patterns writhed like living chains, flickering ominously at her vital points, sealing every ounce of her potential resurgence like vigilant vipers.
Feng Xi's aura was feeble, her holy halo dimmed to near extinction—clearly exhausted from breaking the prior restriction and her subsequent capture, with no fight left.
But Su Rui's gaze remained ice-cold, vigilance unbroken.
That split-second lapse earlier had let this holy phoenix burn her essence to break free, nearly costing him everything.
This time was luck—Yan Qingci still bore his unwithdrawn restriction. But next time?
He wouldn't repeat such a mistake. The price would be his life.
Suddenly, their divine senses caught a suffocating, terrifying aura closing in at breakneck speed!
“Caught up already? Persistent bitch!”
Su Rui's eyes flashed murderously. Without hesitation, his free left hand snaked around Mu Xueyi's slender, elastic waist.
Mu Xueyi froze in shock, instinctively struggling: “What are you doing?!”
But Su Rui bit his tongue hard, spitting out drops of essence blood laced with pure demonic yuan.
The blood didn't scatter—instead, it ignited before him into a bewitching black-red flame.
The blaze enveloped the three, space warping. In the next instant, they vanished like ghosts!
Incinerating Essence God Escape!
They reappeared ten thousand li away!
This near-teleportation speed jolted Mu Xueyi's mind, and narrowed Yan Mingli's phoenix eyes far behind!
Her divine sense lock shattered—the foe had fled at least five thousand li, beyond her sensing range.
Yet her centuries-old soul link with Feng Xi lingered, vaguely tracking her general direction.
Without pause, she adjusted course, accelerating further like a meteor chasing the moon!
Ten thousand li out, Su Rui thought Yan Mingli couldn't possibly track them again. But after brief respite, he sensed her aura closing once more!
“Su Rui, she's soul-linked to the holy phoenix. As long as you carry it, we're exposed!”
Mu Xueyi's cold voice cut through, nailing the issue.
Su Rui scanned the barren mountain range below, resolve hardening: “In that case...”
He plunged the escaping light down, landing the two women in a hidden cave.
On touchdown, he casually tossed the comatose Feng Xi onto the cold stone floor, but gentled his hold on Mu Xueyi for a soft landing.
Mu Xueyi felt the differential treatment keenly, a faint ripple stirring in her heart, though her face stayed icy: “What are you planning? This isn't a place to linger!”
Su Rui didn't answer at first. His hands blurred in seals, demonic qi surging like boiling water.
Countless dark, eerie runes materialized from the void, whistling like summoned nether crows into the cave walls.
The cavern shuddered violently. Space locked under invisible force, spiritual qi thickening oppressively, air twisting, light dimming—as if plunging from mortal realm into a nether ghost domain!
Three drops of far purer, power-packed lifeblood essence oozed from his fingertips, merging into the array's core.
“Nine Nether Nether Domain Array—rise!”
Boom!
The formation fully activated, soul-chilling pressure radiating, sealing cave interior from exterior.
With his current Nascent Soul cultivation fueling it, its power dwarfed before. Even a God Transformation cultivator would need three days' bombardment to crack it!
Only then did Su Rui reply: “I'm refining a treasure. It'll take... about seven days.”
Mu Xueyi sensed the impregnable barrier, surprise flickering in her cold eyes, though worry lingered: “This array... can it hold her for seven days?”
Su Rui paused, honest: “Maybe. No guarantees.”
His gaze turned complex on Mu Xueyi, emotions churning deep within.
He waved sharply, opening a narrow exit on the freshly formed, fortress-like nether light screen—just wide enough for one.
“Yan Mingli's tracking via the holy phoenix. Her goal's reclaiming it—and killing me for pissing her off royally.”
Su Rui's tone was even: “I don't have full confidence in finishing the treasure before she breaks through. And... I'm not sure if that incomplete treasure can even face a raging peak Half-God.”
He paused, locking eyes with Mu Xueyi's clear, icy peach-blossom gaze, as if etching her into his soul.
“You don't want to die with a demon like me? Leave now. Exit's right there—I won't stop you.”
“But remember this, Mu Xueyi...”
His voice dropped low and hoarse, laced with obsessive earnestness: “I love you! More than anything in this world. Even if to you it's twisted, ugly, sinful beyond redemption—it's real.”
He turned away without waiting for her reaction, decisively grabbing the unconscious Feng Xi like a ragdoll and striding into the cave's depths, swallowed by thick darkness.
Mu Xueyi stood frozen, staring into the gloom where he'd vanished. Her heart roiled like a stone hurled into still waters, ripples chaotic and unrelenting.
Outside, Yan Mingli's terrifying aura pressed like tangible storm clouds, making the mountain's creatures tremble in fear.
Inside, silence reigned—save the array's low hum... and her own erratic heartbeat.
Leave? The rational choice.
But...
His eyes—mad, obsessive, serious—flashed unbidden in her mind.
And those words: “I love you, more than anything in this world...”
If Li Chengxuan had never appeared, would her life's path have diverged?
Would she... feel something extraordinary for this reckless, utterly scummy thief who showed her such warped, obsessive affection?
But the world had no ifs.
He'd carved the deepest scar in her heart, cruelly stolen Li Chengxuan's three souls and seven poises, indirectly causing his death.
After all that, expecting any affection from her was a pipe dream.
Mu Xueyi shut her eyes tight, drawing a deep breath of the array's chill, yin-laden air. When they opened, clarity and resolve shone cold.
No matter what, he couldn't die.
Not yet.
He'd promised to unmask Li Chengxuan's true killer.
Until that vow was fulfilled—until she slew the culprit and avenged him—Su Rui had to live!
Then, she'd kill him. Even if it meant mutual destruction...