Chapter 30: Kill! Destroy the Heart!
Chapter 30: Kill! Destroy the Heart!
After a long while, the Great Demon Xiang Wentian calmed down.
“I remember now, I know who stole my scroll,” Xiang Wentian said hoarsely. “It was him, it was him…”
“Wang Lianhua. Back when I was hunted for thousands of miles, he saved me three times.”
“I am suspicious by nature and trust no one. But… he risked his life for me again and again, even had both his legs broken.”
“He treated my wounds and saved my life.”
“I saw him as my only friend, the only person I trusted.”
“All of it was fake. Everything he did was an act, just to cheat me out of my ‘Star-Draining Art’ scroll!”
Hearing this, Wuque couldn’t help but think of another story.
In “Heavenly Dragons and Slaying Sabers,” Zhu Changling, to trick Zhang Wuji into revealing the secret of the Slaying Saber, performed an astonishingly elaborate act of self-sacrifice. He burned down his entire family estate and nearly beat his own daughter to death, all just to win Zhang Wuji’s trust.
And the Wang Lianhua that Xiang Wentian spoke of now was probably even more cunning and sinister.
After all, Xiang Wentian was suspicious by nature, not a naive fool like Zhang Wuji.
But the ‘Star-Draining Art’ manual was still tricked away from him, showing just how formidable this Wang Lianhua was.
Suddenly, Xiang Wentian seemed to wither entirely, his gaze turning completely dull.
“Why was it like this?”
“Why does this world have to be like this?” Xiang Wentian lifted his head, looking at Wuque in confusion and helplessness.
“Is it because I, Xiang Wentian, am too outstanding? So the heavens torment me like this?”
In Xiang Wentian’s life, his heart held only three people.
His wife, his son, Mi Daoyuan, and Wang Lianhua.
Why three? Because Mi Daoyuan and Wang Lianhua each counted as half.
These people formed his entire inner world, his entire Spiritual World.
His wife and son were dead. Mi Daoyuan had become a beast in human skin. Wang Lianhua had almost become the only warmth left in his heart.
And now…
Even this warm pillar of his spirit had collapsed.
This close friend Wang Lianhua was just as vicious and despicable as Mi Daoyuan.
“You not only insulted my character, you insulted my intelligence,” Xiang Wentian said hoarsely to himself, asking: “Wuque, am I stupid?”
Wuque shook his head. “No, you’re not stupid. You’re very smart, just too stubborn. Stubborn people are the easiest to use. Stubborn people are also the ones who get hurt the worst.”
Xiang Wentian asked again: “Are some people just born a tragedy?”
Wuque said: “I don’t know.”
After that, he didn’t speak, just sat quietly beside Xiang Wentian.
…
After quite a long while…
Xiang Wentian suddenly said: “Even though the ‘Star-Draining Art’ scroll is gone, you can still learn it…”
Wuque looked over.
Xiang Wentian continued: “As long as you have sufficient bone structure and spirit meridians. Because the ‘Star-Draining Art’ isn’t really a Martial Art at all. It’s about constructing an Energy Array within your body, building an incredibly profound and complex Dark Vortex.”
“Even though the manual is gone, I can transfer this Star-Draining Art vortex from within my body to yours.”
“However, the price for that would be… I would vanish into dust, die without a burial place.”
Hearing this, Wuque fell silent immediately.
“Last time, I trusted my only close friend Wang Lianhua, and he betrayed me, trampled on my dignity, and tricked me out of my ‘Star-Draining Art’ scroll.”
“Should I trust you? Shen Wuque?” Xiang Wentian still gazed at Wuque blankly.
Wuque didn’t speak right away.
The Great Demon Xiang Wentian asked again: “Should I trust you? Shen Wuque? Will you deceive me like Wang Lianhua did?”
Wuque remained silent.
“After I give you the Star-Draining Art vortex from my body, I will die,” Xiang Wentian said slowly. “I’ll give you one sentence to convince me.”
“Just one sentence. If you convince me, I will sacrifice my life and give you the Star-Draining Art vortex from my body,” Xiang Wentian said, his gaze filled with longing, looking at Wuque.
“Shen Wuque, my world is utterly destroyed, collapsed. I have almost lost trust in the entire world, in everything.”
“Shen Wuque, say something. Let me regain trust in this world. Let me, before I die, be able to trust one person.”
“You say one sentence. Just one sentence, this one chance. Make me trust you instantly, and I will sacrifice myself for you. Give you my Star-Draining Art vortex.”
This was the moment the Great Demon Xiang Wentian’s heart was at its most fragile.
How to gain his trust at such a time?
Tear off the human skin on oneself and reveal one’s true face?
Or directly state: I am Yingque, the sole heir of the Ying Clan. I am not Shen Wuque.
This was his deepest secret.
To gain someone’s trust, just handing over one’s deepest secret would do.
Shock the other person enough, and you can gain their trust.
Wuque was silent for a long time.
Then, he suddenly drew out the Dagger and placed it in Xiang Wentian’s hand.
He took hold of Xiang Wentian’s hand and guided it, pointing the Dagger at Wuque’s own heart.
Wuque slowly drew out the Dagger, placed it in Xiang Wentian’s hand, then aimed it at his own heart.
Then, he said, word by word: “Senior, about your wife, and about your son… I made it all up.”
Instantly…
The entire cave trembled violently.
The temperature in the air plummeted immediately.
Overwhelming killing intent!
Then, the Dagger in Xiang Wentian’s hand slowly pierced into Wuque’s heart.
“Actually, I never met your son. I had no idea who your wife’s lover was. I only knew she would rather die than speak his name. And I also knew your benefactor Master was Mi Daoyuan, with whom I have a feud.”
“To obtain your ‘Star-Draining Art’ scroll, I needed to shock your heart. So I fabricated this story.”
“From Jiumogang, I didn’t get much information. Using the few details I had, I invented this tale.”
“Your wife might have truly betrayed you, cheated on you, and loved her lover dearly, refusing to name him even in death.”
“But… deep in your heart, you desperately wanted to believe your wife was pure and faithful. You desperately hoped her actions had some bitter reason. So I fabricated this story. As soon as I said it, you believed it without a shred of doubt, because your heart desperately longed for this story.”
“This is human nature!”
Xiang Wentian was on the verge of total collapse.
His gaze, like that of a fierce ghost, began to crack, to explode.
The whole person became like a beast, like a devil.
He wanted to destroy everything.
Destroy this ugly world.
“I will kill you, I will kill you, I will tear your body into a thousand pieces,” Xiang Wentian roared wildly.
Wuque closed his eyes and said slowly, “Do it, go ahead and do it.”
Xiang Wentian shouted angrily, “If you were going to lie, why not just deceive me all the way? Why did you have to expose it?!”
Wuque rasped, “Because I didn’t want to!”
Then, his voice lowered, and he said slowly, “I… I didn’t want to. You are a demon, a tyrant, you shouldn’t die a pathetic death like this. I already carried a heavy psychological burden from making up stories to deceive you. Hearing your story with Wang Lianhua, I… I could no longer hold back, I couldn’t do it.”
“I don’t want to trample on your dignity, I don’t want to insult your intelligence.”
“If I told you the truth, you would tear my body into a thousand pieces. But… but I couldn’t hold back.”
“I wanted to honor you, this Great Demon’s final pride, even if the cost was being torn into a thousand pieces.”
“Do it, kill me.”
After saying this, Wuque grabbed Xiang Wentian’s hand and instead pushed forcefully to drive the dagger deeper into his own heart.
The Great Demon Xiang Wentian was bewildered and looked up at the sky.
However, he couldn’t see the sky—only the dark, looming cliff top above.
Xiang Wentian slowly calmed down and pulled the dagger halfway out of Wuque’s chest.
He panted heavily.
For a long moment, he rasped, “The truth is painful, unbearably so. But… at least you didn’t deceive me, and you allowed me to regain a tiny bit of trust in this world.”
“Shen Wuque, I hate you beyond measure for telling me the truth. But… I still want to thank you.”
“Also, I have to tell you that I deceived you. Because… it was never possible for me to transfer the Dark Vortex of the Star-Draining Art inside me to you. There was no way at all.”
“The Star-Draining Art scroll was stolen, my mind was shattered, and I can’t remember its contents anymore. So… you will never learn the Star-Draining Art.”
Wuque smiled. “It’s fine.”
Then he asked, “You’re not going to kill me?”
Xiang Wentian said, “This world is so cruel, living is more painful than dying. You just go on living.”
“But I…” Xiang Wentian said slowly, “have no reason left to live.”
“Wuque, do you think some people are destined for tragedy from the moment they are born?”
After saying this, the Great Demon Xiang Wentian suddenly slammed his palm against his own heart.
“Pfft!” His heart exploded directly.
The generation’s demon, Xiang Wentian, died on the spot.
He had killed himself; he truly had nothing left to live for.
Wuque stared at the corpse of the Great Demon Xiang Wentian, speechless for a long time.
Then, he bowed deeply to the corpse.
A ninety-degree bow.
I’m sorry, Senior Wentian.
Wang Lianhua is terrifying, but there are people even more terrifying than Wang Lianhua, like the Wuque before you.
Killing without using hands.
But instead… destroying the heart!
How to kill someone? Raise them to heaven, then cast them into hell, and then into the Eighteenth Layer of Hell.
That… will do.
…
Finally, Wuque took a set of clothes from his bag and changed Xiang Wentian’s corpse into them.
Then, he took out the White Bone Brush and painted a portrait of him.
He prepared Xiang Wentian for burial.
The portrait of the demon Xiang Wentian vividly appeared on the paper.
Then, a glowing light drifted out from his corpse and entered Wuque’s body.
Extracting ability: Star-Draining Art.
…