Chapter 112

"You're just too foolish! Always too foolish..."

Xiang You slowly rested her head against his chest.

The trace of thought-power in his heart slowly merged with his true self, echoing: "All sins, all return to me. All sins, all return to me!"

His heart seemed to split into two halves. One half was the regret, guilt, madness, despair, sorrow, and anger over the fact that those he loved and cherished had all died because of him; all this transformed into powerful demonic nature. The other half was kindness, love, forgiveness, protection, and compassion. This part always held him together, preventing him from falling into the other half's demonic nature...

The conflict between these two transformed into endless suffering.

Because of his deep feelings, he could not let go, and because of his deep feelings, he refused to fall into darkness and abandon himself. He wandered thus between life and death, righteousness and evil, Buddha and demon, forever enduring this suffering of the Avici Hell.

Zither music sounded from afar, and the beauty in his arms trembled... That evil and terrifying thing began to sprout slowly within Madam Chilian's body.

Madam Chilian endured the pain of melting away without revealing a single expression, but the Corpse King could feel her trembling and weakness. That kind of torture and pain became increasingly intense, making him suffer even more than Madam Chilian in his arms.

Qian Chen plucked a few zither notes and asked in confusion: "Can you really endure that much?"

"Husband! The person coming in later has a very fast blade... Let him kill us!" Madam Chilian said with a pale face: "Because of selfishness, I kept you for too long... I see how bitter you are in your heart, and I feel terrible too. Every time I want to make you feel a little better, I end up hurting you even more. Living in this world alone must be very lonely and desolate!"

"I hope we have no next life, so you won't have to feel guilty."

The Corpse King held her, but felt the person in his arms becoming lighter and lighter, and the figure in his heart drifting further and further away.

Madam Chilian smiled faintly in his ear one last time.

"Husband... you did nothing wrong, so don't... torture yourself anymore!" she said weakly. At this moment, the blood light within her body finally devoured everything about her, including her soul, cultivation, magic power, and physical body. That strange blood light contained everything she was and transformed as it emerged. The Corpse King watched as she turned into a streak of blood light, about to escape outside the blood pool.

At this moment, he suddenly reached out and grasped that streak of blood light.

The sharp, sinister blade light failed to break free from his hand... but instead felt that undistorted—demonic nature.

The Supreme Supreme Tian Mo Blood-Transforming Ancient Shendao manifested in his hand. With Madam Chilian's death, that pain finally broke the barrier of good and evil, righteousness and wickedness in his heart. All regret, guilt, madness, despair, sorrow, anger, kindness, love, forgiveness, protection, and compassion lost their meaning, leaving only the most authentic self.

Qian Chen, outside the cave, was filled with shock and doubt, gazing solemnly at the deepest part of the demon lair.

"Master, what's wrong?" The black-clad demonic cultivator had become a loyal follower of Qian Chen and asked in confusion upon seeing this.

"Someone has seized control of the Supreme Supreme Tian Mo Blood-Transforming Ancient Shendao, using their demon to replace mine. The Supreme Supreme Tian Mo on the blade has become theirs!"

Qian Chen himself was also very surprised. Although he had only achieved this by taking a shortcut using a trace of the Supreme Dao's essence, the essence of the Supreme Supreme Tian Mo he had transformed into was extremely powerful. Qian Chen had always been the one snatching things from others; he hadn't expected that this time, the divine demon he was driving would be snatched away by someone else. And he seemed to be able to sense the endless pain and that trace of relief in the heart of the person who had taken his demonic blade.

"Is this... the Corpse King?"

"This is clearly the Great Completion of the Life-Bound Divine Demon; it is the realm of a Transcending Tribulation Yin Spirit, approaching a Yang Spirit. Even the Blood Demon might not be as formidable as him... Such a demon, and he was actually just one of the four great generals?"

Qian Chen did not know that, since ancient times, the tribulation of love is the hardest to pass; passing it once is worth a thousand tribulations.

The Corpse King Xiang You had questioned his true heart within the tribulation of love for hundreds of years, and had obtained a portion of the Blood Demon's primordial spirit along with the entirety of his master's cultivation. For hundreds of years, he had never abandoned his true heart. Whether it was his disposition, magic power, or his demonic body, everything had been polished to the extreme. At this moment, as his beloved died, the last bit of attachment in his heart departed.

Yet he had already grasped his true heart, subdued the demonic thoughts in his heart, and at the same time, failed to sever those demonic thoughts and achieve sudden enlightenment to become a Buddha.

Instead, he had achieved the True Demon, the Demon of Love.

Inside the blood pool of the stone cave, the Corpse King's ferocious demonic body faded away, restoring his appearance from before he died. He put on white monk robes—these were clothes Chilian had prepared for him for hundreds of years, always kept beside the blood pool, hoping he would break free from the demonic tribulation and live in peace and joy from then on.

When Qian Chen stepped into the deepest part of the demon lair, he saw a young monk in white monk robes. With one blade strike, he extinguished the blood eye in the blood pool. That sharp blade light seemed to have been tempered through infinite pain, and the awe-inspiring intent within it made the black-clad demonic cultivator's face turn pale as he watched—another one, another one!

He was struck beyond measure; the Supreme Supreme Tian Mo Blood-Transforming Ancient Shendao was incomparably obedient in the monk's hands.

The blade strike that extinguished the blood eye carried an eerie demonic nature, once again featuring that incredible transformation and the essence of the demonic blade. The demonic blade carried not a trace of killing intent, not even a hint of murderous desire; it was just a deep sense of pain, wielded with compassion, as if to deliver others and deliver oneself.

This was a Demonic Blade of Deliverance!

"Little Black!" Qian Chen tilted his head and called to him: "I seem to have killed someone's wife. If you don't want to be implicated by me, and have even the demonic thoughts refined into a divine demon slaughtered, you'd better stay far away... Finally, seeing that everyone can practice this demonic blade better than you, how do you feel?"

"I think I should defect to the righteous path!"

"Good realization!" Qian Chen patted him on the shoulder and faced the Corpse King head-on.

He had a feeling in his heart that this would be the most arduous battle in this mission world, more difficult than his past duel with Miaokong, and more difficult than dealing with the Blood Demon in the future. Didn't he see that after the blood eye was injured, the Blood Demon behind it was in great pain, yet didn't make a sound? This person had not passed the tribulation of love and achieved great enlightenment, but had sunk into the tribulation; he would die sooner or later.

Of course, from the perspective of the Demonic Path, this was not a failure to achieve great enlightenment, but rather a grasping of one's own demonic nature.

He had truly achieved the True Self, finding what he insisted on his whole life and would not regret; even ten thousand external demons could no longer bewitch his heart. This was achieving the True Demon, grasping the 'I-Clinging'!

In this philosophy of the Demonic Path, no enlightenment, no Great Dao, could compare to this.

Great Dao and longevity were all desires imposed by others.

How could they compare to the persistence deep in one's heart, tempered through countless tribulations and finally solidified?

To use that phrase, ten thousand spells and ten thousand Great Daos could not compare to a single thought in one's heart. It seemed like obsession leading to demonic transformation, but in reality, it was another kind of life pursuit.

At this moment, Xiang You was terrifying. The Blood Demon didn't dare to make a sound even after suffering a loss, only hoping he would grow weary of this world and leave early.

"She said, your blade is fast. Perhaps it can kill me!" the Corpse King said calmly.

Qian Chen swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said with difficulty: "Brother, please listen to my explanation. The matter of your wife is actually a misunderstanding!"

The Corpse King smiled slightly: "The demonic nature in your heart is heavy. If I say that I am in pain because I hold too much in my heart, then you are empty inside. So the Supreme Supreme Tian Mo on your blade is very ruthless. Your demonic nature is essentially superior to mine, because my demon is just a person, while your demon is the Dao!"

"But I grasp my demonic nature; although painful, it is real."

"And your demonic nature is void. If you sink into the demonic nature in your heart, you will surely turn into void. I can see that you are gradually filling things into your heart, hoping it fills faster than it leaks!"

Qian Chen also sighed: "When using the demonic blade, I indeed have a feeling, as if everything I have is just a layer of skin, and underneath the skin, there is nothing. So when I swing the blade, I am actually a little afraid... afraid that the blade will tear my skin, revealing the emptiness and nothingness underneath. Then I will leak air and turn into a piece of skin... never to be real again."

"The Demonic Path is facing one's own reality." the Corpse King said: "So once you fall into the demonic path, you will be doomed forever!"

"Of course, perhaps after being doomed forever, that void... might be the real you, who knows?"

Qian Chen fell into silence...

The Supreme Dao Dust Bead? Dao Dust, Dao Dust... Dust of the Great Dao; perhaps this could also be the Supreme Heart Demon Bead?

"So, who exactly am I?"

The transmigrator Qian Chen?

The Supreme Dao Dust Bead?

The spiritual light from another world?

Or the current Qian Chen?

The Corpse King raised the Supreme Supreme Tian Mo Blood-Transforming Ancient Shendao levelly, the blade edge facing Qian Chen. Although Chilian was in great pain and had long wanted to be delivered, although he felt in his heart that all the faults were 'mine', although Xiang You had never blamed anyone, although he was willing to bear the pain alone and choose forgiveness for others.

But after grasping his deepest obsession, Xiang You was instead free!

This young man had a deep demonic nature, very similar to himself. If he couldn't subdue his own demonic nature, he would surely be very painful... It would be better to let him be delivered!