CH 27

Chapter 27: Interrogation’s End

His days have been muddled and chaotic since becoming a devil. He was like a foggy city that hadn’t ever seen the light of day.

That came almost naturally – Ordinary commoners needed to work hard for survival and be constantly wary of danger. Cultivation sects were responsible for protecting their surroundings and eliminating devils for good.

But the devils themselves; they were different. They only had to care about themselves.

A person who just began on the devilish cultivation path might be cautious around cultivation disciples, afraid that they might be the ones to be killed.

But Yun Hai didn’t.

He was a really fast cultivator. Even sect leaders were afraid of him, let alone any ordinary disciple trying to defend himself against.

He should be living a happy life, running wild as he pleased, but he did not.

He avoided all the cultivation sects, afraid that even the tiniest news about him would reach the Immortal Capital, into the ears of the Lingtai Immortal Leader.

He even went to the southwest hinterlands – His former cloning ability using spiritual powers could no longer be used. So, he learned many forbidden techniques and other techniques of all sorts there. Using the greatest patience in his life, he created a puppet that even immortals couldn’t distinguish.

He gave the puppet his own face and placed him in Chunfan City, where Hua Sect was located.

There were hundreds of thousands of people in Chunfan City. The puppet was like a droplet of water in a vast ocean. It would almost be impossible for someone from the Hua Sect to meet him.

He controlled the puppet to live an ordinary life in Chunfan City day after day, pretending to be the Yun Hai who was banished to the mortal world. Like ordinary commoners, he pretended to live an ordinary life.

After settling all that, Yun Hai left Chunfan City to Guizhou, a place very far away. A lot of devils were gathered there, so no one would really mind if he went in as well.

It was rumored there that there was a very powerful sealing technique that could seal away all senses of happiness and anger. But there were very few people who knew how to practice this technique. After all, devils were greedy beings, why would they want to suppress the excitement and satisfaction they get from devouring humans?

If they seal all their feelings, not only would that harm themselves, it would also make them no different from those tedious immortals.

But Yun Hai practiced it.

He sealed all his emotions, allowing his painful past to stop bothering him. He could no longer feel joy or sorrow, or even, anything. Let it be plants or bugs, or immortals or devils, in his eyes, they were the same now. He stopped caring whether they were dead or alive.

He wasn’t able to be so neutral as an immortal, but now, as a devil, he succeeded.

But he was… still unreasonable.

Learning the sealing technique was a great thing for him. He was able to be a real devil for several years doing whatever he desired and killing at will.

There was even one time when he was passing by Immovable Mountain City and heard the name “Mingwu Hua Xin”. However, he had no reaction except raising his eyebrows. He continued without stopping.

The only downside of that sealing technique was that it would damage the caster as well. 

Every few months, there would be one or two days when his muscles and bones would be in agonizing pain.

Those days were extreme torture. He would often feel like his soul was being ripped in half. He would periodically cry, then laugh. He would periodically be crazy, then be dead calm.

Every time when he regains consciousness, he would find himself covered in injuries. Half of his face would be covered with blood from all the scratches while he was in pain.

But at that time, he wouldn’t be able to sense anything again. No sorrow, no joy. In fact, he even felt like this wasn’t bad, half looking like a human, and half looking like a bloody ghost.

Wasn’t this exactly what he was? This couldn’t be more appropriate.

Those years, even all the other devils avoided him. Perhaps it was because of his half-human half-ghost face, or perhaps it was because he has done some really crazy things.

Yun Hai originally thought that he could live on like this forever, for as long as the people in Immortal Capital could live.

But maybe the Heavens really couldn’t tolerate him, and karma truly hit after he did too many crazy things.

He couldn’t remember exactly what caused it to happen. He only remembers that one day, he heard about a group of devils that he had driven out of Guizhou and went to live in the Valley of Great Sorrow.

When he heard “Valley of Great Sorrow,” he only gave a sneer. He wasn’t even able to remember that he was once the Immortal of Valley of Great Sorrow.

Immediately afterwards, he heard that a group of merchants and horses transporting commercial goods in Chunfan City met their end at the Valley of Great Sorrow; the devils ate them. Among them were also some ordinary people who wanted to cross the valley through the protection of the merchant group.

One of them looked almost exactly like him, which scared the crap out of those devils. They almost didn’t dare to attack them. Later, however, they found out that he only looked like him.

Hearing those words, Yun Hai knew that it was the puppet he had placed in Chunfan City.

The original intention of putting the puppet there was to deceive a certain person in Immortal Capital, to make him think that he was being a commoner.

After he practiced the sealing technique, he stopped caring about those, and he never bothered to check on the puppet ever again either.

When he heard the news, he was stunned for a moment, but still didn’t put it to heart.

It was just a puppet. To him, other than the three days and nights he spent making the puppet, he didn’t lose anything.

Even if he couldn’t care less, how could anyone else care at all?

But he also heard that the deaths of those people were reported to the Cultivation Sect at Chunfan City, Hua Sect. 

Supposedly, the Hua Sect already sent people over to investigate.

It was hard to describe how Yun Hai was feeling at that moment. His sealing technique was still active, and there were supposed to be several days before the backlash period that occurs every few months. Technically, he should remain indifferent.

One day passed as usual, then two…

But he couldn’t last to the third day.

On the second night, he stood on one of the Valley of Great Sorrow’s high cliffs.

He used to be the Immortal who protected here. But this place was safe, and no one ever came to pray. Ironically, after he got banished back to the mortal realm, this place was no longer safe: devils began emerging here and causing depredation.

He has been to many places over the past few years, but he has never returned to this Valley of Great Sorrow. Now that he was back again, he found that the celestial temple was still there, but the divine statue inside was gone.

And on the altar that has been neglected for ages, there were actually a few freshly burned incense sticks.

He stood outside the empty celestial temple, staring at the blue-gray sky for a while. Then, he began hunting for the smell of devils as he entered the narrow valley road.

At that moment, his soul seemed to be divided into two.

Half of it was asking: “Why are you here? What does this place have anything to do with you?”

The other half was responding, “I need to take care of that trash, and make a new puppet.”

He wanted to get rid of the devils in the valley before the people from the Hua Sect arrived. Then, he would put another puppet near the carriage.

He even planned how many wounds to make on the puppet, how severe those injuries would be, and whether or not he should make a few extra commoners as well to make it not seem suspicious.

The only thing he didn’t know was why he was doing this.

After he made the puppet Yun Hai seem like he survived the great tragedy, the puppet would be brought back to Chunfan City by the Hua Sect, and it would continue to live a normal commoner’s life…

Then what?

Who was he doing all this pretending for

Who would care?

Yun Hai mocked himself as he swept through the entire Valley of Great Sorrow with his devilish energy. The other devils were afraid of him to begin with. In addition, he was in a very bad mood right now, so naturally, they didn’t even stand a chance against him.

When he went crazy, he couldn’t control himself. After all the killing, his fingers were shaking slightly in excitement.

Although all the devils were slaughtered, the corpses of the merchant group were destroyed as well.

Like thin cloth, their empty skin was torn apart by the devilish energy, flying around and slowly landing.

Boulders were smashed around, crashing into the earth and sending dust all over. Only now did Yun Hai regain a sense of consciousness from his outraging devilish energy.

Just as he was about to restrain himself, he heard a sword aura breaking through the wind, roaring down from nowhere, and penetrating the black devilish energy that was soaring in the Valley of Great Sorrow. It was headed straight for him!

At that moment, his pupils contracted, and his whole body turned stiff. It was as if he had been sunk into the frozen Eternal Sea.

He didn’t even need to see the sword. Just by listening to the sword chant, he could tell who it was.

That was the sword aura of Mingwu Hua Xin’s sword.

Yun Hai had imagined their reunion many times, and even though he knew that there would be no such day, he couldn’t help but think about it.

He imagined how he would avoid him and disappear without a trace before Hua Xin could see him.

He also imagined that he would remain calm, just like that time when he heard the name “MingwuHua Xin” in Immovable Mountain, and then they would clash with swords.

However, reality was not as he imagined. With Hua Xin right in front of him, what he did was he covered the half of his face that had the appearance of Yun Hai, only revealing the creepy and distorted half. He then wrapped the immortal in his devilish energy.

He avoided the sword slash and sneered in an extremely hoarse voice while counterattacking, “It’s just a small valley and the losses of a few lives. What’s the need of a highly immortal to come down to the mortal realm?”

Between them was a thick layer of devilish energy, and neither of them could see each other. But he could feel the unprecedented killing intent under Hua Xin’s sword aura, and it was getting heavier and heavier.

For some reason, the killing intent made his heart beat like a drum.

It seemed as if all these years, although he tried to avoid him, this was exactly what he had been waiting for.

He said one sentence after another, and Hua Xin’s sword moves were getting faster and faster. The killing intent surged, causing the entire valley to shake and tremble unceasingly.

He saw Hua Xin dealing a lethal move. The tip of his sword stabbed straight towards his heart with unimaginable force.

Then… he didn’t try to block it.

When the sword pierced through his heart, the celestial energy exploded along the tip of the sword and collided with the devilish energy all over his body. Under the heavy blow, he was pinned to the ground by the sword.

Hua Xin followed the sword to the ground. He had another attack in his palm, ready to give another fatal blow before the devil could resist.

The palm landed like a meteor crashing; the earth cracked and the mountains shook.

The strong black devilish energy finally dispersed, revealing the other half of Yun Hai’s face.

……

Lingtai Immortal Leader’s Lethal Move couldn’t be blocked by devils, let alone Yun Hai didn’t even attempt to block. That could lead to only one result — His soul would perish and die without a doubt.

That was the first time Yun Hai saw Hua Xin with such an expression. His black pupils instantly widened as his body trembled.

Yun Hai saw his reflection in Hua Xin’s pupils. Half of his face was human, the other half was ghastly. The lower part of his body has already turned into a river of blood.

He could feel his soul and spirit slowly falling apart, leaving his body at an astonishing speed. He could also feel his devilish energy slowly dying out, floating down the valley like a gentle cloud.

He could still feel the always-warm hand of the Lingtai Immortal Leader. At that moment, it was as cold as ice.

“Yun Hai?”

“Yun Hai…”

He heard Hua Xin’s hoarse and soft voice. What expression could he be showing while calling his name like that? Was it compassion? Or sadness? 

He was really curious, but at this point, he couldn’t see anymore.

His five senses were going away and his consciousness was chaotic. He was about to die. But at that moment, he had an indescribable pleasure—

Look, this way, you won’t ever forget me.

He smiled at his last moment, thinking: I’m still such a jerk.

Endless darkness mixed with floating devilish energy, until Xiao Fuxuan’s sword chants ended. It wasn’t after a long time did everyone realize that the interrogation had ended. 1

People’s memories were naturally full of fragmented pictures. During the interrogation, they are even more intertwined. Except for Tiansu Immortal who was in charge of punishment and forgiveness, others wouldn’t be able to see and understand every part of the memory clearly.

They could only remember those glimpses that flashed by in an instant, the white jade staircase when Yun Hai first ascended to Immortal Capital, the mountains of blades and seas of fire from the twelve Lingtai punishment platforms, and lastly, the immortal that has never appeared in any immortal register… Spirit King. 

When Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu were brought into the round room by the interrogation, this was the scene that they saw.

The reason why they remembered that scene so clearly was because the way Spirit King caught his sword made them feel a sense of familiarity for a moment. They felt like they had seen it before.

Even after the interrogation ended, they were still thinking about that scene, unable to return to their senses for a long time.

When they suddenly heard a very light breathing coming from deeper in the cave, they were startled and jumped.

Out of curiosity, they got close to Wu Xingxue and stretched their heads to see what was there. Seeing that under the tangled vines, a person in a black robe who had been suppressed for hundreds of years suddenly opened his eyes.

Once his eyes adjusted to the dark, the first person he saw when he opened his eyes was Wu Xingxue, who was bent over by the depths of the cave.

That moment, he stared at Wu Xingxue, and his dry lips moved, subconsciously calling out a name.

His voice was hoarse, barely making a sound.

But if one listened carefully, it was still possible to tell that the two words he said were:

Spirit King.

The immortal who has never appeared before, and was given the name “Zhao” by the Heavens.

Fang Chu: “………………”

Ning Huaishan: “………………”