Chapter 260: Chapter 214: Heart Demon!_1

This was a slender, fair hand, smoother and more delicate than most women’s hands.

At this moment, it rested on a can of soda.

Fingers hooked the pull-tab, lifting it gently.

PSSHH—

Pale green, fruit-flavored soda fizzed from the opening, flowing between his fingers.

But the handsome-faced man in the black windbreaker didn’t seem to mind at all.

He held the drink, slowly brought it to his lips, and took a small sip.

As if savoring an expensive glass of red wine, he closed his eyes, letting the taste linger for a long moment.

The same taste as before… I wonder if Master still likes it…

He muttered, as if lost in his own thoughts.

Suddenly, a voice exploded beside his ear.

“Pei Ye!”

The man’s eyes flew open.

WHOOSH—

Around him, a torrential rain had begun to pour, unnoticed until now.

It was black rain.

Droplets fell, splattering on the ground and spreading out in large, dark, ink-like stains.

The blackness spread rapidly, soon cloaking everything around in the color of night.

Everything in his surroundings seemed to recede quickly.

Memories swept him back to that night, fifteen years ago.

“Are you Pei Ye?!”

The voice echoed again.

A massive shadow loomed in the man’s field of vision.

The shadow’s features were indistinct; only two menacing, glinting eyes could be seen within it.

At the shadow’s feet, a figure, like a heap of soft mud, was kneeling.

“I hear you were Master Liudao Yuan’s favorite disciple?”

“He certainly did dote on you… Knowing he was about to meet a terrible end, he sent you away first, so you wouldn’t have to die with him…”

“Speak! Tell me Liudao Yuan’s escape route and contingency plans, and I’ll spare your life today.”

“I don’t know… I don’t know…”

The mud-like figure shook his head, constantly backing away, but the shadow quickly caught up.

The man sat in the black rain, holding his drink, watching quietly.

He watched that pathetic, mud-like figure being cursed, beaten, and tortured. The figure continuously begged for mercy and screamed, his whole body trembling as he pleaded like a dog.

Finally…

He had survived.

“Haha, a trash’s disciple is indeed trash!”

“Kid, you did well. We really should thank you.”

“Liudao Yuan isn’t dead… so you don’t have to die either. You have to live well. Only if you live will Liudao Yuan know that it was his most beloved and valued disciple who betrayed him. Only then will he remember for the rest of his life just what kind of ungrateful beast he personally nurtured!”

“Hahaha—”

The black rain poured down even harder, and the shadow laughed maniacally within it.

The figure on the ground, however, clutched his head in agony, letting out tortured howls. He thrashed and rolled in the muddy water like a wild beast…

The man’s calm expression began to ripple.

These ripples intensified, and soon, faint blue veins began to bulge on his fair cheeks.

The man’s expression instantly became savage, and the soda can in his hand exploded into a silver mist.

An invisible, terrifying power erupted from within him, forming unseen tendrils that shredded everything around him to pieces.

BOOM!

The black rain and the figures within it all dispersed, and bright daylight drove away the gloom.

Everything returned to normal.

HUFF—PUFF—

The man was hunched over, his chest heaving like a bellows.

He was now sitting on a park bench, a faint scent of blood carried on the cool autumn breeze.

The man’s emotions gradually calmed.

He slowly lifted his head; the dense, flower-like pattern of veins around his eyes quickly faded.

He pushed himself up and stood from the bench.

He saw that the area within a radius of tens of meters around him was devastated, as if ravaged by a storm and an earthquake.

A shattered vending machine, uprooted and splintered trees, the ground churned up as if by a plow…

And severed limbs and freshly spilled blood scattered on the ground.

A woman in a pink tracksuit lay about ten meters away, her mangled, twisted body twitching faintly.

Not yet dead, she clutched an empty pet leash tightly in her hand, her wide eyes, still filled with lingering terror and disbelief, were fixed on the man.

The man merely glanced at her cursorily before indifferently looking away.

“Your inner demon seems to be growing stronger…”

A deep voice sounded from behind the man.

A mountainous figure silently moved over. It was completely enveloped in an immensely wide black robe, its hair disheveled, obscuring its face; only a pair of blood-red eyes were visible.

“If you don’t break this inner demon, you will never become a true Evil Emperor.”

“I am more aware of that than you are,” the man replied coldly, adjusting his windbreaker slightly and walking forward with an expressionless face.

The burly, black-robed figure followed him, continuing, “Now that the disciple of your Crane Sect master has disrupted the plan, what do you intend to do? Can we eliminate him?”

“That kid seems to have the Yellow Bear’s backing. Unless absolutely necessary, I advise you not to touch him…”

“Yellow Bear? It seems the disciple my master accepted this time is truly exceptional.”

The man sneered, his expression quickly turning cold. He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about that. If one or two nobodies at the bottom die, would the Yellow Bear really go out of its way to cause trouble for us? If he’s sensible, let it be. If he overestimates himself, then…”

A cold, murderous glint flashed fiercely in the man’s eyes.

The black-robed figure frowned but ultimately said nothing.

“Let’s proceed according to the original plan.”

The man walked forward with unhurried steps, his black windbreaker stirring in the autumn breeze, billowing behind him like a wide cape.

He looked up at the desolate sky and the drifting white clouds, and it seemed as if images from bygone days flickered in his eyes.

He murmured to himself, “Master… the events of fifteen years ago are replaying. This time, I definitely… will not disappoint you…”

***

Alternating blue and red flashing lights, piercing sirens, long yellow caution tape.

Lu Yuan stood outside the crowd, watching from a distance as white-shrouded bodies were loaded onto vehicles.

From beneath one white sheet, a woman’s hand slipped out, bloodstained and still tightly clutching a pet leash.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze, his fair and handsome face betraying no emotion.

“Any clues?” Lu Yuan turned his head to ask Xiao Ren, who stood beside him.

Xiao Ren shook his head. “Still investigating. Judging from the residual Evil Energy Fluctuation at the scene, there are traces of a bewitching demon… Bewitching demons are products of the True Word God Religion, but the True Word God Religion hasn’t been active within the country for many years.”

“Bewitching demon… True Word God Religion…”

A flicker of light passed through Lu Yuan’s eyes. He casually took the crime scene surveillance footage from Xiao Ren; all he could see were distorted black voids, interference caused by Evil Energy.

“Pei Ye.”

Lu Yuan softly uttered the name.

This vicious murder case in Disk City, near the venue for the Southern Hundred Cities Martial Arts Tournament, combined with the various strange incidents targeting the Crane Sect before the tournament… Lu Yuan’s intuition told him that all of this was most likely related to ’Ba’—Pei Ye—the disciple who defected from the Crane Sect fifteen years ago.

“Evil Martial Association… Night Emperor.”

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment, then gently closed his eyes. His Spiritual Power, twenty points of intelligence achieved after breaking the limit once, radiated outward.

Under the radiation of his Spiritual Power, the residual traces of evil force at this murder scene were like embers not yet fully extinguished in ashes, pulsing with a dark red glow in the darkness.

Lu Yuan followed this signature of evil force, continuing to extend his Spiritual Power.

Soon, he saw that similar traces remained at the venue of the Southern Hundred Cities Martial Arts Tournament and in many surrounding areas.

The Crane Sect is being targeted; indeed, someone is instigating this. A power similar to bewitching people’s minds… Lu Yuan mused silently.

He continued to trace these signatures outward.

These traces were like chaotic footprints in the snow. Each one needed to be discerned, and it was impossible to know which direction they ultimately led.

Just as Lu Yuan’s mind raced, rapidly processing this vast and complex web of clues, attempting to meticulously unravel them to find Pei Ye’s tracks, suddenly…

BEEP BEEP BEEP—

An urgent alert sounded from the consciousness-linked optical network.

SWISH—

Lu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes.

He met Xiao Ren’s grave face, which held a hint of nervousness.

Before Lu Yuan could speak, he heard Xiao Ren say urgently, “Sir… the Elephant God Walk has appeared!”

***

Villa.

Crane Sect.

Master Liudao Yuan stood in the center of the living room, arms extended, while Liu Si, who attended him, carefully fitted him with a new mechanical prosthetic arm.

The buttons of his elegantly made satin short shirt were carefully fastened one by one. His snowy white hair and beard were also meticulously groomed.

Once everything was in order, the ethereal and distinguished ’Heavenly Water Crane Immortal’ once again appeared before everyone.

Master Liudao Yuan looked at himself in the mirror, a satisfied smile appearing on his lean, ascetic old face. Only then did he wave his hand, allowing Liu Si to take the mirror away.

“Master…..” Zhuang Xiujie hesitantly asked from the side, “Are we… still going to attend the tournament opening ceremony?”

“Why not?” Master Liudao Yuan glanced at her indifferently.

“But didn’t we withdraw from the tournament? And Little Junior Brother also…” Zhuang Xiujie paused. Even after a whole night of trying to compose herself, thinking about it still brought an irrepressible look of disbelief and shock to her face. “Accomplished such an… astounding feat!”

Only the term “astounding feat” could describe it!

Four hours! A young man in his prime, single-handedly challenging thirteen top martial arts sects, and consecutively defeating fifteen True Intention level Sect Masters!

True Intention Level!

Fifteen of them!!

Such a battle record, even in the glorious era of the Ancient Martial Arts World, would be utterly earth-shattering. Enough to send shockwaves through half the martial arts world!

“Master already has many enemies. After Little Junior Brother’s actions, if Master appears at the tournament today… we’ll likely face hostility from many sects…” Zhuang Xiujie said tactfully.

Master Liudao Yuan scoffed, squinting as he said with a cold laugh, “When did this old man ever fear the hostility of others? They thought that after Yuan’s rampage through thirteen sects last night, causing our Crane Sect to withdraw, I, Liudao Yuan, must surely be terrified. They figured I wouldn’t dare show my face at the tournament and would have already fled overnight with my entire household, tail between my legs… But I’m doing the opposite! I’m not only going, I’m going openly and honorably! I’ll parade right in front of them, just to see the looks on their faces when their jaws hit the floor. To show them clearly… My own true disciple is the best under heaven!”

Master Liudao Yuan’s final words were delivered with absolute conviction, filled with an indescribable sense of pride and delight.

Once his emotions settled, his expression softened, and looking at Zhuang Xiujie with kind eyes, he said earnestly, “Xiujie, Master will teach you another philosophy of life.”

“Please enlighten me, Master,” Zhuang Xiujie replied, her expression immediately becoming serious.

Then, she heard Master Liudao Yuan say leisurely, “Being wealthy and not returning to your homeland is like wearing embroidered clothes to walk in the night.”

“Huh?!” Zhuang Xiujie’s mouth fell slightly agape. She looked stunned, as if she understood, yet didn’t quite grasp it.

Liu Si, on the other hand, had a smile playing on his lips, clearly understanding Master Liudao Yuan’s triumphant mood.

“Oh, right,” Zhuang Xiujie suddenly remembered something and quickly said, “The Penglai Apostle sent word this morning, saying we must go and give him a proper explanation for last night’s events. And, we must go with ’sufficient sincerity.’” Zhuang Xiujie stressed the words “sufficient sincerity.”

Master Liudao Yuan, while taking the teacup from Liu Si and slowly sipping from it, replied without even lifting his eyelids, “Tell him to go eat shit.”

“…”

Zhuang Xiujie struggled to compose herself, took a shallow breath, and asked her final question.

“Master, after we attend the opening ceremony, will we return directly to the Crane Sect’s headquarters?”

Master Liudao Yuan’s hand, holding the teacup, quietly paused.

He slowly placed the teacup down, a flicker in his eyes, and said deliberately, “You all return first. I still need to help Yuan… retrieve something.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep