139: Chapter 139 Heavenly Rank Supreme Dream Token, The Demon King's True Feelings

[The group bid farewell to White Bone City and returned to the secret city; Chu Sheng's days were like being soaked in a honey pot.]

[Yu Rumeng threw all the city affairs to her subordinates and clung to Chu Sheng all day long.]

[During the day, she accompanied him to Cultivate, and at night, they sparred; she didn't even peel her own grapes, insisting he feed them into her mouth.]

[Every time Chu Sheng fed her one, she would nibble on his finger, her eyes curving into a smile.]

[The Old Grandfather in the ring muttered sourly, "This old man also had days like this back then."]

[Chu Sheng: "Old man, can you stop peeking?"]

[Old Grandfather said righteously, "I live in your ring; if I don't look at you, who am I supposed to look at?"]

[In the second month, something felt off.]

[Yu Rumeng began to grow silent.]

[She would still smile, act spoiled in his arms, and hold him very tightly at night.]

[But those eyes had changed.]

[Before, they were like bottomless pools, but now they seemed to have a thin layer of ice over them, with something churning beneath.]

[Chu Sheng asked her what was wrong, but she just shook her head and smiled, saying it was nothing.]

[But at night, she held him even tighter.]

[So tight it was as if she feared he would run away, or perhaps she feared letting go herself.]

[The Old Grandfather sent a voice transmission, his tone unusually serious: "This woman has something on her mind, hidden very deep."]

[Chu Sheng said, "I know."]

[He lay in bed, listening to the steady breathing of the person beside him, not closing his eyes all night.]

[Chu Sheng began to investigate secretly.]

[He searched Yu Rumeng's study and found a notebook in a hidden compartment of her bedchamber.]

[Names were recorded on it, with dates and cultivation levels noted beside them.]

[Dao Palace, Sea Opening, Spirit Lake, Spirit Spring.]

[On the last page, four words were written—'Materials complete.']

[Old Grandfather's voice turned heavy: "Dao Heart. This woman has been collecting Dao Hearts."]

[Chu Sheng asked: "What is a Dao Heart?"]

[Old Grandfather said it is the essence of a Cultivator's heart's blood; after a Cultivator perishes, the heart will not rot but will condense into a bead, sealing within it the person's lifelong cultivation and obsession.]

[Yu Rumeng had killed countless people over the years to take their hearts.]

[Chu Sheng flipped to the next page of the notebook, which had only one line—'rumeng token, only the final step remains.']

[He continued flipping and found an Incomplete Manual.]

[rumeng token, a Heaven Rank top-grade Magic Treasure, using the heart of a Dao Palace as a guide, the blood of a lover as a medium, and a thousand years of resentment as the fire; once refined, it can manipulate dreams and invert reality.]

[Old Grandfather said he had heard of this Magic Treasure; an infatuated female Devil King had refined it in ancient times. On the day it was completed, her lover died, and she went mad.]

[Chu Sheng asked: "Will she die?"]

[Old Grandfather was silent for a long time: "No. But you will."]

[That night, Chu Sheng had a dream.]

[In the dream, he was tied to a pillar, his chest was sliced open, and Yu Rumeng personally gouged out his heart, holding it in her palms with tears streaming down her face, yet a smile on her lips.]

[That heart throbbed in her hands, gradually turning into a crystal-clear bead.]

[She reached out to take it, then pulled back, tears falling drop by drop onto it, until the bead shattered into powder.]

[She knelt on the ground, weeping heart-wrenchingly.]

[Chu Sheng woke up with a start, drenched in cold sweat.]

[The space beside him was empty; the quilt was already cold.]

[He turned around; Yu Rumeng was standing by the window, moonlight illuminating her back, her long hair cascading down like a stone statue.]

[She turned her head, her face covered in tears, but her eyes were incredibly cold.]

[Both crying and laughing, her voice trembled: "You're awake?"]

[Chu Sheng looked at her, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed, making it hard to breathe.]

[Yu Rumeng walked over, knelt by the bed, and buried her head in his lap, her shoulders shaking slightly.]

["I'm sorry," her voice was muffled, sounding as if it came from far away, "I like you too much, so much that I've gone mad."]

[She looked up at him with tearful eyes, "Why don't I put you inside the rumeng token so you can stay with me forever? Are you afraid?"]

[Chu Sheng looked down at her face, the face he had looked at for months, which suddenly felt like a stranger's.]

[He asked: "Why me?"]

[Yu Rumeng wiped her tears and leaned against his chest, listening to his heartbeat: "Because you Cultivate passion, your Heart-Nature is resilient, and you can withstand my Plucking and Supplementing. And..."]

[She paused, drawing circles on his chest with her finger, "You have something in you that others don't. It's very special, very bright, like a fire that will never go out."]

[Chu Sheng knew what she was talking about.]

[The trait, the simulator. She couldn't sense them directly, but she could feel that aura.]

[He was silent for a long time, so long that Yu Rumeng thought he had stopped speaking and looked up at him.]

[Old Grandfather's voice rang in his mind, more solemn than ever: "She has been collecting the Materials for the rumeng token for hundreds of years. Other Devil Kings have many demon generals, but she has very few because all her resources were poured into this Magic Treasure. She is only one step away, just this one last step."]

[Chu Sheng closed his eyes, the faces of Huang Gula, Zhou Wantang, Li Zhiyi, and the children flashing through his mind.]

[Then he opened his eyes and looked at the woman before him.]

[She had waited for hundreds of years and killed countless people just to refine a Magic Treasure. And he was the final piece of Materials.]

[The simulator popped up with options.]

[Demon King Rumeng wishes to refine the rumeng token; please make your choice.]

[1. Escape.]

[2. Resist.]

[3. Go to your death.]

[4. Wait and see.]

Chu Sheng looked at those four options and gave a bitter smile.

Escape? To where?

Before a Dao Palace, he wouldn't even be able to make it out of the city gates.

Resist?

A Spirit Spring Stage fighting a Dao Palace; even if he had the Heavenly Demon Body, what difference was there between an ant stepping on an elephant?

Wait and see? Wait for what?

Wait for her to make a move?

He chose 'Go to your death.'

Because this option might still have a glimmer of hope.

Any other way was certain death.

[Chu Sheng asked: "What if I'm unwilling?"]

[Yu Rumeng's finger stopped.]

[She didn't speak, just buried her head deeper.]

[That night, she leaned in his arms without moving, and Chu Sheng didn't move either.]

[At dawn, she looked up, her eyes red and her lips bitten pale.]

["Then forget it." Her voice was very soft, as if afraid of waking something up.]

[But Chu Sheng saw her hand inside her sleeve, her fingernails digging into her palm, blood dripping onto the bed one drop at a time.]

[She was lying. She wouldn't just forget it. She had waited for hundreds of years; she wouldn't let go just because he said he was unwilling.]

[Chu Sheng looked into her eyes, which held struggle, pain, reluctance, and madness.]

[He suddenly laughed, laughing loudly until tears came out.]

[Yu Rumeng was stunned.]

[Chu Sheng wiped the corners of his eyes and took her hand, prying her fingers open one by one; the deep nail marks in her palm were still seeping blood.]

["Who said I was unwilling?" he said.]

[Yu Rumeng's whole body trembled as if she had been frozen.]

[She looked at Chu Sheng, her lips trembling, wanting to say something but unable to utter a single word.]

[Chu Sheng pressed her hand against his chest, letting her feel his heartbeat.]

["If you want it, I'll give it to you."]

[Yu Rumeng's tears fell again; this time she couldn't hold back and threw herself into his arms, crying like a little girl.]

[Chu Sheng held her, his chin resting on the top of her head, looking out the window.]

[The horizon was already turning white, the moonlight had faded, and the morning mist was thick.]

[Old Grandfather sighed in the ring and said nothing.]

Chu Sheng watched this scene, remaining silent for a long time.

He put down his teacup and stared at the two in the image.

[Yu Rumeng cried until her whole body shook, and Chu Sheng held her as if he were holding something fragile.]

"Madmen," he murmured, "two madmen."

He rubbed his temples.

"One wants to gouge out her lover's heart to refine a Magic Treasure. The other, knowing his heart will be gouged out, still smiles and says he's willing."

He sighed and looked back at the screen, "But then again, choosing 'Go to your death' was right. He can't run, he can't win, and waiting is just waiting to die. Better to take a gamble, gamble that this woman can't bear to do it."

He smiled, a bit bitterly, "This round, the gamble is on the human heart."