8: Chapter 8 The Xia family is on the verge of destruction, little childhood sweetheart, what do you have to offer in your negotiations?
The wild wind howled, whipping up the tattered red silk scattered across the plaza.
A Green-Scaled Eagle with a wingspan of several yards, wreathed in a fierce demonic aura, crashed heavily into the ruins of the white jade plaza.
Its sharp eagle talons crushed the hard bluestone slabs directly, sending stone fragments flying.
From the eagle's back, a slender figure in green leaped down.
The newcomer was a young girl of sixteen or seventeen, with a clear and elegant appearance, though wet tear stains still clung to the corners of her eyes.
Without even catching her breath, she drew the longsword from her waist and stumbled forward to stand in front of that crooked-necked tree.
She shielded Ye Chen, who was hanging from the tree, firmly behind her.
This girl was none other than Ye Chen's childhood friend who grew up with him, the Eldest Miss of the Lower Realm's Xia family, Xia Qingyue.
“Qingyue...”
Looking at the slender back shielding him, Ye Chen's eyes instantly turned red.
He had just experienced the darkest despair of his life: his master had been snatched away, his trump cards had betrayed him, and his dignity had been trampled into the mud.
He thought the whole world had abandoned him.
But now, his little sister Qingyue had come.
Even when facing a Great Emperor-level demon, she still came without hesitation to live or die with him.
This was true love! This was the woman he, Ye Chen, should protect most in this life!
Ye Chen found strength from somewhere and craned his neck, roaring out.
“Qingyue! Go, quickly! You're no match for him! Don't worry about me!”
Xia Qingyue bit her pale lips, her hand holding the sword trembling like a leaf in the wind.
She looked directly at the man opposite her, who was dressed in ink-black robes.
“I'm not leaving! If we die, we die together!”
“You demon, relying on your profound cultivation to treat human life like grass—release Brother Ye Chen this instant!”
The girl's voice was crisp and ethereal, carrying a sort of naive righteousness of one who hadn't seen much of the world.
Yan Wudao stood a few steps away, watching this heart-wrenching drama of life and death, nearly laughing out of spite.
“Tsk, what a fine 'lovebirds flying together' tragic drama.”
He raised his hand, looking at Xia Qingyue as if she were a fool.
“Little girl, before you ran here to throw your life away, did your parents know?”
Xia Qingyue was stung by his casual attitude, and she thrust the tip of her sword forward slightly.
“We of the Xia family act with honor and integrity; we do not fear an evil heretic like you!”
“Honor and integrity? Truly touching.”
Yan Wudao couldn't be bothered to waste words on this naive girl blinded by love.
To deal with such a headstrong woman, meeting force with force would only make her feel more like a tragic hero.
To strike a snake, hit its vitals; to kill a person, destroy their heart.
He casually flicked a finger.
A crystal-clear Memory Stone sliced through the air, hovering before Xia Qingyue.
“See for yourself what kind of end your Xia family's 'honor and integrity' has brought them.”
Yan Wudao snapped his fingers, and the Memory Stone instantly erupted with light.
A massive holographic screen unfolded in mid-air.
In the images, there was no Xia family estate with singing birds and fragrant flowers, only blood-red flames reaching for the sky.
Hundreds of cultivators wearing blood-red robes were using their dharma treasures to frantically bombard the Xia family's defensive formation.
“Bang!” A loud explosion echoed from the screen as the formation shattered.
The Xia family's main gates were smashed open by a massive blood-colored demonic wolf.
“Kill! Leave none alive!” The blood-robed cultivators swarmed in like locusts.
Seeing this, Xia Qingyue felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
“Father! Mother!” she screamed, nearly collapsing to the ground.
The scene shifted; the Head of the Xia family was covered in blood, pinned firmly to a wall by a long spear.
Meanwhile, Xia Qingyue's mother was shielding several young siblings, crying out in despair amidst the flashing blades and swords.
The entire Xia family had turned into a living hell on earth.
The screen flickered a few times and then came to an abrupt halt.
The sword in Xia Qingyue's hand fell to the ground with a 'clatter,' and she looked as if she had lost her soul.
“This... this isn't real... Why would the Blood Fiend Sect want to destroy my Xia family?”
She shook her head frantically, tears surging out like a broken dam.
The Xia family had always been kind to others; how could they suddenly provoke such a deadly calamity?
Yan Wudao paced over and crushed the longsword on the ground with his foot.
“Want to know why? Ask this 'good brother' behind you.”
Xia Qingyue whipped her head around, staring fixedly at Ye Chen on the tree.
Ye Chen's face instantly turned whiter than paper, his eyes darting around frantically, lacking even the courage to look Xia Qingyue in the eye.
“I... Qingyue, let me explain...”
Yan Wudao stood to the side, unhurriedly helping him recall.
“Half a month ago, in the Sunset Secret Realm, this Brother Ye Chen of yours took a fancy to a Thousand-Year Dragon-Patterned Grass.”
“As luck would have it, the Young Master of the Blood Fiend Sect also took a fancy to it.”
“Guess what? Not only did this good brother of yours snatch the grass, he also conveniently slaughtered their Young Master and even scattered his ashes.”
Yan Wudao's voice wasn't loud, but every word pierced the heart.
“He patted his backside and ran back to the Xianxia Sect, hiding under his master's skirt to play the good boy.”
“The Blood Fiend Sect can't afford to provoke the Xianxia Sect, but that Young Master's father couldn't swallow his anger.”
“So, unable to find the culprit, he had no choice but to go and massacre your Xia family to vent his rage.”
The truth was out.
Xia Qingyue felt a buzzing in her head, as if she had been struck with a heavy club.
She looked at the man before her—her childhood friend, the man she had loved for years—and suddenly found him terrifyingly foreign.
“Ye Chen... is what he said true?”
Ye Chen struggled desperately, sweating profusely in his anxiety.
“Qingyue! I didn't know it would turn out like this! No one saw me when I killed him!”
“This demon is just trying to drive a wedge between us! Don't believe him!”
Once these words were out, it was equivalent to a tacit admission.
Xia Qingyue felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar; the blood in her entire body ran cold.
She had risked her life to save him, yet for his own selfish gain, he had pushed her entire clan—the people who raised her—onto a path of death.
This was called honor and integrity? This was called being affectionate and loyal?
Yan Wudao saw that the timing was about right.
With a flick of his wrist, two items appeared out of thin air in his palms.
In his left hand was a jade slip emitting a bone-chilling cold, and in his right was a pitch-black token carved with an Asura totem.
“Done crying? If you're done, come and do a multiple-choice question.”
Yan Wudao casually tossed the two items up and down.
“The one on the left is a Heaven-grade top-tier cultivation technique, the 'Mystic Moon Ice Soul Manual,' which happens to perfectly suit your Ice Spirit Root.”
“The one on the right is this Emperor's Demonic Path Summoning Order. Seeing this order is like seeing this Emperor in person.”
He looked down at Xia Qingyue from a height, his tone carrying a superior sense of charity.
“As long as you nod your head now and shout 'Master'...”
“This technique will be yours. This Emperor will immediately send people to slaughter the Blood Fiend Sect, top to bottom, until they are wiped clean.”
“Not only will your Xia family not have to die, but from now on, in these Three Thousand Dao Provinces, you can walk with your head held high.”
When these terms were offered, never mind Xia Qingyue, even the Xianxia Sect elders playing dead nearby gulped.
A Heaven-grade technique! Not a single one had appeared in the Lower Realm for thousands of years!
Plus the protection of a Demon Emperor—this was practically an opportunity to ascend to the heavens in a single step.
But the price was to completely betray Ye Chen and become the Demon Emperor's plaything.
“Qingyue! No! You can't agree to it!”
Ye Chen panicked completely, roaring from the tree like a mad dog.
“He's lying to you! He won't let the Xia family go!”
“You promised to become Dao companions with me! Even if we die, we must die together!”
Ye Chen now only had Xia Qingyue as his sole emotional support; if even she defected, he would truly go mad.
Yan Wudao picked his ear and, with a backhanded wave, used demonic energy to seal Ye Chen's mouth.
“Mmph! Mmph!” Ye Chen could only let out muffled groans of despair, his eyes bloodshot.
“Stop listening to this clown's empty promises.” Yan Wudao leaned in close to Xia Qingyue, his voice low and seductive.
“He's all alone; if he dies, he dies, with no strings attached.”
“But what about you?”
“Your white-haired old father, your little brother who's still in swaddling clothes—they're being held down right now to have their heads chopped off.”
“Is it worth dragging over three hundred people of your clan to the grave for such a selfish piece of trash?”
Every word and phrase was like a heavy hammer smashing against Xia Qingyue's defenses.
She looked up at the hanging Ye Chen.
The once high-spirited genius youth was now face-distorted, his eyes filled only with the anger and selfishness of losing a possession.
She turned her head again, looking at the pitch-black token in Yan Wudao's hand that could decide the fate of her entire clan.
On one side was an illusory, even selfish love.
On the other side were her kin, bound by blood, currently suffering a massacre.
This wasn't a multiple-choice question at all.
This was an overt trap.
Xia Qingyue's delicate hands clenched tightly, her sharp nails sinking deep into her palms, drawing crimson blood.
Drip.
The blood droplets fell onto the bluestone slab, blooming into a jarring red flower.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if draining all the strength from her body.
Her knees buckled, and in front of that crooked-necked tree, she slowly knelt down.
Not toward Ye Chen.
But toward the ink-robed Demon Emperor.
Xia Qingyue opened her eyes, and the depths of her ashen gaze no longer held any of her previous righteousness.
She tremblingly parted her pale lips, her voice incredibly hoarse.
“I...”