Chapter 277: Demonization
The void grew quiet.
At the critical moment, as Ye Fengyang and Long Qingzhuo were blasted apart, Yue Lintian intervened again. But he was too late. He was struck by the Blood Axe in Yao Yusu’s hand, his Heart Soul instantly shattered.
"KRAK—"
Yue Lintian’s body cracked open, transforming into two pieces of a broken sword. The Soul-Catching Banner swept in, about to snatch them away.
Ye Tianling focused his Emperor’s Qi Sword Body, causing the tearing force to vanish. Yue Lintian’s Heaven-Slaying Demon Slayer Sword, now broken in two, struggled free and fell into his hands.
"I deserve to die!"
Ye Tianling murmured, clutching the Heaven-Slaying Demon Slayer Sword as fresh blood streamed from his eyes.
"You certainly do deserve to die!"
The Saint Master aura around Yao Yusu dissipated, and her presence soared, becoming that of a Nine Source Realm Sword Saint.
This was a Realm even more terrifying than Long Wudao’s.
Ye Tianling ignored her.
Now, he was all alone.
Now, nearly all his family and friends were gone.
And yet, all this time, he had been unwilling to give in to Entering Demon.
If he had just given in to Demonization from the very beginning, this tragic ending would never have come to pass!
"I was too merciful!"
Ye Tianling murmured.
Then, he raised the Xuanyuan Celestial Evil Sword and plunged it straight into his own heart!
"SHLICK—"
With that one thrust, his previously impervious Demon Heart Sword Body was pierced clean through.
And yet, that heart of flesh and blood seemed to beat even more forcefully.
"THUMP—THUMP—THUMP—"
Everyone there could hear Ye Tianling’s heart, pounding like a war drum.
Horror filled everyone’s faces. They stared at Ye Tianling as if looking at an Ancient Fierce Beast.
"Young Master... I’ve already performed a Blood Sacrifice with the Donghuang Bell... to call for the Celestial Secret God Master... Don’t... give up... In the Holy Dao Space... they’re... they’re all right..."
Yue Lintian was not dead. He struggled to speak.
"They... they shouldn’t have followed me. I failed them."
As he spoke, Ye Tianling pulled the sword out only to stab himself again.
"Young Master—don’t!"
Yue Lintian tried to stop him again, but it was useless.
With another thrust of the sword, the Demon Heart began to pound even more furiously.
The Xuanyuan Celestial Evil Sword possessed a terrifying Devouring power and would normally consume Demon Blood on its own. This time, however, it did not. Instead, after piercing him, the sword actually released some kind of Energy, preventing his Nine-Orifice Exquisite Demon Heart from being destroyed.
Otherwise, given the Xuanyuan Celestial Evil Sword’s terrifying power, a single stab would have been enough to destroy the Demon Heart.
But, Ye Tianling did not notice any of this.
And he was in no state to notice, anyway.
He stabbed his heart again and again, simply to vent the regret and agony within him.
His crazed actions left the crowd of Saint Sons and Saintesses grief-stricken and appalled.
Many of the women began to cry.
To push a Celestial Secret Divine Son to this point... His father and mother killed, his lover and sister killed, his Guardian killed, his Ancestor Dao Void Body killed...
And at the heart of it all was an infuriating betrayal—the Qingzhuo Saintess had trusted Yao Yusu so completely!
Those cries of "sister," exchanged with such deep affection.
And in return? At the critical moment, she had backstabbed her with such viciousness...
The entire Ancient Battlefield seemed to be weeping blood.
Many Saint Sons and Saintesses clenched their fists, their bodies trembling.
"He’s gone mad."
"He’s probably going to undergo Demonization."
"I have a feeling something truly terrible is about to happen."
"It definitely will. I just hope... the unease in my heart doesn’t become a terrifying reality."
"If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t want to live. I’d want to die, taking as many of them with me as I could."
"What is the meaning of life? It’s nothing more than to guard and to bear responsibility. But for the Celestial Secret Divine Son, that meaning no longer exists."
"The sorrow of a Divine Child."
"Didn’t he devour Long Cangqian’s Qi Fortune and Power of Life Grid? So why has he ended up so miserable?"
"Long Cangqian didn’t die, so his last-ditch counterattack must have been incredibly vicious. After all, no one expected the Saint Ancestor to intervene and save him at that moment.
This just proves that it wasn’t Long Cangqian’s fate to die. And Yao Yusu, I’m afraid, has a very close relationship with Long Cangqian."
"Yao Yusu is an Unparalleled Sword Saint, isn’t she...? What kind of relationship could she have with Long Cangqian? I’ve never heard anything about it..."
...
On the battlefield, what few discussions there were had been reduced to hushed whispers.
Ye Tianling’s crazed act of self-mutilation stunned the members of the Dragon Race, but it did not faze Yao Yusu.
"Ye Tianling, do you really think playing the madman will save you from being suppressed here today?"
Yao Yusu had shown her true colors. She looked even more beautiful and captivating, yet also far more ruthless.
Ye Tianling paid her no mind, still acting as if he had completely lost his sanity.
"I deserve to die—I should have shown my true strength from the start!"
"If my Dao Heart had been firmer, if I had been more decisive, more ruthless, none of this would have ever happened!"
"I shouldn’t have pinned my hopes on compromise and negotiation! I should have just gone for total Destruction!"
"Destruction!"
"Destruction! Everything should be destroyed!"
"They didn’t want me to fall, but it’s better for me to fall alone than for all of them to die!"
"They could die for me, so I can fall for them."
"Without them, what is the meaning of my existence?"
"What is the meaning?"
Ye Tianling murmured on.
His hands were bleeding too, his entire body seemingly drenched in an endless flow of blood.
With every muttered phrase, he would stab himself in the heart.
Only this pain, the pain of a blade piercing his heart, let him feel that he was still alive—still grieving their Destruction.
"Hahahahaha, is it painful? Good! When you were blasting apart my son, Ye Cangqian, did you ever consider how painful it was for him, an Unparalleled Divine Son with a Taotie Divine Soul, to be trampled on like that?!
When you were basking in your invincible might, did you ever consider the pain I, his mother, felt? I had to watch my own son get beaten half to death and force myself to do nothing, all for the sake of tempering him!
The reason he is the Taotie Divine Son is because he is the son of the Taotie Divine Beast, born after I achieved Yin Yang Harmony with the Taotie Divine Beast in an Ancient Secret Realm!
I’ve long known Ye Fengyang’s origins because Long Qingzhuo and I were ’good sisters’!
Why would I, a Sword Saint, become ’sisters’ with her? It was all so she would perform the Refining of a Void Body, and then have the Dragon Race raise you, you mongrel test subject!
It was all for my son to devour you! To seize the unparalleled Qi Fortune and opportunities from the four great clans of the Dragon Race!
Unfortunately, you nearly ruined everything!
But no matter. Including Long Tianxiao, you have slaughtered a total of four of the Dragon Race’s Saint Sons and Saintesses! You even beat Long Yunfan until his Dao Heart dimmed, which means his Qi Fortune was also taken by you!
Tell me, what if I kill you now, seize the Space Mirror, and, while I’m at it, kill Long Tianyu and Long Tianmo? What if I can also take your Unparalleled Divine Weapon Sword, as well as that pretentious Heaven-Slaying Demon Slayer Sword in your hands, and give it all to my dear child, Ye Cangqian?!
Just imagine how immense my harvest will be!"
Word by word, Yao Yusu laid bare the entire conspiracy.