Chapter 73: I Hate You

I narrowed my eyes—it was indeed that blue rune.

“Everyone, activate the sacred array and prepare for the arrival of the Saintess!” The Matriarch of the White Lotus Sect suddenly shouted in a piercing voice.

All members of the White Lotus Sect roared in unison, beginning to pour their spiritual power into the formation.

My heart wavered—should I destroy the formation? But I wasn’t in a hurry to die just yet.

So I went along with the flow, slowly channeling my energy, hoping that in the absence of one strand of the sacred soul, the formation would fail.

Just then, the eight bone boxes opened one after another, and eight little ghosts drifted out, immediately sucked up by the cluster of stalactites above.

The eight little ghosts took their places at the eight yin positions—one more remained.

The Matriarch opened her eyes and glanced upward, her gaze flashing. Suddenly, she raised her hand, a beam of light flickered, and one of the maidservants’ heads fell to the ground—her face still contorted in shock at the moment of death.

Then, the Matriarch drew out her yin soul, making it the ninth and final sacred soul to complete the set.

A murmur ran through the crowd below as they all became wary.

“Li Chun was long prepared to welcome the Saintess with her own blood. Now that the nine sacred souls are complete, give everything you have to power the formation!” the Matriarch commanded, her voice shrill.

The blue patterns on the nine-layered formation suddenly blazed. At that moment, the central Mountain God Jade emitted a brilliant blue beam, shooting straight upward.

Simultaneously, the nine yin positions, each occupied by a vengeful soul, erupted with waves of energy.

The blue light twisted and writhed, its force neutralized by the energy of the nine yin points.

Faintly, I seemed to hear a sound from some distant void.

Then, a crack appeared within the blue light, and a chilling aura from the Netherworld surged forth.

A powerful presence began to approach from within the fissure—far more terrifying than what I’d felt in the Valley of the Nether Spirits before.

My heart trembled, and clearly, so did everyone else.

Suddenly, from the crack, several fingers—crystal clear as glass—reached out, gripping the edge of the rift.

“Old Fox Zhou, damn you—why haven’t you sent anyone yet?” I cursed inwardly. I had already sent word, warning that the White Lotus Sect was planning something big and asking Bureau Nine to dispatch experts as backup.

My task was only to investigate, not to get myself killed. Besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't win this fight.

The rift widened, a terrifying pressure sweeping over us like a storm.

“The Saintess descends! Long live the White Lotus!” The Matriarch’s excitement warped her voice into a piercing shriek.

“The Saintess descends! Long live the White Lotus!” The rest of the cultists echoed in a frenzied chorus, desperately wringing out their spiritual energy to fuel the array.

I watched as the crack grew larger, more and more fingers emerging, my heart in my throat.

“Damn it! Saintess? That’s clearly a Netherworld being!” I cursed aloud. Activating my Nether Ghost Steps, I shot like lightning onto the ninth level of the array, bringing my Blood Fiend Blade down hard on the central blue crystal.

Clang!

The blue crystal splintered with a web of cracks, the blue light shattering instantly.

“Li Yan, you deserve to die!” The Matriarch screamed in fury, springing to her feet as a white lotus in her hand swept toward me, its countless rays of mystical light spinning to slice me to pieces.

Damn!

I flicked out a talisman I’d spent a fortune to acquire—the sixth-grade Exploding Golden Flame Talisman.

A pinprick of golden light suddenly erupted, blossoming into a storm of golden flames shooting in all directions.

In an instant, screams filled the air—even the Matriarch was forced on the defensive, her body aglow with protective artifacts.

The blast hurled me through the air, my own protective cloak instantly destroyed, my hair singed and burnt.

Just then, a cold gleam swept toward my throat.

I looked up to see Hu Xiaoyu’s pale, beautiful face—her dagger slashing for my neck.

But just as it was about to strike, her hand trembled, and the blade veered off, stabbing into my shoulder instead.

Hu Xiaoyu glared at me, her eyes brimming with tears. She didn’t speak, but I knew what she was asking me—why?

Why? Because the mortal world is for the living—not for the dead!

Suddenly, a blast of yin energy grazed past me and struck Hu Xiaoyu square in the chest.

She spat blood and was flung backward. Twisting around, I saw Zhang Ruyue, shrouded in corpse aura, her mouth bared with glistening fangs, her ten nails aglow with eerie black light.

“Go!” Zhang Ruyue roared. She leapt up, her claws piercing the chest of a White Lotus incense master, wrenching out his heart and crushing it.

But more cultists swarmed her, waves of magical attacks crashing down.

I glanced at the rift above—the blue light had faded, and the fissure was shrinking, the hand being slowly forced back.

I’d just breathed a sigh of relief when the Matriarch shrieked, her robes and veil exploding away.

Her skin began to split, revealing an inner layer of ghostly green flesh, within which ghost fire seemed to burn.

She wasn’t human!

Suddenly, I remembered what Old Fox Zhou had said: some low-level beings escaped from the Nether rift, blending into the world of the living.

“So, you’re not human after all.” I muttered under my breath, Blood Fiend Blade humming as I slashed a streak of blood-red light at the Matriarch.

Whoosh—

The blade pierced her, but her face, in its final transformation, twisted into a bizarre smile.

The next second, her body turned into a surge of ghostly green flame, darting straight for the fissure.

The rift, which had been closing, abruptly froze; then, that uncanny hand forced its way out again.

Damn it all! I cursed, leaping up to hack at the hand.

But it spun and slapped me aside.

I felt as if a giant hand had crushed me, my whole body slammed into the ground like a cannonball, my organs twisted into a knot as blood gushed from my mouth and nose.

Then, a beam of light shone from the crystal hand.

In a flash, a pillar of light shot from its palm, roaring toward my head.

My pupils contracted violently, but my body was frozen, unable to move or dodge.

Is this the end? Only that one thought crossed my mind.

Boom—

A shadow appeared before my eyes—Zhang Ruyue’s corpse-like face.

She looked at me, her fangs retracting, the blue glow fading from her eyes, the corpse aura draining the color from her face.

Then, with a thud, she collapsed onto me, thick blood oozing from her mouth and trickling down my collar into my chest.

My eyes flew wide, my body trembling.

“Ruyue,” I whispered.

She didn’t respond; her corpse aura was fading, while the aura of death grew heavier.

I rolled over, gently laying her down, then sprang up with a furious roar, hacking at the crystal hand.

Clang!

The Blood Fiend Blade was knocked flying—the hand remained unscathed.

At that moment, it grasped for me—I was sucked toward it, its grip clamping hard over my heart, which seemed on the verge of exploding.

Suddenly, the Eye of the Nether Dragon on my chest blazed with heat, and a powerful suction erupted, hungrily devouring the energy from the crystal hand.

From the other side of the rift came a shrill, terrified scream, and the hand began to struggle violently.

Then, it wrenched free of the Nether Dragon’s Eye, leaving a severed finger behind as the rest withdrew into the fissure.

The rift closed.

I crashed to the ground.

The dozen or so surviving incense masters and branch leaders of the White Lotus Sect snapped out of their daze and surged toward me.

“Stop!” Hu Xiaoyu stepped forward, standing between us.

“As chief maidservant, I order you—withdraw immediately!” she commanded, biting out the words.

They exchanged uncertain glances, but finally, someone took the lead and they retreated toward the cave entrance.

But the moment they stepped outside, a tidal wave of venomous insects poured in, enveloping them.

Hundreds, thousands of mountain ghosts surged forward, tearing at their souls.

In a heartbeat, they were annihilated, bodies and spirits utterly destroyed.

Ayouduo stepped in, about to attack Hu Xiaoyu.

“Let her go.” I supported Zhang Ruyue, my voice low.

“Yes,” Ayouduo commanded the insects and mountain ghosts to make way.

Hu Xiaoyu didn’t leave immediately. She stood pale and trembling, staring at me, her voice hoarse. “You’re from Bureau Nine?”

“Yes.”

“So everything was a lie?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I lifted my head, forcing out a word like a blade from my throat: “Go!”

Hu Xiaoyu’s body shook, tears streaming down her face as she cried out in anguish, “I hate you!”

She turned and fled, her tears splashing onto my face.

Perhaps she’d truly fallen for me. Perhaps I’d felt a trace of something real for her too. But compared to Zhang Ruyue, who had shielded me from a fatal blow and now lay in my arms, those feelings were far too light.

“That day, I stabbed you in the heart with my blade—you didn’t die. This time will be the same. You won’t die. You can’t…” I whispered, stroking Zhang Ruyue’s face as it grew colder and colder.

“It was my selfishness that brought you with me. I thought your strength would help me, but I never considered I’d lead you into mortal danger.” My words were barely a murmur, tears sliding from the corners of my eyes.

Just then, Zhang Ruyue’s corpse aura faded, her deathly aura growing heavier.

Suddenly, she half-opened her eyes—a flash of bloody light full of struggle glinted within. She opened her mouth, and her fangs slid from their sheaths.

“Zombies cannot die, but when severely wounded, they must feed on blood to recover. Otherwise…” Ayouduo explained.

Feed on blood! That was the way to survive?

I had always forbidden her to drink human blood—once she tasted it, there would be no turning back.

But to hell with never, to hell with no turning back.

If we must fall into hell, then let us fall together.

I extended my hand, pressing my wrist to Zhang Ruyue’s lips.