Chapter 0352: A Slap on the Face
"What monstrosity is this..." Li Chuxue naturally felt indignant about the loss of her supreme immortal treasure.
"That is Ying Huang's companion demon. It's the third strongest in the entire Endless Demon Seas!" The Crimson Shadow Sword Sage had not fully recovered from the shock. Now that Ba She had brought Jiu Ying away, Jiu Ying's identity had been clearly confirmed.
Under the Blood Dragon of Mount Wu's scheme, Wu Yu had been taken control of. He had entered a violent frenzy and killed Mu Lingche by mistake; this was a fact as well.
However, the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage was now faced with a huge pain in the neck. He had no idea how to hand over this matter to the Lunar Flower Sword Sage and the Distant Fire Sword Sage.
While the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage was still vexed by this matter, he first entered the mines. From within, the sound of loud crashes and bangs could be heard. He had probably destroyed the blue jade ores that were above the grand blue jade ore. After putting these to waste, he directly retrieved the grand blue jade ore and called an early end to the mission.
Throughout this entire process, everyone was tense as their hearts beat like drums in their chests.
Before anyone could notice, they were all standing closer to Nangong Wei and stayed far apart from Wu Yu.
Wu Yu realized that there were some cracks that were impossible to mend once fractured. At this moment, Nangong Wei lowered her head and clenched her fists. Her two eyes were blazing with fire as well. At times, Wu Yu found her familiar, yet at other times, she felt like a total stranger.
What was familiar was her countenance as they spent day and night together cultivating their dao. Wu Yu still remembered the Immortal Pair Hall promise that they had made, and also that all his supreme immortal treasures were gifts from her. What was familiar was her unending affection for him.
On the other hand, what was not familiar was her tyrannical, savage, and uncompromising behavior when she faced demons.
"Wei Er, can we talk?" Wu Yu felt like he was not able to express his thoughts properly just now. Now that Jiu Ying had left, it was time for this conflict to be resolved.
Unexpectedly, Wei Er quietly looked at him and gave a sudden laugh as she said, "I'm such an idiot. I thought that you would be the one that I would end up spending the rest of my life with, so I withstood all the pressure from my father and the rest of Shushan to continue to love you. In spite of all that, you've befriended the son of the enemy I wish to take revenge on. Wu Yu, do you still think that you're in the right?"
After laughing, tears started to flow instead. However, the burning fire in her eyes quickly evaporated her tears.
Who was right or wrong?
Her words cut through Wu Yu's heart like knives. On one hand, he knew how difficult things were for Nangong Wei. She had showed so much affection to him after all. On the other hand, he also felt that he was unable to live up to her expectations of engraving an indiscriminate hatred for all demons in his heart and bones. Despite this, Nangong Wei was still compelling him to do so.
Because of that, Wu Yu could not answer this question.
If his own thoughts and opinions were to be treated as a type of dao, the conundrum he faced before him now was that he could not have both dao and feelings at the same time.
Beishan Mo naturally saw this as an opportune moment for himself. He glared at Wu Yu as he said, "I can't believe you've disappointed her so much this time. You don't deserve to be with her after how well she has treated you. Your so-called love means nothing if you can't even do the most basic of things. How ridiculous. Even now you want my Big Sister Nangong to forgive you? Let me make things clear to you. You've killed Mu Lingche with your own hands. Even if this was part of the Blood Dragon of Mount Wu's scheme, it's still an undeniable fact that you were the one that did the deed. If you were not present, then Mu Lingche would not have died. You still think you'll be fine? Don't you believe that your return to Shushan this time could lead to your death as well?"
Beishan Mo had spoken the truth - Wu Yu was indeed overly optimistic. Although Jiu Ying had given everyone the facts of the matter, it was probably very unlikely that the Lunar Flower Sword Sage and the Distant Fire Sword Sage would care that much given that their they had just lost their daughter... Wu Yu had close to no one to rely on back at Shuhsan. If Nangong Wei did not speak up for him, then things would be troublesome indeed.
Even Jiu Ying had left without suspecting that Wu Yu would be in so much trouble even without Jiu Ying meddling in his affairs.
However, these troubles were nothing to him compared to the struggle he was involved in with Nangong Wei. As he looked at the girl before him who was familiar yet strange, who both loved and hated him, Wu Yu truly had a taste of an extremely heart-wrenching pain. Even describing it as knives cutting through his heart did it no justice. He had previously held feelings toward the Ninth Spirit as well, but those were hazy and confused. While Nangong Wei's physical appearance resembled the Ninth Spirit’s, she had no connection to her at all. It was only at this very moment that he realized that the feelings he had for Nangong Wei were so passionate. The two of them were like two blazing infernos brought together. After they had come into contact with each other, they each had their own dao instead. Not only did they not combine into one, they had burned each other to the very core as well.
"Enough nonsense. Wu Yu, your actions today will be reported to the sect and the Seven Immortals will make their judgment!" the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage said as he emerged from the mine. While he spoke, he waved his outstretched hands and a black shadow flew toward Wu Yu swiftly. It behaved like a black cloth and quickly wrapped Wu Yu up. Wu Yu was now trapped in a world of darkness and was unable to move. He was entirely at the mercy of the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage.
Wu Yu did not even try to resist, since that would not resolve matters anyway. Furthermore, he was only in his twenties, so how could he even challenge a Sword Sage?
"Go!"
This time, the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage turned darkness to day as he directly brought Wu Yu and the rest back to the Shushan Immortal Sect. Of course, he brought Mu Lingche's corpse along as well. What had happened was a serious matter concerning the death of an important disciple. The matter was even related to the two big coalitions of the demons. In light of this, the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage preemptively sent a message talisman to Shushan detailing what had happened.
In fact, it was probably already possible to tell that Mu Lingche had died from her Disciple Amulet in the Soul Hall of Shushan.
In order to save time, the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage had everyone stand on the end of his sword as he quickly sped back to Shushan. Wu Yu was trapped within the black, cloth-like shadow, so he was unable to discern the rapid changes to his surroundings. However, he was able to tell that Nangong Wei was beside him. It was a pity that his words could not be heard from the outside.
All he could feel was the blazing heat from her body. This was a raging fire of fury that could not be appeased.
How could this matter be resolved?
Wu Yu was unwilling to hurt her, yet he was also unwilling to give in to her and betray his own beliefs.
These were two problems that tormented him.
The entire journey was one of silence and suffering. He could feel her presence, yet there seemed to be a wide chasm between the two of them anyway.
"Should I give in to her?
"If I give in now and she eventually forces me to kill Jiu Ying, I'm afraid that I won't be able to do so. This makes that useless too.
"Moreover, the Mizar Sword Immortal will probably completely forbid her from coming into contact with me after we return due to what just happened."
Ming Long gave a mocking laugh as she said, "Dumb brat, don't bother thinking so much. You'll be lucky to even survive your return this time, so that little beauty should be the least of your concerns."
In such a chaotic situation, she was still delighting in the misfortune of others…
"If I don't survive, you'll lose all hope as well. What's there for you to be so happy about?"
Ming Long rolled her eyes and replied, "What rubbish. Old Mother will just wait for the Ruyi Jingu Bang here to find me another young and handsome boy."
"..."
Even at such a juncture, Ming Long still wanted to add fuel to the flames.
Despite this, Wu Yu did not hate her. He suddenly asked, "Ming Long, do you think I'm in the wrong? Do I have to help her kill Jiu Ying before I'm able to be worthy of her?"
Ming Long scoffed and asked, "Do you want me to tell the truth?"
"Go ahead."
She cleared her throat and suddenly became very serious as she replied, "You're still young, so you won't understand. Let me tell you, for all cultivators, dao is greater and of more importance than even the heavens. You can do whatever you want, as long as your dao heart remains pure and your intentions are genuine. If you allow yourself to be influenced by the behavior of others around you and do things unscrupulously just for the sake of love, then I'm afraid that you won't be able to go that far along on the path of a cultivator. This is because you'll have lost your dao! Listen to me now. This woman is unyielding and her dao is different from yours. As the saying goes, people of different daos go their separate ways. I advise for you to give up on her, or else you'll lose your sense of self sooner or later."
Wu Yu did not expect her to reply like this.
However, how could it be so easy for him to give up just like that?
At the Jindan Cave back then, she had bizarrely wandered in and they met for the first time.
Back at the ancient battlefield on the Southeast Thoroughfare, they had experienced a life and death situation together…
Within the Core Sword Cell, she had left behind the Nine-Directional Demon Imprisonment Column for him, as well as those words of promise.
In the Supreme Hunting Ground, he had fervently fought out for the sake of that promise… They had finally reunited at the Earth Sword Domain. Tears had flooded their eyes and they looked at each other speechlessly.
After that, they had spent day and night in cultivation together in the Heaven's Equal Cave Abode. They nuzzled together even though just a casual kiss would result in the black flame burning him. Wu Yu had never been intimidated by that.
He did not know how often she had fought with the Mizar Sword Immortal for his own sake, yet she never once complained. She did not even know when Wu Yu would be able to surpass her, yet she continued to wait…
Given all this, he could not bear to hear Ming Long's words any longer.
"Perhaps I can change her mind."
He continued to think in this way.
However, who could tell what awaited him back at the Shushan Immortal Sect?
Ming Long laughed. "You're young indeed. I have to slap you on the face several times before you know to give up."
After barely a few days, it seemed like they had arrived at the Shushan Immortal Sect. The Crimson Shadow Sword Sage had stopped, and Nangong Wei had left Wu Yu's side.
He suddenly heard Beishan Mo's voice from outside. He said, "Wu Yu, thanks to the fact that your mind went crazy, things have turned out exactly as I predicted. Mu Lingche's death has made both the Lunar Flower Sword Sage and the Distant Fire Sword Sage extremely mad. This matter has caused an uproar among a few of the sword immortals. In particular, the Mizar Sword Immortal was one of them. I'm afraid that he'll make a personal appearance today in order to end that filthy life of yours. Why else would the two sword sages let the matter go for now? No matter what happened, it is an undeniable fact that you were wielding your sword as you drove it through Mu Lingche's body. You should give up all hope. This time, Nangong Wei won't help you even a tiny bit. You're doomed for this lifetime..."
Shushan, Shushan!
Wu Yu once treated this place as his own home. He only found out today that it seemed like the entire Shushan Immortal Sect would not treat him as one of their own.
This was the home of the Seven Immortals of Shushan, the Shushan Sword Sages, and their descendants. At best, it could barely be considered the home of the Heaven sword rank disciples as well. It never seemed like it was ever a home to him…
All of a sudden, the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage removed the black shadow covering Wu Yu.
Bright lights suddenly filled Wu Yu's vision and he had yet to readjust. However, the boiling cauldron of voices from a bustling crowd echoed around him. Wu Yu immediately understood that there was probably a significant number of people around.
As he barely forced his eyes open to look at his surroundings, he found out that he was in the Mortal Arena of the Common Sword Domain. The commotion from the crowd was even greater than during the Battle of Swords and Immortals, and there were about 10,000 or so people present.