Chapter 302

Chapter 302: The One I Want to Kill Is You

The situation was far worse than Shen Dao Chen had expected.

He shouted at the man on the tribulation platform: “Ling Xiao! Wake up! Everything you are thinking right now comes from your Heart Devil, do not let the Heart Devil control you!”

He tried again, voice hoarse with urgency: “You are Master Ling Xiao, the number one Cultivator in the Cultivation World. Your talent is unmatched, how could a Heart Devil defeat you?”

People who face the Heart Devil Tribulation can easily lose themselves, so Shen Dao Chen kept talking, hoping to pull Master Ling Xiao’s mind back.

When nothing worked, he forced himself to keep going: “Ling Xiao, think it through. If you fall into Devilization, how can Sang Ruo return? How can you ever take her as your disciple?”

All the things Master Ling Xiao used to care about, like his realm and his first place among Cultivators, no longer meant anything to him. Shen Dao Chen could only attack the Heart Devil’s weak point.

He urged in a low voice: “Do it for Sang Ruo. She is waiting for you to break through so she can come back and bow to you as her Master again. Ling Xiao, wake up!”

When he heard the name Sang Ruo, the killing air around Master Ling Xiao stirred, and he finally showed a hint of reaction.

He murmured, almost tender: “Sang Ruo…”

She was his young disciple, and also the most gifted. In his mind, she was the one most worthy to inherit everything he had. He would pass down all he knew to her, make her shine and stand out, just to hear her call him “Master.”

[What am I doing right now?] That hateful inner voice whispered about Devilization. Master Ling Xiao’s expression twisted as he fought to think, and two words floated up in his mind: Heart Devil.

He seemed to remember.

Shen Dao Chen and the Elders brightened at once. They believed Master Ling Xiao would defeat the Heart Devil.

But things did not go their way, because a Heart Devil never lets go so easily.

In the next breath, Master Ling Xiao suddenly stared into the air ahead. Nothing was there, yet he looked as if he saw something clearly.

Joy flashed across his face, mixed with nervous tension.

He whispered, as if calling out: “Disciple…”

A figure appeared in his eyes. It was only a back view, but he felt certain: it was Shen Sang Ruo.

Had she learned he was breaking through to Void Refinement and returned just to congratulate him?

He leaned forward, anxious and eager: “You came back. Master will go seize the ones who hurt you and drag them before you. Wait here a moment, I will be quick.”

Afraid she would turn and leave, he moved to step off the platform.

The “Shen Sang Ruo” before him suddenly turned around.

She was not smiling brightly like he imagined. Her face was cold as frost, and her eyes were full of disgust as she looked at him.

Master Ling Xiao’s heart dropped into a bottomless pit and froze there. Panic flooded him.

The girl said with cutting calm: “You are not my Master. My Master is Immortal Lord Chang Li.”

She added, as if stating an old fact: “Didn’t Feng He Yun and the others tell you? I already have no feelings for you. I will never come back.”

Now the Heart Devil began to magnify the thing he feared most. Even the rumor he had never believed, that Shen Sang Ruo felt nothing for them, was dragged out by the Heart Devil and shoved in his face.

He shook his head, voice shaking: “No, that is impossible! You are lying to me. How could you have no feelings?”

“Shen Sang Ruo” acted as if she could not hear him and kept speaking in a flat tone: “You want me to return? Fine. Kill someone for me, and I will come back.”

He snapped to it at once, eyes blazing: “Who? Tell me and I will tear him to pieces. Is it Lu Shi Qing? Shen Dao Chen? Or… Bai Mu Mu?”

He clenched his fists, breath fast: “You do not even need to say it. I will kill them all!”

He stared at her without blinking, waiting.

She opened her mouth and said, each word clear: “The one I want to kill is you.”

The blow struck him like thunder. He stammered, stunned: “Me? You want to kill me? You must be mistaken. I am your Master, Master Ling Xiao!”

He tried to defend himself, almost pleading: “Everything that hurt you was done by others. I am the one who wants to avenge you!”

“There is no mistake. It is you.” The face ahead twisted with spite. “Do you really not understand? If you had not ignored everything, how would I have suffered so much?”

Her voice cut like a blade: “I hate you. I will never forgive you. I want you dead.”

She threw the last words like stones: “Go die. I do not want to see you.”

Every word stabbed Master Ling Xiao in the heart. The Heart Devil wanted him to break, so it attacked his weakest spot.

Master Ling Xiao knew that everything Shen Sang Ruo had endured was tied to each of them, including himself, yet he refused to admit it. To numb himself, he pushed all blame onto others and washed his own hands clean, hoping that Shen Sang Ruo would understand him.

Now this “Shen Sang Ruo,” or rather the Heart Devil, ripped his pretense away and exposed the ugliness and hypocrisy underneath.

Master Ling Xiao fell deep into it and was in terrible pain.

She smiled, voice tempting like poison: “Kill yourself, and I will return, Master.”

His face twisted. He wanted Shen Sang Ruo to come back, but he did not want to die.

He roared at the air, clinging to denial: “No, it was not like that! It was not me! It was them!”

In the end, he chose to numb himself again.

He growled, making a vow to the phantom: “I will kill them now. No matter what, I will bring you back.”

His killing intent exploded: “Damn it, all of you should die.”

Driven by the Heart Devil’s whip, Master Ling Xiao fully lost control and strode toward the nearby Elders.

In the Ninghua Sect, Shen Sang Ruo looked toward the Flying Cloud Sect. A strange red glow braided with darkness rose at the edge of the sky.

Immortal Lord Chang Li spoke lightly: “Heart Devil Tribulation.”

He and Daoist Wu Wei had nothing to do, so they had come to Shen Sang Ruo’s cave to watch Master Ling Xiao’s breakthrough together.

Daoist Wu Wei clicked his tongue, eyes full of glee: “When did that kid grow a Heart Devil? Still too young. His Dao heart is not steady.” Seeing everyone glare at him, he grinned and showed his teeth: “What? It is too hot. I am just airing my teeth.”

Shen Sang Ruo frowned, thinking it over. She had not noticed anything strange with Master Ling Xiao before. Then she remembered the apprenticeship ceremony: “He spat blood and fainted that day. That might have been a sign.”

Su Xi Yu looked as if she had solved a puzzle and asked softly: “Could his Heart Devil be related to our junior sister?”

Fang Yu nodded along: “No wonder he looked at Sister Sang Ruo so strangely later.”

Shen Sang Ruo lifted a brow. She had suspected this too. [Every cause has its effect. Your payback is me.]

Immortal Lord Chang Li gave her a teasing look: “Your former bargain Master may not pass this breakthrough.”

She smiled and replied with a slight bow: “Then I will borrow your good words.”

Almost the whole Cultivation World saw that eerie red glow. The other sects, like the Heavenly Sword Sect, saw it too. The Alchemy Sect and the Artifact Forging Sect were especially noisy, pointing fingers and chattering about Master Ling Xiao’s Heart Devil Tribulation. When those two sects got together, even a dog passing by would catch some of their gossip.

Soon, the rumor spread everywhere: Master Ling Xiao had formed a Heart Devil because his former disciple bowed to someone else as Master.