He suffered no illusions about his fate. He had walked freely into the embrace of the Fiends after his lover was violated and killed by people who swore to protect her.
Shu had been only a Sliver Tier Immortal, but his gifts in healing were already recognized as superior to many of his generation. Even true masters of the field looked forward to his future.
He had not risen in a greenhouse but fought and bled next to his childhood friends. So had fallen and he had avenged them or used his skills to gather favors to achieve it.
In all those journeys, it was important to keep himself grounded and he had been far too fortunate. He had been with his friends as Heaven Realm cultivators in the central areas of the Southern Continent when he saw her.
Lin Song had been a fairy from the spirits themselves. He had appreciated her delicate features from afar but it was her charisma and unrelenting will that drew him in. Still, he had tempered his expectations.
He was a rogue cultivator no matter his reputation and she was the daughter of a powerful sect of the local area.
He assud he would be but one of many admirers and simply move on. Fate was cruel when it made a dream co true.
His group of 5 had been hunting beasts and bandits for a guild mission when they heard the screams. They moved like the wind and found the carriage nearly ripped apart by a massive boar commanded by a group of bandits.
It was a common tale and his group had thwarted more than a few. He let his friends fight freely as he cast Arts and skills to protect them while saving who he could.
Alchemy was a skill he had always done well in but never truly pursued before aside from what they could afford. It was an expensive profession.
Who had they saved? It was Lin Song of course.
She had been injured badly protecting her servants and fellow disciples. She was a tigress but he had focused on saving all their lives.
Shu Oda was not an innocent man so he only hoped to get a decent reward and maybe so help with his alchemy. Keeping himself humble had served all his group well in the past.
The rescue went well with the bandit caught and his beast slain. He was notorious for it literally as the Hog Bandit. He had terrorized the area with an Immortal beast at his command. Thankfully, the sect disciples had weakened it so their group could finish it off.
It was pure luck but luck was part of cultivation as much as anything else.
The days that followed had simply been full of celebrations and suitable rewards. Shu thought it would end there but it was the beginning of his fall.
His skill in alchemy was recognized by an elder of the sect and he was offered a place. His friends had encouraged him yet he asked for the favor of admitting his friends too.
They smiled wide and all seed to be the start of their legends.
Fate does not give with only 1 hand, however.
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"Shu! Co out now!" The handso man was focused on the cauldron and did not let the words break his concentration. The herbs powder and beast core essence rged and he slapped the side.
"CONDENSE!" The flow of Qi and Laws smoothly rged and he wiped his sweat covered brow as 3 peak grade 7 pills flew into the jade vial he prepared. A smile spread as he finally was ready to take the next step.
He turned from his furnace and opened the door to blinding sunlight. He had barely blinked when a fist slamd into his guts. He nearly dropped the precious vial as he went to his knees.
He looked up to see a very angry Lin Song glaring down at him. He was confused until he turned pale.
"Um, what, um, day is–?!" He ducked as a kick tried to take him out! He had missed their anniversary!
So years after being in the sect, Lin Song's heart had been claid, or rather forced on, by Shu Oda. The fact he had always been respectful and generous made it hard for the many rivals to hate him.
His pills had been desired ever since his skill was discovered. His network was now vast in less than a few centuries and becoming an Immortal had only accelerated his skills.
Yet, ti managent was an issue he suffered from when concocting.
He then lit up and held up the vial.
"I MADE THEM FOR YOU!" The swinging arm froze before her narrow but painfully beautiful features glared while examining the pills. Slowly, her face went from anger, to joy, to tearful happiness.
"The Blood Furnace Pills?" He nodded fiercely. Lin Song's constitution was a little unique. She had far more strength than most but the threshold to advance her body cultivation was insanely high.
The Blood Furnace Pills would allow her to make a massive leap forward for at least 3 sessions of cultivation. They were notoriously difficult to make and prone to only 1 or 2 pills if successful. Yet, he had made 3!
"I wanted to give them as a gift at dinner but it took longer than I thought. It was very difficult." Shu saying that had far more weight than others. The alchemy hall was nurturing him to one day lead them.
Even the sect master was avidly supporting him.
Everything was looking assured for his future. He should have known better from his early days. He should have seen the shadows darkening around him. Yet all he saw was a blushing Lin Song presenting a sandalwood box to him.
He opened it and saw a simple hair band of silver inside. It was not an artifact but he flipped it over and happy tears filled his eyes.
He could get any artifact he wanted but an engraved gift of his lover's feelings was priceless to him.
He then beca serious before he looked up and took her hand.
"We have no need to wait, let us perform the Dao Marriage as soon as our Masters allow." Her smile could have wiped out the sun at that mont as she nodded emphatically. They sent ssages to both and their Masters seed exasperated they had taken so long!
Shu rembered smiling as he spent the day with her and saw her off with his old friends and new ones of the sect. Nothing stood out. Nothing warned him until much later.
It was only when his world was destroyed that Shu Oda realized he had forgotten the greed of n.
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The red cloth covering the coffin barely registered to Shu. He was a hollow man at the mont. The fact he had not suffered lethal Qi deviation was a spirits' blessed miracle.
His Master had tried to console him but even his Master was broken. Lin Song was dead. She was murdered.
The survivors that ca back were barely alive but they had brought her back. Shu Oda had tried to help her but they had held him back. No one let him near her as they knew it was too late.
He had really believed that back then.
Now, he knew better. He was an expert healer but part of his education was understanding the dead. Why soone died was crucial to try and prevent it in the future.
It took little effort to bypass the security of the vault that kept the dead. Those dead of natural causes were quickly processed and preserved but murdered disciples were held for analysis by experts.
Shu was long considered an expert even with peak Immortal Realm cultivators. He had frozen to see the pale and bloodless face he loved. She was not peaceful even in her current state.
She had tear streaks down her face and that detail stuck out to him. He had seen her cry many tis but only when she was able to process loss or when she was laughing. In battle, she never cried.
She had nearly died before and still had no tears.
It made him suspicious and his examination only further led him to the dark truth. Her injuries were not right! They were not the injuries of battle but of binding!
Her body had been held by so restraint before she was executed! Why? Had they been caught and escaped? He had not heard that in the report.
His examination was now desperate no matter how it hurt him. What he found broke him.
Violence, violation, and repetitive abuse in all its forms while she was alive. He could tell after centuries of experience. Had they wanted to protect him from the truth?
He had been about to accept his friends sparing him the horror of it when he noticed a detail only he would. Her belt was not normal and it was embedded with an artifact gifted by him.
It was able to record ssages if she died just for him. The belt was there but it was damaged. There was no reason for it to be broken! The only people who knew what it was were their close friends.
There was still a secret known only to Lin and himself. He slowly reached yet a dark premonition warned him. If he confird his suspicions, he would never be the sa.
Still, he pushed through and touched the clasp. It was an artifact storage treasure. It acted as a backup too. A recording played.
The group had co across the wild tiger pride they had been sent after but the beasts were dead. He saw disciple attacking disciple but beneath it all he heard her crying and repeating one word over and over.
[Why–?] There were no responses until a very familiar voice ca through. His boyhood friend and the man who he thought of as a brother.
[Brother Shu has to share the spoils with us. I have long desired you and he is too greedy. He should have moved on long ago and passed you to us.] He wanted to deny reality.
He wanted to run away! His world was collapsing when a voice ca from the darkness.
"Do you want them to suffer?"
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