(Note: Weird, but yeah, we suddenly have a first-person perspective in this chapter.)
The inn had long been abandoned, ever since the family who lived here died.
Dust covered everything. Ye Fei sat alone in the main hall, as if he had been waiting for my arrival.
He poured a cup of wine, and I drank it without hesitation. Ye Fei smiled at and said he still liked , but it was a pity that our ideologies were just too different.
“You’re not getting away this ti.”
For the first ti, I spoke with full confidence, looking down at Ye Fei almost condescendingly.
It wasn’t just because I had broken through once again, nor simply because he had beco a public enemy, nor even because I knew Ye Fei had been injured—half a month ago, he was wounded by soone from Xuanyuan Palace.
I looked down on him because I finally felt I was no longer at the rcy of Ye Fei’s manipulations.
For fifteen years, I had always felt that Ye Fei was right beside , mocking my weakness and watching coldly as I chased him.
To , Ye Fei was like a god, one who could effortlessly destroy anything I wanted to protect, leaving suffocated.
Let’s finish this, I said. I’m tired.
Sure, Ye Fei agreed. After we finish this bottle of wine.
I agreed.
I knew Ye Fei, as well as I knew myself.
He was arrogant and disdained lies—a man who dared to laugh in the face of both the Daoist and Demon realms of Divine Land.
I had to admit—I respected him.
Then Ye Fei said, since we had so ti and just sitting was too boring, why not play a little ga? He pulled out a deck of cards and spread them on the table.
“Wanna gamble? Our powers are evenly matched now. So let’s not use them—just draw cards, high card wins. Pure luck.”
“What does the winner get?”
“The winner asks the loser one question. Any question. You can choose not to answer.”
I nodded. I drew first—♦4. Ye Fei drew ♥9. He won.
“How much longer do you have to live?”
“No more than three years.”
Ye Fei smiled faintly, tossed the ♥9 aside, and drew again—♣7. I drew ♥5.
“How many evil people have you encountered all these years?”
“Counting you, three hundred and thirty-seven.”
Ye Fei tossed the card. Next round—he drew ♠3, I got ♦6.
“How many people and demons have you killed?”
“I don’t rember. I never kept count.”
I drew ♠10. Ye Fei had ♠7.
“In your quest to eradicate evil, have you ever killed the wrong person?”
“No.”
♥8 vs ♣3.
“Is that just your opinion?”
“No is no.”
♣2 vs ♠10.
“What’s your greatest regret in life?”
“Not stopping you fifteen years ago.”
Ye Fei smiled. This ti he drew another ♠10, I got ♥Q.
“What’s the one thing in life you don’t regret?”
“No comnt.”
I drew ♥A, Ye Fei drew ♣J.
“Tell about your early life.”
“Orphan. My family was swept away in a flood. My master brought up the mountain, where I trained. Gained spiritual power at eleven, mastered all Dragon-Tiger Mountain spells at nineteen, descended the mountain at twenty-six. Ca to Lu Village six months later.”
♠5 vs ♠6. Ye Fei refilled our cups.
“What are you thinking right now?”
“To beat you this round so I can ask you sothing.”
Ye Fei smiled, drank his wine, and drew ♦5. I got ♦8.
Ye Fei gestured for to ask.
“What was your early life like?”
“My father captured a woman with a special constitution and had . I never t her. According to him, she was just a tool to make more perfect. I started training the day I was born. I never left the training chamber before I turned thirteen. At thirteen, my father died—killed by soone from Xuanyuan Palace. That man took out, said he’d eradicate evil, and pierced my heart. Turns out my heart isn’t in the sa place as others’. Probably a trick my father pulled. Anyway, I survived. Left the island at twenty. Ca to Lu Village at twenty-six.”
I picked up the wine bottle. Less than half left. I poured for both of us. Just enough for one more round.
I drew ♠K. Ye Fei didn’t draw—he gestured for to ask.
“Xuanyuan Palace tried to kill you. You survived. Why keep eradicating evil?”
“Because of it, I was able to leave the training room. Isn’t that reason enough?”
“No.”
I drew ♦J. Ye Fei drew ♠K.
“You chased for fifteen years. Why? Besides wanting to kill .”
I was silent for a long ti. I knew I could skip the question—our rules allowed it. Ye Fei waited patiently, smiling.
In that mont, I realized all my supposed confidence and superiority were paper-thin. He was still the sa person—haunting for fifteen years, always a step ahead, always mocking .
“Because I was afraid.”
Ye Fei poured the last bit of wine into two cups. It wasn’t a full glass. He held his, but didn’t drink. Neither did I.
We sat there in silence, facing each other.
Ye Fei stared into his cup, lost in thought.
We stayed like that from morning until dusk. At dusk, it began to rain—heavily. I rembered a girl once told , by the sea, the rain hides, and cos out when it wants to scare you.
Ye Fei’s hand trembled slightly. Then he recited a poem:
“Youth hears rain in red-curtained halls,
Dim candles glow behind gauze walls.”
I continued the next lines:
“Middle age hears rain in a boat adrift,
The river wide, the sky low, cliffs mournful in the mist.”
He looked at and finished:
“Now a monk hears rain beneath rotting eaves,
My hair is gray, a life like fallen leaves...”
I added the final lines:
“Joy and sorrow are heartless guests,
Let the rain fall down the steps till dawn.”
Ye Fei smiled and finally drank his wine.
“It’s too long to sit until morning,” he said softly.
I agreed.
Instead of drinking, I attacked with a sword strike I’d honed for fifteen years. A killing blow. Maybe now I could defeat Ye Fei—maybe even kill him.
The table shattered as our clash erupted. The abandoned inn collapsed instantly in the storm.
My killing strike pierced Ye Fei’s shoulder. But at the sa ti, his Blood God Palm Seal hit my left arm—it hung uselessly.
Ye Fei was right. We were evenly matched now.
This would be a battle to the death.
We fought through storm and wind, from mountainside to cliff, from cliff to shore. The sky roared and the sea churned.
Three years ago, I entered the Enlightened Dao Realm—one of the strongest among Divine Land’s Daoists.
Ye Fei was no less. He might’ve reached that level fifteen years ago.
We asked no more questions. Everything that needed to be said had already been said—over wine.
The cliff at Lu Village had been carved down by our battle. Even the shoreline was reshaped, forming new terrain. The storm, too, seed to have retreated in fear of our power.
My wooden sword ultimately pierced the right side of Ye Fei’s chest—right through his heart. At the sa mont, Ye Fei’s palm landed on my chest.
Almost simultaneously, we both collapsed to the ground. This was the ending I had imagined countless tis over the past fifteen years—and now, it had finally appeared before .
But it was a little different from what I’d expected.
I thought that after we both fell, Ye Fei might still say a few last words to … but Ye Fei was already gone. No breath left. He died cleanly and decisively.
He was always like that—decisive.
And I, I was the one left with a final breath.
He shouldn’t have told about his unusual heart… Even as I closed my eyes, what lingered in my mind wasn’t the satisfaction of revenge, nor the relief of fulfilling a fifteen-year vow.
It was confusion… confusion about why he told .
Suddenly, the clouds over the sea parted, and dazzling golden light erged. After a night of cold, stormy fighting, my body was numb with cold—but that golden sea seed to radiate warmth.
In the ocean, I thought I saw a figure. I couldn’t see her face clearly, but I rembered her na. She looked like a sea demon, singing freely over the sparkling waters.
With the last of my strength, I sat up and looked at Ye Fei’s cold body… I sat cross-legged on the ground. Vaguely, I felt like I had once sat like this too—on the edge of this very shore, watching the sea.
…
In a daze, I seed to beco Ye Fei.
I had spent thirteen years in a dark, sunless training chamber. One day, soone appeared before and said, “Your father is dead. You were created to be a tool for revenge. You shouldn’t exist.”
I thought… Ye Fei thought… we thought… were we, am I, evil?
I suddenly opened my eyes. The dazzling light hurt my vision. But I rembered sothing a senior once told —about the human heart.
“There’s nothing colder than the human heart… and nothing warr. You’ll know its warmth or coldness yourself.”
Warm or cold—only you can feel it.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw that senior. I had awakened from the cycle of reincarnation.
…
…
That nurse—the one who once cried and hugged , trying to trade her body for safety—was still asleep in the chair. I had almost forgotten her face.
The clock on the wall hadn't moved much. Maybe just a few minutes had passed.
I could clearly hear the soft beeping of the heart monitor in the isolation room… and the senior stood before , quietly watching.
“This… was all just an illusion?” I looked at Senior Luo, confused about whether this place was the dream, or if the world with Ye Fei was the illusion.
“If it’s easier for you to understand that way, Mr. Mo Mo, then feel free to think of it like that,” he replied calmly.
I frowned in confusion.
The senior said, “I recently picked up sothing. With its power, I can take the foundations of this world and rebuild it in another direction.”
“This… this was all set up by you? Ye Fei… Ye Fei too? Everything?”
“No. Ye Fei was just a version of yourself, shaped by your doubts,” the senior said plainly. “Once inserted, everything evolved on its own. Rather than saying I designed it, it’s more accurate to say—it’s what you wanted to know.”
I didn’t fully understand… though that’s often the case with his words. I usually need a long ti to reflect. But I vaguely understood sothing.
I had lived two reincarnations—one as myself, and one as Ye Fei. Our cycles ran simultaneously.
“Nothing colder than the human heart, nothing warr either… only you know.” I softly repeated the insight I had co to.
The senior looked at again, and this ti, his gaze seed different… more alive. Like he was looking at a work of art.
A sudden chill crept up my back.
“Well then, Mr. Mo Mo,” he said, “your service is complete. As per our contract, we will now collect thirty years of your lifespan.”
I nodded.
In that instant, I felt as if I had aged decades… Maybe my appearance hadn’t changed much, but inside—I felt like a very long ti had passed.
“Thank you for using our service, Mr. Mo Mo. I look forward to serving you again next ti.”
He gave a respectful bow and exited.
This ti, I didn’t try to stop him. I just silently watched as he disappeared from my view.
I now knew—I carried sothing he wanted. And if I ever wished, he would appear before again.
Ti passed. The wall clock ticked in slow circles. The little nurse still hadn’t woken up. I had placed a calming spell on her—she could sleep for a long, long ti.
Sleeping in the isolation ward was also Zhan’er.
I looked through the glass at the sleeping Zhan’er. And at my own reflection in the window… I finally saw myself clearly.
I noticed—I had grown so white hair at my temples.
“Now a monk hears rain beneath rotting eaves,
My hair is gray, a life like fallen leaves…”
No longer young.
I took a deep breath and turned to leave the underground healer’s room. I was headed to the room where that battered demon was imprisoned.
This ti, I knew—I wouldn’t flinch again.
…
…
Outside the Croaching Dragon Estate, Nero was poking at a beehive dangling from a tree branch… drooling slightly as she crept the stick closer.
“What are you doing?”
Luo Qiu’s voice suddenly rang out from below the tree. Startled, Nero jabbed the hive by accident—sending a swarm of furious bees buzzing out.
She scread and tumbled from the tree—but as a forr Divine General of the Micheal’s Society, known as Tyrant, her combat reflexes allowed her to land perfectly, adjusting her posture mid-air.
A flawless landing. She waved her hand, scattering the angry bees with a casual flick.
“Boss, don’t sneak up on ! I scare easy, you know? Don’t believe —touch my heart?” Nero puffed out her chest pitifully.
Luo Qiu chuckled and raised his hand. A piece of honeycomb appeared—clearly from the hive.
“Eat.”
“Thanks, Boss!”
Nero grinned from ear to ear and happily bit into it.
(End of Chapter)
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