Chapter 807: Bloodstained Jasmine 3
"...Indeed, the Lunhui Mirror is indeed on him." Now that things had come to this point, it was futile for Xuanyuan Wentian to continue hiding it. He had never imagined that his carefully laid plans would crumble at the final moment, and even less that the cause of the collapse would be Yun Che voluntarily exposing it himself!
Hatred surged in his heart... but he didn't know whether to hate Yun Che's inhuman foolishness, or to hate his own miscalculation of Yun Che's temperament.
"Moreover, for these past twenty-plus years, it has always been on him." Xuanyuan Wentian frowned heavily, speaking with resentment. "No one could have imagined that twenty-three years ago, before Yun Qinghong and his wife fled back to the Huan Yao Realm, they actually left the Lunhui Mirror on Yun Che, who was still an infant at the time. When Yun Che returned to the Huan Yao Realm and married Xiao Yaohou, not only did she not reclaim the Lunhui Mirror, she even gave it to him as a dowry... Now, it is on his person."
The gazes of those from the Four Sacred Lands all changed toward Yun Che. Even Huangji Wuyu and Qu Fengyi, who had been avoiding looking at him, now locked their eyes—and even their auras—firmly onto Yun Che.
"So that's how it is. That's absolutely wonderful." Ye Meixie smiled faintly, then lifted his foot and slowly walked toward Yun Che. His movement made the faces of the other three Sacred Land leaders change slightly at the same time, but fortunately, Ye Meixie only took four steps before stopping again. He faced Xuanyuan Wentian and said expressionlessly, "Sword Master Xuanyuan, regarding the disposal of Yun Che, I have changed my mind. Setting aside Yun Che's identity as a demon, he and your Tian Wei Sword Domain don't seem to have much enmity. But he and my Sun Moon Divine Palace have a mortal, irreconcilable hatred! It's better to let me take him back to the Sun Moon Divine Palace for judgment."
"Wrong!"
The usually silent and rarely speaking Sea Emperor Qu Fengyi slowly stepped forward at this moment, his face icy cold. He walked until he was at a distance from Ye Meixie similar to Yun Che's before stopping unhurriedly. "Ye Meixie, have you forgotten whose territory this is? Since he was captured in my Sea Palace, he should naturally be judged by my Sea Palace. Why trouble yourselves to travel far and wide and carry him to the Sword Domain or Divine Palace?"
"..." Huangji Wuyu smiled without speaking, but his steps had silently brought him to a distance of thirty paces behind Yun Che, his ethereal, wisp-like aura firmly locked onto Yun Che.
Four people—the four Supreme Sacred Lords who surpassed the Tian Xuan Continent—were now clearly encircling Yun Che, a mere youth in his twenties, from all sides.
Moreover, although the four were in different positions, their distances from Yun Che were exactly the same, as if measured... If any one of them made a move, the other three would react instantly.
"Hahahaha!" Surrounded by the four Sacred Lords, Yun Che might be the first person in Tian Xuan Continent's history besides Ye Mufeng to experience this. Yet there was not a trace of fear on his face; instead, he laughed loudly with full sarcasm. "Truly worthy of the Four Sacred Lands! Just because of a Lunhui Mirror, your dignified faces instantly turned into ugly, sinister expressions!"
The four Sacred Lords all remained expressionless. Having lived for one to two thousand years, they would not blush at Yun Che's taunt. Their minds were all focused on the other three.
Xuanyuan Wentian's expression changed several times, but in the end, he let out a dark, suppressed breath, and his demeanor suddenly became relaxed. "Don't blame me for being secretive either. Things like the Lunhui Mirror—everyone wants to get their hands on them. In your shoes, you would surely be the same. But since things have come to this, if we were to harm our harmony over a mere Lunhui Mirror, wouldn't we become a laughingstock for the entire world?"
"Oh? Does Sword Master Xuanyuan have some brilliant suggestion?" Ye Meixie asked with a tone of dissatisfaction.
Xuanyuan Wentian replied without changing his expression, "How about this: since this is the Supreme Sea Palace, we will detain Yun Che here. After retrieving the Lunhui Mirror, we will jointly study its secrets."
Huangji Wuyu, Qu Fengyi, and Ye Meixie exchanged glances, thought briefly, and then nodded simultaneously. "We'll go with that for now. But if anyone harbors ulterior motives and tries to monopolize the Lunhui Mirror, don't blame us for ignoring old ties!"
The voices of the four were very low, difficult for those around to hear, but Yun Che, standing in the middle, heard them clearly. He sneered. "What a brilliant idea. Plotting to take something that belongs to someone else, yet speaking so pompously and righteously, as if it were naturally yours. So it turns out that the four famed Sacred Lords don't even have the most basic sense of shame."
"Hahahaha," Ye Meixie laughed loudly. "Just keep making your clever remarks. After today, you won't even have the chance to speak!"
Just as Yun Che was about to counter-sarcastically retort, he suddenly sensed a presence that was extremely familiar, yet tinged with a hint of unfamiliarity. This presence made his heart tremble. Instantly, all his anger, hatred, worry, and the weighing and calculating in his mind vanished without a trace.
The haze of the entire world dissipated completely.
He no longer paid any attention to Ye Meixie. He turned around, facing Huangji Wuyu and Qu Fengyi, and his voice became unusually calm. "The Tian Wei Sword Domain killed my grandfather, nearly cost my parents their lives, and almost destroyed Xiao Yun's entire family! The Sun Moon Divine Palace also had a hand in this. Ye Xinghan of the Sun Moon Divine Palace has tried to harm me several times and is someone I must kill in this life. So, I have an irreconcilable enmity with the Tian Wei Sword Domain and the Sun Moon Divine Palace."
"Holy Emperor of the Huangji Sacred Domain, you think highly of Yuanba and were even willing to entrust the Heavenly Saint Divine Ark to him. For that, I have always had three parts gratitude and respect toward you. Sea Emperor of the Supreme Sea Palace, your Sea Palace has guarded the Slay Moon Demon Cave for generations, earning admiration. You allowed me to enter the Slay Moon Demon Cave, which also made me hold some gratitude toward you..."
Qu Fengyi's face was stiff and cold, without a trace of emotional fluctuation. "Yun Che, are you deludedly thinking that this Emperor will forgive you?"
"Forgive? Hah..." Yun Che's laugh was very faint and cold. "I have no grievances or enmities with your Supreme Sea Palace. What do you have to forgive me for? On the first day I entered the Sea Palace, I saw the majestic and inviolable Sea Emperor. Today, I see a face full of ruthlessness tinged with greed and ugliness. If anyone should be forgiving, it should be me forgiving you!"
"Courting death!" Qu Fengyi was enraged, and the space before him rippled and distorted violently.
"Why get angry?" Huangji Wuyu raised a hand and smiled faintly. "Yun Che, since you have brought the Lunhui Mirror to the Tian Xuan Continent, we are determined to obtain it. It is nothing but a waste in the hands of a demon like you. But you don't need to worry too much. After you hand over the Lunhui Mirror and have your profound strength abolished, I can guarantee your life—for Yuanba's sake."
"Is that so? Then I truly thank you for your great mercy and kindness!" Yun Che said softly, his heart turning completely cold. He no longer harbored any illusions about Huangji Wuyu and Qu Fengyi. His gaze swept across their faces, and he said in a voice several times colder than before, "Huangji Wuyu, Qu Fengyi, remember every word and every sentence you said today!"
He had previously addressed them as Holy Emperor and Sea Emperor, but now he called them directly by name.
"And Xuanyuan Wentian, Ye Meixie! I, Yun Che, am someone who repays kindness and avenges wrongs! I hope you never regret this!"
"Hahahahaha..." Ye Meixie let out a wild laugh. "As a turtle in a jar, you still keep spouting nonsense. I, Ye Meixie, have lived for nearly two thousand years and have never seen someone so arrogantly reckless. Yun Che, I have never known how to write the word 'regret' in my life. I am very curious—what will you use to make me regret? That master of yours, the so-called 'Duotian Elder'? Hahahaha!"
Yun Che said slowly, "My master is indeed not Duotian Elder, but it seems none of you have ever managed to find out who my master really is. Aren't you afraid... that my master is even more formidable than Duotian Elder?"
"Hehehe..." Xuanyuan Wentian also laughed. "Yun Che, I always thought you were extremely cunning, but it turns out your greatest skill is laughable bluffing. Although I don't know who your master is yet, if we ever meet one day, considering that his disciple brought back the Lunhui Mirror, I might consider granting him the honor of dying under this Sword Master's blade."
"Hmph, you?! Who do you think you are?"
A cold laugh—a young girl's voice—piercingly cold with every word. Just three words, but they struck the ears of the four Sacred Lords like three thunderclaps.
Because this voice sounded right beside their ears, directly penetrating their hearts and souls. Yet, they could not sense where the voice came from, nor could they detect even the slightest trace of the owner's aura... as if it came from an invisible ghost. For a moment, the four Sacred Lords felt a kind of "hair-raising terror" they had almost never experienced!
"Who?! Who is it?!"
"Who is talking?!"
The four Sacred Lords shouted at the same time, their profound energy swelling, and their spiritual senses instantly spread outward. Their sudden and intense reaction startled everyone around.
"Who is playing tricks?!" Xuanyuan Wentian's spiritual sense swept across several miles, but he found no trace of any unusual aura. As the supreme sword master of the Tian Xuan Continent, no one had ever been able to escape his detection, and no one had ever been capable of "playing tricks" in his presence. But the young girl's voice that had suddenly sounded in his ear made him feel a chill running through his entire body for the first time.
"Come out!"
Xuanyuan Wentian let out a sharp shout, and sword energy surged around him, piercing the space until it was full of holes. At that moment, the four seemed to sense something and simultaneously looked at Yun Che, their expressions instantly frozen.
In front of Yun Che, a small, delicate red figure slowly appeared... No, they saw it clearly—this red figure was clearly walking out from within the void itself. Her large, crimson dress swayed lightly, like fluttering petals.
As she appeared, the entire Sea God Platform fell completely silent. Even everyone's breath came to a complete halt, as if everything in the world had been utterly sealed the moment she appeared.
She was small and slender, looking no more than twelve or thirteen years old. But her features were breathtakingly beautiful—icy skin and jade bones, exquisitely perfect, making it impossible for anyone to look away, even hard to believe their own eyes.
Her beauty was not like Feng Xue'er's, which made people feel as if they had fallen into a dream; rather, it was an enchanting allure that stole one's soul. A red dress, and even her long hair that reached down to her waist, was a deep red, adding a layer of mystery and seduction to this extreme eeriness.
Those present were all the most elite profound practitioners of the Tian Xuan Continent, with willpower beyond ordinary people. They never thought of themselves as having a fetish for young girls. But as they stared blankly at the red-dressed girl emerging from the void, a surging desire ignited like flames in their hearts and below their lower abdomens. Their once-strong willpower began to falter under the onslaught of beastly lust... Those with weaker willpower involuntarily took steps forward, their eyes releasing an uncontrollable lewdness. In their minds, if they could violate this girl who was so beautiful and seductive that it drove people to madness, they would gladly accept disgrace and death.
But the moment their eyes met her gaze, all that desire was extinguished as if doused by the iciest, most piercing cold water in the world, leaving only deep fear and cowering.
They were pupils of red—as scarlet as blood.
Before seeing her, no one would have believed that a girl of only twelve or thirteen could possess such extreme seduction.
Even fewer would believe that a girl of only twelve or thirteen could make people feel such piercing coldness and danger.
"Mo Li, you... succeeded!?" Yun Che exclaimed, somewhat excitedly.
Exactly as Mo Li had said—the body is born from the soul. The Mo Li before him was identical to the Mo Li he knew best. In appearance, there was not the slightest difference from the soul form she had maintained for seven years.
The only difference was that the spiritual connection and life bond were completely severed. He could no longer sense her presence or emotions.
Though he felt a little loss and reluctance, Mo Li had regained her freedom and a new life. He was more joyful than anything.
Not only had she succeeded, but the time was much shorter than anticipated.
"I had already arrived when the Demon Sword Convention began." Mo Li spoke softly. "Because of the coexistence of the Dragon God's Body and the Desolate God's Power, your life force has far exceeded the mortal realm, allowing me to reshape my body in half the time I expected. Otherwise, I would have missed this especially wonderful show!"
With the last sentence, Mo Li's eyes narrowed, emitting a terrifying killing intent as if from the deepest abyss of hell. She raised her hand, looking at her own palm, whiter and softer than snow, and murmured softly, "Seven years... It's been a long time since I've stained it with blood."