After Forcibly Taking The Beautiful, Powerful, And Tragic Demon Lord As A Concubine - Chapter 15

Lin Xueqing felt as if he had returned to that night when he first encountered what Ye Mingjing had endured.

At the time, he had looked into the Great Demon King’s past experiences before his “blackening” out of a sense of curiosity. Then, being someone with a very low threshold for tears, he cried for an entire night.

In the novel’s comment section, he typed out an accusation against the author:

“Do you even have a heart? He’s already this miserable, yet you still treat him like this. Why couldn’t you let him have a better life, or just let him die? Anything is better than living through such torture.”

This comment received over a thousand likes.

The next day, the author replied to him:

“Hehe, actually, it’s because I like him that I torment him. Look, isn’t his popularity high? ‘Beautiful, Strong, and Miserable’—how can he be ‘miserable’ if he isn’t suffering?”

Lin Xueqing: “…”

Bullshit!

How could love be like this?

If you like someone, how could you have the heart to watch them live in agony? If you like someone, shouldn’t you hold all the beauty in the world before their eyes?

Lin Xueqing accepted the so-called “popularity theory” even less.

To the author, Ye Mingjing was just a character in a book, so he could unscrupulously torture, harm, and insult him. Ye Mingjing’s popularity was high; the author might get scolded, but they would benefit even more. Who knows how much they earned in peripheral licensing fees?

But for Ye Mingjing, what could he gain from popularity? Likes? Comments? What use were these to Ye Mingjing? They couldn’t even be exchanged for a single spirit stone.

And what Lin Xueqing found even harder to accept was that one day, he would actually witness all of this with his own eyes—witnessing what it would actually look like if Ye Mingjing’s pain appeared on another person.

“Miserable” was not a word enough to summarize it.

“…Is it still not over?”

Another day and night passed.

Feng Ruyu no longer cried out in pain. He had lost all his strength, even the strength to scream. He lay stiffly on the floor like a withered tree.

With red eyes, Lin Xueqing finally dared to ask Ye Mingjing.

Ye Mingjing glanced at Feng Ruyu and said, “Probably not.”

His tone was indifferent, as if it contained no emotion whatsoever.

Lin Xueqing suppressed his tears and asked, “Then, then how much longer?”

Ye Mingjing said, “Soon. Once the moment passes where my Junior Sister stabbed me, it should be over.”

Lin Xueqing: “…”

He remembered.

This stab occurred on the day the protagonist was born.

After Ye Mingxue married the Demon Sovereign Xiaotian, she quickly became pregnant. The child in her womb was the protagonist of The Hunyuan Daoist, Ye An. Ye An was a hybrid of a demonic cultivator and an orthodox cultivator—the first hybrid in history since the divide between the Righteous and Demonic paths.

Fearing he would be looked down upon or bullied after birth, Ye Mingxue gave him the name “An,” meaning peace, intending for him to live out a safe and secure life. However, Ye An’s bloodline ensured his life would be anything but peaceful.

On the day of the birth, Ye Mingxue sought out a ruined temple in the wild to give birth, fearing revenge. Yet, she was still found by Ye Mingjing.

“Ye Mingjing, doesn’t it hurt?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Ye Mingjing glanced at Lin Xueqing. He didn’t seem angry that Lin Xueqing addressed him by name, but simply moved his wheelchair slowly toward the door. Before leaving, he left behind a single sentence:

“I got used to it a long time ago.”

Then, with a creak, the door closed, and his figure and voice vanished simultaneously.

Another day and night passed.

Ye Mingjing did not return. Lin Xueqing sat by Feng Ruyu’s side the entire time, waiting for him to wake up.

Just as Ye Mingjing said, after Ye Mingxue’s stab, everything neared its end. Later, Ye Mingjing didn’t suffer much physical injury—at least nothing on the surface. But Lin Xueqing knew that in the hundred years that followed, the places where Ye Mingjing was wounded were not in his body, but in his heart and his dignity.

No matter how miraculous Feng Ruyu’s technique of “synesthesia” was, it could not simulate that kind of damage.

Thus, half an hour later, he slowly woke up.

After Feng Ruyu woke, Lin Xueqing—who hadn’t slept for three days and nights—was overjoyed and immediately stepped forward to help him up.

But Feng Ruyu seemed still immersed in that pain, retreating several steps in terror: “Don’t come over! Don’t touch me!”

Lin Xueqing felt a pang in his heart, his eyes reddening as he said, “Ghost Doctor, it’s me. I’m Lin Xueqing.”

“I know you’re that kid surnamed Lin, that’s why I’m telling you not to touch me!”

“Why?” Lin Xueqing was puzzled.

Feng Ruyu took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, finally catching his breath. “Damn it, just to earn those twenty thousand spirit stones of yours, I almost lost my life! You tell me, can I not stay away from you?”

Lin Xueqing: “This…”

Speaking of this, Lin Xueqing did indeed feel quite guilty. After all, he had witnessed the three days and nights of painful torment.

But hadn’t it all passed? Since he had endured it with such difficulty, Feng Ruyu should now have a thorough understanding of Ye Mingjing’s injuries. To give up now would be a pity.

“Ghost Doctor, it was my fault. I didn’t know you used this method for diagnosis,” Lin Xueqing apologized.

Feng Ruyu countered, “And if you did know? Would you have stopped me from diagnosing him?”

…Well, he still would have wanted the diagnosis.

But Lin Xueqing didn’t dare say that directly; he could only coax Feng Ruyu first.

“Ghost Doctor, you’ve worked hard. Look, here are another twenty thousand spirit stones.”

“Hmph, you brat, don’t think you can bribe me with spirit stones!”

“How about another twenty thousand?”

“And thirty thousand more. I can’t give any more than that,” Lin Xueqing said through gritted teeth.

“One of these days, I’m going to assassinate all of you rich people…” Feng Ruyu’s expression shifted rapidly, but eventually, his face settled into the shape of a spirit stone.

But even though the spirit stones that usually excited him most were placed before him, he couldn’t find it in himself to be happy right now.

Lin Xueqing asked, “Is there anything else?”

Feng Ruyu’s expression froze, and for a long time, he couldn’t speak. After a while, seeing Lin Xueqing’s expectant face, Feng Ruyu was forced to tell the truth.

“To be honest with you, I have no idea how to treat him.”

“How can that be? You’re the Ghost Doctor!”

“I’m the Ghost Doctor, but I’m not a god. Do you know how complex the injuries on his body are? Setting everything else aside, let’s just talk about his meridians—they’re all severed! Broken into at least several hundred pieces. Even if I were sewing several hundred strips of cloth, it would take a massive effort, let alone meridians!”

“But…”

“And those meridians aren’t just broken. If they were just broken, I could sew them using the silk of the Seven-Star Silkworm as thread; at most, I’d just take my time. But at the connection points of those meridians, it’s all pitch-black demonic energy! Do you have any idea how much there is? One mistake and I’d be dead, you know!”

Lin Xueqing froze in place, his pupils shrinking slightly. “Is… is it really that difficult?”

“It’s hard, harder than climbing to the heavens.” Feng Ruyu gave a bitter laugh. “It’s so hard that I’ve started to wonder—do you think the three life-saving restrictions his master left him before passing away were out of love or hate?”

In this world, there was likely no one who understood the pain Ye Mingjing endured better than Feng Ruyu.

“To put it bluntly, if it were me, I would have committed suicide long ago. Instead, he can’t even die, and has been tormented like this for a hundred years.”

Hearing this, the bitterness in Lin Xueqing’s chest intensified.

Ye Mingjing. Just how many more things are there that I don’t know? Just how much more suffering have you endured alone?

Every time, Lin Xueqing thought he understood Ye Mingjing’s situation well enough, but every time, the limit was pushed further.

But because of this, Lin Xueqing didn’t want to give up.

“Ghost Doctor, I remember there are some medicinal materials that can remove demonic energy from the body,” Lin Xueqing said.

Feng Ruyu replied, “There are, of course there are. Back when the Righteous and Demonic paths were irreconcilable, there were plenty. But later, when the two sides made peace, those above said that having such things was ‘unfavorable to unity’ and had them destroyed in bulk. Now only a few precious ones remain, but they are very hard to get your hands on.”

Lin Xueqing suddenly gained energy. “Hard to get doesn’t mean impossible, right?”

Feng Ruyu: “…”

Lin Xueqing could hardly hide his excitement. He couldn’t tell if it was more about the thought of saving his own life or the thought of his heart aching for Ye Mingjing. Probably both.

He said solemnly, “Ghost Doctor, let’s be blunt. I must treat him. Even if he can’t be fully cured, I want him to be able to live like a normal person. As for the conditions needed to achieve this, please speak freely. I will be responsible for obtaining them.”

Feng Ruyu looked at Lin Xueqing as if he were an idiot. “Did Ye Mingjing save your whole family’s life?”

Lin Xueqing: No. But my whole family’s life is indeed in his hands.

Lin Xueqing’s expression shifted, and he muttered, “Just don’t worry about that. Just tell me how to treat him.”

Feng Ruyu glanced at him again. After realizing this person was indeed the kind of stubborn mule who wouldn’t turn back until he hit a wall, he finally resigned himself to his fate. “Fine. His body has many injuries, and they are very messy. We can ignore the minor ones. Broadly speaking, there are three major problems that need to be solved immediately.”

“First, the meridian issue I just mentioned. Theoretically, the solution is to first use a large quantity of medicine to draw the demonic energy out of his body, and then I will use the Seven-Star Silkworm silk to begin sewing.”

“The second issue is the Golden Core. I have experience with that, and I have a formula, so it won’t be particularly difficult. The hard part is just finding the materials, and it’s very expensive. My last employer was from the Zong family—you know the Zong family, right? The clan of the Daoist Sect Leader. For his son, he was willing to pay any price.”

“The third is his arm… that’s actually quite simple. As long as you can find the demon core of a Bone-Eating Beast, and then find any random arm, I can graft it on.”

After hearing this, Lin Xueqing was overjoyed. “That doesn’t sound very difficult.”

Feng Ruyu sneered, “Do you even know what the items required are? You say it’s not hard—if it’s not hard, go find me the Seven-Star Silkworms first. Remember, I need ten, not one less.”

Lin Xueqing: “Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘oh’?”

“By ‘oh’ I mean… would Ten-Star Silkworms count?”

“Nonsense.”

The Star Silkworm is a type of spirit beast. The more stars on its back, the older it is and the more concentrated its demonic power. The Seven-Star Silkworms Feng Ruyu asked for were essentially silkworms with a hundred years of cultivation; they were rarely seen on the market, and whenever one appeared, the major sects would scramble for it.

If memory served, the last time a Seven-Star Silkworm was auctioned, it sold for the astronomical price of a hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones. That was a hundred thousand spirit stones—enough for a small sect’s entire yearly expenditure.

Ten-Star Silkworms… Feng Ruyu had never even heard of them! He couldn’t imagine how expensive they would be. He probably couldn’t afford one even if he sold himself.

However, what Feng Ruyu never expected was that the tiny thing he couldn’t afford even by selling himself was currently being fished out of a storage ring by Lin Xueqing like he was pulling out loaches.

One, then another.

“I think it’s these. I saw them a few days ago while taking inventory of the warehouse. They said I kept them as pets when I was a kid. I counted, and there are ten stars on their backs. Here—”

Feng Ruyu: “…..”