Breaking Army - Chapter 19

Xiao Chen and Rong Yuan returned to the Underworld together. Xiao Chen remained silent the entire way, and Rong Yuan followed closely behind him, not daring to let a single word drift into the air. It was exceptionally quiet.

Once they passed through the realm gate and entered the Underworld, the wounds on Rong Yuan’s body stopped tearing open and began to heal. His mangled flesh finally smoothed over into flawless white skin. Freed from the Mortal Realm’s suppression of cultivation, a surging wave of spiritual power suddenly erupted within Xiao Chen. The force made his vision go dark and his feet stumble, but Rong Yuan quickly caught him by the waist to steady him.

Xiao Chen waited for the dizziness to pass, then slapped Rong Yuan’s hand away. “Get off me,” he said weakly.

He was still angry.

Just moments ago, he had been soft-spoken while coaxing Rong Yuan back to the Underworld, yet he turned a cold shoulder the second they arrived. It was clear that His Highness Broken Army was quite practiced at dealing with “younger brats.” Back when Rong Yuan’s flesh was tearing apart, Xiao Chen hadn’t dared to touch him, but now that he was healed, the Star Lord showed no mercy and stopped being polite. Rong Yuan had no choice but to retract his hand and stand by pitiably.

Both times Xiao Chen had come to the Underworld, he was at his most disheveled, and Rong Yuan had seen it all. Now that his cultivation had returned, it was clashing wildly inside his battered body, making him feel miserable. Fortunately, his internal injuries were being mended, so it wasn’t all bad. He needed to find a place to meditate and regulate his breath; he simply didn’t have the strength to settle scores with Rong Yuan yet.

“If you please,” Xiao Chen said tiredly, “lend me a place to meditate.”

How could Rong Yuan refuse? He took Xiao Chen directly to his personal bedchamber.

Is he doing this on purpose? Xiao Chen turned to look at him. Words immediately floated in front of Rong Yuan: “I won’t go in. You rest.”

Recover your strength before arguing, recover your strength before arguing… Xiao Chen repeatedly reminded himself. He slammed the palace doors shut right in front of Rong Yuan, locking the Sovereign out of his own bedroom. When Xiao Chen first arrived in the Underworld, he had been so polite, calling him “Sovereign” with every breath. In just a few days, he was already slamming doors in the man’s face. Surprisingly, the one on the receiving end seemed quite content, feeling no humiliation at being locked out of his own home.

Well, if one is willing to strike and the other is willing to suffer, what can an outsider say?

Only a blink of an eye after the doors were slammed shut with such momentum, just as the strands of Rong Yuan’s hair settled from the draft, the door was pushed open again by a reluctant crack.

Xiao Chen’s voice squeezed through the gap: “…Come in and change your clothes before you go.”

Rong Yuan had suffered heavenly punishment in the Mortal Realm. His clothes were soaked in blood, likely still clinging to bits of torn flesh. This outfit was ruined; he couldn’t very well walk around in it.

The corners of Rong Yuan’s mouth curved up in visible delight. He followed him into the palace. Xiao Chen ignored the comfortable large bed and sat cross-legged directly on a low couch to begin his meditation. Words floated in front of Rong Yuan: “There is spiritual jade within the foundation beneath the bed. It is good for physical recovery.”

“No need.” Seeing that bed only reminded him of what had happened on it. Xiao Chen just wanted to regulate his breathing in peace and didn’t want his mind filled with distractions. Rong Yuan really knew how to poke at a sore spot. Wait—Xiao Chen asked suspiciously, “If the spiritual jade is good for the body, why did you put it under the bed? With your cultivation, do you even need such a thing?”

Rong Yuan realized he had accidentally let a secret slip, but he unhurriedly let new words drift out: “It is also related to the cultivation technique I am practicing.”

Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes in a silent interrogation. Seeing that scrutinizing look, Rong Yuan stopped responding with words. Before Xiao Chen could try to bait more information out of him, Rong Yuan actually reached for his own clothes and began to slowly undress right in front of him.

Xiao Chen: “…”

He was actually using this tactic to make him shut up! This little brat!

The key was that it actually worked on him.

“Wait a minute!”

Being both men, Xiao Chen wouldn’t normally care, but Rong Yuan was different. Xiao Chen didn’t even want to look at the bed they had shared, let alone look at Rong Yuan’s body. Rong Yuan’s clothes were layered, and he intentionally slowed his movements. By the time Xiao Chen spoke, he had only half-removed his outer robe. He stopped and looked up at Xiao Chen with a smile.

The smile was gentle, but the man was infuriating. Xiao Chen grit his teeth. “Get behind the screen!”

The topic was successfully diverted. Rong Yuan followed the instruction and went behind the screen. He took off the blood-stained clothes and used black flames to incinerate them into nothingness. After cleaning himself with spiritual power and changing into new clothes, he stepped out to find that Xiao Chen had already closed his eyes to begin meditating.

The clothes Xiao Chen was wearing were also ruined. Rong Yuan pulled out another set of white robes. These also featured lotus patterns, but the style was different from the one prepared for their wedding; this was a wide-sleeved robe, giving off a more ethereal, celestial air. Rong Yuan had actually prepared quite a lot of clothing for Xiao Chen, but fearing that Xiao Chen might refuse them if given all at once, he chose to bring them out one by one when the timing was right.

He placed the clothes beside Xiao Chen and watched quietly for a while. Once he sensed that Xiao Chen’s breathing had stabilized, he left the room. He pressed a protective barrier seal onto the palace before heading toward the Hall of Yama.

If a person committed evil acts while alive, their soul would feel a heavy pressure after death. For the most heinous criminals, shackles would appear on the soul. When Hua Wuhen’s soul appeared at the gates of the Fengdu Ghost City, he was immediately crushed to the ground by heavy shackles, unable to get up for a time.

“Another demon,” a Nether-guard said, stepping forward to look. “He can’t even stand. With a sin this heavy, those hundred-plus demons couldn’t have died at your hands, could they?”

Hua Wuhen hadn’t felt much when his head was severed. He only felt his vision go dark, followed by a straight plunge. He couldn’t cry out or catch his breath. When he hit the ground, his mind was still a blur. The guard’s words were muffled, and he only caught a few: hundred demons, died.

Yes, they had all died for the King. There was only one Demon King. That fox currently on the throne was nothing; how could he be called King? He only took advantage of the fact that Xiao Chen killed the true King to snatch a bargain. Right, Xiao Chen. He didn’t die. I have to find another way to kill him…

Even now, he hadn’t realized he was dead.

The two guards hoisted him up. A soul-mark suddenly flashed on Hua Wuhen’s body. The guards were startled and looked at each other: the Sovereign wanted to interrogate him personally!

They immediately put away their joking attitudes, realizing this was serious. “Hurry, take him directly to the Hall of Yama. Don’t keep the Sovereign waiting.”

The Hall of Yama…? Hua Wuhen struggled. The memories of his death finally flooded back. Right, he had seen the Sovereign of the Underworld arrive in person. So he was dead? His soul was in the Underworld, facing trial?

“Let go, ugh!”

The guards felt him struggling and gripped him tighter. “Behave yourself! Don’t move!”

They rushed him to the Hall of Yama, where Rong Yuan was already seated. Hua Wuhen felt an immense weight on his body. As he was pressed to his knees by the guards, he wheezed for air and struggled to lift his head. He opened his mouth and sneered, “The Sovereign of the Underworld didn’t hesitate to trade his own body just to get favors from the Star Realm. I wonder how Xiao Chen tasted… urgh!”

The guard broke into a cold sweat and yanked the shackles, throttling Hua Wuhen’s neck. “Shut your mouth!”

Rong Yuan stood up. The Judge handed him a ledger. “Sovereign, his Ledger of Life and Death.”

When a sentient being dies, a Ledger of Life and Death appears, recording their sins and virtues. The Underworld’s rewards and punishments are based on this. Rong Yuan waved his hand, declining to take it. The ledger only recorded merit and sin; it wouldn’t detail everything. What Rong Yuan wanted to know might not be in there.

Rong Yuan walked up to Hua Wuhen. The demon stared at him, his throat still stubbornly trying to squeeze out sounds. One didn’t need to hear every word to know they were all foul insults. Rong Yuan acted as if he heard nothing, curling his fingers into a claw and pressing it onto Hua Wuhen’s head.

Hua Wuhen’s voice stopped abruptly. His eyes widened, and after a moment of extreme terror, his gaze became vacant, eventually turning into a pool of stagnant water. Rong Yuan was performing a direct Soul Search.

A Soul Search was equivalent to dissecting a person; everything they remembered and everything they thought was laid bare before the practitioner.

Rong Yuan had no interest in the old history between Hua Wuhen and the former Demon King. He quickly found what he was looking for.

He saw that while Hua Wuhen appeared loyal to the current Demon King, he was actually a rebel. He had been secretly gathering the remnants of the former King’s followers. During the years Xiao Chen was in seclusion, Hua Wuhen had sent many people, both openly and secretly, to find Xiao Chen’s residence and find a way to assassinate him, but they had all failed. Then, one day, a man in black appeared before Hua Wuhen, claiming he had a way to kill Xiao Chen.

Using a very specific poison.

Rong Yuan frowned and continued looking. In Hua Wuhen’s memory, the man’s face was obscured and his voice was ethereal, clearly a deliberate disguise.

Following the man’s instructions, Hua Wuhen brought his people to the Demon Realm to plant a vast field of Acacia trees, watering them with the method provided. Most of the trees couldn’t survive and withered away. When they died, they were cleared and replaced with new ones. This was repeated for years until finally, one tree bore fruit. Hua Wuhen plucked the seeds and presented them to the man in black.

Hua Wuhen destroyed the poisonous Acacia trees and hid in the Mortal Realm to wait. Soon, he received news that Xiao Chen had been poisoned.

He was overjoyed, believing he could finally kill Xiao Chen. However, his happiness didn’t last long before he heard that Rong Yuan was willing to marry Xiao Chen and offer the Purple Lotus to cure him.

Hua Wuhen’s emotions surged. He was desperate. He had used every means available to him over a hundred years and thought his wish was finally fulfilled, only for Rong Yuan to suddenly appear! Hua Wuhen felt hopeless and decided to head to the Underworld himself. Even if he died, it would be a fulfillment of his loyalty to the former Demon King. He truly had no other options left.

The long-absent man in black appeared again to stop him, saying, “Xiao Chen is not in seclusion in the Underworld. He is in the Mortal Realm.”

The rest was just Hua Wuhen making arrangements in the Mortal Realm, waiting for Xiao Chen to arrive.

Rong Yuan withdrew his hand. Hua Wuhen collapsed to the ground like a puppet, motionless.

No words appeared in front of Rong Yuan. The others didn’t dare to disturb him and waited quietly.

Beneath his mask, Rong Yuan took a subtle look at everyone present. He could now confirm that there was indeed a traitor among the Underworld clan. This traitor not only knew Xiao Chen wasn’t in the Underworld but was also certain he had gone to the Mortal Realm. But why? Even if someone from the Heavens, Demons, or Monsters wanted revenge on Xiao Chen, what did the Underworld person helping Hua Wuhen have to gain? The Star Lords were united; the Star Realm was not to be trifled with.

The man in black had never revealed his spiritual power, and his identity was unknown. Was he from the Underworld, or was there another collaborator?

And then there was the Acacia. Xiao Chen’s poison actually contained Acacia. Although Acacia trees were native to the Celestial Realm and difficult to grow elsewhere, as evidenced by how many Hua Wuhen had killed, obtaining the seeds was not difficult. Acacia seeds were often used as tokens of affection and sold as jewelry. He had seen them in the Ghost Market before. However, the seeds Hua Wuhen obtained were overflowing with spiritual energy, not at all like the common variety.

Rong Yuan thought coldly: The people of the Celestial Realm cannot be trusted either.

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