My Nemesis Won’t Let Go After I Broke His Heart - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gu Yanzhou watched as the Shadow-Falling Arrow pierced the black snake’s eye, followed immediately by that familiar figure.

He Qingyuan flew into the arena, landing slowly upon the high platform. With a gentle flick of the Shadow-Pulling Bow in his hand, it transformed into a green-bladed precious sword.

The Shadow-Pulling Bow and the Green-Feather Sword were one entity—He Qingyuan’s natal magic treasure.

Gu Yanzhou saw that things were taking a turn for the worse and feared he was about to be exposed. He had no choice but to bite his index finger and use his blood as a catalyst to forcibly layer a “Void Illusion” over this cramped space so he could make his escape.

Dragging his exhausted body, he ran into the beast-fighting arena. After pulling out the few people who were still breathing, he discovered He Sijun’s figure.

At this moment, He Sijun was trapped deep within the Void Illusion; everything before his eyes was pitch black, and he could see nothing at all.

Gu Yanzhou picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it toward He Sijun’s feet, intentionally creating a sound to lead him over.

Seeing He Sijun grope his way to the arm of one of the youths, Gu Yanzhou expended more strength to break into the illusion and spoke into his ear: “He Sijun, I’m leaving these children to you. Look after them!”

He Sijun was startled by this sudden voice, trembling all over and not daring to respond, but the grip in his hands never loosened.

Gu Yanzhou finally felt at ease. He looked toward He Qingyuan on the high platform, who was currently locked in combat with the black snake. Knowing that this illusion wouldn’t trap him for long, he quickened his pace and ran toward the back of the arena.

The space behind the beast-fighting arena was much larger than the front, because over a dozen demonic beasts were imprisoned here!

He saw only demonic beasts and no Beast Slaves; he feared the captured children were mostly dead, leaving only the few in the front arena.

Gu Yanzhou’s dark eyes suddenly glowed with a golden light, turning into golden pupils that looked as if they had been tempered by the fires of hell.

He asked in a heavy voice, “Why are you appearing here? Why didn’t you stay properly in the No-Man’s Land? Instead, you come out to commit atrocities and ruin my reputation!”

Some demonic beasts recognized these golden pupils and knelt to beg for mercy, shouting: “Master, spare our lives! We don’t know why we are here either. When we woke up, we were already trapped in this place.”

Only then did Gu Yanzhou realize he had revealed his golden pupils. But this was a habit of many years, and he couldn’t change it in a short time.

When he was a youth, he was forced to cultivate by consuming the demon cores of beasts in the demonic beast dens. These golden eyes were obtained back then and symbolized his status as the King of a Hundred Demons.

But now was not the time to reveal his identity.

Gu Yanzhou retracted the golden pupils and put on a dim-witted smile. “You’ve got the wrong person. However, a ‘ox-nose’ old Taoist will come in a moment to take your lives. If you don’t want to die, listen to me. You must obediently return to the No-Man’s Land in the Southern Borders and never come out to do evil again.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” After the demons agreed, Gu Yanzhou began looking for a sharp tool to pick the locks.

He picked up a long saber to hack at the locks on the cages, hacking until his hands were numb and aching before he finally released all the demonic beasts.

Suddenly, He Sijun’s startled cry came from behind Gu Yanzhou: “Master, the demonic beasts are escaping!”

Like a startled bird, Gu Yanzhou scrambled onto the back of a white tiger in his panic and rode the beast out of the area.

He only felt his back grow cold as if he were in a frost-cave or an ice-cellar. Turning his head, he saw He Qingyuan standing at the cave entrance and saw the flicker in his eyes.

Like a white camellia in the dead of winter, although it blended with the endless ice and snow, it uniquely displayed an unforgettable touch of spring.

He Qingyuan stood in place and did not give chase.

Gu Yanzhou felt depressed. It seemed his new face had also been remembered by He Qingyuan; he should probably go into hiding from now on.

He didn’t know how long they ran; he and this group of demonic beasts didn’t dare stop for a single moment.

Not until a small, dilapidated temple appeared before them did they decide to stop and rest.

In their panic, they had stumbled into a small town, and this ruined temple was built on the edge of the town.

The cold moon hung high, and early spring nights were still freezing. Gu Yanzhou huddled together with several demonic beasts to keep each other warm.

On the small path outside the temple, fallen leaves drifted. The withered leaves rubbed against the rough, sandy ground, producing a heart-gnawing “shasha” sound.

A wild wind suddenly rose, adding another layer of chaotic clattering to the sounds outside the door.

The cold wind blew open the heavy wooden doors of the small temple, sending the outdoor chill inside.

The stray hairs at Gu Yanzhou’s temples were blown up, and he broke into a cold shiver.

This cold wind seemed to contain a trace of “Yin” energy.

He stood up and said to the beasts beside him: “Let’s part ways here. You guys continue south toward the No-Man’s Land.”

He sensed something strange in the small town and wanted to send them away before going in to explore carefully.

The sound of the wind outside grew tighter, and amidst a chorus of wailing, a clear, ear-piercing scream seemed to emerge.

He snapped his head around, fixing his gaze on the temple doors that were clattering back and forth.

Holding his breath, he listened intently.

“AHHH!!!” An even more piercing and loud woman’s scream drifted over.

Gu Yanzhou’s heart pounded; he was truly startled.

The demonic beasts beside him crowded over, huddling behind him and whispering, “Is this place haunted?”

Just as the words left their mouths, the dilapidated temple door obligingly let out a “creak” like the roar of a ghost. Accompanied by gusts of Yin wind swaying it back and forth, the continuous sounds actually sounded like the raspy laughter of some unknown creature.

The demonic beasts behind Gu Yanzhou were scared out of their wits, huddling together in a bunch and squeezing behind him, refusing to move forward a single step.

Gu Yanzhou felt the bumping from behind and turned around, saying very helplessly: “Can you guys stop squeezing? Are you trying to squeeze me out?”

In truth, he was even more unsure and was feeling extremely nervous at this moment.

Moreover, he had so many ‘little demons’ behind him; if a fight really broke out later and he couldn’t win, wouldn’t that be quite embarrassing?

He turned around and grabbed the shoulder of one of the demonic beasts at random, lifting it up and saying earnestly: “You are demonic beasts! What are you afraid of?”

The black-furred gorilla he pulled up covered its face with its hand, refusing to speak for a long time, actually showing a very shy expression.

This black-furred gorilla was clearly massive in size, with a sturdy build and several huge muscle blocks hanging from its belly. No matter how you looked at it, it should be a full-blooded young lad, yet it acted like a bashful little girl.

“Sigh…” Gu Yanzhou raised his hand and tossed it aside, patting his hands helplessly.

He immediately pulled another demonic beast from the back and patted its shoulder, his tone stirring as he tried to ignite the fighting spirit in its heart: “Believe in yourself! Believe you can do it! The arduous task of leading them out of this town is entrusted to you!”

He spread his arms, encompassing all the demonic beasts within them.

The Golden-Feathered Snake Eagle folded its wings, saying with a bit of difficulty: “Master, I don’t know how to fly…”

Gu Yanzhou’s chin dropped slightly, and then he turned his gaze to the demonic beasts further back.

Seeing them all lower their heads to avoid him, he finally understood why this group of demonic beasts had appeared inexplicably in the beast-fighting arena.

Low spiritual power, cowardly as mice, and full of weaknesses…

“Fine!” Gu Yanzhou clenched his fist. “Then you guys stay here properly. Absolutely do not go out and scare anyone.”

He lightly tapped his right thumb, and the Witch-Moon Butterfly, glowing with dust-light, appeared out of thin air upon it.

He wanted to let Witch-Moon scout the way for him first.

He approached the temple door, and after releasing the Witch-Moon Butterfly, he closed his eyes and focused his mind to feel the information she sent back.

But not long after, he opened his eyes in alarm, staring in disbelief at the eerie small path outside the temple and murmuring to himself: “How is it possible?”

After a moment of surprise, he refused to give up and closed his eyes again to forcibly sense the position of the Witch-Moon Butterfly.

For a long time, he could not find her.

Gu Yanzhou’s lips trembled slightly; this was the first time he felt a sense of crisis and terror.

The Witch-Moon Butterfly was an evil spirit he had refined himself, long ago integrated into his sea of consciousness—they were one to begin with.

As long as his soul did not dissipate, the Witch-Moon Butterfly would always exist and could manifest her spiritual form at any time for him to command.

Therefore, when Gu Yanzhou could not sense where the Witch-Moon Butterfly was, he felt this uncontrollable sense of crisis for the first time.

Even in his previous life, when he was being crusaded against by the various immortal sects, he had never felt such heart palpitations.

He lifted his foot to step out of the temple to search, but suddenly felt something behind him pulling at his clothes, preventing him from going forward.

He turned to see the group of little demons with faces full of worry, and a single look scared them all back.

The little demons scurried behind the stone statues, hiding behind the divine statues worshipped by ordinary commoners, cautiously peeking out several heads.

Gu Yanzhou shook his head helplessly upon seeing this, and then he set out.

He followed the powder left by the Witch-Moon Butterfly. After taking several turns and passing through several black, narrow alleys, he finally reached the main street.

But at this time, the powder on the ground was already so sparse that he could no longer use the moonlight to track it.

He raised his head to look around; weeds grew thick on the empty street, their shadows swaying in the cool breeze as if countless ghost-shadows were hiding in the dark.

He looked up again at several houses nearby; broken tiles, incomplete window lattices, and the front doors of several households had already fallen after the wind and rain, revealing the pitch-black scenes inside.

Even the moonlight seemed to be avoiding this deathly silence, not letting a single ray of soft light penetrate these pitch-black houses.

Gu Yanzhou retracted his gaze, shrinking his neck to shake off the cold shivers.

He didn’t like this lifeless feeling either, as if all the life in the entire town had vanished.

A strange noise came from the distance, and he hurriedly ran over to check.

But before he had run far, he smelled a thick scent of blood, accompanied by a strong sense of loathing and nausea.

The tip of his nose wouldn’t stop twitching, so he had to use his fingers to block the incoming stench of blood.

He was all too familiar with this feeling—fresh blood and demonic energy mixed together. Like a demonic cave in hell, it was filthy and disgusting, and it desperately wanted to occupy his clean body.

The demonic energy inside his body that hadn’t been completely suppressed was now stirring restlessly, making him even more certain of what lay ahead.

Gu Yanzhou gradually slowed his pace, cautiously approaching the yard with the tightly closed doors before him.

He slowly pushed open the door and saw everything clearly.

Countless severed limbs and broken arms covered the yard, and several black crows rested on the decaying flesh to feed.

What was even more fatal was that there was a mass of black energy circling incessantly above the courtyard—it was exactly that demonic energy that made him nauseated.

Gu Yanzhou knew that thing was looking for a new host, so he took two steps back.