My Nemesis Won’t Let Go After I Broke His Heart - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Suddenly hitting something behind him, Gu Yanzhou was pushed forcefully into the small courtyard before he could react.

After steadying himself, he hurriedly turned to check, only to have his vision blocked by a sudden attack of black crows.

The scarlet-eyed black crows were heading straight for his eyeballs. In a panic, he tilted his head to dodge, reaching out his hand to try and seize the black things.

Deep bloody gashes were clawed into his wrists and the area of his neck just below his earlobes. He clutched his neck and fell to the ground, tumbling into a pile of bloody filth; his hands and feet slipped as they were stained by the stinking, bloody water.

His body was already overtaxed to the extreme, and this unexpected backward fall directly knocked him silly.

Although he wanted to stand up immediately, he could not command this body with any crispness or agility.

The demonic energy above Gu Yanzhou’s head caught the scent of a living thing and took this opportunity to drill into his body, leaving a mass of wriggling black smoke upon the center of his brow.

The burning sensation in his chest grew more intense, reaching a point that this body of his could no longer endure.

Lying on the ground, he struggled to raise his arm, striking his left chest again and again.

At this very moment, he only wanted to gouge out that heart that was still burning hot.

“Mm…” The flesh on his chest was sliced open, and Gu Yanzhou was rendered speechless by the pain.

He looked down at his left chest, which was suffering from a tear-like, unbearable pain, and discovered that a green-bladed precious sword was currently thrust into it.

He recognized this Green-Feather Sword and raised his eyes to find the sword’s owner.

As expected, He Qingyuan was standing not far ahead, looking at him with a gaze full of disdain.

Perched on He Qingyuan’s shoulder was the black crow that had scratched him; it let out a raspy “zha-zha” sound, mocking him triumphantly.

Gu Yanzhou lost all strength in his body and fell back, his head drooping helplessly to one side.

But soon, a new sensation came over his body.

He felt as if he were standing amidst raging flames. He could even hear the sound of flesh exploding on his body and the sizzle of burning.

This was a type of indescribable despair, as if ten thousand wild beasts were devouring his body, the venom in their teeth turning into red-hot chili water, pouring into every part of his body through the broken skin and flesh.

He was powerless to struggle, and there was no way to find a quick release.

He could clearly feel the skin and flesh on his face peeling off. The flames leaped into his blood, heating the liquid that should have been calm until it reached a boil.

The long torture did not quickly strip away his conscious mind; he felt as if he could see himself slowly melting.

At some point, his ears began to grow noisy; he could clearly hear voices of blame, complaint, excitement, and hatred.

“To think I actually felt you were pitiful; I was truly blind!”

“Was I not right? He is a bloodthirsty monster. Look at how long he’s been burning, yet he hasn’t been charred yet.”

“Telling us all day that there was something wrong with the well water—we took it as a joke, but never expected someone to actually lose their life from drinking it. A thief crying ‘thief,’ he deserves to die!”

Gu Yanzhou finally forced his eyes open, seeing the layers of fire circles surrounding him. Outside the flames were the villagers who were pointing and whispering at him.

The place where he stood was like an execution platform; he was bound tightly to the stone stake behind him by iron chains, unable to move an inch.

The broken tiles at his feet sizzled, and the emerging flames were a vivid yellow.

The fire-oil within soaked the dry timber, making this conflagration even more uncontrollable.

The thick black smoke stripped away his consciousness. He smiled and closed his eyes, grateful to escape from this purgatory.

A sudden sense of jolting made him a bit confused; he felt himself moving rapidly.

A cool breeze brushed past his ears, accidentally awakening the terrible memories he had just experienced.

He took a sharp breath. In a daze, he could still feel the heat of burning. The extreme discomfort made him snap his eyes open.

“Master, you’re awake…” The black-furred gorilla held him in its embrace, looking down to ask tenderly.

“What happened,” he couldn’t help but cough, still trapped in the thick black smoke born of the fire, “what happened?”

The Golden-Feathered Snake Eagle followed along, its two sharp claws running awkwardly on the ground. It explained: “The things here are very formidable. We were worried about Master, so we followed. Just now we saw Master lying among the meat-scraps screaming in pain, so we rushed forward and carried you out.”

Gu Yanzhou continued to ask: “Just now, did you engage with him?”

The person he spoke of was exactly He Qingyuan.

“Person? There was no person,” the white tiger followed behind and said, “Just a few stinking birds, but I clawed them all to death.”

He didn’t speak again but instead raised his hand to cautiously feel his left chest.

The clothes were intact and not torn; there were no scars at all.

He tentatively felt his neck again. A smooth liquid flowed along his fingers into his palm, faintly burning hot.

He suddenly understood something. After seeing the scratch marks on his wrist, he was completely certain.

So, everything after that was an illusion…

Gu Yanzhou couldn’t figure out what kind of thing had used what method to trap him.

“Gah—gah—” Above the path in the woods, many black crows suddenly gathered.

They kept a certain distance from Gu Yanzhou and the others, sometimes chasing, sometimes resting on tree branches to observe the movements of the people below.

“Quick, into the small temple!” Gu Yanzhou finally understood how this illusion was deployed—the black crows overhead were the key!

They were “Gu-spirits” scattered by the caster. As long as the skin was injured by a Gu-spirit, one would become a thing controlled by the caster, naturally falling deep into the illusion woven by the caster.

Inside the ruined temple, the little demons staying there crowded around, one after another asking about Gu Yanzhou’s situation.

Several of them were already tearful, crying and shouting for Gu Yanzhou not to abandon them, wanting Gu Yanzhou to take them back to the No-Man’s Land.

Gu Yanzhou was exhausted. Although he felt it was quite unlucky, it wasn’t easy to lash out. He could only endure again and again, until finally he could endure no longer and said: “I’m too tired. Don’t be noisy for now; let me sleep for a while.”

He moved away from the crowd of little demons at the door and walked straight into the inner part of the temple. He found a clean stone platform and lay down on it.

The little demons squeezed at the door, signaling each other to be quiet; they absolutely must not disturb the Master.

Right now, the most important thing was—quiet!

Extremely quiet!

Absolutely quiet!

“Bang—”

The temple door was kicked down from the outside, the two wooden planks falling into the temple one after the other.

He Qingyuan had found his way here alone.

“Ah!” A little demon saw this cultivator with extremely high-level cultivation and couldn’t control itself, shouting loudly: “Help! Demon-slaying!”

“Shh… Quiet!” The other little demons hurriedly signaled for silence.

He Qingyuan’s expression was extremely unsightly. The first thing he actually saw was Gu Yanzhou lying motionless on the stone platform at the back of the temple. Only then was his gaze drawn by the ear-piercing scream in front of him.

He raised his hand and seized the little demon that had just been screaming by the throat.

“What did you do?” Although there wasn’t much of an expression on He Qingyuan’s face, one could simply feel the worry in his heart.

Though his tone was flat, it possessed a powerful intimidating force.

Seeing this, the other little demons also rushed forward. They only felt this person came with ill intent and they had to risk their lives to protect the Master behind them!

The most important point was, this person was really noisy!

He Qingyuan did not want to waste time on these demonic beasts. After knocking away the giant beasts blocking his path, he appeared beside Gu Yanzhou in a phantom-like motion.

He picked Gu Yanzhou up; the soft, powerless touch made his heart tighten.

He hurriedly set Gu Yanzhou down again. After dropping a simple protective barrier, he began to channel spiritual power into the person lying on the stone platform.

He Qingyuan first helped him stabilize his mind, then helped him suppress the restless demonic energy within his body.

He leaned down, using the center of his brow to gently touch Gu Yanzhou’s.

He wanted to share consciousness with Gu Yanzhou and subsequently wake him from his unconscious state.

He entered Gu Yanzhou’s dreamscape and found him squatting by the edge of a lotus pond.

“You’re here,” Gu Yanzhou slowly stood up, opening his arms toward He Qingyuan and saying: “I missed you so much.”

He Qingyuan was stunned as he saw that familiar face.

He took a step forward, rushed up, and swept Gu Yanzhou into his arms, burying his head deep in the crook of his neck, greedily inhaling the fragrance of his body.

He gently rubbed his sideburns against Gu Yanzhou’s earlobe, saying with a hint of grievance: “Where did you go? I’m sorry… I… wasn’t…”

As he spoke, he actually shed tears, and then his lips trembled, no longer able to express the feelings of longing buried in his heart for many years.

Gu Yanzhou laughed gently, cupping this tear-streaked little flower-face before him with both hands. “Little Yuan, you’ve grown so big; you’re actually even taller than me now. I heard you are now the Immortal Lord Fu Yun of the Qingning Sect; you’ve really made me proud. It wasn’t in vain that I rescued you from that pack of vermin back then.”

He patted He Qingyuan’s shoulder with relief and said in a low voice: “Hurry and put me down.”

He Qingyuan lifted his sleeve to messily wipe his face. Staring at the red-lipped and white-toothed Gu Yanzhou before him, he fell into a daze. His lips trembled, and he pulled the person before him into his embrace, cupping his head with one hand as he moved his lips toward him.

He wished he could channel all the spiritual power in his body into the person before him. The feeling of finding something lost like a precious treasure was difficult to put into words; he could only wrap the other in his warm breath to tell of the love in his heart.

Gu Yanzhou pushed him away, turning his head to cover the flush rising on his face with one hand. His rapid breathing had already exposed him; he could only bend over clutching his heaving chest, letting his rapidly beating heart slowly calm down.

He took deep breaths. In the peach-pink corners of his eyes, a smile suddenly bloomed. Straightening his back, he looked at He Qingyuan and said: “What has come over you?”

He Qingyuan did not dare to tell him. He stared fixedly at the person before him and asked: “After you wake up, you will forget all of this, won’t you?”

“Forget?” Gu Yanzhou asked, tilting his head.

The illusory dreamscape suddenly underwent a change. The lotus pond vanished, replaced instead by a massive Witch-Moon Butterfly.

It flapped its two wings and hung behind Gu Yanzhou; from a distance, it looked as if he had grown butterfly wings.

Purple-red powder filled the entire illusory space. These particles were devouring the lust the two had just left behind. As the lust was devoured completely, the wings behind Gu Yanzhou slowly extended a bit further.

It seemed they had grown larger again.