My Nemesis Won’t Let Go After I Broke His Heart - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He Qingyuan looked at all of this with a furrowed brow, but he still chose to bury the memories that belonged solely to him deep within his heart.

He walked forward slowly, took Gu Yanzhou’s hand, and pulled gently, saying in a soft voice: “Wake up…”

His voice lingered and slowly dissipated, and the entire illusory dreamscape shattered in an instant.

Gu Yanzhou slowly opened his eyes, staring at He Qingyuan, who was pressed close in front of him, with some shock. He could clearly feel the other’s warm breath, and his heart began to beat rapidly.

After a moment of hesitation, he reached out and pushed He Qingyuan off him. Clearing his throat and tilting his head to avoid the other’s gaze, he feigned a loud voice to bolster his courage: “You, you’re not regretting it, are you! I have no money, only a life to give!”

He deliberately changed the subject, feeling extremely guilty.

He Qingyuan straightened up slowly without speaking.

He reached out his hand, wanting to pull up Gu Yanzhou, who was still lying on the stone platform. The corners of his mouth seemed to move but didn’t, looking like a smile yet being extremely unnatural, causing the person before him to pull back his hand.

“Master… help…” A feeble cry for help drifted over, and Gu Yanzhou sat up abruptly, taking in the scene within the temple.

Several little demons were coughing up blood and sprawling on the ground, while a few stronger demonic beasts were still struggling to hold on.

Standing before them was a person shrouded in black energy, with disheveled hair and a face covered in blood. Judging by his frame, he appeared to be a man.

The man’s eyes were turbid as he slowly raised his arms. The demonic energy gathering in his palms grew more and more intense; it looked as if he intended to eliminate the few demonic beasts blocking his way.

Gu Yanzhou’s heart tightened. He jumped off the stone platform wanting to save them, but accidentally tripped.

Just as he saw that his face was about to be scraped raw by the sand and stones on the ground, he felt a sudden resistance at his waist.

He turned his head to look and saw He Qingyuan’s worried expression.

Goosebumps instantly broke out across his body. In a panic, he pushed He Qingyuan away and then ran out.

The blue-glowing barrier before him turned into dust and smoke, and immediately after, he saw a green figure rush past him.

He Qingyuan summoned the Green-Feather Sword in mid-air, the icy-cold green blade accentuating the cold, isolated aura about him.

He was like a daylight meteor, beautiful yet untouchable.

But as he closed in, his powerful strength radiated a white light that seemed ready to destroy heaven and earth.

He struck decisively, his first sword stroke parrying away the incoming mass of black demonic energy.

Then he landed, pressing his sword into a starting stance and attacking toward the man’s lower right side.

This forced the man to roll away in evasion, subsequently preventing him from gathering a large amount of demonic energy again.

Pursuing his advantage, He Qingyuan used one sword stroke to slice away the matted bangs mixed with soil that hung before the man’s eyes, revealing his true face.

The man’s cheeks were scarred from fire, and his two eye sockets were severely deformed. The ulcerated flesh seemed to have twisted anew upon his face, pulling up the ears that should have been on either side and pinning them below his cheeks, where they hung precariously.

The man screamed in terror, letting out a muffled, wailing sound; his lips had also been melted away by the great fire.

Gu Yanzhou recognized this person almost instantly. He ran forward quickly, shouting in a hurry: “Stop!”

He Qingyuan clearly did not want to continue attacking this person who had already lost his mind, so he followed Gu Yanzhou’s words and withdrew his sword.

He slowly stepped aside, leaving a space for Gu Yanzhou.

Gu Yanzhou ran to their side in three steps made of two. He frowned and took a deep breath, and almost instantly pushed the defenseless He Qingyuan away.

He then threw himself onto the blood-stained man, falling to the ground with him.

The direct physical contact caused the demonic energy within the man to become increasingly restless and uneasy.

They bored out from the man’s seven orifices, quickly locked onto Gu Yanzhou, and entered his body through the center of his brow.

Gu Yanzhou’s lips turned deathly pale, and his entire body couldn’t stop shivering with cold.

Unlike the previous burning sensation, what he felt this time was endless despair.

A freezing sensation filled his entire body; Gu Yanzhou knew that this body of his could not hold out much longer.

He Qingyuan practically crawled over from the ground. His hands trembled as he lifted Gu Yanzhou’s head; he reached out wanting to touch him, but his hand hovered in the air, shaking uncontrollably.

The expression on his face finally underwent a major change; the depths of his calm eyes could no longer hide the turbulence in his heart.

He did not hesitate, lowering his head to suck a portion of the demonic energy out from Gu Yanzhou’s mouth.

Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he threw out the magic treasure, the ‘Floating Jade Konghou’, which began to play ripples of pure sound out of thin air.

Finding the right opportunity, he spat out the demonic energy wrapped in spiritual power. As the ‘Heart-Clearing’ sound waves of the Floating Jade Konghou stretched longer and longer, the mass of black energy was forced out of the small temple.

He Qingyuan leaned down again, wanting to suck the other portion of demonic energy from Gu Yanzhou’s mouth.

But before he could open his mouth, he was blocked by a palm from the person beneath him.

Gu Yanzhou moved his other hand below his nose, his palm slightly closed, as he stared in disbelief with wide eyes at He Qingyuan, whose face was blocked above him.

Sensing He Qingyuan’s gaze, he hurriedly turned his head to avoid it, whispering: “Th—thank you, but, there’s no need.”

He wanted to escape from He Qingyuan’s warm embrace, pressing one side of his body downward and supporting himself with one hand on the ground to flee from this heart-fluttering place.

He truly couldn’t believe it—how could this He Qingyuan have suddenly changed his temperament and actually… k—kissed him.

There were many ways for the Qingning Sect to gather demonic energy; he just had to choose the one that required mouth-to-mouth…

His thoughts were in chaos, and he struggled to get up, but he was pulled back by He Qingyuan.

He Qingyuan gripped his wrist tightly, insisting on supporting him.

Gu Yanzhou had no choice but to let him be.

Leaning on He Qingyuan’s support, he approached the blood-stained man and asked tentatively: “They… why did they burn you to death?”

The man’s powerless body began to tremble rapidly. His eyes were hollow, staring straight at the dilapidated, leaky roof of the small temple as he lay on the ground, not saying a word.

The flesh at the corners of his eyes had wrinkled into an ugly scar. By the moonlight, one could faintly see glistening teardrops crawling over it.

He couldn’t make a sound, only let out muffled, anxious hums, unable to stop himself from using his two palms to claw at his own throat.

The “wuwu” sounds grew more frequent, and the movements of his hands quickened.

His fingers had fused together, marked with scars from the fire. Coupled with the red scratch marks already prominent on his neck, everything appeared terrifying.

Gu Yanzhou looked up at He Qingyuan beside him. He pursed his lips and, after a moment of hesitation, finally spoke: “Help him… I beg you…”

He Qingyuan was stunned and immediately lowered his head to seek Gu Yanzhou’s gaze.

Seeing that Gu Yanzhou was intentionally avoiding eye contact with him, the joy that had slightly rippled in his eyes gradually faded.

Lowering his head, he flicked his fingers into a sword-gesture and made a few motions in the air.

After finishing the task perfunctorily, he secretly cast his gaze back onto Gu Yanzhou.

The man suddenly discovered he could make a sound; the voice seemed to emerge directly from his throat, clear and resonant.

He hurriedly cried out: “Thank you, hero, for saving my life!”

He knelt on the ground, kowtowing incessantly to Gu Yanzhou.

Gu Yanzhou bent down to help him up. Seeing the man’s face covered in dust, he felt a bit self-reproachful: “Don’t thank me. Actually, this demonic energy, I…”

He stopped speaking, looking at the person before him with extreme guilt. The corners of his mouth twitched continuously, but he couldn’t say a single word of what was meant to follow.

The man gripped Gu Yanzhou’s hand tightly, not noticing anything strange about the other.

It wasn’t until he sensed a strong, extremely uncomfortable gaze from He Qingyuan that he sheepishly withdrew his extended hand.

He shrank his head back and began to recount in detail: “I was originally a fish spirit of this Jinshui Town, living year-round in the ancient well south of the town. Because the well water was sweet and never ran dry, villagers spontaneously began to offer sacrifices and worship at the side of this ancient well. They offered melons and fruits, burned incense and bowed; the merit accumulated was all swallowed into my belly as a fish spirit.”

“As time went by, I actually became the guardian deity of this ancient well. But one day, black things suddenly floated upon the well water. What was even more terrifying was that the villagers seemed unable to see this foul energy. Anxious, I took advantage of the night to jump out of the well. I transformed into a small beggar, pretending to have nowhere to go as I stepped into Jinshui Town. At first, the people in the village were very warm; they gave me their surplus food and even found me a set of clean clothes.”

“Until I began to tell them there was something wrong with the well water—their attitudes completely changed. They thought I was bad luck and actually picked up brooms to drive me out. Time after time… I refused to give up time after time, and they beat me away time after time. Until that day, I was truly too hungry, and I was too thirsty. To maintain my human form, I had no choice. After seeing the local chickens raised by the farming households on the edge of town, I came up with a crooked idea. Because I still needed to use this body to continue persuading the villagers of Jinshui Town.”

“So, I bit through a chicken’s neck, greedily sucking its warm blood under the moonlight. But all of this was seen by Young Master Zhang, who had come out for a secret tryst. Young Master Zhang feared in his heart that I would expose him, so he actually spread rumors in the town saying I was a bloodthirsty monster. He knew I had been persuading everyone that there was something wrong with the well water, so he secretly put poison in the water, causing several villagers in town to suffer painfully from sores on their feet.”

“He then informed everyone that I was the monster who had put poison in the water, framing me for being a thief crying ‘thief,’ saying I only wanted to gain everyone’s trust so I could slowly suck out everyone’s essence and eventually cultivate into a demon immortal. I tried my best to explain, but I couldn’t stand against the fact that they had already been deceived. They were numerous and powerful; they tied me up and burned me to ashes, then scattered the fragments of my physical body into the well water, begging for the forgiveness of the Well Deity. Hoping the Well Deity would cure the sick villagers.”

“But they didn’t know that the true guardian deity of the ancient well was already dead. The well water began to taste bitter and astringent. Eventually, it actually became a dry well. Just like that, I lay at the bottom of the dry well, struggling to reconstruct my shattered physical body. Day after day, year after year, until I climbed out of the well once more. The formerly bustling streets were overgrown with weeds, the people of the town had vanished, and the entire Jinshui Town was deathly silent without a trace of life.”