The Demon Lord is a Heartbreaker - Chapter 4

Hiss.

A collective gasp swept through the gathered cultivators.

Almost everyone in the cultivation world knew the story of Immortal Xuan Guang and that demon from their youth. It was common knowledge that she had been betrayed and forsaken by a demon; consequently, she loathed demons and heartless betrayers more than anything else in existence.

This was her “Reverse Scale,” the one spot no one dared to touch.

In the past, there had been wicked cultivators who, driven to desperation while being hunted by her, had lashed out with words to sting her. They succeeded in stinging her, certainly—but in return, she made their lives a living hell, leaving them wishing for the mercy of death.

Those who knew of these incidents spoke of them only in hushed, terrified whispers. Eventually, it reached a point where even the most depraved villains wouldn’t dare mention that past, even if they were about to die by her hand. They knew the difference between a quick death and an eternal nightmare.

Yet here was Shen Li, not only speaking of it openly but using the word “utilize” to describe it.

She was practically begging for death.

Everyone expected Ye Guixue’s Xuanguang Sword to leave Shen Li riddled with holes. However, considering the previous ten exchanges had been somewhat balanced, defeating her wouldn’t be a simple task.

Wait.

Does this mean they might actually get to see Ye Guixue perform the legendary Heartless Sword?

Several sword cultivators stood up abruptly, their eyes gleaming. That was the Heartless Sword! It was said to be invincible and peerless a technique that could cleave through ten-thousand-year-old, profound iron with a single stroke.

But Ye Guixue did not use the Heartless Sword.

In fact, she didn’t strike at all.

She stood there, expressionless and as unmoving as a monolith, but her face uncontrollably drained of all color, turning a ghostly white.

The onlookers were baffled. This wasn’t the reaction they expected from Ye Guixue. She should have pierced the speaker’s heart, perhaps intentionally missing by an inch just to let them hear the sound of their own lifeblood hitting the floor before telling them that the nightmare had only just begun.

Shen Li was also slightly taken aback. Being the closest, she could see Ye Guixue’s face clearly: it wasn’t just pale; it was utterly bloodless.

Shen Li felt a faint, phantom ache in her own chest.

Why? The Xuanguang Sword wasn’t pointed at her heart anymore, and the oppressive sword intent had dissipated when Ye Guixue retreated.

“Good. You are very good,” Ye Guixue said, looking at Shen Li. She suddenly let out a short, hollow laugh and stumbled.

Shen Li instinctively reached out to steady her.

Suddenly, the whistle of a blade cutting through the air erupted from behind. The sound of a saber being unsheathed rang out sharply.

“To dare speak such words in the Moon-Embracing Pavilion. it seems you’ve grown tired of living.”

A woman’s cold voice accompanied the strike. By the time Shen Li finished hearing the sentence, the blade was already at her throat. The sound was loud and imposing, but the speed and sheer threat were far inferior to Ye Guixue’s sword.

Shen Li gave a disdainful flick of her fan, easily parrying the blade. Seeing that the woman intended to continue her assault despite the failed strike, Shen Li turned her head with an impatient glare.

The moonlight, cool as water, illuminated her frigid features.

The attacker froze the moment she saw Shen Li’s face, looking as though she had been turned to stone. She stood paralyzed until her saber slipped from her grip and hit the floor with a loud clang.

Snapping out of her daze, she murmured a single name: “Shen Li!“

She, too, thought the resemblance was uncanny.

Ye Guixue’s pupils contracted, and her hand tightened unconsciously on the hilt of her sword.

Shen Li didn’t hear the murmur clearly and didn’t care to. She swept a gaze over the woman: she was dressed in luxurious silks with a jade pendant at her waist, the very picture of wealth and status.

So what?

“And who might you be?” Shen Li asked, her voice dripping with annoyance.

The woman didn’t answer, still staring at Shen Li’s face as if lost in a dream.

Instead, the response came in the form of footsteps. The hidden mechanisms around the room shifted, and Night-Luminescent Pearls were unveiled, bathing the entire pavilion in light as bright as day.

A group of cultivators in the pavilion’s steward uniforms hurried over, bowing respectfully to the woman. “Pavilion Master.”

Pavilion Master.

Shen Li connected the dots to the woman’s earlier words. The Moon-Embracing Pavilion was the property of the Shadow-Sky Pavilion. This woman must be its master, Shangguan Wu.

It seemed she was an acquaintance of Ye Guixue? No wonder she wasn’t worried about damaging the Gold-Silver Terrace.

Shen Li let out a dry chuckle.

“Master!” Lu Yaoshuang leaped up to Ye Guixue’s side, looking at her with deep concern.

Shen Changsheng, meanwhile, landed behind Shen Li, remaining silent.

Seeing Changsheng reminded Shen Li of why she had come to the pavilion in the first place: to persuade Ye Guixue. Now, she couldn’t win a fight, she hadn’t persuaded anyone, and the situation seemed to have gone from bad to worse.

She massaged her temples, feeling the onset of a headache. “The hour is late. Immortal, you should rest and compose yourself. We will discuss matters tomorrow.”

With that, she turned and walked away. She passed through the crowd of armed, grim-faced stewards with total indifference, casually ordering the servants to prepare two first-class guest rooms.

“Pavilion Master…” A steward carefully picked up the fallen saber and offered it back, seeking instructions. “Should we apprehend that person?”

To speak to the Pavilion Master’s friend in such a manner on their own turf, to disarm the Pavilion Master, and then to walk away so rudely, it was a massive insult. As for whether she was a “Demon Sovereign,” they didn’t care; this wasn’t the Demonic Palace.

Shangguan Wu didn’t answer immediately. It was a long time before she gripped her saber. “No need.”

She watched Shen Li’s retreating back until she vanished. Only then did she turn to Ye Guixue. Lu Yaoshuang suggested tentatively, “Master, perhaps we should just return to the sect.”

Ye Guixue shook her head, looking exhausted. “Let’s rest first. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Take the Immortal and Miss Lu to the guest rooms,” Shangguan Wu ordered her subordinates. Once everyone had left, she turned to the head steward. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

At Dawn

Shangguan Wu knocked on Ye Guixue’s door. “Guixue, are you”

Before she could finish, the door swung open. Shangguan Wu paused, then stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

The room was meticulously arranged, not a speck of dust in sight, and the bed remained perfectly made. It was normal—high-level cultivators didn’t strictly need sleep. Shangguan Wu glanced at the meditation cushion; it hadn’t been touched either.

She sighed softly. “I knew you wouldn’t rest all night.”

No sleep, no meditation. She had spent the entire night thinking about Shen Li.

“A sword through the heart… even the soul should have been torn apart by the sword intent. It is impossible for her to be alive,” Ye Guixue said, her voice hoarse.

Shangguan Wu’s hand, hidden in her sleeve, trembled. Even though it wasn’t the first time she’d heard this, the pain still bit deep.

Ye Guixue looked over, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile that wouldn’t quite form. “You still don’t believe it.”

She didn’t believe that person would betray her. She didn’t believe that person had actually tried to kill her.

Shangguan Wu didn’t answer, choosing to bypass the topic. “I watched the memory stone. Those strikes you aimed at her heart looked lethal, but you weren’t actually using your full strength.”

“You wanted to slash open her clothes to see if there was a mark on her chest, didn’t you?”

The memory stone showed that while Ye Guixue’s right hand held the sword, her left had been casting a barrier one that would have shielded the Gold-Silver Terrace from outside eyes.

“Yes,” Ye Guixue admitted. She still had some reason left; she knew Shen Li was a Demon Sovereign and she couldn’t push things to an absolute diplomatic disaster. “Unfortunately, I failed.”

Before the Xuanguang Sword could even touch Shen Li’s clothes, the fan had emerged from her brow. It hadn’t just knocked the sword away; it had wounded Ye Guixue almost as if it wanted her life.

That was Shen Li’s fan. Her natal spiritual weapon.

Five hundred years ago, she had used a blade to pierce her own heart. Five hundred years later, it had become a fan.

Ye Guixue couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

Shangguan Wu’s expression shifted. Had she never seen her laugh before? Ye Guixue wanted to ask, but Shangguan Wu hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the corner of Ye Guixue’s mouth.

Only then did she realize she was bleeding. The blood she had swallowed back on the Gold-Silver Terrace had finally seeped out. She couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“If she is Shen Li, what kind of mark would be on her chest?” Shangguan Wu asked.

Shen Li Perverse/Violent vs. Shen Li Parting/Departure.

Ye Guixue dipped her finger in the blood and slowly traced those two names onto the table, her eyes fixed on the latter.

“There would be the Xuanguang Sword Seal. A scar that can never be removed.”

The Xuanguang Sword Seal? The Xuanguang Sword was a high-grade spiritual weapon, a natal blade gifted to Ye Guixue by her elders. A Sword Seal was a mark left by such a blade; it allowed the owner to track the target and could even influence the target’s life force.

“If the Sword Seal were there, you would have sensed it on the terrace,” Shangguan Wu blurted out. There shouldn’t have been any need to tear her clothes to see it with her own eyes.

“I didn’t sense it,” Ye Guixue said, shaking her head.

“Then” That meant it wasn’t her.

“I don’t believe it.” Ye Guixue suppressed her resentment. “A sword through the heart leaves no chance of survival and yet, I cannot believe that she is a complete stranger.”

“If it really is her, and she is powerful enough to achieve resurrection, then masking a Sword Seal from being sensed would be easy for her.”

Shangguan Wu added, “If that’s the case, perhaps even the scar from being pierced could have been healed?”

“Impossible,” Ye Guixue denied instantly. She lifted the Xuanguang Sword, gently stroking the blade. She was its master; the razor-sharp edge would never harm her. “The sword is here, and I am here. The Seal must still exist.”

If Shen Li was that person, there had to be a mark on her heart. It was something that could never be repaired.

“But you failed on the terrace. It will be much harder to try again.”

“It won’t be hard,” Shangguan Wu said after a moment’s thought. “If you are certain about this, I will arrange it.”

Ye Guixue was slightly surprised, then nodded. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Shangguan Wu smiled. “We are friends.”

She saw that Ye Guixue had nothing left to say and stepped out. As the door closed, Ye Guixue looked up.

They were friends, true. But between her and that person. The latter had been Shangguan Wu’s friend first.

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