The Vicious Beauty Faked His Death Three Times [Transmigration] - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Rupture (Current Trust Value: 0)

The street, over ten miles long, was interconnected at every turn. Looking as far as the eye could see, one couldn’t even spot the end. The commoners here all bore smiles on their faces as they walked past the vendors’ stalls.

“You demoness! Yesterday my wife bought a sachet from you, and after wearing it for only half a day, she fell unconscious and is still bedridden. How dare you continue to sell these harmful objects here!”

A man with a face full of fury stood before the sachet stall, shouting loudly. The stall owner was a woman; hearing this, she explained: “The sachets I sell only have a calming effect; they cannot cause someone to fall into a deep sleep.”

“What do you mean?! Do you think I have nothing better to do than to find trouble with a demon slave like you?”

The man grew even angrier upon hearing this. With a wave of his hand, he swept the sachets off the shelf and onto the ground.

Moli hurriedly bent down to pick up the sachets, arguing indignantly: “I am a flower demon with a transit pass, not a demon slave. Even if I were a demon slave, you absolutely cannot destroy my sachets at will.”

“Fine, you demoness. It seems if I don’t teach you a proper lesson today, you won’t know what kind of thing you are!”

As the words fell, the man pulled a pagoda-shaped dharma treasure from his sleeve and formed a hand seal. In a moment, the pagoda began to grow larger, hanging high above Moli’s head—in an instant, it could press her directly into the ground.

Moli hurriedly raised her hands to resist, but the token at her waist restricted the circulation of her demonic power; she could only exert fifty percent of her strength to resist. In an instant, her face turned deathly pale.

This commotion was not small, yet no one around intended to step in and stop it.

The demon race—nothing more than backstabbing traitors who turned on their masters. Why show them any pity?

A golden light flashed, and Moli was ultimately defeated, sent flying by the spiritual power of the dharma treasure.

Her mouth and nose were filled with the scent of blood. The powerful impact muddled her thoughts; she felt as if her internal organs had been displaced.

She thought she would crash heavily onto the ground as usual, but unexpectedly, an extremely small object braced against her back, forcefully halting the impact.

Moli knelt halfway on the ground, blood overflowing from the corner of her mouth, but she didn’t care at all, turning her head wanting to see who had saved her.

Upon seeing that the person was merely a youth of seventeen or eighteen, Moli was momentarily stunned.

“Seeking death!” the man roared.

This time, the dharma treasure lunged straight for the space behind Moli.

A cold snort rang out from behind Moli; the short sound inexplicably made her spine turn cold.

Cold light flashed, and a sharp wind swept past, instantly triggering a miserable shriek.

“I was wrong, I was wrong! Let me go, I just wanted to swindle some money, I didn’t want to do anything else. Besides, she’s just a demon—ah!” The man was pinned firmly to the wall by a long sword, weeping and wailing as he begged for mercy.

The long sword moved, and the man let out a scream before fainting. A foul, pungent odor spread from his body.

“Tsk.”

Moli was startled by the scene before her. It wasn’t until the guards arrived to take the troublemaker away that she regained her senses, standing up to look at the youth who had helped her.

“Thank you, Young Master, for your assistance!” Moli bowed deeply to him, then handed over a clean sachet. “I see that the Young Master has an extraordinary bearing. This lowly woman has no valuable items worthy of the Young Master, only this sachet to offer as a token of gratitude.”

“This sachet only contains a few of my petals and has only a calming effect. I have not infused any demonic power into it! Please accept it, Young Master!” Moli explained hurriedly. She remained bowed, looking as if she wouldn’t stand up if he didn’t accept it.

“No need. I didn’t intervene to help; you almost crashed into me.”

the cold voice fell, which instead made Moli breathe a sigh of relief: “Regardless, the Young Master helped me. I have encountered such things often since coming to the Immortal Realm and have grown accustomed to them. The Young Master is the first person to help me, and you carry the scent of our kind; I believe the Young Master is a good person.”

“The scent of our kind?” Ling Yanhe looked down at her.

Moli looked up at him in surprise, then frowned and scrutinized him, finally pointing to Ling Yanhe’s heart: “I can smell it; the demonic energy is emanating from there. We of the demon race are extremely sensitive to the scent of our kind; I definitely wouldn’t smell it wrong!”

The youth before her fell silent.

Moli thought to herself that this was bad; she hadn’t made him misunderstand that a demon was trying to harm him, had she?

Moli immediately explained: “That demonic energy is gentle and has no harmful intent. It should be some kind of protective charm placed on the Young Master. You don’t need to be afraid.”

Ling Yanhe frowned. He was unaware of this. He recalled the other’s fingertip resting on his heart.

Could it have been then?

“Are you demons always so casual?”

Moli’s eyes widened: “How could that be! This protective charm consumes an immense amount of demonic power. Unless it’s for someone they care about deeply, why would they go to the trouble of setting such a thing up?”

Care?

Ling Yanhe sneered: “Then it’s not that. That person wishes for nothing more than to kill me.”

“Impossible!” Moli countered immediately. “If he wanted to kill you, why didn’t he act directly when placing the spell on your heart? Furthermore, we of the demon race are born lacking one aperture compared to humans; hate is hate, and love is love. How could we go to such great lengths for someone we hate?”

“Then how do you explain his behavior?” Ling Yanhe looked up at her, a trace of scrutiny in his dark eyes.

Moli tilted her head in thought, then looked at the person before her, appearing somewhat hesitant.

“Speak plainly.”

“I’ll say it, but don’t be angry, Young Master.” Moli cleared her throat with some embarrassment. “I think it’s possible the Young Master did something to provoke him, which led to such angry words.”

A cold glare swept over, and Moli shivered, speaking in an even softer voice: “I’ll just ask the Young Master every time he said such things to you, had the Young Master done something he disliked?”

Seeing the youth frown, Moli sighed in her heart for her fellow demon, wanting to move past the subject: “Let’s not talk about that…”

“He indeed… did not look well.”

“Then that’s it!” Moli said hurriedly, ignoring Ling Yanhe’s strange tone, and continued to inquire, “Before those things happened, did he treat the Young Master more specially than anyone else?”

Ling Yanhe recalled Lin Qinghan’s eyes, full of provocation and playfulness.

“Perhaps.”

Moli clapped her hands, reaching a conclusion: “That’s it! That demon doesn’t hate the Young Master at all; rather, he loves the Young Master to death. But perhaps the other party is more reserved and not the type to speak their true feelings. And the Young Master doesn’t quite understand the thoughts of our kind, which led to this misunderstanding!”

Ling Yanhe turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow slightly: “Loves me to death?”

Moli nodded and leaned in closer, lowering her voice: “Then has he done that kind of thing with the Young Master?”

“What thing?”

Moli’s face reddened, her voice growing even lower: “It’s… the matter of dual cultivation.”

This is truly taking a demon’s life! But to repay the Young Master and help my fellow kind, I’ve actually said such a shameful thing in public!

A moment of silence filled the air.

“Half.”

“Huh?” Moli was stunned. She looked up and met the other’s sharp gaze, which instantly stopped her from asking further. Waves surged in her heart, but she suppressed them, trying to guide him in as flat a tone as possible: “Is that not love?”

Lin Qinghan loves him?

Ling Yanhe’s gaze flickered, and he avoided Moli’s sight.

Moli’s curiosity was also piqued, and she continued to ask: “Then does the Young Master love him?”

The cold wind blew past. Ling Yanhe lowered his eyes, his ink-dark gaze hidden by his lashes, revealing no emotion.

“He is but a sparrow I keep.”

If he’s just a sparrow, why ask so persistently about his sincerity?

Moli frowned. In the end, she didn’t voice her confusion but sighed softly: “Young Master, if you are like this, even a true spirit pet would run away.”

A sharp gaze suddenly fell upon her with a freezing pressure, making Moli shudder. But she didn’t feel afraid and continued: “I am a demon and don’t understand how you humans think. But in our eyes, someone as important as a friend or a lover must be treated with sincerity and respect.”

“I won’t hide it from the Young Master; I came to the Immortal Realm to find someone.” Moli lowered her head. “He is my husband. We lived in the Demon Realm and promised never to leave each other. But something happened in the Demon Realm and it was not peaceful, so he brought me to the Immortal Realm to hide. This hiding has lasted for over a year.”

“One day, I noticed he was returning later and later, and always with injuries. When I asked what he was doing, he wouldn’t tell me. I couldn’t bear to see my beloved like this and wanted to talk it out with him, but he was evasive and wouldn’t reveal a thing. That day was our first quarrel, and it was very fierce. But as usual, he was affectionate when he left the next day. I was still angry, so I pushed him away. He looked at me for a long time, then finally just lowered his head and pushed the door open to leave.”

Moli was silent for a moment: “I thought he would return late as usual, but I waited for a long time and he never came. Instead, I ran into cultivators searching the area. Fortunately, I was lucky; those cultivators were distracted by another hidden demon, and I took the chance to escape. When everything settled and I returned to our home, it was a wasteland, and a formation had been set up to exclude all demons.”

“Since then, I have guarded the edge of that wasteland, thinking that one day I would be able to wait for him. Time passed quickly; that wasteland became the current Tianle City. Perhaps he got lost and hasn’t found this place yet; I should wait for him here.”

Ling Yanhe frowned at her, his tone carrying disgust: “He betrayed you.”

Moli only shook her head gently: “No. He and I formed a contract in the Demon Realm to become partners for the rest of our lives. Our contracts in the Demon Realm are different from yours in the human realm; one life, one world, one couple. If one person has a change of heart, they will suffer a backlash and never be allowed to enter reincarnation. I have not felt the dissolution of the contract; he has not betrayed me.”

“But he left you.”

Moli looked up at the youth before her and laughed helplessly: “Yes, he left me, so I regret it deeply. I regret that I didn’t hold him back that day; I regret not responding to him at the time. Simultaneously, I wonder why he didn’t tell me everything? We had made the most solid oath in the world, yet we couldn’t even say those things out loud?”

“But later, I stopped thinking about those things. I only want to find him.” Moli looked at Ling Yanhe. “I’m not telling the Young Master this to complain; I just want to tell the Young Master—do not lose the person you care about because of a momentary fit of pique, as we two did.”

“He cannot leave,” Ling Yanhe said with a frown.

“There is more than one way to leave.” Moli looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky and said softly, “There is also a very resolute kind where you can never meet again.”

“If there truly is a misunderstanding, it is better to speak sincerely and open your heart.”

“If it truly reaches that point, it will be too late even for regret.”

The snow fell heavily, like torn cotton drifting and dancing in the air.

A thin layer of snow had already accumulated on the ground, making a light creaking sound underfoot, leaving a trail of footprints.

Suddenly, the footprints stopped.

Ling Yanhe looked up at the inn before him. Snowflakes fell before his eyes, obscuring his vision for a moment.

A short blade cut through the air, ruthlessly slicing through the falling snow. the resulting short burst of airflow stopped just behind Ling Yanhe’s back. The faint sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out. Hot blood dripped down, melting the thin snow on the ground.

A sword through the heart.

The long sword was withdrawn, the blood on it forming an arc as it was flicked onto the snow. A dull thud sounded behind him.

Ling Yanhe looked up at the dozen hidden guards who had suddenly appeared. Dark mist churned in his pitch-black eyes. He gripped his long sword, and in his left hand, he held only a jar of wine.

“He sent only you to stop me?”

The moment the short sneer fell, fine threads mixed with black mist rose from behind the youth. In the white snow, bursts of eerie ghostly wails appeared.

In a moment, the scent of blood filled the air, drifting with the wind. Only severed limbs remained in the bloody snow.

The youth stepped onto the bloody snow, his gait steady. The wine jar in his hand was not touched by a single drop of blood.

Current Countdown: 01:00:00

The inn was incredibly desolate, without a single figure in sight. Standing alone in the heavy snow, it felt quite lonely and bleak.

Ling Yanhe stood at the door. His cultivation at the late stage of Nascent Soul was enough for him to probe all movements inside, yet he could sense no presence.

A blatant trap, looking as if they knew he would surely step inside.

The door was pushed open. A sharp wind attacked. Ling Yanhe did not move, calmly passing the blade that almost pierced his eye, looking at the owner who held it.

“The Symbiotic Gu truly is very important to you.”

A light voice came. Lin Qinghan pressed the blade in his hand downward, finally resting it against Ling Yanhe’s heart. He took a step forward and looked up at the youth, wanting to see ugly, wretched emotions like anger or hatred on his face.

But there was nothing. Those dark eyes looked down at him, as calm as a sea without waves, looking as if he had long expected this.

“Tsk.” Lin Qinghan tossed the short blade away in dissatisfaction, taking two steps back to lean against a table. “Boring.”

“Are the people outside yours?” Ling Yanhe asked.

“Mm. But they weren’t before.” Lin Qinghan paused, then let fall a light sentence: “The group before were Concubine Xu’s.”

A cold wind suddenly broke through the paper window and rushed in, only to be blocked back by a powerful barrier in the next moment.

“Concubine Xu found you?” Ling Yanhe looked at him, his brow lowering, his tone becoming hurried.

Lin Qinghan shook his head, his lips curling into a smile as he looked at Ling Yanhe, saying word by word: “I was the one who proactively sought her out.”

Current Trust Value: 55

Hearing the system’s notification, Lin Qinghan felt a bit disappointed. He had thought this one sentence would be enough to drop it below 50.

“Why?”

Ling Yanhe’s brow furrowed tightly, his aura becoming a bit more solemn.

“There is no ‘why’.”

The casual voice fell. Ling Yanhe’s breathing hitched. He looked over and saw the malice and openness in Lin Qinghan’s eyes.

This was Lin Qinghan’s original personality; Ling Yanhe had finally seen his truest form—soul-capturing, mischievous, and peerlessly arrogant.

Yet he was not as pleased as he had imagined.

“I’ve said it; I hate you enough to want to kill you.” Lin Qinghan laughed softly. “Did you truly think I was joking with you?”

Ling Yanhe looked at him. The youth’s dark eyes were deep as ink, the emotions within them complex and difficult to understand.

Current Trust Value: 50

“That truly is making me angry.” Lin Qinghan’s voice turned cold. The outward emotions were completely withdrawn, leaving only calm.

The moment the long sword was unsheathed, it was pinned against the wall by the Black Bone Fan, left without any power to resist. Simultaneously, the Immortal Binding Rope appeared, binding Ling Yanhe’s hands in the blink of an eye and forcing him to kneel harshly on the floor.

The wine jar fell suddenly, and a piercing sound rang out as the ceramic shattered.

“I must thank you. If you had fought me just now, I might not have been able to suppress you so quickly.”

Lin Qinghan sneered, looking straight into Ling Yanhe’s eyes that looked like they wanted to devour someone. He lightly crooked his finger, and the formations in the room appeared one by one, lighting up the dim room. The largest formation formed beneath Ling Yanhe, instantly turning into an invisible cage to trap him firmly.

“Manipulating a dozen hidden guards at the Nascent Soul stage consumed more than I imagined. Fortunately, the Young Master spoke a lot of nonsense, giving me time to recover.”

The familiar address was slowly uttered from his mouth with a low tone, sounding affectionate. Yet the room suddenly grew cold, breaking this strange atmosphere and revealing the clash of blades within.

Lin Qinghan took two steps forward, pulled over a stool to sit before Ling Yanhe, and looked down at him.

Ling Yanhe knelt on the floor, his eyes fixed on Lin Qinghan. the mask of effortless composure was completely torn away, revealing the ruthlessness and gloom beneath.

He actually looked a bit like a youth now.

“Don’t look at me like that. Isn’t this what you’ve been doing to me all along?” Lin Qinghan leaned forward slightly, reaching out to tilt Ling Yanhe’s chin, only for the other to turn his head to dodge.

Lin Qinghan raised an eyebrow and laughed softly. He braced his body and pressed his foot heavily onto the other’s shoulder, his voice turning cold: “Bound together for all eternity, unable to enter reincarnation… Young Master, are you deeply in love with me? You won’t even let me go in death.”

“What if I am? That is the end for someone who is ungrateful and breaks faith.” Ling Yanhe sneered, half-squinting at Lin Qinghan, his voice drawn out like a long sword scraping.

Lin Qinghan just watched him with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the provocation and silently accepting the label of being ungrateful.

Ling Yanhe looked up, his eyes pure black with intense murderous intent. The nameless irritability in his heart forced him to speak words against his heart: “Furthermore, Lin Qinghan, why should I trust you? Based on the fact that you betrayed me once, or that you randomly changed your inner self?”

Looking at the unresolvable gloom in Ling Yanhe’s eyes, Lin Qinghan felt a bit surprised.

He had thought that someone as suspicious as Ling Yanhe wouldn’t trust anyone at all. But looking at the man’s anger showing on his face, he was suddenly uncertain.

But Lin Qinghan quickly dismissed the idea. Someone as strong-minded as Ling Yanhe likely just felt he had been toyed with; even an expected betrayal would trigger his hostility.

This man’s possessiveness was terrifying.

“Using such a good move on me truly is a waste of a precious item.”

Lin Qinghan shook his head. His gaze fell on the fine thread on his wrist; he casually pulled it off and threw it on the floor.

“One cage wasn’t enough; you had to place an informant to monitor me every moment.” Lin Qinghan lifted his eyelids to look at Ling Yanhe. “It certainly fits your character.”

Ling Yanhe looked down at the fine thread by his foot. Without the control of the spell, it was just an ordinary dead thread. Now discarded on the floor, soaked in wine and covered in dust, that filthy stain felt as if it were covering his own heart.

A sense of nameless suffocation surged up. Even Ling Yanhe himself couldn’t say where this feeling came from or why.

Current Trust Value: 40

Lin Qinghan raised an eyebrow at the Ling Yanhe before him, murmuring in some surprise: “So this is what you’re angry about…”

Hearing this, Ling Yanhe looked at the person before him with a grim gaze. the blood-red mark on his brow was faintly visible.

Heavenly Demon Bone Awakening Progress: 60%

Lin Qinghan didn’t hesitate to grab Ling Yanhe’s right hand. With a stroke of the blade, a similarly horrifying wound appeared upon it.

“Does it hurt?” Lin Qinghan laughed softly, his tone slow as if soothing him. “Even if it hurts, endure it. This is what you brought upon me.”

Lin Qinghan held the Black Bone Fan in a reverse grip and heartlessly drove the end of the fan into the open wound, instantly turning the cut that was deep enough to see bone into a mangled mess.

He looked down at Ling Yanhe, wanting to see a trace of pain on the other’s face.

But unfortunately, he only saw Ling Yanhe’s eyes full of murderous aura. Even as his face turned pale, the youth still looked at him fiercely like a cornered beast, as if he could pounce at any second and cleanly slit his throat.

Lin Qinghan laughed softly. the pressure of his hand intensified, and sticky blood inevitably stained his jade-like hand.

“Thanks to this scar of yours, every time I see it, I hate you more in my heart. It reminds me every moment of how much I dislike you.”

“If you like it, I can cut it again.” Ling Yanhe leaned in, staring at Lin Qinghan, saying word by word like a demon whispering.

Lin Qinghan averted his gaze to look at him. the two were very close, their breaths interweaving and tangling, an ambiguous scene. Yet their eyes held no hint of romance, only a tangle of hatred and rage, wishing they could personally take the other’s life.

“If you survive my hand.”

The formation activated. Ling Yanhe’s expression changed abruptly as man-devouring black mist spread from the golden runes.

Current Trust Value: 30 Heavenly Demon Bone Awakening Progress: 65%

“Clatter.”

The Black Bone Fan suddenly dropped to the floor. Lin Qinghan knit his brows slightly; the seal in his palm was burning, almost searing through his hand.

Someone had arrived outside, with a higher cultivation than his.

The Black Bone Fan returned to Lin Qinghan’s hand. He stood up and looked at Ling Yanhe with some reluctance: “I originally wanted to chat with you longer, but it seems there is truly no destiny between us.”

Perhaps because the other had to deal with the powerful illusion array, or perhaps because he loathed Lin Qinghan to the extreme, Ling Yanhe turned his head away and stopped looking at him after those words fell.

Just as Lin Qinghan took a step forward, a hoarse voice fell.

“Why did you place a protective charm on me?”

Lin Qinghan looked back and met Ling Yanhe’s bloodshot eyes. the other was bound hand and foot, yet still stared at him intently. the Heart Demon Mark was glaringly scarlet, along with the terrifying black mist rising up. the blood dripping from his wound had already formed a pool at his feet.

Even in this situation, the other was still obsessing over such a useless question.

“Because you can only die by my hand,” Lin Qinghan said calmly.

Current Trust Value: 35

“Madman.”

Lin Qinghan said with a smile. Then he turned around and didn’t look at Ling Yanhe again.

“Lin Qinghan, I did not permit you to leave.”

The vicious voice came, but after those words, his breathing suddenly became ragged.

“The Symbiotic Gu can no longer trap me, Ling Yanhe.”

Lin Qinghan watched the trace of confusion flash across that gloomy face, and a surge of pleasure rose in his heart.

Current Trust Value: 30… 25… 15… 0 Congratulations to the Host for completing the side mission. Current Countdown: 00:25:58 Heavenly Demon Bone Awakening Progress: 80%

The door closed. Lin Qinghan stood at the entrance, his face deathly pale. He reached out to brace himself against the railing of the corridor, his body swaying, and he suddenly lowered his head to spit out a mouthful of blood.

The stinging in his heart forced him almost to his knees. the blocking talisman Perfected Yunyin gave him could only last for one incense stick’s time; he had to finish this quickly.

Lin Qinghan raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and walked straight out of the inn.

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