Transmigrated as the Villain and Driven Crazy by the Vengeful Male Lead - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Breaking the Array — Didn’t you say you’d never untie Duan-you under any circumstances? …

The ground shuddered and cracked. Lyu Shurao was pushed low as someone pulled him into a corner for cover. Looking up, he saw Su Cheyue half-crouching to shield him, his jawline white and sharp, while above them, wooden beams and stone tiles rained down and shattered.

He actually—he really planned to destroy the Baoshan Sect Medical Hall?!

“Su—”

The splintered ground suddenly exploded with red light. Immediately following was the sharp, whistling shriek of countless projectiles. Dense swarms of unidentifiable hidden weapons shot out in all directions, and a mist so green it looked black instantly blockaded the entire hall!

Su Cheyue held him with one arm while the other continuously gathered and unleashed spiritual power. The projectiles and mist stood no chance of getting close; the moment they touched the spiritual energy radiating from Su Cheyue, they either disintegrated or scattered. In Lyu Shurao’s eyes, there was only a world of clear, deep blue—solid and transparent. It made him feel extraordinarily safe, yet made his heart throb wildly.

This was the energy and vitality released from Su Cheyue’s body, belonging to him alone. He—no, a single hand was enough to fight off an entire room of hidden weapons!

So cool! The post-recovery Su Cheyue is too strong, too cool! He’s hitting every one of my aesthetic heartstrings!!

Lyu Shurao was so excited he opened his mouth to praise him, but Su Cheyue slapped a hand over his mouth, pursing his lips and shaking his head.

The mist is poisonous. Don’t speak.

Lyu Shurao nodded in understanding. Su Cheyue’s palm was warm and smelled of green pears. Lyu Shurao truly couldn’t resist the urge to praise him, and since he couldn’t speak, he simply kept nuzzling Su Cheyue’s palm with his chin.

You’re so strong! You look so good!!

Su Cheyue looked down at him, his lips pressed together expressionlessly. For some reason, his brow was slightly furrowed, but his eyes betrayed a leaked trace of a smile.

Lyu Shurao was a bit dazed watching him.

Before long, the protective mechanisms of the Array Eye were completely crushed by Su Cheyue. Spikes clattered to the floor. As the last wisp of mist dissipated, Su Cheyue released his hand and leaned down to peck the corner of Lyu Shurao’s mouth.

“It’s done.”

Lyu Shurao froze for a few seconds. The torrent of praise he’d wanted to unleash earlier suddenly felt too embarrassing to say. “Ah… actually, you didn’t have to…”

“What you said was true.” Su Cheyue stared at the Array Eye, which was still flashing red. “There really is a spatial array here.”

“Ah, yes, exactly…”

“Once we find the Array Eye, we can break the array.” Su Cheyue raised his hand to recite the incantation. Lyu Shurao watched from the side, hesitating. “How about… untying Duan-you first? So it doesn’t affect your performance…”

Su Cheyue had become powerful; he was gratified and ecstatic for him. Su Cheyue no longer needed his protection and care like before. At first, Lyu Shurao felt a bit of loss, but after seeing Su Cheyue wield his spiritual power, that tiny bit of melancholy felt like a microscopic star in a vast galaxy—utterly insignificant.

Su Cheyue was born to shine brilliantly. Even if he had been briefly covered in dust, from now on, he would remain a person at the peak of heaven, able to cross mountains and seas, equal to the sun and moon, slaying demons and protecting all living beings. He could do whatever he wanted without any further hindrance.

Lyu Shurao only needed to let go, watch him from behind, catch a few distant glimpses, and then leave—return to his original world and continue being his solitary self. Not making enemies, but not forming deep bonds with anyone either.

Su Cheyue, however, said: “I won’t untie it.”

He wouldn’t untie it no matter what. No matter how much Lyu Shurao coaxed or tricked him, he wouldn’t.

“…”

As his voice fell, the Array Eye opened, and that long flight of stairs appeared before them once again.

“That’s it!” Lyu Shurao said. “Could there still be people down there? We have to go look.”

Su Cheyue said: “Alright.”

They flew down, Su Cheyue following behind Lyu Shurao, igniting a True Fire spell.

The underground was instantly illuminated, leaving nothing hidden.

At first, there were only empty stone walls on both sides of the tunnel, marked with many black stains that looked like ancient, accumulated moss. As they walked further, various items began to appear on the walls.

Iron bars, ropes, chains, knives, swords, long nails, braziers, and iron pillars as thick as two men’s embrace…

The instruments of torture were chilling, but more heart-stopping was the fact that all of them bore marks of use.

“Su Cheyue…” Lyu Shurao looked around, his voice dropping. “Did you know about this place?”

Could it be a place the Baoshan Sect used to punish disciples?

“I wasn’t aware.” Su Cheyue’s expression grew cold. “These things don’t seem intended for cultivators. The traces of spiritual energy on them are very shallow.”

If not for cultivators, then for whom?

“The person I rescued here last time definitely had no spiritual energy; he was a mortal…” Lyu Shurao’s heart sank.

But why was there no one here now?

“Let’s go further.”

They walked deep along the walls until they reached a circular open area. From this center, several paths branched out, each looking much like the one they had come from.

In the center stood a giant furnace, reflecting a cold, quenched light under the fire. The furnace was as tall as a man, with a fierce fire burning beneath it that seemed never to cease.

“What is this…”

“It’s for alchemy.” Su Cheyue’s face darkened more and more. “How could the Baoshan Sect have such a massive and sinister alchemy furnace…”

Their attention was entirely captured by the cauldron; they failed to notice shadows flickering and moving in the dark tunnel behind them.

The next second, someone grabbed Su Cheyue’s neck from behind while a sharp knife plunged accurately and ruthlessly into his right back shoulder!

Lyu Shurao turned, his pupils shrinking: “Su—”

Su Cheyue’s brow immediately furrowed. The shadow behind him gripped him tightly and dragged him toward the dark tunnel, blood flowing steadily from his shoulder, staining the path.

His first reaction was to untie the Duan-you whip and extinguish the True Fire spell in his palm.

The purple whip suddenly snapped back into Lyu Shurao’s wrist. It was even infused with Su Cheyue’s spiritual power, forcing Lyu Shurao back a significant distance in an instant.

Thump!

When Lyu Shurao looked up again, a stone wall had slammed down, kicking up clouds of dust and sealing off the dark tunnel!

“Cheyue!”

Lyu Shurao rushed to the heavy stone wall, pressing his fist against it. His knuckles were trembling, and his heart was racing!

Why! Why! Why didn’t you resist! Why did you untie Duan-you!

“Su Cheyue! Answer me!”

Lyu Shurao’s eyes turned red. He mobilized his spiritual power—a deep, ghostly purple—and struck with a fierce blow!

The stone wall collapsed with a roar.

Before him was a crowd of blood-stained, filthy criminals. Everyone was covered in dirt, bloodstains, mud, sweat, and tear tracks. They were foul and looked ferocious, tightly surrounding the clean, flawless person in the middle.

Every one of them turned to look at Lyu Shurao, holding various sharp or blunt weapons, every single one stained with blood. Seeing the wall collapse, they panicked, trying to block the person in the middle to hide him from Lyu Shurao—but Lyu Shurao still saw.

The person who was once in white was now covered in blood.

Lyu Shurao felt a dull ache in his chest.

This was the person he had stayed beside for so long, caring for meticulously, the person he had risked his soul and life to protect.

He had never let him get hurt, never let him bleed.

How could he let them hurt him so casually!

“Step aside.” “Get lost!”

A sinister purple aura swirled around him, and the crowd retreated to the sides in fear. One man unwillingly rushed forward with a knife; Lyu Shurao’s eyes were dark, and without even looking at who it was, he struck out with a palm.

Su Cheyue’s face was pale. When he looked up, he seemed like an immortal captured on paper. “Lyu…”

Lyu Shurao dissipated his spiritual power, gently pulling him into his chest and leaning against his ear. “Where does it hurt? Tell me.”

Su Cheyue went quiet for a moment, then whispered: “Everything hurts.”

Lyu Shurao endured the heart-wrenching pain, his throat tight.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t untie Duan-you no matter what? Even the grand, transcendent Second Master Su can break his word to people.”

“…Mn.”

“I was only gone for a moment, and you let yourself get hurt.” Lyu Shurao lowered his head, his lips touching Su Cheyue’s hair, his breath warm. “Su Cheyue, hasn’t your cultivation recovered? Why are you still so useless?”

“Mn,” Su Cheyue seemed to smile. “So, Lyu Shurao.”

“Stay by my side.”

Lyu Shurao’s arms suddenly tightened. The scent of green pears, even mixed with the smell of blood, was so pleasant it made one lose their reason.

“I’m sorry,” Lyu Shurao said. “Wait until I deal with them, then I’ll take you back.”

Hearing this, the criminals were all shaking like sieves, dropping their torture instruments one after another.

“Cough… what are you afraid of…” The man who had been sent flying by Lyu Shurao’s palm and slammed into the wall struggled up, actually laughing. “At worst, we die by his hand. It’s better than continuing to live and suffer…”

“I said long ago the Su family has nothing good. The people who tortured you every day were masked—now you can see clearly… who finally came…”

“It’s the Second Master! The Second Master whom the people of Yangshuo love and respect most! Isn’t it ridiculous? Isn’t it funny?”

“The Second Master?” Someone knelt down, wanting to look at Su Cheyue, but was scared back by Lyu Shurao’s gaze. “Isn’t the Second Master crippled and incurable? How could it be the Second Master?!”

“The Second Master saved my father’s life!” The person lowered their head, trembling as they stared at their bloodied hands. “If it’s the Second Master, what am I doing…”

“He saved your father’s life because it was a convenient favor back when his fame was at its peak. Once he entered the Ghost Prison and lost his cultivation, becoming less than a normal person, who can still be a merciful Bodhisattva? Only those who have reached the top give a look of pity at you ants for amusement! When they themselves reach the end of their rope, they won’t blink an eye while skinning you and drinking your blood!”

Lyu Shurao looked over in disgust. This man, “A-Jie,” who had been fanning the flames even after taking a hit, was blind in one eye, and his features were wrapped messily in black rags, hiding his original face.

“How is that possible… A-Jie…”

“I know!” A-Jie said again. “How exactly did Su Cheyue stand up again! That cauldron in the middle of the tunnel—it refined so many people, all of them… became human-flesh immortal pills for him, right?!”

The cauldron? Refining people?!

Lyu Shurao and Su Cheyue looked at each other in shock.

“Is that really how it is… Second Master…”

The tunnel was suddenly filled with an uproar!

“Think about it! How were we all brought here!” A-Jie said. “The Baoshan Sect is a major sect in the cultivation world; what spiritual pills and medicines do they lack that they would need to use such a demonic method, disregarding human life! Hundreds of living people, tortured until they were on their last breath, then thrown into a burning furnace like that, everyone screaming for mercy, screaming to live…”

Listening to this, the crowd seemed to imagine their own future fates; some shrieked, others wept bitterly.

“Only Su Cheyue—he was terminally ill, he went mad from his calamity, unable to give up his fame and glory—that’s why he set up this man-eating furnace in his own sect! Hundreds of lives just to exchange for one of his legs!”

Lyu Shurao clenched his fist tightly and sneered: “You say the Second Master saving people was a ‘convenient favor’? I think your reckless slander is what truly has no cost!”

A-Jie, thinking he had hit upon the truth, laughed frantically: “I knew long ago Su Cheyue was a hypocrite! Now that I know the truth today, even if I have to give up this life, I will announce it to the whole world!”

The way he spoke was a bit formal, not at all like an ordinary citizen. Where did this “extra” come from?!

“Then we’ll see if you have the life to walk out of here.”

Lyu Shurao raised his eyes. Just as he lifted his hand, it was caught by the person in his arms. Su Cheyue said: “Wait.”

“Why didn’t you fight back just now?” Lyu Shurao rubbed the back of Su Cheyue’s hand.

“They are all mortal bodies,” Su Cheyue shook his head gently. “If you strike again, they really will die.”

…Was that the reason Su Cheyue didn’t fight back? Sensing the other party had no spiritual power, he deliberately held back?

Lyu Shurao fell silent. These people had fierce expressions, filled with malice and hatred, but at the same time, they were covered in wounds, undoubtedly enduring deep and lasting pain. He knew it, but he was strangely furious—does being weak make you right? Can the weak unite to hurt people indiscriminately…

And Su Cheyue, too—when did he become so timid? Even if you don’t use spiritual power to counter-attack, at least use a little bit to make a protective shield or something to guard yourself! Instead, you just let yourself be bullied!

Su Cheyue leaned into Lyu Shurao’s embrace and asked: “Could one of you come forward and speak clearly? Who came here and used these instruments to torture you?”

Lyu Shurao looked around roughly. As Su Cheyue said, these torture instruments, when used, were only applied with minute spiritual power, supplemented by the most common physical means of the human world to deal with these mortal bodies.

Looking closer, if the culprit had truly used enough spiritual power to strike, it was highly likely they would have died in one move; instead, they wouldn’t have been made to suffer such lingering agony and pain.

Why? Why spend so much time using so many methods to torture a group of unrelated, non-threatening people?

Lyu Shurao shifted his gaze to the people again. Wounds that repeatedly festered, vital points that caused extreme pain but were not fatal, and the dilated eyes of everyone desperate to survive.

The killer repeatedly pushed them to the edge of death, then dragged them back.

This was an inhumane near-death experiment, no different from death by a thousand cuts.

…

Li An, draped in a black robe, held his breath and moved quickly around the rear hall of the Baoshan Sect.

“Sect Master, something has happened!”

Su Xun was rarely this irritable, throwing the pendant symbolizing the head of the family onto the ground: “I won’t be Sect Master for much longer.”

He nearly spoke through gritted teeth: “Where on earth did Su Cheyue get such divine assistance? A miracle from heaven that allowed him to recover completely without a scratch…”

Yang Yuan said: “Husband, please put your mind at ease. For twelve years, he has never mentioned making you step down. Perhaps he has no interest in the position of Sect Master at all…”

“He has everything now—powerful cultivation, the Desire-Seeking Bead at his side. Whether he becomes Sect Master or even dominates the cultivation world is just a matter of his word!” Su Xun said. “He didn’t mention it before out of concern for our blood bond, but since he came back from the Ghost Prison and I tried everything to get the Desire-Seeking Bead, he must have noticed! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have hidden from me and let Lyu Shurao take him down the mountain for treatment! And that gu-poison in the medicine—how exactly did he resolve it…”

Su Xun suddenly looked up: “Could it really be with that little beast—”

“That day I let Lyu Shurao come to the Su family, I thought I could cut off my good nephew’s path of love. Once the gu-poison flared up, he would have no way to resolve it and would have to obey obediently… I didn’t expect he could actually develop feelings for a man! Ridiculous, ridiculous! How can the Baoshan Sect be handed over to such a person to manage?!”

Yang Yuan pondered: “Didn’t he also bring back a woman named… Cong Shang? It might not necessarily be Lyu Shurao?”

Su Xun’s brows knitted: “Madam! You and I are nearly fifty; can’t we see through this bit of youthful affection? Did you see? Lyu Shurao—he was carried back in his arms! I raised him for twelve years and have never seen him look at anyone with that kind of gaze. Lyu Shurao destroyed the Stalactite Terrace he loved most in his youth, and he didn’t allow a single word of reprimand. He dismissed all disciples in the Moon-Resting Pavilion to care for him personally—undressing him, seeing him naked!”

“Something as big as recovering his cultivation—the first thing he does upon returning isn’t meeting us or calling a sect meeting, but locking himself in a room with that demon for an entire night!”

Yang Yuan frowned in disgust: “Utterly disgusting, utterly shameful!”

Li An was anxious and had to interrupt their conversation: “Sect Master! Something huge has really happened! At the Medical Hall—”

“What happened to the Medical Hall?” Su Xun’s voice rose immediately.