The valley's shadowed air trembled as Mu Qingyi stepped forward with unwavering resolve, her voice searing with fury that seemed to ignite the space around her. "You dare speak of love, Ye Qiu?" Her fists clenched tightly at her sides, tension rippling through her frame, as the gusting wind caught her silver hair, sending it streaming behind her like a shimmering cascade.
"Lan Xiu trusted in you—loved you as an older brother with a bond forged in years of camaraderie—and you betrayed her without hesitation. You murdered her beneath these very mountains, snuffing out her life in an act of cold treachery!"
Ye Qiu froze, his devilish eyes flickering with something raw and fleeting—guilt, perhaps, or a defiant spark struggling to surface. "Qingyi, I—" he began, his voice catching as he searched for words.
"Don't you dare speak my name so lightly!" she snapped, her voice cracking like a thunderbolt that rolled across the shadowed valley, shattering the stillness. "You murdered her in cold blood, left her body in that desolate ravine. My Junior Sister—my sweet, gentle Lan Xiu—gone forever because of your vile hands!"
"I had no choice!" Ye Qiu rasped, his voice raw with desperation as he staggered forward, his clawed fingers twitching with barely restrained menace, sharp and glinting in the dim light. "Lan Xiu attacked me first! She unleashed that cursed purifying divine art—do you have any idea what that feels like to a demon like me? It's an agony beyond words, a burning that sears through flesh and soul alike!"
His lips curled into a bitter sneer, though a fleeting shadow of something softer—almost regretful—passed over his angular face. "But I didn't make her suffer needlessly. I ended it quickly, sparing her prolonged torment. She was like a little sister to me once, and I… I owed her that much mercy, that final grace."
He straightened, his expression hardening into a steely mask as he met their accusing gazes with renewed defiance. "She forced my hand, Qingyi. What was I supposed to do? Let her burn me alive with that blinding light? No, I did what anyone would do at that moment—I survived. It was her or me, and I chose to live!"
Suddenly, Ye Qiu lunged at Mu Qingyi with ferocious speed, closing the distance in an instant. His clawed hand lashed out, a blood-red aura erupting around him as the Eldritch Covenant technique awakened—a sinister force pulsing with malevolent hunger. The air twisted with a sickly scarlet haze, tendrils of energy, not of shadow but of stolen vitality, clawing toward her as if to drain her soul.
Mu Qingyi moved with swift precision, gliding to the side with a dancer's grace. Her silken sleeves flared as she conjured a shimmering barrier of radiant light, flaring brilliantly as it met the leeching aura with a crackling hiss. The scarlet haze recoiled, consumed by the divine glow, and sparks illuminated the valley, cutting through the gloom with fleeting brilliance across the rocky terrain.
Ye Qiu staggered back from the recoil, his fiery eyes widening as if struck by the realization of his impulsive attack. A flicker of hesitation—perhaps shame—crossed his sharp features before his bitterness hardened once more.
"Forced your hand..." Mu Qingyi hissed, her voice trembling with fury so intense it seemed to shake the ground. "You chose power over her life, Ye Qiu! I loved you once—I believed in you, entrusted you with my heart and soul. But now I see the truth... the monster you've always been, lurking beneath that deceitful mask!"
Her words struck like a blade, and he stumbled further, clutching his chest as though the pain were physical. His breath came in ragged bursts, but his eyes burned with unyielding defiance.
"No! You don't understand!" he snarled, desperation now laced with growing fury.
With an explosive burst, he lunged again, claws slicing the air, stirring her silver hair in their wake. "Qin Ting has twisted everything—he left me no choice but to act! I had to survive, endure long enough to break through to the Divine Spirit Realm! Only then could I exact my revenge on him for all he's wrought against me!"
Mu Qingyi ducked beneath his wild swipe, her movements fluid like water over stone. In one seamless motion, she unsheathed her gleaming sword, its blade catching the faint light as it carved through the air with a soft hum.
She struck with unerring accuracy, the blade slicing across his outstretched arm. A crimson line bloomed on his ashen flesh, and he howled in agony, recoiling as thick, black blood dripped onto the rocky ground, staining it dark.
"Survive?" she spat, her voice thick with loathing as she advanced, her stance resolute. "You killed her for your own selfish ambition! Lan Xiu's blood stains your hands eternally, a mark that will never wash away, and I'll never forgive you for the life you stole from her!"
Seeing her beside Qin Ting, their quiet closeness a dagger in his chest, shattered Ye Qiu's restraint. Reason drowned in a flood of rage and despair, leaving a hollow shell.
With a roar that shook the valley—a primal cry rattling the ancient pines—he hurled himself at Qin Ting with reckless abandon. His blood-slicked claws slashed forward, the Eldritch Covenant flaring, a grotesque scarlet mist billowing as it sought Qin Ting's vitality, each pulse a testament to his demonic corruption.
"Die, you bastard!" he screamed, his voice a guttural screech echoing off the cliffs. "I'll tear you apart with my bare hands and scatter your remains!"
Qin Ting's sneer sharpened as he stepped forward, meeting the assault with absolute disdain. He snapped his fingers with a dismissive flick, a gesture almost bored.
Nie You surged forward, a loyal shadow, and delivered a contemptuous backhand. The strike flashed like lightning, slamming into Ye Qiu's chest with a force that echoed like a drumbeat of doom.
The impact hurled Ye Qiu backward, his twisted form crashing into granite with a bone-rattling thud. Black blood sprayed from his mouth, pooling beneath him in a dark stain against the mossy stone.
Qin Ting brushed dust from his sleeve with theatrical nonchalance, his voice cool as winter frost. "Pathetic," he said, the word dripping with scorn. "All that rage, all those forbidden techniques you've hoarded and nurtured—and yet, here you are, still nothing more than a worm groveling in the dirt." He paused, a cruel smile curling his lips. "A demonic worm, at that," he added, his mocking tone slicing deeper than any blade.
Ye Qiu clawed upright with trembling effort, his breath ragged as he glared at Mu Qingyi through the thickening mist. "Qingyi, please!" he pleaded, his voice breaking with raw desperation. "I love you—I never meant for Lan Xiu to—"
"Stop it!" she shouted, her voice ringing with authority as she raised her hand. A radiant sigil flared before her, its glowing patterns pulsing with divine energy, illuminating the dimness with holy light. With a decisive motion, she unleashed the technique—a surge of golden light coiled around Ye Qiu's leg like a serpent, dragging him off balance and slamming him to his knees with a heavy thud.
"You disgust me," she said, her voice low but quivering with suppressed fury. Her blazing eyes pierced him, brimming with hatred and anguish.
"I risked everything for you, Ye Qiu—do you even remember that sacrifice? When you stole the Mystic Sun Dragon Fruit in your reckless greed, I stood between you and the Crimson Pyre Warden without a second thought. I shielded you, knowing full well I'd die for it if it came to that. And I would have—if not for Qin Ting stepping in to save me at the very last moment. He risked his own life for mine, while you threw me to the flames without so much as a backward glance."
Her hands tightened around her blade's hilt, knuckles whitening as she pressed forward, her resolve unshakable. "Do you see the difference now? Qin Ting is a man of honor, someone who understands loyalty, sacrifice, and trust—values you've never grasped in your wretched existence."
"And you—you're nothing but a miserable, treacherous worm, a blight on everything and everyone unfortunate enough to cross your path. I should've let the Warden have you back then. The world would be a far better place without your poison tainting it."
Despair and fury warred within Ye Qiu like a tempest, a storm with no outlet. The architect of his downfall stood untouchable, claiming the woman he loved with effortless grace, while the world branded him the villain in this mist-shrouded gorge.
'I'm too weak,' he thought, the realization crashing like an avalanche, burying him beneath an inescapable truth. The proud underdog he once was had withered into a pitiful shadow. His red eyes, seething with anguish, lifted to meet Qin Ting's gaze—his tormentor, his superior, the architect of his ruin.
A raw wail tore from his throat, his trembling frame wracked with unbearable anguish. "Qin Ting, you vile hypocrite!" he rasped, his voice fracturing under despair. "You're the true monster here! You made me into this wretched thing, this abomination!" His claws tore through the dirt, scattering soil like fragments of his shattered pride.
A deeper truth gnawed at him, sharper than any blade: he had never been Qin Ting's equal. A bitter ache bloomed in his chest, and his voice softened to a pleading murmur, fragile as it hung in the air.
Qin Ting crouched slightly, his icy smile locking onto Ye Qiu's gaze as he leaned closer, exuding confidence. "Don't be so hard on yourself, trash," he murmured, his voice a silken whisper laced with mocking amusement, too soft for others to hear.
"I just play this game better than anyone ever could. You? You were never a contender—you were nothing more than a pawn." With a dismissive glance, Qin Ting straightened, turning away, his steps unhurried.
Ye Qiu's growl erupted—a jagged, inhuman shriek forged from pure desperation and rage. His mind snapped, a dam bursting under endless torment. The restraints Mu Qingyi had woven trembled, then cracked, as dark energy surged within.
His eyes blazed with a feral crimson glow, veins blackening beneath his skin as his demonic power unfurled. With a guttural roar, he tore free, Mu Qingyi's bindings disintegrating, his sanity lost to the abyss as he became the monster she had fought to contain.
The crowd's fury exploded, their patience worn thin by his defiance. A barrage of divine techniques tore through the air: blades of searing light sliced the mist, torrents of flame erupted from the cliffs, and chains of ether lashed from the valley's edges—each strike aimed to break him, a testament to their collective wrath.
Above it all, Qin Ting stood tall, a smirk on his lips as he watched the chaos unfold—a maestro savoring the crescendo of Ye Qiu's orchestrated downfall.
"Kill this abomination!" Elder Wei roared, unleashing a crackling golden spell that ricocheted off the pine-shadowed walls with a deafening boom.
"Strip him of its strength—purify his soul now!" another bellowed, hurling a spear of radiant ice that cleaved through the haze like a comet, its brilliance carving through the night.
Ye Qiu's vision blurred, his body screaming for relief, but reason had fled. A primal urge surged, drowning his thoughts and awakening the darkest depths of his being. Fight or flight morphed into a ravenous instinct that stripped away his humanity.
With a guttural roar, his humanity unraveled. The Eldritch Covenant flared uncontrollably, a vortex of blood-red mist surging with grotesque hunger. His forbidden arts, once precise, now fueled a blind frenzy.
The cultivators blurred into silhouettes as he struck wildly, carving a bloody path through the piercing screams filling the valley. Each step revealed the monster he'd become, driven by a single goal: escape at any cost.
Yet his demonic power burned too fiercely, draining his strength rapidly. His breaths grew shallow, his movements sluggish, the scarlet storm flickering like a dying flame.
Ye Qiu yelled, his body wracked with excruciating pain, his bloodshot eyes bulging as crimson seeped from every orifice. The cultivators seized their chance, their holy techniques shifting into radiant chains that bound his thrashing limbs, searing his flesh with divine heat and forcing him to his knees with a heavy crash. Sacred talismans pierced his demonic core, fracturing its essence with each agonizing strike.
His roar twisted into a howl of torment, his body convulsing as his power crumbled beneath the onslaught. The crowd's triumphant cries mingled with his screams, their sacred tide drowning his defiance in righteous fury. Yet a desperate ember of will flickered on, refusing to be extinguished.
A sickening crack shattered the air like a thunderbolt. Ye Qiu's scorched face drained of color as his flesh split, his spirit fracturing beneath his doom. His Dao Foundation, the core of his cultivation, splintered into irreparable shards, leaving him vulnerable.
His body, though not fully disintegrated, crumpled into a grotesque heap—blood and foam seeping from his wounds—half-crushed by Elder Wei's force. The cultivators' onslaught tore at his vitality, leaving him teetering on the edge of death, his power lost.
The Child of Destiny, Ye Qiu—once destined to soar above the Nine Heavens—staggered as his lunacy subsided for a moment.
When sentience returned to his fractured mind, he gasped, "Qingyi... spare me..." His voice cracked in a pitiful sob, a final plea lost to the wind and clamor.
Mu Qingyi's disgust crested as Ye Qiu's screams rang hollow. His betrayal, his murder of Lan Xiu, fueled a hatred laced with unshakable grief. "You're beyond redemption," she hissed, her voice trembling with emotion.
She raised her sword, its blade flaring as it absorbed her spiritual essence with fierce intensity. It shimmered with ethereal light, casting a radiant glow against the valley's gloom.
"Die, beast!" she cried, slashing with fierce determination as the blade surged toward him with lethal precision. It struck true, shattering his fractured Dao Foundation with a resounding crack, his soul dissolving into dust that scattered on the wind like ashes of a forgotten dream.
He vanished utterly, leaving no trace of the Hero, the Demon, or the grand future that could have been—a legacy erased in an instant.
Qin Ting observed with a hidden smirk, a thrill pulsing through his veins like a quiet victory. 'Flawless,' he mused, savoring his meticulously crafted scheme.
He'd considered unleashing a devastating attack to erase Ye Qiu outright. Instead, he chose to relish the spectacle, a masterpiece of manipulation.
In under a month, the Heroine's feelings for Ye Qiu, shifting from sisterly affection to fragile love, had festered into hatred, culminating in her plunging a blade into his heart—a poetic conclusion.
The story of Ye Qiu ended as Qin Ting willed it, a triumph sealed in blood, with him as the undisputed victor.