The man in blood did not move in any way Zheng Xie's eyes could follow. One moment he stood in the distance, his figure framed by the dripping sky, and the next, he was behind him.
A hand, cold yet deceptively gentle, rested on Zheng Xie's shoulder. The man's breath fell upon his ear, strangely sharp, every exhale carrying with it the sensation of countless needles pricking his skin.
"So…" the whisper slithered into him, slow and deliberate, "you follow the demonic path, junior?"
Zheng Xie's body stiffened. He could feel every thorn-like word digging into his flesh, burrowing beneath his skin as though testing the resilience of his very soul.
Yet his face betrayed nothing. With a graceful motion, he slipped forward, creating a respectful distance between himself and the man in blood. His hands clasped, his body bent low in a deep bow.
"Senior knows this junior well." His voice was calm. A pause lingered before he added, "Though… this junior is proficient in the Dao of Soul, rather than sins and blood."
The man in blood stroked his chin absentmindedly, his eyes glowing faintly as if dissecting Zheng Xie's words. "Hmm… the path of the soul." His tone was reflective, not dismissive. "A distinct path indeed, yet not irreconcilable with mine. The soul is unique… broad enough to carry countless shadows within its depths. In that vastness, there is always room… even for blood."
His tone shifted into one of faint amusement. "What do you think this place is, boy?"
Before Zheng Xie could form an answer, the man leaned closer, his voice striking like a blade.
"But an inheritance trial?"
Zheng Xie's eyes narrowed.
'Aha…!' His mind immediately churned, piecing together the fragments with methodical precision. 'So that's what this is. Not just some random demonic anomaly—but an inheritance trial.'
But…
His thoughts tightened like a snare.
'It is a demonic cultivator's inheritance trial.'
His heart did not falter, but his thoughts spiraled inward.
Demonic cultivation… a path that corroded both flesh and mind. A path where the cultivator fed upon the suffering of others, but in doing so, poisoned themselves with madness. Zheng Xie had never shunned methods, never placed morality above survival but pain was something he detested. If there was a road around agony, he would always choose it.
His body cultivation had only been tolerable because of the countless pills he consumed, suppressing the torment. But the demonic path was different. It thrived in agony. To cultivate it was to embrace torment, to nurture it until it consumed one whole.
And worse still, the demonic cultivator's nature demanded blood, chaos, mayhem, and sin. Wherever despair and ruin festered, there they would thrive like weeds in a corpse-field.
Yet the cost of excess was inevitable. Most lost themselves, devolving into little more than blood-drunk beasts, their intelligence stripped away. That was why the orthodox sects hunted them so easily.
Zheng Xie's lips pressed faintly together.
'But… if this man, this senior, possesses a method to preserve clarity, to cage the madness without discarding the power…'
A dangerous light flickered behind his calm eyes.
'Then the demonic path is no longer a pit, but a weapon. Chaos, mayhem, discord, blood, sin… such things, I am capable of bringing about with ease. The world already trembles beneath such forces. Why not let me wield them?'
"You are thinking deeply on the matter." The man in blood's voice cut through his contemplations. His eyes gleamed, amused yet sharp. "Tell me, boy, are you one of those righteous hypocrites? Those who cling to a false sense of superiority, prattling about purity of path while drowning in their own contradictions?"
Zheng Xie's face remained calm. Slowly, he shook his head.
"No," he replied steadily. "I am no such hypocrite. I do not believe in the superiority of a path to begin with. There are no superior paths. Only superior people."
His words carried no arrogance or pride, only a steady, chilling conviction.
The man in blood stilled. The silence that followed was heavier than before, charged with unspoken recognition.
And then his lips curved into a smile that was far too sharp to be kind.
"Hmm." The man in blood hummed, his eyes never straying from Zheng Xie. "That makes things easier for me… you see, I have been waiting for far too long. Waiting for an inheritor worthy of my path. Yet each time someone stumbled into this place, they would either grovel in fear like worms, or spit on me in disdain."
"So you have only ever met righteous people, then?" Zheng Xie asked, his lips tugging upward into a subtle smile that carried no warmth.
The man in blood ignored his audacity, eyes flashing with amusement rather than anger. "Yes. Righteous hypocrites, one after another. Each preaching purity, each trembling beneath the same fear they claimed to transcend. Pathetic. And so… you could say that I am quite pleased with this circumstance. If only you could inherit my techniques, my knowledge, my path."
Zheng Xie inclined his head, his tone steady and resolute. "I will try my very best, Senior. Though in the end, how it proceeds depends on the nature of the trial."
The man in blood laughed, his voice sharp and resonant, echoing across the crimson sky. "Hahaha! Yes, yes. True words. But worry not. The demonic path is feared and despised for its misdeeds, and rightly so… but I am not like the others. I am… different."
His voice dipped, trembling faintly, the timbre of desperation seeping through. "I am a man pressed by time, shackled by need. My requirements are not as lofty as others. My criteria are… very little."
His lips twisted, a grotesque hunger burning in his eyes. "You do not need to perform something outrageous such as tear off your limbs, gouge your heart, feed me your flesh. Though…" his voice dragged, almost salivating, "that would be pleasurable beyond words."
A thin thread of drool gleamed on his lips before he hastily wiped it away with the back of his hand. Then his eyes hardened into sharp points of crimson light.
"No. What I require is simple. Prove to me your demonic heart."
Zheng Xie's gaze sharpened, the faintest glint flickering in his eyes. "And how exactly would I prove that, Senior?"
The man in blood grinned. It was vicious, malicious. "Oh, that? That is simple. You must kill your loved ones."
The air stilled.
Zheng Xie's expression did not falter. His tone, when he spoke, was perfectly calm, smooth as still water. "You lack the ability to bring them here. How would that even work?"
For the first time, the man in blood's smile wavered. His narrowed eyes glittered with faint surprise. "…Interesting." He muttered under his breath, a note of reluctant admiration passing through. But then he straightened, snapping his fingers.
Snap—
The sound cracked across the domain, and at once, the endless rain of blood halted midair, suspended like jewels frozen in glass. Then—
Whrrrshhh—!
The droplets began to surge, drawing toward each other, fusing and coiling, twisting like worms into a single pulsating mass. That mass elongated, reshaped, contorting into a humanoid outline.
Zheng Xie stood motionless, but his eyes followed every shift.
The shape flickered, unstable, before splitting, diverging into more and more silhouettes. The once-empty husks of blood pools beneath them churned violently, swirling like maelstroms. Their rotation grew so fast it seemed stagnant to the eye, until—
Schlk—Schlk—Schlk—
From the spirals of gore, flesh knitted itself. Nerves stretched and wove like spider threads, bones cracked into place, muscle stitched together in grotesque order. Organs pulsed wetly, then skin wrapped around them in a sheath.
And when the shaping was complete—
They stood before him.
Faces. Familiar faces.
His father. His mother. His brothers. His sister. His closest companions. And at the very end, his wife. Their gazes fixed upon him, blank yet so vividly real that for a fleeting moment, Zheng Xie's heart trembled in its cage.
The man in blood's laughter grated, sharp and jagged. "Do you like what you see?" His voice clawed through Zheng Xie's mind. "In front of you are those you hold dear, those you have contact with, those whose names rest upon your tongue when you are weakest. The ones you think about, the ones who gnaw at your soul. I cannot see them. They are nothing but husks to me. But to you? You must see them as clearly as the day you last parted."
He zipped forward, appearing just behind Zheng Xie, his words dripping like venom directly into his ear.
"So now, all you must do is prove yourself. Kill them. Without remorse, with remorse, I care not. I want only one thing…" His eyes burned brighter, his grin stretched to its edges. "…blood, flowing once more in my domain."