Shen Qinghe POV
The Demon King's presence crushed down on us like a mountain.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Twenty years ago, this creature had destroyed my entire village in one night. Killed everyone I loved. The only reason I survived was because Master found me in the ruins and taught me cultivation so I could one day fight back.
Now he was here. In Willow Creek. Because of me.
"You look surprised, little student," Xue Mohan said, his voice like grinding stone. "Did you think I wouldn't notice when the Demon Emperor's Seal awakened? Its power calls to every demon within a thousand miles." His burning eyes fixed on Yuehua. "And there stands its new host. How delicious."
"Stay away from her," I growled, forcing myself to stand despite my wounds. Fire erupted around my hands.
The Demon King laughed. "Still playing hero? You couldn't save your village. You couldn't save your master. What makes you think you can save anyone?"
Each word was a knife in my chest because they were true. I'd failed everyone who ever mattered to me.
Except I hadn't failed Willow Creek. Not yet.
Wei Zichen watched this exchange with calculating eyes. "Xue Mohan. I didn't expect demon royalty to grace us with its presence."
"Wei Zichen. Still stealing cores from your own disciples, I see." The Demon King's smile widened. "How very demonic of you. Perhaps you should join my court."
"I serve no one." Wei Zichen's spiritual pressure flared. "Leave now, demon, or face the full might of Heavenly Sword Sect."
"Threatening me?" Xue Mohan's amusement vanished. "Foolish cultivator. I was ancient when your sect was still learning to swing swords."
The temperature dropped so fast that frost formed on the ground. Shadows solidified into blade-sharp tendrils, shooting toward Wei Zichen.
Wei Zichen blocked with ice barriers, but the shadow blades punched through like they were paper. He had to actually dodge, his perfect white robes tearing.
For the first time tonight, Wei Zichen looked worried.
"Meiying!" he shouted. "Formation Delta-Nine!"
Lan Meiying moved instantly, positioning herself opposite Wei Zichen. They attacked together, ice and wind combining into a devastating storm.
The Demon King didn't even flinch. He raised one hand and their combined attack simply... stopped. Frozen in mid-air, harmless.
"Is this the best the cultivation world offers?" Xue Mohan sounded disappointed. "No wonder demons are winning our ancient war."
He flicked his wrist. Wei Zichen and Lan Meiying flew backward like thrown dolls, crashing into buildings fifty feet away.
The crowd gasped. Wei Zichen was one of the nine most powerful cultivators in the empire. And the Demon King had swatted him aside like an annoying fly.
We were all going to die.
"Now then." Xue Mohan turned back to Yuehua. "Come with me, little seal bearer. I'll teach you to use that power properly. Under my guidance, you could become a Demon Queen."
"Never," Yuehua said, her voice shaking but determined. Golden light flared around her hands.
"Brave. Stupid, but brave." The Demon King started walking toward her. "I'll enjoy breaking that spirit."
I threw myself forward, summoning every drop of spiritual energy I had left. My fire sword blazed brighter than ever before, fueled by pure desperation.
I struck at his heart.
The blade stopped one inch from his chest, held by shadows I couldn't see.
"Really, student?" Xue Mohan sighed. "After I spent twenty years teaching you cultivation—"
"You didn't teach me anything!" I screamed. "You destroyed my village! You killed my family!"
"I created you." His eyes glowed brighter. "That night, I planted a seed of demon essence in your dying body. Why do you think you could cultivate without a sect? Why your fire burns gold instead of red? You're part demon, Shen Qinghe. You always have been."
The words hit me like a physical blow. "No. That's not true."
"Isn't it?" He leaned closer. "Haven't you wondered why you heal faster than normal cultivators? Why you can sense demons from miles away? Why your spiritual energy feels different from everyone else's?"
I had wondered. For twenty years, I'd wondered why I was different. Why sects feared me beyond just being independent.
But I'd always assumed it was because of my unorthodox training. Not because I was part monster.
"Shen?" Yuehua's voice was small, scared. "Tell me he's lying."
I couldn't. Because deep down, I'd always known something was wrong with me.
"It doesn't matter what I am," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm still going to stop you."
"With what power?" The Demon King gestured at my sword, still frozen in his shadow grip. "You're wounded, exhausted, and fighting a battle you lost twenty years ago. Accept reality, student. You lost the moment I arrived."
He was right. I knew he was right. But I couldn't give up. Not with Yuehua behind me. Not with the entire town watching.
I poured everything I had into one final attack—all my spiritual energy, all my demon essence, all my desperate hope—and drove it through his shadow barrier.
My sword moved one more inch. Then two. The Demon King's eyes widened slightly.
"Impressive. Perhaps I didn't waste my time on you after all."
Then his hand was around my throat, lifting me off the ground. His grip was ice and fire at once. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move.
"But still not enough." He looked past me at Yuehua. "I'm taking both of you. The half-demon cultivator and the seal bearer. Together, you'll help me break the barrier between realms completely. The demon army will flood this world, and nothing—not sects, not empires, not heaven itself—will stop us."
My vision was going dark. I tried to summon fire, but nothing came. My spiritual channels were empty.
Twenty years of hiding. Twenty years of protecting people. All for nothing.
"Let him go!" Yuehua screamed. The golden light around her hands exploded outward.
The Demon King laughed. "Adorable. But untrained power is—"
The light hit him square in the chest.
He staggered backward, actually surprised. His grip on my throat loosened and I fell, gasping.
"What?" Xue Mohan stared at his chest where Yuehua's attack had burned through his shadow armor. "That's impossible. The seal shouldn't respond to someone so weak—"
"I'm not weak!" Yuehua's eyes blazed with golden light. "I'm Lin Yuehua, and this is my town, and you're not taking anyone!"
The seal's power poured from her in waves. Not wild this time. Focused. Angry.
The Demon King's confident smile finally cracked. "You don't understand what you're doing, girl. That seal will consume you if you—"
"I don't care!" She stepped forward, power growing stronger. "Leave. Now. Or I'll show you exactly what this seal can do."
For one perfect moment, I thought we might actually win.
Then Xue Mohan's surprise turned to delighted laughter.
"Oh, this is perfect! You've awakened the seal's offensive protocols. Do you know what that means?" His eyes gleamed with terrible joy. "It means you're not just a host. You're a weapon. The Demon Emperor's final gift—a bomb powerful enough to destroy the barrier between realms permanently."
He looked at me with something like pity. "When that seal fully activates, everyone within a hundred miles dies. Including her. Including you. Including this precious town you've protected."
Yuehua's golden light flickered. "What?"
"Three days," the Demon King said. "That's how long until the seal completes its awakening and detonates. You can't stop it. You can't control it. Your only choice is to come with me so I can direct the explosion where it's useful." He smiled. "Or stay here and murder everyone you love."
He vanished into shadows, his final words echoing: "Three days, little student. Then you'll see that I was always right. You were always meant to destroy, not protect."
Silence fell over the town square.
Everyone stared at Yuehua, who stood there with golden light still flickering around her hands. Light that would kill us all in three days.
Wei Zichen pulled himself from the rubble, bloodied but alive. "The demon tells the truth. I can sense the seal's destabilization." He looked at me coldly. "You have seventy-two hours to find a solution, Faceless Sword. If you can't, I'll kill the girl myself to save the empire."
He and Lan Meiying vanished in a flash of light.
The crowd backed away from Yuehua. From us. Fear replaced the support they'd shown minutes ago.
Old Man Chen's voice was gentle but firm: "Magistrate Shen. Is she really going to explode?"
I looked at Yuehua, at the terror in her eyes, at the power she couldn't control.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm going to find out."