112: Chapter 112 The Real Jiang Hongyuan

The demonic thoughts receded.

The black mist in Jiang Hongling's eyes gradually dissipated, replaced by a sense of clarity.

As if she had finally made a certain decision, she calmed down instead.

She stopped her hand.

Those black mist filaments that had burrowed into Jiang Xun's body slowly withdrew, turning into wisps of light smoke and dissipating.

She leaned down, her hands passing under Jiang Xun's armpits to lift him from the ground and bring him before her.

Jiang Xun's face was deathly pale, with blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth.

The bloody hole in his left chest was still seeping blood, and the jagged white ends of his broken ribs were faintly visible.

But he didn't look down; he just stared at Jiang Hongling's face.

He coughed twice, and bloody froth overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

"What?" he spoke, his voice hoarse, "Not going to kill me anymore?"

He forced a smile with difficulty:

"Or is it that your heart has become so broad that you can share a husband with another woman?"

Jiang Hongling did not speak.

She raised her hand, and a mass of blood-red Qi emerged in her palm.

That Qi was so dense it seemed physical, glowing with an eerie light.

She pressed her palm against the bloody hole in Jiang Xun's chest.

Warmth.

Accompanied by a certain stinging, burning sensation.

The flesh at the edge of the wound began to wriggle and heal.

A numb and itchy sensation came from the broken ribs; new bone fragments were growing, connecting, and taking shape at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After a dozen breaths.

The bloody hole vanished, and the skin was as smooth as before.

Only the residual bloodstains proved that the scene just now had actually happened.

Jiang Xun was startled; the ice phoenix bone in his body was no ordinary flesh and bone, yet it could be restored in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Hongling withdrew her hand, her fingertips gently hooking Jiang Xun's chin.

"In a few days, I will send out invitations to broadcast the news of our grand wedding throughout the Five Domains."

The corners of Jiang Xun's mouth dropped.

Jiang Hongling looked at him, the corners of her mouth slowly curving into an arc as she chuckled:

"Since you are so deeply in love with that bitch, she... will surely be present when the time comes, right?"

She leaned in close, her warm breath carrying a faint fragrance as it blew onto Jiang Xun's face.

"How about we use her skull as our wine cup?"

Jiang Xun stared at her and gave a cold laugh.

His chest still throbbed with a faint pain; the newly grown bones didn't seem quite adjusted to this body, and every heartbeat brought a strange sensation.

"Aren't you afraid," he spoke with a guiding tone, "that the news of my Rebirth will be known to the whole world?"

Jiang Hongling was now pressed tightly against Jiang Xun.

She liked this feeling; as soon as she was close to Jiang Xun, the demonic thoughts within her body would quiet down.

Her thoughts also became clear, and she said, "What do I have to fear?"

"What if the Five Regions Immortal Alliance rises up to attack together?" Jiang Xun said. "Can you withstand them?"

"The current forces of the Immortal Dao will not allow a figure like the Dao Seeking Demon Venerable to continue living."

Jiang Hongling laughed.

"Rest assured."

She released his chin, her fingertip lightly tapping his forehead. "On my invitations, the name written will only be Jiang Xun."

"Your face will not appear before anyone else either."

Jiang Xun felt a slight sense of relief in his heart.

This was exactly what he feared.

He feared Jiang Hongling would leak the name Dao Xun, feared those thousand-year-old monsters would move upon hearing the news, and feared he would have nowhere to run from then on.

There should be very few people who knew he was Dao Xun.

His face remained impassive as he just gave a few cold laughs:

"If you end up a dead soul under my Ninger's sword, don't blame me for not warning you."

Jiang Hongling looked at him, her tone icy. "Setting aside whether that bitch could even defeat me, furthermore..."

"Whether in the heavens or the human realm, the Yellow Springs or the Blue Abyss."

She reached out and caressed his face.

"Even as a ghost, you must be mine."

Jiang Xun said nothing.

He simply closed his eyes.

Jiang Hongling released Jiang Xun and smiled. "Rest well. Tomorrow we will try on the wedding clothes."

A layer of ripple-like distortion suddenly appeared behind her, like the surface of water being disturbed, with ripples spreading out.

She took a step back and vanished into that distortion.

She disappeared completely.

The sleeping palace fell silent.

In the entire space, only Jiang Xun and the suspended Jiang Hongyuan remained.

Jiang Xun slumped where he was.

He didn't want to deal with the other one.

But suddenly, bursts of intermittent sobbing drifted over.

He opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Hongyuan.

The marks from the whipping had already vanished, leaving only those red clothes in tatters and her long hair draped in disarray.

Jiang Xun said, "I don't remember you being one to cry."

Jiang Hongyuan looked down at him.

Her face was covered in tear stains, her eyes red and swollen, and water droplets still hung from her eyelashes.

She looked at him with a gaze full of grievance and anger.

"Liar," she spoke, her voice muffled. "You are just a liar."

Jiang Xun knew it was because of the things he had just said, those words meant to deliberately provoke Jiang Hongling.

Jiang Hongling couldn't stand it, and Jiang Hongyuan couldn't stand it either.

But he really didn't have the heart to coax her.

"Then just stop liking me, won't you?" he said.

Jiang Hongyuan was stunned for a moment.

Then she lowered her head, and her tears fell again.

"Dao Xun..." she asked softly, "Does it hurt?"

Jiang Xun was silent for a moment.

She wasn't getting angry but was actually concerned about him? It was a bit unlike her.

"A little," he said. "Call me Jiang Xun."

Jiang Hongyuan bent her hand and tugged at the Red Silk binding her.

The Red Silk hadn't been tied tightly in the first place, and it came loose with a single tug.

She fell from the air, landing on the ground in a sitting position, and then slowly crawled toward Jiang Xun.

She crawled to his side, reached out, and pulled him into her embrace.

Jiang Xun did not struggle.

He was too tired.

Jiang Hongyuan held him, resting his head on her lap.

"Jiang Xun," she spoke, her voice very soft. "Do you really... fear me?"

Jiang Xun kept his eyes closed.

"With your personality, how could I not be afraid?"

Jiang Hongyuan's breath hitched.

Then she held him a little tighter.

"But clearly..."

Her voice began to tremble. "Clearly, it was you who provoked me first."

Large tears fell, landing on Jiang Xun's face. They were warm and had a salty taste.

"You were the one who arrogantly barged into my heart," she continued, her voice breaking. "No matter how many times I hit you or how badly I hurt you, you always stayed by my side..."

"No matter how many times I drove you away, insulted you, or bullied you, you remained unmoved..."

She choked up, lowering her head so her forehead pressed against his.

"But why, just as I've realized I love you, do you now have the heart to leave me so cruelly?"

Jiang Xun remained silent.

That was for the sake of the 'conquest'.

If he were really expected to be a 'simp', he wouldn't do it.

Clicking a mouse a few times in a game was a completely different matter from facing all of this in reality.

But...

Could he really just treat this as a game with a clear conscience?

In truth, he didn't know either.

"Just treat it as if I'm dead, as if you never liked me, okay?" Jiang Xun repeated the same line.

Jiang Hongyuan's movements froze.

She looked at him.

"Jiang Xun," she spoke, her voice suddenly turning very cold.

"When did you ever think that I, with things I've gotten my hands on, have any precedent for letting go?"

Before Jiang Xun could speak, she leaned down and kissed him.

Jiang Xun clenched his teeth shut.

Jiang Hongyuan paused for a moment.

Then she raised her hand and slammed a fist into his stomach.

"Ugh!!"

Jiang Xun let out a muffled groan, his body instinctively curling up. In that instant, Jiang Hongyuan pried his teeth open.

It was an unpracticed kiss.

Clumsy and without technique, yet carrying a near-frenzied jealousy and demand.

A long time passed.

So long that Jiang Xun almost couldn't catch his breath before she finally released him.

The two separated.

Their lips were both broken, blood mixing together until it was impossible to tell whose was whose.

Jiang Xun's breathing was heavy:

"Is this the evil corpse... or the self corpse?"

Jiang Hongyuan raised her hand and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

"It has nothing to do with anything else," she said. "It's because I wanted to do it."

Jiang Xun stared at her.

"But you are not Jiang Hongyuan."

Jiang Hongyuan laughed, with a certain bitterness.

"How am I not her?"

She raised her hand and caressed her own face.

That face was identical to Jiang Hongling's, just without those cracks and without that black horn.

"Rather than saying she split the Three Corpses apart, it's more that I completely stripped away the demonic thoughts," Jiang Hongyuan said.

"The difference between me and her is nothing more than a gap in strength."

Jiang Xun fell silent.

He guessed that it was because of the Cultivation Technique that Jiang Hongling looked like she had fallen into a demonic state.

Jiang Hongyuan continued, her voice cold and sharp:

"When I first cultivated that Blood Nurturing Heavenly Demon Art, my progress was indeed extremely fast. But in the end, I had to suppress it."

Jiang Xun thought of the description of that Demonic Technique and said:

"That appears to be a Cultivation Technique, but in reality, it is a seed."

"The deeper you Cultivate, in the end, you are merely providing the nutrients for that seed to develop."

Jiang Hongyuan looked at him.

"Exactly."

Her lips were moist and exceptionally red from a layer of crystal-clear luster.

"So I not only stripped away the Three Corpses that were forming, but I also stripped away a portion of my Divine Soul along with them."

"The me of now is the true Jiang Hongyuan."

Jiang Xun laughed and said, "But in essence, you are just a Clone; you cannot escape the control of the main body."

...