Chapter 53: Not Yet Over

The fourth layer of the Ancient Battlefield space.

Yue Hongling's injuries were healing quickly. The eighty-one Fearless Divine Seals could be used offensively, defensively, for recovery, or even for explosive power boosts.

However, a hand that had been completely severed—wanting it to regrow wasn’t something that could happen easily.

But it didn’t matter.

The Vermilion Bird had already left her and disappeared to who knows where.

She still had her own matters to handle.

Her mood was extremely low.

That once bright and strikingly beautiful face now drooped, drained of energy. There was no trace of the unrivaled, battle-hardened majesty she once carried.

She was finished!

Yue Hongling felt absolutely miserable.

She had just looked back—looked at the past—and all she could feel was that she had been a colossal dumbass.

So stupid it was beyond saving, beyond belief.

How long had she even known Feng Wuxie? And yet she had believed in that kind of yao clan bastard so deeply, so completely!

She knew perfectly well what kind of person Senior Brother was—how good he had been to her. She knew that all too clearly.

And yet, even knowing that, she still chose to believe in someone she thought was... her white moonlight...

Yue Hongling couldn’t help but let out a bitter, desolate laugh.

A white moonlight that was black to the core, rotten to the core—and even after becoming an empress, she still couldn’t forget him.

The better her Senior Brother treated her, the more she thought it was because he felt guilty—so guilty that he had to be good to her.

Hahaha...

"Feng! Wuxie!"

Those three words came out like a wind from the depths of hell—icy enough to flay the flesh from bone.

She was going to find Feng Wuxie. She was going to cut him into a thousand pieces and then go before Senior Brother to beg for forgiveness.

As long as he was willing to forgive her—she’d do anything. Even if it meant dying!

Even if it meant death, she would not be afraid.

Senior Brother was kind. As long as she apologized endlessly...

No, that wouldn’t be enough. Senior Brother had always liked her when she was playful and charming.

A water mirror appeared in front of Yue Hongling. She looked at her reflection and forced a smile.

No—that smile was wrong.

She tried a different one.

Still wrong.

Where was her innocence?

Where was that girlish charm?

In that instant, Yue Hongling suddenly understood—it had only been because she was immersed in happiness that such charm had existed at all.

But now, there was no charm left to speak of.

She waved her hand, dispersing the water screen. A sharp gleam lit up her eyes—tinged faintly with blood-red.

Feng Wuxie, just you wait!

This old lady’s going to kill you!

Feng Wuxie was panicking.

He truly hadn’t expected the ambush to end up like this. So many prodigies—so many figures that, in his eyes, were far out of reach—had failed to kill Yue Hongling?

Seriously, what was wrong? Were they just ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) that useless, or what?

Why were there yao clan members helping Yue Hongling?

And that so-called Little Dragon King, that Duan Jianmo—all those names sounded so damn impressive. But then what?

They died like losers. Died miserable, pitiful deaths.

It was impossible to imagine. How could a group of such "renowned" beings turn out to be so full of hot air—nothing but hollow reputations?

Feng Wuxie was practically dying from anger.

He was dying of rage—and so were all the ghosts and demons.

The yao clan had become a target of all the factions. Why had there been betrayal within the yao clan? Yue Hongling had clearly been cornered into a dead end!

Then suddenly, a yao clan member had appeared—and not just any yao, but one powerful enough to directly rescue Yue Hongling.

And what’s more, the yao clan had actually claimed they didn’t even know the firebird.

The firebird’s strength clearly surpassed that of the Little Dragon King, and yet the yao clan was saying they had no idea who she was?

What kind of bullshit were they trying to feed them—did they think everyone here was a moron?

If it hadn’t been for the fact that, during this joint ambush, the yao clan had indeed suffered the greatest casualties and put in the most effort, all the other races would have suspected this entire thing had been a setup by the yao.

That maybe the yao clan had colluded with the human race.

Since there was no way to vent their rage on the yao clan itself, all that fury turned toward Feng Wuxie.

The demon race wanted to grind Feng Wuxie’s bones to dust on the spot. The ghost race was ready to rip out his soul and shred it. But the gods stopped them.

“Calm down. Feng Wuxie still has his uses,” said a god clan member named Shui Ye.

“What use could he possibly have? Yue Hongling’s already seen right through him. You think she’s still going to forgive him?” a demon roared in fury.

“He won’t gain Yue Hongling’s forgiveness,” Shui Ye replied calmly. “But now, he’s become the one she hates the most. I observed it very clearly—Yue Hongling seemed to have missed out on something extremely important because of him. And when she came over only to realize what kind of trash he truly was...”

“It was obvious Yue Hongling was in deep pain over whatever it was she missed.”

“So what you’re saying is, Yue Hongling now hates Feng Wuxie down to her very bones.”

“Exactly. Without a doubt, she hates him even more than we do. She probably dreams of eating his flesh and peeling off his skin. Which means... we can make use of that.”

A cunning gleam flashed in Shui Ye’s eyes.

“You mean...”

“That’s right. Just as love can be a trap, so too can hatred.”

Feng Wuxie’s heart surged with joy.

That meant... he could live?

But just as he felt hope bloom, Shui Ye gave him a cold, fleeting glance.

“Trash like this—I find utterly contemptible. He can be kept alive. But the rest of your rage... feel free to let it all out.”

The smile that had just started to appear on Feng Wuxie’s face instantly froze.

“No...”

“No, you can’t do this...”

A towering demon stepped forward and, without hesitation, tore off a chunk of Feng Wuxie’s flesh and began to eat it.

Blood spurted wildly.

Agonized screams ripped through the air.

All the surviving yao, demons, and ghosts took their boiling fury and unleashed it on Feng Wuxie’s body.

To them, his screams were like the sweetest music.

Shui Ye showed a faint expression of pity as he released wisps of blue light to heal Feng Wuxie.

“Careful, don’t kill him.”

“Don’t tear off the arm, damn it! Arms are hard to reattach.”

“Stop stomping on his crotch, that could kill him from the pain!”

The torment lasted a full hour. By the end, Feng Wuxie didn’t even have the strength to scream anymore.

He woke up from unconsciousness from the pain—then passed out again, still in agony.

His body was covered in blood, not a patch of healthy skin left, not a single place untouched.

Shui Ye continued treating him, and only with great effort managed to pull him back from the brink of death.

“I assume your tempers have cooled a bit,” Shui Ye said to the gathered cultivators. “Then I’ll be taking this man. If the opportunity arises, I’ll contact you all again—and we’ll hunt Yue Hongling once more. Next time... she won’t escape!”

...

Some time later.

Feng Wuxie’s whole body was swollen, his skin puffed and taut, filled underneath with white fluid. The skin was so thin it matched a saying perfectly—so delicate it could burst from a single breath.

One careless move, and when a bit of skin tore open, the stabbing pain distorted Feng Wuxie’s entire face.

But he didn’t dare move. If he did, more skin would break, and the pain would be even worse.

Those who had tortured him may have vented their anger, but Shui Ye’s fury hadn’t subsided in the slightest.

Now, Feng Wuxie had been dragged again by Shui Ye before a newly arrived group of god clan members.

A new hunt... was about to begin.