Chapter 109.2
Bu Tianhan also thought that Gu Xiyu would come to see him after he came out of seclusion, whether he wanted to explain or find him for a fight. As a result, the whole world realized that Gu Xiyu had gone out, but he did not go to the Demon Realm to look for Bu Tianhan. They didn’t even know where he had gone or what he was doing.
After waiting for so long, all he got was Gu Xiyu’s ‘cold shoulder’ and Bu Tianhan was so angry that he ran to the Immortal realm to make a fuss. Since everyone was putting pressure on Gu Xiyu to restrain him, he wanted to get his attention by causing trouble and killing people as he did before, as long as he could get him to come and see him.
Although he invaded the immortal realm once again, he could not find it in himself to kill without any scruples like before.
Even though Gu Xiyu was not from this world, he knew that he did not like this kind of killing, and the fear of being punished for his actions had become a subconscious reaction engraved in his bones. Besides, the agreement between them had been maintained for so long that it was the only proof that he had not killed Bu Mingfeng. Moreover, it was the only reason he could keep Gu Xiyu locked up by his side.
The villain who broke the contract… was clearly Gu Xiyu!
The more Bu Tianhan thought about it, the angrier he became, but he could not vent his anger. The hand squeezing the innocent man’s neck tightened and then loosened. He slammed the man aside and left without saying another word.
So even though Bu Tianhan had invaded the immortal realm again, he didn’t kill a single person; he just grabbed and beat up whoever made him feel displeased. If he met someone who had been using his cultivation to oppress others, he would beat them even harder, breaking their arms and legs to let off some steam.
After a while, people in the cultivation world had mixed feelings about this change in his behavior.
Most people thought that Bu Tianhan did not dare to kill because they now had Gu Xiyu, a big boss. Since Gu Xiyu had broken through to the great realm, he must have reached the final 18th level of the Emotionless Dao techniques and would be able to sort out Bu Tianhan, who was unhappy with his breakthrough.
Bu Tianhan spent a long time making trouble, but Gu Xiyu was still nowhere to be found and showed no intention of coming to see him. He even used the ‘system’ to get in touch with him, but no matter how many times he tried, there was never any answer from the other side.
Gu Xiyu was so indifferent that he didn’t even bother with the intelligent system, which, in Bu Tianhan’s eyes, was the reaction of someone who had completely immersed himself on the path of emotionlessness and had completely cut himself from the mundane affairs of the world.
Tormenting the cultivation community did not attract Gu Xiyu’s attention, so Bu Tianhan lost interest and stopped looking for trouble, wandering around like a soulless zombie.
Maybe if he walked around, he would happen to meet Gu Xiyu.
Thinking of this, Bu Tianhan reached out and touched the jade hook hanging around his neck. It was only when the spiritually charged coldness of it slowly entered his palm that he remembered why Gu Xiyu had given him this jade. His heart rekindled with a small hope. Gu Xiyu never lied, he had even sent his fenshen to the End of the Sea, so as long as he used the hook jade, he would come over!
But this time, he didn’t want to leave this precious object in a dangerous place, it was the only thing he had when he couldn’t see Gu Xiyu. He also remembered how serious Gu Xiyu had been when he had told him never to see him if he lost it.
Naturally, Bu Tianhan did not want this to happen.
He was now in the immortal realm. This area was much larger than what looked like the demon realm, which also meant that there were more strange and dangerous areas.
Bu Tianhan finally targeted a certain swampy area that many cultivators feared. It was said that the swamp was seldom visited, and deep in its depths, which light couldn’t reach, were many terrifying and vicious beasts. These beasts are neither demonic nor spirit beasts, and although they are alive, they have little intelligence. The only thing they know how to do is hunt for food and kill by instinct. No matter who came, no matter how powerful their aura was, they could turn a blind eye to it, and their only instinct was to destroy all living things that moved around them.
Such vicious beasts could be in many places in the immortal realm, but this place happened to be near Bu Tianhan, and he immediately went over with the hook jade in his pocket.
The swamp was in a strange, basin-like depression. He stood high up and looked down, the cold wind gently ruffling his long, black hair and robes. From his perspective, the swamp at the bottom looked like a field of deep purple trees surrounded by a black mist; it looked lifeless.
For dozens of miles around the center of this forest was barren sand and gravel, and even when he calmed his mind, he could not hear any birds or animals. He raised his hand to look at the tiny hooked jade lying in his palm, its reflection in his eyes forming a small cluster of light.
Bu Tianhan clenched his fingers around it and used the hook jade to invoke his mind and seek help from Gu Xiyu, who was nowhere to be found. Although this plea for help seemed even more false after his identity was revealed, it was the only way he could contact Gu Xiyu now.
His eyes stared listlessly at the dangerous forest below, and he laughed at himself, suddenly grumbling at why Gu Xiyu had appeared in his world, making him have to face such a wretched version of himself.
He obviously wanted to get back at Gu Xiyu from the moment he heard his name, to humiliate him and let him know what happens after offending the great demon and trying to manipulate his fate. But somehow, things had come to this, and by the time he came to his senses, the man had already seared himself into his bones along with the mark that had been imprinted on him.
It seemed that, from the very beginning, it had been impossible to truly loathe him. On the contrary, loving him was more like an instinct that was already engraved in his soul.
He recalled the man in his dream who looked exactly like himself, as well as those strange dreams. The man told him that as the most powerful “soul fragment”, he would have greater resonance than the others. So was the “hollow” feeling, which felt as if his heart had been plucked out, the so-called “resonance”?
“Why did you come to this world?”
“What is your obsession?”
A hazy memory of someone asking him these questions suddenly came to mind. He didn’t remember where it was from, it could have been a dream that he had left behind a long, long time ago.
The biting cold wind blew relentlessly around him, clearing his thoughts a little more. The barren land also reminded him that the person he had called for had not appeared. If it wasn’t for the fact that Gu Xiyu’s soul and health dynamics were showing on his magical panel, he would have thought that this man had secretly left this world after toying with him.
His heart felt like it was bound to a heavy stone, helplessly getting dragged deeper and deeper.
In his daze, a force suddenly hit him from behind. He happened to be thinking about Gu Xiyu, so he didn’t notice the group of people approaching and was violently struck by a spiritual force.
He was not seriously injured, but the hooked jade he held in his hand was thrown out as his body was hit, and the small item fell into the swampy forest below.
Bu Tianhan’s pupils shrank, his chest tightened, and his thoughts suddenly went blank for a moment. What followed was a formation that had surrounded him at some point. It was a demon subjugation formation used to deal with demons, and it usually required several people to activate it, and they had to be people from the Immortal Dao.
A joyful laugh sounded, but Bu Tianhan did not turn around. He kept his original posture with his back to them, his eyes staring at the swamp obscured by black mist, staring at the place where the small hooked jade had disappeared in the pile of chaos.
Several bold cultivators approached Bu Tianhan. Although Bu Tianhan had temporarily put off the idea of bothering orthodox cultivators, these people had taken the initiative to trouble him after Lin Wuhen’s lobbying and Gu Xiyu’s sensational breakthrough that day. At the same time, they were worried that they wouldn’t be able to fight him head-on, so most of them chose to ambush him.
Generally speaking, Bu Tianhan could easily detect them, and when he was in a good mood, he would match their performance and turn them against him. When he was in a bad mood, he would choose to go around for fear that he might inadvertently kill them. It just so happened that he was distracted today, and he didn’t expect anyone to come to such a gloomy and dangerous place, so he fell into their trap.
“It’s really Bu Tianhan!”
“He’s entered the formation, I guess he’s nothing more than that. Several of us came quietly to surround him, and he didn’t even notice.”
“If we can subdue this great demon, then we will have made great merits, all the cultivators on the continent will be in awe of us!”
“Hey, the senior brothers and sisters will also look up to us ……”
These people came from the same sect, and judging from the brown-gray clothing, they should be from a powerful sect. Their disciples were usually pompous when they went out on the streets. They were not shallow in their dao, which is why they dared to set a trap for Bu Tianhan.
Demon cultivators who were held by the Demon Subjugation Formation would suffer great pain and their demonic power would be weakened; the longer they stayed inside, the more they would be weakened.
When one of them saw that Bu Tianhan had not moved for a long time, he elbowed the man beside him and asked, “He’s not scared silly, is he?”
“Probably scared and thinking of how to get out of it.”
Another source of their confidence was also because it had been a long time since Bu Tianhan had killed someone and taken their dantian. Everyone in the continent knew that the main way for Bu Tianhan, who possessed the demon deed, to improve his cultivation was to kill people and use their dantian and yuanshen to improve himself. During the years he was restrained by Gu Xiyu, he did not kill any demon cultivators from his domain, so people outside believed that his cultivation had not only stagnated but, according to projections, it was likely that he would even regress.
A less threatening Bu Tianhan would definitely be better to deal with.
“Remember not to kill him, just find a way to nullify him. If you can’t, seriously injuring him will buy Lord Tai Ling some time to get ready to kill him!”
The words were like some keyword that recaptured Bu Tianhan’s attention, and the motionless figure that looked like a stone statue finally made a move. The cultivators surrounding him had their weapons drawn, and they exchanged glances as they silently approached him.
The man in black turned around, his scarlet eyes staring at them with a bitterly cold stare, causing them to feel as if they were locked in a viper’s grip. A chill ran from their tailbones to the tops of their heads.
Without saying anything, Bu Tianhan raised his hand and called up a force. The invisible force shook outward in a wave, and the formation that was gradually narrowing down to trap him collapsed in an instant.
It was like a slow nightmare playing out before them.
Bu Tianhan still did not speak, but simply left his original position in the blink of an eye, leaving a strong demonic energy that could have pierced through the spiritual defenses around them with a single palm and shattered the ribs in their chests.
It was only then that those people realized Bu Tianhan’s cultivation had not regressed; it had risen. According to the pressure and aura he was releasing now, he might even be able to draw with Lord Tai Ling!
They instantly felt remorseful and cursed in their hearts. Who started that broken rumor? Come to think of it, it seemed to have come from the Tiansu Immortal Sect!
Even in his messy state of mind, Bu Tianhan was still able to think clearly, and he attacked them at once. Compared to his teasing in the past few months, these cultivators could feel that he was moving to kill, his blood-red eyes were full of killing intent.
“Ah–” The heartbreaking cries broke the dead silence of the area, and the men who had been yelling that they would waste Bu Tianhan fell to the ground a few moments later.
One man felt his spiritual energy draining from his dantian, and he spat blood out of his mouth as he said, “No, no, I don’t want to leave the cultivation path!
There was no doubt that they were the ones who would end up being ruined. They thought that their lives would end here, but it seemed that Bu Tianhan was holding back the evil thoughts in his heart. He could have killed them several times, but in the end, he did not do so.
Their last impression of Bu Tianhan rested on his expression, which was so terrifying that it looked like a great demon from the depths of Purgatory. His eyes reflected a blood-red glow, and his tone was sullen and harsh: “Who are you to stand and talk to me?”
“If it weren’t for him, you would have been already dead.” He left these words hoarsely, then turned and disappeared at the end of the cliff, as if he had gone deeper below.
———–
The black mist that surrounded the treacherous swampy forest was something akin to a miasma. Not only did its presence make the environment within the forest more difficult to explore, but it also somehow restricted the use of spiritual power, whether it was immortal or demonic. Moreover, because of this black mist, all Bu Tianhan could do in his search for the hook jade was vaguely detect its general area, he was unable to rely on his power to find it directly, which made it even more difficult than looking for it at the End of the Sea.
The black water in the swampy forest was as high as his calves, and underneath the invisible water were unknown dangers. Even the trees that blocked the sun could be hiding something that could kill him. But Bu Tianhan didn’t care, his eyes were focused and eager, and he bent over and felt his way through the water without fear. Even his delicate and expensive robes were stained with sludge, his palms were scarred by unknown sharp objects, and his hair which was always neatly groomed was in a mess.
Bu Tianhan’s face was a little pale from nervousness and worry. Gu Xiyu’s sullen eyes and cold words kept reverberating in his mind, reminding him of what the loss of the hooked jade meant.
The vicious beasts in the swampy forest had already sensed the strange lifeform, and countless long, flat things gathered towards him from the mud, from the trees, and from the depths he could not see through. Not only did Bu Tianhan have to retrieve the only thing that could reach Gu Xiyu, but he also had to deal with the endless attacks in such a bad and treacherous environment.
From dawn to dusk.
As another wave of incoming vicious beasts was destroyed after he exhausted his inner strength and a new wave approached him, he let out a low laugh and fell to his helplessly. The long, flat monsters realized that they could finally get their hands on him, and they picked up speed and came around him, surrounding him like they had found wonderful prey.
—-“You’re in real danger this time, but he didn’t even show up, did he?”
The demonic voice that hadn’t appeared in his heart for a long time rang out again during his muddled thoughts. Bu Tianhan lifted his head in a listless manner, letting his body get grabbed by the flat, long black strip as if he had given up struggling.
This time, it was really gone.
Whether it was the important item, or the person.
—“Don’t worry, isn’t death a rebirth? You are the child chosen by the demon seed and death will only make you stronger.”
—“The next rebirth will make you forget all your current memories. You don’t need any ties, without these worries, you can become the true Demon Lord that everyone in this world will respect.”
The tall body was gradually pulled into the pitch-black water, the limbs of the evil beast cascading in the shape of buds. The man, surrounded by darkness, did not struggle. He kept his eyes closed, suddenly not wanting to think about anything. His emotions sank to the bottom with the loss, even his memories were slowly being swallowed up.
The moment before his thoughts were completely withdrawn, he felt a stir in the depths of his yuanshen getting tugged, and a familiar yet unfamiliar cold and calm voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
—“You indulge yourself too much.”
—“Who hasn’t experienced darkness and met a few disgusting people as they grew up?”
—“I’ve been through what you’ve been through but didn’t end up like you, thinking about revenge and destroying the world.”
—“The body and the mind are yours, you have to be the one who can control them, not be at their mercy and mercy at will.”
He felt a familiar peace and a familiar rambling, but the memory seemed to come from a different place and time.
The man sinking into the water snapped his eyes open and struggled to rise from it, choking on several mouthfuls of bitter water, “Ahem! Ahem!”
“Forget? You want me to forget? Impossible.” Bu Tianhan sneered, a hint of madness suddenly flashing in his eyes.
“Even if I die, I have to remember the heartless person that got me into this wretched situation.”