PID Chapter 24.1

Xiao Mo followed behind Wan Yu and, after some thought, still sent a message to Chu Jinglan.

 

What if there was still a chance for a final meeting?

 

[Chu Jinglan]

 

[Hmm?]

 

[Your mother’s situation doesn’t seem right. She’s going to Chu Tianshi’s courtyard alone]

 

[! — I’ll find a way to come over!]

 

Chu Jinglan’s composure was shattered.

 

He now had to catch his breath after walking just a few steps. It was unclear how long it would take him to rush over from where he was staying. Meanwhile, Wan Yu, though appearing to move with small, delicate steps, quickly arrived outside Chu Tianshi’s courtyard.

 

The door wasn’t locked. As she pushed it open, Chu Tianshi was in the courtyard indulging in debauchery with a group of dancing girls, thoroughly enjoying himself. This was Xiao Mo’s first time seeing Chu Tianshi in person.

 

He lay drunk on the chaise lounge, his once handsome face now weak and dejected from years of debauchery. His body was hollowed out, ruining even the best features. Chu Jinglan’s features may have once resembled Chu Tianshi’s, but now they looked completely different.

 

Xiao Mo frowned at the stench of alcohol permeating the courtyard.

 

Chu Tianshi had a dancing girl in his arms and didn’t react when the gate opened. It wasn’t until the servant pouring wine beside him said in a daze, “Master, I think it’s the madam…” that Chu Tianshi turned his face, slurring drunkenly, “Ma-madam? Which madam?”

 

The servant stammered, “Uh, the madam.”

 

Xiao Mo stood nearby, clenching his fists, but Wan Yu laughed at that moment and gracefully walked forward.

 

“Chu Lang, it’s me.”

 

Her voice was like an oriole’s song. The term “Chu Lang” made Chu Tianshi pause, suddenly unsure of when or where he was.

 

He finally stared at the newcomer, his alcohol-clouded eyes taking a long time to focus. He only saw a graceful pink silhouette at first. When he finally made out Wan Yu’s face, a rare moment of clarity flashed through his muddled mind.

 

“It’s, it’s you…”

 

Chu Tianshi had wanted to marry Wan Yu because of her beauty. Even while philandering outside, he couldn’t bear to divorce his beautiful wife, still willing to coax her at home. It wasn’t until Wan Yu went mad that he lost patience with accompanying a lunatic and thoroughly neglected her.

 

Today, in his haze, he seemed to see the gentle and lovely Wan Yu of years past.

 

Chu Tianshi’s mind was saturated with alcohol, his lucidity limited. After not seeing her for so long, Wan Yu’s beauty still captivated him. He couldn’t help reaching out: “Beau-beautiful, truly beautiful. Have you recovered?”

 

Wan Yu approached him step by step, saying gently, “Yes, I have.”

 

“That’s good, come, let me hold you!”

 

He pulled Wan Yu’s waist into an embrace. The dancing girl who had been in his arms pouted coquettishly, but as soon as she made a sound, she met Wan Yu’s gaze.

 

Cold, as if looking down on an insect.

 

The dancing girl shuddered violently and immediately backed away, lowering her head and not daring to act coy again.

 

But Chu Tianshi didn’t notice. He only cared about having a beauty in his arms, swaying drunkenly: “It’s good you’re not mad anymore. Mm, we’ll be a family of three, yes, *hic*, living well together!”

 

Xiao Mo’s dark eyes turned red again. Listen to that, was it even human speech? Chu Jinglan had become crippled, and this father showed not an ounce of concern, only indulging in his own pleasures. Now he talks about living as a family?

 

Wan Yu was in his arms, one hand on his chest, the other tidying Chu Tianshi’s messy hair. She said softly, “No need. The child is grown. Let him live his own life. I’ll just take you away.”

 

“Good, good, just the two of us—ugh!”

 

No one expected that Wan Yu’s delicate white hand, tender as water one second, would suddenly plunge into Chu Tianshi’s chest the next. Before anyone could react, it penetrated his ribcage. Chu Tianshi only managed a single cry before his throat was choked with blood, leaving him gasping.

 

Blood splattered across the scene of tenderness, vivid red staining the dancing girl’s skirt. The girl came to her senses and let out a piercing scream.

 

“Murder! Murder!”

 

Chu Tianshi’s eyes were wide open. He had no defenses up. Without activating his spiritual energy, his body was mere mortal flesh with no protection. He struggled to grab Wan Yu’s hand, but she had already ripped out his heart. She casually pushed his empty shell away, letting him roll off the chaise lounge without a second glance.

 

The guards, who had been keeping their distance to avoid disturbing Chu Tianshi’s revelry, now rushed over with swords drawn. They were all at the Foundation Establishment stage. Wan Yu, holding the heart in one hand, snatched a sword with the other and expressionlessly killed three guards.

 

Blood spread around her. The servants and dancing girls fled, but Wan Yu ignored them, letting them go. She held the sword in one hand and raised the heart to eye level with the other.

 

The pink-clad girl’s expression was innocent, surrounded by corpses. The scene was eerily terrifying yet carried an absurd beauty.

 

Wan Yu addressed the heart, her peach blossom-like face tinged with sorrow: “Chu Lang, I once sincerely wanted to grow old with you, to share weal and woe. But you insisted on betraying me. Let neither of us be a stumbling block for Jinglan. I’ll take you away – you to hell, and I to the afterlife. May we never meet again in the next life.”

 

As Wan Yu finished speaking, her pale fingers suddenly tightened, crushing Chu Tianshi’s heart.

 

Chu Tianshi on the ground had breathed his last before Wan Yu finished speaking. As the soul lamp in the Chu family ancestral hall extinguished, the Chu family elders immediately knew what had happened, even before the escaped servants could report.

 

The Great Elder, at the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm, instantly covered the entire Chu estate with his spiritual sense. Upon seeing what had transpired, he was furious: “You poisonous woman, how dare you—!”

 

Wan Yu let the crushed heart fragments slip from her hand, calmly looking at the three elders who appeared before her in the blink of an eye – one at the middle stage of Nascent Soul, two at the early stage. She couldn’t defeat any of them, yet she smiled composedly.

 

“Whether I dare or not, I’ve already done it. If I’m a poisonous woman, then you are all villains. None of us is nobler than the other.”

 

Having not taken her medicine today, Wan Yu’s sanity was barely holding on, teetering on the edge. A crazed look came into her eyes as she actively raised her sword and attacked the Great Elder!

 

The Second Elder immediately blocked her with his sword, while the Great Elder took the opportunity to strike down at Wan Yu’s crown with his palm, intending to end her life.

 

But his palm didn’t land on Wan Yu because Xiao Mo flew in front of her without hesitation, pushing out a palm to clash with the Great Elder’s.

 

The system cried out: “Host!”

 

This palm strike used ten-tenths of his spiritual energy. If Xiao Mo had been a cultivator at the early stage of Nascent Soul, he might have lasted a few breaths. But he was an inner demon strictly limited by the world’s laws. He only managed to block the Great Elder for an instant before being sent flying, crashing to the ground.

 

For a moment, Xiao Mo thought he had died.

 

It hurt so much…

 

Xiao Mo’s vision went dark in waves, convulsing in pain. It felt as if his bones and soul had been sliced to pieces. His entire being seemed to have shattered. An unprecedented, terrifying agony engulfed him, making him wish for death.

 

This wasn’t the Great Elder’s doing, but the laws’ punishment for Xiao Mo. The more force he used, the more vicious the backlash.

 

“Host, please pull yourself together!” The system was anxious. “Alas, I can only activate pain-free mode when the original body harms you, not at other times!”

 

“Why did you rush out like that? You knew it was futile. Aren’t you supposed to be rational and intelligent?”

 

The system always acts after rigorous calculations when making any decision. This is why, even with its emotion module loaded perfectly, it can never truly be human.

 

But Xiao Mo is human. He can be happy, sad, and sometimes controlled by emotions, doing things he would only do in the moment.

 

Futile… he thought hazily. So what if it was futile? He simply couldn’t stand by and watch without doing anything.

 

The cultivation world was no longer just a book to him; the people he interacted with were flesh and blood.

 

Xiao Mo’s entire arm had dispersed into black mist. He couldn’t get up from the ground. When his vision cleared enough to see, the sound of flesh being pierced reached his ears first.

 

A sword tip protruded from Wan Yu’s back, emerging through her chest, piercing her heart.

 

“No…”

 

Xiao Mo struggled, but his single hand couldn’t support his trembling body. The pain hadn’t subsided, and his body wouldn’t obey him. He convulsed pathetically, unable even to sit up.

 

At that moment, he heard a heart-wrenching cry of anguish.

 

Chu Jinglan had arrived.

 

Unable to walk quickly himself, he had used a wheelchair, desperately turning the wooden wheels until his hands were bloodied, finally reaching this place.

 

In the original story, Chu Jinglan hadn’t made it in time. Now that he could see her one last time, Xiao Mo wasn’t sure if it was actually good for him.

 

Xiao Mo’s entire body was in too much pain. He returned to the sea of consciousness as black mist, continuing to watch through Chu Jinglan’s eyes.

 

Chu Jinglan rose from his wheelchair, stumbling. Blood seeped from Wan Yu’s chest, her gaze already beginning to blur. Her mental illness could no longer be suppressed. Perhaps she didn’t even see Chu Jinglan clearly, but she smiled and opened her arms.

 

“My… my son…”

 

Wan Yu smiled wildly: “From now on, the world is vast. Where can’t I go? I can go anywhere—”

 

Her body fell gracefully. Chu Jinglan rushed to catch her, his voice already hoarse beyond recognition.

 

“No, Mother, don’t, don’t…”

 

In his arms, Wan Yu seemed to sense something. She raised her bloodstained hand and gently patted his arm, humming softly as if soothing a child to sleep.

 

But this time, it wasn’t the child being lulled to sleep. Her arm fell, and she closed her eyes for the last time.

 

Half her life had been spent in a cage. Now she was finally free. No one could bind her anymore. The crane spread its wings and soared into the clouds.

 

Chu Jinglan desperately held her body, but he couldn’t stop her bleeding or her slipping form.

 

He had waited so many years, cultivating relentlessly, enduring humiliation. He had weathered the Chu family’s unreasonable demands and others’ scheming, all for the day he could take Wan Yu away.

 

Not for this moment, holding a body that would never wake again.

 

Chu Jinglan’s eyes were bloodshot. A low, inhuman growl escaped his throat, broken and despairing. His body exuded a scent that was exquisite to inner demons.

 

But Xiao Mo closed his eyes in the sea of consciousness, unable to watch anymore.

 

The elders hadn’t expected Chu Jinglan to appear here. They exchanged glances, and the Great Elder stepped forward, easily knocking him unconscious. The Second Elder stroked his beard: “How should we deal with this?”

 

---