Self-Punishment Part 2

He suddenly looked at the vine-wrapped Yun Hai, just in time to hear him half-open his eyes and say softly, "Because I've been out."

Everyone was instantly shocked.

The sentence was simple, yet it shocked those few disciples from the Immortal Sects into a cold sweat.

The Evil Demon suppressed here had actually been out?!

They almost formed a sword array again when they heard Yi Wusheng suddenly speak, his voice light and dazed as he asked, "Was it... over twenty years ago?"

"Did you get out over twenty years ago?"

"Did you... did you visit the Hua Clan?"

Yi Wusheng tried his best to recall the strangers the Hua Clan had treated over twenty years ago. Great Sorrow Valley was in chaos back then, and too many people had been afflicted. Visitors came in an endless stream every day, almost trampling down the Hua Clan's threshold.

If this Evil Demon had been mixed in among those people, then the Offering Seals that had appeared on his and Hua Zhaoting's necks for no reason could be explained...

"But how were you able to get out?!"

But Yun Hai answered a different question, saying, "I've been to the Hua Clan more than once."

The moment his voice fell, the vines binding him suddenly grew wildly, as if they had come alive, whipping towards the crowd with a violent whoosh.

A disciple from an Immortal Sect pierced a vine with his sword, only to see even more evil energy pour out from within the stem, endlessly!

His sudden outburst caught most people off guard.

Fortunately, Xiao Fuxuan's longsword had not yet been sheathed. A golden light rippled out with incredible speed, like vast waves. Wherever it passed, the vines were all destroyed!

Amidst the sky full of severed vines and evil energy, the tip of the Mian Character Sword shot straight down, stopping abruptly just as it was about to pierce Yun Hai's heart.

In that moment, the entire tomb fell silent.

Everyone held their breath for a long moment before hearing Xiao Fuxuan's deep voice: "Since you got out, why did you come back?"

Everyone was stunned for a second, then they all reacted.

That's right. Since he had already gotten out, why come back? He had schemed and done so much, wasn't it all to break free from the suppression and see the light of day again?

They then realized belatedly that Yun Hai's sudden outburst just now was less like a killing move and more like the last desperate effort of a spent force. Knowing that Xiao Fuxuan was present, such an outburst would have no other result than to invite a fatal blow.

What was he after...

Then they heard Yun Hai's hoarse voice say, "I am an old friend of the Spirit King, but my relationship with Lord Tianxiu is not as deep. Don't always reminisce about unnecessary old feelings at a critical moment."

As he spoke, the vines on his body suddenly wrapped around Xiao Fuxuan's sword. While constantly exploding from being unable to withstand the immortal energy, they dragged the blade fiercely downward—

A squelching sound was heard.

The coldness was startling as the immortal sword pierced his heart. It made him recall the ashen sky of Great Sorrow Valley hundreds of years ago...

Hua Xin's sword had a peach branch pattern coiled around its hilt. It wasn't this cold.

He didn't know why there had been room for leeway in the sword strike that should have been fatal back then. He also didn't know what Hua Xin had done while he sank into a long slumber.

He only knew that one day, as if waking from a dream, he suddenly opened his eyes to find himself wrapped in something, with no sunlight above his head.

He was surrounded by runes, unable to move.

At his most agitated, when his evil energy was surging, he heard a voice, both distant and near. It was a voice he was so familiar with that he would never forget it, even after several lifetimes.

That voice said: "My disciple, Yun Hai."

And so he instantly quieted down, listening to that sentence over and over again.

But sometimes, he couldn't control himself. This was the way of cultivating the path of an Evil Demon; by the end, one couldn't tell if he was controlling the evil energy, or if the evil energy was controlling him.

That feeling of his soul being split in two returned. One half said: 'I want out. Who can stop me?'

The other half said: 'You must not.'

Mortals often passed through Great Sorrow Valley. Taking advantage of a loosening in the great formation, he sent a wisp of his Spiritual Sense out of the tomb, attaching it to a passerby.

When he smelled the aura of the living, he realized he had been hungry for a very long time. That day, he stood ethereally on the altar of an Immortal Temple, looking down on the worshipers like the god statue of old, sneering as he left some marks on them.

At that moment, the other half of his soul said: 'You really are still that same Evil Demon.'

He got a taste of the benefits from the Offering Seal and so used other methods. Even without acting himself, he could continuously absorb the life force of living beings.

He gathered more strength, and so one day he attached himself to a living person again and left Great Sorrow Valley.

He looked at the long-unfamiliar mortal world, unsure of where to go for a time.

By the time he came to his senses, he was already standing in the main hall of the Hua Clan in Chunfan City, quietly looking at the portrait hanging in the hall.

In that instant, the evil energy gained the upper hand, and he became somewhat furious from shame.

That half of his soul sneered: 'The one who wanted to kill you, why do you keep thinking about him?'

But the other half said: 'But I didn't die completely.'

That half sneered again: 'Then you want to die again, to show your true feelings? I won't let you have your wish.'

In those days, he committed many evil deeds with just a wisp of a ghost.

First, it was out of his nature as an Evil Demon. Second... perhaps he also wanted to see if that person would descend from the Immortal Capital again.

Scolding him, killing him, either would be fine.

But he didn't get to see it.

Every time his Spirit Essence was about to be depleted, he would hide back in the tomb and try to gather some "food". He didn't know how long he slept each time he slumbered, whether it was months or years.

He was in a daze, going in and out several times, until one day, he once again stood in the Hua Clan's hall, before that portrait of Hua Xin, and was stunned for a long time.

A young disciple of the Hua Clan asked him, "Sir, have you encountered some trouble? Is it related to soul dreams? Are you looking for Master Yi Wusheng or...?"

He didn't recognize any Yi Wusheng, nor did he listen closely to the young disciple's words. He only stared blankly for a long time before asking, "How has Immortal Leader Mingwu been in recent years?"

The young disciple's eyes widened, and he said in astonishment, "Sir, the Immortal Capital has been gone for many years. The Twelve Immortals of Lingtai no longer exist, and the Immortal Leader has passed away too."

Yun Hai couldn't remember how he separated from the living person that day, nor could he remember if he had committed any more sins, or even how he had returned to Great Sorrow Valley.

He just suddenly felt that the vast world was nothing more than this.

What was there to see under the sun? It was not as good as this deep tomb beneath Great Sorrow Valley. At least here, he could still hear that person's voice.

For the first time, the conflict between the two halves of his soul was this intense. One half wanted to escape, while the other wanted to stay here forever.

Sometimes he was Yun Hai, Hua Xin's disciple. Sometimes he was Yun Hai, the Evil Demon.

Sometimes lucid, sometimes mad.

When mad, he used all his evil arts, wanting to break through these layers of suppression. When lucid, he added another layer of runes to Hua Xin's loosened great formation.

He had been fighting with himself for over twenty more years. He'd had enough.

Now that the great formation had dispersed, he would never hear that person's voice again. Thus, there was nothing left to linger for. It was better to borrow an old acquaintance's sword and give himself a quick end.

From now on, the world's endless miles of long winds had nothing to do with him anymore.