Chapter 105
Xue Xingzhi looked at the person approaching in surprise, "Lady Lotus? Why are you here? What do you mean by that?"
Judging from his expression, it was clear that he had known Lady Lotus before.
That made sense too. If they weren't acquainted, how could they have repeatedly joined forces to deal with him?
Xue Chenjing turned to look at Lady Lotus, then glanced at his bewildered parents inside the room. He flicked his sleeve to push Xue Xingzhi away and took a few steps back, smiling wryly, "Sister, do you hate me so much?"
Lady Lotus's face darkened at being addressed as "Sister." She said coldly, "My entire Yi family was implicated because of you, destroyed because of you. Shouldn't I hate you?"
"If I remember correctly, at the time, I was on the trial platform with Father and Mother, sent there by their own hands. After you acted with such righteousness and cut ties with me, didn't the Jiang, Yao, and Yun families show you any mercy?"
Xue Chenjing rubbed his brow, then suddenly realized, "Ah, that's right. At that time, the Yi family was at its peak, encroaching on the interests of those three great clans. Yet, your strength wasn't enough to contend with them. In the end, you were all suppressed together. How can you blame me for that?"
“How dare you speak so lightly!” Lady Lotus's chest heaved, her heart ignited by his few words. The cold disdain in her eyes faded, revealing the deep hatred beneath. “If it weren't for you, what reason would they have to unite the entire cultivation world to judge my Yi family!”
“Without me, they would have found another reason,” Xue Chenjing said calmly, far more composed than Lady Lotus. He had grown accustomed to such hateful gazes. “Just as you always find reasons to hate me.”
From the hall, the sound of a dish shattering echoed, followed by the panicked voice of a woman at the table, "Xue Lang, what's happening? What's going on? Chenjing? Chenjing, where are you?"
Wei Tinglan, having knocked over a bowl of meatball soup, felt the scalding oil spill onto her hand, steam still rising.
She seemed oblivious to the pain, her trembling hands searching frantically, tears streaming down her face as she called out anxiously, "Chenjing, Chenjing, don't go. Mother knows she was wrong, Mother really knows she was wrong. Mother won't ask you for your brother anymore, don't go!"
Xue Xingzhi quickly turned to support her, holding her burned hand and blowing on it, wiping her tears as he soothed, "Lan Niang, don't be anxious. Chenjing hasn't left yet, he's still here. Don't cry, you can't cry anymore, your eyes won't be able to take it."
Wei Tinglan stubbornly raised her hand, "Where is he? Let me touch him."
Xue Xingzhi took her hand, looking pleadingly at Xue Chenjing, "Chenjing, come over, let your mother touch you, just once, let her feel your face."
Hearing the calls from inside the room, Xue Chenjing's eyelashes fluttered, but his gaze remained fixed, only catching a glimpse of the two figures inside the hall supporting each other. He said coldly, "I've already fulfilled your wish and been trapped here. There's no need to put on this act for me, it's disgusting."
Seeing that he refused, Xue Xingzhi carefully kicked aside the broken bowl on the ground, wanting to help Wei Tinglan out.
In his mind, Yu Yi's consciousness could only perceive the vague figures inside the hall through his peripheral vision.
This was her first time seeing Xue Chenjing's parents. She didn't know their full past, only hearing a few stories from Xue Chenjing. This wasn't the time to comment.
But perhaps the pleading in their voices was too desperate, and from their repeated cries of "Chenjing," one could feel the love.
Yu Yi's heart was moved, thinking of her own parents. She couldn't bear it and said, "A Jiu, go over, let your parents touch you."
Xue Chenjing's brow twitched, a brief struggle passing over his face. He clenched his teeth, his jawline growing sharper, thinking, "They're just acting, trying to lure me over to bind me again like before. A Yi, you don't understand. No one chooses me, except you."
Before Yu Yi could say more, Xue Chenjing raised his hand. Magic energy seeped from his palm, climbing up the doors and windows of the hall. Before they could step over the threshold, there was a loud bang as the doors and windows slammed shut, completely cutting off the figures inside from his sight.
Trapped inside the room, Xue's parents frantically knocked on the door, calling his name loudly. Xue Chenjing ignored them, showing no emotion.
"A demon is still a demon. Selfish, cold-blooded, how could it understand the bonds of flesh and blood?" Lady Lotus watched the scene unfold, giving a cold laugh, as her lotus flowers shot out from her arms, hovering in the air, forming a deadly battle formation.
Under the formation, spiritual threads weave through, and righteous cultivators lurking in the main courtyard reveal themselves, while the formations arranged in the courtyard also come to light.
Xue Chenjing stood at the center of the intersecting forces, his clothes and hair fluttering, the red ribbon on his head dancing in the air. Even the breeze brushing against him carried the intent to cut flesh and bone.
He immediately severed his sensory sharing with Yu Yi.
Outside, shadows intertwined, the light of spells illuminating the entire courtyard as if it were daylight. Xue Xingzhi's knocking was drowned out by the whistling of swords and blades.
The exquisitely laid out pavilions and terraces of the Xue family collapsed in the fight, the ground trembling incessantly.
The two mortals were as insignificant as ants in this grand battle between righteous and evil. No one heard their cries or shouts, nor did anyone care what they said.
Their only use here was to serve as a prison, using their thoughts of Xue Chenjing to trap him in this Human Thought Boundary. No matter how powerful the demon was, or how many monsters he could summon, the righteous cultivators would sacrifice themselves, employing a wheel battle strategy to wear him down and kill him within this boundary.
To ensure the Human Thought Boundary remained intact, the righteous sect disciples protected Xue's parents well, keeping them safe from the fighting. With the contract in place, there was no need to worry about the demon's monsters harming them.
Almost all the surrounding buildings had collapsed, but the hall where Xue's parents were remained untouched, the candles inside still burning.
Two monks appeared in the room, one on each side, guarding them.
Xue Xingzhi pressed against the door, peering through the carved patterns on the doorframe. A mortal's eyes couldn't see the flashing magical tools and spiritual threads, only the explosions of light and the blood-soaked figure within.
He rubbed his blurry eyes, finally seeing clearly who the person bent over coughing up blood was. He grew anxious, wanting to break through the door, but was pulled back forcefully by the monk beside him, who reprimanded, "Don't move around. Outside, formations abound. A mortal like you, stepping out of this door, would immediately be reduced to ashes."
Xue Xingzhi grabbed the monk's sleeve, anxiously saying, "Immortal, then tell me, what are you doing? Lady Lotus clearly promised us she would help us find our son, let us be reunited as a family!"
These two monks wore indigo robes with cloud patterns on their sleeves, identifying them as Yun Family monks.
Yun Zhu tugged his sleeve back, his expression cold, "Look outside. Is that your son? Your son was long devoured by demons. The one outside is a demon."
"No, no!" Wei Tinglan shouted, "He's not a demon. He... he's just a bit different from ordinary people, but he's not a demon. He's human, our son."
“Madam, since you can't see, I won't argue with you,” Yun Zhu turned to Xue Xingzhi, “But Mr. Xue, you can see. Look closely. The terrifying, monstrous demons emerging from him, are they human?”
Xue Xingzhi, guided by his words, unconsciously turned his gaze back, peering through the carved patterns on the door.
Perhaps it was nearing dawn, as the morning light fell, this time he could see much more clearly. He clearly saw the grotesque monsters tearing through the black mist around Xue Chenjing, brandishing claws and fighting with the cultivators.
His robes billowed, something writhing in his sleeves, its shape faintly outlined by the light. It was soft, flexible, much like the tentacles of an octopus.
However, the tentacles dancing around Xue Chenjing were much larger than he had ever seen before, enormous, gleaming with golden light. A single tentacle could smash a cultivator's spiritual sword, break through their protective spiritual power, and crush them into bloody pulp.
This wasn't the first time Xue Xingzhi had seen them.
When Xue Chenjing was still young, Xue Xingzhi had already seen those things on him.
Back then, Xue Chenjing couldn't control these tentacles very well, often letting them slip out from beneath his clothes. They were transparent and invisible to ordinary people, but he would frequently trip over them, leading others to believe the house was haunted. They even invited many Taoist priests to exorcise the ghosts.
Later, during one of Xue Chenjing's fevers, his entire body turned crimson, and the tentacles that emerged from the air were also red-hot, finally allowing them to see what these things really looked like.
Xue Xingzhi and his wife were terrified and panicked, spending a fortune to find genuine Taoist masters to deal with the strange presence on their son. After that, they never saw those things on him again, and they thought the problem had been resolved.
Xue Xingzhi leaned wearily against the doorframe. Wei Tinglan, not hearing him speak, tugged at his sleeve and repeatedly asked, "What did you see? Tell me."
"Transparent feet, the things that once attached themselves to our son," Xue Xingzhi replied, afraid of frightening her and not elaborating further.
Wei Tinglan fell silent for a moment, as if recalling what he meant by "fleshly feet." She murmured, "That's him. He really is different. He had these when he was young, and he still has them now. It means the person outside is indeed him—our son."
As she spoke, she grew excited and began to pry at the door, wanting to open it and go out. "Let me out! I'm not afraid of him. Let me see him!"
The two Yun Family cultivators found her actions amusing. The door was warded, so they weren't worried about her forcing it open, but her shouting was rather annoying.
"Mr. Xue, it seems your wife has gone mad with longing for her son. She's willing to accept even a demon as her child. Madam is delicate, so you'd better control her to avoid hurting herself."
Wei Tinglan's hands were already burned, and as she scraped them against the door's patterns, they bled, leaving streaks of blood on the door.
Seeing this, Xue Xingzhi quickly embraced her and pulled her away from the door, whispering soothingly in her ear, "Calm down, my dear. Let me think of a way. Let me handle this."
Wei Tinglan leaned against him, muttering, "He's our son. We made a mistake once, and we can't make another. It's all my fault. It's my fault for always nagging him about having a brother. That's why he left. I was wrong. I don't have Mingyuan anymore..."
Xue Xingzhi patted her back, his forehead beading with sweat. He turned to the two cultivators and pleaded, "You can see how unstable my wife's emotions are. Staying here will only worsen her condition. Could you let us leave and change locations?"
"No," the two cultivators replied in unison. "You can't go anywhere."
"Why?" Xue Xingzhi pressed. "If the person outside isn't our son, staying here will only hinder you in dealing with the demon. Letting us hide in another estate would be fine."
"No, you must stay here. After dealing with the demon, we'll send you and your wife back."
Xue Xingzhi held his wife, who was on the verge of fainting, and angrily said, "My wife has been plagued by worries for years, and her health is already fragile. If this continues, she might not survive until you finish dealing with the demon!"
Yun Zhu stepped forward, bent down to examine Wei Tinglan's condition, and took out a medicinal pill from his sleeve, handing it to Xue Xingzhi. "This pill will help Madam strengthen her body and replenish her energy. Give it to her. Mr. Xue, you can rest assured. Staying here will only aid us in dealing with the demon, not hinder us. My junior brother and I will ensure your safety. You won't come to any harm."