Chapter 44 I am truly satisfied with this illusion…

The words caused a huge uproar.

"You actually fed your senior brother poison?" Leng Dandan asked in disbelief. Her face was even paler than the others, as she seemed to be lost in thought. "Senior brother, as the head of Buzhou Mountain, you knew she was a demon, yet you still dared to eat what she fed you? You trust her that much?"

Leng Dandan's words undoubtedly reflected the sentiments of everyone.

The couple had been together day and night, making it difficult to escape suspicion of protecting each other. Now that the immortal lord knew the witch's identity, he should have killed her with a single sword to uphold the immortal sect's rules. Instead, he not only used his internal energy to heal her wounds, but also dared to eat the food she offered.

If it really is poison, and the immortal lord dies, won't they have to fight the demon alone?

Xie Shou muttered to himself from behind, having read quite a few storybooks in his spare time, "Could it be that the immortal lord has fallen in love with a witch and lost his mind?"

Although both are cultivators, they are still young and value love and affection. Moreover, even a virtuous person living in this world is bound to be troubled by worldly emotions.

Xu Zhao spat at him, "Our Immortal Lord cultivates the Path of Ruthlessness, he wouldn't do that."

Xie Shou was speechless upon hearing this.

The Path of Ruthlessness is not a remarkable cultivation technique; in fact, this technique can be found everywhere on stalls in this world. However, not everyone chooses to cultivate it, at least not Xie Shou.

It involves many things, but the most important one is spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy in the lower realm is no longer what it used to be, so not every cultivator can ascend. Even many cultivators in the late Mahayana stage die under the tribulation lightning. However, cultivators who ascend through the Path of Ruthlessness do not. When they pass through the heavenly tribulation lightning, their cultivation techniques become even more refined under the lightning's strike.

Compared to other paths, cultivating the Path of Ruthlessness is a sure-fire way to make money.

The problem lies in the preface to this method—that if you want to cultivate this path, you must restrain yourself.

Self-control encompasses so much. Humans are not gods; everyone has desires, anger, ignorance, hatred, love, pride, and doubt to some extent. But how far can one go in terms of self-control?

Does one have to suppress their emotions to the point of becoming heartless and utterly despondent?

This is no less than the need to castrate oneself to achieve this skill.

Therefore, when Xie Shouzai saw the preface, he chose to close the book. However, after thinking for a while, he felt something was wrong. "If the Immortal Lord did not fall in love with the witch, then why didn't he kill her?"

Now it was Xu Zhao's turn to be speechless. However, he was quicker-witted than the others, and after a moment's thought, he spoke up, "How can a cultivator kill his own Daoist partner? This is not cultivation, but demonic fall!"

Killing one's wife, father, or son is not a legitimate act.

Xie Shouben instinctively felt that something was wrong with what he said, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he remained silent.

Compared to the Buzhou Mountain Sect, where Xu Zhao belonged, they naturally protected their own sect leader. However, Xie Shou's sect represented the other eight major sects. Even though many people had died, it was still a considerable number. Among them were people like Xie Shou who doubted the Immortal Lord's intentions, but some people had other ideas: "Could it be that the Immortal Lord has been cursed, the kind of curse that prevents her from being killed?"

"It's not impossible."

"Oh! I see. The Immortal Lord must be afraid that this matter will spread and cause controversy, so he decided to take this witch back to the Immortal Sect to deal with her later."

"But why treat her wounds then?"

The crowd's words, spoken in turn, were mostly expressions of contempt or condemnation of the demon. Yao Jin listened with a surprising sense of peace; it wasn't as unbearable as she had imagined. She knew that once she obtained the Mirror of Origin, these voices would never be heard again.

That's the end of their relationship.

"She is my wife, nothing more."

The effects of the Body Tempering Grass don't take effect immediately after ingestion, just like a landslide doesn't happen all at once. After the Body Tempering Grass enters the stomach, the spiritual energy throughout the body dissipates first, then the five senses are slowly separated from the body, and finally the meridians are rebuilt.

Just as Yao Jin was estimating the progress of the Body Tempering Grass, he heard Meng Ji say this.

Yao Jin stared intently at Meng Ji, "What if I weren't your wife?"

She planned to gouge out Meng Ji's heart when the Tempering Grass reached its peak effect, retrieve her Demon Scales and the Mirror of Origin, and ensure that when they met again in the future, they would be strangers.

Meng Ji's forehead was covered in cold sweat. He pursed his lips, suppressing the pain in his chest. "Why does Madam say that?"

This was extremely painful. The dissipation of spiritual energy was like having one's martial arts skills crippled; anyone with normal senses could tell. The pain came unexpectedly, no less than the pain of being beaten by the man who called himself their father when they were children.

But that was a physical object; this time it's the heart.

"Does Madam really intend to kill me?" Meng Ji tenderly stroked Yao Jin's forehead. "What they think is not what I think, Madam, please do not be afraid."

"I will not kill you because you are a demon, and you should not do anything wrong."

Don't do anything wrong out of fear. Killing him is tantamount to going against the righteous path, and what you'll face afterward is endless pursuit.

Even now, Meng Ji still hasn't asked for the antidote. He only advises her not to go astray and even sets up a barrier to protect Yao Jin from the "wind and rain" outside.

A burst of golden light erupted, and the barrier, having exhausted its last bit of spiritual energy, became dazzlingly bright.

The light was reflected in Yao Jin's dark pupils, making her look as radiant as an innocent girl watching fireworks. Yet her words were both naive and cruel: "What wrong thing? I never do anything wrong."

Meng Jiqiang used his spiritual power so hard that his body was already at its limit, and the body-tempering grass had also been used to its fullest potential. He had already taken ninety-nine steps, and Yao Jin was unwilling to give up on this last step no matter what.

She stopped looking into his eyes, and instead stretched out her fingers, her nails suddenly turning into sharp, long points, her five fingers forming claws as she dug into his chest.

With a soft thud, the sound of flesh being pierced rang out.

At the same time, exclamations of surprise rang out from the crowd: "Immortal Lord!"

They charged forward with their swords, trying to break through the barrier set up by Meng Ji. The crisp sound of cold weapons clashing against the hard barrier produced a ping-pong sound.

Everyone's arms went numb, and sparks were practically flying from their swords.

The crackling sounds were like the firecrackers set off during the Lunar New Year, creating a lively atmosphere.

Meng Ji felt as if he had returned to that darkest moment in the mortal realm. He lowered his eyes, his voice hoarse, "Madam, do you really want to kill me?"

As expected of a top-grade magic artifact, the Mirror of Origin exuded a surge of spiritual energy, accompanied by a scorching heat that nearly caused Yao Jin to lose his grip. The questioning voice was no different.

The pain in Yao Jin's chest was constant, like someone tap-dancing on her heart, making her extremely uncomfortable. She had to curl up her back and cover that area to feel any relief.

"Why not kill you? Why wait for you to kill me?" Yao Jin's body was hunched over, his tone sharp with pain. "Demons are treacherous, selfish, bloodthirsty, and indiscriminate in their killing. Therefore, demons deserve to be killed."

"Isn't this what you taught your disciples?"

Yao Jin's heart bled, his eyes red. "You righteous people are all just seeking fame and fortune. I'm killing you today only because our paths are different."

Outside the barrier, the faces of the crowd were contorted with rage. In response to this sudden turn of events, they swung their swords even faster.

It's hard to imagine what she would have been chopped up like without the barrier.

Yao Jin's expression grew increasingly cold, and he twisted the hand that was stuck in the other person's flesh and bone several times.

The Mirror of Origin has been embedded in the flesh for over a hundred years, becoming one with the flesh and blood. To retrieve it now, one must cut away the surrounding flesh, much like digging out a tiny shard of porcelain from dried-up mud.

It was really difficult. Yao Jin steadied her trembling hands while pulling on the thing. Her face was cold and she didn't even dare to blink.

Until the lump of flesh and blood encasing the Mirror of Origin was taken out, she looked at the lump and suddenly swallowed it.

"Ah! She ate the Immortal Lord's heart!" Xie Shou couldn't see clearly and retreated in shock.

The crowd stepped back a few paces after him.

Leng Dandan was terrified by the scene and screamed, "The Immortal Lord is going to die! We must kill her quickly, or we won't be able to leave this secret realm!"

A cultivator without a heart will die just like a human being; this is an inevitable outcome.

Meng Ji lay on the ground, watching everything indifferently. It was no longer clear whether his heart was still in his body. Under the excruciating pain, Yao Jin's face had become blurred, gradually separating from the girl who had rushed to his aid from under the Demon King's claws.

It hurts, it really hurts.

It turns out that no one in this world came for him, and that everyone was destined to abandon him.

All 108 meridians were being reshaped. Meng Ji knelt on one knee, no longer having the energy to recall anything, but Shuang Hua was truly spiritual, supporting Meng Ji so that he wouldn't be too embarrassed.

"Madam..." At this moment, Meng Ji felt only pain in his heart. He still couldn't believe it. "Madam, please stop! I've known all along that you're a demon. I've never cared about your identity. You don't need to do this..."

The barrier shattered, and the group of people abruptly stopped their sword strikes. "The Immortal Lord knows! He knows his wife is a demon, yet he still protects her! Doesn't that mean he's siding with the demonic path and opposing the immortal sects?!"

The leader of Buzhou Mountain has an unclear stance and is suspected of colluding with demons.

It's easy to imagine that once this group leaves, the prestigious and righteous status of Buzhou Mountain will likely be wiped out.

Yao Jinxin was furious and snapped at him, "Shut up!"

"I infiltrated the immortal sect for my Demon King father. What are you? Do you think I'll be grateful to you for not killing me? Do you think your status as an Immortal Lord is something great? Let me tell you, being with you disgusts me. How could someone like you be my husband? When my father is resurrected, the first person I'll kill is you."

Yao Jin never expected that Meng Ji had known her identity all along. It felt good to have someone firmly stand on her side, but with so many cultivators around, Meng Ji couldn't be allowed to speak like that.

Isn't this like playing with fire to amuse the feudal lords, deliberately trying to make them rebel?

Fortunately, while speaking, Yao Jin also found the demon scale, and without hesitation, she quickly retrieved the scale.

Just as Yao Jin was about to use the Recalling Mirror technique, a hand grabbed her tightly.

"You...you've always thought this way?" Meng Ji asked, his head bowed, his voice hoarse.

Meng Ji's condition was truly not good at this moment. The excruciating pain had soaked his clothes with sweat, and he looked like a soulless vine, pale and dull, appearing utterly dejected.

But the dejected vine stubbornly refused to let go, determined to cling to her and get an explanation.

In fact, since the Mirror of Origin could change time, Yao Jin really didn't need to make such a harsh statement. However, Meng Ji somehow managed to grab her, preventing her from using her magic.

The effects of the Body Tempering Grass have already taken effect, but if the Demon King isn't resurrected, there will be no more chances.

Yao Jin's face was cold, and he suddenly kicked him. "Of course."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and the red plum blossoms stained the ground, vividly red.

Po Jun watched this scene from behind, his smile growing wider and wider—the gains from this illusion far exceeded his expectations.

He was very satisfied.

"You lost."