Chapter 109 A Glimmer of Hope (Part 1)

Feng Xixue is a direct descendant of the Shi Xin sect of the righteous bandits.

When he was young, there was turmoil in his father's and mother's clans. The two clans went to war, and blood flowed like rivers.

Fortunately, the whole family was cold-blooded and ruthless, and Feng Xixue felt nothing about her parents killing each other.

At the age of 1,600, he was still a minor, yet he had already risen to the position of one of the seven Demon Realm Envoys of the Demon Clan.

The demon race is leaderless, and the position of Demon Lord is vacant. Whoever is the first to seize the position of Demon Envoy and become the leader of all envoys will be able to ascend the throne of Demon Lord and become the ruler of the desolate frontier for thousands of generations.

Among the seven Demon Realm Envoys, Feng Xixue is the youngest, not even an adult yet, but his ambition is like the mist at the bottom of an endless cliff, unfathomable, a bottomless pit of insatiable desire.

He was all alone and carefree, always ruthless and cold-blooded, without any scruples, callous to the extreme, not even caring about his own life.

In that battle for the throne, he and another demon envoy whose spiritual power had reached its peak faced a life-or-death struggle.

Even staying in the wilderness is not safe.

Left with no other choice, he secretly sneaked into the human realm and planned to make further plans once his injuries had healed.

...

***

In the dimly lit room, a delicate young girl knelt on the bed, her black hair slightly disheveled. Her fair and gentle face was filled with a bewildered expression as she huddled in a corner, silent and dazed.

With a creak, the door to the room was pushed open.

Yu Sheng felt a chill run down her spine. Hearing the footsteps approaching, she instinctively shrank back. But she was already in a corner, with nowhere to hide.

"Look up." The voice seemed to carry an icy chill, sending shivers down one's spine.

Yu Sheng had no choice but to suppress her fear and look up into Feng Xixue's eyes.

"Why aren't you eating?" Feng Xixue stood with her hands behind her back beside the bed, her voice calm.

Yu Sheng said in a low voice, "I...I didn't mean to, it's just that I really can't get used to the food here."

Feng Xixue glanced at her.

He said in an unyielding tone, "Then eat slowly, you'll get used to it sooner or later. From now on, you'll live on the edge of the wilderness and don't even think about going back to the human world. I can't let you go."

After saying that, Feng Xixue picked up the food and handed it to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng had no choice but to accept the food with trembling hands. The bitter and bloody smell of the food kept wafting into her nose, and tears she had been holding back for so long kept welling up in her eyes.

After forcing herself to eat a little, Yu Sheng put down what she was holding, struggled to get out of bed, and, suppressing her fear, humbly and cautiously tugged at Feng Xixue's sleeve:

"Brother Feng, I beg you... please let me go home..."

Feng Xixue didn't speak immediately. She glanced down at the little girl, who was almost curled up in a ball, and chuckled leisurely: "Go home. Where do you still have a home? Princess of Dongzhou, wasn't your country already destroyed by Changxia?"

Yu Sheng paused slightly, her clear eyes gradually reddening. She murmured, "I want to go back... back to my world... I'm really, really scared of this place..."

"Is the wilderness really that scary?"

Yu Sheng bit her lower lip and nodded hesitantly.

Feng Xixue seemed oblivious to her deathly pale face: "But that's not what you promised me. You promised to stay by my side. Now you want to separate from my clan?"

"I don't want to."

Feng Xixue refused decisively, "I never intended to stay in the human realm forever. Even without those events, I would have brought you back to the desolate border sooner or later. I only regret that I didn't bring you back sooner."

Yu Sheng's pale lips trembled: "Brother Feng, are you still resentful towards me?"

"What do you think?" Feng Xixue lazily extended her slender index finger, lifted Yu Sheng's chin, and sneered, "I've only been gone for a month, and you've already climbed into another man's bed."

Yu Sheng finally let her tears, which she had been holding back for so long, flow. Although she was terrified, she was even more disappointed and saddened: "I didn't, I..."

"You've explained it so many times, there's no need."

Feng Xixue interrupted in a low voice, her dark eyes revealing no light: "No matter how much hardship you have in this marriage alliance, no matter how much you can save the people from suffering, no matter how much you can't shirk your responsibilities, you can't erase the fact that you betrayed me."

Yu Sheng was speechless and closed her eyes in embarrassment.

The cold air around her made her shiver, and his icy, merciless gaze caused her heart to ache terribly.

However, as if unaware of how hurtful his words were, he continued to stab her in the heart: "If Your Highness had known earlier that the simple white-clad man you see could actually have given you a thousand times more wealth and honor than the Emperor of Changxia, you probably wouldn't have stooped to marry such a filthy and vulgar man."

Unable to bear it any longer, Yu Sheng raised her eyes to face the humiliation emanating from his contemptuous gaze: "I said, I'm not doing this for wealth and status. As a princess receiving the stipends of the people, I naturally have to shoulder the responsibilities I bear for them. If I don't go for the marriage alliance, then Changxia will..."

"You went, and Changxia still destroyed Dongzhou. How do you explain that?" Feng Xixue sneered.

Yu Sheng, suppressing her bitterness and grievances, said in a trembling voice, "They broke their promise..."

"You always have so many excuses."

Yu Sheng had no choice but to stop talking.

He's right. This kind of conversation has happened between them many times before. Every time, it ends with him leaving her completely devastated by his merciless words.

Feng Xixue saw Yu Sheng finally fall silent, her head bowed, like a wounded young animal hiding in a corner, silently licking its wounds.

A slight discomfort shot through his chest. He raised his hand to press it, his face gradually darkening, his tone becoming tinged with venom. "Unbelievable. I, the number one Demon Envoy of the Demon Realm, have been toyed with by a lowly human. For your sake, I didn't even cut off the stubble of flesh that had just sprouted on my stone heart. Do you know what kind of face that has given you?"

Yu Sheng was naturally unaware that she couldn't understand a word he was saying. All she knew was that she was speechless in the face of Feng Xixue's questioning.

She had developed feelings for him over time, so how could she have wanted to betray him? However, he had gone home to take care of some business, and her father's decree for a marriage alliance was irreversible. She didn't even have time to explain to him.

Whether it was resentment or anger, she could understand him.

However, he never showed her any sympathy, only believing that she had intentionally betrayed him, leaving her speechless.

After waiting for a moment, Feng Xixue sneered, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Yu Sheng said softly, "I don't know what to say."

Feng Xixue's dark eyes were extremely cold. He stared at her for a long time before suddenly reaching out a large hand to grab her small chin: "Since you don't know what nice things to say, you should get used to the food here as soon as possible. This is only the first step. You still have a lot to do in the wilderness. The sooner you get used to it, the less suffering you will have."

He had a strong grip, he knew it himself. But this delicate and frail little girl in front of him actually withstood it without crying or uttering a sound.

Feng Xixue released her hand and stared at the shocking purplish-blue finger marks on Yu Sheng's chin: "Do you regret saving me back then?"

Yu Sheng's eyes were slightly red. She didn't answer, but asked instead, "What about you? Do you regret liking me?"

She gave him her whole heart, regardless of whether he was human or demon; asking that question took all the courage she had ever mustered in her life.

Unfortunately, Feng Xixue couldn't understand the clear grievance and expectation in her bright eyes.

He said honestly, "I have a heart of stone by nature, and I don't know what love is at all. I just want to keep you by my side."

Yu Sheng stared at him blankly, the last glimmer of light in her bright, clear eyes silently extinguished.

This time, Feng Xixue saw it clearly. He saw that the little girl's eyes, which always held a gentle smile, had fallen silent. It was as if she had been stabbed by an invisible knife and was silently enduring the pain.

His heart, which had been filled with righteous indignation, suddenly stirred.

It wasn't exactly painful, but the sensation was rather unpleasant.

Feng Xixue didn't know how to interpret Yu Sheng's complicated expression. She didn't answer his previous question, and he assumed she had regretted it. He then asked, "If you had known from the beginning that I was a demon, would you still have saved me when I was seriously injured and unconscious?"

Yu Sheng pursed her lips, but ultimately couldn't resist her stubbornness and said frankly, "If I had known you were like this, I naturally wouldn't have saved you. But this has nothing to do with whether you are a demon or a human."

The room fell silent upon hearing this.

It was as if the last ray of light had been suppressed, and the whole room was so dark that it was hard to breathe.

“Good,” he said in a deep voice, “Remember what you said. Remember that every word comes at a price.”

...

Feng Xixue didn't come over for the next few days.

Previously, he would bring Yu Sheng some human food every day. Although he wanted her to adapt, he knew that humans couldn't handle it, and she was even more delicate, so he never thought of rushing things. However, after that conversation, he never brought her any food she could eat again. If she couldn't eat demon food, then she would just have to go hungry.

At the same time, he stopped bothering to maintain the palace's protective barrier.

Without a barrier, the demonic energy in the desolate borderland flowed freely even more unrestrainedly. As the incomparably noble Demon Envoy of the Demon Realm, the place where his palace was built was second only to the Demon Lord's underground palace in terms of the intensity of demonic energy.

Feng Xixue didn't feel like he had done anything special; he was just taking back the last bit of effort he had made.

But he didn't expect that when he set foot in Yu Sheng's place again seven days later, he would still lose.

With a cold expression, Feng Xixue picked up the unconscious Yu Sheng, gathering spiritual energy in his rough palms and channeling it into her dantian. After a moment, seeing a little color return to her pale face, he finally had time to glance at the food that hadn't been touched for several days.

Her stubbornness is almost infuriating.

If he hadn't come today, perhaps tomorrow, or even the next moment, she would have died silently.

However, after watching for a moment, Feng Xixue gently put Yu Sheng down.

After waiting for a long time, Yu Sheng finally opened her eyes and saw Feng Xixue beside her. She couldn't help but tremble slightly and back away.

"Stop hiding, where can you hide to?" Feng Xixue took a slow breath, seemingly trying her best to calm down. "Sheng Sheng, do you think that I'm bullying you by making you adapt to everything about the demon race?"

Yu Sheng lowered her head and remained silent.

Feng Xixue's gaze turned icy: "I'm talking to you."

Yu Sheng's thick, long eyelashes trembled, and she slowly raised her eyelids: "I don't understand. If you're not angry with me because of the marriage alliance, then why did you capture me and treat me like this?"

"How can I treat you like this?" Feng Xixue repeated and then asked again, "If it weren't for me, any demon here could easily tear you to pieces. I've always been protecting you."

Yu Sheng closed her eyes and said softly, "You weren't like this when we first met."

A sharp, stabbing pain suddenly shot through her heart, and Feng Xixue instinctively touched it.

At first, when he faced Yu Sheng, he didn't feel this intense, inexplicable anger. It seems that only recently, a very unfamiliar emotion has arisen in his heart, a desire to keep her firmly by his side and possess her entirely.

He didn't think about it in detail, nor was he capable of thinking about it in detail: "These things are meaningless, we'll just look at the future."

Feng Xixue stepped forward, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently stroked Yu Sheng's cheek. "Do you know what would happen if someone else treated me like you?"

Before she could answer, he continued, "However, I won't hold these things against you for now. You are human and cannot withstand any spiritual power. I will tolerate you until you become a demon."

Yu Sheng was startled, a sense of foreboding creeping into her heart. Her limbs felt as if they were immersed in ice water, making her tremble uncontrollably: "What does this mean? Becoming a demon... How could I become a demon?"

“There is a way,” Feng Xixue said, “but your body is too weak, and you will definitely not be able to sustain it if you try to do this easily. That’s why I’m having you get used to the food of the demons and how to survive in the demonic energy. After a while, when you’re feeling better, I’ll come and help you.”

Yu Sheng opened her eyes wide and shook her head frantically: "What nonsense are you talking about?! I don't want to!"

Her panic and helplessness were so pitiful, but Feng Xixue remained unmoved and didn't care at all: "It's not up to you. I'll come again tomorrow, and if you still don't eat, I'll use my methods to make you eat."

...

After Feng Xixue came out, she hadn't taken more than a few steps when a person came towards her.

He glanced at it indifferently, too lazy to bother with it.

The other person called out to him, "Xiao Feng, it's been so many days, aren't you going to let that girl go?"

"What's it to you? Get lost."

"I'm just kindly reminding you that she's human, from a different world than you. Even if you're unwilling to release her, you should at least consider your own situation. Are you really not going to let go of those deep-seated resentments in Fei Shi's heart? Aren't you afraid of utter defeat?"

Feng Xixue stopped in her tracks, her gaze turning even more sinister. "You, surnamed Mu, don't overreach yourself. You're just some third-rate nobody who came from who-knows-where, with a broken heart of jade, who managed to become the Demon Lord by exploiting loopholes. Do you really think I won't surpass you one day?"

Feng Xixue slowly licked her teeth, like a wild beast.

He grinned maliciously: "We demons? You old sir, you have a bad memory. You've forgotten that you were pierced through the heart by a sword and thrown off the Endless Cliff. To survive, you had no choice but to abandon your ancestors and become a lowly, monstrous demon. What's the difference between you and me?"

Mu Gechuan's expression changed slightly, his hands hanging at his sides slowly clenched, and his gaze gradually turned cold.

A moment later, he slowly let go of her hand.

He sneered and turned to leave: "Forget it. I only offered you advice because you're still a child and not yet an adult. Since you don't know what's good for you, just wait and see. Your retribution is yet to come."

Feng Xixue looked away, as if looking at her for even a moment would taint her eyes.

He knew his own capabilities. What did it matter if the Holy Ancestor had given instructions? In this dog-eat-dog world, he had climbed to his current position on his own merits and never believed in or respected any Holy Ancestor.

He was born with extraordinary spiritual power, traveling a thousand miles a day. His clansmen turned to stone and their hearts turned to flesh when they talked about him. They indulged in love and passion, but that was only because their ancestors were too useless, unable to even control their own hearts.

It's just flesh and blood; how could it possibly bind him?

Author's Note:

To put it another way, it's a sixteen-year-old black-haired Xiao Feng.

As for the side stories, there's less angst and more sweetness (doge).