Ye Yingying (5)
"You flatter me." Ye Yingying raised her hand, and a blue flame ignited in her palm. The light was purer and more intense than ever before. "In this world, there is probably no other madman besides you who can cultivate true fire into intelligence."
The cunning strategist stared at the flickering flames, a dry sigh escaping his throat: "Is this how you repay a debt of gratitude?"
"Are you senile?" The flames swirled like blades between her fingertips. "Wasn't it you who personally shattered my soul? How dare you say such a thing now?"
"That's because you betrayed your own people and got entangled with Li Zhoubai's wicked disciple..."
Ye Yingying raised an eyebrow and interrupted, "Old man, just how much do you hate Li Zhoubai? Is it because Qin Wenshuang chose him?"
"Shut up." The strategist's eye twitched violently, and a fierce glint flashed in his murky pupils. "What do you know?"
"How could I not understand? The soul-summoning banner and the illusion—isn't it obvious enough that you've gone to such lengths to resurrect her?" She put one hand on her hip, a mocking smile on her lips. "Unfortunately, she's not like me. Even if you turn the world upside down, she can't come back."
The bronze object, carrying a corrosive solution, suddenly came crashing down. Ye Yingying spun around to dodge, but her clothes were still burned through in several places. She widened her eyes in surprise: "You're angry already?" In the past, such a verbal argument would never have moved him.
A foul gust of wind suddenly swept through the weapon-refining room, causing the copper bells hanging from the ceiling to shake violently, and the furnace in the center to hum. The Ghost Calculator's withered, claw-like right hand remained in a throwing posture, his sleeve slipping down to reveal a crisscrossing network of hideous scars, resembling some ominous curse.
Ye Yingying remembered that one of the purplish-blue, twisted scars was because of her—it was a mark left by the Ghost Calculator when he was injured by the poison of weapon forging, in order to protect her when she was young and curious. From that time on, she was never allowed to step into the weapon forging room again until she came of age.
In a moment of distraction, another magical artifact hurtled through the air. Ye Yingying couldn't dodge in time, and her left shoulder was instantly torn open. "Ouch...! You old bastard!" Ye Yingying cursed angrily through the pain, "You self-destructive pervert! Even if Qin Wenshuang were alive, he wouldn't want you!"
Upon hearing this, the fortune teller suddenly lowered his hand: "Superficial. That kid has been hanging around for a long time, and this is all he's learned?"
"That's still better than being with you!" Ye Yingying suddenly burst out, "If it weren't for Yun Yanqiu, I wouldn't even know your real name is Duan Yougan!" Her pent-up anger erupted, "You're always like this, never telling me anything, I have to guess everything myself! Even if I go to great lengths to please you and do all the dirty work for you, you still treat me like a thief!"
"In your eyes, have I always been nothing more than a handy magical artifact?!"
The room was deathly silent. The Ghost Calculator stood unmoved, like a pine tree, his silence more scorching than any words. Ye Yingying's eyes blazed with fury: "Speak! What are you pretending to be mute for! When did you fall into demonic possession? Why did you hide it from me? Even centuries of companionship can't earn you a shred of trust? If you only saw me as a tool, why did you enlighten my mind in the first place?!"
The air in the weapon-refining room suddenly froze, even the humming in the furnace fell silent. A crack suddenly appeared in the bronze bell on the beam, and mottled patina fell off in a flurry, then froze in mid-air for a moment, as if pressed down by an invisible hand.
The scattered bronze artifacts on the ground suddenly trembled, and eerie black mist seeped from the cracks in the bluestone slabs. The mist flowed along the grain of the floorboards towards the fortune teller, converging behind him into a pitch-black shadow. Then, the shadow split into three: one a hunched old man, one a straight-backed young man, and the other a blurry, twisted figure like a wild beast. The three shadows intertwined and tore at the ground, carving deep furrows into the mottled surface.
Just as Ye Yingying was astonished by the scene before her, a sizzling sound of flesh burning came from deep within the furnace, mixed with a sound like a wild beast grinding its teeth. The entire weapon-refining room seemed to come alive, even its breath carrying the stench of decaying blood.
"You ask why... why are there so many whys?" The Ghost Calculator's voice was hoarse as if tearing silk. "Li Zhoubai kept swearing that he would protect Senior Sister, but what happened? When I asked him why, did he ever give me a satisfactory explanation?"
"Why was it Qin Wenshuang who died back then, and not Li Zhoubai? Why can't my senior sister be brought back to life, but you can live forever?"
"There are plenty of unreasonable things in this world, how can you expect every matter to have a satisfactory answer?" The Ghost Calculator's expression grew increasingly gloomy, black energy coiling around his entire body and staining his eyes black. He stared at Ye Yingying, his eyes bloodshot, "Anyway, today, you and Yun Yanqiu—will both die by my hand!"
Fresh streaks of blood bloomed on the ground, writhing like living things in an instant, converging together to form a magic array that Ye Yingying had never seen before—this was the very array that the Ghost Calculator used to separate her three layers of flames back then.
The Ghost Calculator's skin visibly withered and cracked, demonic energy gushing from his seven orifices. His hair, now completely white, danced wildly like venomous snakes, the black energy condensing at the ends falling to the ground like water droplets, corroding the earth with honeycomb-like holes. He raised his hand, and a long, narrow wound on his wrist spewed out a massive amount of black energy, which condensed into nine chains in the air.
"bite--"
The moment the first chain struck, the azure flame in Ye Yingying's palm surged. The clash between true fire and demonic energy shattered the magical artifacts covering the entire wall. She spun amidst the flying metal fragments, only to find that the remaining eight chains had formed a formidable net. The most dangerous chain grazed her neck, leaving a burning mark. Ye Yingying was terrified and quickly retreated, unleashing six layers of fire around herself with her azure flame.
The instant the fiery curtain engulfed the chains, the Ghost Calculator's withered claws suddenly pierced through the wall of flames. The nails had grown three inches long, their black, blade-like tips aimed straight for her heart. Ye Yingying hastily dodged, her left shoulder still bearing five deep, bloody gashes, revealing bone beneath. A sharp pain surged through her, and her tongue suddenly tasted a metallic rust, identical to the taste she remembered when her chest was pierced years ago.
Ye Yingying's pupils contracted sharply as the sensation of death surged into her heart, like countless hands trying to pull her into an abyss.
I can't die... at least not now, not after breaking my promise again!
"boom--!"
Suddenly, azure flames erupted from every pore of her skin, no longer a scattered curtain of fire, but condensed into a twelve-petaled lotus platform. The demonic claws that attacked were caught in the lotus petals, producing a piercing sound like metal clashing. Before the demonic strategist could react, a vortex emerged from the heart of the lotus formed by the flames, domineeringly devouring his demonic energy like a bottomless pit.
The fortune teller finally revealed a look of horror: "You can actually summon it..."
Ye Yingying herself was stunned. The blue lotus that was sleeping deep in the soul fire was now trembling in sync with her heartbeat.
As if sensing her resolve, the lotus platform suddenly closed into a bud, completely imprisoning the Ghost Calculator within. Amidst the scorching flames, the black mist that entwined him emitted a shrill scream, and three shadowy figures were vaguely revealed.
As the last wisp of demonic energy was refined, the emaciated form of the Ghost Calculator was finally revealed. He curled up in the lotus heart, like a corpse drained of its moisture, only his sunken eyes still fixed on Ye Yingying. In the last instant the lotus petals closed, Ye Yingying saw his split lips—a grotesque grin more hideous than a cry.
Ye Yingying was stunned. She never imagined that the Ghost Calculator's soul had been damaged to such an extent. His withered fingers grasped a lotus petal, his knuckles sizzling in the blue flames. His cloudy eyes bulged, and he hissed, "My soul is right here..." Then, his Adam's apple bobbed as he let out a hissing laugh like a broken bellows, "Burn, haven't you been waiting for this moment every day?"
Ye Yingying stared intently at the distorted face in the lotus flames. The azure flames illuminated the Ghost Calculator's withered face, making it appear like shattered porcelain. Each breath he took carried the acrid smell of burnt blood, yet his turbid eyes shone with a terrifying light, as if trying to drag her soul into the raging inferno.
Seeing that she didn't make a move, the strategist grinned, revealing his bleeding lips: "What's wrong? You can't even do this now?"
“No.” She took a step forward, and the blue flames rose higher. “I will kill you, but before that, tell me the real cause of Qin Wenshuang’s death.” The flames reflected her fierce profile, and her eyes pierced the flames like ice blades. “With her cultivation level back then, how could the lackeys of the Puppet Sect have harmed her in the slightest? Even if Lu Jiuzhong took action himself, he might not have been able to gain much of an advantage.”
The fortune teller's face suddenly darkened, and his knuckles, which were scorched by the flames, tightened abruptly.
“You must know the inside story, otherwise why would you still be so persistent after all these years?” Seeing that the Ghost Calculator still did not answer, Ye Yingying thought for a moment and said softly, “Even Yun Yanqiu does not know the details of Master’s wife’s death. No one else in this world knows except you.”
Mentioning this name, the Ghost Calculator suddenly raised his eyes, a strange glint flashing in his shattered pupils. He remained silent for a long while before finally speaking slowly: "Back then, she came back to me, asking for three protective magical artifacts..." Black blood continued to gush from the corners of her mouth, turning into charred mist in the blue flames, "She single-handedly stormed the Puppet Sect... but outnumbered, she ultimately self-destructed her primordial spirit when she was exhausted, blasting Lu Jiuzhong to the point of being reduced to half a skeleton..."
Why isn't Li Zhoubai going?
The Calculator suddenly burst into maniacal laughter: "He and Lu Jiuzhong have a life-or-death bond! Lu Jiuzhong has so many enemies, which one wasn't killed by Li Zhoubai's own hands? Even when that demon threatened to kill his disciple in the Northern Continent, didn't he cower in Xuanming Mountain like a coward?"
"He's just a weak and indecisive fool! Despite his extraordinary cultivation, he still ended up killing my senior sister!" Ghost Calculator was so agitated that his ribs cracked.
Ye Yingying remained unmoved. After a moment of contemplation, her eyes suddenly brightened: "No, it's not that he's afraid to go, it's that Qin Wenshuang didn't give him the chance at all."
The fortune teller froze, then continued, "She must have told Li Zhoubai that this was a feud between her and Lu Jiuzhong, and had nothing to do with him, so he shouldn't interfere."
"Nonsense!" Every word Ye Yingying spoke pierced his heart like an ice pick. The Calculator roared, his scalded flesh peeling off his body in flakes. "What right do you have..."
“Because she is just like you.” Ye Yingying’s voice pierced through the flames, each word clear, “She never wants to rely on anyone, much less implicate anyone—even her beloved, she wants to bear everything alone.”
"Isn't this kind of decisiveness precisely what you two have in common?"
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