Chapter 13 - Hatred

"Every single day she tells me I need to perfect myself as a wife to marry into a prestigious family. Every time I failed to meet her expectations, I would be punished. You clearly knew I was suffering and yet, you didn't stop her. Rather, you encouraged her! And you, my dear Mother-!"

Young Lady Ye's voice cracked with rage as she snapped her fingers. A dark surge of resentment energy poured into Madame Ye's body, fueling her with strength. In an instant, the restraints shattered. But Madame Ye did not strike back. Instead, she lurched forward, unstable, her movements slow and faltering.

With a swift motion, Young Lady Ye gripped her mother by the hair and threw her violently to the ground.

"You were the one who tortured me!" Young Lady Ye's voice was filled with seething venom as she stomped down on her mother's frail body. Madame Ye's groans echoed from the ground, a sound raw and tortured, as though she could feel every ounce of agony her daughter now inflicted upon her.

"You starved me. Whipped me. Forced me to kneel for days on end." Young Lady Ye's words dripped with bitterness as she glared down at her mother. "You told me the first thing I should learn is to be ruthless to myself so that I can be ruthless to others, to keep those concubines of my future husband in check." 

Looking down at her mother, Young Lady Ye's smile twisted into something sinister, her eyes gleaming with a hint of madness. "Don't you think I learned well, Mother?"

Master Ye's face turned crimson with fury as he watched his daughter torment his wife. "She did all of that because she cared for you!" His voice shook with outrage. "Your mother only wanted you to marry well, to secure a future as a wealthy lady. Is this how you repay her?"

His gaze locked onto his wife's broken form, and a scorching heat surged through him, twisting his love for her into uncontrollable fury. The sight of his beloved wife, reduced to this wretched state by his own daughter, made his blood boil with a rage he could barely contain.

"Who said I didn't listen to her?" Young Lady Ye's voice dripped with contempt as she turned toward her father. "Second Young Master Xia is from the Xia family. They are wealthy, and powerful—they are the best family in Xia City one could marry into. But my dear mother disagreed. She insisted I cling to men of even lower status than the Xia family. How is that for my own good? She clearly wanted to tear us apart, even though fate has already bound us together."

"Second Young Master Xia was so scared that I'd be stolen away by other men, so he gave me this hairpin as a token of his love and also for my protection. He knew I would need it, because I have parents like you!" Young Lady Ye spat out. Her words, laced with fury, ignited something deep within her, and her rage surged, feeding the dark power in her hands. She clenched her fists, drawing the resentment energy into a concentrated force before unleashing it with vicious intent.

Master Ye barely had time to react. With a fluid motion, he drew his sword, its blade flashing in the dim light. A clash of power and skill erupted as father and daughter collided in a fierce battle.

The young lady of the Ye family had never trained in martial arts—her education had been in refinement, in learning the delicate arts of a lady, a wife. But with the hairpin's power coursing through her, she became an unexpected and dangerous adversary. Her strikes, fueled by dark energy and raw emotion, gave even Master Ye pause. For the first time, he found himself hard-pressed to defend against his own flesh and blood.

Si Shen and Xue RenJie could not help as Madame Ye pressed her relentless attack. Xue RenJie, with the Xue Family's ice techniques at his disposal, could easily overpower her, but the situation was far more complicated. Young Lady Ye wielded complete control over every servant in the courtyard. It made sense now why Si Shen hadn't detected any traces of spiritual or resentment energy from the people around them. They weren't alive, not truly. Like Madame Ye, they were nothing more than soulless puppets, bound to Young Lady Ye's commands.

The entire courtyard was plunged into chaos as Si Shen tried to fend off Madame Ye and her throng of servants. Xue RenJie had never encountered living corpses like these and was not sure if they were even alive. He only wanted to knock them out but after hitting a few servants in their nerve points, Xue RenJie was almost stabbed to death by their sharp claws when they did not pass out.

He glanced at Si Shen helplessly but saw Si Shen striking down the fierce living corpses with his umbrella, killing them decisively. Although the umbrella looked flimsy at first glance, it was sturdy and sharp. It had managed to withstand Madame Ye's first attack after all, it must be a cultivation artifact. Xue RenJie stopped holding back after witnessing Si Shen kill off two servants in one strike. He raised his sword, channeling his energy into the blade as he activated a powerful array. The temperature dropped sharply, and a brilliant formation materialized in the sky, its icy light spreading across the entire courtyard, enveloping everything in a chilling embrace. Young Lady Ye only had a second to glance up in confusion before sharp icicles came rushing down towards the ground. The icicles pierced through the living corpses and pinned them to the ground, killing most of them. 

Si Shen simply opened his umbrella, and to Xue RenJie's astonishment, the sharp icicles slid off its canopy as though they were nothing more than harmless water. Xue RenJie stared in disbelief, his curiosity piqued. If he asked Si Shen, would he divulge the secrets of the Death God's weapon?

Meanwhile, Si Shen was struggling with a silent mental breakdown, his thoughts a whirlwind of chaos. On the outside, he remained calm, but inside, his mind raced, desperately trying to make sense of everything unfolding around him. He could not help but stare helplessly at Madame Ye who is currently lunging at him. The resentment energy within her controlling her, giving her inhumane strength. Since she was a cultivator before, her attacks were heavy and precise, aiming for the kill. 

Even if he is a God, he can still die from a serious injury. 

Si Shen gritted his teeth, narrowly sidestepping Madame Ye's frenzied pounce as he swiftly finished off the last of the servants Xue RenJie's attack had missed. He had tried to absorb the resentment energy from Madame Ye but the energy only dissipated the moment he tried, returning back to the hairpin in the young lady's hair. This means that the resentment energy does not belong to her. If Si Shen were to guess, the hairpin only serves to absorb resentment energy into itself, refine it, and amplify it for the user to unleash. As for whose resentment energy it was using, the answer was obvious.

But this also means there was little hope for Si Shen to save Madame Ye's spirit. Even without the hairpin feeding resentment energy into her, her soul had already been tainted by the resentment she harbored toward her daughter. It was this very bitterness that had transformed her into an undead puppet. The moment Young Lady Ye stopped controlling her, Madame Ye would revert back to an uncontrolled, vengeful spirit, driven solely by her fury and despair.

Maybe Si Shen could fulfil her dying wish, diminish her anger, or even absorb her resentment energy to prevent her soul's corruption but before that, Si Shen has to deal with this young lady of the Ye family.

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in his chest as Madame Ye landed a blow, knocking the breath out of him. The force sent him stumbling backward, and he closed his eyes, gritting his teeth, bracing for the impact of slamming into the wall. Instead, he felt a strong arm wrap around his waist, thick with muscle, pulling him close. The steady pressure of a firm chest pressed against his back, the momentum of his fall slowing as he was cradled and held securely from behind. The person's strength absorbed the shock of his fall, and Si Shen's breath returned in ragged gasps, the world around him momentarily still. 

"Are you alright?" Xue RenJie's voice rang out from above, and Si Shen snapped his eyes open, instinctively looking up.

Xue RenJie had caught him just in time, preventing a painful crash and saving him from further injury. Though the blow to his chest still throbbed painfully—Si Shen was sure a few ribs were broken—it could wait.

"Fast reflexes, thanks. I owe you one," Si Shen said, forcing a half-hearted grin, his usual composure faltering. He stepped away from Xue RenJie, trying to ignore the lingering warmth of the embrace that had shielded him. The feeling, though brief, was strangely familiar to him.

Xue RenJie wasn't convinced by Si Shen's smile, but he didn't press the matter. Instead, he asked, "Why can't you control them? You're the Death God, and they're... spirits, right? They should listen to you."

Even Xue RenJie struggled to find the right words for them. The term 'vengeful spirit' was one Si Shen had coined for those souls consumed by hatred—spirits twisted by rage and desire for vengeance. These were the kinds of beings who, whether driven by personal grudges or a need to drag others into their suffering, could no longer be called simple spirits. They were too far gone.

Those spirits, forever bound by their resentment, would normally be condemned to the lowest levels of Hell. Yet, these particular beings refused to cross over into the spiritual realm. It was a paradox, one Si Shen could solve either by forcibly dragging them into the realm of the dead or by reducing their anger and resentment, transforming them back into normal spirits.

"I cannot control them because they already have an owner," Si Shen replied, his frown deepening as his gaze shifted to the young lady.

Her father was struggling, fending off her relentless attacks, his voice thick with anger as he hurled verbal daggers at her.

"I really raised an ungrateful wretch! How dare you treat your parents like this?" 

His words only fueled her fury, each insult digging deeper into her already shattered heart. Her resentment swelled with every syllable, though, somewhere deep within, a faint glimmer of hope remained—an old, fragile longing for her parents' love and approval.

"Your mother should have listened to me and never given birth to you. If not for you, her body wouldn't have deteriorated. It's all your fault, you jinx!"

The final insult shattered her resolve. Tears, hot and bitter, streamed down her cheeks as her eyes, bloodshot and wild, stared blankly ahead. She muttered to herself, her voice shaky and desperate, "It's not my fault, it's not my fault," over and over.

Clutching her head in her trembling hands, she collapsed to the floor, her body wracked with sobs, the last remnants of her composure unraveling.

"It's your fault! You always favor your son!" Her voice cracked with the agony of years of neglected love. "It's like I don't even exist, like the Ye family only has one child!" She shrieked, her words laced with desperation and madness. "It's not my fault that Mother became like this! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

Si Shen finally understood the root of her hatred and resentment. It seemed that it was never truly about her marriage. At the heart of it all, she was just a lonely child who believed that her very existence had harmed her mother. She had desperately tried to prove that her birth wasn't a mistake—striving to become the perfect daughter. But every failure, every look of disappointment from her parents, only deepened the painful truth she had always feared: they regretted having her.

And then, to hear those cruel words spoken aloud by her father, as if confirming all her worst fears, had shattered her completely. It ingrained in her the belief that she was unwanted, unworthy—a burden. That moment had fractured her already fragile mind, and the unbearable weight of it finally broke her sanity.

Her hair was a mess, her clothes disheveled, as she sat on the floor like a broken doll, the image of a woman lost to her rage and pain.

Before anyone could react, resentment energy swirled around the young lady and she leaped towards her father. Grabbing her hairpin, she stabbed it into his chest and injected a huge amount of resentment energy into his body. 

Master Ye's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared into the crazed eyes of his daughter. The moment resentment energy entered his body, it was as if he was being burnt by hot flames, corroding his flesh. 

Master Ye fell backward, landing on the concrete with a heavy thump, blood spurting out of the open wound as his screams tore from his throat, raw and deep in agony. His body jerked involuntarily as the searing pain accompanied the spread of the corruption of his soul. Each cry was a violent release, a futile attempt to escape the crushing agony that ravaged them from the inside out.

Humans were unable to touch resentment energy—its corrosive power would tear through their meridians, burning them from the inside out. It was a horrific and agonizing way to die. Yet, as the dark energy surged, Young Lady Ye let out a maniacal laugh, her eyes wild with unhinged glee. She clapped her hands together in twisted delight, completely unfazed by the suffering of her father. Si Shen and Xue RenJie could only stare in horrified disbelief, frozen in place.

Suddenly, a desperate scream shattered the tense silence, piercing the air like a blade.

"Father!"