Demon

Silence consumed the space around Ye Lin, as though time itself had come to a halt. Not a single breath was heard, no one moved, and everything stilled beyond even the quiet of death.

Until a boy's voice broke the stillness, soft and trembling in the icy void.

"I… I don't want to suffer anymore. Please… You just… You just… You just have to die!!! Isn't it all… all of this your fault, Ye Lin?!"

His voice wasn't filled with rage, but with a torment far too deep for a boy of fifteen to bear.

Ye Lin looked toward the boy he had just saved, the same boy he had fed medicine to with his own hands.

Beside him, the only girl in the group trembled violently. Tears streamed down her cheeks without end, and her voice shook so badly it was barely coherent.

"They… they said… if we stabbed you with the poisoned needles… they would release the Ye Clan… and… and bring everyone who died back to life…"

Her sobs choked her words.

Ye Lin slowly turned his gaze to each of the four children. The steadiness in his eyes began to waver, like ripples seen through the eyes of someone drowning.

Another boy, who had once spoken to him with innocent kindness, now stared back with an icy gaze.

"Brother Ye Lin… please don't blame us. You must make a sacrifice… so the Ye Clan can survive…"

The word sacrifice slammed into Ye Lin's heart like a hammer weighing tens of thousands of jin. And finally, the last boy, the one who had remained silent all this time, stepped forward.

His eyes burned with bitterness, hatred, and pain that had long been sealed away, now breaking free like a flood.

"We had to suffer like this… everyone in the clan had to die… because of you. Because of you!! Because of you alone!!"

"Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!"

He screamed with all his might and rushed at Ye Lin without waiting for the black-robed men's command. His small hands, gripping the poisoned needle tightly, drove it into Ye Lin's body with all the strength a child could muster.

He stabbed his leg.

He stabbed his shoulder.

He stabbed his back.

Again and again.

Until his hands trembled.

Until his breath turned into sobs.

Stabbing… through tears and fury.

Ye Lin's blood began to flow, drop by drop, staining the ground, staining the child's trembling hands.

But Ye Lin didn't utter a single sound. No cries. No pleas. Not even a flicker of resistance in his eyes.

His body remained motionless, unmoved by anything. His heart and mind... could no longer register the world around him.

He lay there, letting the fury of the boy he had once sworn to protect pour down on him like a flood of hatred.

He could no longer hear Duan Lingchen's voice. He no longer felt the wind. He couldn't even smell his own blood. All he knew was one thing he had nothing left.

Then came the slow sound of approaching footsteps, the footsteps of the three black-robed men echoing through the silence like a death sentence in an open grave.

The rhythmic thud of boots striking stone echoed with finality, like the judgment of the underworld's reapers, never erring, never delayed. When the three finally stood before Ye Lin, one of them spoke in a voice as cold as ice.

"Well done… children."

The moment those words left his mouth, the four children behind Ye Lin dropped to their knees without hesitation. Their heads bowed low to the floor in reverence, their posture filled with submission. The first boy's voice rang out clearly, his eyes gleaming with a sincerity that was difficult to believe.

"Thank you, Elder… for letting me take revenge on the bastard who caused everyone in our clan to die."

The other three followed, their voices brimming with joy and relief.

"Thank you, Elder…"

Those simple words, straightforward and honest, were not part of some performance. They were not forced. They were… the genuine expressions from the depths of their hearts.

Ye Lin looked at the scene before him. In that instant… he felt as if his heart had stopped beating. Not from poison. Not from wounds. But from the emptiness that seeped into every fiber of his being. Duan Lingchen had been calling out to him for a long while now, but his voice could no longer reach him.

No one needed to do anything more. Because those words alone… had shattered Ye Lin's spirit beyond repair.

Inside Ye Lin's mind, a flood of memories he had tried so hard to forget began to surface. Voices of scorn, ridicule, and laughter that had echoed throughout his life surged back without mercy.

"You useless trash! You wasted the clan's resources for fifteen years, and now you're still causing trouble?" The voice of an elder who once taught him during his days as a prodigy rang out.

"Why are you even cultivating? A dragon may fall into ruin, but trash becoming a dragon? That's just impossible! Hahaha!" The voice of a cousin who had once praised him when he was still a genius echoed next.

"Get away from me. I don't know any trash like you." The cold tone of a young woman who once dreamed of becoming his bride followed, spoken after he became crippled.

Then came the voices of children in the clan.

"Hahaha! The cripple's here! The cripple's here! Run or you'll catch the loser disease!"

"Hahahahaha…"

That childish laughter turned cruel as it repeated again and again in his ears, until the faces of the four children before him overlapped with the faces of those who once mocked him in the past.

Ye Lin wanted to scream. He wanted to cry out loud. But not a single part of his body moved. The heart that had shattered in their hands spilled no blood on the outside. It had broken silently, deep within.

At last, his body went completely still. Though breath still remained, his spirit... was no longer there.

Because today… those he had protected, those he had vowed to give his life for, had joined hands to push him off the cliff without even the slightest hesitation.

The black-robed man smiled with satisfaction. His voice was calm, nearly devoid of emotion, as he spoke. "Then I'll let you all go for now."

With that, he flicked his slender finger lightly. The sound was soft, barely enough to stir the air, yet its effect was far more devastating than any weapon.

Bright red blood gushed from the mouths of the four children like fountains. They coughed it out in unison as their bodies collapsed heavily to the ground.

But they… did not die.

The pain coursed slowly through their bodies. Their eyes remained wide open. Their lips trembled. And their muscles refused to move. One by one, their bodies succumbed to complete paralysis.

The black-robed man crouched down, gazing at them with derision. His eyes were devoid of warmth or pity. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, yet louder than any other sound in the world, he spoke.

"Thank you… and goodbye, children. When you get to hell, don't forget to ask your parents to teach you this never trust your enemy. Hahaha."

One of the boys, mustering the last of his strength, whispered in confusion, "W-Why…?"

But the black-robed man didn't answer. He simply leapt backward without a word.

Crunch.

The faint sound of a pill being crushed echoed in the silence but that sound marked the beginning of catastrophe.

In the blink of an eye, the body of the black-robed man was split in two, a torrent of crimson blood erupting from his torso. The coppery stench of blood thickened the air like smoke. His laughter was abruptly swallowed by a silence more terrifying than death.

A demonic aura exploded from Ye Lin's body, accompanied by black flames that seemed eternal, incapable of ever being extinguished.

Everyone in that prison instantly felt it something that should never have awakened... had now risen.

The four children, lying in pools of their own blood, saw Ye Lin's silhouette slowly rise through the blood-drenched mist, suspended in the air.

Ye Lin stood once more. His hair had turned pure white. His eyes were a deep, blood-soaked crimson. And then he vanished.

Thud!!

Both his arms pierced straight through the chests of the remaining two black-robed men before they could even react. Pitch-black flames surged from Ye Lin's palms, devouring their souls, incinerating their cultivation, reducing everything they were to ash.

"AAAAHHH!! AAAAHHHH!! IT BURNS! IT BURNS SO MUCH!!"

One of them screamed in agony, his body trembling violently.

"My cultivation… it's vanishing! It's disappearing!"

Those were the last words they ever spoke before their bodies dissolved into the undying black flames. No remnants were left. No ashes remained. Only a haze of dark smoke drifted silently through the air.

Ye Lin slowly turned back, his blood-red eyes fixed on the four children still lying motionless on the ground. There was no anger, no hatred, only emptiness.

The lone girl among them tried to move her lips, tears streaming down her cheeks. "B-Brother Ye Lin… help…"

But before she could finish her plea, Tuan Lingchen interrupted in a calm, detached voice.

"Don't. The poison has already spread throughout their bodies. If you get close to them now, you'll die with them. And there are countless shadowy figures watching your every move."

Ye Lin understood every word Tuan Lingchen said. At this moment, his mind was clear. Then he spoke softly.

"I don't blame you… I understand…"

At the same time, he reached out and pulled the spatial ring from the black-robed man who had been reduced to ashes, then retrieved the item within.

A pot slowly floated upward the Soul Urn. Ye Lin stared at it for a moment before channeling his power to extract the souls of his father, grandfather, grandmother, and several trusted members of the Ye Clan, freeing them from the urn.

Then, he tossed the urn, which still contained the remaining souls of the Ye Clan, to the ground in front of the four children. It landed with a soft thud. Ye Lin said nothing more. No curses. No vengeance. Only those crimson eyes… eyes that looked right through them as though they were no longer living beings.

Ye Lin let out a faint chuckle. The smile on his lips held not a trace of joy. From the tips of his fingers, pure black flames began to spread slowly across the prison. They moved gently, almost silently, yet they burned with a heat so intense they consumed everything they touched.

The black flames began to spread along the stone walls of the prison, devouring everything in their path. Whether it was wood, iron bars, or even shadows, nothing could escape.

Screams of agony erupted at once.

"Ahhhhh! Brother Ye Lin! Please…!"

The first cry came from the girl who had once run to embrace him. A voice that once carried hope now trembled with pain and despair.

"Brother Ye Lin! It hurts! It hurts so much! Please! Save me!"

Another voice followed, from the boy who had mercilessly stabbed him with poisoned needles. His voice quivered with pain, but no matter how loud he cried, it could no longer pierce through to the young man standing silently beyond the flames.

Ye Lin said nothing. His body stood still amidst the sea of black fire. The screams continued to echo around him, yet they had no effect on a heart that had already gone numb. The flames did not touch the bodies of the four children, nor did their heat reach them. All the pain they were feeling came from the poison raging through their own veins.

The last thing he could do for them… was to let them escape their suffering. Slowly, the bodies of the four children were consumed by the black fire. Their skin peeled away, their vocal cords disintegrated, and their bodies turned to ash, bit by bit. Meanwhile, the Soul Urn, which still held the remaining souls of some Ye Clan members, also began to burn its contents unreleased, left untouched by Ye Lin.

He burned everything with his own hands.

When the final ashes scattered into the air, Ye Lin lifted his head. His red eyes, veiled in a darkness devoid of any trace of humanity, reflected nothing. He closed them and drew in a deep breath.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Oh… to think you'd go so far as to kill members of your own clan. Truly fitting of the title 'scum.'"

Ye Lin smiled faintly and looked around. Countless shadowy figures had now surrounded him from every direction, leaving not a single gap to escape. What was strange, though, was the scent of blood clinging to their bodies the scent of members of the Wu Clan.

Ye Lin fell silent for a moment before he finally spoke.

"So… you lot just finished slaughtering people from the Wu Clan, didn't you?"

One of the black-robed men chuckled softly, then replied.

"Slaughter"