The Human Emperor transformed into a pillar of black malevolence, charging towards Liu Jiang Fusheng. The injured Liu Jiang Fusheng stared coldly, retreating with deliberation. Just as he prepared to counterattack, his peripheral vision caught Gu Junshi’s movement.
Thus, he withdrew the power he had gathered, feigning helplessness as if his spiritual energy was sealed, to welcome the Human Emperor’s impending killing blow.
He knew she wouldn't stand by and watch the Human Emperor kill him. He expected Gu Junshi to condemn and detest the Human Emperor’s actions, or at the very least, to engage him in combat. However, he had foreseen the first part but not the subsequent development.
Gu Junshi did indeed shield him from the Human Emperor. She pushed him away, but instead of fighting the Human Emperor, she endured the blow head-on.
The Human Emperor’s palm had gathered the Yin ghost malevolent energy within his body; living beings could hardly resist it. Those struck would have their meridians reversed, cold energy solidifying their blood, destroying their vital essence and spiritual bones.
However, for Gu Junshi, its effect was barely significant.
Wind whipped her clothes, and her hair flew. The Human Emperor stood stunned as he watched Gu Junshi, whose brow was furrowed and a trickle of blood escaped her lips from the impact of the formidable ghost energy.
Liu Jiang Fusheng’s expression turned ashen with alarm. He had never imagined she would do such a thing.
“Junshi—”
“Mother—”
Gu Junshi’s expression was as steady as water. She accelerated the refinement of the ghost energy absorbed into her body, simultaneously waving away the startled Gu Sijun, dispersing her form and sending her back to the bamboo pavilion to be with Hua Jie.
“What are you doing?”
The Human Emperor angrily swept his sleeve, the black death qi surging wildly. He reached Gu Junshi’s wrist before Liu Jiang Fusheng, wanting to know the extent of her injuries.
But Gu Junshi caught his hand in return.
In that previous exchange, she could have dodged or blocked the attack, but she couldn’t retaliate.
Gu Junshi knew that if she made a move against the Human Emperor for Liu Jiang Fusheng, she would push the Human Emperor to another extreme. She could suppress him with force and restore his composure, but the consequence would be a rift forming between them, which was not what she desired. Therefore, she preferred a more circuitous approach, using this method to calm him down.
After all, he couldn’t truly harm her.
Indeed, just as Gu Junshi had anticipated, the Human Emperor, seeing that he had wounded her, found his fury, which had been churning like a stormy sea of jealousy, doused. He truly stopped his attack, but his gaze grew even darker and more somber.
As she calmed down slightly, she asked him, “Who am I?”
The Human Emperor, suddenly restrained by her strong move, could not probe her injuries. Thinking she was angered and displeased with him, and wanted to draw a complete line between them, he was consumed by anxiety, his eyes bloodshot. “Gu, Gu Junshi, if I offer Fengdu as my dowry, will you marry me?”
Agree to me—
Please, don’t refuse anymore.
Otherwise… I don’t know what I will do next!
The Human Emperor’s inner self cried out with numbness and despair. He was like a trapped beast; one step forward might lead to an abyss, but he didn’t want to retreat, nor did he intend to. He could only watch himself fall towards the abyss like a sacrifice.
Gu Junshi looked at the Human Emperor’s ghost pupils, tinged with red. Ghosts were different from humans; once their eyes became鬼化 (ghostified), only ghost pupils remained, with no whites. The Human Emperor was clearly ghostified now. The human part of him was suppressed by his ghost nature. His entire being was plundered by negative emotions like resentment, hatred, and anger, leaving only primal desires to drive him.
She seemed to hear the desperate cries within his heart at this moment and gave an answer he wouldn’t have dared to imagine.
She said, “Okay.” (看書喇)
“What did you say?!”
The Human Emperor stared at her in stunned disbelief, as if his ears had deceived him.
Gu Junshi, however, remained very calm. She told him, “If you truly achieve that, then I will give you this wedding.”
There was no evasion, no ambiguity. This was the first time she had given him such a definite answer, clearly indicating that her promised matter was irrevocable.
Before the Human Emperor could recover from his dazed state, Liu Jiang Fusheng’s enraged and cold voice cut through: “Gu Junshi! What are you saying?!”
“Liu Jiang Fusheng…” she looked at him with an even more placid expression than she had at the Human Emperor. “You may leave. You gouged out my abdomen and took my child back then. Today, I return the favor by digging out my heart and taking your blood. You imprisoned me for seven days; I originally intended to repay you in kind, but now I have no intention of settling old scores with you. I am confused about the debts and obligations from that time, but there will be a day when things are clear. If you don’t speak, I may not be able to find out.”
Compared to the previous sweetness, the happiness and joy that melted her heart, everything happening before her eyes now was a real, heart-wrenching pain, and all the previous moments felt like a lie.
Liu Jiang Fusheng felt as if his heart had been immersed in ice water by Gu Junshi, but she still felt it wasn’t painful enough, needing to smash it violently onto the ground until it shattered into countless pieces before she would be satisfied.
“You are so clear about every single calculation with me. Have you ever truly looked at how I treated you with your heart?” Liu Jiang Fusheng sneered.
Gu Junshi did not say much more. Instead, she walked towards Li Sheng, whose neck had been twisted by the Human Emperor. She had brought him back, so she naturally intended to save him. However, before she could act, she discovered his body gradually fading.
She abruptly turned her head, only to see a striking, alluring figure appear beside Liu Jiang Fusheng.
She recognized the anomaly at a glance.
“Inner Demon?”
A soul entity, originating from Liu Jiang Fusheng but possessing a completely different aura, leaned on his shoulder. Two identical faces, one cold and one evil, like twins, or like a split personality.
The inner demon, named Li Sheng, smiled sweetly at Gu Junshi, captivating all. His slightly narrowed, powdered eyes curved upwards, leaning on Liu Jiang Fusheng’s shoulder like a yandere. “Yes, I am the inner demon born for you. Yet now you intend to abandon me for Liu Jiang Fusheng—” His expression suddenly changed, his smile vanishing completely. The demonic, alluring peach blossom color in the corner of his eyes deepened, his expression turning dark and cold. “You dare not.”
Gu Junshi never imagined that Liu Jiang Fusheng, this favored protagonist of the Heavenly Dao, would develop an inner demon, and furthermore, that this inner demon seemed capable of coexisting harmoniously with its host.
“Li Sheng was actually a manifestation of your inner demon,” she murmured in a daze.
Gu Junshi was not entirely unaware of the strangeness surrounding “Li Sheng.” The Li Sheng she first knew and the later “Li Sheng” might appear indistinguishable to most, but she could keenly detect the differences.
Yet, they were not entirely dissimilar, making the situation all the more peculiar. Moreover, when Li Sheng first attracted her attention, he was holding the sword she had gifted to Liu Jiang Fusheng.
Later, she finally discerned his connection to Liu Jiang Fusheng through subtle details. At that time, she had only thought Li Sheng might be an external manifestation of Liu Jiang Fusheng, never expecting him to be an inner demon.
Once the inner demon re-possessed the body, Liu Jiang Fusheng’s aura became even more profound and powerful, his cultivation soaring. A thousand-zhang purifying spiritual fire erupted.
His voice, lowered by resentment and indignation, carried a terrifying pressure. “Gu Junshi, unless you kill me again… as long as I live in this world, you will never marry anyone else.”