"Truly... ridiculous." Xie Guanxin coughed up blood, his gaze still glued to Mu Ran, his voice as light as a sigh. "Cangshu Bai, the person you fought with everything you had to protect... in the end, will she know your true face..."
Before his voice faded, Xie Guanxin abruptly raised his hand and struck his own crown. It was a mutually destructive spell, activated at the cost of burning his divine soul and scattering his spirit.
In an instant, a gruesome blood mist filled the surrounding space. The demonic energy and hostility surging from this blood mist could infinitely amplify and completely detonate the darkness and mania a person desperately suppressed deep within their bones, tearing apart all restraint and crushing all disguises.
Cangshu Bai's entire body jolted. The hand holding his spear clenched tightly, his joints cracking loudly.
The demonic energy and monstrous murderous aura that he had firmly locked deep within his flesh and blood were completely detonated by this soul power of the same origin. Like floodwaters bursting a dam, they broke through all shackles and surged madly through his limbs and bones.
Mu Ran sensed a power far more terrifying than when she had seen Cangshu Bai undergo demonization in the woodshed of Mount Wutong.
The green robes around Cangshu Bai fluttered like the flapping wings of an evil spirit. His head of white hair was no longer coldly arrogant, but instead entwined with pitch-black murderous aura, dancing wildly in the air.
His already crimson eyes were now completely swallowed by thick black demonic flames, so sinister and violent that he looked like an Asura crawling back from the deepest hell, devoid of the slightest warmth.
Beneath the skin of his entire body, pitch-black demonic patterns spread madly like living creatures, climbing from his neck to his cheeks. Hideous and terrifying, every line flowed with world-destroying killing intent.
The stone walls of the cave shattered inch by inch, the rubble ground to dust by the murderous aura. Even the air seemed to freeze into a suffocating solid.
The true demonic form that he had hidden for so long, never daring to let Mu Ran see, was at this moment unreservedly and completely exposed before her eyes.
Xie Guanxin was now a man covered in blood. His figure swayed like a candle in the wind, yet he let out a delighted laugh. "This is what one looks like after turning into a demon. Ugly, terrifying, deranged..."
He coughed up bloody froth, his gaze fiercely fixed on Mu Ran's face. Seeing the sudden helplessness welling up in her eyes, he smiled even more joyfully. "Mu Ran, you chose a demon as your bedfellow, sleeping with a hellish ghoul every day. Aren't you afraid that one day he'll be whispering sweet nothings in your ear, and the next, he'll personally snap your neck—"
A hand covered in black demonic patterns clamped tightly around Xie Guanxin's neck, forcing his unspoken words back down his throat.
"Crack."
An extremely dull sound of bone snapping was exceptionally piercing in the deathly silent cave.
Cangshu Bai cleanly and decisively snapped Xie Guanxin's neck.
Xie Guanxin's corpse fell heavily into a pool of blood, his head tilted to the side at a bizarre angle, devoid of any further movement.
Cangshu Bai lowered his eyes to look at his palm. The fading demonic patterns were slightly twisting, but the thick black murderous aura around him did not dissipate. Instead, fueled by this absolute slaughter, it churned even more violently.
He could imagine what he looked like at this moment.
His cheeks and neck crawling with hideous black lines, his crimson eyes holding nothing but lingering brutality and shattered restraint. Where was there even a fraction of the gentle and handsome demeanor he usually feigned?
This terrifying aura of apocalyptic destruction felt unfamiliar even to himself.
He did not dare to turn around.
He did not dare to let Mu Ran see this ugly, terrifying appearance entangled in demonic nature.
He suddenly turned sideways, actually wanting to use the cover of the murderous aura to flee, to hide this horrifying appearance in the shadows and digest this demonic madness alone.
But just as his feet moved, a gentle yet firm force from behind suddenly grasped his demon-patterned hand.
The moment their fingertips touched, the murderous aura around Cangshu Bai suddenly stagnated. That violent power was actually suppressed quite a bit by this cool touch.
Mu Ran stood behind him, her palms slightly cool but gripping him extremely tightly.
Her voice carried a trace of lingering tremor but was incredibly clear. Falling into the air thick with murderous intent, it surprisingly birthed a soothing power.
"Cangshu Bai, I know it's you."
She looked at his back, just steadily holding his hand, her fingertips gently caressing the twisted demonic patterns on the back of his hand, feeling their slight unevenness.
She said, "You are my husband. No matter what you become, I accept you."
As her words fell, she gently wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, pressing her face against his back, which was radiating a murderous aura.
In that instant, Cangshu Bai, who had wanted to run away, was firmly nailed in place by the warmth of her palms and her reliance behind him.
His hand, covered in demonic patterns, trembled slightly. A muffled groan, suppressed to the extreme, rolled from his throat, full of self-loathing.
The hands Mu Ran used to hug his waist uncontrollably increased their strength.
She said in a muffled voice, "When I was very young, I heard stories of cultivators turning into demons. They were erratic in their emotions, and even the people closest to them would be cut down by their swords. If it were in the past, seeing you demonized, I would definitely want nothing more than to hide from you and stay far, far away."
Cangshu Bai's spine suddenly seemed to lose all strength to support itself. He lowered his head, his white hair covering his face. Like a wounded, trapped beast that didn't dare to roar, he could only let the person behind him hold him, trapping him in this cruel yet gentle cage.
Yet he heard the person behind him, pressed against his murderous back, continue speaking in a soft yet incomparably firm voice.
"But that was the past. Now we are husband and wife, people who have made a promise to accompany each other for all eternity. Whether you are human or demon, even if you lose your former appearance, I will still like you."
"Cangshu Bai."
"Jinzhi."
"You know that I like you."
That single "Jinzhi" shattered his final emotional defense.
It was a name only she would call him by, the only light he could grasp when struggling through countless slaughters and demonic thoughts.
The surging black and red murderous aura around Cangshu Bai suddenly receded like the tide. The hideous demonic patterns faded beneath his skin at a visible speed.
His hand, hanging by his side covered in blood and demonic marks, finally could not hold back from slowly lifting and gently covering the back of her hand around his waist.
After a long time, his voice was light and hoarse. "Won't you... find me ugly?"
Mu Ran raised her eyes, looking at the young man's demonized figure that should have been terrifying, and suddenly felt like smiling.
Pressing against his back, she shook her head. "Not ugly at all. Jinzhi, I like you."
The repeated appearances of the word "like" caused the last bit of tense murderous aura to crumble inch by inch.
Cangshu Bai could no longer hold back. He turned around and pulled her tightly into his arms, burying his face in the crook of her neck. His voice was so hoarse it was out of tune, carrying a slight, almost choking tremor.
"Say you like me a few more times, okay?"
Mu Ran sighed, and then said in one breath:
"Cangshu Bai!"
"Jinzhi!"
"I like you!"
"I really, really like you!"
"I, Mu Ran, your wife, am saying I really, really like you! Do you understand!"
A soft chuckle finally escaped his lips, yet amidst his trembling, it seemed to hide a hint of a sob. "Mhm, I know."
Mu Ran raised her hand and gently stroked his back.
She was small and petite, clearly enveloped in the shadow of his tall and large frame, yet at this very moment, she was the one taking the role of the comforter.
In the pool of blood, Xie Guanxin's body lay cold, his neck twisted, having long since lost his breath.
A wisp of pale green remnant soul drifted up from the corpse, hovering in midair, quietly watching the two embracing nearby.
He was once the pride of his sect, possessing peerless talent, but fell into the abyss due to his bitter unwillingness to accept his fate.
After succumbing to his inner demons, he was no longer the outstanding prodigy praised by everyone, but a devil feared by all.
He wanted to kill Cangshu Bai.
Whether it was because he wanted his body, or because he was jealous that the other man had obtained a true love that would never abandon him, he himself could no longer tell.
The remnant soul trembled slightly, all its reluctance and resentment dissipating, leaving only an empty, desolate void.
A gentle breeze swept by, and that wisp of remnant soul slowly faded and crumbled, ultimately dissipating completely into the world.
The once-great prodigy of a generation was finally reduced to ashes, leaving no trace behind.
"No, Xie Guanxin... Xie Guanxin!"
The inner demon screamed madly from within the ice.
"You piece of trash, we were just one step away from success! Just one step! How could you just die like this!"
This inner demon was born from Xie Guanxin's lifelong obsessions, sharing his life and flourishing alongside him.
It had once helped him lay out a deadly trap that spanned ten thousand years, and had devoured the souls of countless cultivators.
It had clamored, raged, and refused to yield, yet in the instant its host completely perished, it lost all meaning for its existence.
Amidst its maddening reluctance, the inner demon turned into a wisp of empty dust. Along with Xie Guanxin's dissipating soul, it was blown away by a gust of wind in the cave dwelling, leaving not a single trace behind.
Cangshu Linfeng hugged the sword in his arms and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The dust had finally settled.
