Heart Shattering Pain

Such days continued for hundreds of years.

Ye Xuan watched Zi Yao drift between two men, watching her become increasingly unfamiliar and increasingly vain.

More than once, he suggested, "If this doesn't work, let's just get a divorce."

"I won't!" Zi Yao hurriedly refused every time, crying a river of tears. "I never let him have his way, I am only doing this for the resources! Husband, how could you not want me anymore?"

Ye Xuan's heart softened.

Or perhaps, he was still keeping the wager he made with Master Wei before his death.

Until... a sudden change occurred.

Another few hundred years passed, and Zi Yao was stuck at the peak of the Void Refinement realm, unable to break through to the Body Integration realm.

This was a massive bottleneck; ordinary resources were no longer of any use.

At this time, the Young Sect Master ran over excitedly, holding a scroll of dharma edict that exuded a terrifying pressure.

"Yao'er! Great news!"

"My father... the Demon Lord of the Mahayana realm has come out of seclusion!"

"The old man has agreed to bestow you to me in marriage! As long as we undergo dual cultivation, he will personally use the Great Empowerment Technique to help you break through to the Body Integration realm!"

"The wedding is in three days!"

Zi Yao completely panicked.

She only wanted to use the Young Sect Master; she never intended to actually give herself away!

Especially facing a Demon Lord of the Mahayana realm, her little tricks were completely useless!

Late that night.

Zi Yao shook her engagement bracelet like a madwoman.

Ding-ling, ding-ling, ding-ling!

The void shattered.

Ye Xuan, who was already at the Body Integration realm, stepped out.

"Take me away! Take me away right now!" Zi Yao threw herself into Ye Xuan's arms, trembling all over. "They are forcing me into marriage! That old Demon Lord is going to make a move on me!"

Ye Xuan didn't waste any words and grabbed her by the waist.

"Kunpeng Spreads its Wings!"

Boom!

The two instantly vanished.

However, this time, they were facing the entire foundation of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Discovering Zi Yao's escape, the Young Sect Master went mad with rage and directly crushed the distress jade slip given by his father.

"Where do you think you're going!"

A massive demonic hand that blotted out the sky and the sun slammed down viciously from the highest heavens.

That was the full-force strike of a Mahayana realm expert!

"Pfft!"

To protect Zi Yao, Ye Xuan forcefully took the palm strike, and half of his body was mangled.

But relying on the number one evasion technique in the world, he stubbornly managed to escape from the hands of a Mahayana realm cultivator.

The following years were a hellish flight.

Ye Xuan took Zi Yao, hiding in the east and concealing themselves in the west.

Every time they were caught up to, Ye Xuan had to fight desperately. Before old wounds could heal, new ones were added.

Looking at her husband fighting so desperately for her, looking at his powerful back.

A trace of being moved flashed in Zi Yao's eyes, but it was mostly... pain.

Why... why is everyone forcing me...

Following Ye Xuan was safe, but it was too bitter... She was going to have to live that rat-like life again...

Finally.

In a perilous dead zone.

The Young Sect Master brought his father and descended personally.

The pressure of the Mahayana realm locked down the entire space.

Although Ye Xuan possessed the extreme speed of the Kunpeng, he was carrying a burden and was already heavily injured.

Ye Xuan had his chest pierced by a single finger and was smashed heavily deep into the ground, his fate unknown.

"Husband!" Zi Yao screamed.

"Slut!" The Young Sect Master rushed up, grabbed Zi Yao's hair, and slapped her hard twice. "I treated you so well, and you dared to run away with this wild man?!"

The old Demon Lord looked coldly at Ye Xuan in the ground. "An ant. Although his evasion technique is decent, having been hit by my Soul-Devouring Finger, he is undoubtedly dead. Let's go."

Zi Yao was forcibly taken away.

As for Ye Xuan, he lay in the bottomless depths of the earth, devoid of any aura.

If it weren't for the strand of Great Lu Golden Immortal origin essence left by Wei Wuji protecting his heart meridians, he would have died long ago.

Ye Xuan let out the roar of a wounded beast.

He went mad.

Ignoring his injuries, he took up his sword and charged up to the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Relying on the Kunpeng's Free Roaming, he slaughtered madly on the outskirts of the Heavenly Demon Sect, making blood flow like rivers, wanting to force them to hand over Zi Yao.

But what he didn't know was.

At this very moment.

Deep within the Heavenly Demon Sect, in a secret chamber covered with powerful restrictions.

Li Tianxing was looking ferociously and madly at Zi Yao, who was huddled in the corner of the bed.

Zi Yao wanted to scream in terror, wanted to mobilize her spiritual energy.

But the meridians in her entire body had been sealed with Spirit-Locking Nails, and her throat was also sealed, making her completely unable to make a sound or move a muscle.

She watched in despair as Li Tianxing pressed closer step by step.

"Ye Xuan has gone mad with killing outside..."

Li Tianxing smiled sinisterly, his eyes full of perverted pleasure.

"He is looking for you. He is risking his life for you."

"What a pity, he will never guess that you are right beneath me."

Li Tianxing's gaze fell on the golden bracelet on Zi Yao's wrist that had been flashing with a faint light.

"This must be your love token, right?"

"As long as it rings, he can sense it?"

Li Tianxing reached out his hand, wanting to crush that bracelet.

"Shatter for me!"

However, no matter how hard he tried, how could an artifact transformed by a Great Lu Golden Immortal be something he could destroy?

The bracelet didn't budge an inch, even letting out a mocking hum.

"Good... very good!"

Li Tianxing laughed out of extreme anger. He stopped trying to destroy the bracelet and instead grabbed Zi Yao's wrist, holding the bracelet up in front of Zi Yao's eyes.

"It won't break, huh?"

"Then keep it!"

"Wearing this thing... adds to the fun!"

"Let him sense it outside... sense how you become my woman!"

"Mmph!"

Zi Yao's eyes widened, the corners of her eyes tearing as she shed tears of despairing blood.

Those were three months of hell.

Day and night.

That golden bracelet, following Li Tianxing's movements, emitted a crisp ding-ling sound.

This sound used to be Ye Xuan's protection over her.

Now, it had become the most ironic accompaniment.

Three months later.

Outside the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Ye Xuan, bathed in blood, was preparing to charge the formation.

The main gates opened.

Li Tianxing walked out with his arm around a haggard, empty-eyed Zi Yao.

Li Tianxing's hand rested brazenly on Zi Yao's waist, even deliberately caressing her abdomen right in front of Ye Xuan.

"Ye Xuan."

Li Tianxing laughed wildly, his voice spreading across the wilderness.

"Stop fighting."

"She is my wife now."

He lowered his head, pinched Zi Yao's chin, and forced her to look at Ye Xuan.

"Tell him, whose woman are you?"

Zi Yao looked at the man in the distance, covered in scars, who had not hesitated to become the enemy of the world to save her.

Then she felt the spiritual energy full of murderous intent and threat from Li Tianxing behind her. As long as she dared to say a single wrong word, Li Tianxing would immediately activate the restrictions in her body, making her wish she were dead, and even... might really kill the current Ye Xuan with the help of his Mahayana realm father.

Zi Yao trembled and lowered her head.

Her voice was like a mosquito, yet every word struck like thunder.

"I... I am Husband Li's wife."

Ye Xuan looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

A mouthful of heart's blood spewed out. He staggered backward dozens of steps, the light in his eyes completely extinguishing in an instant.

He took one deep look at Zi Yao.

His eyes held no hatred, only a deathly, ashen unfamiliarity.

Then, with a flash of golden light.

Ye Xuan vanished.

The next night.

On a hidden barren mountain.

Taking advantage of Li Tianxing relaxing his guard, Zi Yao sneaked out and met Ye Xuan, who was healing his wounds.

As soon as they met, she fell to her knees, crying her heart out.

"Husband! Listen to me! I was forced!"

"I was placed under a restrictive spell! I couldn't move! I couldn't make a sound!"

Ye Xuan stood with his back to her, his voice terrifyingly calm:

"Why didn't you shake the love-token bracelet?"

"As long as it rang even once, I would have charged in, even if it meant my death."

Zi Yao wore a bitter expression and raised her wrist:

"My magic power was sealed... I couldn't activate the spiritual resonance within it at all."

"I really... had no choice..."

"Are you sure?" Ye Xuan turned around and looked into her eyes.

"Yes! I'm sure!" Zi Yao pledged solemnly.

Ye Xuan nodded. A trace of indescribable pain flashed across his expression before shifting into indifference:

"So be it."

"Since what's done is done."

"How about I take you away from here?"

Ye Xuan reached out his hand:

"Even if you are no longer pure, I won't despise you. We can leave the Southern Province and go somewhere else to live incognito."

Zi Yao looked at that hand.

She hesitated.

Leave?

Leaving meant returning to the days of being hunted, the days without top-tier resources.

Now she was the wife of the Young Sect Master. Although forced, the massive amount of resources and the supreme authority she held were very real.

Zi Yao shook her head, a deep-seated hatred surging in her eyes:

"No."

"The Young Sect Master has defiled me day and night for the past three months... If I don't avenge this, I swear I am not human!"

"I want to stay here! I want to use his resources to become stronger! I will dismantle the Heavenly Demon Sect from the inside!"

"I will make him, and that old bastard, pay the price!"

These words were spoken with righteous indignation.

But this was already the second time she had said such things.

The last time at the Yin Demon Sect, she said she would endure humiliation to kill Daoist Xueku.

This time, she said she would kill Li Tianxing.

Ye Xuan's hand slowly withdrew.

His gaze became completely cold.

He saw right through her.

He saw through the greed and weakness deep in her bones.

"Since that is the case."

"I will take my leave."

Ye Xuan turned to walk away.

"Husband!"

Zi Yao lunged forward in a panic, hugging his legs:

"Please don't despise me! Please don't abandon me!"

"In this devil's den, I truly have no control over my own fate!"

"Besides you, I have nothing left!"

Ye Xuan looked down at her, neither pushing her away nor helping her up.

He merely nodded faintly:

"Look after yourself."

Just like that, Zi Yao officially became the Young Madam of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Li Tianxing was indeed very affectionate toward her, feeding her all kinds of top-grade pills as if they cost nothing. Her cultivation soared, finally breaking through to the Body Integration Realm.

However, this affection came with a sick possessiveness.

Every time Ye Xuan visited, Li Tianxing would deliberately, right in front of Ye Xuan, tightly embrace Zi Yao's waist and even reach into her collar to declare his sovereignty.

Zi Yao would always wear an expression of pain and humiliation, keeping her head down, not daring to resist.

For the next few centuries, it was always like this.

Occasionally, when Ye Xuan came, Li Tianxing happened to be in secluded cultivation.

Zi Yao seemed like a completely different person.

She would purposely change into the plain clothes Ye Xuan used to like best, throwing herself at him with a face full of shyness and excitement:

"Husband! That beast is in seclusion!"

"For these past few centuries, you are all I've thought about!"

"Tonight... let me serve you well! I want to give myself to you!"

She began to unfasten her clothes, her eyes full of desire.

It was a desire for Ye Xuan, as well as a desire to prove her own charm.

However.

Ye Xuan subconsciously took a step back.

He avoided her touch.

This single step felt like a slap across Zi Yao's face.

Zi Yao froze, her clothes half-undone, looking at Ye Xuan desolately:

"Husband... do you despise me?"

"Do you think I'm dirty?"

Ye Xuan's expression was indifferent, his tone as calm as if he were stating an academic fact:

"No."

"It is because of your constitution."

"The Heavenly Demon Wild Dance Art that the Young Sect Master practices is a cultivation method of extreme yang and extreme evil. And you possess the Profound Yin Physique."

"After centuries of dual cultivation, your auras have long merged into one, complementing each other."

"Your current constitution is filled with demonic nature. You and he are the true match made in heaven."

Ye Xuan smoothed his sleeves and said lightly:

"I practice the Dao of Carefree Wandering, which strictly forbids the erosion of demonic qi."

"If I touch you, it will ruin my Dao foundation."

"Therefore... the one who should step aside is me."

Zi Yao trembled all over, breaking down in tears:

"Husband! How could you say that!"

"I was forced! Every time, I was just enduring it! I felt nothing but disgust in my heart!"

"How could you abandon me... just because of this?"

Ye Xuan nodded, replying perfunctorily, "Alright, I was wrong. Don't overthink it."

After saying that, with a flash of golden light, he activated the Kunpeng Carefree Roam and vanished instantly.

Looking at the empty room, Zi Yao felt as if her heart had been hollowed out.

He despised her.

Although he didn't say it aloud, his body's reaction couldn't lie.

He thought she was dirty! He despised the scent of another man on her!

In the days that followed, Ye Xuan visited less and less frequently.

Sometimes, he would only come once every few decades.

Every time he came, he would just stand at a distance, indifferently asking about her recent situation, then leave behind some life-saving talismans and turn to go.

This feeling was like visiting a deceased relative.

The panic in Zi Yao's heart grew heavier and heavier.

She realized that Ye Xuan was becoming increasingly unfamiliar, and increasingly powerful.

His cultivation had already reached the Great Perfection of the Body Integration Realm, and there were even faint signs of him breaking through to the Tribulation Crossing Realm. His aura had become ethereal and elusive, as if he could ascend to immortality at any moment.

"Husband... what have you been doing lately?"

During one of their meetings, Zi Yao couldn't help but ask, her tone carrying a hint of interrogation.

Ye Xuan looked calmly into the distance:

"Traveling around."

"I've made many friends and visited many perilous places."

"The Dragon Maiden of the Northern Sea, the Gu Immortal of the Southern Border, the Zither Sage of the Central Province... This world is vast, and there are many interesting people."

Zi Yao's heart suddenly clenched.

Dragon Maiden? Gu Immortal? Zither Sage?

Just hearing the titles, she knew they were all female cultivators! And peerless female cultivators at that!

Jealousy grew wildly like a poisonous weed.

Although she sought pleasure beneath Li Tianxing, subconsciously, she had always treated Ye Xuan as her private property, as her final fallback.

"Are there any female Daoist friends?" Zi Yao asked shrilly.

"Yes. Many." Ye Xuan answered frankly.

"No!"

Zi Yao rushed forward frantically, trying to grab Ye Xuan's hand, only to be blocked by his protective spiritual light:

"I am your only Dao companion!"

"I am your wedded wife! I forbid you from contacting those cheap women! They are only after your cultivation!"

Ye Xuan looked at her hysterical state, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his mouth:

"Well then, Fairy Zi Yao."

"May I ask, how many Dao companions do you have?"

Zi Yao froze, then burst into bitter tears, bringing out the same excuse she had used for hundreds of years:

"Husband! You know! I have no control over my fate! I was forced!!"

"Forced?"

Ye Xuan smiled.

"Hundreds of years ago, you said you were forced because we were weak."

"Later, you said it was for revenge, for resources."

"And now?"

Ye Xuan took a step forward, releasing the pressure of the Great Perfection of the Body Integration Realm without reservation, causing the entire Heavenly Demon Sect to tremble:

"Right now, my Kunpeng's Free Roaming has reached the realm of perfection. Even Li Tianxing's Mahayana realm father cannot stop me."

"I can take you away right now."

"To the ends of the earth, to anywhere you want to go."

Ye Xuan reached out his hand, his gaze burning like a torch:

"Will you leave with me?"

"As long as you nod, we will leave immediately. We will completely cut off all ties here."

Zi Yao looked at that hand.

She froze.

Leave?

Leave the throne of the Young Sect Master's wife?

Leave these mountains of supreme-grade demonic crystals?

To live a wandering life with Ye Xuan? Even if he was very strong, could it compare to the offerings of the entire Heavenly Demon Sect?

Moreover... she had already grown accustomed to Li Tianxing's domineering nature, accustomed to this life of being served by others.

A trace of unwillingness flashed through Zi Yao's eyes, and she shrank back:

"Husband... wait a little longer."

"I was tortured by them for hundreds of years... I haven't taken my revenge yet..."

"Shouldn't these people pay the price? If I leave now, wouldn't it be letting them off too easily?"

It was this excuse again.

For hundreds of years, not a single word of it had changed.

Ye Xuan's hand hung in midair.

Then, it slowly fell.

"You are right."

Ye Xuan's expression was so distant, as if he were looking at a stranger on the street:

"They will pay the price."

"And so will you."

Having said that, Ye Xuan turned around, transformed into a streak of golden light, and left resolutely.

Not long after he left.

The main doors were pushed open, and Mo Li walked in.

He had actually been hiding in the shadows the whole time, watching all of this unfold.

"He's gone?" Mo Li asked with a gloomy face.

Zi Yao shot him a cold glance, wiped her tears dry, and restored her arrogant and glamorous demeanor:

"He's gone."

Mo Li flew into a rage, grabbing her by the neck. "Were you still thinking of running away with him?!"

Zi Yao was choked to the point of being unable to breathe, yet she actually began to laugh. Her smile was both mournful and charming:

"Run? Where would I run to?"

"He already... doesn't want me anymore."

Mo Li was taken aback, but then he was overjoyed.

He loosened his grip, scooped Zi Yao up into his arms, and walked toward the bed, his face full of sycophancy and lust:

"It's good that he doesn't want you! What does that piece of trash know about romance? My wife, since he's gone, then let's..."

Zi Yao pushed him away in disgust, yet she used the momentum to lean into his embrace, her expression as haughty as a queen's:

"Be gentle. Also, when are you going to get me the Nine Yin Demonic Marrow I asked for?"

"Your current cultivation base is too weak. Even dual cultivation doesn't satisfy me."

Mo Li hastily nodded and bowed. "Definitely! Definitely! I'll go to the storehouse and get it tomorrow!"