The Cycle of Cause and Effect

The Lengyue Demon Palace was situated beneath the ten-thousand-year glaciers in the Extreme West.

It saw no daylight throughout the year, and the chilling winds howled and swept through like bone-scraping steel blades.

If an ordinary cultivator were to step even half a foot inside, they would be instantly frozen into an ice sculpture by the soul-piercing cold.

Yet at this moment, from the depths of this magnificent palace that resembled a colossal mausoleum, came waves of blood-curdling curses.

"Ye Qingcheng! You slutty fox who only knows how to harvest essence!"

"To think you dared to ambush This Seat... Once my injuries are healed, I will definitely raze your Joyous Union Sect to the ground!"

In the center of the grand hall, on a massive phoenix bed carved from ten-thousand-year profound ice, the Demon Venerable Lengyue, Xia Lengyue, sat cross-legged.

Her face was cold and stunningly beautiful, like an unreachable goddess of the snowy mountains. However, a blood-red crescent moon mark between her brows was currently emitting an extremely bizarre and seductive red glow, flickering in time with her rapid, heavy breathing.

Her complexion was a sickly pale, and a glaring trail of blood hung from the corner of her mouth. A piece of the robe over her chest had been torn away, revealing a wound so deep that the bone was visible. It was obvious she was heavily injured.

"And Ye Xuan..."

When this name was squeezed through her gritted teeth, Xia Lengyue's facial features, which were originally twisted in pain, froze for a split second.

Immediately after, the monstrous fury in her eyes was like a fire doused in oil, instantly transforming into an extremely twisted obsession and resentment.

She neurotically wrapped her arms around her own trembling shoulders, her ten fingers digging deeply into her flesh, yet the corners of her mouth curled into a sweet but cruel, eerie smile:

"You actually dared to betray me... You actually dared to instigate a fight between me and Ye Qingcheng, and then ran away by yourself..."

As she muttered to herself, she stuck out her long, blood-stained tongue, greedily licking the blood from the corner of her lips.

"When I catch you... I will lock you in an ice coffin and make love to you day and night, so that you can never leave me..."

Suddenly, an earth-shattering boom tore through the deathly silence of the demon palace.

A profound ice gate, renowned for its peerless defense and covered in ninety-nine supreme-tier defensive formations, was forcefully blasted into fine powder from the outside in the most savage and brutal manner.

Ice shards danced in the sky like a fierce blizzard. Amidst the blinding back-light, three figures slowly walked in, stepping on the ground covered in crushed ice.

Xia Lengyue jerked her head up, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks.

When she clearly saw the man walking in the middle, dressed in white purer than snow and wearing an indifferent expression, an abnormal flush instantly surged onto her originally pale cheeks.

"Junior Brother!"

Xia Lengyue completely forgot about her shattered body and ignored the blood spurting from her bursting chest wound.

Like a mad dog that had found its master, she leaped straight off the ice bed. Her legs gave way, but she still scrambled on all fours, stumbling and lunging toward Ye Xuan.

She dragged a glaring trail of blood across the freezing floor, her voice so shrill that it cracked:

"You came back! You finally knew to come back!"

"I knew you couldn't bear to leave your Senior Sister! You are here to take me away, right?"

She opened her arms wide, fantasizing about kneading this body she yearned for day and night into her own flesh and blood, never letting him escape again.

However.

Just at the exact moment her blood-stained fingertips were about to touch the corner of Ye Xuan's pure white robes.

"Get lost!"

"Insolent!"

Two terrifying auras, as deep as the abyss and as vast as the sea, mixed with undisguised contempt and killing intent, descended simultaneously.

Wu Lingxiao and Zi Yao stood on the left and right, like two peerlessly magnificent yet ruthlessly cold door gods, firmly blocking the space in front of Ye Xuan.

The apocalyptic presence of the Mahayana Realm erupted without reservation, transforming into an invisible yet tangible wall of qi that directly blasted the unhealed, heavily injured Xia Lengyue flying like a torn cloth sack.

"Bang!"

Xia Lengyue's back smashed heavily against the solid ice wall. The sound of bones fracturing was clearly audible in the empty hall.

She slid down like a puddle of mud and wildly spewed another mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of her internal organs.

She raised her head in disbelief. Looking through her messy long hair, she stared fixedly at those two women with overwhelming auras and peerless beauty. Then, she looked at Ye Xuan, who stood behind them without even furrowing his brows, as if he were looking at a roadside ant.

"Wu Lingxiao? Demon Venerable Zi Yao?"

Xia Lengyue let out a shrill, inhuman scream.

With disheveled hair and eyes as bloodshot as dripping blood, her originally pure and stunning face was now completely twisted. Like an evil ghost crawling out of the Nine Nether Underworld, she pounded the ground like a madwoman:

"Why? Why are you with these two sluts?"

"Ye Xuan! You are mine! You are my husband! You can only belong to me alone!"

"Kill them! I want to kill them!"

She roared like a maniac, blood constantly pouring from her mouth. She crawled madly toward Ye Xuan, wanting to eat the flesh and blood of the two women alive.

Faced with Xia Lengyue's hysteria, Ye Xuan's eyes did not ripple in the slightest.

He simply waved his hand lightly, his movements elegant and casual, signaling for the two concubines reeking of killing intent to step down.

Then, stepping on the ground full of ice shards and bloodstains, he walked step by step until he was in front of Xia Lengyue.

He looked down condescendingly at this Senior Sister who had once trampled him underfoot, who had made him feel fear and despair, and who had subjected him to inhuman torture.

"Sigh..."

Ye Xuan sighed softly. In this sigh, there was no warmth whatsoever, only a trace of perfectly measured disappointment revealed from beneath his masterful disguise:

"Senior Sister, you are still the same as always."

"Other than incompetent fury, what else can you do?"

"You..."

Xia Lengyue's body stiffened, and she was completely stunned.

She tilted her head up, staring blankly at Ye Xuan.

She had never seen Ye Xuan look at her with such a condescending gaze. It caused a tearing panic to well up in her heart.

Ye Xuan slowly squatted down. He reached out his slender, fair hand, his fingertips piercingly cold, and gently lifted Xia Lengyue's chin, which was covered in filthy blood.

"Senior Sister, there is nothing I can do either."

"You are too weak."

"I... I am weak?" Xia Lengyue trembled all over, as if she had just heard the biggest joke in the world.

Her bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Ye Xuan, her voice trembling but carrying a trace of pathetic stubbornness, "I am a Demon Venerable! I am in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm..."

"So what if you are in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm?"

Ye Xuan let out an extremely mocking sneer. He casually extended a finger and pointed at Wu Lingxiao and Zi Yao behind him, who stood as straight as pines with overwhelming auras:

"Them, one is an Empress, the other is a Demon Venerable. Both are Mahayana Realm experts."

"And you? You couldn't even defeat Ye Qingcheng of the Joyous Union Sect, and you ended up covered in injuries."

Ye Xuan suddenly leaned down, bringing his face close to Xia Lengyue's ear. His warm breath hit her cheek, but the corners of his mouth curled into an extremely wicked smile, even carrying a bit of sadistic pleasure:

"Just like how you liked to cling to powerful men in your past life."

"In this life, I also like to cling to powerful women."

"A fine bird chooses a good tree to nest in. Senior Sister, your tree has rotted. I can only change to another one."

"You are a good person, suitable for settling down with. But you cannot give me the immortality I want, nor can you give me the things I desire. So, you... don't blame me."

Upon hearing these words, Xia Lengyue's spirit completely collapsed.

She let out a heart-wrenching wail, her face covered in a mixture of tears and blood.

She lunged forward, desperately grabbing onto Ye Xuan's pure white robes. Even though her fingernails were peeled back and dripping with blood as they dug into her flesh, she remained completely oblivious to the pain.

"It's not like this! You are mine! You can't leave with them!"

"I will become stronger! I will kill them all! Please, I beg you, don't leave me behind!"

She humbled herself into the dust, like a dog wagging its tail begging for pity. As long as she could keep him, she was willing to give up everything.

"It's too late."

Ye Xuan mercilessly pried open her bloodied fingers, one by one.

He stood up and unhurriedly patted the hem of his robe where she had touched. His eyes were cold, as if he were looking at a piece of trash that had completely lost its value.

"Since you are useless now, you might as well contribute your remaining worth."

He turned his head, not sparing another glance at Xia Lengyue on the ground, and looked at Wu Lingxiao and Zi Yao behind him.

"Seize her."

"Don't kill her."

"I just obtained an ancient secret technique from the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Scripture. It can be used to brew wine using the heart's blood of a demonic cultivator."

"This kind of wine not only tastes exquisite, but it can also aid my cultivation."

Hearing these utterly inhumane words, the beautiful eyes of Wu Lingxiao and Zi Yao suddenly burst with an excited gleam.

Being able to ruthlessly strike down this disgusting romantic rival while pleasing their beloved husband, why wouldn't they do it?

After all, it wasn't their blood being drained.

"Understood, Husband!"

A sinister smile curled on the lips of the two women. Carrying undisguised malice, they strode forward.

"No! Ye Xuan! How could you treat me like this?"

"I am your senior sister! I am the senior sister who loves you the most!"

Xia Lengyue's despairing roars echoed throughout the entire demonic palace. Her voice was so shrill it could pierce the heavens, yet it failed to stir a single shred of sympathy from those around her.

Under the absolutely crushing suppression of two Half-Step True Immortals, she was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. All the demonic qi in her body was violently torn apart and sealed.

Wu Lingxiao and Zi Yao each grabbed one of her legs and forcefully dragged her out of the great hall, just like dragging a dead dog.

A long trail of blood extended all the way from the ice bed to the outside of the palace.

Ye Xuan stood in place, watching her back as she was dragged away like garbage. Listening to her gradually fading, miserable wails, the tranquility deep within his eyes completely faded, replaced by a flash of heart-palpitating, icy glint.

'Senior Sister...'

'In our past life, when you drained my heart's blood every day to please your adulterous lover...'

'You said the exact same things.'

He lowered his eyelids, a cruel arc forming at the corner of his mouth.

"We will settle this debt slowly."

Deep within the Great Xia Imperial Palace, in a side hall.

This place had been personally transformed by Ye Xuan into a massive, hellish wine cellar.

The surrounding walls were carved with scarlet array formations. The air was filled with a thick, unshakeable stench of blood, mixed with a nauseating yet bizarrely alluring aroma of wine.

Under the dim and flickering candlelight, Xia Lengyue was suspended tightly in mid-air in a spread-eagle position by four pitch-black chains carved with bone-eroding runes.

Her long hair clung stickily to her face. Her originally snow-white skin was now covered with bruised ligature marks and dense needle holes.

Her wrists had been cruelly slit open. Bright red heart's blood dripped down her pale fingertips, drop by drop, falling precisely into a white jade wine vat below that emitted a chilling aura.

"Drip, drop."

"Drip, drop."

In this deathly silent wine cellar, the sound of dripping blood became the only countdown. Every drop of blood that fell would stir up a violent surge of spiritual energy within the deep red wine, like the breathing of a demon.

"Creak!"

The heavy iron door was pushed open.

Ye Xuan walked in with his hands behind his back and a brisk pace.

At this moment, although only a short three months had passed since the day he captured Xia Lengyue, the aura around him had undergone an earth-shattering and terrifying change.

The terrifying aspects of a heaven-defying cultivation method like the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Scripture were beginning to show. Six faintly discernible whirlpools, resembling black holes, swirled around him, exuding a dreadful fluctuation that devoured all vitality.

In just three short months, he had reached the great perfection of the Foundation Establishment realm. The spiritual power in his body was as vast as an abyss or ocean, only a single step away from the Golden Core realm.

Ye Xuan walked up to the white jade wine vat, staring at the churning blood wine inside with a mesmerized gaze.

He picked up a delicate jade ladle and unhurriedly scooped up a cup of the crimson, blood-like wine that was so viscous it formed strings.

He brought the wine cup to his lips and took a light sip.

As the bloody liquid slid down his throat, he closed his eyes, revealing an extremely intoxicated, even somewhat hallucinatory expression on his face.

"Truly not bad."

Ye Xuan sighed in satisfaction. He slowly swirled the wine cup in his hand, watching the scarlet liquid leave shocking streaks on the inner wall of the cup. His tone was lazy yet cruel:

"Senior Sister's blood is indeed a supreme delicacy in this world. It is smooth on the palate, sweet in its aftertaste, and carries a hint of... the flavor of despair."

Hearing this voice—the voice of the man she once loved to the marrow of her bones, yet who had now cast her into hell—Xia Lengyue, who had passed out from excessive blood loss, twitched her eyelashes and slowly opened her eyes.

Her head drooped weakly as she stared fixedly at Ye Xuan below through her messy hair.

Those once lofty and arrogant eyes were now interwoven with irrational madness, extreme and humble attachment, a hatred that wanted to tear everything to shreds, and a deep fear of unknown torture. Various extreme emotions blended together, making her gaze look like that of an absolute lunatic.

"Ye... Ye Xuan..."

Her throat was so parched it felt like it was burning. Her voice was hoarse and dry, devoid of even the slightest bit of the majesty of the former Demon Venerable.

Ye Xuan stopped swirling the wine cup, turned around, and walked up to her step by step.

He raised his hand and extended a finger still stained with her fresh heart's blood, gently smearing it over her pale, cracked lips with an eerie gentleness.

The taste of blood instantly spread within Xia Lengyue's mouth.

"Senior Sister, have you experienced the pain I felt back then?"

Xia Lengyue's entire body trembled violently, causing the iron chains to rattle loudly.

In an instant, memories of her past life surged into her mind like a tidal wave, and she was immediately overwhelmed with extreme shame.

"Karma is a cycle, and retribution never misses."

Ye Xuan lowered his head and leaned close to her face.

The disguise in his eyes completely faded away, and tyrannical, cruel, and maddened killing intent poured out like a tsunami:

"I won't let you die so easily."

"I will keep you alive."

"I will make you watch with your own eyes as I step on your blood and ascend to the absolute peak, step by step."

"I will let you know what true despair is."