Unprecedented Eeriness

Xia Lengyue's entire body went stiff. Under Ye Xuan's gaze, all she could do was despairingly repeat a single sentence over and over:

"I didn't... It is all my own fault..."

"Hahahaha..."

Ye Xuan covered his face tightly, his shoulders shaking violently.

Startled by this sudden bout of maniacal laughter, Xia Lengyue shuddered all over. She stopped swaying and looked down in absolute terror at the man doubling over with laughter, her eyes full of helplessness and pleading. "Husband... what, what are you laughing at..."

"What am I laughing at?"

Ye Xuan suddenly straightened up, his laughter coming to an abrupt halt.

His handsome, pale face was twisted to the extreme at this moment. He reached out with his slender fingers and gently wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes, yet his gaze locked onto Xia Lengyue like a starving wolf:

"Senior Sister, haven't you been crying and screaming, wanting to rekindle our past romance?"

"Didn't you want me to forgive you? To be my wife once again?"

As Ye Xuan spoke, he stepped through the bloodstains on the ground and strode to the core of the Marrow Extraction Grand Array. The corners of his mouth curled into a bloodcurdling arc, and his voice revealed a sick, morbid excitement:

"Fine! I will grant your wish!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ye Xuan fiercely flicked his sleeve, casting an extremely complex incantation.

The blinding blood-red light suddenly retracted, and the four runic chains that were biting deeply into Xia Lengyue's flesh and bones instantly snapped loose!

Losing the support of the chains, Xia Lengyue's riddled and extremely weak body fell straight down from midair like a kite with a broken string.

"Ah!"

She let out a cry of alarm, expecting to smash heavily against the cold, hard white jade floor tiles. However, in the next moment, she fell into a broad, cold embrace.

Ye Xuan had caught her.

He did not show any disgust at her body covered in dirty blood and cold sweat. Instead, he held her firmly in his arms, as if embracing a lost and found peerless treasure.

He lowered his head, his gaze so gentle it could melt into water, and softly stroked her bloodstained cheek.

Xia Lengyue was stunned.

Feeling the long-lost cold aura radiating from Ye Xuan and the strength of his arms, her mind went completely blank for a moment.

"Hus... Husband?"

Xia Lengyue's eyes widened in disbelief, her cracked lips trembling slightly.

Was this real? He let her down? He was no longer going to torture her? He said he would fulfill her wish to rekindle their romance!

A surge of ecstasy erupted from the bottom of her heart like a volcano, instantly washing away all her reason and fear!

"Husband! You are finally willing to forgive me! Wu wu wu..." Xia Lengyue desperately reached out her arms, hugging Ye Xuan's neck tightly, and buried her face in his chest, wailing loudly.

The torture of these past few days had been like a long and terrifying nightmare, but now, she had finally seen the end of it!

Overjoyed, tears mixed with blood flowed down her face: "I swear, I will love you properly from now on. I will work like a horse and toil like an ox for you; I will listen to whatever you say!"

Ye Xuan allowed her to hold him, but the sick, cold sneer at the corners of his mouth grew even deeper.

"There is no need to work like a horse and toil like an ox. You are my most beloved Senior Sister, after all."

Ye Xuan spoke softly, then scooped her up into his arms and walked toward a slightly cleaner clearing in the center of the wine cellar.

He gently set Xia Lengyue down, letting her lean weakly against a thick stone pillar. Then, Ye Xuan formed his fingers into a sword shape and forced out a drop of his own golden lifeblood essence from his fingertip.

"Since we are to rekindle our past romance, we must do it rightfully and properly."

Ye Xuan's eyes were fanatical and eerie. He grabbed Xia Lengyue's mutilated, bloody wrist, ignoring her muffled groans of pain, and directly dipped his fingertip in both of their blood. In midair, he rapidly drew an ancient and complex blood-red rune!

"By the heavens and the earth, with the Great Dao as my witness! Today, I, Ye Xuan, and Xia Lengyue, shall tie the knot once more and become dual cultivation Dao Companions!"

Ye Xuan's voice was like a great ringing bell echoing through the gloomy wine cellar. That blood-red rune instantly split into two, transforming into two streams of light that sank into the center of Ye Xuan's and Xia Lengyue's brows respectively.

The Dao Companion Contract was formed!

Feeling the extra thread of a bond deeply connected to Ye Xuan within the depths of her soul, Xia Lengyue trembled with excitement.

She had succeeded!

She had truly become Ye Xuan's wife again!

As long as she had this status, no matter how resentful he was, he would never treat her like an animal again!

"Husband..." Xia Lengyue looked up, her eyes filled with a sick infatuation and the relief of having narrowly escaped death. She reached out her hand, wanting to stroke Ye Xuan's face: "From now on, we will live a good life right here. I will bear you..."

However, before she could finish her sentence.

The gentleness on Ye Xuan's face vanished instantly, replaced by an extreme malice more cruel than a fiend from hell!

"A good life?"

Ye Xuan looked down at her from above, his eyes filled with contempt.

He viciously kicked Xia Lengyue squarely in the chest!

"Bang!"

"Pfft!"

Xia Lengyue was sent flying like a broken rag sack, crashing heavily against the stone wall behind her and violently coughing up a large mouthful of blood.

Before she could recover from the agonizing pain and sheer shock, Ye Xuan had already appeared before her like a phantom.

He grabbed her by the hair and, like dragging a dead dog, roughly dragged her toward the terrifying Marrow Extraction Grand Array!

"Husband! What are you doing?! Let me go! We just became Dao Companions! You can't treat me like this!" Xia Lengyue was in a complete panic. She screamed hysterically, her hands desperately trying to pry away Ye Xuan's iron-grip fingers, the ecstasy in her eyes swallowed once again by bottomless terror.

"Of course I know we are Dao Companions, my good wife."

Ye Xuan's voice was like a poison-laced ice blade as he whispered viciously into Xia Lengyue's ear.

He violently hurled Xia Lengyue onto the bone-chilling execution platform, his hands rapidly forming hand seals.

"Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!"

Four black iron chains, even thicker than before and engraved with karmic fire runes, shot out from around the platform like venomous snakes. They mercilessly pierced through the joints of Xia Lengyue's four limbs, firmly nailing her in a humiliating and despairing spread-eagle position!

"Ah!"

Xia Lengyue let out an incomparably shrill shriek as blood poured out wildly along the chains.

The Marrow Extraction Grand Array was activated once more. Countless invisible spiritual energy spikes sprouted from beneath the execution platform, slowly piercing into her spine and beginning to extract her essence in agonizing, bone-deep pain!

Ye Xuan stood by the platform, watching Xia Lengyue twitch madly in excruciating agony as cold sweat rolled down like a waterfall.

His face twisted into a ferocious sneer, his laughter carrying a bloodcurdling paranoia and madness:

"Senior Sister, didn't you say you cheated because you are inherently vile?"

"Didn't you say no one forced you to do any of this?"

Ye Xuan suddenly leaned over, resting his hands on the edge of the platform. Staring fixedly into Xia Lengyue's eyes, which were wide with extreme torment, he roared, enunciating every single word:

"Now, we are remarried!"

"I want to see how you'll manage to cheat when you're nailed dead in this pitch-black dungeon, having your bones and marrow extracted every day, unable to even twitch..."

"Under these circumstances, how are you going to betray me?"

"Weren't you willing? Aren't you promiscuous by nature? Then prove it to me!" Ye Xuan was like a mad scientist trapped in a logical dead end, his eyes fanatic and cruel. "Prove to me whether you will betray me or not when there is absolutely no external interference!"

Xia Lengyue was in so much pain that she didn't even have the strength to wail.

Her heart completely died in this moment.

Time flew by relentlessly.

To a cultivator, three years was nothing more than a brief breath during secluded meditation.

But to Xia Lengyue, who was firmly nailed to the torture rack, these three years were a living hell of over a thousand days and nights, where every minute and every second felt like death by a thousand cuts.

The stench of blood in the side hall's wine cellar was so thick it wouldn't dissipate, and a thick layer of dark red blood grime had accumulated on the white jade floor tiles.

Over these three years, Ye Xuan would visit this hell every few days.

He brought the highest grade healing pills, roughly stuffing them into her mouth to ensure she wouldn't die from the endless torment. He brought the most exquisite pastries from the Great Xia Imperial Palace, only to sneer and crush them, scattering the crumbs over her face.

And every time he came, he would conduct a cruel interrogation.

"Senior Sister, have you cheated in these three years?"

"Senior Sister, feel it carefully. Is there some unseen force driving you to seek out other men?"

"Senior Sister, as long as you admit that you are being controlled, I will let you down immediately."

Faced with Ye Xuan's increasingly paranoid and frantic interrogations, Xia Lengyue had been tortured into a state of delirium.

Her flesh was torn open by the chains, deep enough to show bone; her soul was tormented day and night by karmic fire and the marrow-extracting grand array.

However, every time, no matter what cruel punishments Ye Xuan used, the conclusion was always the same.

"No..."

"It was me... willingly degrading myself..."

"There was no one else... it's my own base nature..."

Her eyes were hollow and dead. Whenever she answered this question, an extremely unnatural, profound sense of guilt would surface on her face.

This guilt was so sincere, so genuine that it sent chills down Ye Xuan's spine.

It had been three years.

Ye Xuan's inner certainty about a behind-the-scenes manipulator gradually began to waver, replaced by a trace of self-doubt in the face of Xia Lengyue's almost bizarre, unwavering confessions.

Could it be that he really was the crazy one?

Could it be that the betrayals across his hundred reincarnations were simply because he was blind, falling in love with naturally promiscuous women every single time?

Great Xia Imperial Palace, Zihua Palace.

This was the most luxurious palace with the densest spiritual energy in the entire imperial palace, second only to the Emperor and Empress's bedchambers.

Zi Yao, the top demonic cultivator with a terrifying reputation in the cultivation world, was currently leaning lazily on a beauty couch carved from ten-thousand-year-old warm jade.

She wore an incredibly luxurious purple-black flowing immortal dress, its hem spreading like drifting clouds over a carpet woven from premium snow fox fur.

The surrounding maids and eunuchs held their breath, carefully serving this baleful star, terrified that displeasing her would result in their heads rolling.

The white jade desk in front of Zi Yao was covered with rare exotic fruits and immortal nectars rarely seen in the cultivation world.

Ever since she was brought back to the Great Xia Imperial Palace by Ye Xuan, Wu Lingxiao allowed her to throw her weight around in this inner palace, enjoying ultimate freedom and extravagance.

Yet, not a hint of happiness could be seen in Zi Yao's eyes.

Holding a cup of spiritual wine, her purple eyes were filled with emptiness and deep self-loathing.

At this moment, familiar footsteps echoed from outside the hall.

The hand Zi Yao used to hold the wine cup trembled violently, spilling the scarlet liquid onto the back of her snow-white hand.

The maids all knelt and kowtowed, "Your servants greet His Highness!"

Ye Xuan walked into the grand hall and casually waved away all the servants. In an instant, only the two of them remained in the massive Zihua Palace.

"Hus... Husband."

Zi Yao hastily put down the wine cup and stood up from the beauty couch.

Facing this man she had once betrayed, this formerly ruthless demonic cultivator now looked like a child who had done something wrong. She was fidgety and anxious, her eyes darting away, completely afraid to meet Ye Xuan's gaze.

Ye Xuan ignored her panic. He walked straight up to Zi Yao, looking at her with a heavy gaze.

"Zi Yao." Ye Xuan's voice was very calm. "I came today to ask you a question. Answer me truthfully."

Zi Yao shuddered, a trace of painful flush appearing on her breathtakingly beautiful face. She thought Ye Xuan was going to bring up the past to humiliate her again.

Biting her lower lip, she lowered her proud head. "Please ask, Husband... Zi Yao would absolutely not dare to utter a single lie."

Ye Xuan stared fixedly into her eyes, not missing a single muscle twitch on her face:

"Who sent you?"

Zi Yao froze. She jerked her head up, her purple eyes full of astonishment. "Wh... what do you mean?"

Ye Xuan took a deep breath, his tone even carrying a hint of temptation and anticipation:

"Zi Yao, think about it carefully. Back then, you became my Dao Companion and shared life and death with me. But at the final moment, you suddenly betrayed me."

"As long as you admit that your betrayal back then was instigated by someone; as long as you admit that there was an irresistible manipulator in the unseen world controlling your will..."

Ye Xuan took a step forward, his hands gripping Zi Yao's shoulders tightly, his eyes feverishly intense. "As long as you admit that all of this was not your true intention! I can forgive you! All our past grudges will be wiped clean! I will love you as a true wife! Okay?"

Faced with this sudden, perfect opportunity, Zi Yao's pupils trembled violently.

That's right! As long as she played along with his words, as long as she pushed everything onto that fabricated manipulator, she could completely rid herself of the guilt that tortured her soul day and night! She would be able to openly nestle in this man's embrace!

This was simply a lifesaver falling from the sky!

Zi Yao opened her mouth, her eyes instantly turning red. She panted rapidly, the word "yes" already slipping to the tip of her tongue.

But...

Just as Ye Xuan was staring at her intently, full of anticipation and even feeling a tingling in his scalp.

Zi Yao's expression suddenly froze.

The ecstasy in her eyes from finding an excuse was instantly extinguished, as if a basin of ice water had been poured over her head. It was replaced by an extreme guilt and self-loathing that penetrated to the bone and could not be concealed.

"No..."

Tears burst from Zi Yao's eyes. She shook her head fiercely and broke free from Ye Xuan's hands.

She slumped back onto the beauty couch, covering her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. "Husband... stop trying to find excuses for me..."

"There is no manipulator... no one instigated me..."

"It was me! I willingly degraded myself!"

Zi Yao cried so hard it was heart-wrenching. She suddenly raised her head, her breathtakingly beautiful face filled with the most vicious curses against herself: "I am a demonic cultivator! The blood of greed flows in my very bones! Back then, I did it all for those top-tier cultivation resources! I was jealous of your destiny! To break through my bottleneck, I would even sell myself out, let alone you!"

"I am just a slut who would betray everything for resources! I did everything myself! Do not forgive me... I don't deserve it!"

Boom!

It was as if something had exploded in Ye Xuan's mind.

His scalp went numb.

It was happening again!

This familiar, bone-chilling sensation of being stared down by some indescribable terror wrapped around Ye Xuan's neck like a poisonous snake once more!

Xia Lengyue had denied it under the most extreme torture.

Zi Yao, when faced with absolute freedom and forgiveness, still denied it!

They would rather brand themselves with the most degrading and vicious words, rather admit to being profit-driven beasts, than take the way out he offered and admit the existence of a manipulator!

"Why... why do you just refuse to admit it?"

Ye Xuan staggered back two steps. He looked at Zi Yao, who was crying to the point of a total breakdown, his eyes filled with extreme horror and disbelief.

"Crazy... everyone has gone crazy!"

Ye Xuan gasped. He did not dare to look at Zi Yao's guilt-ridden face anymore. He abruptly turned around and stumbled out of the Zihua Palace, fleeing for his life.