Heartrending

The Sword God Palace towered majestically into the clouds.

This massive sect, standing in the very center of the Central Continent, occupied nine ten-thousand-foot main peaks and thirty-six secondary peaks. Stretching for thousands of miles, its imposing grandeur resembled an ancient giant dragon coiled upon the earth.

The nine main peaks were connected by suspended plank walkways. Ancient sword dao runes were engraved on every walkway, glowing with a faint silvery-white light day and night.

Upon the thirty-six secondary peaks, pavilions and towers stood in close rows. Amidst the lingering immortal mist, countless disciples could be vaguely seen cultivating diligently.

And on the highest and most treacherous main peak, the Peak of Severed Emotions, ninety-nine flights of white jade steps wound their way up from the base, leading directly to the forbidden back mountain at the summit.

This holy land of immortals, which Ye Xuan had once treated as his own backyard and entered freely.

Today, however, it had become the place of his nightmares.

Ye Xuan had arrived.

He was bathed in blood.

The luxurious gold-threaded wedding robes that should have shone brightly today were now torn to shreds by the biting astral winds and his continuously flowing blood. It hung upon his emaciated frame like a tattered flag riddled with holes.

His face was terrifyingly pale, his lips chapped, and his eye sockets deeply sunken. His bloodshot eyes, due to severe congestion, displayed an unnatural crimson hue.

He didn't look like a living person; rather, he resembled a vengeful ghost crawling out of a mass grave.

From the Southern Borders to the Central Continent, he had practically burned his lifeblood essence to forcibly tear through space and travel.

With a Body Integration stage cultivation, crossing such a distance should have taken days. But he took less than half a day.

The price was that his lifeblood essence was almost completely burned away. His cultivation had plummeted by an entire minor realm.

But he didn't care.

He didn't care about anything anymore.

There was only one thought in his eyes:

Find his wife. Save her. At any cost.

Gripping the broken sword Azure Rainbow in his hand, his eyes crimson, he recklessly threw himself onto the ninety-nine white jade steps leading to the forbidden back mountain.

"Get out of the way! All of you, get out of my way!"

"I want to see Ye Jiuzhou! I am going to save Ruyan!"

At the end of the stone steps, two figures blocked his path.

They were two Crossing Tribulation stage elders guarding the entrance to the back mountain.

Standing on the left and right, their longswords were unsheathed. Fierce sword qi slashed across the stone steps like two white rainbows, sealing off the path to the forbidden back mountain so tightly that not a single gap remained.

"Insolent!"

The elder on the left had a face as calm as deep water and a gaze as majestic as a falcon. "The forbidden back mountain is the Palace Master's place of secluded cultivation. No one is allowed to trespass. Ye Xuan, even if you were once the Palace Master's brother, you cannot—"

"Get out of the way!!"

Ye Xuan roared with red eyes, pointing his broken sword forward, its tip trembling. "I am Ye Xuan! Let me in! Big brother... he's gone mad! He stole my wife!"

The two elders exchanged a glance.

Their faces were as heavy as iron, but the look in their eyes when they gazed at Ye Xuan faintly revealed a strange expression.

"Ye Xuan, calm down." One of the elders did not retreat half a step, his longsword still held horizontally in front of him, but his tone carried an added touch of cruelty:

"No one stole your wife."

Ye Xuan's body jolted.

It was as if he had plunged into an ice cavern.

"What... what did you say?" He widened his blood-red eyes.

The elder on the right sighed and turned his head away, seemingly unable to bear looking into his eyes anymore.

But a young disciple standing nearby couldn't hold back any longer.

Looking at Ye Xuan's miserable state, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled into a harsh sneer:

"Ye Xuan, do you really think it was a bridal kidnapping?"

"After Miss Liu Ruyan was brought back to the Sword God Palace by the Palace Master, she learned that the Palace Master is the number one swordsman in the world, an absolute mighty figure at the peak of the Crossing Tribulation stage, and has the Sword God Palace as his background. She willingly chose to serve by the Palace Master's side. She went in smiling; no one forced her."

The young disciple's sneer became even more unbridled.

"Miss Liu is now the Palace Master's darling, kept in a golden house, living blissfully. The Palace Master has ordered that no one is to approach the forbidden back mountain by even half a step. The two of them..."

He deliberately dragged out his tone, lowered his voice, and spat out the final words—

"...are currently consummating their marriage."

"Bullshit!"

Ye Xuan flew into a rage.

"Ruyan is absolutely not that kind of person!"

"She was forced! She must have been forced!"

"Get lost!"

The little spiritual energy remaining in his body completely went berserk at this moment.

Seeing this scene, the elder revealed a cold sneer. "Let him in. These are the Palace Master's orders."

Thus, the two no longer blocked him.

Ye Xuan's figure stumbled forward.

The forbidden back mountain.

This was the most hidden and core area of the entire Sword God Palace.

And in the very center of this domain.

A sturdy barrier flowing with pale golden runes, like an invisible wall of bronze and iron, ruthlessly isolated this space into two completely different worlds, inside and out.

Inside the barrier was a deep cave dwelling hidden within gray mist. Its stone doors were tightly shut, and a biting chill emanated from it.

By the time Ye Xuan rushed to the barrier, he was at the end of his rope. He threw himself against the barrier, desperately smashing it with his fists, his head, and the broken sword in his hand.

"Ye Jiuzhou! Come out here!"

"If you have a problem, come at me! Let Ruyan go!"

"Big brother! I am your younger brother! Why are you doing this!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He smashed until his bones broke and his flesh was mangled. However, no matter how hoarse his voice became, the barrier set up by Ye Jiuzhou remained as steady as Mount Tai, not even rippling in the slightest.

But what truly and utterly broke him was the voice that answered him, the decadent sounds drifting faintly from deep within the barrier.

"Mmm... Palace Master... be a little gentler..."

It was Liu Ruyan's voice.

There were no forced cries, no steadfast chastity refusing to submit even unto death, and certainly not the slightest bit of worry for Ye Xuan.

Her voice was mixed with blush-inducing pants and explicit fawning, like tens of thousands of sharp knives coated in deadly poison, slicing away at Ye Xuan's heartstrings inch by inch.

"Hahahaha!"

Ye Jiuzhou's unbridled, maniacal laughter pierced through the thick barrier. Carrying a lofty, insufferably arrogant mockery, it smashed heavily against Ye Xuan's ears:

"What's so good about that trash Ye Xuan? In front of this seat, he isn't even as good as a dog wagging its tail for pity. Ruyan, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, indeed..." Liu Ruyan's voice was sickeningly sweet, her flattery overflowing in her words. "He only has a decent face to look at. In reality, he's weak and incompetent, without even the ability to protect me. How could he possibly compare to you, Palace Master, so mighty and domineering, the number one person in the sword dao of this era..."

Liu Ruyan's voice paused, becoming even more bone-deep charming: "As long as the Palace Master does not disdain me, I am willing to serve the Palace Master for my entire life. To be able to be your cauldron is a blessing I have cultivated over eight lifetimes; I am entirely willing..."

Outside the barrier.

Ye Xuan froze stiffly in place.

His hands, which had once proudly gripped a sword, were now trembling violently. With a clang, his natal broken sword, which had accompanied him for a century, slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground, shattering his final dignity as a man and as a sword cultivator.

If you didn't love me, why did you blush and accept my proposal?

If she did not love me, why would she, on our very wedding night, on a bed merely a wall away from me, say such utterly degrading things to another man?

An eldest brother he revered as a god stealing his bride, a wife he loved to the bone betraying him...

The two people who should have been the closest to him in this world had, on this day, effortlessly joined hands to push him into an abyss of eternal damnation.

"Ah!"

Ye Xuan's knees smashed heavily into the muddy ground, his ten fingers digging fiercely into the hard crevices of the stone.

His fingernails cracked and curled back inch by inch, dripping with blood, yet he felt absolutely nothing. He only let out a mournful, utterly desperate howl like that of a dying beast.

At this moment, the human warmth and light in his eyes were completely extinguished.

They were replaced by the raging hellfire of revenge roaring from the bottom of the abyss, a fire fierce enough to incinerate the heavens and the earth.

"Ye Jiuzhou! Liu Ruyan!"

He slowly raised his head, his handsome face now twisted like a malevolent spirit from extreme resentment. He stared dead at the pale golden light barrier, weeping blood with every word as he nearly shattered his teeth from gritting them so hard:

"Let the heavens and the earth be my witness! From this day forward, all ties of kinship and affection between us are completely severed!"

"If I, Ye Xuan, do not kill you adulterous dogs, I swear I am no longer human!"

Rumble.

A clap of thunder echoed across the horizon, and heavy rain began to pour.

Ye Xuan staggered up from the ground, not sparing another glance at the barrier.

His retreating figure was desolate and tragic, bearing the deepest hatred and humiliation in this world. Dragging his broken body, he limped away and vanished into the dreary wind and bitter rain.