Let's Hurt Each Other, Bai Qiangu

Within the Boundless Demon Sect, there were several female demonesses who had long been salivating over Ye Xuan.

Mei Ji, Hong Fen, and Yu Luocha.

These three women were all elders of the demon sect, second only in status to Bai Qiangu.

They were all stunning beauties, with voluptuous figures and ruthless methods.

They had long wanted to get their hands on Ye Xuan, but due to Bai Qiangu's authority, they had never dared to make a move.

Now, Ye Xuan had come to them willingly.

"Lord Ye, what brings you here?" Mei Ji saw Ye Xuan appear at the entrance of her palace, startled and delighted.

She wore a sheer, gauzy robe that hinted at her exquisite figure.

"Elder Mei Ji." Ye Xuan's voice was calm, eerily calm. "I want to make a deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" Mei Ji licked her lips, her eyes full of lust.

"I'll spend a night with you." Ye Xuan said bluntly. "In exchange, you help me with one thing."

"What is it?"

"Help me grow stronger." A hint of madness flashed in Ye Xuan's eyes. "Strong enough to kill Bai Qiangu."

Mei Ji froze.

She hadn't expected Ye Xuan to say such a thing.

"Lord Ye, do you know what you're saying?" she asked cautiously. "That's the Demon Sovereign..."

"I know." Ye Xuan cut her off. "That's why I need your help."

"Haven't you always wanted to have me?" he continued.

"Now's your chance."

"If you agree to help me, I'm yours."

Mei Ji's breathing quickened.

She stared at Ye Xuan, greed and desire burning in her eyes.

This man was everything she had ever dreamed of.

Though she knew doing this would offend Bai Qiangu...

"Fine." She gritted her teeth. "I agree."

"But remember, after tonight, you belong to me."

"Deal." Ye Xuan said expressionlessly.

That night, Ye Xuan walked into Mei Ji's room.

Mei Ji pounced on him eagerly, wrapping herself around him like a snake.

"Lord Ye, I've waited so long for this day..." she whispered in his ear. "You know, every time I saw you with the Demon Sovereign, I was consumed with jealousy..."

"Now, you're finally mine..."

Ye Xuan said nothing, just closed his eyes.

Silently, he thought: Bai Qiangu, you forced my hand.

That night, Mei Ji got the man she had desired.

But Ye Xuan's heart was colder than ever.

He was like a soulless shell, mechanically going through the motions with Mei Ji.

His eyes were hollow, as if his spirit had left his body.

At dawn, Ye Xuan dressed and left without a backward glance.

Mei Ji lay in bed, satisfied yet somehow empty.

"This man..." she murmured to herself. "His heart was never with me..."

"His heart only belongs to the Demon Sovereign..."

But she didn't care.

At least she had his body.

That was enough.

---

The Mad Revenge

Ye Xuan didn't stop.

He went to Hong Fen's palace next.

Then Yu Luocha's.

Like a madman, he used this self-destructive method to get back at Bai Qiangu.

He knew it was foolish.

He knew he was only hurting himself.

But he didn't care anymore.

He just wanted to make Bai Qiangu suffer.

He wanted her to taste the bitterness of betrayal.

Hong Fen and Yu Luocha were ecstatic.

They never expected Ye Xuan to come to them willingly.

Even more unexpected was how cooperative he was.

"Lord Ye, you're truly..." Hong Fen panted. "Truly irresistible..."

---

The next day.

Bai Qiangu was picking out a new magical artifact for Ye Xuan.

She hadn't slept all night, constantly thinking about Ye Xuan.

She regretted it.

She shouldn't have provoked him that way.

She shouldn't have said those hurtful words.

She decided that when Ye Xuan returned, she would apologize properly.

She would tell him that the other men last night were a lie—she hadn't touched them.

She would tell him that he was the only one in her heart.

She had even prepared a pile of gifts to cheer him up.

"My little husband must still be angry..." she murmured, a bitter smile on her face. "It's okay, I'll coax him slowly..."

"As long as he forgives me, I'll do anything..."

Just then, a demonic cultivator rushed in frantically.

"D-Demon Sovereign..." he stammered. "S-something terrible has happened..."

"What is it?" Bai Qiangu didn't look up. "Speak slowly."

"Lord Ye... Lord Ye..."

"What about him?" Bai Qiangu's heart tightened. "Has something happened to him?"

"N-no..." The cultivator swallowed hard. "Lord Ye... last night, he went to the chambers of Elder Mei Ji, Elder Hong Fen, and Elder Yu Luocha, one after another..."

"He didn't come out until dawn..."

Crack.

The jade ruyi in Bai Qiangu's hand shattered into dust.

"What did you say?"

Her voice was soft, barely audible.

But the tone was as cold as the depths of the underworld.

"Lord Ye... he and the three elders..." The cultivator fell to his knees, trembling.

The smile on Bai Qiangu's face slowly vanished, replaced by a twisted expression that would haunt anyone's nightmares.

Her eyes turned blood-red.

Her body began to tremble, not from fear, but from rage.

Pure, consuming rage.

"I risked the entire world for him," she said, her voice shaking, each word squeezed through clenched teeth.

"I may be wild and unorthodox, but my body was pure! I never let anyone touch me—only him!"

"Even those men last night, I killed them to vent my anger; I never overstepped!"

"But him?"

Her voice suddenly rose into a shriek.

"He actually dared to betray me?"

"He actually dared to let the scent of other women stain him?"

"He actually dared... dared..."

She couldn't finish.

She just stood there, trembling violently, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

"AAAAHHHH!"

Bai Qiangu let out a piercing scream as terrifying demonic energy erupted from her, tearing the roof off the Myriad Demons Hall!

The entire Boundless Demon Sect trembled.

Everyone felt the oppressive aura and fell to their knees in fear.

"Demon Sovereign, calm your rage!"

"Demon Sovereign, calm your rage!"

But Bai Qiangu couldn't hear them.

She just stood there, her eyes filled with madness and agony.

"Ye Xuan..." she whispered. "How dare you... how dare you..."

"I loved you so much..."

"I did so much for you..."

"How could you do this to me..."

She suddenly laughed, laughing until tears streamed down her face.

"Good... very good..."

"Since you want to die so badly..."

"Then I'll grant your wish."

A terrifying demonic thunderbolt struck from the sky, reducing Mei Ji's palace to rubble.

Mei Ji crawled out from the ruins, her face pale with terror.

"D-Demon Sovereign..." she trembled. "Please, let me explain..."

"Explain?" Bai Qiangu sneered. "Explain what?"

"Explain how you seduced my husband!"

"Explain how you got into his bed!"

"Explain how you defiled him!"

"No... it wasn't like that..." Mei Ji fell to her knees in terror. "Young Master Ye came to me first..."

"First?" Bai Qiangu's gaze turned even icier. "Are you saying this is his fault?"

"No... no..." Mei Ji shook her head frantically. "I... I just..."

"Enough."

Bai Qiangu waved her hand.

An invisible force bound Mei Ji, immobilizing her.

"Do you know something?" Bai Qiangu stepped closer to Mei Ji, her voice soft. "I was going to spare you."

"After all, the fault lies with Ye Xuan, not you."

"But..."

Her eyes abruptly turned ferocious. "You touched him!"

"You defiled him!"

"You made him smell of another woman!"

"So..."

She reached out, her fingers curling into a claw, and violently plunged them into Mei Ji's chest.

"You deserve to die."

Mei Ji let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Bai Qiangu ripped out her heart live, crushing it before everyone's eyes.

But that wasn't enough.

Bai Qiangu then extracted Mei Ji's soul and slowly roasted it with demonic fire.

"Ahhh!"

Mei Ji's soul writhed in the flames, emitting inhuman screams.

It wasn't the pain of the flesh, but the agony of the soul being torn apart.

A pain ten thousand times worse than death.

"Listen well," Bai Qiangu said coldly. "This is the price of betraying me."

"This is what happens when you touch my man."

She forced Mei Ji's soul into a lantern.

The lantern would burn for three days and nights, letting Mei Ji's soul slowly dissipate in torment.

Having done all this, Bai Qiangu turned and looked toward the palaces of Hong Fen and Yu Luocha.

"Next."

A River of Blood

That day, the Boundless Demon Sect underwent a great purge.

Mei Ji, Hong Fen, Yu Luocha—these three highly respected elders of the sect were flayed alive by Bai Qiangu in public, their souls extracted and forced into lanterns.

Their screams echoed through the entire sect for three full days and nights.

Everyone was terrified.

They had never seen Bai Qiangu so unhinged.

"What's wrong with the Demon Lord?"

"I heard it's because of Young Master Ye..."

"Shh! Keep your voice down—do you want to die?"

Bai Qiangu stood in the center of the Ten Thousand Demons Hall, staring at those three lanterns, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

She just stood there, still as a statue.

"My little husband..." she murmured to herself. "Do you see this?"

"This is what happens to anyone who touches you."

"This is what happens to anyone who defiles you."

"You are mine."

"Mine alone."

"Whoever dares to touch you..."

Her expression twisted into something demonic. "I will kill them."

But killing these three women wasn't enough.

Bai Qiangu wanted to punish Ye Xuan.

She wanted him to know the price of betraying her.

"Bring me Ye Xuan," she said coldly.

Soon, Ye Xuan was brought to the Ten Thousand Demons Hall.

When he saw the three lanterns and the struggling souls inside, his face went pale.

"You... you killed them..." he said, trembling.

"Yes," Bai Qiangu replied matter-of-factly. "I killed them."

"Because they touched you."

"Because they defiled you."

"So they deserved to die."

"You're insane!" Ye Xuan shouted. "They were innocent!"

"Innocent?" Bai Qiangu let out a cold laugh. "They stole my man, and you call them innocent?"

"Then what about me?"

"I waited for you for twenty years. I became a monster for you. I gave you everything I had..."

"Am I not innocent?!"

She lunged forward, grabbing Ye Xuan by the collar and dragging him to the center of the hall.

There was a massive formation there.

At its center burned a ghostly blue flame.

That was the Soul-Devouring Demonic Fire—a flame that burned the very soul.

"Do you know what this is?" Bai Qiangu pointed at the fire, her voice cold.

Ye Xuan's face turned even paler.

He knew, of course.

It was one of the cruelest punishments in the demonic path.

To be burned by this fire was to suffer a fate worse than death.

"No..." he stammered. "You can't..."

"Can't what?" Bai Qiangu sneered. "Can't punish you?"

"You betrayed me. You let other women touch you. You defiled our marriage..."

"And you still have the nerve to tell me I can't?"

She waved her hand, and chains rose from the ground, piercing through his collarbones and suspending him in the center of the formation.

"Ahh!" Ye Xuan screamed, blood dripping down the chains.

"Does it hurt?" Bai Qiangu asked, her voice devoid of warmth.

Ye Xuan gritted his teeth and didn't answer.

"Very well." Bai Qiangu nodded. "Then let me make it hurt more."

She activated the formation.

The ghostly blue flames surged, engulfing Ye Xuan.

"Ahhh!"

He let out a harrowing scream.

It wasn't physical pain—it was the agony of his soul being torn apart.

Every second felt like a year in hell.

Every moment was like a thousand cuts.

"Bai Qiangu..." he gasped through clenched teeth, sweat pouring down his face, his eyes still defiant. "You can... take ten male concubines... but I can't... have three women?"

"You're... a hypocrite!"

"It's different!"

Bai Qiangu rushed to him, screaming hysterically. "It's different!"

"How is it different?" Ye Xuan smiled bitterly. "Betrayal is betrayal. What's the difference?"

Bai Qiangu opened her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes.

She wanted to say that those men were fake.

She wanted to say she had never touched them.

She wanted to say she was only testing him.

But she couldn't say it.

She was too proud.

She was the supreme matriarch of the demon path—how could she lower herself to explain something like this?

"It just is!"

That was all she could manage, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I am the master, and you are the pet!"

"A master can have many pets, but a pet can only have one master!"

"You betrayed me... and you must pay!"

She intensified the flames.

Ye Xuan's screams grew even more piercing, the entire hall echoing with his agony.

Bai Qiangu sat upright on her throne not far away, a cup of crimson wine in her hand, her eyes ice-cold as she watched Ye Xuan writhing in the fire.

But her hand was trembling.

The wine spilled drop by drop, staining her robes.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, her voice faintly trembling.

Ye Xuan, gritting his teeth, drenched in sweat, still had stubbornness in his eyes: "It only... makes me... hate you more..."

"Hate me, then." Bai Qiangu smiled bitterly. "You hated me anyway."

"What's a little more hate?"

"At least..." her voice suddenly softened, so soft it was heartbreaking, "at least you still remember me."

"At least I'm still in your heart."

"Even if it's hate—I want to be the only one you hate."

She stood up, walked to Ye Xuan, and reached out to caress his face.

He tried to dodge, but the chains held him fast.

“Burn it all…” Bai Qiangu whispered, tears falling onto Ye Xuan’s face. “Burn away the scent of those other women.”

“Burned clean that restless heart of yours, too.”

“When the pain is enough, you will know…”

Her voice began to choke. “That in this world, I am the only one who is good to you.”

“Only I… truly love you.”