Chapter 30: Jealousy

As the hour of Zi approached, the optimal time for the gates of the underworld to open, Liu Shuang still hadn’t seen Shaoyou.

The moonlight was as cool as water. Holding the Mirror of Ages in her arms, she felt a faint sense of melancholy. Only now did she realize how fortunate she had been in her past life—she had naively encountered Shaoyou and, without doing anything for him, had received his care and gentleness.

“Stop waiting, he won’t come.”

Liu Shuang turned around to see Yan Chaosheng standing behind her, arms crossed. His eyes were filled with cold mockery: “I just saw Feng Caiyi drinking with him.”

It would have been better if Yan Chaosheng hadn’t appeared. His presence made Liu Shuang realize that she hadn’t seen him for many days.

“Where have you been these past few days? Why haven’t I seen you?”

Yan Chaosheng sneered, “What? Do I need to report to you? You’ve been guarding Jimo Shaoyou every day. Why would you care where I’ve been?”

Liu Shuang thought to herself: Why is he so angry? She hadn’t expected such a prickly response to a casual question.

The Mirror of Ages in her arms was clear and bright. The two of them locked eyes, and she looked at him in confusion. She had only asked a simple question, why was he acting like he’d swallowed gunpowder? Even when she had waved a dagger at him before, he hadn’t been this sarcastic.

Yan Chaosheng was the first to look away, his face cold as he refused to meet her gaze.

Liu Shuang pouted. She didn’t care where he had gone, as long as he wasn’t causing trouble in the Kunlun paradise.

The hour of Zi was approaching, and she didn’t have time to waste on such trivial matters with Yan Chaosheng. Shaoyou’s absence made her feel a bit down.

Liu Shuang had considered this worst-case scenario before. If Shaoyou didn’t come, she would still have to go to the ghost realm. Bai Yuxiao had only lent her the Mirror of Ages for one day. If she missed this opportunity and couldn’t find the soul of Shaoyou’s mother, not only would Shaoyou’s impression of her not improve, but she also wouldn’t be able to borrow the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron.

However, Liu Shuang wasn’t planning to be reckless. She had a Memory Pearl with her. If she couldn’t take Shaoyou’s mother’s fragmented soul with her, at least she could bring back an image. That way, Shaoyou would believe her.

With a heavy heart, Liu Shuang performed a spell to draw out a drop of her heart’s blood, which she dripped onto the Mirror of Ages.

The water patterns absorbed her blood, growing even brighter, rivaling the moonlight. Liu Shuang pressed her hand against the mirror, and it seemed to come alive, the water rippling like waves, beginning to draw on her spiritual power endlessly.

Cold sweat broke out on Liu Shuang’s forehead. Bai Yuxiao had warned her earlier that using the Mirror of Ages would come at a cost—not only would it require three drops of heart’s blood, but it would also drain the user’s spiritual power, allowing them to traverse the Eight Desolations in an instant.

The distance traveled would determine how much spiritual power was absorbed.

At this moment, the water patterns generated by the Mirror of Ages became even more turbulent, as if the mirror were a greedy mouth, almost sucking dry the immortal power she had cultivated during this period.

Liu Shuang was drenched in cold sweat when suddenly, her wrist was grabbed by a hand.

“Are you insane!” Yan Chaosheng said. “You’re willing to go this far just to borrow the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron? Or is it for Jimo Shaoyou?”

By the end of his sentence, his tone had turned icy.

Liu Shuang quickly said, “Let go of me!”

Once the Mirror of Ages activated, Yan Chaosheng’s grip would pull him into the mirror as well.

Yan Chaosheng tried to pull her hand away, severing Liu Shuang’s connection with the Mirror of Ages. But once the mirror had absorbed the user’s heart’s blood, it wouldn’t stop. He tried several times, but the girl’s hand seemed to have fused with the mirror.

The two of them stared at each other.

Yan Chaosheng’s expression darkened further: “Idiot, you’re about to be drained of your spiritual power by this mirror. Are you trying to die?”

Liu Shuang wasn’t pleased. He wasn’t even a demon lord yet, just a minor disciple of their KongSang sect, and he dared to call her an idiot instead of addressing her as Young Mistress? After a few days of absence, Yan Chaosheng wasn’t even pretending to be respectful anymore?

She retorted sharply, “Then why don’t you let go of me? Do you want to die with me? You don’t seem much smarter either.”

The hand on her wrist stiffened. Yan Chaosheng gave her a cold look and slowly released her.

Liu Shuang thought to herself, thank goodness Yan Chaosheng let go in time.

In the next moment, the Mirror of Ages shone even brighter. Liu Shuang’s heart leaped with joy as her figure was instantly swallowed by the mirror. In the whirl of space and time, it seemed someone else had jumped in as well.

Liu Shuang didn’t have time to assess the situation, focusing on suppressing her dissipating immortal power.

Having lived in the ghost realm in her past life, she knew how dangerous it was. Now, seven hundred years in the past, Yan Chaosheng hadn’t yet become the Demon Lord, and without him to maintain order, the ghost realm was bound to be even more chaotic.

Suppressing her spiritual power was the only way to stay safe. She didn’t want to be devoured by ghost cultivators the moment she arrived.

When Yan Chaosheng jumped into the Mirror of Ages after Liu Shuang, he felt a moment of regret.

He wasn’t usually this impulsive.

Many unexpected things had happened on his journey from KongSang to Kunlun. The most complicated of them all was the KongSang young mistress’s infatuation with him.

She had been excessively kind to him, healing his wounds, standing in front of him, guarding him all night in the Tomb of Ten Thousand Souls… Even when she saw his ugly, black snake scales, she hadn’t shown any disgust, even taking off her own clothes to give to him.

Yet the most infuriating thing was also her. If it weren’t for her reckless behavior, leading to the loss of his cultivation, he would have been preparing for the grand competition by now, instead of racking his brains to recover his cultivation.

For the past few days, two voices had been clashing in Yan Chaosheng’s mind.

One said, her affection wasn’t genuine, just like those female demons. Perhaps she was only temporarily attracted to your appearance. Many immortals in the Eight Desolations were promiscuous. As a noble descended immortal of the Chishui lineage, and the future ruler of a major paradise, how could she possibly be interested in a minor disciple with demonic blood? You’ve always been one to seek revenge. This time, you shouldn’t let her off either. It would be best to use her to recover your cultivation, then eliminate her and Bai Yuxiao together.

The other voice defended her, saying that Bai Yuxiao was the one who had caused all the trouble. She had been trying her best to make amends. Besides, without her, you might have already died on this journey. Letting her off once wouldn’t hurt.

At six hundred years old, Yan Chaosheng was still a youth compared to many great demons. He hadn’t experienced many of the events that would come later, nor had he become completely cold-hearted.

He hadn’t yet sorted out his thoughts—should he treat Liu Shuang coldly, keep his distance, and make her give up her foolish hopes, letting her off? Or should he simply use her and then kill her?

Unexpectedly, she had instead been guarding Jimo Shaoyou every day.

Once, when he passed by her, she hadn’t even turned her head, heading straight for Shaoyou’s immortal pavilion.

Yan Chaosheng raised his hand and crushed the nearby leaves.

He knew she was only pretending to be affectionate with Jimo Shaoyou to borrow the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron. But her enthusiasm was still irritating.

He should have strangled her long ago and spared himself the indecision.

Yet Yan Chaosheng hadn’t expected to feel so furious when he saw her disregarding her safety to use the Mirror of Ages.

His paranoia acted up again—was she doing this to restore her face, or to win back her former fiancé, Jimo Shaoyou?

When she angrily provoked him, asking if he wanted to die with her, Yan Chaosheng immediately released her hand, coldly thinking to himself, fine, go die. Her death would save him from the dilemma of how to treat her.

But when the girl’s pale face was sucked into the Mirror of Ages, his mind went blank for a moment, and he instinctively tried to grab her, only to be pulled into the mirror as well.

Yan Chaosheng hadn’t paid the price of heart’s blood, so he was much more alert than Liu Shuang, who had been thrown into chaos.

As they were being sucked into the Mirror of Ages, a figure in green robes arrived at the last moment—Jimo Shaoyou had come after all, falling into the mirror with them.

Shaoyou had ultimately believed in Liu Shuang.

For some reason, Yan Chaosheng felt a faint sense of displeasure at that moment.

Now, Yan Chaosheng stood amidst a pile of white bones and skeletons, a river of eerie flames stretching into the distance.

With a glance back, he saw Liu Shuang and Jimo Shaoyou.

Liu Shuang was unconscious by the riverbank, and Shaoyou was supporting her. Shaoyou looked down at her, his expression still the inscrutable calm of an immortal lord. After a moment of observing the other side of the fiery river, he paused and moved to lift Liu Shuang.

A hand stopped him.

Shaoyou turned to see a coldly smiling young man. The young man’s lips curved: “Our KongSang Young Mistress doesn’t need to trouble the immortal lord. I’ll take her.”

Shaoyou had an excellent memory and immediately recognized the young man as the one who had accompanied the Chishui immortal that day.

Even with Shaoyou’s keen eyes, he could only discern that the young man bore demonic blood, but couldn’t identify which demon lineage he inherited. The young man’s aura was chaotic, as if shrouded in layers of mist, making it hard to see clearly.

The young man sneered: “Jimo Shaoyou attempting to probe me with immortal power isn’t exactly polite.”

Shaoyou was surprised by his sharpness but remained calm.

“My apologies.”

The tension between them made it clear to Shaoyou that this KongSang disciple didn’t seem to like him. Considering he was Liu Shuang’s companion, Shaoyou didn’t insist and handed her over to him.

Yan Chaosheng didn’t say more, taking Liu Shuang onto his back. He turned to ask, “Jimo Shaoyou, do you know where this is and how to proceed?”

Shaoyou pondered for a moment: “If I’m not mistaken, this should be the ghost realm, the City of Unforgetting. Crossing the fiery river leads to the burial ground of the previous ghost king.”

Yan Chaosheng feigned a smile: “Jimo Shaoyou is indeed knowledgeable.” Yan Chaosheng had also heard of the ghost realm’s legends, but since ancient times, the demon realm and the ghost realm had had little to do with each other. The only connection was perhaps that every demon, upon death, would also become a ghost.

He hadn’t expected Liu Shuang to be so bold as to use the Mirror of Ages to enter the ghost realm.

Now, the ghost realm was in chaos, with wandering remnants of souls everywhere. Some drifted out of the ghost realm, unwilling to reincarnate, and would harm the most vulnerable mortals.

The River of Nether Flames couldn’t be crossed using spiritual power; one had to wade through it step by step.

Shaoyou stepped onto the purple-red nether flames first. His steps were calm, as if he weren’t walking on flames that could burn both body and soul, but merely strolling through a garden.

Not long after, Yan Chaosheng, frowning, followed suit.

The fiery river was vast, stretching out like an endless sea.

Shaoyou had thought the KongSang disciple behind him wouldn’t last long and would soon ask for his help. Yet, halfway across the river, the young man still hadn’t uttered a word.

Shaoyou turned to see Yan Chaosheng steadily carrying Liu Shuang on his back across the river.

The blue flames reflected in Yan Chaosheng’s eyes like eerie, dark light. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but he didn’t make a sound, nor did he want to hand Liu Shuang over to Shaoyou.

Shaoyou sighed. He had cultivated for nearly ten thousand years to achieve such mastery, with an immortal body tempered to be impervious to water and fire. This young man was certainly resilient.

“Let me take the Chishui Young Mistress.”

Carrying someone across the fiery river would double the burning pain.

The young man looked at him indifferently: “No need, I can get her across.”

With that, Yan Chaosheng walked past Shaoyou.

Shaoyou withdrew his hand, saying nothing.

Once across the river, they were finally free from the torment of the nether flames. Shaoyou remained spotless, while Yan Chaosheng’s boots were nearly scorched through. Yet, the girl on his back slept peacefully.

Shaoyou said, “You care deeply for the KongSang Young Mistress.”

Yan Chaosheng scoffed: “She’s the KongSang Young Mistress. As a KongSang disciple, of course I want to curry favor.”

As they spoke, Liu Shuang, who had exhausted her spiritual power, finally woke up.

The first thing she saw wasn’t the Yan Chaosheng beneath her, nor the fiery river behind them, but the calm, indifferent gaze of Shaoyou beside her.

Shaoyou was looking at her, and when he saw she was awake, he smiled slightly: “Chishui Immortal, are you well?”

Liu Shuang was utterly surprised. Shaoyou had actually followed her in. He had truly believed her. Overjoyed, she smiled softly: “I’m fine, Shaoyou. Thank you for trusting me.”

A hint of warmth flickered in Shaoyou’s eyes, and he smiled without speaking.

Liu Shuang was about to say more when suddenly, she was lifted into the air and thrown down.

She landed abruptly, sitting on the ground, her bottom aching. Her mouth twitched in pain as she looked up to see a coldly sneering face.

Yan Chaosheng looked down at her with that strange, cold tone: “Young Mistress seems so full of energy. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble traversing the previous ghost king’s burial ground on your own.”

With that, he walked away, leaving only his back.

Liu Shuang’s eyes widened in surprise. Yan Chaosheng… why had he come in too?