Upon hearing the boy’s words, Ming De Yi instinctively turned his head to look.

The light before him suddenly dimmed, and by the time he realized that someone had silently appeared in front of him, that person’s hand was already gripping his throat.

The fingers even sank into his flesh.

“You…” Ming De Yi managed to force out a single word before losing his voice entirely.

A searing pain shot through his chest, as though an invisible hand was ripping him apart from the inside.

His expression twisted in agony, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.

At the same time, an overwhelming sense of panic engulfed him.

Who was this person?

How had he not sensed their presence earlier?

Ming De Yi’s eyes widened, glaring at the unfamiliar yet strangely familiar face in front of him.

This feeling… had he seen this person somewhere before?

But now was not the time for such thoughts. Gritting his teeth, he desperately tried to suppress the pain in his chest and circulate the spiritual energy within his body.

Heh.

A mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator and an ordinary person—how could they possibly stand against a Golden Core master like him?

Two reckless fools, daring to target him? He would ensure they didn’t even know how they died!

The spiritual energy within Ming De Yi’s body rapidly gathered in his palm, soon forming into a solid mass that radiated a blinding golden light.

This was the power of a Golden Core cultivator.

Once one formed the Golden Core, they stepped into a whole new realm. Both their cultivation and mental state were on a completely different level.

He didn’t even need to use a magical tool—just one finger would be enough to crush these two.

Ming De Yi’s lips curled into a cold smile. Just as he was about to unleash the gathered energy toward HuLü Yan, he was shocked to find that the energy in his palm was rapidly dissipating.

No!

It wasn’t just the energy in his palm—his entire body’s spiritual energy was being drained…

Ming De Yi’s eyes widened in disbelief, his face a mask of shock.

His spiritual energy…

Why was his spiritual energy disappearing?!

The pain in his chest intensified, and his vision darkened as he tasted the metallic tang of blood rising in his throat.

“You…” Ming De Yi stared at the figure before him, his mouth hanging open. After a long moment, he managed to choke out the rest of his question, “Who are you…”

HuLü Yan didn’t answer—he couldn’t. But the slight ripple in his otherwise emotionless face betrayed the turmoil within him.

HuLü Yan’s fingers dug deeper into Ming De Yi’s flesh, then he turned and slammed Ming De Yi against the wall.

There was a loud thud.

Blood trickled from the corner of Ming De Yi’s mouth.

As HuLü Yan slowly raised his hand, Ming De Yi dangled like a powerless insect trapped in his grip. His hands weakly clawed at HuLü Yan’s wrist, his legs kicking frantically in the air.

A dark mist began to spread around HuLü Yan, swirling around him like a living entity.

The mist crawled along HuLü Yan’s arm, creeping toward Ming De Yi, and soon enveloped him entirely.

The mist carried a thick, overpowering aura of death.

It was cold and chilling, like the winter winds of Kunlun Mountain, cutting into one’s bones—and it struck Ming De Yi’s heart with a violent tremor.

This aura felt so familiar to him.

Wasn’t this the same aura that had filled the sky during the HuLü family’s sacrificial ceremony?

So, this person was…

“HuLü…” Ming De Yi gasped for breath, “…Yan…”

Before he could finish speaking, a violent wind swept through, distorting the shape of the black mist. It felt as though countless sharp needles were stabbing into Ming De Yi’s throat.

He let out a scream of unbearable agony.

But his scream lasted only a moment before it was abruptly cut off.

In its place came the overwhelming stench of blood.

The violent wind blew the mist away slightly, revealing a face of breathtaking beauty—but that face was twisted with a deranged, mad expression, its hollow, blood-crying eyes staring blankly at him.

“That’s right.” A hoarse voice whispered into Ming De Yi’s ears.

The voice was rough and raspy, like someone who hadn’t spoken in decades, just learning to talk again.

But with every word, Ming De Yi felt his body sink deeper into a pit of despair.

In that final moment—

Shock, fear, panic… a flood of emotions filled Ming De Yi’s mind.

Wasn’t HuLü Yan supposed to be an ordinary person? How could he possess such terrifying power?!

Could it be that what happened that night really was HuLü Yan’s doing?

Were Wei Sheng and the others killed by HuLü Yan too?

Why?

Why was this happening?!

Ming De Yi tried to speak, but all that came out were faint, gurgling sounds. It was as if someone had gouged out his throat with a blade, causing blood to gush out, flowing like a spring.

He had lost his voice.

In that instant, the final thread of sanity in his mind snapped. With his blood-filled mouth wide open, he let out a wail of utter despair: “Waaahhhh—”

—

By now, Mi Lu felt sick at the mere smell of blood. Before the stench could fill the entire room, he quickly stepped out and closed the door behind him.

It took a long while for the room to finally quiet down.

Mi Lu hesitated, wondering if he should open the door to check, when suddenly the door swung open from the inside.

The next moment, a thick wave of blood stench hit Mi Lu square in the face.

Mi Lu immediately covered his nose and mouth, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from gagging and turning away to retch.

HuLü Yan, dressed in black, walked out. The blood splattered on his clothes wasn’t very noticeable, but as he moved, the metallic stench grew even stronger.

As for what had just happened inside, the answer was clear.

Mi Lu struggled to swallow the nausea, lifting his eyes to find HuLü Yan standing directly in front of him.

At first glance, HuLü Yan seemed the same as before. But upon closer inspection, there was something different about him—though Mi Lu couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

It was still that beautiful face, still that expressionless demeanor.

Mi Lu asked, “Where’s Ming De Yi?”

HuLü Yan didn’t respond.

Mi Lu stared at HuLü Yan for a moment, a growing sense of unease rising in his chest. His voice wavered as he spoke, “Don’t tell me you killed Ming De Yi?”

HuLü Yan remained silent.

“…You really killed him?” Mi Lu staggered back a step, his face going blank with shock.

No way…

They had worked so hard to find Ming De Yi. Mi Lu had only intended for HuLü Yan to vent his anger, but had he really gone and killed the man?!

How were they supposed to retrieve HuLü Yan’s organs now?

Mi Lu wasn’t entirely sure how HuLü Yan had reclaimed his organs in the past. When Mi Lu had been bound to HuLü Yan after his death, HuLü Yan had already regained his voice.

He only knew that the process of reclaiming his organs had been incredibly difficult, and it wasn’t until HuLü Yan became truly powerful that he could easily retrieve them.

Either way, they needed Ming De Yi alive to experiment slowly.

Otherwise, how could they reclaim the organs from a dead person?

Pull them from a corpse?

Frustrated, Mi Lu tugged at his hair and pushed past HuLü Yan, intending to enter the room.

But before he could take a step, HuLü Yan grabbed his hand.

Mi Lu tried to shake him off, but HuLü Yan’s grip was firm. His emotions got the best of him, and he lashed out, “Weren’t you able to sense that your organs were with him? And now you’ve killed him?! How do you plan to get your organs back?”

Mi Lu knew HuLü Yan couldn’t speak, so he didn’t expect an answer.

Now, too tired to even struggle, he stepped forward, trying to go inside.

But as soon as he moved, HuLü Yan’s grip tightened, and with a sharp tug, Mi Lu was pulled backward.

By the time Mi Lu realized what had happened, he was already trapped in HuLü Yan’s embrace. A cold hand gently caressed his cheek, the fingers brushing over his eyebrows, nose, and lips, as if carefully tracing the shape of his features.

Stunned by HuLü Yan’s sudden action, Mi Lu froze, wide-eyed, staring at him. “You…”

A raspy voice interrupted him. “Who are you?”

Mi Lu: “…”

HuLü Yan… was speaking?

Or was he hearing things?

Mi Lu blinked in confusion, and it took him a long time to regain some sense of clarity from the chaos in his mind.

The result he had wanted came too quickly, too easily. It hit him like a hammer, leaving him dizzy and at a loss for words. Even when he tried to speak, his words came out stammering, “HuLü Yan? Y-you can talk?”

HuLü Yan’s thumb rested on Mi Lu’s lips, and as soon as Mi Lu opened his mouth, it slipped inside, pressing against his lower teeth.

Yet HuLü Yan made no move to pull his hand away. Instead, he hooked the rest of his fingers under Mi Lu’s chin, forcing him to lift his head slightly.

“Who are you?” HuLü Yan seemed very eager for an answer to this question. When he didn’t get one, his brows furrowed, and a faint air of frustration hung over him.

He resembled a trapped beast, pacing anxiously, with tension and unease weighing heavily over him like dark clouds.

He knew that one day he would reclaim his voice, and he knew he would speak to this person eventually. But when the moment came, he realized he didn’t even know this person’s name.

Not only that.

He didn’t know this person’s face, didn’t know their background, didn’t know anything about their past…

This person had appeared in his life like a god descending from the heavens, accompanying him through the hardest and most unbearable days of his life.

And yet, he knew nothing about them.

If, one day, this person were to leave quietly, he wouldn’t even know where to start looking for them.

The thought of this possibility made HuLü Yan’s expression turn slightly feral. The hand around Mi Lu’s waist tightened, and his grip on Mi Lu’s chin grew even stronger.

“Young Master?” HuLü Yan’s hollow eyes stared directly at Mi Lu. His lips parted, and in a hoarse voice, he said, “I once heard someone call you ‘Young Master.’”

Mi Lu finally snapped out of his daze. With HuLü Yan’s thumb still in his mouth, he mumbled, “My name is Mi Lu.”

“Mi Lu…” HuLü Yan repeated the name slowly and softly, as though rolling it around on his tongue.

Mi Lu nodded.

He was about to ask HuLü Yan to let him go when, suddenly, HuLü Yan’s lips curled into a faint smile. He leaned in closer, his breath warm against Mi Lu’s face.

“Mi Lu, are you going to leave?”

“What?” Mi Lu was caught off guard by the sudden shift in conversation.

“You brought me here to find that man and retrieve my voice, didn’t you?” HuLü Yan was still adjusting to speaking in full sentences, and his hoarse, slow tone was chilling to the ear.

Mi Lu had no idea what HuLü Yan was getting at. His face stiffened, and he remained silent.

To his surprise, HuLü Yan abruptly released his chin and waist, stepping back to put some distance between them.

“Your goal has been achieved.” HuLü Yan said, “You can leave now.”

Author’s Note:

On the surface: “You can leave now.”

In reality: “If you dare take a single step, I’ll make sure you’re stuck with the corpse puppets forever!”