Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

Amidst the swirling dust and the lingering acrid smell of demonic energy, a figure struggled to rise from the rubble and broken wood.

Xie Qingwu narrowly avoided the core impact of the demonic flame thanks to the innate sensitivity of the Illusion Demon Clan to energy fluctuations and his last-minute dodge, but he was still severely hit by the terrifying aftershock.

At that moment, he felt as if his internal organs had shifted, and a metallic taste kept rising in his throat. Finally, he could not hold back any longer and spat out a mouthful of dark-colored blood with a "whoosh," which seemed to contain some fragments of internal organs.

His whole body ached as if his bones were falling apart, especially his chest, where he felt a tearing, dull pain, clearly indicating that several of his ribs were broken.

Before he could stand up straight, another bout of excruciating coughing erupted. Each cough aggravated his injuries, causing piercing pain that made it hard to breathe. After a long while, he managed to lean against the cracked, still slightly warm, mountain wall behind him and slowly slid to the ground. He clutched his chest, which was oozing blood, with one hand. His face was as pale as paper, and his breath was extremely weak.

Just then, the dust in front was pushed aside by an invisible force. Min Xiao, with his hands behind his back, walked out slowly from the pervasive aura of destruction, as if taking a leisurely stroll. His dark figure carried a suffocating sense of oppression.

He walked up to the disheveled and listless "Lu Wensheng," looked down at this traitor who had "revealed his true colors," and let out a contemptuous sneer.

"Heh... Who do I think I am, Huan? You gave up your lofty position as the Demon Lord and became a traitor, didn't you? Wearing Lu Wensheng's face, you really got the illusion that you could become a virtuous and upright person like him?"

If you truly envy him so much, aren't you Phantom Demons masters of substitution and identity theft? Why not simply seize an opportunity to completely replace him?

Xie Qingwu vomited another mouthful of blood, his chest burned with pain, and even his breath tasted rusty.

His voice was hoarse and his breath was weak, but he responded clearly, word by word: "The physical body can be imitated, but the soul cannot be stolen... This borrowed false body, in the end... cannot show true compassion."

“Compassion?!” Min Xiao seemed to have heard the most absurd joke in the world, and suddenly burst into a wild and violent laugh. The laughter echoed in the empty ruins and sounded particularly jarring.

"Hahahaha! Compassion?! Xie Qingwu, tell me, do you have such a thing?! Huh?!"

He stopped laughing, his eyes suddenly turning sharp as he stared at Xie Qingwu. "Huan, I think you've been studying Lu Wensheng's image for too long, imitating him so thoroughly that you've forgotten your own instincts as a demon! How dare you talk about compassion here! You've truly been bewitched by that human!"

His words were like knives, mercilessly dissecting the other person's attempts to conceal their true feelings, trying to expose this "traitor" to his true colors with the sharpest sarcasm.

However, Xie Qingwu responded with an unusually calm, even somewhat relieved, gaze.

When Min Xiao met those eyes, he felt a sudden unease.

Although they were both crimson eyes belonging to the demon race, what flickered within them at this moment was not the violence and chaos that a demon should have, but something that Min Xiao found extremely unfamiliar, even irritating—it was an almost stubborn determination, a faint but unquenchable flame of hope, a kind of... the radiance that could be called "faith," and many other emotions that Min Xiao could not understand, yet instinctively rejected.

“I have… a name.” Xie Qingwu’s voice was hoarse with pain, but it carried a strange stubbornness as he uttered the three words clearly, one word at a time.

Upon hearing this, Min Xiao was visibly taken aback, as if he had heard an utterly absurd joke, and his expression became comical due to the unexpected remark: "...What?"

“I have a name now…” Xie Qingwu coughed up another mouthful of blood, his breath growing weaker and weaker, like a candle flickering in the wind, yet he still stubbornly and haltingly repeated, his posture making it impossible to doubt that he would die at any moment, “Xie… Qing… Wu.”

Min Xiao subconsciously tried to twitch the corners of his mouth in response with his usual mocking sneer, but the muscles in his face seemed frozen in ice, stiff and unresponsive.

A strange, heavy feeling pressed on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. It was a mixture of absurdity, incomprehension, and even a trace of... a suffocating feeling that he himself was unwilling to admit.

"The world... is so beautiful, isn't it?" Xie Qingwu seemed not to see the complex and indescribable expression on Min Xiao's face. His gaze was somewhat unfocused, as if he were lost in some kind of memory, and he murmured to himself—his voice was soft, but it clearly reached Min Xiao's ears.

"Are you delirious?!" Min Xiao's voice suddenly rose, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, filled with offended anger and disbelief—what time is it now, and this guy is still daydreaming?! I don't know what's going on in his head!

"Killing and destruction are our instincts! You actually yearn for the lives of those ants among humans, who wash their hands and cook, busy with their daily tasks?! That's utterly ridiculous!"

Xie Qingwu slowly turned his gaze back, and a strange insight and pity appeared in his crimson eyes: "Didn't you also... take a fancy to a human? Have you ever thought that if the demon race really trampled the cultivation world and turned this place into a scorched demon realm, could you... really be together as you wish?"

Twisted bondage, forced possession, watching each other struggle in hatred and pain day after day… wouldn't you… go insane living like that?

"Ha! Nonsense!" A barely perceptible hint of displeasure flashed in Min Xiao's eyes, which was then covered by a deeper hostility. "With my status, it would be his honor to take a fancy to him! Getting him would be a matter of turning one's hand over one's hand, so why do you need to speculate here!"

"Did I say you... were in love but couldn't have the one you love?" Xie Qingwu scoffed, her eyes showing utter contempt for Min Xiao's self-deceptive attitude.

“You know perfectly well… I’m not talking about taking things by force… I think you’re the one among us who’s the most good at deceiving yourself.”

"..." Min Xiao was completely speechless. An indescribable anger mixed with a kind of shame and annoyance at being seen through surged to the top of his head, making him almost lose control and tear the traitor in front of him to pieces.

However, seeing Xie Qingwu's dying yet stubbornly open eyes, the demonic energy gathered between his claws couldn't be released for a moment.

His Adam's apple bobbed a few times, as if this method could suppress the sudden dryness and congestion in his throat. He deliberately spoke in a vicious and cold tone: "So what? Even if you are eloquent, the advantage still lies with our demon race! Choosing to betray at such a critical moment, and taking such a futile attempt to stop a chariot, you are courting death! What kind of pipe dream are you having of protecting our homeland together? It's utterly laughable!"

However, he was met with Xie Qingwu's low laughter in response.

But the dying youth showed no fear or remorse; instead, he let out a low, intermittent laugh.

The laughter was as weak as a candle flickering in the wind, yet it carried a strange sense of relief and satisfaction, as if the greatest wish of a lifetime had been fulfilled.

"You think I'm courting death? But... Min Xiao..." Xie Qingwu gazed at the sky, which was shrouded in a bizarre and surreal mix of demonic clouds and spiritual light. Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, yet it struck Min Xiao's heart with a heavy blow.

"In this vast world, amidst the surging torrent, who can truly find the opportunity... to make a choice for themselves, regardless of the consequences or the gains and losses?"

Min Xiao stood frozen in place. The sounds of fighting, explosions, and roars on the battlefield seemed to be separated by an invisible barrier, becoming blurred and distant.

An unprecedented emptiness and bewilderment, like a cold tide, quietly overwhelmed Min Xiao's heart.