Do you really think you can get me with just a banana?

As soon as he finished speaking, the candle in the room went out with a snap.

But no one lit the other one, and the house instantly fell into darkness, which contrasted beautifully with the endless white snow outside. Silence and depression filled the entire space.

"Three times." Guan Shanyu repeated mechanically, and then asked, "Which three times?"

Yan Ruchen leaned against the wall, seemed to be hesitating, and did not dare to say anything further, so he did not open his mouth.

Guan Shanyu slowly stood up, a faint smile on his lips, and slowly approached Yan Ruchen, asking softly: "Tell me, which three times?"

Yan Ruchen stared at him, his eyes red and swollen, a warm sensation sliding down his cheeks. His voice hoarse, he continued to answer every question: "The night Si Xuanqing died, I blamed you. During the Purple Sky Secret Technique incident, you left the Sutra Library early, and I told Song Ziye your blood type. The day before we went to Wangshuiling, I arranged for someone to shoot you with an arrow after leaving the Elders' Council."

Guan Shanyu's eyelashes trembled slightly, and he was speechless for a long time.

Finally, he nodded slightly and whispered, "I see. So, the first time I bullied you in the bamboo forest, I tripped and accidentally injured a disciple. You pretended to ask me for medicine at the top of the pier, but in fact you stole my suona. You also imitated the song "Pure Land of Bliss" when we first went down the mountain for the trial, so you know how to play it. You had already started planning. Your martial arts skills have long been..."

Yan Ruchen looked into Guan Shanyu's glittering black eyes and answered every question: "Every time I reincarnate, I review what I learned in my previous life, and then quickly learn new things."

No wonder, even if Ming Wuya had not fallen and awakened his demon bloodline, his martial arts power always gave people an unfathomable feeling.

"Then why don't you just kill me? With my ability, you can get rid of it with just one strike. Why leave hidden dangers?" Guan Shanyu stared at Yan Ruchen blankly with wide eyes, his voice trembling, but he was unaware of his own abnormality.

Yan Ruchen stared at him closely, his red eyes flashing with a complex light, it was hard to tell whether it was tears or anger.

He suddenly laughed after hearing this, then his face turned serious. He said earnestly, "I really wanted to kill you. I've blamed God countless times for making me suffer so much. Why can't I have parents who love me? Why did my adoptive mother die because of me? Why do I have to be an orphan fighting for food with dogs... I always thought that the person who could cause me so much suffering must be the most vicious person in the world."

"During my third reincarnation, I realized I was just a character in a storybook, so I put all my energy into meeting you. Even after meeting you, I found that you were different from what I imagined, but my determination to kill you never wavered. Since we have to reincarnate anyway, I might as well drag you down with me."

"Every time I climbed up from the top of the wharf, I would reincarnate again, but not this time. I actually kept going. But it doesn't matter. I'm already tired of everything and don't want to live this meaningless life anymore. From this life on, I plan to kill all those who have bullied me. I also met you as I wished, and I can blame you for Si Xuanqing's death and a series of disasters. I think, since you created me, even if I want to kill you, it shouldn't be me who does it myself."

"But you didn't die, and you persevered. I thought you would plot against me like you did before, but you didn't. I thought you were a sinister villain, but you're not sinister enough. I thought you would hate me terribly, but you still stood up for me. Why didn't you hate me, exclude me, and plot against me as you described? You're so smart. I hinted to you that I killed Si Xuanqing that night in the Sutra Library, so why didn't you ever doubt me?"

"There are so many illogical things about me. I'm so evil, why have you never doubted me?"

"So, Guan Shanyu, are all your actions towards me because you like me? If not, then what is it?"

Guan Shanyu's eyes were already wet. He was stunned for a long time, thinking about what Yan Ruchen said that night in the Sutra Library...

Yes, he said that, he did remind him, but...but, yes, why didn't he doubt him.

Before Guan Shanyu could recover, Yan Ruchen stepped forward and squeezed his shoulder tightly, expressing resentment, anger, and grievance. "I'll say these words sooner or later. I also want to ask, is it that the author has always only considered things from the protagonist's perspective? Does the author's perspective necessarily represent justice? If so, why are you afraid of what I've done? Why did you leave me? Haven't you always been by my side?"

Guan Shanyu's fingertips trembled, his face pale. After a long time, he responded in a trance, his voice hoarse: "I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be like this. But Song Ziye and Elder Qing, they didn't hurt you, why did you attack them?"

Yan Ruchen looked at him, a smile flashing through his red eyes: "Because of jealousy."

Guan Shanyu stammered and repeated: "Jealous... jealous of what..."

Yan Ruchen stood up and took another step closer. Guan Shanyu subconsciously stepped back until he reached the bedside, where he fell and sat down on it, looking at Yan Ruchen with trembling body.

Yan Ruchen looked down at him, gently caressing his pale cheek, and said in a hoarse voice, "I've been looking forward to meeting you longer than you think. To you, I'm just one of the countless characters in your writing; to me, you're the god who created me."

"But since I'm your protagonist, shouldn't your whole heart be on me? Why do you prefer to be close to them? Why are you afraid of me? You're already dead in your world, so what if the mission fails? Wouldn't it be better to stay with me in this world? Why do you have to stay away from me? Wouldn't you rather stay with Li Suyin and the others than stay with me?"

Guan Shanyu's mind suddenly buzzed, and he finally understood.

Because of his previous actions, Yan Ruchen mistakenly thought that he was following the original work and was afraid of him, so he simply let him die with Si Xuanqing and others.

Very reasonable.

If you find yourself the protagonist of a novel, having gone through countless hardships, struggling to escape from the bottom of a cliff countless times, but always returning to the starting point and repeating those hardships, and when you are lucky enough to meet the author, you find that the person who created you doesn’t like you at all, and is no different from others, wanting to alienate, escape, or even abandon you.

Guan Shanyu will also go on a killing spree.

This kind of life is even more disgusting than being at the mercy of others.

Yan Ruchen is indeed smart.

If he hadn't been suspicious by nature and always liked to get to the bottom of things, he would have wanted to go to Tianxuan to find the portrait when he accidentally overheard the conversation between Qing Yuanzi and others in prison. After Xiang Nengfan confirmed Yan Ruchen's lie about He Qing's defection, he recalled that the little girl he met in the illusion when he was hunting the spiritual turtle in Wangshuiling might be related to Si Hongyin.

It was later confirmed that Si Hongyin did recognize the pattern on the girl's clothes in the illusion. Regardless of whether it was Si Hongyin herself or not, she must have a close connection with her.

With Yan Ruchen's vengeful character, he would not easily let go of even the slightest connection.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, there are indeed many doubts in Yan Ruchen's plan. It's just as he said, he really trusted him too much and never doubted him once. Others, without a God's perspective, find it difficult to find loopholes.

Judging from the results, his goal was not simply revenge, but to push himself to the pinnacle of power. So from the very beginning, he needed to expand his power and eliminate those who stood in his way.

He chose the most dangerous way: killing Si Xuanqing and tricking Xu Fengyu into going out. Without a leader and a senior disciple, who would take charge of Tianjian Pavilion would depend on their own abilities. However, those people in Tianjian Pavilion could not compare to Yan Ruchen, who had lived for eight lifetimes.

Yan Ruchen was fully capable of handling the disappearance and spiritual energy draining case of the Wangshuiling disciples, a shortcut that allowed him to rapidly increase his mana. Similarly, when searching for the missing disciples, they encountered missing disciples from other sects. However, upon closer inspection, the arrangement of the disciples was also strange: one or two people from each sect survived, both large and small. This was intended to ensure that the majority of disciples would witness the black-clad figure, thus making all sects witness the incident.

This breakthrough caused a rift between Yun Jichan and the three major immortal sects.

Later, Yan Ruchen revealed the truth about the secret technique to him, which made him disappointed with the Immortal Sect and Song Ziye, and he learned that Wang Tianyang, who was against the Immortal Sect, was imprisoned in Yuchen Palace.

With his sensitive and suspicious personality, and because of his disappointment with the Immortal Sect, he was almost certain that he would not show mercy and would definitely follow the clues to investigate further.

After leaving Songpi County, they were chased by men in black. But thinking about it afterwards, the Immortal Sect had no reaction at all. So it seems that it is obvious who those men in black belonged to.

After that, he met Guyu and the others and successfully recruited them to join him in investigating the case. He went deeper and deeper, using his friendship with Li Suyin to slowly involve Yuchen Palace. While Yuchen Palace seemed to be the biggest beneficiary, Yan Ruchen actually dumped the entire mess on him.

Because the clues they found could not be considered clear evidence.

In addition to the fact that the anti-Xianmen organization was secretly imprisoned by the Xianmen (no one was killed and it did not pose a major threat), there was also indirect evidence such as Qing Yuanzi giving Si Xuanqing a magic weapon from the demon clan, the spiritual power of Qiu Shui Sword Princess left on Si Hongyin's handkerchief, and Zi Xiao planting the Soul-Eating Grass.

Although this evidence exists, it is not sufficient to directly prove that it will inevitably lead to a specific result.

But it doesn’t matter, because once these vague but targeted messages are spread, they are enough to make the witnesses instantly disappointed with the Immortal Sect.

Then Yan Ruchen’s goal was achieved.

From what Guan Shanyu had seen and heard during his many trips with him, Yan Ruchen had a very high prestige among the villagers. If the Immortal Sect was in chaos, he only needed to provide some guidance and it would be easy for him to set up his own sect.

In fact, it is not difficult to discover these.

But Yan Ruchen knows Guan Shanyu better than he thinks.

He knew it so clearly that he wouldn't doubt him. Perhaps it was because he had tested him many times in the past, such as the bullying incident in the bamboo forest, which made him realize that he was a complete fool, so he could use him unscrupulously.

but…

"sorry."

Guan Shanyu looked up at Yan Ruchen, his eyes no longer filled with anger. He only sighed softly, "I didn't know it would be like this. I just wrote a novel that no one reads. I didn't know you all really existed. Everything you've experienced is a product of my writing. I... I'm really sorry..."

He lowered his head and said in a low voice, "If you want to kill me now, or do whatever you want, I have no complaints."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Yan Ruchen actually chuckled and took a step closer to Guan Shanyu. His face was full of aggrieved expression, which was rare for him. He said, "Do you really think that I'm telling you all this just to kill you?"