Chapter 98: Backlash

The necklace hanging around Fu Jun’s neck suddenly exploded. His chaotic eyes immediately cleared up. The melting face, the head-splitting pain—all of it vanished. It had all been an Illusion Technique. How could a demon left with psychological scars from Zuo Yuanxi possibly venture out without guarding against her signature move?

“Hua…” The “person” in Zuo Yuanxi’s hand was reduced to nothing but a layer of skin. A gooey mass dropped to the ground.

Several water blades condensed in the forest and stabbed toward that unidentified mass, but even the razor-sharp blades capable of cleaving a building were deflected by its slippery surface.

Zuo Yuanxi should have given chase, but she held the “skin” in her hand with a mocking half-smile. She simply watched from afar as the unidentified mass fled at high speed. Then…

“Dong!”

The object that had even repelled the water blades solidly crashed into a head, producing a dull thud.

Nian Zhi’an sacrificed her head to intercept the “ball.” Both sides were sent flying, but she had an extra layer of protection from the System. After a second of dizziness, she immediately pounced after it.

“Truly a disobedient cat… No, a Pallas’s Cat. I told it not to come, but it still showed up.” Zuo Yuanxi’s scarlet eyes shifted back to the skin in her hand. She seemed to be talking to herself—or perhaps to the skin itself.

“Are you still going to play dead? You don’t actually believe that clumsy disguise of yours could fool me, do you?” Zuo Yuanxi shook the skin in her hand and said mockingly.

~~~

The skin remained silent for a moment. Finally, its shriveled eyes twitched, then fixed on Zuo Yuanxi.

The scene was both disgusting and terrifying. Any other person might not have been able to hold on to that slippery, eerie skin steadily.

“Zuo Yuanxi, let me go this once, and I’ll let you go this once.” The skin’s mouth twitched slightly.

“You, let me go?” Zuo Yuanxi burst out laughing. “No, no, there’s no need. I don’t require your mercy, and I certainly won’t let you leave this forest alive.”

“Even if I die today, I’ll make sure to watch your soul scatter to the winds first.” Zuo Yuanxi shook the skin in her hand. While goading it into speaking, she had already located its vital point.

Fu Jun had prepared plenty of contingencies for his escape. If she had discarded this skin to pursue the unidentified mass, she might have let him get away.

Several water arrows turned the skin into a sieve. At the vital point, where the arrows pierced through, fresh red blood flowed out.

The skin let out a short, shrill scream. Suddenly, the blood at its vital point erupted, splattering droplets across Zuo Yuanxi’s face.

“Disgusting.” Fu Jun was lethally toxic from head to toe, and his blood was the distilled essence of that poison.

The Fei beast’s combat prowess wasn’t particularly strong among all demons, and Fu Jun was well aware of his own weaknesses. That was why he had honed his innate poison to its utmost limits.

Zuo Yuanxi used her Demon Power to isolate the blood, preventing it from actually touching her skin.

“Heh… hahahaha…” The skin’s scream of pain gradually twisted into wild, piercing laughter. “Zuo Yuanxi, do you think it’s still like the old days?”

~~~

“You? You’re nothing but a pathetic wretch backlashed by your own Illusion Technique. Your dao companion ran off with someone else and stabbed you in the back. How pitiful! You’re doomed never to become an immortal this lifetime! Zuo Yuanxi, how about I help you fulfill one obsession?”

Blood bubbled from the skin’s mouth as it spewed these incomprehensible words. Zuo Yuanxi’s grip on the skin tightened slightly. But in the next second, the skin in her grasp suddenly transformed.

“Urgh…” A skin on the brink of death abruptly took on Lin Ying’an’s appearance. No—not Lin Ying’an, but the Cat Demon that looked exactly like her.

Zuo Yuanxi’s tightening hand froze in place. The Cat Demon struggled feebly in her grasp, letting out pitiful pleas for mercy.

“Zuo Yuanxi, guess who she is?” Fu Jun’s voice rang in Zuo Yuanxi’s ear.

“Don’t… don’t kill me…” The Cat Demon painfully forced out those words. Strangely, Zuo Yuanxi actually sensed Lin Ying’an’s aura emanating from it.

A demon that should have been completely annihilated—why did its aura appear here?

Lin Ying’an had died when Zuo Yuanxi wasn’t present. Only Fu Jun had been at her side. The only explanation was that Fu Jun had done something back then.

“A Xi, I was wrong. Don’t kill me…” The Cat Demon’s tearful expression was so much like Lin Ying’an’s from back then. She had always been skilled at using such tactics to soften Zuo Yuanxi’s heart.

Zuo Yuanxi’s expression faltered. The strength in her hand involuntarily loosened.

At that moment, several drops of poison liquid silently formed into “needles” from behind Zuo Yuanxi and stabbed toward her.

The Cat Demon’s cultivation was lacking; during its sneak attack on Zuo Yuanxi, its eyes involuntarily glanced toward her back.

“Ding!” Zuo Yuanxi waved her hand and knocked away the incoming poison. A flicker of uncontrollable disappointment flashed in her eyes.

“You’re one of them too…”

The Cat Demon abruptly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Zuo Yuanxi gave a sharp flick of her wrist in response, crippling it. In its dying state, the Cat Demon’s expression was left with only fear and utter dejection.

The last trace of gentleness in Zuo Yuanxi’s eyes dissipated. She glanced at the Cat Demon, then clenched her hand in the air, yanking the unidentified mass that had been tangled with Nian Zhi’an over to her.

Nian Zhi’an’s pounce met empty air, and she nearly slammed her head into a tree.

The unidentified mass writhed all over before gradually taking on a human shape. The failed escapee—Fu Jun—crawled to his feet and eyed Zuo Yuanxi warily.

“Zuo Yuanxi! Calm down a little. Your power is spiraling out of control!” From afar, Nian Zhi’an saw the distorting energy around Zuo Yuanxi and hurriedly rushed toward her. But a surge of immense power erupted from Zuo Yuanxi’s body, blasting away everything around her—including Nian Zhi’an.

“Peh, peh, peh…” Nian Zhi’an frantically spat out the sand in her mouth.

~~~

She didn’t have time to steady herself before running over again, but Zuo Yuanxi had erected a Barrier around herself, barring anyone else from approaching.

Fu Jun suddenly plunged into pitch blackness. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t even sense his own body, and was utterly unable to move.

He didn’t dare move recklessly either, for a gaze had been fixed on him the whole time.

No—not just him. All his incarnations, split off for self-preservation, had been targeted by her!

He knew this was Zuo Yuanxi’s technique. She was a genius in the art of souls, and today proved her reputation well-deserved.

Fu Jun felt himself suddenly restrained by something. Then Zuo Yuanxi’s voice rang out.

“Tell me, what is she?”

Fu Jun involuntarily opened his mouth. “It’s a Puppet. When Lin Ying’an died to the heavenly thunder, I preserved her final wisp of soul. Then I filled it out using souls from other demons and created this Puppet.”

Zuo Yuanxi had no intention of playing a guessing game with him. She directly seized control of his mind, forcing the truth from him.

~~~

Fu Jun felt a wave of relief after speaking. Fortunately, he had prepared countermeasures in advance. Otherwise, the secret of that valuable Puppet would have been exposed.

Silence hung in the air for a moment. Once Fu Jun realized he could control his own mouth again, he immediately shouted, “You can’t kill me! If you kill me, this Puppet will die too!”

His shout came just in time—one second later, and Zuo Yuanxi would have torn him to shreds.

“Though it only has a single wisp of Lin Ying’an’s soul inside, at least it looks exactly like her in every way! Zuo Yuanxi, you loved her so much, yet she betrayed you. Why not take a Puppet home instead? At least a Puppet won’t betray you. It’ll do whatever you tell it to. The real Lin Ying’an can’t be saved anymore—don’t you want this Puppet?”

After repeated tests, Fu Jun had gauged just how deeply Zuo Yuanxi obsessed over that damned woman Lin Ying’an. He was confident she wouldn’t bear to destroy the Puppet outright.

As long as she wanted the Puppet, she couldn’t kill him. And with just a moment to catch his breath, he could plunge her into abyssal hell!

Fu Jun should have felt a surge of glee, but his mind remained utterly calm. He had sealed away his emotions within his soul. Against Zuo Yuanxi, even the slightest emotional leakage could alert her.

This was the countermeasure he had devised against her during the long years of his own sealing.

~~~

Fu Jun’s body suddenly opened its eyes. The sunlight outside made him squint.

He saw the Puppet. It was so weak it could barely maintain its human form anymore, but as it mimicked Lin Ying’an’s coquettish pleas for mercy, Zuo Yuanxi truly refrained from acting further.

Fu Jun tightened the corners of his mouth. Everything was proceeding according to his plan.

“As long as you let me go, I’ll hand over control of this Puppet to you.” Fu Jun wholeheartedly “pitched” the Puppet.

Of course, he harbored no good intentions. In a corner where no one could see, the blood Fu Jun had dripped onto the ground turned into mist and rose up. It spread with the wind into the air, permeating every nook and cranny like a venomous serpent poised to strike at any throat.

“How about it? I poured no small amount of effort into crafting this puppet. Lin Ying’an only has this one wisp of soul left in the world now. There won’t be a second puppet. Killing me is one thing, but aren’t you afraid you’ll never see her again in this lifetime?”

“If you truly intend to revive Lin Ying’an, won’t you also need the soul inside this puppet’s body?”

Fu Jun took a slight step back. Seeing that Zuo Yuanxi still showed no reaction, he slowly raised his hand. The blood-red mist actually began to fuse in a bizarre manner with the power emanating from her body.

“That’s right, you’re correct.”

Fu Jun seemed to hear Zuo Yuanxi’s murmured words carried on the wind.

“Sst!” Suddenly, the sound of flesh being pierced rang out.

He widened his eyes at a scene he had never anticipated.

Without mercy, Zuo Yuanxi slew the puppet. This time, she didn’t dodge or evade, allowing the blood to splatter all over her.

“Urgh…” The puppet parted her lips, perhaps intending to beg for mercy, but unfortunately, the blood gushing from her throat blocked her voice. In no time at all, she fell silent.

Countless water arrows pierced through the puppet’s body, which so eerily resembled Lin Ying’an’s. Blood flowed down from the puppet, carrying away her vitality.

When Lin Ying’an’s final trace of aura vanished from the world, the last shackle binding Zuo Yuanxi’s heart demon also disappeared. Fu Jun had wanted her to be devoured by her own backlash, but certainly not in a situation where Zuo Yuanxi still had the strength to kill him!

Zuo Yuanxi continued to gaze at the puppet with an expressionless face. However, endless tears slid down from her scarlet eyes. Then, she turned her gaze toward Fu Jun.

The world in her eyes began to twist and distort. The forbidden illusion technique started to take effect once more.