Chapter 2: Come on, let’s fight to the death!
Yan Jingyu felt like a dying fish, being gawked at by creatures of another kind.
He lay sprawled on the bed, utterly weak. Resting on his wrist was the hand of the Demon Realm’s Mad Doctor, Yu Qiuye. But unlike before, this man, who had once been perpetually disheveled and frenzied, had actually tied his hair up neatly and even washed his face.
“It’s all thanks to the Cuiwei Pill.” Yu Qiuye quickly rose from the bedside and spoke respectfully to Liao Chen. “He should be fine now.”
As he spoke, he kept darting his eyes toward Yan Jingyu.
He sized him up and down, as if Yan Jingyu were some strange curiosity.
“Can his cultivation be restored?”
The question, of course, was not asked by Yan Jingyu. In front of these former enemies, he was like a rabbit that had stumbled into a wolf pack, completely at their mercy.
Yu Qiuye quickly snapped back to reality, as if Liao Chen had asked the most incredible question. “It’s a miracle he’s even alive. As for his cultivation… he’ll have to wait for his next life.”
Liao Chen was standing rather far back. Yan Jingyu had to strain his eyes just to catch a glimpse of his figure. Sensing the man’s gaze upon him, he immediately let his eyes fall shut again, feigning weakness.
After a few moments, Liao Chen spoke. “Since he has truly become a waste, you can have him.”
Yu Qiuye was stunned for a moment, then became ecstatic. He exclaimed, “Many thanks to the Demon Lord for this reward!”
His voice trembled with excitement, and his gaze toward Yan Jingyu was now tinged with an unnerving fanaticism.
Yan Jingyu’s entire body went rigid. While he had considered that Liao Chen might have captured him for torture, he had never imagined he would be handed over to the Mad Doctor. Everyone knew this fiend had a particularly twisted hobby: he enjoyed painting on human skin and especially loved reshaping people’s bone structures. It was said his greatest lifelong ambition was to imitate the goddess Nüwa and create a peerless beauty with his own two hands.
If he truly fell into this man’s hands, by tomorrow, Yan Jingyu’s skin and flesh would be separated, and he would be kept conscious through it all.
Just as Yu Qiuye was rubbing his hands together and moving to pick him up, Yan Jingyu suddenly shrieked, “Liao Chen, you’re taking advantage of my weakness!!!”
Yu Qiuye clamped a hand over his mouth and went to support his waist with the other. Yan Jingyu, unable to struggle, felt his vision go dark once more.
Not until Liao Chen spoke again did the pressure ease. “Let him finish.”
Yu Qiuye shot Yan Jingyu a glare but obediently placed him back on the bed. Yan Jingyu took a moment to recover, then used all his strength to say, “What’s so great about a sneak attack? If you’re really so capable, then heal me—cough—heal me properly, and we’ll have a fair and square fight—cough cough cough—”
By the time he struggled back from the encroaching darkness, Liao Chen was standing before him again, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “So you really did have something up your sleeve.”
Before Yan Jingyu could speak, Yu Qiuye interjected, “My Lord, we’ve all witnessed how cunning this Yan Jingyu is. You always want to fight him one-on-one, but he brings an ambush every time. You mustn’t fall for it again…”
Liao Chen raised a hand languidly, cutting off his counsel with a dismissive gesture. He looked at Yan Jingyu. “I will wait for you to make a full recovery. Then we will, fair and square… fight to the death.”
Night fell. Yan Jingyu lay in bed, feeling as if he were sitting on a bed of needles.
Yu Qiuye sat before him, staring at him with an unnervingly intense gaze.
Even with his eyes closed, Yan Jingyu could feel the man’s stare scraping across his face like a razor.
The skin on his back was thick enough, but unfortunately, with his severe injuries, he couldn’t turn over.
He had no choice but to open his eyes, his brow furrowed. “Liao Chen said he wants me alive. If you dare to try anything, see if he doesn’t cripple you.”
“It really is you, Yan Jingyu.” Yu Qiuye broke into a smile, his eyes shining as they roamed over Yan Jingyu’s features. “To have fallen to such a state, yet still be able to bluff with borrowed power so nonchalantly.”
This fiend had always been like this whenever he saw him. Yan Jingyu wasn’t particularly afraid of Liao Chen; he figured that even if Liao Chen were to torture him, it would be a matter of breaking his legs, chopping off his arms, or giving him a few lashes. While cruel and brutal, it wasn’t the kind of thing to make one’s blood run cold.
But to fall into Yu Qiuye’s hands… he couldn’t even begin to imagine what he would endure.
“Yan Jingyu,” Yu Qiuye said, his tone laced with curiosity. “Where’s your face?”
Yan Jingyu scoffed. “I’ve already fallen this far. What’s a face worth?”
Yu Qiuye rubbed his hands together. “Don’t you want to restore your looks? Back then, you were, tsk, even though Liao Xiao… cough, Demon Lord Liao is considered quite the looker in our Demon Realm, he still couldn’t compare to you, Yan Jingyu.”
Yan Jingyu realized he wasn’t talking about his “shamelessness” but his actual face. He was slightly surprised. “You want to help me restore my appearance?”
Yu Qiuye nodded eagerly and began planning with great enthusiasm. “You just need to peel off the skin. I’ll soak it in Jade Dew for a few days while I make some additions and subtractions to your bone structure. If you’re afraid of pain, I can give you some Soul-Settling Powder. You’ll wake up good as new. Who knows, your skin might even be smoother than before…”
Yan Jingyu dodged the man’s hand as it reached out to caress him. Yu Qiuye was still smiling. “Well? Are you tempted?”
Tempted my ass. “Soul-Settling Powder” sounded nice, as if it would let one fall into a deep sleep, oblivious to the outside world. But in reality, it was just a forceful suppression of the soul. The side effects were enormous. By the time he woke up, he would likely have become one of Yu Qiuye’s puppets, to be manipulated at will.
Yan Jingyu’s thoughts shifted to another question. “I heard Liao Chen killed Chi Yuan. Is that true?”
“What else?” Yu Qiuye retorted. Yan Jingyu was genuinely surprised. “Didn’t Chi Yuan do it to promote him, to build up his reputation on purpose?”
Yu Qiuye looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Why would Chi Yuan need to promote him?”
“Isn’t he Chi Yuan’s top disciple?” Yan Jingyu said, as if it were obvious. “Does a master need a reason to promote his disciple to inherit his position?”
Yu Qiuye’s expression grew even stranger. Yan Jingyu continued, “Besides, if he really killed Chi Yuan, why didn’t you all capture him as a traitor? How can someone who betrays his master and forsakes his ancestors become the Demon Lord?”
Yu Qiuye’s face was a mask of incredulity. “You think the Demon Realm is like your Hutian? If he couldn’t kill Chi Yuan, who would believe he could bear the title of Lord of a realm?”
It took Yan Jingyu a long moment to process this. He feigned a slow mind, hesitating before saying, “But… Chi Yuan taught him, guided him, imparted his martial skills to him…”
Yu Qiuye shook his head and tutted softly. “You’ve become like this, and you still believe in truth, goodness, and beauty in the cultivation world.”
“…” Yan Jingyu fell silent for a moment. Seeing the doctor was still looking at him with pity, he put on a pained expression and probed, “Then, in your Demon Realm, aren’t there also many people who want him dead?”
“That’s a matter of—” Yu Qiuye’s relaxed expression suddenly tightened. He quickly spread his spiritual sense, and his face changed. He shot Yan Jingyu a venomous glare, then cupped his hands and declared loudly to the air, “I don’t know about others, but I am certainly loyal and devoted to the Demon Lord!”
With that, he flicked his sleeve in front of Yan Jingyu’s face. “Get some rest!”
Before Yan Jingyu could fall completely unconscious, he had already rushed out.
The palace was majestic, the sky vast and pale. A crescent moon was obscured by dark clouds. He strode quickly to the man standing under the wide veranda, his heart still pounding with fear. “This subordinate underestimated him. Although his face has changed for the worse, his treacherous nature remains entirely intact. It truly is Yan Jingyu himself! It is all thanks to the Lord’s sharp perception, seeing through his disguise with a single glance and leaving him nowhere to hide! The Lord is wise!”
The clouds clustered together, the crescent moon remaining hidden behind them, its true form unseen. Liao Chen gazed at it quietly. “When will he be well?”
The question implied he hadn’t paid any mind to what had just transpired.
Yu Qiuye breathed a sigh of relief while also saying, “My Lord, you used your own spiritual power to protect his heart meridians and followed up immediately with the Cuiwei Pill. The injuries from that palm strike are already seventy or eighty percent healed. I expect he’ll be fully recovered in three to five days. However, his spiritual roots are completely severed, his cultivation is destroyed, and his soul lamp is extremely faint. This subordinate predicts that he has, at most, two years left to live.”
Liao Chen’s expression was cold. “As long as he can fight me, I don’t care if he dies the next day.”
Yu Qiuye finally understood the real reason he had saved Yan Jingyu. He frowned with a hint of worry, but Liao Chen’s gaze had already returned to him. “Hm?”
“To be honest, my Lord, in this subordinate’s opinion, it would be a fantasy for Yan Jingyu to ever recover his cultivation… However!” Yu Qiuye quickly changed his tune. “His current physical body seems to have been forged from some kind of divine material. And since he possesses the Heavenly Mandate Eyes and can always perceive fate in advance, the fact that he dared to propose another fair fight with you, my Lord, suggests that he must have some other secret weapon.”
Liao Chen grunted in acknowledgement, lazily clasping his hands behind his back.
The wind finally blew the dark clouds away. The crescent moon revealed its original face, as clear and bright as jade-infused water, just as it had always been.
Yan Jingyu recuperated for several days. Liao Chen would occasionally visit, but Yan Jingyu always pretended to be asleep when he came. The man didn’t seem to mind, staying for a short while before leaving.
When he could finally get out of bed, Yan Jingyu immediately moved around the room to loosen his stiff body. His sternum still ached faintly, but it no longer affected his breathing or pressed on his organs.
Although the Demon and Immortal Realms were clearly demarcated, the sun that shone upon the great earth had never been stingy with any living creature. Yan Jingyu glanced left and right, and seeing no one around, he slipped over to the doorway to bask in the sun for a while.
The moment he heard footsteps approaching, he shot back to the bed and lay down, feigning weakness.
Over these few days, Yan Jingyu had also learned the names of the two youths. They were called Mo Dong and Mo Xia. They sounded like twins, but one was actually a nine-tailed fox and the other a taotie, both transformed from incredibly ferocious demonic beasts.
The girl, the taotie Mo Xia, brought a tray of food to the bedside. She frowned as she observed him. “You’re still not better? Our Lord is waiting to fight you to the death.”
It’s precisely because he’s waiting that I can’t get better! Yan Jingyu rolled his eyes with his back to her, then coughed weakly again. In a soft, frail voice, he said, “Just leave it on the table for me… I’ll eat when I’ve recovered some strength…”
“I really can’t believe you’re Yan Jingyu,” Mo Xia couldn’t help but mutter. “You look so different from him, and you’re so fragile. I feel like I could kill you with a single headbutt. What skills do you possibly have to make our Lord so fixated on you?”
Yan Jingyu continued his weak act. “The young lady is absolutely right. I am not the man I once was…”
“Mo Xia!” a voice called from outside. Mo Dong rushed in. “Didn’t the Lord instruct us to speak to him as little as possible, in case we fall for his tricks? Hurry up and put the things down, let’s go stand guard outside!”
“But look at him,” Mo Dong said, pointing at Yan Jingyu. “The Mad Doctor clearly said he’d be mostly recovered in three to five days. It’s been seven or eight days, and he still looks like he’s breathing out more than he’s breathing in. The man is clearly better, but it’s not much different from when he wasn’t. Are you sure the Lord didn’t make a mistake?”
She was still, in fact, a little doubtful of Yan Jingyu’s true identity. Ever since she was little, all the rumors she’d heard about Yan Jingyu were about how he and the Lord were locked in an endless struggle, and how he was ruthless to the extreme in his slaughter of demons. But the Yan Jingyu before her seemed to have no bones; she felt she could kill him with ease. Thus, she still couldn’t truly believe that the person in front of her was really Yan Jingyu.
“But… he admitted it himself…” Mo Dong was also a bit confused. Mo Xia added, “Putting everything else aside, compared to the Yan Jingyu in the shadow-recording pearl, he’s just a bit too ugly.”
“Anyway, we should just listen to the Lord,” Mo Dong said, remaining cautious. He pulled Mo Xia up. “He’s being so docile right now, he must be preparing a secret weapon. We should be careful. We only have one life.”
The two little demons went hand-in-hand to stand guard at the door. Yan Jingyu waited until they had gone for their meal before climbing up to eat the food.
After he finished, the two little demons were off to their lessons. Taking advantage of the empty room, Yan Jingyu let out a long breath and began to exercise his body again.
This body was truly useless now. Yan Jingyu had no illusions about being able to slaughter his way through his enemies as he once had. Just maintaining basic vitality and extending his life by a day or two was already a huge win.
He stretched his limbs, his shoulders, and his back. At the same time, in another bedchamber, a man sat cross-legged, watching his every move in a Heaven-Scrutinizing Mirror. He was trying to deduce what kind of backup plan the man had prepared that gave him the courage to challenge him, a Demigod-stage cultivator.
He waited patiently for another day, then two, then three.
Until the Mad Doctor came to check his pulse again and reported: “His injuries are completely healed. If he were willing, he should be able to run and jump by now.”
Yan Jingyu could no longer keep up the act. He pushed himself up with his pillows and looked at Liao Chen’s face.
The latter didn’t appear angry. He waved everyone away, dragged a stool over, and sat down in front of Yan Jingyu. “Your backup plan should be just about ready by now, shouldn’t it?”
“Mm…” Yan Jingyu paused. “You really want to fight me that badly?”
“The matter between us is not yet decided.”
“You’ve already reached the Demigod stage. You’ll definitely win!”
Liao Chen’s face darkened slightly. “Are you trying to go back on your word?”
A longsword slowly materialized from the void. Its blade was wreathed in a crimson, bloody aura, its killing intent overwhelming. The moment it appeared, Yan Jingyu felt his breath catch in his throat. He quickly raised a hand to stop him. “No, no, no! You just want to settle the score with me, right? Wait here, I’ll go get something!”
A quarter of an hour later, Liao Chen was sitting cross-legged on the bed. On the square table before him was a Go board. Yan Jingyu fearlessly slammed a bowl of black stones down in front of him and, with a flourish of his wide sleeve, declared, “You first!”
Liao Chen stared at him, his face devoid of expression.
Yan Jingyu met his gaze unflinchingly. “Come on. A battle to the death!”
His vision suddenly blurred. The longsword that had just been put away reappeared in a flash. This time, before Yan Jingyu could react, its blade was pressed against his neck. Caught off guard, Yan Jingyu’s waist went weak, and he collapsed onto the Go board as if pushed, knocking over the stone bowls. White stones scattered across the floor.
“Even now, you still dare to mock me.”
