What else? D*mn it, keep going!
Gu Baiqing looked at Mo Xuanli supporting him, heard him call “Master,” and thought of the strategy pouch’s options and their current predicament. He was riding a tiger, with no way to get off, ready to weep.
“What of being men? What of being master and disciple? He has entered my heart—then it can only be him.” Gu Baiqing shouted these words with an expression of near-despair, his tone steeped in tragic determination. These were the original lines, once spoken by the former master when questioned, to prove his willingness to face everything together with his disciple.
Gu Baiqing didn’t dare meet Mo Xuanli’s eyes for even a second. He could only pray silently: Please, Mo Xuanli, don’t develop any strange ideas from this, don’t fall into any inner demons! This is all just acting—he should understand. Yes, he should. Circumstances forced me.
But next—
Mo Xuanli was staring straight at him. He watched his master’s shy yet forced composure, recalled the sincerity hidden in those words, remembered all his master’s contradictions and struggles. Was this the same? Was his master’s declaration now just like his confession—a decision made?
Did it mean he no longer cared about gender or status, that it could only ever be him? Had his master’s feelings for him already reached this point?
Mo Xuanli’s heart swelled—then in the next instant, it was pierced, leaving him anxious and unsteady. What about himself? What did he feel toward his master? He couldn’t untangle it, didn’t dare to. All he knew was that his master had become too important—so important that, time and again, he had instinctively done unthinkable things just to stay close, just to eliminate others from his master’s side.
If Master was the sun, then he wanted that sun to shine on him alone.
Yet thinking deeper, what right did he even have? He didn’t dare even reveal his true bloodline. If his master knew, would he treat him like this love demon—ruthlessly? Even if not ruthless, he would never… never again treat him as someone irreplaceable, like today.
As Mo Xuanli’s emotions surged, he thought he had already reached his limit. But someone insisted on digging deeper, tugging at every last nerve.
Just as those words fell, Ruiyao let out a crazed scream and lunged at them. The illusion shook even more violently. Everyone had already moved to attack—Ruiyao was about to respond—when she suddenly saw a shocking scene that froze her in place.
Gu Baiqing directly stretched out his demonic claws toward his disciple.
Mo Xuanli was already too tall—so tall that Gu Baiqing could only hook an arm around his neck, pull him down a little, and only then could he reach.
Gu Baiqing suddenly leaned in close. Come on then, let the storm hit harder! A grown man can bend and stretch, no need to be pretentious. Just grit your teeth and deal with it later!
As Gu Baiqing closed his eyes and moved in, Mo Xuanli’s pupils slowly shrank, then widened again, his entire body stiff as he let Gu Baiqing tug him down.
What was this supposed to be?
Hadn’t he said just confessing was enough? Those few words had already left his mind blank and unable to react, and now his master was doing this?
The instant their breaths collided, Mo Xuanli saw that his master had closed his eyes. But he didn’t. He just stared at his master like that.
When lips of different temperatures pressed together, Mo Xuanli felt the fire-type spiritual power within his body instantly spiral out of control. Otherwise, why would he feel flames burning him alive?
His master… was kissing him.
Master… was… kissing him?
Why kiss him… He couldn’t move at all right now, and there were still so many people watching!
Even if you could barely excuse it as just for escaping this place—what about him? Master and disciple, just like that, kissed? Didn’t his master know how great an impact this would be? To what extent did he mean to push him before he’d be satisfied?
Master… you… went too far.
It wasn’t necessary. You did it on purpose, didn’t you? Bullying your disciple because he wouldn’t resist, wouldn’t question you? This was too much. How was he supposed to stay calm? What on earth was he supposed to do…
Gu Baiqing pressed the kiss hard, but didn’t dare pull away immediately. Only when Li Xiuran’s sword intent spread out and Ruiyao screamed, the surroundings shattered into fragments.
Gu Baiqing instantly pushed away the dazed Mo Xuanli, and in the blink of an eye everyone was back in the secret chamber, the demonic formations all around it broken apart.
Within the red threads, Gu Baiqing was being held in someone’s arms. Because they had stayed wrapped together too long, their body heat had merged, the places of contact faintly burning. Though he hadn’t been held many times before, Gu Baiqing didn’t even need to turn his head to know whose embrace, whose warmth, it was.
Gu Baiqing felt as if his ears were about to melt. He immediately broke free of Mo Xuanli’s arms. Not far away, Ruiyao also woke and reached to strike at them.
Just as Gu Baiqing was about to counter, suddenly the red threads binding her burst into flames. Ruiyao, already gravely injured, was immediately entangled and strangled by the fiery threads. This weapon that should have belonged to her was now under someone else’s control.
【Demonization Value +1】
Startled, Gu Baiqing turned his head to see the red fading from Mo Xuanli’s eyes. His expression was serious, as if sulking with a trace of awkwardness, his hand resting on the red threads. All around, the web of threads was consumed by controlled flames until nothing but ash remained.
And within those fiery red flames seemed hidden a trace of black.
“Xuanli?” Gu Baiqing called.
Mo Xuanli jolted, came back to himself, then quickly turned away, avoiding Gu Baiqing’s gaze.
Was this… embarrassment?
Right, of course. After not only a staged confession but even a kiss, embarrassment was normal. If he wasn’t embarrassed, Gu Baiqing would be the one afraid.
As for that sudden demonization value…
No time to think. Ruiyao had already broken free.
She was at the end of her strength, and should have fled. But just seeing Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli together drove her mad with jealousy, unwilling to accept it.
Ruiyao burst out with power—but outside this place she was absolutely no match for the group. This time, Si Chun’s umbrella alone could barely block her.
“Master… come back with me to Chuixue Pavilion and accept judgment. I won’t hide this for you anymore,” Si Chun said in anguish. Though she knew this trip meant either death or lifelong imprisonment.
Ruiyao ignored her completely, glaring viciously at the pair of master and disciple. Seeing the strange aura between them, an atmosphere no one else could intrude upon, her face grew uglier.
And just as Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing were caught in their awkwardness, Si Chun suddenly shouted: “Careful!”
Ruiyao suddenly transformed into a cloud of black smoke and charged straight at Mo Xuanli. “Gu Baiqing, you madman! To think you actually like your own disciple. I curse you—you won’t have a good end! I’ll make the one you love become a demon. Let’s see then if you can still stay together.”
In that instant, it was as if the same wound was stabbed in both of them. Mo Xuanli was in unbearable pain, his eyes fierce as God Nine Transformations transformed into a sharp blade, about to strike back—yet the black smoke passed straight through his attack, wrapping around him.
“Mo Xuanli, I’ll use my life to force you into demonhood—take it!” The crazed laughter rang in his ears as Mo Xuanli suddenly felt a tremendous force awakening inside him.
Mo Xuanli collapsed in agony, curling up like a child, desperately suppressing the urge within. The seal laid by a master was not so easily undone, yet it still loosened a little, leaking demonic energy that mingled with Ruiyao’s and went unnoticed by others.
But Mo Xuanli could feel it. His eyes were slowly turning red, but he didn’t dare let anyone see, forcing them shut. Only one thought pounded in his heart—don’t change… don’t let Master see, don’t…
“D*mn it, she’s burned away all her cultivation to demonize Mo Xuanli. Kill her quickly, or he’ll be in danger!” Ji Chuling reacted immediately.
Gu Baiqing was also horrified to see the system’s demonization value skyrocketing. “Xuanli, hold on, focus your mind!”
“Ruiyao!” Gu Baiqing struck with thunder, but hit only empty air—Ruiyao had vanished.
The group panicked, searching for her, but found nothing. Or rather… they couldn’t sense any demonic aura from her. As long as she stayed hidden while casting spells on Mo Xuanli, they would never know where—because the City Lord’s formation would shield the demons.
Gu Baiqing realized this and was about to ask Zhuo Ling to break the City Lord’s array—
When suddenly, a scream rang out. At the entrance of the chamber, two figures appeared, pressed tightly together.
Everyone’s eyes swept over—and were instantly stunned.
It was Zhuo Ling, stabbing a talisman-wrapped blade straight into Ruiyao’s dantian.
At the end of her strength, Ruiyao could no longer hold on. Black blood spilled from her mouth, and both her spiritual energy and demonic energy began to fade.
The black smoke wrapped around Mo Xuanli’s body also dispersed in an instant. His whole body went limp, and he fainted. Gu Baiqing hurriedly rushed forward to check his condition, while Li Xiuran and Ji Chuling kept their guard on Ruiyao and Zhuo Ling.
“Master!” Si Chun rushed to Ruiyao’s side, but it was already too late.
Ruiyao stared at Zhuo Ling with utter disbelief.
It was Zhuo Ling who had broken the formation. Zhuo Ling who had struck the killing blow.
“You—”
But Zhuo Ling said nothing. He pulled out the blade and let the goddess he had once revered collapse to the ground, then silently walked back to the spot beneath the wall.
There, aside from Lin Ningshuang—who had been knocked unconscious earlier by Ji Chuling’s spell—there remained only a pile of white bones.
“What happened?” Ji Chuling gasped. “Weren’t things fine when we left?”
Li Xiuran sheathed his sword. “The soul-binding technique earlier was Ruiyao’s doing. But in the illusion of the Passion Net, Ruiyao overexerted herself, and once out, she couldn’t maintain the demonic energy. So…”
So when Zhuo Ling had desperately crawled out searching for Zhu Si, what he found was nothing but bones, the soul already gone.
Zhu Si was gone. Without even seeing her one last time—gone completely.
And Zhuo Ling himself had been injured in the illusion. Now, burning up the last of his life in exchange for spiritual power, he raised the weapon he had prepared in advance to restrain demons and struck Ruiyao down. Revenge taken for the deception—but it felt utterly meaningless. In the end, he stumbled back to Zhu Si’s side, his face blank, slowly sitting down.
He no longer had any strength, but he still forced himself to hold the bones in his arms. Then he lit an ignition talisman.
He meant to burn into ashes together with Zhu Si’s remains—never to be parted, not even in death.
Lin Ningshuang’s spell was broken. Seeing this scene, she rushed forward desperately to save Zhuo Ling.
“Zhuo Ling, don’t go, don’t follow her! Stay, I need you—Star-Stepping City needs you. Please…”
But outside the flames was another formation. With Lin Ningshuang’s cultivation, she couldn’t break through. She turned back to the others for help, but when Ji Chuling moved, Li Xiuran stopped her.
“He wants to die. We can’t stop him. And this is the ending that belongs to him.”
One sentence crushed all of Lin Ningshuang’s hope. Yes—he wanted to die. What he chose to do, no one could stop. He had always been such a reckless man.
So no matter how she begged in despair, Zhuo Ling remained still in the fire. He could hear, but left not a single word.
Perhaps, in Zhuo Ling’s heart, since seven years ago, there had been room for only Zhu Si.
The flames burned quietly inside the barrier. Ji Chuling could not bear to watch; Li Xiuran no longer cared, turning back to check on Mo Xuanli.
At this moment, Mo Xuanli was being held in Gu Baiqing’s arms.
Gu Baiqing could only continuously channel spiritual power to purge the remnants of demonic energy left by the black smoke. Li Xiuran came to help as well. Fortunately, Ruiyao had been killed in time, and the taint of demonic energy had not run deep.
Watching the demonization value steadily decrease, Gu Baiqing’s heart settled a little. When he looked back at Ruiyao—
Si Chun was holding Ruiyao and crying. Ruiyao had only one last breath left, but she still glared viciously at them, her obsession unchanged.
Seeing the demonic energy around Mo Xuanli gradually fade, the unwillingness in her eyes seemed to spill over.
Noticing Gu Baiqing’s gaze, Ruiyao shed tears while giving a twisted smile. “I don’t believe you will have a good ending. I absolutely don’t believe it.”
Gu Baiqing frowned. “So what? It has nothing to do with you. From beginning to end, nothing about me has ever had anything to do with you. You were far too self-absorbed.”
Ruiyao froze—words crueler than a blade.
“Hahahaha…” Ruiyao suddenly laughed wildly, a laugh that tore at her insides. But the love carved into her very bones had only ever been her own one-person play.
She had moved herself—but not anyone else.
Perhaps there was even some regret in that laughter.
But in the end, Ruiyao still said one last thing: “You were too late! Gu Baiqing, you were too late.”
Gu Baiqing froze, immediately holding Mo Xuanli tighter in his arms, wary that she had another trick. But the City Lord’s formation was gone. At most, only Star-Stepping City’s large formation remained, so even if there was danger, they should be able to sense it. And right now, it clearly felt safe.
Then what did she mean by those words?
Gu Baiqing wanted to ask, but Ruiyao was already dead. Dead with her unwillingness still clinging to her.
And the veil on her face had never been removed.
“Master… let’s leave here first,” Mo Xuanli, gradually waking, said.
Li Xiuran also said, “Yes, we should leave the City Lord’s mansion first. Find somewhere safe, then discuss further.”
“I’ll go call Si Chun…” Ji Chuling went to invite her, but in the end Si Chun did not leave with them, silently staying behind to arrange her master’s body.
The four people and one cat quickly found a lodging at an inn outside the City Lord’s residence.
All along the way, Gu Baiqing carried Mo Xuanli on his back. Mainly, he was afraid that in his half-conscious state, Mo Xuanli might leak some trait of the demon race and be discovered. After all, what had just happened was not in the original story—who knew whether it would affect him? Best to be cautious.
While Gu Baiqing was still brooding over Mo Xuanli’s demonization—
He suddenly heard a troubling question behind him.
“Master, if I… if I really were corrupted and turned into a demon, what would you do?”
Gu Baiqing froze. There it was—the exact same line as in the original text.
The original reply was: As long as you obediently refrain from evil, I’ll always stay by your side and find a way to save you. If you do commit evil, then I’ll kill you, then die with you, and beg the world’s forgiveness.
But Gu Baiqing turned the thought in his mind. He definitely couldn’t use those words. They might make his disciple fearful. If not, then just like in the original, such words might be taken as a master’s deep, passionate confession. It felt better to change to a lighter answer. After all, this time it was only a hypothetical, not like in the original where he had already been demonized and it was a test.
And besides, for the sake of his own little life, he definitely wouldn’t let something like demonization happen.
So he said casually: “What else? Break off the master-disciple relationship, just don’t want you anymore.”
