Zanxing knew nothing of what was happening at Chaos Hall.
She and Bujiang were slowly walking back from Heishi Mountain.
The curtain of rain seemed to have lessened somewhat. The tree branches on the mountain had been washed clean and bright, and when people stepped on the ground, they left shallow little depressions.
“Before your father and I married, he did indeed have a lover. However, back then, I didn’t know who that woman was either. He and I rarely discussed such matters. After all, they were things of the past that had nothing to do with me. I wasn’t interested, and he did not need to tell me about them.”
Zanxing said: “…You’re truly magnanimous.”
“Naturally. Why pursue such old, trivial matters?” Bujiang smiled. “And it wasn’t just me – no one in all of Heishi City knew the true appearance of his former lover. However,” at this point, Bujiang paused, “you saying he abandoned his wife and child is rather strange. Because in my memory, Gui Diao Tang should have been the one who was abandoned.”
“The one who was abandoned?” Zanxing stopped in her tracks: “Impossible. I saw clearly in the Buddhist wheel’s memories – Jiang Yiru gave birth to Gui Yansheng alone. Mother and son deliberately sought out a remote mountain village to avoid others. How pitiful – how could she possibly abandon the Demon Lord?”
Bujiang thought for a moment, doubt also appearing in her eyes: “That’s true. But back then, before I was together with him, I once saw him drinking alone one night, mumbling a woman’s name and saying things like ‘don’t go’ – he looked quite infatuated.” Bujiang sighed: “At that time, he was already the tenth Demon Lord of Heishi City, at the height of his power, with everyone respecting and fearing him, yet at night, he showed such a vulnerable side. It was precisely because of this that I thought, well then, let me try what it would be like to be with the Demon Lord…”
“…We don’t need to discuss that part,” Zanxing said. The part about love after marriage had already been covered in “The Demon Empress’s Account: I Discovered My Husband’s Illegitimate Child on Our Wedding Night” – no need to hear it again.
“In any case, after that, I pursued your father for many years. Even after marrying him, I never heard him mention that woman’s name again. If Gui Yansheng hadn’t appeared later, I would have almost forgotten such a person existed.”
“Then why kill all the half-demons?” Zanxing asked. “Half-demons also have demon bloodline – what right did anyone have to deny them life?”
“That was a decree to intimidate the demon race,” Bujiang said. “Humans and demons cannot produce offspring.”
There’s reproductive isolation, too? Zanxing frowned: “That’s not right. Gui Yansheng is a half-demon. If humans and demons cannot produce offspring, where did Gui Yansheng come from?”
Bujiang didn’t answer, lifting her eyes to look at Heishi City in the distance below the mountain.
After a long while, she finally spoke softly: “I don’t understand this point either.”
“For hundreds and thousands of years, demons and humans who married in Heishi City never produced children. Demons are different from humans – we have chaotic demon essence within us. Unless a demon is willing to sacrifice their cultivation and suppress their chaotic demon essence to live with humans, this difficulty might be resolved. However, long-term suppression of chaotic demon essence is extremely painful, and demons are naturally promiscuous, so over all these years, no one has ever succeeded. That Jiang Yiru could bear a child only shows that when your father was with her, he suppressed the chaotic demon essence within his body.” Bujiang narrowed her eyes and spoke indifferently. “He truly loved that woman.”
Zanxing was puzzled. If he truly loved her, he should have taken good care of her. Why did Jiang Yiru end up in such a state, dying alone in sorrow and grief?
“I originally didn’t understand why he issued that decree to kill all half-demons. There were no half-demons in Heishi City at all – issuing such a law was truly unnecessary. Now I understand.” Bujiang smiled. “Gui Diao Tang must have been abandoned by that human woman and harbored resentment. He wanted all demons to sever ties with humans, but couldn’t say so directly as it would make him seem petty, so he claimed to kill all half-demons as a warning to demons not to develop true feelings for humans.” Bujiang’s lips curved mockingly. “What a fool. In over a thousand years, among all demons, only that idiot was capable of developing true feelings for a human and producing a half-demon.”
“Oh, perhaps there might be another one in the future.” She looked meaningfully at Zanxing.
Zanxing: “…” Why drag innocents into this?
Although Bujiang portrayed Gui Diao Tang as quite innocent, from Zanxing’s perspective, Gui Diao Tang was a father who abandoned his wife and child and shirked responsibility. No wonder Gui Yansheng thought of him that way. Back then, Gui Yansheng had personally witnessed Jiang Yiru’s miserable end, been driven out by villagers himself, and spared no effort to enter Heishi City to find his father, even losing his dependent companion Xiao Chun, only to learn that his father was about to remarry. Half-demons couldn’t even exist in Heishi City – no wonder he went to the Ten Thousand Ghosts Asura Way to kill all ghosts and seek strength. The pain of ten thousand ghosts devouring one’s heart – Zanxing had only experienced one percent of it and found it unbearable, yet Gui Yansheng had endured it all. Without powerful hatred for support, he absolutely couldn’t have achieved such a thing.
She sighed: “Speaking of which, it would have been good if Gui Yansheng could have met the Demon Lord back then. If he had met the Demon Lord, and if the Demon Lord still had feelings for Jiang Yiru in his heart, he certainly wouldn’t have allowed Gui Yansheng to wander outside. Without past sins, there would be no present bitter fruit.” She said, “It’s just unfortunate that as soon as Gui Yansheng entered Heishi City, he encountered that woman who stole people’s skins. Even if he had encountered you instead, Mother, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
Bujiang had always been very open-minded about romantic affairs. She had countless more lovers than Gui Diao Tang. If Gui Yansheng had encountered Bujiang when he came to Heishi City, she might have immediately brought him to Gui Diao Tang – she loved watching drama unfold.
“Exactly. Gui Yansheng’s luck was truly terrible. He could have met anyone when he first entered Heishi City, but he had to encounter the Painted Skin Lady, who had long harbored grudges against your father. That wretch harbored ill intentions from the start. Not only did she not kill Gui Yansheng, she deliberately instigated father and son to kill each other, and she succeeded in her scheming.”
“Painted Skin Lady?”
“Yes, back then, there was a demon called Painted Skin Lady in Heishi City. She wore her beautiful skin and went about committing evil deeds everywhere, killing people to repair her skin. Heishi City forbade harming children, but she secretly abducted and tortured young children to death. Your father burned her skin and destroyed her cultivation. Considering her past contributions, he spared her life. I thought she had behaved herself for quite a while after that, but I didn’t expect she was harboring evil intentions in secret.”
Zanxing asked: “Where is she now?”
“She died long ago.” Bujiang said, “During the great war between humans and demons back then, countless died. She also died in that battle. It’s just that no one expected that even though she’s dead, after all these years, she would leave behind such a great hidden danger.” She didn’t continue speaking, gazing at the heavy curtain of rain on the mountain and falling silent.