Er Sheng was dragged ashore by Chang Yuan. She lay there with her eyes rolled back, bubbles forming at her mouth. Chang Yuan pressed firmly on her abdomen, causing her to expel a mouthful of water before crawling to the side, coughing and choking miserably.
Chang Yuan took several deep breaths. Using divine power in this place felt extremely oppressive; just two moves had left him thoroughly exhausted.
As his breathing gradually steadied, he turned to examine Er Sheng, who was still coughing. Er Sheng couldn’t swim she was afraid of water—so the moment she fell into the lake, she had ceased all resistance and instinctively clung to his waist like a drowning person clutching at straws. But before that, Chang Yuan had taken several solid hits from her resistance.
Chang Yuan’s brows furrowed deeply as he observed the black lines running along Er Sheng’s neck, following her meridians and spreading frighteningly across her entire face. The lines’ color gradually faded from dark to light before slowly converging and disappearing into her brow. Er Sheng let out a soft moan as she began to regain consciousness.
Watching Er Sheng clutch her chest and struggle to breathe, Chang Yuan’s frown deepened. He asked in a grave voice: “Why did you suddenly strike at the red orbs in the lake?”
Chang Yuan had been above, searching for a way out, when he suddenly sensed an evil energy spreading below. He rushed down to find Er Sheng attacking the Wan Tian Prison’s half of the lake. If he hadn’t narrowly blocked Er Sheng’s strike, who knows what might have become of this place.
Er Sheng coughed a few more times before finally catching her breath. Her mind, which had felt like it was covered in paste, gradually cleared. Looking at Chang Yuan’s serious expression, she struggled to sit up and said: “I wanted to destroy the Wan Tian Prison so Chang Yuan wouldn’t be hunted anymore.”
Chang Yuan’s expression turned cold, showing a severity he had never before directed at Er Sheng: “Who told you that doing that would destroy the Wan Tian Prison?”
Given Er Sheng’s limited experience—having read at most a few mortal legends from Wu Fang’s library—how could she possibly know how to use formation eyes to break heaven and earth’s maze formations? Moreover, she couldn’t have known about the mutual generation and restriction between the Wan Tian Prison and its guardian bell. When he had stopped Er Sheng earlier, Chang Yuan had sensed something different about her. Her techniques had been strange and evil, definitely not Wu Fang’s moves, nor the dragon clan’s defensive arts he had taught her early on.
If someone wasn’t pulling strings behind the scenes, how could Er Sheng suddenly have learned so many things? And those black lines that had disappeared into her brow—if he wasn’t mistaken, they must have been demonic energy.
Chang Yuan’s expression grew grave as he watched Er Sheng stammer, afraid to tell the truth.
Where had things gone wrong…
Er Sheng hadn’t expected Chang Yuan to become angry. She felt both wronged and afraid—wronged because she had done this to help him, yet not only was he unmoved, he had stopped her action and now wore an expression of interrogation. She was afraid because if she told Chang Yuan about her death and revival, and about the other being inside her body, how worried would he be…
“I thought of it myself.”
“You’re lying.” Chang Yuan said coldly. “Tell me the truth.”
Er Sheng’s temper flared at Chang Yuan’s harsh attitude. She turned her head away, staring at the lake’s surface as she said stiffly: “I did think of it myself. Since this is a formation eye, there must be a way to break the formation. I was just randomly trying things.”
This was the first time Er Sheng had ever talked back to him like this. Chang Yuan’s lips tightened, feeling both hurt and at a loss. But this matter was too important to dismiss lightly. His expression grew colder as he said seriously: “If I truly believed that, I would be a complete fool. If you were just randomly trying things, how did you know to use the silver bell? Do you realize your actions would have disrupted heaven and earth’s order—a grave sin? The Wan Tian Prison and Infinite Desolate City exist in mutual generation, day and night, yin and yang, maintaining heaven and earth’s balance. Destroy one and the balance is lost. Then the world would fall into chaos, all things would wither…”
“I just…” Er Sheng suddenly interrupted Chang Yuan loudly, staring at him with reddened eyes. “I didn’t know any of that. I just felt it was unfair to you…”
“I just… didn’t want you to be imprisoned anymore. Being all alone is so painful.”
Chang Yuan’s eyes trembled as he gazed at Er Sheng in silence.
Er Sheng wasn’t Si Ming. Si Ming was a deity who cared for all things and always prioritized the greater good. Er Sheng was human—she couldn’t reach such heights or see all the world’s people. She only saw Chang Yuan, met Chang Yuan, felt anger for him, felt indignation for him, and felt heartache for him.
After holding it in for so long, Er Sheng finally couldn’t contain her grievance and began crying. Whatever anger Chang Yuan had felt instantly dissipated, leaving only layer upon layer of helplessness mixed with a shameful warmth that made him sigh deeply.
“I…” Chang Yuan reached out to touch Er Sheng’s cheek but she slapped his hand away. He pressed his lips together, feeling even more helpless. “I was wrong.”
At first, Er Sheng had just been silently wiping away tears, but when she heard Chang Yuan soften and apologize, she immediately began sobbing loudly, showing no signs of stopping. Chang Yuan froze for a moment, at a loss for what to do. He wanted to reach for her but feared being struck again. After tilting his head and studying her for a while, he said again: “I was wrong…”
Er Sheng seemed heartbroken, stirred by some unknown emotions, and cried even harder, unable to stop.
“Er Sheng…”
“I-I can’t, can’t stop, I can’t stop.”
Chang Yuan stared for a moment before letting out a bitter laugh and a sigh. He reached out with both arms and pulled her into his embrace, holding her gently and stroking her back like comforting a child: “I was just worried about you getting hurt.” Destroying the Wan Tian Prison would unbalance heaven and earth—a world-ending sin. If Er Sheng did such a thing, even imprisonment in the Infinite Desolate City might not be enough to atone.
He held Er Sheng quietly for a while until her sobbing gradually stopped. After some consideration, Chang Yuan still felt he should get to the bottom of things—how had she learned those evil techniques, and what was that demonic energy that had appeared in her meridians?
This time, Chang Yuan’s tone was much gentler as he explained his reasons for being angry, ending with a statement that was half threat, half plea: “If you hide the truth from me, I’ll surely worry day and night, unable to sleep peacefully.”
Hearing this, Er Sheng wiped her tears and snot on Chang Yuan’s shoulder before hiccupping out the whole truth.
The evil spirit pearl she had encountered at sea, the bone weevil’s core that Kong Meiren had forced her to swallow, and the mysterious shadow that had helped repair her heart. “It was it who told me how to destroy the Wan Tian Prison,” Er Sheng said, pointing at her chest. “But it never told me any of the things you mentioned.”
The more Chang Yuan heard the deeper his frown became. He thought the evil spirit pearl was an ancient evil thing—since it had chosen Er Sheng as its host, how could it have been so easily cleared away? Even Wu Fang’s immortal techniques for purifying the mind couldn’t eliminate the evil thoughts in human nature. The evil spirit pearl’s energy must have hidden deep within Er Sheng’s body. When she consumed the bone weevil’s core, the two evil entities met and merged into one, somehow developing consciousness. It lived within Er Sheng’s body, waiting for the chance to devour its host and take over the body. To achieve this goal, the prerequisite was making the host fall into demonic ways and lose their true heart.
With Chang Yuan’s power, he could help Er Sheng eliminate the evil entity from her body, but the most troublesome thing now was that the entity had helped repair Er Sheng’s heart. If it were forcibly removed from Er Sheng’s body, she might not survive.
“Chang Yuan.” Er Sheng waved her hand in front of his face, calling back his distant thoughts. “Is the thing in my heart a demon? A very bad demon?”
Looking at Er Sheng’s eyes, clear as water, he remained silent. Could this Er Sheng fall into demonic ways, lose her mind completely, and become bloodthirsty?
“Chang Yuan?”
He patted Er Sheng’s head and said gently: “Demons are evil, so from now on, don’t believe anything it says. Don’t be afraid, I’ll find a way to make it leave.”
Er Sheng blinked and remained silent for a long while before sighing: “It wanted me to destroy heaven and earth, so it must be a terrifying great demon. How did I let such an evil demon escape…” She paused, anxiously clutching Chang Yuan’s hand. “Chang Yuan, is it because I was too afraid of death that I brought such big trouble?”
Chang Yuan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Er Sheng shook her head and said: “But if I had another chance like that, I still wouldn’t have the heart to let myself die. I want to live, even if it means living a humble life.”
Chang Yuan tightly gripped Er Sheng’s hand that lay in his palm.
“I want to live happily together with Chang Yuan.”
The red light still stretched across the sky as Chang Yuan led Er Sheng up through the air toward its lowest point. Before entering, Er Sheng looked back at the black and white lake surfaces and asked: “Chang Yuan, if destroying the Wan Tian Prison wouldn’t unbalance heaven and earth, would you destroy it?”
Without a moment’s thought, Chang Yuan answered: “No.”
This answer surprised Er Sheng. She exclaimed: “Why?”
Chang Yuan was silent for a long while before looking at Er Sheng seriously and saying: “Do you remember what Nu Yuan said? She said I’m like her, someone with great grievances. In the future… if I become not myself, at least there will be a place that can imprison me.”
Chang Yuan’s words were desolate, making Er Sheng’s heart flutter with anxiety: “If you’re imprisoned there, I’ll come keep you company, so you won’t be lonely.”
Hearing this, Chang Yuan lowered his eyes, hiding the warmth that welled up in his heart and merely gave a soft “mm” in response.
“Let’s go.”
Chang Yuan held Er Sheng’s hand as they stepped into the red light and flew straight up into the sky.
As they left this sealed place filled with ancient orchids, Er Sheng looked back once more at the two-colored lake below. White orchid petals scattered across the lake’s surface as, in the white water’s reflection, Nu Yuan hid in a corner of the city wall, tears streaming down her face.