Chapter 10

The ghost crow cried out five times, mournfully. Liu Shuang had been married to Yan Chaoshen for a hundred years, always sweetly calling him her husband. This was the first time, with a sorrowful smile, she called him Yan Chaosheng.

She asked, “Yan Chaosheng, did you marry me because of Mi Chu?”

Yan Chaosheng looked at Liu Shuang, his expression unchanged. He said calmly, “Someone come; the madam has behaved improperly. Punish her by sending her to the Blood Refining Sea to reflect.”

“Yan Chaosheng…” Liushuang called out softly.

The cold wind in the pavilion lifted Liu Shuang’s thin clothes. She stood in the lonely wind, looking at the husband she had loved for a hundred years, punishing her for another woman by sending her to the Blood Refining Sea.

Liu Shuang couldn’t describe how she felt at that moment—whether she was more heartbroken or found it more absurd. It was like she had been living in a long, beautiful dream, and when she indulged in it, thinking it was real, she found out everything was fake.

She stubbornly repeated, “I want an answer. Did you marry me because I look like Consort Mi Chu?”

Liu Shuang stared at Yan Chaosheng, hoping he would tell her it wasn’t true. But Yan Chaosheng looked at her tear-filled eyes, which still held a glimmer of hope, and said coldly, “Didn’t you see it all? Why ask again?”

The hope in Liu Shuang’s eyes shattered. A tear fell from her left eye, landing on the ghostly ground and emitting a faint white light.

Yan Chaosheng stared at her tear, accustomed to it.

At that time, he did not know that this would be the last tear Liu Shuang would shed for him in his memory.

Actually, over the past hundred years, Liu Shuang has shed many tears for him. She was naturally tender and weak. Sometimes, in Yan Chaosheng’s eyes, trivial matters like a bloodstain on him when he returned from battle could make Liu Shuang cry her heart out.

She cried so often that sometimes he could even cruelly watch her cry with interest.

Back then, he was young and did not understand that every tear a woman shed carried all her love, each one incredibly precious.

And love, after all, could be exhausted.

Yan Chaosheng said, “Didn’t you hear my order? Send the Madam to the Blood Refining Sea.”

Eight ghost guards appeared before Liu Shuang, ready to seize her. Liu Shuang avoided their hands, saying, “I will go myself!”

The double-fish pendant in Liu Shuang’s sleeve fell out, completely breaking in half. Liu Shuang looked at the two separated fish and smiled more painfully than crying.

It turned out that some things were indeed destined.

She used to not believe in fate; she only believed in Yan Chaosheng. But a hundred years of deep love resulted in him not believing in her, and she was sent to the Blood Refining Sea.

Liu Shuang squatted down, picking up the broken jade in front of everyone. It was something left by Shaoyou. Even if her love was just a joke, she couldn’t let it be buried in the ghostly soil.

Liu Shuang collected the pieces and walked towards Consort Mi Chu.

“You say I hurt you?”

Mi Chu nodded gently, saying, “I know, madam, you didn’t mean to.”

“No, I meant it this time,” Liu Shuang said, her lips tightly pressed.

She flipped the dagger in her hand and stabbed it into Mi Chu’s abdomen again.

Mi Chu’s eyes widened. If she had been frail before, now her unstable soul is truly injured! Mi Chu’s cultivation was much higher than Liu Shuang’s, and she could have dodged it, but she never thought Liu Shuang would dare to do such a thing in front of Yan Chaosheng! So Mi Chu didn’t dodge.

She never expected that the weed she despised would stab her without hesitation.

Under Yan Chaosheng’s gaze, Liushuang let go of the dagger and smiled slightly, saying to Mi Chu, “Shaoyou said no one should be punished for something they didn’t do. Now, I’ve truly hurt you. I accept the punishment.”

Mi Chu spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.

Liu Shuang lowered her head, not looking at Yan Chaosheng’s expression. Instead, he calmly said, “Take her away.”

As Liu Shuang passed by Yan Chaosheng, bound by ghost guards, she couldn’t help but take one last look at him, as if trying to engrave him into her memory.

His cloak fluttered, exuding cold indifference and cruelty. Liu Shuang couldn’t help but think, Why did she only now realize that he was such a cold-hearted person? Even when she stabbed his beloved right in front of him, he could still look at her coldly, like watching a clown.

Were all his past affections just deceit?

Yan Chaosheng still looked as handsome as Liu Shuang remembered, but this time, she would never call him husband again.

Her nose and eyes stung, but Liu Shuang didn’t blame Mi Chu for the plot, nor Yan Chaosheng for not believing her.

She just felt endless sorrow. The first passionate love in her life began to die from that night.

Liu Shuang never told Yan Chaosheng that she disliked the ghostly realm, and naturally, he didn’t know that she hated the Blood Refining Sea more than the water prison.

In the Blood Refining Sea, a blood blossom served as her prison. Liu Shuang was trapped on the confined space of the blossom.

There was no one around, not even the sound of ghostly wails. The blood sea beneath her surged, filled with a heavy stench. Liu Shuang, born in a beautiful and lively place, thought she had gotten used to loneliness over the years, but one can get used to happiness, not loneliness and pain.

The Blood Refining Sea had no sense of time, no sense of cold or heat, even numbing the senses, making her unsure if she was still alive.

Liu Shuang felt terrible. Her heart, tempered over time, seemed to seize her breath with every beat. Would Yan Chaosheng ever release her? She instinctively used her spiritual energy to attack the blossom, but all the power rebounded, causing blood to trickle from the corner of her mouth.

Liu Shuang wanted to call out to her husband but finally pursed her lips and murmured, “Chang Huan, Lord Su Lun…”

Chang Huan broke in two days later.

The little ghost girl, whose ghostly power had almost dissipated, staggered forward, pounding on the blood-red blossom.

“Madam, Madam, Are you alright? I’m sorry. Chang Huan came too late.”

In nearly a hundred years together, Liu Shuang had never seen Chang Huan cry. Liu Shuang knew most ghost cultivators were cold-hearted, vicious, and selfish.

But Chang Huan was not.

When Liu Shuang found Chang Huan, her soul was nearly shattered, trampled underfoot, eyes vacant.

She took Chang Huan home, initially caring for her like a mother and mending her soul. Later, somehow, the roles reversed, and Chang Huan started taking care of her, helping her survive in the ghost realm.

Liu Shuang had never seen Chang Huan sad, but today, this little ghost girl’s eyes were filled with grief.

“I’m fine, Chang Huan,” Liu Shuang quietly wiped the blood from her lips and said lightly, “Don’t worry about me. Everything will be alright. Has Qingluan returned? Is it okay?”

“Qingluan? It’s been perfectly fine in its rocky nest. Why would you ask about it, Madam?”

“A few days ago, you told me that Qingluan was missing.”

“Chang Huan never told Madam that Qingluan was missing. What happened?”

Liu Shuang fell silent. She now understood everything. Consort Mi Chu had set up an illusion, making her think Qingluan was in danger, leading her to stab the old man with a dagger. Even the fake Chang Huan she had seen at the start, everything she saw and heard—was all an illusion.

Liu Shuang found it somewhat amusing. Since when did the “main character” resort to such lowly tricks against a “stand-in”?

There was no need for Mi Chu to go to such lengths. Liu Shuang never wanted a Yan Chaosheng who loved someone else.

“Chang Huan, could you do me a favor?”

“Please command me, madam.”

“Send a paper crane message to Demon Lord Yan Chaosheng, telling him…” Her face paled, and she closed her eyes, “Liu Shuang is willing to sever the spiritual bond with him, so they can part on good terms.”

Chang Huan’s eyes widened. “Madam!”

“Go,” Liu Shuang said.

Liu Shuang understood that loving someone was inherently irrational. But she also knew that since Yan Chaosheng had chosen Mi Chu, there was no place for her in the vast ghost realm.

The double-fish pendant was broken, and Liu Shuang didn’t want to live more miserably.

She didn’t want this kind of Yan Chaosheng, nor did she want to see Mi Chu’s face again. Liu Shuang knew that whether it was in the demon realm or the ghost realm, people generally looked down on her.

Both demons and ghost cultivators respected strength above all. Liu Shuang, born into humble circumstances with weak spiritual energy, was looked down upon along with her feelings. They thought her marriage to the Demon Lord was her reaching above her station.

Liu Shuang closed her eyes; she was too tired. For nearly a hundred years, she had struggled to survive in the ghost realm. Besides Chang Huan, no one willingly spoke to her. As Yan Chaosheng’s consort, she had to use his orders to mobilize others.

The day Lord Su Lun approached her, even knowing he had ulterior motives, she was delighted to have someone to talk to.

Although she never complained and always loved to smile, only Liu Shuang knew she was becoming increasingly fearful and pitiable.

Yan Chaosheng roamed the world, while she was trapped in a small palace, day after day, with nothing to do but wait for his return.

It was like placing a rabbit among wolves, forcing her to curl up in her nest. She sustained herself with her love for him, not daring to take a step outside.

But now she wanted to leave this hole that trapped her.

Since Yan Chaosheng didn’t want her, she could go to the human world—to Canglan Lake.

“Madam,” Chang Huan said urgently, “are you really going to do this? Once the spiritual bond is severed, your ties with the Demon Lord will be completely cut. Consort Mi Chu is not a good person. Why would you just let the Demon Lord go to her! If you yield to him, he won’t really be so heartless as to keep you locked up here forever.”

“You’re wrong. Yan Chaosheng never belonged to me,” Liu Shuang said with a pale smile. “Judging by the time, it should be the season when the wind and snow blow in the human world. The fire tribulation should be coming soon.”

It was time for her to go home and take up her responsibilities, just as the elders of Canglan Lake had protected her for centuries. She would return to protect the new life at Canglan Lake.

Chang Huan, unable to persuade her, had no choice but to leave sorrowfully.

Liu Shuang thought she would have to wait a long time again for Yan Chaosheng to come.

She realized she seemed to have gotten used to such waiting.

But surprisingly, this time he came quickly.

Yan Chaosheng stepped across the Blood Refining Sea, arriving in front of the blood blossom. His gaze was cold, and his tone was as icy as frost.

“You want to sever the spiritual bond?”

“Yes.”

“No regrets?”

Liu Shuang pressed her dry lips together and shook her head.

He stared at her for a long while, then sneered, “Fine, fine, fine!”

With three utterances of “fine,” he waved his hand. The blood blossom beneath Liushuang’s feet dispersed, and she began to fall towards the Blood Refining Sea. Instinctively, Liu Shuang screamed and reached out to grab him.

Yan Chaosheng watched coldly. Just as she was about to fall into the sea of blood, he grabbed her and pulled her back to the shore.

“Are you clear-headed now? Answer me, Do you still want to sever the bond?”

Liu Shuang, trembling, looked up at him and bit out, “Yes!”

Yan Chaosheng’s fists clenched tightly.

“As you wish.”