Chapter 31

Taihe Hall fell into a strange dead silence.

Tanyin watched helplessly as Han Nu’s consciousness turned into a semi-transparent human-shaped mist, while her body, which had fallen to the ground, suddenly emitted a layer of blood-red light, flickering faintly. The red light was attracted to Han Nu’s consciousness, wrapping around her broken and battered form.

As the red light floated, her body disappeared faster and faster; below her knees, it had already vanished completely.

Han Nu’s semi-transparent consciousness gradually became clearer, and the outline of her facial features could be vaguely seen.

Tanyin suddenly woke up as if from a dream and stepped back several paces. This behavior was not unfamiliar to her. Demons grew stronger by devouring souls, and the bodies of the gods and goddesses, who were endowed with divine status, were even more powerful. During the early days of the war between gods and demons, the heavy casualties in the divine realm were due to many gods and goddesses being devoured by the demons.

“You…” Tanyin was dumbfounded.

This absurd scene unfolded right before her eyes. Was this a nightmare? Han Nu’s consciousness had turned into a demon, devouring her divine body?!

Amidst her horror, there was also a strange familiarity. She felt as if she had seen this demon before. That day, in the Imperial Tomb of Wanlan Mountain… Tanyin clutched her forehead, feeling dizzy. Why… can’t she remember?

“I will never let you go again!”

Han Nu’s voice became extremely demonic, wailing and howling. Her semi-transparent consciousness struggled desperately within the golden thorns, which gradually couldn’t hold her back anymore and shattered moments later, bursting into countless golden fragments.

Tanyin was blown off balance by the gust of air, falling to the ground. In her daze, she felt a shadow pounce on her. Instinctively, she raised her hands to protect her head and face. Immediately after, she felt a sharp pain in her right arm, as if several steel knives had been plunged into her bones. Trembling with pain, she looked up to see Han Nu’s five fingers, like knives, stabbing into her right arm.

Han Nu’s eyes were blood-red, staring at her with intense hatred.

Tanyin took a deep breath, her voice dry, “You… you… demon…”

She didn’t know what to say; she was so frightened that her tongue seemed to be tied.

Han Nu suddenly laughed.

“Demon?”

She looked down at her mockingly and said, “I shouldn’t have become a god. I shouldn’t have become a god back then. I still live in pain and regret! Every day! Every hour! Every moment! I hate that I didn’t have the heart to kill you back then!”

Tanyin was confused, “…What?”

“Don’t think I didn’t want to kill you!” Han Nu crazily withdrew her fingers, lifting her off the ground. Her sharp nails scratched Tanyin’s neck, and a faint golden divine light spread from the wound.

“…Han Nu.”

Tanyin looked steadily into her eyes and asked, “Did you mistake me for someone else? I never harmed you. I even liked you before! But your actions—only a madman could describe them! Whatever great injustice you suffered, you never said it, so I don’t know. But now that you have fallen into a demon, even heaven won’t tolerate you!”

Han Nu suddenly smiled and said, “Like me? She said the same thing. Your likes are just trampling on my soul! Heaven doesn’t tolerate me? Heaven never tolerated me! Wushuang, don’t you want to kill me? I’ll kill you first!”

She suddenly squeezed Tanyin’s neck hard, her sharp nails piercing into her flesh, her face twisted with rage, wishing she could strangle her on the spot.

Tanyin used all her strength to struggle to break free from her grasp, but Han Nu’s grip was tight, and the peculiar demonic waves from her body made Tanyin feel a chill all over. She suddenly raised her hand and slapped Han Nu hard.

“Let me go!”

Han Nu suddenly let go, lightly touching her slapped left cheek, her expression strange.

“The one you hate is me?” Tanyin directly pointed out the key point.

Han Nu’s oddly fanatical eyes gradually cleared, her expression slowly calming down. After a long time, she stepped back a few steps and said in a low voice, “Yes! I hate you! I hate everyone!”

She suddenly floated to the half-disappeared body, lying on it, and in an instant, the dissipated parts of her body were fully restored. She opened her eyes, slowly stood up, and looked at Tanyin with a strange expression.

“Wushuang, I took Taihe from you; don’t you hate me? I want to kill that priest, don’t you hate me? You hate me to the bone in your heart, but you pretend to be magnanimous on the surface. You are so terrifying, so terrifying…”

A strange smile appeared on Han Nu’s face, “Wushuang, you must also have a terrifying heart. Everyone in this world has a terrifying heart… I exhausted all my efforts, using all my abilities, to give her the best. In the end, I became a god. I descended to the mortal world to find her, afraid she would be bullied, but I saw the most terrifying and ugly human heart!”

In her eyes, the burning stars appeared again, intense yet cold, “Why did I become a god? I shouldn’t have become a god! I didn’t have the heart to kill her! Killing her would have made my divinity fall! But what about my hatred?! Wushuang! What about my hatred?!”

Suddenly, she threw out a large embroidery from her sleeve. The patterns on it were so dense and shadowy that it was impossible to see clearly, with black smoke and blood-red colors interwoven.

“Come, spend the rest of your life with me,” her voice turned bewitching and melodious, “My human tribulation, sleep forever here with me.”

Tanyin felt the scenery before her eyes suddenly distorted, a strange force seeming to draw her into the embroidered picture. Even though she knew Han Nu had become a god with her unparalleled embroidery skills, she had never seen her in action. Now, as Han Nu threw out the eerie and enormous embroidered picture, filled with ghostly shadows and wails, it gradually became a real scene. She could even smell the bloody smoke.

Shocked, Tanyin’s eyes shone brightly as she resisted with all her might. She suddenly waved her long sleeve, and several beams of clear light shot out, but they vanished without a trace, like stones sinking into the sea.

Han Nu’s voice lingered, sorrowful and low, “I have become a demon; I should have become a demon long ago. She has long been dead and has been reincarnated countless times. This hatred is hard to dispel; I am unwilling. I am unwilling…”

This unreasonable woman!

Tanyin’s eyes turned ruthless.

She shot divine light from her sleeve, which transformed into a giant pair of scissors, cutting toward the strange embroidery. Caught off guard, Han Nu didn’t expect this odd move, and the embroidery was instantly cut in half, causing the strange pulling force to disappear.

Golden light flashed in Tanyin’s palm, and another talisman appeared. She slapped it onto Han Nu’s shoulder without hesitation, and enormous golden thorns rose from the ground, locking her within once more.

“…Save those words for the other gods.”

Tanyin tossed a talisman into the air, which turned into countless blue birds, silently flying out of Taihe Hall.

Han Nu suddenly burst into laughter, and the hall shook violently. Tanyin watched in shock as Han Nu’s body gradually dissipated like green smoke. Even the golden thorn prison couldn’t hold her?!

“Wushuang, you are truly terrifying…” Her voice also gradually dissipated, becoming barely audible, “I no longer fear any terrifying human hearts! I will watch as your soul is utterly destroyed!”

Finally, her voice and body completely vanished. After a long time, the other gods, having received the signal, rushed over and urgently asked, “What’s happening?! Using an emergency summon?!”

Tanyin wearily lowered her shoulders and said softly, “Han Nu… has fallen into a demon.”

Ignoring the astonished gods, she slowly walked to the divine crystal in the hall, looking up at the sleeping Taihe. If Taihe awakened and knew Han Nu had become a demon, how pained would he be? Would he, like before when dealing with demons, remain calm and destroy Han Nu with his own hands?

And for herself… what should she do next?

She was a support craftsman in the rear; it wasn’t her job to track down Han Nu. The other gods had already made arrangements. Some knew she had gone to the mortal realm to find Taihe’s left hand and urged her to retrieve both the left hand and the soul lamp quickly to revive Taihe. With his combat power and the soul lamp, another war between gods and demons might still be winnable.

Tanyin said nothing more and left the desolate divine realm silently. She first went to Yuancheng, where she repaired the mortal body she had borrowed for a few short months and buried it beside her parents’ graves.

Getting that body was a matter of fate. She had to find someone with a similar birthdate and age from Yuancheng. As a goddess, she couldn’t possess a mortal body, so it had to be a recently deceased one. Despite the many strict conditions, she found this girl who had died of illness.

However, to suppress the divine crystal’s power that day, she drank a large amount of water, forcing the divine crystal into her limbs. This body, now permeated with the divine crystal, could no longer be used.

With a wave of her long sleeve, the qiankun bag at the corpse’s waist floated up, suspended before her. The pouch slowly opened, and a delicate, small white house emerged, expanding into a simple wooden house in an instant.

Tanyin’s consciousness floated into the wooden house, where a goddess’s body lay as if asleep—her true form.

She was about to merge with it when she froze, staring blankly at the hand exposed outside the body—it was half-transparent at the fingertips, a sign that divine power was beginning to dissipate, indicating imminent downfall.

She remembered that less than two months ago, when she last checked her body, everything was still intact.

Tanyin stared fixedly at her body, at her semi-transparent fingertips, feeling utterly empty.

Finally, it was her turn. It was her turn to start falling.