Chapter 288

When Ning Ning opened her eyes, she was greeted by boundless darkness.

The excruciating pain caused by the Lingshu spiritual herb had vanished completely, leaving her body feeling unnaturally light.

She looked around in confusion, and as her eyes gradually adjusted to the scene, she noticed a small, curled-up figure in a corner not far away.

Steadying her scattered thoughts, Ning Ning took a step forward.

As she drew closer, the vague shadow slowly became clearer, its outline faintly defined in the dimness.

It was a frail boy, hugging his knees tightly; his body curled up like a small, dying animal.

The thick smell of blood reached her nose, along with the damp, dusty scent of the underground.

A lightless, sunless space—a basement, blood.

Ning Ning seemed to understand where she was now.

Pei Ji had been afflicted by demonic energy, causing him to fall into the depths of his inner demons.

Her own fragile consciousness had been too weak to resist the demonic energy corruption.

This place must be his inner demon.

The boy on the ground stirred slightly, and Ning Ning bent down to look at him.

The cellar was tightly sealed, with not a single ray of light seeping in.

Fortunately, cultivator had heightened senses, allowing her to take in the entire scene before her.

So, Pei Ji had been this skinny as a child.

Even now, there wasn’t much flesh on his body.

When he had embraced her before, she could clearly feel the sharpness of his bones through his back.

But with proper meals and abundant spiritual energy, he didn’t appear overly thin.

This boy, however, was different.

He was barely covered by a thin, tattered robe, and the parts of his body exposed were shockingly thin, as if his bones were merely draped in pale skin.

Moreover, his skin was marred with countless scars, one after another, dark purple merging with fresh red.

How painful it must have been.

This was a memory from his childhood, and Pei Ji could not see her.

But Ning Ning could see him, his face swollen as if he had been slapped, his long eyelashes trembling lightly as he slowly opened his eyes.

Pei Ji must have been so scared.

Even she felt an involuntary sense of dread in such a gloomy setting, let alone a wounded, young boy like him.

This must be why Pei Ji was so afraid of the dark later on.

Blood silently dripped from the boy’s arm, and Ning Ning felt her heart tighten.

She instinctively reached out to wipe it away, but her fingers passed right through his body.

Past memories cannot be altered.

In this dark, sunless cellar, no one could help him.

At that moment, a creaking sound suddenly came from behind.

Ning Ning turned to see a shaft of white light descending from above.

—The cellar entrance had been opened, and a woman, thin to the bone, had entered.

The original story rarely mentioned Pei Ji’s mother.

In the memories of others, this nearly deranged woman left no trace.

Upon reflection, it seemed that the only one who remembered her was Pei Ji.

Ning Ning squinted against the sudden brightness, raising her gaze to study the woman who slowly approached.

Her skin was unnaturally pale, nearly ghostly, and her long hair hung in disarray over her shoulders and back.

Her bloodshot eyes were deeply sunken, surrounded by a heavy, grayish-black hue.

Yet, even in her haggard state, one could glimpse traces of the beauty she once possessed.

“Why are you pretending to be dead? Get up!”

She stood with her back to the light, her expression filled with undisguised disgust.

As she spoke, she took a step forward and kicked the boy sharply in the waist.

Pei Ji winced in pain, his body instinctively shrinking back, but he bit his lip, making no sound of complaint or plea for mercy.

His long lashes fluttered rapidly, and a broken whimper escaped his throat.

It was at this moment that Ning Ning finally saw his eyes clearly.

Childhood Pei Ji had not yet learned to mask himself with hostility.

His dark, round pupils were filled with dazed tears, his long lashes void of any light, reflecting only extreme pain and numbness.

He was clinging to the last shreds of his dignity.

But the more indifferent he seemed, the more uncontrollable rage brewed within the woman.

“What’s with those eyes—do you look down on me too?”

She seemed to go mad, her hatred spilling over as she gritted her teeth, bent down, and grabbed a fistful of the boy’s blood-streaked hair, yanking him up without warning.

“Xie Yu… You’re just like him, aren’t you? You both deserve to die, remnants of the demon clan!”

The sharp slap that followed resounded crisply.

Pei Ji’s head was forced to one side by the impact, his already swollen face turning a vivid red, nearly bleeding.

Ning Ning’s eyes stung, her heart breaking, but she could only stand there, frozen and helpless.

“It’s all your fault, all of you!”

Her voice was hoarse, her entire frame trembling violently.

Faced with her own flesh and blood, she spat out the most venomous words: “Do you hate me? You should be grateful that I kept you alive… Do you know the fate of the demon clan today? Everyone wishes to exterminate them, to grind their bones to dust!”

The narrow, empty cellar echoed with her voice.

It was like the wail of a specter from the abyss, filling every corner without fading.

“With such cursed blood in your veins, don’t think you’ll ever have a good life. Only I am willing to shelter you. Where else could you go if you left this house?”

She dug her nails deep into Pei Ji’s neck.

The boy’s face turned deathly pale as his brows furrowed, his ears ringing with his mother’s crazed, hate-filled voice: “Demon scum must be exterminated… Who would care for you? Who would come near you… Disgusting creature!”

In the end, she no longer saw him as Pei Ji.

After the city’s defenses were broken, their family was displaced, and their home was destroyed. Even if this woman harbored thoughts of revenge, how could she act against a demon lord so far beyond her reach?

But fortunately, she still had his child.

—A boy who grew more and more like Xie Yu with each passing day.

This was her revenge, a pathetic, foolish, and futile attempt to vent her anger.

By now, Ning Ning could hardly bear to watch, while the young Pei Ji remained silent, meeting the woman’s gaze.

In his eyes, there was ignorance, but even more so, a piercing, helpless pain.

Something within him quietly shattered, becoming broken shadows scattered deep within his pupils.

He was still so young, locked in the cellar for years, knowing little about the outside world.

The only information he had came from the words his mother spoke each day.

Pei Ji endured this deep-seated malice, day after day.

Those curses and insults were etched deeply into his heart.

How could he not feel like a monster unfit for the world?

In the end, compared to this woman, what Pei Ji loathed most was himself.

Ning Ning half-closed her eyes, unwilling to see the growing number of wounds and scars on Pei Ji’s body, but she couldn’t help her gaze from lingering on him, her heart aching.

She knew what would happen next.

Later, when his mother died of illness, Pei Ji, unshackled, began to wander the world in confusion.

He knew nothing of the outside, stumbling through life.

Sometimes, the demonic energy within him became uncontrollable, and he would wake in the middle of the night, drenched in cold sweat from the pain.

Hunger, cold stares, mockery, and the agony of old wounds haunted him day and night.

Until, by chance, he was accepted into the Xuanxu Sword Sect.

From then on, the young man learned to distance himself from everything, entangling with no one.

He wrapped himself in layers of coldness and hostility, forming a hard shell that no one could penetrate.

This was why Pei Ji always seemed so cold and fierce.

The self-loathing and inferiority that had gripped his heart since childhood imprisoned him completely.

Pei Ji didn’t know how to connect with others, nor did he believe anyone would ever want to approach him.

This was Pei Ji’s inner demon.

The hysterical curses still echoed in her ears when, without warning, the scene before her dimmed.

The woman and the boy vanished in an instant.

Confused, Ning Ning lifted her eyes and looked around at the space.

The surroundings returned to the initial darkness, the boundless black stretching out endlessly, suffocating her.

It was at this moment that Ning Ning saw a tall, slender figure.

Pei Ji stood still, not far away, gazing at her with a cold expression.

When their eyes met, his brow furrowed in displeasure.

How strange.

His eyes held the look of someone staring at a stranger, even tinged with a faint annoyance—completely different from his usual gaze.

Ning Ning stepped forward: “…Pei Ji?”

His eyes were darker than the surrounding blackness.

When he finally spoke, his tone carried a hint of mocking derision: “That won’t work. You don’t have to go to such lengths.”

What wouldn’t work? What effort?

Ning Ning hadn’t caught on yet when he continued, “Illusions and people… are not the same.”

Oh, so he thought she was just a figment created by his inner demons.