Chapter 153: Death Is His Only Way Out

The hand that was so close stopped in place.

Shen Yu’s eyes were bloodshot, the corners nearly splitting apart.

His features were distorted, lips trembling uncontrollably.

He retracted his hand with a shudder, his voice hoarse, soaked with blood and tears.

“I’m… sorry… Kill… kill me…”

“Shen Yu…”

Jiang Niannian covered her mouth, sobbing.

She couldn’t do it.

Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head, choking out, “I can’t…”

“Niannian!”

Yin Buqi had already noticed the scene earlier.

He wanted to intervene, but the Heaven’s Will entangled him relentlessly.

After much effort, he finally broke free and rushed over, sword in hand, ready to strike down the blood puppet.

However, Jiang Niannian stopped him.

“Wait, wait a moment… he still has consciousness…”

“Damn it!”

The Heaven’s Will’s expression changed drastically as it chanted an incantation.

Shen Yu’s eyes widened suddenly, as if resisting something.

His body convulsed violently, lips quivering beyond control.

He reached out, his fingers trembling like feathers, and slowly traced two characters on Jiang Niannian’s palm—

[Heart]

A thin trail of blood remained.

Jiang Niannian and Yin Buqi were spiritually connected, so he immediately understood the message as well.

A realization struck Yin Buqi—earlier, when he pierced the Heaven’s Will’s chest, there was no heart.

That meant the heart must be the vessel.

If it wasn’t with the Heaven’s Will, then it could only be…

The Heaven’s Will’s chanting grew faster.

Dark curses spread over Shen Yu’s face, covering nearly every inch of his skin.

The next moment, Shen Yu attacked again.

In the blink of an eye, a fleeting red light pierced his own chest.

The Heaven’s Will erupted in fury, lunging at a speed beyond human perception.

Yin Buqi instantly waved his sleeve, using all his strength to envelop the three of them in a barrier formed from the Netherfire.

Jiang Niannian clung to Yin Buqi, her voice choked with sobs.

“Buqi… Can he still be saved? Is there really no other way but to kill him?”

Yin Buqi spoke in a low voice.

“He’s in agony. Death is his only way out.”

The Heaven’s Will, unable to break through the barrier immediately, frantically urged Shen Yu to move.

Shen Yu’s eyes burned red, his throat letting out a mix of a furious roar and a sorrowful wail.

Jiang Niannian murmured, “Let him go…”

Yin Buqi was right—every extra second Shen Yu lived was an extra second of unbearable suffering.

As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp ‘squelch’ rang out.

A blade pierced deep into Shen Yu’s chest, ruthlessly and decisively.

Yin Buqi’s slender fingers tore open Shen Yu’s chest.

His fingertips dug into the flesh and yanked out the heart.

The moment the heart was extracted, Shen Yu collapsed like a marionette with its strings severed, completely motionless.

The heart was shrouded in a layer of black mist, blood beads rolling off it.

With a deafening ‘boom’, the barrier shattered.

Two sharp streaks of energy tore through the air toward them.

Yin Buqi shielded Jiang Niannian behind him, deflecting both attacks from the Heaven’s Will.

The Heaven’s Will roared in rage,

“Give me the heart!!!”

“In your dreams,” Yin Buqi replied coldly.

His fingers tightened, crushing the heart without hesitation.

At the moment of destruction, Shen Yu’s body deflated like a punctured balloon, falling limply.

A faint, hollow voice echoed from all directions—

“My fate was written long ago. It cannot be changed.”

“I have no home, no homeland.”

“No family, no past, no future.”

“My past is like a blank puzzle—no matter how hard I try, I can never piece it together.”

His body slowly descended, a gentle smile still lingering on his face, gradually fading.

Drifting on the sea of blood, his limbs and body began to dissolve into crimson water.

Until he was no more.

The blood sea, however, started to dry up.

Jiang Niannian turned to Yin Buqi, her gaze locked onto his forehead.

A thin trail of blood slid down his pale jade-like skin.

The white silk of his robe, lost amid the battle, hung loosely over his eyes like streaks of bloodied tears.

He closed his eyes.

His stunningly handsome face carried an eerie charm.

“Worthless trash…” The Heaven’s Will’s voice turned chillingly cold.

“All that effort, and he couldn’t even become a proper blood puppet.”

“I know who you are,” Yin Buqi suddenly said.

The Heaven’s Will’s gaze snapped to him, brimming with venomous hatred like a serpent lurking in the dark.

“Shut up!”

“That day, at the Immortal Alliance Gathering, you provoked me. I tore off your arm, gouged out your eyes, and burned you to death with the Netherfire.”

Jiang Niannian was momentarily stunned—it was him.

She recalled now.

That day, she had even considered severing her ties as Yin Buqi’s disciple because of it.

But now, everything made sense.

It was all fate—an inevitable cycle of karma.

Yin Buqi sneered.

“I killed you, yet I never even knew your name. What a pitiful existence.”

“I told you to SHUT UP!!!”

The Heaven’s Will howled in rage, his red eyes brimming with bloody tears as he lunged toward Jiang Niannian.

A flame shot out from behind her, instantly illuminating the entire Heavenly Realm.

The Heaven’s Will grunted, his eyes widening in horror as he watched a blade impale his outstretched hand.

Yin Buqi spoke indifferently, “Without your blood puppet, let’s see how you recover now.”

As he finished speaking, his crimson-hued black iron sword slashed down, severing an arm from the Heaven’s Will.

Just like before.

Blood spurted wildly, the metallic scent thick in the air, filling every breath with its suffocating dampness.

The battle resumed.

But this time, Yin Buqi had the upper hand.

Within a few exchanges, the Heaven’s Will was covered in wounds, his entire body falling apart.

Then, an earth-shattering roar echoed across the sky.

A beast’s furious howl.

“It’s Coalball!” Jiang Niannian’s pupils shrank in shock.

It must have come down from the Heavenly Tower as well.

“Why is it so huge now?”

Yin Buqi replied, “The Underworld is rich in Yin energy. As long as it doesn’t die from overeating, it eats like there’s no tomorrow. Its power is immense now.”

In other words—it got fat.

As Yin Buqi spoke, he searched through the bloodstained sleeves of his robe, finally finding a clean patch of fabric.

He gently lifted it and wiped the blood off Jiang Niannian’s face.

Coalball, a massive beast like a living mountain, lunged forward.

The Heaven’s Will failed to dodge in time and barely escaped death under its claws.

It fled in all directions.

Coalball immediately chased after it, playing a game of predator and prey.