Chapter 46: The Bustling Midnight (Part 9)

From the perspective of a passerby, Yu Yinyin finished sending her message with her head lowered, put her phone back in her pocket, and walked along the riverside with a relaxed expression. Then she suddenly quickened her pace and, without any warning, climbed over the railing and jumped down.

She did not struggle. She did not cry for help. Embracing a feeling of final liberation, she sank into the water.

It just so happened that on this day there was no one nearby. It just so happened that no one reached out at that exact moment to pull her back once more.

Jiang Sheng roared in despair, his anguish reaching its absolute limit, his expression nearly twisted beyond recognition. Yet no matter what he did, he could not break through the restrictions of time and space to grab his girlfriend’s falling body.

He hated with his heart dripping blood. He hated so much he was going mad.

Chen Jiu flew down, grabbed Jiang Sheng by the collar, and in time prevented his imminent intimate collision with the earth, throwing him onto a relatively open patch of lawn.

Jiang Sheng gasped for a long while, his eyes red, and asked Chen Jiu, “Don’t they deserve to die? Don’t they really deserve to die? Without punching or kicking, without using sharp weapons, they aren’t murderers?! They drove her to her death!”

He was a complete mess, his entire body disheveled, looking like a thorough lunatic.

Yet for a moment Chen Jiu could not think of anything to comfort or restrain him with. For the first time, she felt that language was so pale and powerless.

What could she say? Say this was Yu Yinyin’s fate? That would be too cold, too inhuman.

Who killed Yu Yinyin.

A voice that had been hiding in the shadows burst into laughter: “You see, she can’t help you. Only I can help you.”

Jiang Sheng tilted his head slightly, his rationality once again being dragged into a vortex of madness.

“No.” Chen Jiu took a deep breath and looked at Jiang Sheng: “No, your hatred shouldn’t be aimed at these innocent people, should it? What did your audience do wrong? Why are you pointing your blade at them?”

“Impossible.” Jiang Sheng roared: “Do you know how many people, after believing the one-sided words of those thugs, did not hesitate to use the most vicious language to insult Yu Yinyin? Until her death, until she was fished out, until she was cremated, they had no intention of letting her go, do you know! You don’t know anything. You only know how to talk without feeling the pain, you only know how to stand on the side and speak these irrelevant truths, this bullshit. You only know how to point fingers from a high horse. What qualifications do you have to say no for her?! Do you know how much pain she was in? Huh? She had no way out. Everyone was forcing her to die. It was this world that was forcing her to die!”

Chen Jiu was completely speechless. The snowflakes that killed Yu Yinyin were numerous, each one sharpened to a point, mercilessly piercing her full of holes.

Who killed Yu Yinyin. She now knew the answer.

“I am very sorry.” Chen Jiu took a deep breath, slowly gathering energy at the tip of her sword, her sleeves moving without wind, her gaze unwavering as she stared heavily at Jiang Sheng, whose rationality was on the verge of collapse: “I have my path. I must protect the innocent people who have been dragged into this.”

During the calamity at Qinghua Mountain, Chen Jiu had nearly fallen into demonic cultivation, but surviving after being placed in a situation of certain death allowed her to unexpectedly upgrade her second-tier innate talent. Previously she could only borrow force to strike force, summoning thunder for killing moves at the mercy of heaven’s mood. But now she could directly condense the power of lightning and thunder, with even greater might.

But how could the Formless Demon know she had this encounter? After seizing back control of Jiang Sheng’s body, it charged directly at Chen Jiu, thick black fog rushing toward her face!

“Heaven and earth I do not borrow, the five directions I do not invite. Heart fire as the guide, kidney water as the form. Yin and yang intertwine, lightning and thunder generate of themselves. By order!”

Immediately thunderclouds rolled across the sky, wild winds rose, dark clouds obscured the moon. The peach wood sword in Chen Jiu’s hand crackled with a surge of electric light, the Thunderbolt Sword attaching itself to it. With one slash, lightning gushed forth, transforming into a dragon-like shape that burrowed into the heart of the black fog. Amidst a crackling flash of electric light, it went straight to Jiang Sheng’s true body, tightly coiling around his form and fiercely pressing him back to the ground!

With a thunderous crash, the black fog and electric light exploded simultaneously, carrying a vast force that swept out in rippling waves. Where the energy passed, all the streetlights on the road instantly dimmed, and the humming of transformers fell silent.

Chen Jiu did not pause. Taking advantage of the gap while the Formless Demon, manipulating Jiang Sheng’s body, struggled to climb back up, she flew forward and swept her sword toward Jiang Sheng’s face. This time the Formless Demon finally realized what kind of person it was facing.

“Are you crazy?! You want his life?!” The Formless Demon rapidly retreated, roaring in question.

Chen Jiu thrust out another sword strike. This time Jiang Sheng did not dodge in time, the electric light illuminating the veins on his neck, the sword tip nearly upon him.

The Formless Demon grinned sinisterly: “I don’t believe it. You can’t make a move.”

“You really cherish this vessel.” Chen Jiu tilted her head slightly, and the sword tip drew a bit closer.

The Formless Demon: “He can’t withstand this sword strike of yours!”

Chen Jiu rebuked: “Jiang Sheng, still not awake! Aren’t you afraid that Yu Yinyin will see you in this ghostly state, and even in the underworld she won’t sleep peacefully?!”

The Formless Demon: “Jiang Sheng, I can bring Yu Yinyin back!”

“There is no Paradise Realm at all, that was a lie the Formless Demon told you! How could it possibly conjure an identical Yu Yinyin for you again!” Chen Jiu shouted: “If you just want to die, why beat around the bush? I can send you to see her right now! Stop deceiving yourself! I’ll give you one last chance!”

Jiang Sheng’s eyes were completely red, tears streaming down his face, his soul dimly crouched in a corner of the bodily shell. For a long time he made no sound.

The Formless Demon was furious: “Jiang Sheng, she is the one deceiving you! A few words and she has you wavering!”

Hearing this, Chen Jiu suddenly burst into mocking laughter: “If his will were not unsteady, how could he have been so easily bewitched by you?”

Just at this moment, the thunder and rain paused for a moment, and the night wind delivered an old photograph of Yu Yinyin. With a slap, it landed squarely on Jiang Sheng’s forehead.

“Of course I hope you live well. You still have to take care of our children.”

The girl looked at him, pointing at a cat and a dog burying their heads in their food bowls, her expression quite matter-of-fact.

She patted Jiang Sheng’s head and said, “Ah Sheng is just too gentle. Someone who wasn’t gentle would have no patience to catch me at all.”

Jiang Sheng clutched this photograph tightly in his palm, unable to catch his breath for a moment. He swayed and knelt to the ground, wailing like a child.

The red light in his eyes retreated without warning, never to return with any force again.

“…” The Formless Demon cursed loudly, finally completely despairing, knowing the situation was lost. It actively detached from this body, transformed into black fog, and prepared to flee eastward.

“Still want to escape?!” Chen Jiu had long been prepared. She flipped her hand and sent out ten ghost-suppressing talismans, sealing off all the Formless Demon’s escape routes. The black fog roared and repeatedly crashed against the layered golden net, but no matter what it could not break through this barrier.

Chen Jiu pulled out a white porcelain bottle, closed her eyes and murmured an incantation. Then her eyes snapped open, a golden light flashed in her pupils, and the black fog let out a desperate howl, being sucked into the white porcelain bottle in despair, its voice completely silenced.

She sealed the white porcelain bottle, wrapped the small bottle body full of yellow talismans, and after ensuring it was absolutely secure, she put away the bottle, sheathed her sword, and slowly descended back to the ground.

Last time it was because of one careless moment that this big monster was allowed to escape. This time she absolutely could not make the same mistake again. After this matter was settled, she would send this bottle to Qinghua Mountain to be refined by her master, another meritorious deed for their little run-down temple.

The wind and rain retreated, and the deep night returned to tranquility. The streetlights rekindled one by one.

Not far away, Jiang Sheng clutched Yu Yinyin’s photograph, crying so hard he was nearly fainting. Exhausted to the extreme, he simply collapsed on the ground, staring blankly at the night sky, opening his mouth to gasp for air.

Chen Jiu sat down beside him and lowered her head to report her recent situation in her sect’s group chat.

She didn’t understand whether her choice this time was right or wrong. She only stood in her own position and preserved the most innocent group of people. A few things Jiang Sheng said when he went mad were actually quite right. No one could experience Yu Yinyin’s pain, and no one could choose forgiveness on her behalf.

“She really… can’t come back anymore…” Jiang Sheng asked in fits and starts while sobbing, clearly still not recovered from his crying.

Chen Jiu clicked her tongue and said, “She’s already returned to dust and dust, earth to earth. Years have passed. She has probably reincarnated by now. Whether she’s a person or a little cat, dog, pig, or chicken in this life isn’t even certain. How could she possibly come back? If that old monster were willing to deceive you, it would probably pull some disgusting little monster out from a crack in the underworld, then point at that thing and lie to you saying it’s Yu Yinyin. Actually you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference at all. If it weren’t willing to deceive you, it would simply burn the bridge after crossing the river, kill the hound after the hare is caught. Would you have any room to resist? How dare you make a deal with it? It’s a demon.”

Jiang Sheng covered his eyes, sobbing: “Stop talking…”

A few months ago, the Formless Demon had failed to successfully bewitch Jiang Hao’s parents, and was instead discovered and severely wounded by Chen Jiu in time. It urgently needed someone with an extremely deep obsession to replenish its energy, so Jiang Sheng became its best nourishment.

After being bewitched, Jiang Sheng willingly became a medium to convey the Formless Demon’s ideology, gathering believers far and wide for it, all so he could be reunited with his girlfriend.

The eyes are the mirror of the soul. Deeply affectionate eyes are the most attractive to others, especially people like Jiang Sheng who are hollow inside, melancholic, and have little attachment to the real world. These are all the best believers for the Formless Demon. It aims to dissolve order, dissolve the meaning of life, living, and existence, dissolve the foundation of life’s birth and existence, and return all things to nothingness.

For the Formless Demon, this is a highly profitable virtuous cycle. The more hollow one becomes, the more energy it absorbs, the more powerful it becomes. The more powerful it becomes, the more it can absorb all kinds of negative, hollow energy.

In the later stages, when the figure in the mirror grows fainter and fainter, fading until one can no longer see their true self, the believers are completely brainwashed and replaced.

The Realm of Nothingness is the Paradise Realm that the Formless Demon desires to achieve.

Chen Jiu finally said: “Yu Yinyin doesn’t want you to live as hard as she did. At least let the only person she ever liked in this world live a little better, right?”

She stood up, simply patted the mud and dust off her clothes and pants, took two steps, then turned back, bent over and handed him a business card for Wan Shi Li Hao.

“See, as a fellow human I didn’t harm you, right? Humans stand on the same side as humans. Don’t believe in those things that are neither human nor ghost. If you need help with anything in the future, you can come find me here.” Chen Jiu said: “Wan Shi Li Hao settles all affairs. Tea is free, everything else is charged. We’ll meet again if fate allows.”

Jiang Sheng held that business card, watching Chen Jiu’s departing figure, speechless for a long time.