--- [POV – Yan Yin] ---
'Where am I? This place is dark and lifeless. Wait, master said we would be facing off against our heart demons after consuming that herb so this must be the trial location within my heart.
Master! His kindness knows know bounds giving a lowly maid such as myself such a precious opportunity.'
She was lost in fantasies about Chang and her eyes contained unrivalled love. She got lost in her thoughts and didn't notice the figure appear in front of her.
"You are nothing but a lowly pitiful maid. You think you are worthy of master's love and affection. Remember you place."
She got shocked out of her thoughts and quickly attacked the voice speaking to her. Her sword slashed forward trying to slice the shadowy figure. *Clang* A shadowy sword mirroring her own emerged from the shadow cloaked individual striking her own sword.
"What! Who are you?"
"Who am I? The better question is who are you?"
The shadowy sword thrusted forward passing by her own sword and before she could react the sword had pierced her shoulder. She quickly retreated, bracing the pain of the sword being forcefully pulled out during her retreat.
The shadowy figure slowly started to become more visible with the shadows leaving the figure and returning to the eternal nothingness around them. Ragged clothes, a dirty rusted sword, messy silver hair with clumps of dirt and a face mirroring her own.
'What! Why does she look like me? Is this my heart demon? No, it couldn't be. Why would I be my own heart demon?'
Yin was speechless trying to comprehend how another her appeared in front of her. "You asked who I am, well I am you. The real you, not the fake you, that you pretend to be. I am the you deep within your heart. The you with nothing and no one, just a street orphan not worthy of being near master's side."
Her eyes lit up in anger. "Master doesn't judge people based on their background, he is benevolent and kind allowing even someone like me a chance to be near him."
"Master is indeed benevolent and kind but a ragged street orphan still doesn't have the right to be near his side. The hardships he had to endure for his decision that day fall on you. Stop lying to yourself, thinking you have a place at his side.
You are still an orphan with nothing to their name other than what he gave you."
Her mind was in a state of panic, struggling to think of anything as a comeback. The heart demon came flying forwards thrusting the rusted sword once again, aiming for her throat. She just barely managed to rase her sword in time to block it but was still sent flying back.
She quickly had to get up off the floor as another attack was incoming. *Clang* *Clang* The swords kept colliding with Yin struggling to keep up with the heart demons' ferocious attacks.
Each of the heart demons' attacks contained unbridled emotions showing the resolve of the words she just said. Yin's attacks however were going ever softer with less and less lustre to them as her emotions stated getting over whelmed.
In her moment of weakness, the heart demon struck. "Think of master and all the hardships he endured for you. He is now on a journey to get stronger while you are content just being near his side. Pathetic.
You are weak and have nothing to help him in his journey. He will be forced to protect you due to his kindness which could cause him to be killed."
An illusion started forming in front of her as the demon said these words. She closed her eyes due to the bright light and opened them to see a different scenery.
In front of her was an army of cultivators fighting against a single man. Her heart shook at the sight of the man. It was Fen Chang bloodied and battered with most of his clothes ripped showing the horrendous wounds littering his body.
She wanted to call out to him but couldn't as she felt something covering her mouth. She moved to look behind her but couldn't as she felt something cold and sharp pressed against her neck.
A voice whispered into her ear. "You see this. This is you beloved husband about to be killed. The reason you ask, well he is strong. Too strong to be left alive.
We must thank you. If not for him having such a weakness like yourself then we would never have been able to lure him into this situation. His ability to get out of situations is top notch but he can't run when his women's life is on the line.
He may be a genius that could have dominated the era but his stupidity of falling for such a weak and low born woman was the worst mistake he ever made."
Her eyes started tearing as she tried to call out to him for help. She was powerless against the person restraining her but her pleas for help where quickly drowned out by sadness as she saw him getting stabbed more and more.
He turned around and looked her dead in the eyes. Her heart shook looking at the love present in his eyes. A sword burst through his chest, piercing his heart. She tried to scream, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She watched as his body fell lifelessly onto the floor. The tears stopped and her eyes became dull. She thoughts of her captures words and hate started flaring within her mind. Nor hate for the people that killed him, hatred against herself for being so weak and causing his death.
A white light once again appeared in front of her and she had to close her eyes. She opened them to appear back in the dark world. She saw the heart demon smiling crazily at her.
She knew it was the demon's scheme but she couldn't find the will to retort and defend herself. Her thoughts started changing. 'Am I really not worthy of master? Of course, I'm not. I am weak with no background; I would only cause master pain and suffering being around him.
Master is so kind yet I am so greedy as to wish to be by his side without even thinking of master. How would master ever love someone so greedy and weak.'
The heart demon came in front of her and lifted up her head to look her in the eyes. "Yes, that's right. We are not worthy of being near master. We are greedy, wanting to prioritize our love for master over master himself. We should leave, leave so he doesn't have to bear the burden of caring for us, loving us."
She wanted to retort but her heart was edging her to agree, to leave and prevent her master from suffering for her sake. The demon kept on edging her to agree.
She was about to say yes, before she remembered the look in his eyes while within the illusion. Love and regret. She at first assumed it was regret for loving her but when she thought about it, why would he have regret loving her if he had love in his eyes.
Her heart trembled and her eyes started tearing up again remembering the memory. Before he died his lips moved to speak something. She looks at the lips movement and is able to make out what he is saying. "Live!"
Her heart steadied as she cautiously stared up at the heart demon. She grabbed her sword and slashed forward. The heart demon backed up and started cursing how she manged to break free of its influence.
"Why? Why are you resisting? Do you still think you are worthy of being near master's side? We are nothing compared to him, we should just leave like the speck of dust we are and not weigh him down."
Yan Yin didn't listen and rushed forward with water encircling her as the swords started colliding. "Why fight. We are one. I am you and you are me. I am what's deep inside you heart, your true feelings."
Her eyes showed resolve as she retorted this time. "You may be what's inside my heart, but you are only a small part of those feelings. You are only the negative feelings leaving out the positive ones. Hearts change, and the negative feelings I have within me are being outweighed by the positive ones I have.
The kindness master showed me when he took me in, the benevolence he has towards others, his ruthlessness against those who harm people close to him and the warmth of his touch against my skin.
It may be greedy but I never want to lose those feelings."
"That greed will cause masters death. You are too weak to hope to be greedy"
"Your right I am weak, but I can be strong. Master has shown me that anyone can be strong so long as the effort is put in. The talentless orphans he took in now cultivating and beating those ahead of their level and even master himself who was previously bedridden and had no cultivation is now a peerless genius.
I remember the words master spoke to me on the first of out special nights. 'You may be a street orphan but your background doesn't limit your talents, your mind does. If you want to be strong then get strong, otherwise be content with being weak.'
I may be weak now but I will train and get strong. Strong enough to be proud to be at master's side. Strong enough to prevent him ever having to sacrifice his life for mine."
The heart demons' eyes turned red and it blindly charged forward. It felt its existence threatened by those words. When the core of a heart demons feelings come from are overcome its power reduces and it eventually fades out of existence.
Unless it can defeat and kill the current mind of the person, then it can take over and continue living. The two where evenly matched, with the heart demon being a mirror of Yan Yin, they shared the same moves and experience.
The demons power unfortunately kept dwindling and eventually the deciding strike was made. Yan Yins sword managed to cleave the broken and rusted sword in half before thrusting forward piercing the demon's heart.
The demon shattered and wails of ghastly voices came screeching out. Ghostly faces of those she killed appeared and started to screech out in anger and regret. There were not that many, with there only being near a hundred. To a normal person 100 people killed is a lot but to cultivators that fight for their life most days, it's a small amount.
The killing intent from those 100 people however is something Yan Yin could barely stand. The killing intent from the vengeful souls of those she killed attacked her, causing her already exhausted mind to waver as she struggled to get a grip.
She didn't know what to do, she could barely resist the intense feelings being directed towards her. She tried her hardest to resist using all she could do, even using her immortal technique to try and hold them back.
In an instant she felt a sense of nothingness and her eyes turned light blue. The feeling lasted no more than a second. A burst of water surged our of her body crushing the wailing souls beneath a giant wave. Then stillness. The surging water became deadly still, with the black place having a thin layer of perfectly still water.
She had unconsciously reached the second level of her immortal technique, Amphitrite's Reconning. Tranquil waters, the stage where she can turn water under her control to be perfectly still, nullifying opponents attacks while allowing her to glide across the surface, unhindered by the water.
She started feeling a little dizzy and closed her eyes, the next second she felt exhausted and opened her eyes after the dizziness was gone. She looked around and found herself in the room she used to enter her trial. In front of her was Chang looking at her with a happy smile.
She wobblily got up and pounced at him. Different to her normal professional way of doing things she was a lot more emotional as she cried a little in his embrace.
Since she had now come to terms with her greed, she refused to let go of him, allowing herself to enjoy a pleasure for herself. She eventually started to move her hips while she way sitting on his laps while facing his chest. Grinding her ass against the growing tent.
The two left the room while the others where in their trial so that Yan Yin could drown herself in her greedy pleasures. She didn't last long however as her mind was already quite exhausted, and he swiftly returned to keep an eye on the other girls after making sure she was asleep.