Ye Cang moved even quicker than anyone in the immortal realm had thought. After getting rid of the seal, it hadn't been a month before he returned to the demon realm and led the entire realm's demon soldiers to burn their paths of retreat. They forced their way into the immortal realm as if they did not care about dying, and surrounded the entire heavenly palace.
The people of the immortal realm were terrified. They weren't scared of going against the demon soldiers of the demon realm, but no one dared rush up against Ye Cang and could only hide behind the array and fret.
But soon, everyone became even more worried, and each began feeling anxious because Ye Cang would kidnap someone every day at the entrance of the array.
For those who knew of the events of that year, they all recognised that the ones kidnapped were none other than those who had participated in sealing Ye Cang, and they were guarded by his demon beast, Taotie.
Although that Taotie was a demon beast, there was a common saying that a spiritual beast would resemble its master. Its temper was like Ye Cang's, extremely brash.
It revealed its sharp teeth and slowly tasted those immortals' flesh while roaring at the array, frightening all those of the immortal realm into growing tufts of white hair.
And while the people of the immortal realm fretted and grew anxious, Yin Li was exceptionally calm, completely unconcerned with the situation outside the array. What he wanted was not for the array to truly be impenetrable. He just needed to delay for some time. After waiting for over three thousand years, he definitely would not permit any failure.
Gu Bai did not know any of this, and he could only guess from the worried faces of his surrounding servants.
In fact, he had also started to worry. Yin Li was even more unhinged than he imagined. He could sense that the other would completely be ruthless if he wanted to do something. This sort of mental case was the scariest.
Furthermore, Ye Cang was right outside the array, yet he was unable to meet him at all. This sensation of helplessness made him incredibly disturbed. He was really scared, afraid that some accident would occur.
Time passed very quickly. On the third day since Ye Cang led men into besieging the immortal realm, Yin Li finally began making his move.
"What do you want to do?"
Gu Bai was forced onto the altar of the immortal realm. Yin Li stood beside him, and a few imperial bodyguards were escorting a trussed up Lu Yaoji near him. She was the palace maid-dressed woman who had previously howled at him in hatred.
And all the people of the immortal realm were kneeling with fear and trepidation before the altar. Gazing at Yin Li's expressionless face, they wanted to speak, yet did not dare make a sound.
Ye Cang and the demon realm were previously completely isolated outside. Even if they could sense people moving in the array, they were unable to know and could only spare no effort in attacking the array.
Yin Li did not speak. Turning back to give everyone a sharp look, he indicated for them to lower their heads. Then he slowly took off Gu Bai's clothes, took out a golden brush, and began drawing a mysterious rune on his body. It was very obvious that he was casting a spell.
When the rune was completed, Gu Bai could clearly feel as if his spirit was bound by something. Then, he saw Yin Li take out an engraved jade puppet and indicated for the ones restraining Lu Yaoji to bring her over.
Gu Bai did not know what he wanted to do, but he instinctively felt afraid. At the side, when Lu Yaoji was brought over and saw his movements, she began shaking her head in alarm.
"No, no, Yin Li, you cannot do this! You cannot treat me like this!"
"Bring her over…"
Yin Li did not even lift his eyes as he took out a dagger from his space ring. Clearly, he had a handsome high immortal's appearance, yet he resembled a merciless devil.
The imperial bodyguards obeyed him and brought her over. Lu Yaoji struggled wildly, staring at the dagger in Yin Li's hand as the fear in her face grew. She repeatedly shook her head, but Yin Li had no intentions of letting her off.
Gu Bai also felt his heart chill when seeing the expressionless Yin LI. Though he did not have his past memories, ever since he reached the immortal realm and discovered that Yin Li was not simple or a good person, he had always been gentle. This cold and detached appearance gave Gu Bai an indescribable fear.
The array's defense began weakening upon receiving Ye Cang's and the demon clan's attacks from the outside. Everyone's hearts were practically in their throats, yet Yin Li was indifferent and still focused on the matter before him.
Grasping the dagger, he walked towards Lu Yaoji step by step. Lu Yaoji looked incredibly pale as she fiercely shook her head. Meeting Yin Li's ice-cold gaze, she trembled and finally could not help but beg in fear.
"Yin Li, you can't kill me. If you kill me, he will also die. He is not a being of the six worlds. Who knows whether or not the nirvana method will end up succeeding. Yin Li, you cannot treat me like this; you can't, wuwu…"
"Senior Yi, you and I were once disciples of the same teacher. Why are you this heartless to me? Isn't he just a puppet? If he didn't exist, you and I would have long become dao companions and married. Senior Yi, you can't kill me because of him. This isn't my fault, it's him, he's the one who fell for a demon. Since ancient times, immortals and demons couldn't tolerate each other, so he deserves to die! Senior…"
Lu Yaoji wept and yelled, her disheveled hair and clothes appearing especially awful and pitiful.
But Yin Li's gaze was still just cold. He looked at Lu Yaoji as if what he was looking at was not a person but an object which could be thrown away at any time, his voice steady and lacking emotion.
"Without him, you and I are just strangers. You should be very clear as to how heartless sword cultivators cultivate, and what taking responsibility means…"
"No, it can't be like this! Then why do you still love him?!" Lu Yaoji was unable to accept this.
Yin Li did not speak, because even he did not know the answer to this question.
He was this unhesitant when she was begging for forgiveness like this. Lu Yaoji slowly stopped crying and stared into Yin Li's eyes with resentment.
"Yin Li, you're so cruel. You actually want to treat me like this! I won't let you have your way. So what if he survives and returns? If I die, I can still enter the reincarnation cycle. If he dies, he'll just scatter into ashes. I want you to never be able to obtain him!"
With that, Lu Yaoji struggled out of the ropes with all her might and rushed straight toward Yin Li. Her chest abruptly slammed into the dagger in his hand, and then she grabbed the dagger and dug out her heart, which was ablaze with a red flame.
The instant Yin Li saw that heart, he reached out to grab it, but Lu Yaoji was even quicker. She risked it all and endured the danger of his attack to firmly grasp her heart in her hand, then gathered all her magic to ruthlessly clench her fist.
In a split second, the burning red heart turned into dust.
"Baigu!"
"No!"
Yin Li and Ye Cang, who had just broken in, simultaneously roared out. Along with the shattering of the heart, the sunny and bright sky also instantly turned cloudy.
"AH——"
On the altar, Gu Bai howled in pain. The instant the heart shattered, he only felt an intense pain in his chest that he had never experienced before.
The rune restriction on his body also shook apart in the wake of Gu Bai's wail, and a stream of red light suddenly appeared from the dark skies and shone upon Gu Bai's body, pulling him into midair.
The dense red light wrapped around him and formed an enormous protective film, causing no one to even be able to get close.
"Look, what's that?"
Someone cried out in surprise and watched as fragments of the heart that Lu Yaoji had crushed to pieces suddenly gathered together. Then, as if being absorbed, they flew towards the red glowing pillar bit by bit and drilled into the spot between Gu Bai's brows.
When Yin Li saw this, he seemed to have instantly understood something. He took a step back, his face turning pale…
Inside the red glowing ball, the pain in Gu Bai's chest slowly lessened. It was accompanied by a gentle force that entered the spot between his brows bit by bit, and slowly filled the area in his mind that had always been empty.
Countless familiar scenes flashed by in his mind like a fast-forwarding film. Gu Bai closed his eyes and, as those images entered his mind, his expression began changing. When the final scene disappeared, a sparkling teardrop slid down the corner of his eye…
Ever since he became a spirit and began doing tasks, he rarely thought about his life because the short twenty plus years of his memories were extremely dull and colorless.
Since he was young, he was unlike other people. His emotions were so cold that it was to an unimaginable degree.
Not only the friends around him, but even the elder who had taken care of him as he grew up had said he was ill, that he was a person without a heart. Because he had never felt sad for someone, felt happy for someone, cried for someone, or even liked someone.
He had also doubted himself countless times in the past. He also never understood why, even though he later loved Ye Cang, his so-called heartbeat was in fact only the sensation of his spirit trembling. In place of his heart, there had always been ice-cold emptiness all along.
Now, he knew…
Gu Bai slowly opened his eyes. With both hands forming a seal, a set of red embroidered clothes appeared out of nowhere and was put on him in the blink of an eye. The red glowing ball surrounding him slowly disappeared, and it slowly transformed into a mysterious rune imprint between his brows.
At the same time, countless thickly dotted and hard-to-count black figures suddenly appeared in the sky. They then turned into empty-eyed puppets one after another, surrounding everyone.
Everyone stared at him and held their breaths as he slowly descended from midair.
Even if he still looked like Gu Bai, the mark on his glabella and the densely packed puppets' sudden appearance made those present clearly understand one fact, that is—the genuine Yin Baigu had returned!
"Im-impossible. H-how can you st-still be alive…"
Lu Yaoji's expression could no longer be described as pale and alarmed. Disbelief, disbelief filled her eyes, and even the painful wounds on her body could no longer be felt.
On the silent altar, her voice extremely stood out. Gu Bai slowly turned his head and looked at her. It took a good while before a faint smile appeared on his face, and his voice sounded extremely cheerful.
"Nothing is impossible. My birth was an accident in this world. Lu Yaoji, you truly did not disappoint me…"
It was just a simple sentence, but Lu Yaoji had figured out the entire matter. She looked at the smiling Gu Bai before him, her body feeling like it was pressured by a boulder of several kilograms as she laid limp on the ground. She dazedly shook her head and repeatedly whispered, "No…"
Yin Li stood at the side, staring at Gu Bai, and was unable to say a single sentence. He couldn't even breathe for a long time, standing there like a statue.
It was only when Gu Bai walked in front of him that he slowly and hoarsely voiced, "You've… long foreseen…."
"Correct… Reality has proven that I've won my gamble in this game of chess."
Gu Bai stared at him, his expression indifferent.