They descended into the dimly lit basement, the air thick with the damp, musty scent of decay.
At the center of the room, a man was tied to a chair. His black hair was matted with sweat, and his face, though unremarkable, bore a deep expression of desperation.
A blindfold covered his eyes, and a cloth gag stifled his cries.But there was no mistaking him.
It was Shang Fei.
The echo of boots against the cement floor reverberated through the space like an ominous drumbeat.
The man squirmed in his bonds, twisting like a cornered animal as he tried to free himself.
Yan Ran stepped forward, her expression unreadable. With one sharp motion, she yanked off the blindfold and the gag.
Shang Fei gasped for air, his chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath. "Why are you doing this?" he rasped, his voice shaky and hoarse. "What do you want from me? Is it money? I-I can give you that! Just… please, let me go."
Yan Ran grabbed a fistful of his hair and forced him to look into her cold, unforgiving eyes. "Money?" she sneered.
"You think this is about money? What a joke, Shang Fei." Without warning, she slapped him hard across the face, the sound ringing out like a gunshot.
Her voice turned icy, laced with venom. "How dare you pretend to be my brother?" She struck him again. "How dare you deceive me?" Another slap. "Do you have any idea what I went through when you stole my elemental origin?"
Shang Fei's eyes filled with tears as he shook his head frantically. "I don't know what you're talking about!" he pleaded. "I never pretended to be your brother! I don't even know what an elemental origin is! You've got the wrong person—I swear! My name is Chun Yi! Please, you have to believe me!"
For a moment, Yan Ran hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing her face. But before she could speak, Fei Ran stepped forward, she said in sharp tone. "Don't listen to him! How many times has he lied to us before? If he hadn't come into our lives, we might not have become immortal empresses—but we could've been happy. Don't let him manipulate you again."
"What the hell are you even talking about?!" Shang Fei roared, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face. "I've told you—I'm not the man you're looking for!"
Fei Ran's patience snapped. With a swift kick, she sent the chair crashing to the ground. Shang Fei groaned as he hit the cold floor, but Fei Ran wasn't done. "Still pretending?" she spat. "You're a natural-born liar, aren't you?"
She turned to Yan Ran. "Let's kill him now. The longer we wait, the more chances he has to escape. We'll only regret it if he pulls another trick."
Yan Ran nodded, but instead of drawing a weapon, she bent down and began untying Shang Fei's bonds.
"What are you doing?" Fei Ran asked, her tone confused and wary.
Yan Ran's lips curled into a sinister smile. "Do you think I'd let him go without making him pay? He pretended to be my brother. He betrayed me. And in our past life, he killed me. How could I let him off so easily?"
Without waiting for a response, Yan Ran slammed her heel into Shang Fei's hand. He cried out in pain, but she didn't stop. She kicked him in the head, then stomped on his hand again and again.
"Please!" Shang Fei sobbed. "Stop! I beg you—please, someone, save me!"
"Enough!" Fei Ran shouted, unable to watch any longer.
Yan Ran's gaze snapped to her sister, cold and unyielding. "You want to stop me?"
Fei Ran flinched under her glare and muttered weakly, "I… I just can't bear to see him suffer. In our past life, I loved him. And love doesn't turn into hatred—not real love. What I felt for him wasn't obsession that would turn into hatred when betrayed what I felt was love and It was real."
"Love?" Yan Ran laughed bitterly. "They say the deeper the love, the deeper the hate. If that's true, then your love was flawed. Now move aside. My time is limited."
Fei Ran hesitated but stepped back. She watched helplessly as Yan Ran resumed her brutal assault. Shang Fei's screams gradually faded until he fell unconscious. Yan Ran splashed cold water on his face, forcing him awake again.
Shang Fei's eyelids fluttered open. His voice was barely above a whisper as he croaked, "P-please… just k-kill me…"
Yan Ran crouched beside him, her expression as frigid as winter. "As you wish," she said softly. But before twisting his neck, she murmured, "I know you don't understand why you're dying. You'll never know your crime. But remember this: you died because of the grudge I bear against you."
With that, she twisted his neck with brutal precision. Shang Fei's lifeless body slumped in the chair, his eyes staring blankly at nothing.
Fei Ran turned away, her voice trembling. "You didn't have to torture him so much…"
"I don't care," Yan Ran replied coldly.
"What if he was innocent?" Fei Ran asked, her voice barely audible. "What if he really didn't do any of the things we accused him of? What if we could've changed him?"
"And what if he reincarnates, just like we did?" Yan Ran shot back. "Do you want to live in fear of him finding us again? You know why he kept us close. We were tools to him, nothing more. Tools to aid his cultivation. If Li Huo hadn't killed him back then, imagine what would have happened.
She questioned, but instead of waiting for an answer from Fei Ran, she answered her own query, her voice thick with the weight of her thoughts.
"Our fate would've been worse than death," she continued, her gaze distant as if she could already see the grim future. "Even though we died, think about it—what if we had survived? What would have become of us without cultivation? Do you think the cultivators in the Immortal World would show us any mercy? No," she scoffed, a bitter edge in her tone. "They would have hunted us like starving jackals.
Fei Ran said nothing, only nodding weakly.
"Come on," Yan Ran said changing the topic of the conversation . "Let's get out of here."
As they left the basement, Fei Ran hesitated and glanced back at the door.
"What's wrong?" Yan Ran asked.
"Nothing," Fei Ran replied, shaking her head. "It's probably just my imagination."
"She followed Yan Ran into the car, and they quietly drove off."
Meanwhile, back in the basement, a figure stepped out of the shadows.
Li Huo.
Li Huo exhaled sharply , a cloud of cold air escaped his lips as he rummaged his hand through his hair. "That was close…"
["You nearly blew your cover,"] the system remarked in his head.
Li Huo ignored it, his gaze falling on Shang Fei's lifeless body. After a long moment of silence, he muttered, "I didn't think I'd witness something like this."
He sighed again . "What a mess..."