The sky was red, and the ground was filled with the bodies of countless cultivators. A young man stood atop a mountain of these fallen, his saber stained with blood, waving it with relentless fury while holding a body in his other hand. He knelt down on one leg, struck the saber into the ground, and held it while still clutching the body. He then looked at his surroundings. Surrounding him were cultivators of various paths—Dao, Devil, Buddha, and even monstrous cultivators. Many of them dared not to stop him, even some with high cultivation.
Seeing that he had nowhere to run, he felt scared. However, he knew that even if he could escape, he would die soon because his lifespan was already at its end due to using forbidden techniques. He tried to stand up with his remaining strength. Unable to stand any longer, he spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
Looking at him, a middle-aged man with a white sword, seemingly his master, sighed with sadness and said, "Xiao Yuan, stop! It's enough. It's time to end this."
Upon hearing this, the young man trembled slightly, though he quickly concealed it. He turned back to the middle-aged man with a cold laugh. "Haha, what are you saying? Can you repeat that? I can't believe you'd try to persuade me to stop in such a situation. What a joke!" the young man shouted with sorrow and anger.
"Dare to speak to the master like this, you traitor? Haven't you surrendered yet? Huh, you damn….." yelled a man in a red robe without finishing his head land on the ground. Seeing this, the people stepped backward and felt the danger of him. An old man who might be an elder suddenly looked to the middle-aged man and said, "Is that your disciple who will be the next sect master? Look now at what a beast you raised. I already stopped you from teaching him forbidden techniques, and yet you stubbornly taught him even your secret techniques. Now how will you handle it?"
The young man was named Li Yuan, a prodigy who reached the peak of the void-breaking realm at only 20 years old and mastered the saber dao to its pinnacle. Alone with his saber intents, he could be unrivaled below tribulation stage experts. He could even fight with tribulation stage cultivators with normal strength. If nothing happened, he would become the next leader of the righteous sect. However, since the day he fell in love with a demon, he began to cultivate demonic techniques. And in his quest for revenge against the girl he loved—a demon whom the entire world sought to kill—he even betrayed his sect.
At that moment, the ground began to shake, and the sky grew even redder. The young man glanced up at the sky, stowed the body in his space ring, and muttered in a low voice, "Well, the formation of the Four Fiends' Wrath is about to reach its end. It seems that I have to use the final card. Yue Qian, it seems like we will meet soon."
Struggling to stand up, he formed a hand sign and began to absorb the death qi around him, storing it inside his body. The act of absorbing the death qi made him recover some strength but worsened his wounds, and his lifespan was now only a few hours. As he continued these desperate measures, the surrounding cultivators prepared to fight back.
Once he felt he had absorbed enough qi, he stopped and retrieved a strange box made of an unknown cold metal, emitting a murderous aura. Opening the box, an extremely dark guqin appeared. Instantly, the surrounding plants withered, the ground turned to dead soil, and water became blood.
A group of cultivators suddenly exclaimed, "The Demonic Guqin!"
"Isn't that the weapon of the demonic girl? Why does he have it?" questioned some of the cultivators, their confusion evident.
"Stop him! Don't let him do that!" shouted the old man, who seemed to know something about it.
Hearing his urgent plea, some hot-blooded young cultivators attempted to dash forward to kill him, but they found themselves unable to step further once they reached the edge of the aura.
"What a strong murderous aura! We can't even pass through," remarked one of the cultivators, frustration evident in his voice.
"This is not a normal murderous aura. It's mixed with hatred," another observed.
"Retreat now! Don't dash forward! It's too late," warned the man with high cultivation, his voice grave.
"I hope our ancestors can stop this. Otherwise, humanity will suffer huge damage, just like 1000 years ago," sighed another, his tone heavy with concern.
"What a pity. Such a young prodigy. Damn the demon! If she hadn't seduced him, a genius like him would not have fallen into this stage," lamented another cultivator.
At a further mountain, a teenage girl with a calm expression, her grip tight on a cyan sword, watched the scene unfold before her. As she witnessed him absorbing the death qi, her heart clenched with a mixture of sorrow and longing. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice trembled as she looked up at the sky, addressing the one she had lost.
"Yue Qian, why is it always you? What did you have that I don't? What did you do to deserve his love? in what way am I not able to compare with you? Appearance, cultivation, background? I am better than you in all aspects. Why can't I win his heart? Why did he choose you? Now he even risks his life and defies everyone for revenge on you. Why, why?" Her voice cracked with each word, the bitterness of jealousy seeping through her despair. The weight of unrequited love and envy bore down on her, suffocating her with its intensity. With a heart heavy with pain, jealousy, and longing, she turned around and left, her steps heavy with the burden of unspoken anguish.
Seeing the demonic guqin, the middle-aged man anxiously yelled, his voice carrying the weight of desperation and concern. He knew all too well the dark path Li Yuan was about to tread. "Xiao Yuan, don't do this. You don't have to do this. You can still turn back!"
Hearing his master's plea, Li Yuan turned to him, his eyes ablaze with determination and bitterness. "Turn back, huh? I've never considered turning back since the day she died. At that time, even when I begged you to save her, where were you? You refused to help her just because she was a demon," he said, his voice laced with a bitter edge. Then, he turned his gaze to the other cultivators gathered there. "Even though she was a demon, did she harm anyone? Did she commit evil deeds? Did she bring destruction upon us? You self-righteous fools just want to kill her because of what she is. What a righteous path!! Now feel my wrath!"
Breaking the seal of the guqin, more murderous qi surged out from it. Black demonic qi enveloped him as he transformed into his demon form. Sitting down with the guqin before him, he laughed foolishly. "Hahaha! Today I, Li Yuan, declare to all of you damned beings that for her sake, I will make a sacrifice by burying all of you."
As he prepared to play the guqin, a void cracked open, and three figures emerged.
"How dare a young man say such big words with just the Void Breaking realm? Umm Four Fiends' Wrath Formation? No, a weak one," exclaimed the old man in a white robe, his voice dripping with disdain as he swung his sword to destroy the formation. The impact caused Li Yuan to spit out a mouthful of blood.
"Whoa! Finally, I've found someone just like me. Ah, it's such a pity that you have to die," lamented the huge half-dragon man with a sense of pity, his eyes glinting with a strange mixture of admiration and regret.
"Amitabha. Young man, don't be reckless. There are so many innocent lives at stake," said the monk sitting serenely on a seven-color lotus, his voice calm and filled with compassion.
Undeterred, Li Yuan played the first note with the demonic guqin, and a wave of demonic qi surged out.
"Ancestors arrived we can win now. Charge! Kill him!!" exclaimed the cultivators from various paths excitedly as they charged at him restlessly.
"Come, all of you come. Today, I will let you all taste my demonic music. Yue Qian, I will play this song as a requiem. Listen carefully," Li Yuan closed his eyes and said with sadness.
Despite their efforts, the cultivators couldn't overcome the musical qi of the Demonic Guqin.
Witnessing the chaos, the old man in the white robe, the dragon man, and the monk knew they had to intervene. "Looks like we have to handle this thing just like back then," they said to each other before unleashing their trump cards without holding back.
"Sword of Killing Demons!"
"Dragon's Wrath!"
"Bodhi Purification!"
"Huh, you old men. Do you think you can stop the Demonic Guqin with such weak skills? Dream on!"
"Eternal Blood Moon!" As Li Yuan started to play the music, he felt his remaining qi and life sources being drained by the Guqin. Despite the pain and exhaustion, he stubbornly continued to play. A huge wave of musical qi mixed with demonic and murderous qi surged out from the guqin, causing destruction to everything in its path.
The ground trembled violently as the wave of energy swept through, tearing apart buildings and uprooting trees. Cultivators from various paths struggled to withstand the onslaught, their attacks dissipating in the face of the overwhelming power of the demonic music.
In the chaos, the old man in the white robe, the dragon man, and the monk realized the gravity of the situation. They redoubled their efforts, pouring their own spiritual energy into their attacks in a desperate attempt to counter the destructive force unleashed by Li Yuan and the Demonic Guqin.
Despite the immense power of the opposing forces, Li Yuan's resolve remained unyielding. His eyes blazed with determination as he continued to pour his heart and soul into the music, each note resonating with his undying love and unwavering loyalty to Yue Qian.
"Yue Qian, I know this music will devour everything, but I am willing to do it because... I LOVE YOU!" Li Yuan's voice echoed amidst the chaos, his declaration of love carrying through the tumultuous clash of energies.
With a determined smile on his face, he looked up at the charging cultivators, his eyes filled with a childlike innocence amidst the chaos. "Yue Qian, we can finally be together," he exclaimed, his voice tinged with both longing and hope.
Seeing his final smile, the middle-aged man with the white sword, his master, suddenly yelled with regret, "No...." His voice was filled with sorrow and despair, realizing the irreversible path his disciple had chosen.
As the collision of skills and musical qi reached its climax, a deafening explosion reverberated through the air, shaking the very foundation of the world. The earth trembled, and the skies roared with the sheer magnitude of the clash.
Cling, cling, cling...
"Hey, sleepyhead, get up. It's time for lunch," said the fat boy in strange clothes.
"Ugh, what are these dreams? Why does my head hurt…" The young man's words trailed off, unfinished, then he passed.