"Are you going to let tragedy repeat itself?"
A voice echoed relentlessly in his mind.
"See that long saber at the bottom of the deep valley? Pull it out."
Ren Yuanhao’s eyes suddenly snapped open. He found himself in a cold, deep valley, the voice swirling above him, much like a vulture circling over a tropical rainforest.
"I'm back again."
The chilling environment instantly made him realize he had returned to the illusion of another self.
"Yes, you're back again. See that saber?"
Ren Yuanhao followed the sound. The originally pitch-black valley now emitted waves of faint blue light.
The light screen was like a ghost that lingered after death.
"What is that thing?"
Ren Yuanhao tried to step forward, only to find his feet seemingly bound by a chain. His entire body felt like it was covered in blood, with a twisted, spreading network of crimson veins beneath his feet.
"That is the Heart Blade. Pull it out, and I can help you deal with this blasphemous man."
"No need. I always feel like I'm making a deal with the devil."
"As you wish. I did my utmost to block that darn ultrasonic instrument to pull you into this illusion. Whether you do it or not, it's up to you."
The voice of the other Ren Yuanhao grew increasingly faint, eventually disappearing.
"Heart Blade? My apologies, I can handle it myself."
Ren Yuanhao's eyes suddenly opened, his golden irises as dazzling as the sun!
"Do you know what despair is?"
Ren Yuanhao propped himself up with the Wuji Blade held vertically. As if divinely inspired, three different attribute internal energies surged wildly towards his left hand.
"Despair? Heh, that's a word for the weak. The strong never let themselves fall into despair!"
Liu Yu increased the pulling force again. The blood from the wound on Ren Yuanhao's shoulder immediately turned into a mist of blood.
"Is that so? Then I'll let you, you self-proclaimed strong man, experience what despair is."
Ren Yuanhao spoke with extreme indifference. His aura and demeanor were completely different from before. A power of burning heavens and destroying the earth flowed through his golden pupils.
And it was this power that finally made Liu Yu see a sliver of despair!
"You trample on lives, treating them as worthless as grass. You resort to force for what you can't obtain. Relying on being some damn celebrity, how many women have you ruined? Now, look at the woman behind you. Her eyes are filled with fear. Do you know why? Because you are a monster."
With the sudden channeling of his internal energy, Ren Yuanhao easily broke free from the opponent's ability.
"Monster? That's right. We, the ability users, are monsters in the eyes of ordinary people. It will be a world of monsters in the future. Humans are nothing but livestock, like pigs raised in a farm. Aren't those things meant to be slaughtered! Predation is the most primal desire God has ingrained in our hearts. No one can escape from it unscathed."
Seeing that the opponent was unharmed by his ability and not only showed no fear but appeared even more excited, Liu Yu remarked.
"Have you ever seen a monster overthrow humanity? I fear you're like a blind man mistaking a speck of dust for a mountain." Ren Yuanhao executed an incredibly elegant Moon-Gazing Step, creating numerous afterimages. A voice, as cold as the biting frost that swept through an ice cellar, was heard!
"If you are a monster, then I am the monster that reigns supreme over you!"
Before the words even finished, Liu Yu felt a surge of energy like a violent storm entering his body. This energy, upon entering, transformed into countless sword energies, tearing and ripping from within, until his body was shredded into countless particles of dust!
The entire room trembled violently as if caught in a thunderous storm. The ceiling lights swayed back and forth, and sparks danced and flickered, then vanished.
This was Ren Yuanhao's not-yet-fully-formed San Fen Gui Yuan Qi, terrifyingly potent.
The wind roared, and everything in the room seemed on the verge of annihilation within the howling wind. The entire room, and even the apartment, stopped shaking only after a full half-minute.
"It's... it's alright~"
Ren Yuanhao, like a bloodied man, leaned on his long saber, about to step forward. However, he saw a trace of fear in Zhao Yishu's eyes.
Fear?
Ren Yuanhao's emotions stirred greatly. His breath became heavy, and the stagnant internal energy surged upwards, blocking his throat as if someone were strangling him. He leaned back and fell to the ground with a crash.
...
The next day, when Zhao Yishu, Xiao Yue, and Mu Ziyue woke up, they found themselves in a cold iron cell.
There was a grate above the iron bars, through which sunlight slanted down, bright and glaring. Opposite them were also cold cells, containing nothing but some dry straw, a chain of cold iron, and a simple bed board.
However, the three were only confined within the iron cell and were not restrained by anything, allowing them to move freely.
"What is this place?" Xiao Yue pressed her slightly aching head, the spot where she had been struck by Liu Yu with a club.
Mu Ziyue clutched her chest, and as she took a breath, she could still smell the mold in the air.
"It seems we were caught by the Grey Wolves after all."
"Grey Wolves?" Zhao Yishu looked puzzled. As Mu Ziyue was about to explain, she realized Ren Yuanhao was not locked up with them.
"Where's Brother Bao?"
No sooner had the words fallen than a resonant voice said, "The monster should be locked up in his own cell."
"Who's there?"
As Mu Ziyue spoke, a man in a white robe, holding a long sword, strode over from the other side of the cell.
"Hey, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll cut out your tongue!"
Although Mu Ziyue hadn't been with Ren Yuanhao for very long, she had already truly regarded him as a brother.
During the two nights they shared a room, this man had no ill intentions. Furthermore, she usually kicked off her blankets, but whenever she woke up, the blankets were neatly covering her. It was then she realized that Brother Bao was actually so tired that he hadn't slept at all.
Such a man truly provided her with care akin to that of a blood brother. He even thought of breakfast snacks and, at night, fearing she would be hungry, he specifically came to pick her up to eat hot pot.
In short, she had come to treat Ren Yuanhao like a real brother. He had promised to save her sister, and she believed him unconditionally.
That was enough.
"Hmph, locked in a cage, let's see how tough you can be." The man flicked his sleeve to leave but was called back by Xiao Yue.
"Ren, no, how is Qin Bao? We just want to know his physical condition."
"He won't die. Just keeping him alive is enough."
"What do you mean by 'keeping him alive'? If you dare to harm him, I, I'll..." Mu Ziyue couldn't help but burst into tears here, her cries mournful and somewhat grating to the ears.
The man covered his ears and said, "Enough, enough, stop your wailing. It's those Grey Wolves who want to kill him, not us, okay?"