The two fighting inside Mo Yuluo’s consciousness weren’t dummies, so they could immediately sense a presence outside the body, especially since Gu Suihan did nothing to conceal himself.
The glow around Mo Yuluo’s soul was incredibly dim, but thankfully this was her consciousness, so she still held an advantage over her opponent. Yun Lianyi was a formidable cultivator, but she only had a portion of herself inside Mo Yuluo. On top of that, this partial soul was only half the size it had started out as.
When Yun Lianyi tried to take over Mo Yuluo the last time, Mo Yuluo fought back in desperation and dealt Yun Lianyi quite the blow. Yun Lianyi had been taken by surprise and lost some strength, so she was now no more powerful than Mo Yuluo.
“Let’s stop here,” said Yun Lianyi as she pulled back first.
“Fine by me.” Mo Yuluo nodded. She took control of her body back and let her consciousness resurface.
Her long lashes fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes. She hid her right hand behind her back as it made a hand seal, ready to attack anytime. When she saw who it was, she blinked in surprise and asked, “It’s you. Why are you here?”
“I just happened to pass by.” Gu Suihan pushed the teacup on her side closer to her and shrugged as he said in a relaxed voice, “I was just walking around aimlessly and happened to notice you.”
“You just happened to pass by?” Mo Yuluo glanced suspiciously at Gu Suihan’s earnest expression and didn’t quite believe him. It was more likely that he had especially sought her out to attack her in some way.
“What do you want?” Mo Yuluo’s breathing was weak, and she couldn’t hide her terribly pale face. She didn’t want to have anything to do with Gu Suihan at this point in time. Not especially when she had no idea if Gu Suihan was on her side or on Yun Lianyi’s side. Or perhaps he was just going to sit and watch them fight.
“I’m here to watch a good show and to negotiate a deal.” Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow as he scanned Mo Yuluo’s concerningly pale face with a mocking smile on his face. His well-defined features seemed to exude a mysterious air.
“A deal?” Mo Yuluo frowned slightly. She felt some repulsion when she heard Gu Suihan use such business-like terms.
“I’ll talk to whichever one of you wins.” Gu Suihan waved his hand to show that he wasn’t interested in picking up the spoils from their fight.
“I don’t believe you,” said Mo Yuluo flatly. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Gu Suihan’s gleaming eyes with that strange symbol in his pupils.
“It’s not up to you. Whether you believe me or not has nothing to do with me,” said Gu Suihan as he blew on his tea and didn’t even bother looking at her.
“Why, you!” Mo Yuluo’s eyes bulged angrily as her teeth chattered. She looked like a kitten who wanted to bite someone.
“You’re right. Since you’ve already discovered what’s really happening, then you get to call the shots. This body’s level of cultivation is not your match at all,” a gentle and mature voice suddenly came out of Mo Yuluo’s mouth. An equally mature and sensible aura emanated from her body as though she were an authoritative, classy, elegant, and lofty queen.
“Gu Suihan greets the Peak Leader,” said Gu Suihan flippantly as he glanced at the woman who had suddenly changed expression and aura.
“In that case, then…ARGH! How despicable!” shouted Mo Yuluo out of the blue with a nasty look on her face.
She had clearly been attacked by Mo Yuluo again.
“Why even bother?” remarked Gu Suihan with a tinge of schadenfreude. The left hand he had hidden in his sleeve had already silently turned as black as ink.
“Three Fingers of Yama – Worldly Passions!” He raised his hand and pointed a finger at Mo Yuluo. It landed lightly on Mo Yuluo’s fair and smooth forehead, so silently and so gently, as though a breeze just blew past.
In that instant, the two women inside Mo Yuluo’s consciousness felt like everything suddenly went dark, and the rumbling of thunder surrounded them. It was as though a demon was growling and murmuring inside Mo Yuluo’s consciousness. Screeches, wails, and the muttering of deities filled the space.
As though a shapeless wave had risen in the air and crashed down on them, everything around them became blurry, and they felt like they were going back in time.
“Look, Mother! Here’s a flower I just picked! Isn’t it pretty?” A toddler with an innocent smile was filled with joy as she handed the tiny flower in her hand to the elegant and quiet woman in white standing in front of her.
“The flowers that Yuluo picks are the prettiest,” said the woman in a gentle voice as she caressed the little girl’s head. The gloominess in her eyes seemed to have faded a little.
“Peak Leader Mo went to handle the situation at the Demon Abyss, but a demon entered his spirit, and he has passed on,” a deep voice suddenly resounded from afar. A tall and handsome man with striking features came flying over and landed in front of the woman.
“Uncle You, are you here to play with Yuluo?” asked the little girl in a babyish voice.
“Hello, Yuluo. I’m busy, and I can’t play with you today. You can play with this first. I’ll bring you out for some candies later.” The man’s usually unbothered expression turned to one of fatherly love when he heard that voice. He held out a pretty little toy to her and patted her head adoringly.
“Oh…” The little girl grabbed the toy from the man and responded a little disappointedly. She took a few steps in the other direction when she suddenly turned as though she was going to remind him to do something but was a little afraid as she said, “Don’t forget!” and toddled off.
“If he’s dead, then so be it. I’ve severed ties with him a long time ago, so why did you come all the way here to tell me?”
The woman had a tinge of gentleness in her eyes as she watched the little girl walk a little unsteadily into the distance, even though her voice was emotionless. However, the grief on her face was apparent enough to make him sigh heavily.
“Then…what’s Yuluo going to do? She’s still so young. If word of what happened between us gets out, then she’d…” The man looked conflicted even as he stared at the woman with love.
“Didn’t you want complete control of the Seven Kill Sect? I’ll help you. As for Yuluo, I’ll tell her once she’s older. Before that, you can be her uncle.” The woman looked even gloomier than before, and the air was filled with a sense of tragedy.
“We’ll go with that then.” Before the woman could snap out of her grief, the man suddenly stabbed his finger through the area between her brows, his violent spiritual energy mincing the woman’s soul in an instant.
“I know none of this is real, but I don’t want to wake up.”
In that very moment, it seemed like she had gone back in time. A tear slowly rolled down her cheek as though she had been relieved of a terrible burden. She did not look the slightest bit surprised and merely looked calmly at the young man in front of her in that large black cloak, a bloodied symbol gleaming in his eyes and a faint smile on his lips.
“Mother!” A hysterical shriek came from behind the man. The little girl had suddenly returned and was staring in horror at the young man who had replaced her Uncle You as well as her dead mother who was bleeding from between her brows.
“I need you because you’re easier to control.” Gu Suihan stroked the little girl’s fair and chubby cheeks, ignoring the fact that his fingers were still stained with the slightly warm blood of the little girl’s mother.
“Drink the tea.”
Mo Yuluo suddenly felt like her body was lighter now, as though it was missing something. Everything became blurry for a moment, and the next thing she saw was that faint smile on Gu Suihan’s face.
“You shouldn’t have done that. She…was my mother after all,” said Mo Yuluo in a trembling voice as she saw the gray soul in Gu Suihan’s hands that emanated a familiar aura to her.
“I know.” Gu Suihan downed a cup of warm tea and exhaled with a pleased look on his face. “You’re easier to control. She, on the other hand, was hoping to die.”
“I know. I knew what she was trying to do all along.” Mo Yuluo’s eyes were filled with tears. She hugged her knees fearfully like an injured baby animal and murmured, “No matter how realistic her acting was, I’d always known what she was thinking. She was hoping to use this chance to help me get over the demons in my heart so that I could reach the Origin Core stage without worrying about any of these demons getting into my body. She gave me those joined heart fruits so that I would have someone to rely on after she died. She split her soul and placed herself in my head in hope that I would overcome her and become even stronger. I knew all this, but…”
“But you were just like her. You would rather die than let her die.” Gu Suihan finished the sentence for her. He went on, “If my guess is right, even if she wiped your consciousness out, it was only for a moment. She kept pushing you in order to force you to kill her. At the same time, you ambushed her twice, hoping to make her angry and kill you instead.”
Gu Suihan clicked his tongue and looked like he wished there was more to this story. “What a moving tale! Unfortunately for both of you, I appeared.”
“She’s…dead?” Mo Yuluo shuddered suddenly, her face pale as she stared at Gu Suihan.
“You should be able to sense her overwhelming soul power from here.” Gu Suihan held up the cloud of gray mist in his left hand. He cast a spell, and the mist gathered to become a round and dark dantian.
“What exactly do you want me to do?” Mo Yuluo pushed away the messy strands of hair on her face and looked intently at Gu Suihan, who seemed to have grown much older. His sideburns were a little white now.
Stabbing that one finger into Yun Lianyi had cost Gu Suihan 30 years of his life.
“What in the world is the Seven Kill Sect hiding? What could be of such great value to make all the other sects join forces to destroy the sect?”
“Humph! It’s just vacancies in the Upper World.” Mo Yuluo refused to answer his question honestly. “You Hantian is my father. I will not betray his efforts.”
“His efforts? Why is the Ethereal Court bent on annihilating the Seven Kill Sect? Why has this never happened before?” Gu Suihan took another sip of tea as the bloody symbol in his eyes rotated and generated copious amounts of violent qi.