Deep within the rugged Lian Yun Mountain Range, a hidden valley pulsed with the fury of the gathered crowd. The rocky basin, veiled in mist and shadowed by towering ancient pines, thrummed with tension that rippled through the stones.
Qin Ting stood at its heart, his lips curling into a derisive smirk that carved a sharp line across his chiseled features. His eyes—deep blue, fathomless pools glinting with cold, playful amusement—swept over the throng on the moss-slick stones. He savored their rage, like a connoisseur tasting a potent brew distilled from the mountain's shadowed depths.
A spark of icy delight flashed in his gaze as he raised a hand, fingers unfurling with deliberate, theatrical grace. Golden-violet flames erupted from his palm, spiraling into a lance of searing light that pulsed with malice. The air twisted, casting jagged, claw-like shadows across the cracked granite floor.
With a slow, disdainful flick of his wrist, he unleashed the blazing spear toward Ye Qiu. The atmosphere hissed as heat surged through the mist, the weapon tearing across the shadowed expanse with predatory hunger.
Ye Qiu, once a luminous Child of Destiny, now stood a grotesque ruin, his Fortune Points stripped by Qin Ting's relentless schemes. The forbidden demonic arts he'd cultivated in a frenzy of bloodrage had twisted him—limbs contorted into gnarled knots, sinew bulging beneath ashen, fissured skin that pulsed with sickly vigor.
His eyes, once bright with promise, now flickered molten red, sunken in a face scarred by jagged burns oozing corruption. The dark power he'd embraced forged him into a monstrous shell, amplifying his strength tenfold while binding it to a body on the brink of collapse.
As the flaming lance streaked through the haze, he wrenched his warped frame aside at the last moment. The air shrieked as he evaded its lethal point, but the flames lashed out like whips, engulfing his left side in a roaring blaze.
His flesh blistered and blackened instantly, the stench of charred meat mingling with the valley's damp, earthy aroma. A guttural scream tore from his throat, raw and inhuman, blending agony and defiance, echoing off the mist-draped walls.
The onlookers flinched, their faces paling as the gruesome scene unfolded beneath the gnarled canopy. Another flaming lance sliced through the mist, aimed at Ye Qiu's heart—yet with a desperate twist of his battered form, he sidestepped, the weapon scorching a blackened scar into the earth.
From the fray's chaotic center, his voice rasped out, sharp and pitiful despite the blood streaking his tattered clothes. "Qin Ting has forced my hand! Can't you all see it? Every life I've taken, every drop of blood spilled—his schemes drove me to this brink! Now he sends you, his loyal dogs, to silence me, to bury his own wretched sins beneath your blind faith!"
The crowd's shouts surged, a wave of righteous fury cutting through the misty veil like a honed blade.
"Fiend!" a hulking man bellowed, his voice echoing off the cliffs with thunderous rage. "You still dare to resist? Accept the Young Master's holy punishment and face your reckoning!"
"You'd slander Young Master Qin Ting even now, after all this?" a muscular youth spat, his fists clenched, knuckles gleaming white in the dim light.
"Ye Qiu, your time is finished!" a grizzled warrior roared, his voice thick with vengeance, crashing through the ancient pines. "There's no escape for you now—we'll have your head for all you've done!"
Ye Qiu staggered, clawing at his scorched flank where charred flesh hung in ragged strips. His diabolic gaze darted toward Mu Qingyi, searching for a glimmer of the warmth he'd once cherished in her soulful eyes.
Instead, he met cold, unfeeling disgust, her delicate features hardened into an impenetrable mask. The crowd's venomous curses battered him like a gale whipping through the Lian Yun peaks, each word a lash against his splintering spirit.
'Please, ancestors, let this be a nightmare!' he pleaded silently, the thought echoing in his fractured mind. How could this be real? How had his world crumbled within this mist-shrouded gorge?
Months ago, he'd been courted by the Qianyuan Sect, their elders eager to claim him as an Inner Disciple, a genius to bolster their ranks. Yet, he'd rejected them, his voice ringing with defiance as he proclaimed his solitary path of cultivation. Back then, he'd felt unshackled, a wild spirit with a boundless future across the Eastern Wilderness.
Now, he was a reviled abomination—a thief, a turncoat, a murderer—cast into the shadows of this hidden valley, forsaken by all he'd held dear.
'The heavens have abandoned me,' he thought, the realization seeping into his bones like frost clinging to the crags above. 'I'm finished—utterly lost.'
His mangled visage twisted, madness carving deeper lines into his ruined face—a sight so nightmarish that Mu Qingyi's heart froze amidst the valley's chill. She stepped back, her silken robes whispering against the mossy stone, revulsion coiling in her chest.
Qin Ting, composed and unshaken, let his fingers brush Mu Qingyi's with calculated tenderness—a subtle gesture masking the storm of his intentions, a silent vow anchoring her to him amidst the chaos.
Each touch, each measured glance, had unraveled her devotion to Ye Qiu. In her heart, she traded the fallen hero for the one beside her, the last ember of affection for Ye Qiu extinguished under Qin Ting's magnetic influence.
With a predator's grace, he turned his gaze to Ye Qiu, his lips curving into a faint, triumphant smile that carried absolute victory.
Qin Ting had anticipated Ye Qiu's desperate sidestep—a feint crafted to drive him deeper into madness. This Protagonist, once fated for glory, had been dismantled by Qin Ting's ruthless hand.
The demonic power surging through Ye Qiu was no twist of fate—it was Qin Ting's sinister design. The Dreamwraith Amulet, planted within Ye Qiu's brain days prior, had activated silently.
Blinded by desperation and vengeance, Ye Qiu had fallen prey to its influence, dabbling in forbidden demonic arts he believed would grant him strength to strike back. What he saw as retribution became his undoing, the amulet's taint sealing his fate as a pawn in Qin Ting's malevolent plan.
'Soon,' he mused to himself, 'I'll shatter him beyond any hope of redemption.' The thrill coursed through him, a quiet flame stoked by his patience and delight in control.
Qin Ting's voice sliced through the clamor, soft yet edged with chilling precision. "Ye Qiu," he drawled, each syllable a scornful lash, "you conspired with Jiang Zhongbai to kill me in the underground palace. For Junior Sister Mu's sake, I granted you mercy—a mercy you repaid with betrayal in ways that defy comprehension..."
"And now, here you stand, reeking of demonic corruption, your hands stained with the blood of the innocent. I see it clearly now. My mistake was leaving you alive when I had the chance to end it cleanly."
Mu Qingyi's breath hitched, a sharp gasp breaking free as her composure faltered. She turned to Qin Ting, her wide eyes swimming with disbelief—and a glimmer of something unspoken. "Senior Brother… you never told me," she murmured, her voice trembling like a leaf caught in the wind. "He ambushed you down there?"
Qin Ting tilted his head, his expression softening just enough to draw her closer. "It wasn't worth troubling your heart," he murmured, his tone smooth as the mountain streams carving through the peaks. "But yes, he struck at me—and I let him live. For you."
Her revulsion for Ye Qiu deepened, entwined with gratitude for Qin Ting's restraint. Her fingers briefly tightened around his in silent acknowledgment—a wordless thanks for his shield amidst the Lian Yun Mountains' perils.
The crowd seized his words, their voices rising in a fervent chorus bouncing off the valley walls like a storm breaking loose.
"How dare he lay the blame on Young Master Qin again and again?" a woman cried, her voice fierce and unyielding. "His kindness was a gift, one this beast has desecrated with his treachery!"
"To think he conspired with that backstabber to orchestrate an ambush—pure, unadulterated evil! Zhongbai, no less, may have also been secretly dabbling in demonic cultivation!" a man snarled, his voice brimming with disdain as it resonated through the air.
"Demonic scum always reveal their rot in the end!" another shouted, his words quaking with conviction.
Ye Qiu's rage ignited, a wildfire scorching his fractured mind as Qin Ting wove his damning tale. He bared his jagged teeth, molten eyes blazing like infernos against the dim light.
"Liar!" he bellowed, his voice a raw, feral snarl ripping through the air. "You scheming viper! You framed me, turned them all against me with your honeyed words! This was your plot from the beginning, wasn't it? You knew—we were coming for you in that damned underground palace!"
Qin Ting tilted his head, his smirk sharpening into something colder, more mocking. "Framed you?" he repeated, his tone dripping with venomous amusement.
"Don't be absurd, Ye Qiu. You've always chosen your own path—just as you've chosen this one. I was never more than a convenient excuse for your failures. Rather than face your own weakness, your own guilt, you cling to me like a crutch."
He chuckled, the sound low and derisive, cutting through the tension. "No, Ye Qiu. The abyss you now dwell in was always yours to embrace. I merely watched as you stumbled headlong into it."
An elder of the Qianyuan Sect, Elder Wei, stepped forward, his robes rippling in the mountain wind, his weathered features carved with icy determination. "Enough of your lies, demon!" he declared, his voice a frigid blade slicing through the fog.
"For years, you have lurked near our Young Lady Mu Qingyi, plotting in the shadows, biding your time to strike and wield your vile arts to seize her power! In mere days, you've left hundreds of cultivators and innocents dead in your wake. But today, justice will prevail over your corruption."
Ye Qiu's gaze snapped to Elder Wei, his face twisting with bitter resentment. "Justice?" he snarled, his words sharp with hostility. "You hated me from the moment I set foot near your precious sect, old man! You thwarted me at every turn, denying me any chance to be with her. She loves me! But you disregarded her feelings—all because I refused to grovel before your pathetic sect like some beaten dog!"
Elder Wei's expression hardened, his eyes glinting with unbreakable resolve. "You brought this calamity upon yourself," he said, his tone cutting like a blade forged in the coldest depths. "Do not dare shift the blame—or stain the honor of the Qianyuan Sect with your insolence and delusions!"