Chapter 578: A Demon in the Heart (2)

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, I saw Yun Chuan collapsed on the ground. His complexion was still terrible.

I had found the key to his chains earlier while disposing of the corpses. After unlocking them, I helped him onto the only wooden bed in the old house.

"Gao Jian, did you make some sort of deal with the Three Yin Sect?" He was extremely weak. His festering wounds still needed professional treatment before he'd be out of mortal danger. "Did you hand over the manual of the Corpse Driving Lineage?"

Yun Chuan's voice was heavy with pain. He glared at me, looking like a young beast struggling in a trap.

"What are you talking about? How could I possibly hand over the Corpse Driving Secret Manual to a bunch of evil bastards like them?" I found his accusation baffling.

"Don't lie to me. If you didn't hand over the Corpse Driving Secret Manual, why would the Three Yin Sect let you in? How could they let you take me away?" Although Yun Chuan had been tortured practically beyond recognition, his thinking remained perfectly clear.

I smiled faintly, understanding what he meant. "Deals only work when both sides have equal strength. When one side holds an absolute advantage, they usually don't bother trading. Instead, they opt for a more direct, brutal approach to maximize their gains."

"What do you mean?" Yun Chuan didn't quite understand. A trace of sorrow lingered in his eyes. As the last successor of the Corpse Driving Lineage, that Daoist manual was the relic left behind by his master. To him, it wasn't just a sect treasure; it was a spiritual anchor. Suspecting I had used it to strike a deal with the Three Yin Sect filled him with despair. Given the choice, he would gladly sacrifice his own life to keep the manual safe.

"I mean exactly what I said. I didn't trade with the Three Yin Sect at all. I just slaughtered my way in and wiped out their entire sect." My tone was perfectly calm. Yun Chuan's eyes widened. At first, he thought I was just spouting nonsense, but when he saw my blood-soaked black Daoist robe, sheer disbelief washed over his face.

"You alone? Wiped out the Three Yin Sect?" His voice trembled slightly. "Does 'wiped out' mean..."

"I mean it literally. I seized all their resources and killed every evil Daoist in the sect." My voice unconsciously carried a hint of murderous intent. Ever since a certain point in time, I seemed to have developed a reliance on slaughter, much like the aftereffects of heavily abusing prescription drugs.

"More than a dozen lives in the entire sect, and you killed them all?" Yun Chuan's teeth were chattering. Suddenly, he didn't dare look me in the eye.

"If I hadn't gotten rid of them, do you think I'd be standing here talking to you right now?" Reminded by Yun Chuan, I quickly stripped off the Daoist robe and held it in my hands, planning to either burn it or toss it into the Yin Meridian.

"But... that's over a dozen lives!" Yun Chuan leaned against the cold, hard stone wall, watching me silently. "Gao Jian, you seem different from before."

"People change." I touched the icy Good and Evil Asura Mask and muttered to myself, "If I didn't kill them, I would definitely die by their hands in the future. My actions might have been a bit extreme, but if time flowed backward and gave me another chance, I would still do the exact same thing."

"No. My master once evaluated you. He said you harbored a ray of light deep in your heart, that even walking in the shadows, you still moved toward the sun. But the way you are now makes me feel like I'm looking at a stranger." Yun Chuan hesitated for a long time before finally asking, "Can you take the mask off? I keep feeling like I'm talking to a completely different person."

Shaking my head, I refused. Beneath the Good and Evil Asura Mask, I was still wearing the Human Skin Mask. Unless it was absolutely necessary, I didn't want to expose this trump card.

"Gao Jian, my master said those words about you. He hasn't been wrong about a person in decades. There must be a reason for this sudden change in you. Everyone has their own inner demons. Once you lose yourself and sink into them, it's very hard to find your true self again."

Listening to Yun Chuan, I slowly closed my eyes, feeling a bit irritated. A phrase Blind Liu had said a long time ago suddenly surfaced in my mind: if you become a demon, no Buddha dares to deliver you.

Back when I first obtained the Lacquered Wooden Coffin, the Fate Ghost had devoured a Three Yin Sect disciple inside it. At the time, Blind Liu thought I was massacring the innocent to refine ghosts, and he had warned me with those exact words.

"If I didn't kill them, I'd be the one dead. At that point, what's the difference between becoming a Buddha or a demon?" Waving a hand to end the conversation, I recalled the Desire Ghost, crouched beside the bed, gently hoisted Yun Chuan onto my back, and left the old house.

After disposing of my own outer coat along with the Daoist robe, I carried Yun Chuan on my back through the empty Three Yin Sect. The underground Yin Meridian was fluctuating. The Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation seemed to have been activated. The yin mist shrouding the Daoist temple grew thicker and thicker, reducing visibility to just a few meters.

The wails and howls of ghosts rang in my ears. The hanged ghosts in the pine forest were also starting to become active. However, perhaps because I could control the life gate and death gate of the grand array, the ghost entities all took the initiative to step aside when they saw me, acting extremely respectful.

We passed through the pine forest and arrived at the outer cemetery. The security guards were still foolishly patrolling for the dead. They had absolutely no idea that an earth-shattering upheaval had just taken place on the other side of the pine forest.

Stopping and going to avoid the security guards, we reached the foot of the mountain. I pushed myself to run a few miles with Yun Chuan on my back. Once we reached a place with heavy traffic, I put him down by the side of the road and observed from afar. Only after watching him get rescued by a kindhearted driver did I turn around and leave.

Hiding in the woods, I took off the Good and Evil Asura Mask. The moment I removed it, I once again felt that unseen will of heaven targeting me. It was incredibly heavy, as if my body had been shoved deep underwater.

Looking at the Good and Evil Asura Mask in my hands, my brows furrowed. "One hundred thousand merit is simply impossible to pay off. At this rate, I really might be stuck wearing it for the rest of my life."

Sighing, I also took off the Human Skin Mask. I took a massive detour and returned to Jiangcheng from a different direction.

Only after entering the urban area did I dare to turn my phone back on.

"8:07 PM. I should still have enough time."

I took a taxi to Jingying Sanatorium. Without alerting the security guards or the nursing staff, I dodged the surveillance cameras and went to find Mr. Gu.

Entering the building where Wang Yu lived, a familiar bark rang in my ears before I even knocked on the door.

The door opened, and a large dog with a shiny coat darted out.

"Bai Qi!"

Rubbing his furry head against my thigh, Bai Qi wagged his tail and trotted in circles around me.

"Stop fussing. Let's go inside first." I scratched Bai Qi's chin, a long-absent smile appearing on my face.

"Bai Qi sensed you from dozens of meters away. He's been scratching at the door this whole time." Mr. Gu walked over with a chuckle, holding Wang Yu's hand. His complexion was rosy; it seemed he had been living quite well lately.

"Mr. Gu, I'm here on urgent business." I cut straight to the chase. "Several major orthodox sects have joined forces to come to Jiangcheng and exterminate the Ghost Mother. I'm afraid they'll use Wang Yu as bait again like last time, so I need you to take him and leave Jiangcheng."

"Do these orthodox sects have nothing better to do? It's not like the Ghost Mother is wreaking havoc on the region."

"Humans and ghosts walk different paths; good and evil stand opposed. Of course, the main reasons are still merit and profit." I pulled out a bank card and handed it to Mr. Gu. It contained the small amount of savings I had accumulated from running the Adult Shop. "Take this card and leave immediately. Buy a new SIM card once you're out of Jiangcheng. Contact me on a single secure line, and do not reveal your location to anyone."

"Anyone? I think Mr. Huang is reliable. If we had his help..."

"No. Those orthodox sects have too much influence. They'll pressure him from all sides. Besides, he's a businessman; weighing interests is what he does best." I firmly refused. "You cannot disclose this to anyone. Leave right now. I've already planned a route for you."

Packing their luggage haphazardly, it took only twenty minutes for Mr. Gu to sneak out of the sanatorium with Wang Yu.

"I won't make the same mistake twice." After sending Wang Yu off, I sat in the room hugging Bai Qi, looking at the incredibly lifelike paintings scattered across the coffee table.

Wang Yu was a genius when it came to painting. In my eyes, his artwork possessed elements that even professional painters lacked.

It was a soul-stirring realism, containing an indescribable, passionate emotion.

Within the scrolls, ten thousand ghosts bowed in submission. Above the towering buildings, the Ghost Mother obscured the sky with a single hand!