Chapter 51: Dao Heart Shattered

Chapter 51: The Collapse of the Dao Heart

But soon, Shen Lian let out a self-deprecating laugh. Yan Huaixuan worrying about him? That would be a first.

Yan Huaixuan wanted to say something more, but felt a chill brush against his neck.

Yan Huaixuan's hand slowly released its grip. He looked down to find Shen Lian's Chen Xue pressed against his throat.

"Yan Huaixuan, let me be clear—I will not return to the Tianheng Sect, so you don't need to feel any responsibility toward me."

Shen Lian stared at Yan Huaixuan, enunciating each word. "As for that so-called couple's contract you mentioned, go ahead and sell me out."

"After all, it's not the first time I've learned how despicable you are."

With that, Shen Lian turned and walked away.

Without a moment's hesitation.

Yan Huaixuan instinctively seized his hand. Intuition told Yan Huaixuan he had to keep Shen Lian here.

But once he had caught hold of Shen Lian's sleeve, what to do next—a flicker of confusion crossed Yan Huaixuan's eyes.

Yet it was precisely this moment of hesitation.

Shen Lian had already raised his sword and sliced through the sleeve.

Yan Huaixuan's hand closed on empty air, and all he could do was watch helplessly as the white fabric parted from Shen Lian.

Not only that, but Shen Lian also raised his hand, pressing his pale fingertips to his forehead.

Yan Huaixuan understood what he was about to do. "Shen Lian, don't!"

Yan Huaixuan tried to lunge to stop him, but it was already too late.

Shen Lian drew a barrier in front of himself.

Yan Huaixuan abruptly withdrew his hand, for this barrier was forged with Shen Lian's soul power—if he were to forcibly break through it, Shen Lian would surely be injured.

Yan Huaixuan stood outside the barrier, staring at Shen Lian, his voice strained. "Do you know that with your current cultivation level, if you forcibly dissolve it, you're bound to—"

"Losing cultivation? I don't care," Shen Lian interrupted him.

Shen Lian, inch by inch, pulled something out from his mind.

It was a golden-red thread, representing the Dao Companion Contract binding him to Yan Huaixuan.

Yan Huaixuan froze on the spot.

He held Shen Lian's gaze.

There was none of the admiration, attachment, or love he was used to seeing.

In their place was nothing but pure ice and finality.

At this moment, Yan Huaixuan was frozen in place, unable to move. He didn't know what expression to wear. That usually impassive, cold face now showed a trace of bewilderment and helplessness.

The Dao Companion Contract was about to be pulled from Shen Lian's mind.

Shen Lian's cultivation was also plummeting.

Yan Huaixuan finally snapped back to his senses. He pressed his hand against the barrier, brow furrowed, and shouted, "Stop! I agree to dissolve it. You don't need to damage your cultivation."

Unfortunately, Shen Lian didn't bother to believe him. He let out a cold laugh and kept pulling anyway.

Dropping from Ningzhen to Qi Refining third stage, then second stage, then Nascent Soul.

Shen Lian coughed up a mouthful of blood. His face was pale, his body trembling, yet he still didn't stop.

Yan Huaixuan's eyes went bloodshot, and only one thought was left in his mind.

Shen Lian—would rather destroy himself than remain bound to him by the Dao Companion Contract.

He wouldn't even wait for Yan Huaixuan's consent.

As the golden-red thread was completely pulled out, Shen Lian flung it to the ground.

Without a moment's hesitation.

Shen Lian looked at Yan Huaixuan. "From this day forward, you and I have no connection. The next time we meet, I will kill you."

Shen Lian would never forget how Yan Huaixuan had tormented him, trying to destroy his very foundation!

Only then did Yan Huaixuan seem to snap back to reality. His pupils contracted, and he reached out. "Shen Lian."

He desperately tried to grab Shen Lian, but Shen Lian vanished before his eyes.

Yan Huaixuan lunged into empty air, his body swaying.

Ling Yun burst out. "Master!"

He saw Yan Huaixuan kneeling there. Yan Huaixuan, who was never touched by dust, now had his silver hair cascading down, dull and lifeless, covered in fallen leaves.

Those eyes, which in all the time Ling Yun had known him had never shown a trace of emotion, were now completely blank.

There was nothing in them.

After a long while, Yan Huaixuan seemed to come back to himself. He clutched his chest, a coppery taste rising in his throat, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Ling Yun's eyes widened in horror as he watched Yan Huaixuan's cultivation realm start to waver.

The Dao heart that Yan Huaixuan had always upheld was slowly collapsing.

But Yan Huaixuan did nothing, even as Ling Yun kept shouting his name.

Yan Huaixuan merely knelt there, silent.

Then, slowly, he reached out and picked something off the ground.

It was a delicate jasmine flower.

A faint fragrance still lingered on it, but the warmth of Shen Lian was gradually fading away.

Yan Huaixuan also felt as though something within him had been ripped out.

Meanwhile, Shen Lian appeared at the border between the demon race and the human race—a desolate wasteland.

This was a teleportation spell the demon had given him before sending him off, capable of transporting him directly out of demon territory.

Shen Lian's entire body ached. He looked up at the sky, and a slow smile spread across his face.

He lay there for a full day and night, until darkness fell.

Chen Xue said softly, "Master?"

Shen Lian finally sat up, his face blank, and pulled Chen Xue into his arms. "Come on, let's go get a drink."

Shen Lian suppressed his aura completely, slipped into a mortal realm, found some random tavern, and drank himself into oblivion.

He drank until he puked, then kept drinking after he threw up.

He had no idea how long this went on before he finally passed out.

He slept for nearly three days straight.

When Shen Lian woke up again, he was back to the look Chen Xue knew well—eyes crinkled in a smile, looking all innocent and harmless.

Shen Lian knew his current situation was a real mess—he had half demonic energy and half cultivator in him.

The conflict between humans and demons was raging so fiercely that they'd kill each other on sight.

Shen Lian mulled it over and decided to walk the line between the human and demon realms.

He could rest in human lands as a human, or shift into demon form to slip in and gather herbs whenever he wanted.

That demon had told him to cultivate and even gave him a Sumeru ring. When Shen Lian looked inside, he felt endless resentment pouring out of it.

Chen Xue couldn't help blurting out, "That demon stole all of this."

The stuff was just tossed in a heap—some pills, some weapons, and a few scrolls soaked in the resentment of the dead.

Shen Lian frowned a little. He skimmed through them—his cultivation wasn't high enough to use any of it yet, and honestly, he wouldn't touch that stuff anyway.

What caught his eye was an alchemy manual the demon had apparently swiped from who knows where.

He started by refining a few Qi-replenishing pills to get his strength back.

Once his body was mostly healed, he started moving between the human and demon realms, but he always kept his face covered so no one would recognize him.

What thrilled Shen Lian the most was that his palm fire made pill refining super easy.

Before, he had to light a fire and toss things into the alchemy furnace, but now he could just use his palm fire directly.

Plus, he had no clue where this flame came from, but it was insanely powerful.

After all, some special spirit plants just couldn't be refined with regular flames.