Chapter 67: Teach Me, Will You?

Chapter 67: Will You Teach Me, Please?

Shen Lian pushed him away in disgust, "Stop putting on that fake sincerity in front of me."

Yan Huaixuan instinctively held him tighter, "What if I told you I'm not pretending?"

He lowered his head, "Shen Lian, trust me one last time, okay?"

Shen Lian turned to face Yan Huaixuan, "You really want me to forgive you?"

Yan Huaixuan tightened his grip on his shoulders. "Yes."

Shen Lian smiled, "Fine."

Yan Huaixuan froze. The overwhelming joy hit him so suddenly that, for a moment, he didn't know how to react.

Yan Huaixuan's eyes stung. "Really?"

Before Shen Lian could answer, Yan Huaixuan grabbed his hand.

His cold, clear eyes lowered slightly, his voice hoarse, "Shen Lian, I'm sorry for what I did to you before. I've never experienced anything like this, I don't know how to understand it, but if you'd taught me, maybe I would've figured it out sooner."

But the next moment, Shen Lian's face went blank again, "Unless you die."

Yan Huaixuan was startled. He slowly raised his head, only to meet Shen Lian's icy gaze.

As if all that gentleness, those smiles, Shen Lian's "fine"—it was all just a dream Yan Huaixuan had.

Shen Lian stared at him, pressing his hand against Yan Huaixuan's chest, "Yan Huaixuan, you will never learn, because you have no heart. How could someone without a heart ever know what feelings are?"

Yan Huaixuan opened his mouth, "I..."

Shen Lian shoved him away, "Yan Huaixuan, you don't understand feelings at all. You're not regretting this because you love me."

"You just can't stand that someone who used to like you suddenly doesn't anymore. Deep down, you're still cold, hypocritical, and vile."

"No," Yan Huaixuan grabbed his hand, "I have a heart."

Shen Lian laughed, "Really? But I saw it with my own eyes that day—your chest was empty."

He found it funny, too. Even the coldest person wouldn't treat him that cruelly.

But Yan Huaixuan was exactly that cold—breaking his spine, humiliating him.

So it turned out the reason was that Yan Huaixuan didn't have a heart.

Yan Huaixuan's jaw tightened. He stared straight at Shen Lian, "What if I told you my heart is in you?"

Shen Lian froze for a moment, then disgust immediately crept onto his face, "Yan Huaixuan, aren't you sickening?"

He didn't think much of it, only assuming it was some cheesy confession from Yan Huaixuan.

Yan Huaixuan looked directly at Shen Lian, "Does it disgust you that much that my thing is inside you?"

Shen Lian answered without hesitation, "Yes!"

"I told you—even if I die, I don't want anything to do with you."

At that, Yan Huaixuan's pupils constricted.

Shen Lian looked at Yan Huaixuan, "You keep saying you want me to give you a chance, so why don't you give me Shen Mo back!"

Shen Mo, Shen Mo, always Shen Mo. Shen Lian was that worried about that mysterious snake.

At this moment, Yan Huaixuan didn't know why, but a surge of malice suddenly rose in his heart.

It hadn't appeared in over a thousand years.

In Yan Huaixuan's sea of consciousness, something dark and rotting was taking root and growing inch by inch.

Yan Huaixuan's voice turned cold, "Are you that worried about that snake? I told you, you can't trust demons!"

Shen Lian suddenly said, "Then I'm a demon, too."

Yan Huaixuan looked at him, and as he looked, he slowly began to smile, "Shen Lian, you've been bewitched by demons."

Shen Lian looked like he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world, "You're overthinking this."

After saying that, he stared straight at Yan Huaixuan, only to notice something off about his expression. A flicker passed through those frost-colored, clear eyes.

But it vanished in an instant.

Yan Huaixuan just repeated, "Shen Lian, everything you're doing now is just because of demonic energy. Once I purge it from you, you won't think like that anymore."

Shen Lian couldn't help saying, "Yan Huaixuan, have you lost your mind? Just because I don't agree, you think I'm bewitched? I'm perfectly sane!"

Yan Huaixuan didn't react, just gently stroked Shen Lian's face.

"The day after tomorrow, I'll purge the demonic energy from you. Get some rest."

The moment he finished speaking, Shen Lian found himself back on the bed, unable to move.

Shen Lian laughed in anger, able to do nothing but glare at Yan Huaixuan, "Yan Huaixuan, I'm telling you, I'm perfectly clear-headed. If you dare touch Shen Mo, I'll kill you."

Yan Huaixuan paused mid-step at the threshold, but quickly continued, disappearing in an instant.

Shen Lian tried to call out, "Yan Huaixuan—"

But the next moment, he found he couldn't make a sound. Not only that, he lost his sight and hearing, too.

Boundless darkness rushed toward Shen Lian. His pupils constricted. "Yan Huaixuan, come back."

But no matter how he called out, not a sound came out. All he could hear was the beating of his own heart.

The dark secrets he'd forgotten, the ones he'd tried so hard to bury deep in his heart, surged up again.

He was locked alone in a pitch-black house, crying out to heaven and earth but getting no answer.

So cold. Shen Lian's body trembled.

Meanwhile, the moment Yan Huaixuan stepped outside, he ran into the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder was surprised to see him too, "Huaixuan, aren't you supposed to be in seclusion consolidating your cultivation? Why are you out?"

Yan Huaixuan's voice was cold, "Nothing."

The Grand Elder frowned as he watched Yan Huaixuan vanish from where he stood.

And above the Land of Extreme Wickedness, a figure suddenly appeared.

This is a place where maddened beasts and demons are exiled, and everything that ends up here is the most heinous of existences.

At the sight of that figure, all the beasts and demons charged forward like rabid dogs on raw meat.

The demonic aura, vast enough to shroud the heavens, threatened to swallow Yan Huaixuan whole.

A flicker of bloodlust flashed through Yan Huaixuan's eyes, his gaze cold and lethal. This time, he didn't even use a sword or weapon—he relied on his bare hands alone.

Roughly three hours later.

The ground was littered with the corpses of beasts, and Yan Huaixuan stood amidst a mountain of corpses in a sea of blood. He wiped the blood off his face, his expression indifferent, then vanished without a trace.

Within the Tianheng Sect, Xie Ren suddenly opened his eyes, and beside him, a wizened, translucent figure slowly materialized.

The figure let out a sigh.

"The Primordial Realm is beyond saving."

"Xie Ren, you must kill that accursed star. With him around, the Celestial Radiance Star is slowly being consumed."

"He strays further and further from the Great Dao."

Xie Ren clenched his fist. "Understood."

When Yan Huaixuan returned, he had changed into fresh clothes, but when he went to check on Shen Lian's reaction, he froze.

The restriction he had placed on Shen Lian would automatically dissolve after a single stick of incense burned down.

But Shen Lian—he was exactly as he had been when Yan Huaixuan left.

Yan Huaixuan suddenly sensed something was wrong and rushed forward. "Shen Lian."

But Shen Lian lay on the bed like a wooden puppet, completely unresponsive, his eyes hollow and empty.

It was then that Yan Huaixuan remembered—Shen Lian was afraid of the dark.

"Shen Lian," Yan Huaixuan cradled Shen Lian's face, his breathing ragged. "Shen Lian."

But no matter how many times he called Shen Lian's name, Shen Lian showed no reaction at all.