Chapter 127: Emotions
The golden hue on Xu Min"s body caused the young master to flinch and retreat. The figure who had previously been completely calm against all of Xu Min"s attacks was now retreating rapidly. He had a dark sneer on his face, and his eyes were filled with fear and hesitation.
Pondering, Xu Min wondered what to do in the middle of this heart demon trial. Was the young master setting up a trap or was he genuinely afraid of this golden hue? Xu Min did not know, but he quickly concluded that it was worth a try. If it proved to be a trick, then he would get beaten. However, if it were not a trick, then he would end up regretting it the rest of his life, which most likely would be a rather short amount of time.
Xu Min"s eyes turned serious; he grit his teeth and took one step forward, one after another. He held the sword in his hands and noticed that the sword was also shining with the same golden hue as before.
The closer he came to the young master, the more panicked he seemed. He even went as far as to send out attacks.
The real young master could not be as high leveled as this figure was. The attacks he sent out were all around the eight-star warrior rank; all of them were a mixture of spiritual energy, elemental affinity, stances and physical attacks.
All of them were filled with a force that was no weaker than Xu Min"s power. If it were not for the sake of Xu Min being surrounded by the golden light, then he would have had a hard time protecting himself. However, the moment the attacks came into contact with Xu Min"s golden shine, they would diminish in power, and Xu Min could block it with no problems at all.
At this point, Xu Min sneered again, and a cold gleam appeared in his eyes. The golden sheen seemed to help him survive. Thus he could also use it to destroy the heart demon in front of him.
Stepping forward one step after another, the heart demon in shape of the young master could no longer move further away. His face was filled with unwillingness. His appearance was similar to how Xu Min expected the real young master to look when he was cornered and slaughtered by himself.
The more anger rose within Xu Min, the dimmer the golden light became and slowly a smile appeared on the young master"s face.
"Don"t think you can trick me!" Xu Min exclaimed as he closed his eyes once more and calmed his heart. He imagined a lake in front of him, a lake with no ripples just a calm surface. That was how his heart should be.
Xu Min quickly realized the heart demon was doing anything in it"s power to cause Xu Min to succ.u.mb to his emotions. Not just the emotions of anger, but also pain or agony. Allowing for any emotion to take over his body was enough to make the heart demon succeed.
Realizing this Xu Min became even more attentive to what happened around him, his mind was steeled towards finishing this as soon as possible. Just as he pressed closer and closer to the young master, the face suddenly changed. It now looked like the old overseer Tian, the man whom Xu Min had treated as his father back in the sect.
Seeing this man, Xu Min’s emotions went into a turmoil. He had looked up to him for such a long time, but at the last moment, he was betrayed. Even now he still remembered the words spoken by this man; even now he still remembered how Overseer Tian had rushed after him for a very long time within the forest surrounding the Zhong family compound.
When Xu Min was a child, Overseer Tian was the most important man in his life. Xu Min felt the golden sheen becoming dull. His emotions were filled with hate and anger and a slight bit of nostalgia. As he thought about it, Xu Min closed his eyes once more.
"It won"t be that easy," he mumbled as he took a deep breath and slowly started to remind himself that what was in front of him was not real. He needed to remind himself that everything around him was created by his heart demon, and it was not real.
Unfortunately, the emotions were not there because of the heart demon; they were just triggered because of it. The emotions were true and had been in his heart ever since he was a small child running away from the Zhong family compound. These emotions had grown a root in his heart long ago, but it was impossible for Xu Min to get rid of them.
This was the reason that the amalgamation was certain that Xu Min would succ.u.mb to this heart demon. If it had just been about hate and revenge, then it would be possible to survive it. However, when there was such hate as revenge, there is usually someone who had been loved deeply, someone who cared for much more than one"s self. As long as this emotion prevailed or came out of control, the heart demon would win.
The heart demon was currently trying to do exactly this. It was trying to involve the love and care that Xu Min had experienced to make him lose himself in the care he once received.
Fortunately for Xu Min, this heart demon had chosen to take Overseer Tian and show him this man"s appearance. Although he had long since considered him his father, he had also been betrayed by this person and thus the man was dead in his heart.
For Xu Min, there were two kinds of people in the world. One of them was the ones who had been the cause of his sister"s death and those who had hunted him and wanted him dead. The other group of people was those who did not wish to kill him.
In Xu Min"s world, there were two groups of people. If you were a part of the first group, Xu Min would kill you. The second group consisted of people Xu Min would not kill.
Seeing that the golden hue on his body was returning even faster than it had vanished, the face of Overseer Tian was turning grim. He looked at Xu Min with an angry face. It was clear that he only had one possibility left to try, though, he had wished not to do so.
Xu Min, who was looking at the heart demon, was at first surprised. He could guess what this demon was planning, but he hoped that it would not.
Xu Min"s eyes narrowed at the same time while the eyes of Overseer Tian narrowed. Two seconds after, the heart demon looked exactly like his older sister as she had looked the day on her death.
"I already saw her in a previous challenge. Is this the best you can do?" Xu Min asked with bated breath. Although he had seen her before, he was feeling uncomfortable seeing her again. Although he loved her, he had long since understood she was dead. When she came back to life something was wrong.
Xu Min had expected that his sister would look at him and ask for pity; he steeled his heart, but when he looked at his sister something was wrong.
Her face was not filled with teary eyes and a pitiful expression. Rather, her eyes were hostile, and her teeth bared in a hateful grin with manic eyes.
"I died because of you!" she suddenly screeched with her familiar voice. The words completely stunned Xu Min so much that he could barely move. Let alone speak.
"Had you been a good boy who played with the other children and knew your position as a servant boy then I would never have died!"
"If you had not displayed your superiority and made the young master jealous then I would still be alive!"
"Everything is your fault! It was not the young master who killed me but you! You are the bane of my existence. If you wish to punish someone, punish yourself!"
The more she spoke, the paler Xu Min became. He was aware that this was the heart demon; nonetheless, he was realized that every single word his pseudo sister said was correct. He was indeed the one who had caused his sister to die. The thought had crossed his mind many times during the many years he had trained solely for the purpose of getting the revenge.
The golden hue on his body and sword vanished slowly; it was being removed as Xu Min fell deeper and deeper into his despair.
The sister whom he loved, the sister whom he adored and the sister whom he had given his whole life to revenge was enough to make him sink into despair. The heart demon was powerful. It’s most effective and powerful appearance was the one of his sister and his guilt. He was overwhelmed with the emotions.
Xu Min was all alone. He usually had either Cao Cao or Ye Ling by his side. Now he had no one to rely upon, and his heart was aching. His mind went black as he thought about how his sister had died because of him. Perhaps it was best that he died. Perhaps he was truly the reason for her death.
Slumping to the ground, Xu Min looked at the hateful expression on his sister"s face and sighed deeply. It was clearly the truth. He had known it all along, but it was the emotion he had hidden the deepest within himself and never before allowed it to emerge.
Now he saw how the hideous expression of his sister, his heart was heavy and his eyes did not even want to do anything else than looking at his sister and wait for his end.
As he had reached this point, no golden hue remained, no sheen or l.u.s.ter. Instead, a darkness started to permeate his body and made the surrounding areas harder to see.
With a final look at his sister, Xu Min noticed that she no longer had a malicious expression on her face but instead smiled. A gentle, happy smile, the smile that Xu Min was used to see every single day; the smile he knew his sister used every time she would speak with him.
"Something is not right," Xu Min said to himself in the middle of the darkness that was descending upon him in at a rapid pace.
"My sister loved me as much as I love her. She would never blame me for her death even if I were the one who caused her to die. She would do nothing but accept it. She would never harbor a grudge against me, much like I never would against her."
"This is the heart demon! The guilt might be mine, but my sister would never approve of it! She would never blame me! My sister loved me, and this love is all that I need!"
Xu Min suddenly became stronger and stronger. His mental fort.i.tude got stronger and stronger., His eyes started to focus once more, and the darkness started to withdraw again. The gentle smile on his sister"s face turned sour. The eyes widened, and a screech erupted from her mouth as she charged forward, raising her nails like claws and her teeth turned to fangs. The sister he loved turned into looking like a demon, a true heart demon!