When she recalled Mo’er’s utterly heartbroken expression at the time, a wave of guilt surged over her like a tide, flooding her entire heart. Seeing the dramatic change in Master Yuehua’s expression, Ye Kai grew even more excited and continued to fan the flames: “Maybe he hadn’t completely fallen into demonic cultivation to begin with, but after you struck him with your sword, that’s when he truly fell into the demonic path.” He clicked his tongue and added, “Master, you really were harsh to your disciple. That sword strike… it hurt just watching it…”
At that moment, Wanwan from within the ring chuckled and said, “You humans really enjoy slowly torturing others bit by bit. You’re not nearly as direct as us demons.” Ye Kai confidently replied, “Watching someone’s expression slowly collapse bit by bit—don’t you find that interesting? Besides, my Master has absolutely no chance of turning the tables now, there’s nothing to worry about.”
It was as if Yuehua’s mind had been struck by five thunderbolts. If Lin Mo had truly fallen into demonic cultivation, then it was her fault. She had always declared that she would wipe out all the demons in the world, yet she had turned her best disciple into a demon with her own hands. Over all these years, she had always felt indebted to this disciple.
And now, at the moment when he was at his most desperate and betrayed, she had fiercely stabbed him once again—and even protected the one who had started it all. She couldn’t comprehend just how much pain and despair Lin Mo must have felt back then. She truly deserved to die! Countless emotions of guilt, self-blame, and remorse all intertwined at this moment, and her cultivation heart immediately became unstable, causing her to cough up a mouthful of fresh blood. Master Yuehua raised her head at this moment, fixing her gaze on Ye Kai, and said word by word, “I truly don’t understand how your parents, such kind and upright people, could have given birth to a demon like you.”
Back then, after escaping from the demon realm—after learning the truth, she had come to hate the demon race to the point of vowing never to rest until they were all dead. But her strength was feeble, and with her power alone, she couldn’t possibly withstand the pursuit of the demonic cultivators and demons of the Baili Demon Lord’s lineage. During her days on the run, she had no time to cultivate at all—every day was a battle to the death with demons who knew her identity.
Until one day, she was seriously injured by a Nascent Soul-stage demonic cultivator and forced to jump off a cliff to survive. She was then rescued by a married couple who even protected her for three whole years, which finally allowed her body to fully recover.
During that time, the demon realm’s old ancestor, Chu Tiange, was sealed by an unknown rogue cultivator, causing great damage to the demon race’s vitality. They no longer dared to move about the human realm openly, and even the demonic cultivators sent by Baili Demon Lord to hunt her down grew fewer and fewer. Ye Kai’s father now introduced her to an old friend of his and helped her join Qingling Sect. At the time, she also needed a place to settle down and cultivate, and coincidentally had Ye Kai’s father’s recommendation—so she entered Qingling Sect.
From then on, before her strength had fully matured, she always wore a veil in public in fear that she might be recognized by demonic cultivators of the Baili Demon Lord’s faction.
It could be said that Ye Kai’s father and mother had once saved her life, and also referred her to Qingling Sect so she could cultivate in peace. That was a great favor to her. After learning that Ye Kai’s parents had died, and that Ye Kai’s father had, in his will, entrusted Ye Kai to her care, she naturally had to treat Ye Kai with great care and affection. In order to repay this life-saving grace, she showed even more concern than she did for Lin Mo.
At this moment, Yuehua realized she was wrong, but she didn’t know exactly what her mistake was. To help the thirty-some members of the Yue family take revenge, she had cultivated diligently for the sake of vengeance—what was wrong with wanting to slaughter demons and take revenge?
To repay the kindness of Ye Kai’s parents, she became even more partial toward Ye Kai—but what was wrong with that? She truly didn’t understand why she had ended up with this kind of ending. “It’s useless to say anything now. Master, I’ll be the one to take your cultivation.” Ye Kai looked at Yuehua’s anguished and heartbroken expression—he was honestly sick of seeing it. Following the method Wanwan had taught him, he activated the demonic energy in his body and began to devour the ripened fruit of the demonic seed within Yuehua’s body.
“Ye Kai, you’re truly a beast.” Yuehua stared at him with murderous hatred as she felt the spiritual energy she had painstakingly cultivated being drained away. She looked as though she wanted to slice him into a thousand pieces. But Ye Kai didn’t care in the slightest—he kept absorbing her cultivation. His realm advanced from the peak of the Qi Refinement stage to the late Foundation Establishment stage. When he sensed he was about to break through to the Golden Core stage, he finally stopped. Forming a Golden Core would still require his own effort. He had always possessed a Heavenly Spiritual Root, but had been unable to cultivate due to previous damage. For him, reaching the Golden Core stage wasn’t particularly difficult.
He sat cross-legged and began his breakthrough. He meditated for three days. When spiritual energy wasn’t enough, he simply absorbed more from Yuehua. After forming an eighth-grade Golden Core, he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, and ultimately reached the early Soul Splitting stage in one go. As for Master Yuehua, her cultivation and spiritual energy were completely drained. Her body rapidly aged, and she turned into an old woman with a head full of white hair. Seeing her like that, Ye Kai sneered in disgust. “I was originally planning to take your body, but seeing how you look now, I don’t even have the slightest interest left. Looks like you won’t live much longer either—letting you watch your own disciples’ happiness isn’t bad either.”
As he spoke, his figure flickered, and in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he returned with two female disciples from Qingzhu Peak. When they saw the corpses of their fellow sect members in the cave, they couldn’t help but feel afraid. “Ye Kai is also a demon! We must report this to Master!” Ye Kai licked his lips and pointed at Master Yuehua, who looked completely drained of vitality. “Look, isn’t that your Master right there?” he sneered. Then, right in front of Yuehua, he tore off the outer garments of the two girls.
A grotesque performance followed—seductive and sickening, turning the living into corpses. Wanwan, watching from inside the ring, found it boring. This disgusting Ye Kai really had his own twisted tricks. Hearing the screams of her own disciples, Master Yuehua was powerless. It reminded her of when she was in the demon realm, facing demons who slaughtered her family—just as helpless to resist.
Perhaps Ye Kai had grown bored, so he brought over Shen Ke’er’s corpse as well. “Since you won’t live much longer, might as well find a disciple who was somewhat close to you to keep you company,” he said. “After all, Qingling Sect still has heaps and heaps of nourishment just waiting for me to absorb.” As those words fell, Ye Kai vanished without a trace.
Only the now-aged Yuehua remained in the dark cave, lost in thought. Ye Kai’s plan was clear—while the other eleven peak masters were still not yet recovered, he would continue absorbing the cultivation of Qingling Sect’s disciples. In just half a month’s time, the cave where Master Yuehua was imprisoned had already filled with hundreds of corpses. As more and more disciples mysteriously vanished, the entire Qingling Sect was thrown into chaos and fear.
Qingzhu Peak was already deserted, with not a single disciple remaining. Seeing that the other peak masters were about to exit seclusion, Ye Kai knew he could no longer remain in Qingling Sect. He had left everything behind. The world outside was vast, filled with countless opportunities waiting for him. In the near future, Ye Kai believed he would become the overlord of this world.
Not long after Ye Kai’s departure, the other eleven peak masters of Qingling Sect began emerging from seclusion. When they learned the sect had been sealed off and that hundreds of disciples had vanished, a heavy expression appeared on Master Fengqing’s face. “It seems we’ll need to summon the other peak masters to discuss this matter together,” he said. Inside the main hall of Canglan Peak, all the peak masters gathered. Seeing that Master Yuehua was not present, Master Fengqing once again attempted to send her a voice transmission—still assuming she was in seclusion—but received no response.
At that moment, a disciple from Panyue Peak hurriedly reported to Master Tianchen, “Master, Qingzhu Peak… there’s not a single person left.” All the peak masters looked at one another in astonishment. Not a single person? How could that be possible?
When they arrived at Qingzhu Peak, they were completely stunned. After searching for a long time, they couldn’t find even one disciple. On the contrary, they found many corpses—disciples of Qingzhu Peak—who had died in the exact same way as those on their own peaks earlier, all drained of spiritual energy and turned into shriveled husks. The first thought that came to mind was that Lin Mo had returned—but on second thought, that didn’t seem likely. Even if he had recovered, why hadn’t he attacked them while they were still healing?
After all, in single combat, only Master Fengqing could put up a fight against Lin Mo. Everyone else would be doomed. At this moment, Master Fengqing said, “It seems there is another demonic cultivator harming fellow disciples. Or perhaps, Lin Mo isn’t the one responsible.” His speculation left the other peak masters deep in thought. But the most urgent task was still to find the missing disciples—and Master Yuehua.
Inside the cave where Yuehua was imprisoned, her breath was faint, her soul on the verge of departing. Staring at the mountain-like pile of corpses of Qingling Sect disciples before her, she weakly murmured, “Where… where exactly did I go wrong?” She had been pondering this question for some time, but even now, she couldn’t figure out the answer. “If there were no demons in the world, would this kind of situation still happen?” Bit by bit, she slowly began to understand. “As expected, all demons deserve to die… They all deserve to die.” Only by slaughtering every last demon would she be free from this torment.
She hated—hated herself for not having the power to destroy every demon. To die like this? She simply couldn’t accept it. A trace of blood-red appeared in Yuehua’s eyes, and the dried-up demonic seed inside her began absorbing her immense hatred, unexpectedly regaining signs of life and slowly merging with her body. As it fused with her, Yuehua’s body began to change. Black demonic energy surged forth, and in an instant, the walls and floor of the cave were filled with the words “Slay Demons,” carved by the demonic aura.
At that moment, Yuehua’s skin returned to the appearance she had in her prime. However, her hair remained snow-white, and her eyes were now completely filled with a blood-red hue. In an instant, the demonic energy born from her overwhelming hatred shattered the cave’s barrier and pierced through the clouds. The one who had once slaughtered demons had, in the end, become a true demon herself.
“All demons—must die.”
Yuehua burst out of the cave, left Qingling Sect, and began her journey of demon slaughter. At that very moment when the overwhelming demonic energy surged into the sky, the eleven peak masters of Qingling Sect saw Yuehua—now fully demonized—leaving. Her speed was too fast; they simply couldn’t catch up. When they arrived at the cave she had burst from, they were all struck speechless by the scene before them.
The words “Demon Slayer” were carved densely across the entire cave. And in a corner, they found the corpses of the missing Qingling Sect disciples. In that moment, they all discovered the truth—Yuehua had fallen into demonic ways and taken the lives of several hundred Qingling Sect disciples.
From that day on, the cultivation world began to spread tales of a pair of demonic figures who had once been master and disciple.