Stuck in between a newly turned demon and a woman worse than a demon, Xiu Xiang wondered which heavenly being she had offended for her to end up in this predicament.
"Xiu Xiang? You're Xiu Xiang?!" Song Yi Yan cried. eh stared back with wide eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. However, that look of disbelief quickly turned into that of hate. She could still remember the burning pain and agony upon her neck and face when Xiu Xiang nearly burnt her to death in front of the cultivation world.
It was only a few years ago when her looks were finally restored and people weren't pointing fingers at her as if they were looking at a monster. The pain and humiliation that Song Yi Yan had gone through was something she would never forget unless she wreaked the same destruction onto Xiu Xiang as she did her.
If looks could kill, Xiu Xiang was sure she would be dead on the spot. She could sense the killing intent seeping from Song Yi Yan's body. One glance was all it took for her to know that Song Yi Yan held a burning torch of hatred for her.
"You're still alive after all! Heaven is truly on my side to deliver you right to me. I'll return the favor ten-fold for what you've done onto me years ago!" No sooner had Song Yi Yan shouted her resolve, she charged right for her.
Xiu Xiang dodged the incoming whip, missing it just by a second. The tip of the whip landed on Wang Yue, who was inches behind her. The whip cracked loudly but it wasn't until Wang Yue flung into the rock wall, creating a human indent that Xiu Xiang realized just how dangerous Song Yi Yan's whip really was.
"You! You made me hurt Senior Brother!" Song Yi Yan roared furiously.
"Xiu... Xiang!" Wang Yue's voice sounded dangerously behind her. He crawled out of the human hole he created. His blood-red eyes swept the surroundings, landing on Song Yi Yan. A glint of recognition flashed in his eyes. A massive red aura swirled around his body, giving off a bloody odor.
"What did you do to him? Why is Senior Brother like this?!" Song Yi Yan accused. She watched the man she had been in love with for years look at her like she was his number one enemy.
"I didn't do anything. He turned into a demon himself," Xiu Xiang hollered angrily. She really didn't do anything this time. She wasn't even the Demoness anymore. How could she possibly do anything?
The more Xiu Xiang looked at Wang Yue, the more confused she was. Only one person was able to turn humans into crazed demons like this and it was the Demoness. This wasn't done by her so...
A theory suddenly struck her.
When Xiu Xiang took over the Demoness's body, she naturally assumed that the soul of the Demoness ceased to exist. What if the Demoness's soul never went anywhere but had been hiding inside her all this time? If that was true, when Xiu Xiang was reborn into her real body, could the Demoness's soul had somehow awakened as well? Was she actually somewhere closeby watching all this happen?
A chill ran up her spine. If the Demoness had indeed been reborn as well, Xiu Xiang could only imagine the horrible destruction that the Demoness would bring. She would know because she had read it all. It was one thing to enjoy fiction, but to live it? To think she had enjoyed the utter mass destruction that the Demoness wrought within the novel. What was even worse, the hero who was supposed to bring about the end of the Demoness was no longer human. If the two of them were to join forces... Xiu Xiang didn't want to think about it.
She was so lost in her thoughts, she barely had the time to dodge WAng Yue's claws. The swipe of his sharp nails brushed against her shoulder, creating four bloody streaks. Her already tattered shirt was a sight to behold. The shoulder part of her shirt had turned into bloody ribbons from Wang Yue's attack.
Xiu Xiang didn't have time to access her injury. Song Yi Yan had used the chance to attack her too. She escaped death by nearly a second but it still wasn't enough. Song Yi Yan was already attacking again.
She was done for. This is it. If she wasn't so injured, she could easily bring Snog Yi Yan down. Just as she was about to accept defeat, Wang Yue suddenly jumped in front of her to take the brunt of the attack.
Was he saving her? Impossible! He shouldn't even be able to think!
A horrible large gash slashed across his abdomen. Blood seeped through the gash, bleeding into his white robes, creating a bloody bloom like flower effect.
Xiu Xiang couldn't contain the shock within her when she saw that Wang Yue had jumped in to help her. She couldn't understand his actions. She was sure that WAng Yue hated her. Fro what reason was he helping her?
A hideous growl rippled out of WAng Yue's throat as he charged at Song Yi Yan like a crazy beast.
"Senior Brother! It's me! Why are you attacking me?!" Song Yi Yan cried. She struggled to fight against WAng Yue, depending more than she was attacking. The fight between the two of them kicked up dust and leaves. Each attack thundered loudly. If anyone was nearby, they would definitely come up the mountain to investigate.
Upon this realization, Xiu Xiang knew she couldn't stick around. If her enemies were going to fight it out, she wasn't going to intervene. She gave one last look at the demon Wang Yue. With a shake of her head, she turned her back on him and fled.
She sped up the mountain as fast as she could. The more she climbed, the more she recognized the place. She could hear a familiar sound. It was the whipping of harsh winds in the distance.
It wasn't until she came upon a clearing that she realized where she was. At the end of the clearing was a cliff with a dangerous drop and heavy winds. She had somehow found her way to the Cliff of Abyss. The cave that she woke up in must be the same cave that Wei Xing and she had taken shelter in years ago.
This was the place where everything started, the place where she bid her human life farewell and turned into eh Demoness. What are the odds that she would be here again with her life teetering on the edge of death?
Along the edge of the cliff was a large rock with the words she had inscribed the day she escaped the bottom of the cliff. She saw that someone had inscribed something next to her words. Before she could take a closer look, she felt a murderous aura behind her.
With a leap, she managed to avoid an attack. She landed several meters away just in time to see that where she had been standing before was a giant crack.
Song Yi Yan had managed to thwart of Wang Yue and followed her all the way here. Her clothes were just as bloodied and mangled as hers, but she didn't seem to care. Her eyes were burning with rage. the moment Song Yi Yan realized where they were, a smirk erupted.
"Well, would you look at this? Isn't this the place where we killed you once? How fitting for us to be here once again. It seems that you're fated to die here again." Song YI Yan cackled at the thought.
Xiu Xiang wanted to laugh. With the attack that Song Yi Yan inflicted just now, Xiu Xiang knew that she was heavily injured just like her. This evened the playing field. Song YI Yan was going to have to think again if she thought that Xiu Xiang was going to die easily by her hands. She already died once and she wasn't about to die a second time, especially by the hands of her first enemy.
"I told you before that when I get out of that hellhole, the first thing I'm going to do is use that whip of yours to torture you slowly."
Song Yi Yan had just seen Xiu Xiang point to the whip in her hand when she suddenly disappeared on the spot. Before she realized what had happened, Xiu Xiang had already stolen the whip from her hand and retreated to a distance.
A look of utter shock fell on her face. Song Yi Yan didn't know how Xiu Xiang could setal her whip so easily. Before, she could barely dodge any of her attacks. How was this possible?
As if Xiu Xiang could read her thoughts, her question was quickly answered.
"You may not have realized it but your spiritual energy had already dwindled after fighting with Wang Yue. Humans who have been forcefully turned into a demon need to suck on human spiritual energy to survive. It's how they eat and get stronger," Xiu Xiang explained. She watched as Song Yi Yan's face turned ashen. She could already see an accusation forming in that bimbo's face.
"You! You really did do something to Senior Brother!" Song Yi Yan pointed a finger at her.
Xiu Xiang rolled her eyes and simply replied with a snap of the whip. Like a sharp blade, the tip of the whip snapped at Song Yi Yan's hand. Blood gushed out as a hand went flying in the air and landed in between Song Yi Yan and Xiu Xiang.
"My hand! My hand!" Song Yi Yan fell to her knees as she clutched the bloody stump of her wrist to her chest. For someone like Sogn Yi Yan, she was well-loved and cared for by Master Feng Mian so she never suffered any grievances. This would be the second time that she would be heavily injured and be injured by the same. She glared angrily at Xiu Xiang, multiple threats and curses already forming in her mind. However, she didn't' get the chance to spew them out.
She had managed to blink once when Xiu Xiang snapped the whip forward. A sharp pain crossed through her. She didn't even get the chance to register the pain when another crack of the whip sounded. Then came another, and another.
Song Yi Yan curled into a ball as pain rippled through her. A bloody pool was slowly forming under her from all the opened wounds.
Every stroke of the whip brought about a painful memory of the past to the forefront of Xiu Xiang's mind. She had suffered miserably for no reason other than the fact that she was weaker than everyone else. She once told Master Feng Mian that if she were to ever see Song Yi Yan and Wang Yue outside, she wouldn't hesitate to kill them. She still hasn't changed her mind about this. She couldn't kill Song Yi Yan when the cultivators invaded the Demon Realm because she needed her as a distraction. Now was her chance. She needed to uproot this trouble before it comes back to bite her in the butt.
She swung the whip as hard as she could. Once the whip struck Song Yi Yan, she was as good as dead.
BAM!
Another force of spiritual energy met with the tip of the whip, causing a thunderous boom. A cloud of dust scattered everywhere blinding Xiu Xiang for a second.
When the dust cloud finally settled, Xiu Xiang saw that backup for Song Yi Yan had arrived. She recognized two out of the three disciples; it was Ren Wuji and Liu Li. They had hunted her down and forced her off the Cliff of Abyss.
It would seem that heaven truly wasn't on her side. She had gotten lucky with beating Song Yi Yan because her spiritual energy had been sucked up by Wang Yue. With Ren Wuji and Liu Li as reinforcement, Xiu Xiang was bound to repeat the past again, only this time she wasn't so sure she would survive if she jumped off the Cliff of Abyss.
"You! Who are you? Why'd you attack disciples of Tian Ling Sect?" Ren Wuji shouted. His sword hand shook as he pointed the tip of the blade at her. In his other arm was the unconscious bloody Song Yi Yan.
Xiu Xiang never thought much of Ren Wuji back then. He was Wang Yue's follower but secretly, he held contempt for Wang Yue because to him, Wang Yue was the person who stole the woman he liked and that woman happened to be Song Yi Yan.
"Those eyes... Xiu Xiang?" Liu Li said suddenly.
For Liu Li to recognized her instantly, Xiu Xiang was surprised. She knew that Liu Li didn't want to kill her back then, but she still hunted her down anyways. Xiu Xiang held no malice for Liu Li but she wasn't going to forgive her either.
"Liu Li! Did you just call her Xiu Xiang? Are you telling me she's that waste that we killed off a long time ago?!" Ren Wuji exclaimed.
"Killed off? Junior Brother, what are you talking about?" The senior disciple next to Ren Wuji couldn't believe his ears. No one in the sect knew how or why Xiu Xiang had turned into the Demoness. It was clear from Ren Wuji's words who had started it all.
Before the senior disciple could question Ren Wuji, a flash of light erupted next to him, then blood squirted from his neck. A look of disbelief flickered in the senior disciple's eyes as the light slowly dwindled and perished.
"This is a secret that will be taken to the grave. No one shall ever know about this!" Ren Wuji hissed.
Liu Li stood silently at Ren Wuji's side. She didn't seem fazed by what he had done as if it had nothing to do with her. This was something Xiu Xiang didn't like about her. It was as if she felt no human emotions toward her peers.
"Even after all these years, you guys are still scum."