Amarathia

Warning: Gore. Allusions to rape (of a side character).

Song Heqing and Qin Yan were flying along the clouds. It would take several days of travel to reach their destination.

Qin Yan did his best not to think about the random increases in anger points, and within a day it had stopped. Instead he played around with ‘system chat’.

It was good at searching up information based on small details he might not have noticed, but he had to word questions carefully or he’d keep getting the response of ‘question too vague’ and random statistics that weren’t helpful--just like in a Gaagle search.

He felt like he wasn't fully utilizing its abilities.

The location of the destroyed Phoenix Demonic Sect was in the West, tucked into the center of tangling forests filled with demonic beasts, and the population density of the surrounding areas was low. After all, who would want to live near that haunted and desolate wasteland? Although Eagle Sect had carefully purified the air and prevented powerful ghosts and walking corpses from appearing, it was still haunted and empty.

All of the sect’s treasures were gone, only the walls and buildings stood partially intact after multiple raiders stole the furniture and other items.

Song Heqing and Qin Yan set their feet on the ground in front of the main gate.

It had been smashed wide open, splinters littering the ground. A few faded demonic warding charms hung off the towers. They decided to walk through the area carefully, because that man with the brother complex -Shen Wuming- could be lurking around. He ought to be guarding the Blue Lady’s tomb like a crazed dog, and it would be possible to ‘aggro’ him if they arrived too directly.

And so they quieted their footsteps as they went.

There were no firebirds now that the demonic Qi dissipated, nor other life besides a few sparse weeds. Dust filtered up from wind, and in it Qin Yan could almost see scenes of the past replaying in front of his eyes. It did not seem like five years had passed. His mind felt a bit fuzzy, as though he were walking through a dream.

He didn’t want to think about those things he’d done.

He shouldn’t think about it.

It’s all behind him. But was it?

There was an arm that wrapped around his back, and Qin Yan jolted.

“It’s okay,” said Song Heqing in a soothing tone.

Qin Yan took in a breath.

For the first time, he truly recognized that Phoenix Demonic Sect was a wreckage of what it once was. Wangzi Zhu was dead. He felt like his information over it all was lacking.

Was it truly a coincidence that System S had him start his new life as a demonic eggplant here? The seed his soul was put into could have hypothetically been grown in any region with high amounts of demonic energy. So why?

Qin Yan blurted, “What happened when you fought Wangzi? Who was there? I want to know.”

Song Heqing paused, a little surprised at the suddenness of the question, but it made sense based on Qin Yan’s usual habits. In fact, it only made sense that Qin Yan would want to know the fate of the person who had tormented him so; Wangzi Zhu. 

“I suppose it was not a matter I thought worth bringing up,” Song Heqing’s tone turned harsher. “It was just a matter of wiping out the existence of a scum.”

Yes, yes avenging families and all that.

Qin Yan stared at him. “Sooo?”

“…I will elaborate.”

“Oh, I remember,” added Qin Yan, “Cui Luoyang told me that Eagle Sect only decided to attack Phoenix Demonic Sect for the treasures or something.”

Song Heqing carefully looked around the edge of a building, and seeing the coast was clear, answered, “That’s correct. Grandmaster Mu’ren isn’t the most righteous man. He cares more about the Sect’s reputation and keeping his title more so than good or evil.”

With words condemning as those, it was clear that Song Heqing did not like the Grandmaster of his own sect. But really didn’t have a reason to like him.

Where was the Eagle Sect when his parents were murdered at the hands of Phoenix Demonic Sect?

They were the closest major sect to where his family’s clan was located, yet they didn’t send aide promptly enough.  

After joining Eagle Sect, Song Heqing learned that was because the Grandmaster and elders feared Wangzi’s black-fire, that life devouring Qi he cultivated from centuries of resentment. He had learned that ‘righteous’ sects only are called so out of shallow beliefs. Only when Wangzi Zhu was weakening from insanity did Eagle Sect feel the need to stop his wanton acts.

Eagle Sect was just a place for Song Heqing to accomplish his goals of saving Qin Yan and revenge. The number of individuals he gave a smidgen of trust to were all within Moonstone Peak.

…

“Wait,” said Qin Yan, throwing out a pebble over the rubble of Phoenix Demonic Sect. Alas, he was not the character type to let a flashback arc remain a steady flashback arc, and had interrupted Song Heqing’s story. “So why did you join Eagle Sect then and not somewhere better? There has to be sects with a better Grandmaster, right?”

Song Heqing had a doting expression.

“For you. Eagle Sect was the closest place with an expert on soul techniques, who is now my shizun. If I were to join a sect based off avenging my family alone, then it would have been Kang Sect, who are known for their abhorrence towards demonic cultivators. But they would not have been able to bring you back.”

Qin Yan felt a mushy feeling in his heart. 

“Er...I get it. Okay. You can continue.”

Song Heqing hummed, slyly glancing at Qin Yan's shy face.

“Which part do you want to know more about? The negotiations with Phoenix Demonic Sect beforehand naturally were only a pretense, and the battle preparations went along without anything out of place. If you were hoping that I had seen System S there, I did not. I only saw that scum for the first time when it attacked you.”

Qin Yan furrowed his brow and thought. “The main battle. I want to know more about the people there at the time.”

If ‘Crimson Rain on Wisteria Captivates the World’ detailed events of the novel, and System S was aware of them when trying to turn Qin Yan into a demon...and, if the fact Qin Yan first transmigrated into Wangzi's Demonic Sect around the protagonist wasn't a coincidence, perhaps something of importance was supposed to have happened here. Ah, but, knowing the the novel would be useful…if only Qin Yan could remember it! Still, it would not hurt to know the details.

Song Heqing said, “The only major battle I was present for was against Wangzi Zhu and his Thousand-Eye Demon Lamp. That was where most of our casualties came from.”

Qin Yan remembered Bai Lian telling a part of this story at his welcoming party¹in ch 20.

Hm…

…

The state of the demonic sect was disorderly when Eagle Sect attacked. The remaining demonic cultivators were vehement, but unable to launch any great measures because of a few of their powerful elders defected before the battle took place.

When Eagle Sect broke through inner gates of Phoenix Demonic Sect, what first greeted Song Heqing's vision was the image of a crazed Wangzi openly having sex with another man on the courtyard. He didn’t even turn to glance at the intruding righteous sect members.

The man he was partnering with did not appear to be enjoying it...and, it was perhaps notable that this unfortunate man turned out to be Huiliang Wen, who was later accepted into Eagle Sect.

It was a sickening sight, but what had to be given more attention was the Thousand Eye Demon Lamp in Wangzi’s possession.

Wangzi Zhu, deranged as he was, had not completely forgotten to arm himself against the intruders. The lamp glowed a deep yellow-red, and was small enough that he’d hooked it onto his belt. With one of his hands latched onto it, pumping his demonic Qi inside, tiny eyeballs began to swell over the yellow paper with bright red pupils, like thousands of Asian beetles crowding together along a wall.

“Caution!” someone shouted.

Within the fifty surrounding Eagle Sect Members, there was almost no one who did not leap backwards while shielding their face. Song Heqing was no exception, and when he peeked under his palm, he saw that only Lord Sun of Dauntless Peak hadn’t retreated a single step.

Lord Sun²There is a bit more about her in glossary., full title— Sun Daiyu, the Bringer of Dawn’s Light, was regarded as the most powerful cultivator at Eagle Sect, and the battle with Wangzi had only driven that reputation in further. She the type of person who always held their back straight, and her golden hair would flip along with the wind in a way that seemed to defy physics.

She drew her blade, Dawn Chime, as soon as Wangzi had started activating the Thousand-Eye Demon Lamp, and a blinding white light flooded out. She took a few paces towards Wangzi.

There was suddenly an anxious whisper beside Song Heqing.

“Lord Sun…” Bai Lian said. She gripped Butterfly Wing in her palm, and it looked as though she was about to rush forward towards Wangzi and attack.

Song Heqing grabbed her wrist. “You will die.”

“But how can she face it alone?! It’s a disaster level artifact! It…” Anger entered her sweet voice, “The Grandmaster has already left towards the treasury…!”

Song Heqing was not surprised that the Grandmaster had gone off to ‘fight other foes’. In all fairness, his earth-type Qi was not a great match against Wangzi’s demonic fire.

He just replied, “Lord Sun must know her own limits, or she would not approach.”

Bai Lian swore profanities under her breath at Mu’ren Tianshu, then ran in the opposite direction where a few disciples were fighting giant centipedes. Since her goal was probably to assist them, or just vent her anger, Song Heqing no longer worried about it.

There was a disturbing noise that soared above the sounds of swords crashing and battle cries. A bubbling and popping noise. It was the sound of the thousand eyes on the Demon Lamp squishing against each other.

A demon soul was forced into the vessel of the Thousand-Eye Demon Lamp. It required a substantial amount of demonic Qi to activate, but the effect was devastating. If one made eye-contact with any of the eyes, then that eye would burst out of the lamp fast as lightening. It would strike and burrow into a cultivator’s body, tearing through their meridians until they became a waste and their core was shattered.

Of course, the demon eyes were searching for demonic Qi users to suck the energy from, but were not intelligent and would attack any living creature within sight.

Oh, so just don’t make eye contact? Not that easy. This is an OP weapon.

If any eye spotted your figure within a certain range, it would still attack. Making eye contact just made it easier for the eye to find its target because its favorite spot to burrow inside one’s body was through the eye socket. In theory, if one’s cultivation and Qi strength surpassed the user’s of the lamp they can destroy the demon eye within their veins.

But who would want to risk that? Those eyeballs were already creepy enough.

Simply put, one could not allow themselves to be struck by a single eye.

In any case, that was why all but Sun Daiyu had retreated a long-distance away, about 80 meters³Ancient measurements have been converted to modern terms for reader convenience..

Wangzi laughed loudly, crazily.

Song Heqing looked through a small crack in his hand to survey the situation.

One-thousand eyes were bursting from the lamp in all directions like mushy balls of paste, pink veins like spider webs, and the long optic nerve trailing behind them burned a demonic crimson.

The range was farther than expected.

A blood curdling scream rang from a man a few paces from Song Heqing. He crumpled to the ground, convulsing. His skin shriveled up like a slug doused in salt, his hair turning grey.

“Help…!” He garbled out, “HELP ME! Aagh…”

Song Heqing knew that man was assured to die. He lifted White Mist and cut the stalk of an eye rushing towards him, then rapidly flew a distance away.

There was a small bulge on the neck of the man who had been invaded by the demon eye.

It swelled until a lumpy tumor appeared, then a glob of white and red flesh popped out with a splatter of blood. Rolling over the ground, that eyeball returned towards the Thousand Eye Lamp.

Other disciples were suffering the same fate.

Amarathia

This flashback scene won't take too long, and well, it's a bit past overdue to see Wangzi's death battle, but here it is. I know that I had fun writing epic battle scene lulz so I hope that it is enjoyed by some. This also will give a bit more meat to side characters...and lead to an important discovery.