Chapter 34 - Will you hate me?

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 - Will you hate me?

Jua Gu looked down at the young boy staring up at him with fear and confusion.

His eyes lingered on Ying Mao’s face.

Under the moonlight those cool green eyes strangely appeared Steel grey. So much like the pair of eyes that had once looked at Jua Gu with nothing but love and affection.

For a brief second, he became dazed.

That old feeling came rushing back so suddenly that his chest tightened.

Jua Gu quickly raised his hand and gently covered Ying Mao’s eyes, as if hiding them would somehow stop the memories from surfacing. He cleared his throat, but when he finally spoke, his voice came out quieter than he expected.

"Ying Mao..."

The little boy made a small sound beneath his palm.

"Will you hate me if I’m evil?"

Jua Gu’s fingers twitched slightly.

Just like that person did.

He hated demonic cultivators. He hated me for becoming one.

The thought hurt more than Jua Gu wanted to admit.

Will you hate me too?

Ying Mao’s soft lashes fluttered beneath his palm. His little hands tightened around Jua Gu’s shirt, holding onto him as though he was afraid Jua Gu might disappear.

"I will never hate you, brother."

His voice was small, but there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation.

"I know you will never hurt me."

Jua Gu slowly removed his hand from the boy’s eyes.

He looked down at Ying Mao, meeting those earnest green eyes again. There was so much trust in them.

For some reason, Jua Gu suddenly felt a little guilty for even asking.

"Okay..."

He reached out and gently rubbed the top of Ying Mao’s head.

"Then trust me, because I will never hurt you or betray you." He paused for a moment before continuing, his expression becoming more serious. "But you should know, Ying Mao... I’m not a nice person."

Ying Mao simply stared up at him.

"I will hurt the people who hurt me," Jua Gu said quietly. "I won’t just stand there and let someone hurt me again. And if someone hurts the people I care about, I won’t stand back and watch that either."

He had already learned what happened when he allowed other people to decide how much pain he was supposed to endure.

He wasn’t going to do that anymore.

"Nor would I." Ying Mao’s quiet voice made Jua Gu look down.

The little boy was smiling.

His smile was still soft and innocent, but there was a strangeness in his eyes. "I will never let anyone hurt you either, Jua-ge."

Before Jua Gu could say anything, Ying Mao wrapped his small arms tightly around him.

"So always stay with me," he whispered.

Jua Gu froze for a moment.

Then his expression softened, and he slowly returned the embrace.

"Alright," he murmured.

Neither of them noticed the faint change in Ying Mao’s eyes.

Hidden beneath his lowered lashes, a tiny red glow flickered in his beautiful green irises.

Demonic essence.

It appeared for only a moment before disappearing again, leaving Ying Mao completely unaware of what had just happened.

Jua Ge gently pulled the young child away from him and cupped his face between his hands. His eyes wandered over the room, and his expression immediately tightened at the sight of the blood covering the floor.

There was far too much of it.

"Let’s clean up this mess before the servants accuse us for murder," he muttered.

His gaze shifted toward Ying Di, who was still standing nearby like an obedient puppet. There was still a large, ugly wound at the back of his head, and even though he was technically dead, the sight was enough to make Jua Gu’s stomach turn.

Jua Gu crooked his finger, silently ordering him closer.

Ying Di immediately obeyed.

When he was close enough, Jua Gu reached out and touched the wound on the back of his head. A faint red glow appeared at his fingertip. The demonic energy spread across the injury, and the torn flesh slowly closed.

Within seconds, the gaping wound disappeared completely.

Even the hair that had been destroyed around the injury grew back, leaving Ying Di’s head looking almost completely normal.

Jua Gu pulled his hand away.

"There. Much better."

Ying Mao stared at Ying Di with wide eyes.

"Wow..." The little boy looked up at Jua Gu with open admiration. "That was so cool! Can you teach me, Jua-ge?"

"No."

Jua Gu answered so quickly that Ying Mao blinked.

"This is bad magic. It will hurt you, so no. I will teach you good spells" He rubbed the back of his aching head and sighed.

That tiny bit of healing had been enough to drain what little demonic energy he had managed to gather. The energy that had originated from his dantian was already completely depleted again.

Wonderful.

He had finally managed to awaken his demonic cultivation, only to use every last bit of it within the same night.

Jua Gu looked toward Ying Di, who was standing silently in front of him.

The corpse puppet’s dull eyes remained fixed on him, filled with nothing but complete obedience and an almost unsettling reverence.

Jua Gu wasn’t particularly interested in thinking about that right now.

"Take a rag and clean this place up," he ordered. "I want it spotless."

Ying Di bowed his head slightly.

"Yes, Master."

He immediately got to work.

Ying Di moved around the room with stiff but surprisingly efficient movements, wiping away the blood covering the floor and cleaning the remnants of the demonic formation Jua Gu had drawn earlier. He carefully scrubbed away the dark red markings until there was barely any trace left.

He even cleaned the bloodstains from the metal angel statue and polished the floor around it.

Thankfully, the house wasn’t completely covered in carpet. Only the area beside the bed had carpeting, which made the cleanup considerably easier. After several minutes, the worst of the mess had disappeared, and the room no longer looked like the scene of a brutal attack.

Jua Gu watched Ying Di work while leaning against the side of the bed, still feeling the lingering weakness in his body.

At least this problem is solved.

Ying Di eventually finished cleaning and disappeared into the bathroom. A moment later, he came rushing back out, vigorously drying his hands with a towel.

Jua Gu glanced at him.

"Why are you rushing?"

Ying Di stopped.

Before he could answer, hurried footsteps sounded from the hallway.

The butler rushed into the room, breathing heavily.

"Elder Master, the doctor is here. We should—"

He stopped.

His eyes slowly traveled around the room.

The blood was gone.

The floor was clean.

The angel statue was spotless.

And Ying Di was standing perfectly upright in the middle of the room as though nothing had happened.

The butler stared at him in complete confusion.