Chapter 696 - 697: Fear

Chapter 696: Chapter 697: Fear

Donggua.

A demon who had transcended vulgar interests, a demon who wholeheartedly wanted to live and didn’t really want to die.

If you set aside what she had done as a demon, her recent experiences certainly deserved the title—miserable melon.

But if you counted what Donggua had done as a demon for her mission, saying it was karmic retribution and she deserved it wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Bad deeds weren’t automatically canceled out by bad luck.

Moreover, Donggua clearly hadn’t hit rock bottom yet. The evidence was obvious—she wasn’t dead yet.

Or rather, Donggua also had her own kind of good fortune.

At the very least, surviving the Buddhist sect’s massive purge in the Western Niu Continent required enormous luck.

The Radiant Buddha had also admitted that at least three times, he had thought Donggua wouldn’t make it.

But luck probably had a limited quota.

A Donggua who had survived three near-death situations couldn’t exactly expect the rest of her demon life to be any better.

After surviving a great disaster, good fortune follows—this was just a comforting phrase, not to be taken literally.

After all, you couldn’t exactly say—you didn’t die from this, and you’re fine, but there’s plenty of suffering ahead.

Of course, suffering came in levels.

As a demon living within Tianyan Sect was the top tier of suffering.

Tianyan Sect, which had nearly faced annihilation from demon turmoil in the past, naturally wouldn’t prepare anything good for Donggua.

Donggua’s treatment during her time at Tianyan Sect could be simply summarized as—less comfortable than being used as morning chanting material by Wukong every day.

Tianyan Sect clearly had an interrogation standard and process, but when Donggua experienced it, she naturally received extra enthusiastic hospitality—the process and standards were naturally doubled.

Naturally, besides interrogation, there were also extra activities. After all, Donggua’s value couldn’t be that shallow—Donggua also had to help with some simple little research.

The research target and subject were, without question, Donggua herself.

From spiritual energy tolerance to illusion resistance, from injury recovery to spiritual energy flow.

At first, Donggua could still hold on, relying on the flower Xu Linglong had left in her sea of consciousness.

Tianyan Sect cultivators had also noticed the flower in Donggua’s spiritual consciousness, recognized its unusual nature, and naturally did some research on it.

But Donggua had no willingness to cooperate, so many attempts could only be superficial—otherwise Donggua would very likely become a fool.

Time naturally didn’t stop for Donggua. Twelve hours a day, there would naturally be times of solitude.

When Donggua was alone, the only part of her body she could move was her fingers.

In this situation, to pass the long nights, Donggua could only constantly replay everything from the past.

No matter how much she tried to fool herself, to shake off negative thoughts,

Donggua had already understood that to Xu Linglong, she was most likely just a discarded piece—picked up and placed on the chessboard at random. If useful, no loss. If useless, no harm either.

When the situation was unclear, she could be used to probe Chu Xingchen’s intentions and next moves.

The flower planted in her sea of consciousness wasn’t for contacting Xu Linglong—it was most likely to monitor Donggua’s own state and location.

At first, Donggua had naturally noticed something was wrong, but at that time, she could only fool herself.

Perhaps when on the verge of collapse, people would instinctively do something they knew was meaningless, with the clear purpose of numbing themselves.

As long as you kept doing things, your brain would temporarily set aside the collapse.

When Donggua thought about how her time at Tianyan Sect would be measured in thousands of years, the collapse naturally came flooding in.

Despair would spread, multiply, and stir every nerve in the body.

Even if Donggua became a true fool, she wouldn’t believe Xu Linglong would tear Tianyan Sect apart just to rescue her and take her away from this damn place.

Now the only thing Donggua could choose, the only thing available to choose, was—sell out her teammates.

If Xu Linglong, as a Celestial Demon, had sold her out, then why couldn’t Donggua sell out Xu Linglong?

After all, Xu Linglong wouldn’t tear Tianyan Sect apart just to kill Donggua for wanting to be a traitor.

Although Donggua didn’t know what insider information she had, in this situation, who cared anymore.

Days with not a shred of hope, where you couldn’t even die, were truly...

"Well, still full of energy, I see."

A voice that made Donggua physically resistant came through. Through the hair partially obscuring her vision, she saw the figure standing at the door, looking extremely leisurely—Cui Hao.

Behind Cui Hao stood Li Yingling and Li Xingtian.

Donggua’s entire cultivation was completely suppressed, her spiritual consciousness also compressed entirely within her body by the formation.

The real Cui Hao had naturally not come to see Donggua. After all, seeing hatred that went to the soul made even Cui Hao somewhat uneasy, not to mention he didn’t have time to really come chat with Donggua.

There was still a third senior sister at the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect, and Cui Hao also needed to prepare to return to Chen Baiqing’s side and be an obedient junior brother.

Chu Xingchen looked at Donggua’s pale face, her eyes a mixture of despair and madness.

Right now, several chains radiating profound intent suspended Donggua’s four limbs, with additional chains wrapped from her waist to her throat, pulled extremely tight.

Donggua’s voice was hoarse to the point of being nearly silent:

"Heh... Tianyan Sect truly knows how to take disgusting people to the extreme."

"Person?" Chu Xingchen’s tone was strange. "How come I don’t see any person in front of me? Could my eyesight be bad?"

"Do you see one? You... demon?"

Donggua’s eyes were somewhat bloodshot:

"No need to play these word games. What you want to ask, I’ve already confessed. You know I haven’t held anything back. Why bother coming here to see me again?"

Chu Xingchen took out a spiritual stone from his spatial ring, then lightly pinched it between his fingers, aiming at Donggua’s head—which she couldn’t even move:

"Naturally to mock your stupidity and your self-righteous loyalty. What else would I come here for—to apologize to you?"

Donggua closed her eyes at this, then gritted her teeth:

"Yes, everything you say is right."

Only now did Donggua understand—perhaps Xigua had truly been the smartest one.

Xigua had understood long ago that sometimes living was worse than dying, and sometimes dying early was easier.

At least she wouldn’t have to face Cui Hao’s smug expression anymore.

Donggua closed her eyes, waiting for Chu Xingchen to flick the spiritual stone at her head again.

Chu Xingchen held the spiritual stone in his hand and said slowly:

"I’ve read the intelligence you handed over. Very detailed. For things you didn’t know, you were honest and didn’t make things up. This lord is very pleased."

"Just looking at your current state, it seems your stay at Tianyan Sect hasn’t been comfortable."

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

"You also know this lord is kind-hearted and can’t stand seeing others suffer... As for demons, probably?"

"In light of your abandoning darkness for light, this lord plans to reward you. State your wish."

Donggua opened her eyes:

"Kill me!"

Chu Xingchen shook his head lightly at this, his tone sighing:

"Didn’t I say it? This lord is kind-hearted. Killing is so cruel."

"You also know that besides being kind-hearted, this lord has another virtue—generosity."

Chu Xingchen paused, his lips curving into a smile as he looked at Donggua:

"How about... this lord lets you go?"

Donggua’s face showed not a trace of joy. Her already pale complexion turned even more deathly white.

The chains wrapping her body began to rattle.

Fear would control the body.

These words were more terrifying than fear itself.

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