ATLAS TRANSLATES

Xing Shuishui hated when strangers pulled her hair, especially people she disliked. She bit down on Guan Wushan’s hand.

“Don’t. Touch. Me,” she said coldly.

Guan Wushan looked at her expressionlessly and threw her against the wall. The impact was intense. Xing Shuishui hit her head, feeling like her internal organs would spill from her mouth. Her head remained in shadow, giving her a sense of impending death.

Guan Wushan gripped her throat, whispering in her ear: “Xue Jiuling, you’re at my mercy now. Get this straight – you don’t have the power to resist. You can only beg for mercy!”

A red flash appeared as bloody nails materialized in his palm. The thin nails were carved with evil curses. Guan Wushan raised his hand, ready to send them flying at Xing Shuishui.

Xing Shuishui laughed as blood dripped from her forehead to her chin. She said softly, “If He Liansheng knew how you were treating me, he would kill you.”

Guan Wushan didn’t move his leg, keeping her dress pinned filthily under his foot. He leaned down and said, “Well then – let him find this place first, if he can.”

The bloody nails tore through the air, stopping just a finger’s width from her skin. Xing Shuishui closed her eyes but felt no pain of flesh being torn.

The delicate cloud pattern on her wrist flashed. She frowned and opened her eyes. The jade bracelet He Liansheng had insisted she wear emitted brilliant white light, blocking the attack. With a clang, the nails were deflected to the opposite wall, killing several parasitic insects which oozed disgusting fluid.

He Liansheng had protected her once again.

Xing Shuishui was lost in thought for a long while, clutching her sleeve.

“Ah, I almost forgot He Liansheng gave you this thing…” Guan Wushan’s voice was ice cold.

The parasitic insects grew restless at the scent of blood. Guan Wushan activated the blood parasites again. White insects greedily sucked the blood from her face, entering her body.

“Aren’t you afraid? Even your brother couldn’t withstand the torment of the blood parasites.”

The young woman’s lips were pale but her expression was peaceful. The more Guan Wushan hated himself, the less he cared about others.

She was just buying time.

Time for Du Dizhu and the others to destroy the cauldron full of blood parasites, pulling the rug out from under him. Otherwise if he opened the cauldron in desperation, this madman would destroy all life under heaven.

Xing Shuishui smirked, deliberately provoking him: “Of course I’m not afraid. I can be reborn even under heavenly lightning – what are you compared to that? You know what, Guan Wushan? He Risi was so very afraid when he died. I don’t really understand why such a weak little fox would meddle in our grudges. From the moment he helped you poison the Shangguan family, he never planned to survive.”

With a crash, the mirror beside them shattered, as if reflecting the state of someone’s heart. The darkness gained more chaos, with his body half-hidden within.

Guan Wushan’s grip on her throat gradually tightened, the black in his pupils expanding as malice spread.

Just like this, hate yourself.

Just like how she once hated him…

Xing Shuishui had grown smarter. She no longer wanted to be used, but instead turned his hatred for her against him.

Guan Wushan, do you know? This is the only thing I’ve learned from you in these hundreds of years.

She swallowed the blood in her mouth, hiding laughter in her eyes.

Let’s go to hell together.

Guan Wushan suddenly released her throat. Xing Shuishui coughed, holding her neck. The young man beckoned and the blood parasites began to stir. At first the girl showed no reaction, but then she curled up, clutching her chest, her whole body trembling.

Light danced across her body. Her dress was as thin as cicada wings. She looked like a small pet forgotten in a corner.

Guan Wushan smiled with pleasure, taking out a mirror and throwing it into the air. “I told you I would make you wish you were dead.”

“This sight shouldn’t be for my eyes alone. Let He Liansheng see too. Isn’t he the one who cares about you most? How furious would he be seeing you so wretched for another man?”

His words fell like pearls, causing a moment of panic in her heart.

Xing Shuishui clenched her fists. The mirror now floated in the air, connecting to somewhere in the tower. That place seemed like a world of black and white, full of darkness and solitude. The tower windows were blown open by wind, fighting sounds came from outside, and a blood moon hung in the sky.

He Liansheng gripped the Peach Spring Sword in one hand, stroking the blade with the other. Blue veins wrapped around his pale wrist. Behind him, the heads of deity statues had been cut off, chopped to pulp.

His expression was unrestrained as he stepped over demon corpses, staring at Guan Wushan through the mirror. He smirked, “Sorry, your men were too weak – I killed quite a few. Don’t be angry, save your strength for your own funeral.”

Guan Wushan said, “They’re just small fry, it doesn’t matter if they die.”

Xing Shuishui looked up and met He Liansheng’s gaze.

Guan Wushan dragged her by the hair in front of the mirror, saying playfully, “He Liansheng, look who this is?”

Various chaotic emotions suddenly crossed through the mirror, enveloping them both. The girl was silent. That one look just now had placed a thousand pounds on her heart. What would his first words be? She suddenly couldn’t imagine.

Xing Shuishui lowered her eyelids, not daring to look at him.

Then she heard the young man’s ice-cold voice—

“Are you seeking death? You dare pull her hair like that when even I wouldn’t?”

After a brief silence, Xing Shuishui suddenly looked at him, never having seen such fierce killing intent on his face before.

He especially liked playing with her braids daily, wrapping them around his fingers with great fondness, but his movements were always very gentle to avoid hurting her.

The difference between love and hate lies in such details.

He was someone with very strong possessiveness.

A crack appeared in the mirror, spreading like a spider web. As the young man’s image in the mirror grew blurrier, his voice became clearer.

“Shuishui, I’m fine.”

“Your brother is fine too.”

“So you must be fine as well.”

Hearing this, Xing Shuishui’s eyes quickly filled with tears.

He Liansheng lowered his eyes, scattered light passing over the shadows on his forehead. The emotion under his eyelashes was nearly obsessive as he said hoarsely: “Wait for me properly. Wait for me to find you. And this time, you’re not allowed to leave me again.”

Guan Wushan interrupted with great regret: “But she has my blood parasites in her. I can kill her whenever I want. I can make her die painfully right in front of you – she won’t live past the next second.”

As he spoke, he activated the blood parasites again. Xing Shuishui lowered her head without much reaction, but He Liansheng still noticed her arms trembling slightly, her knuckles turning white.

Guan Wushan smiled at Xing Shuishui, forcing her to raise her head: “Little peach spirit, why resist? If it hurts, cry out. Even Xue Sansi couldn’t bear the heart-piercing pain of the blood parasites – can you endure more than him?”

He Liansheng said coldly: “What do you really want?”

It was as if Guan Wushan had been waiting for this question for a long time. He licked his lips and said: “He Liansheng, aren’t you the pride of heaven? Isn’t Lingshan proud of you? Then today, in front of everyone from Lingshan, break your Peach Spring Sword.”

He taunted: “If you break your sword today, I won’t torture her so much. Otherwise, I’ll make her die in front of you in the next second.”

Xing Shuishui ignored the sword at her throat and shouted: “He Liansheng, don’t—”

Making the number one swordsman break his soul weapon in front of everyone was like trampling on his dignity. She knew He Liansheng had been proud since childhood. This couldn’t happen, shouldn’t happen…

The Peach Spring Sword had accompanied him in slaying demons and evil, through life and death, and had earned countless glory. It was far from ordinary.

The young man gazed at the girl in the mirror, reaching out his fingers through empty space as if touching her cheek. Xing Shuishui’s lips trembled as He Liansheng lowered his eyes.

She watched helplessly as he raised the silver sword, breaking through all the windows in the tower. Curtains fluttered, starlight shone through the small window, and the gazes of everyone outside were drawn over.

He Liansheng gripped the Peach Spring Sword with both hands. Xing Shuishui saw his fingers trembling and cried: “Don’t listen to him, He Liansheng, I beg you, don’t listen to him…”

But in this life he had no other wishes. He only wished for her safety.

He Liansheng slowly stroked the sword’s body, saying softly: “Promise you won’t hurt Xing Shuishui.”

He pinched the center of the sword with two fingers. Crack— First came a very faint breaking sound, then it welled up like a mountain spring, growing louder.

Her heart also cracked, blood slowly flowing out.

In just an instant, the Peach Spring Sword broke.

Silver sword fragments fell like starry rain in the night sky, brilliant as grand fireworks, reflecting the shocked faces of Lingshan’s cultivators.

This most outstanding youth since Lingshan’s founding had just broken his soul weapon in front of everyone—

For her.

Blood seeped from the corner of He Liansheng’s mouth.

The backlash from breaking the sword made his form waver for a moment, but he stood firm again, looking at Guan Wushan without concern.

It wasn’t foolishness or impulse. He simply loved her too much.

Those Lingshan elders who had watched him grow up were too angry to speak.

“He Liansheng!!!!”

“You!!!!”

Xing Shuishui’s tears fell uncontrollably, her blood seeming to flow backwards at the moment he broke his sword, then burning with rage. How dare he?

Guan Wushan laughed: “He Liansheng, what are you without your Peach Spring Sword? Just a useless person! What sword path supreme? A sword cultivator who’s broken his sword will only be the world’s laughingstock from now on.”

In his excellent mood, he loosened his control over Xing Shuishui.

The mirror shattered. That’s when everything changed.

Xing Shuishui suddenly got up from the ground, grabbed the bloody nails from the wall, quickly turned around, and viciously stabbed toward Guan Wushan’s throat.

Her speed was too fast – in an instant the nails were before his eyes, only her afterimage visible.

Even activating the blood parasites was useless. Guan Wushan exclaimed in shock: “You weren’t controlled by the blood parasites!!”

Xing Shuishui said coldly: “Are you stupid? Though I can’t use separation fire anymore, my body has used it for years. Part of the separation firehas already merged with my blood. Whether you activate them or not, any parasites entering my body are seeking death.”

There was no time to dodge. Xing Shuishui flashed forward and stepped hard on his waist, her back swaying, her movements agile. Her five fingers gripped the nails as she rushed down – the sharp end of the nails instantly pierced his throat. Blood sprayed out, creating a bloody sundial.

Guan Wushan clutched his throat with its gaping hole, his eyes bloodshot, using almost all his strength to send Xing Shuishui flying.

Xing Shuishui had known her chances of killing him were slim, so she had settled for pretending to be infected by the parasites, waiting for Guan Wushan to lower his guard before piercing his throat. This way he couldn’t chant spells or use mirror techniques, only swords or talismans – he wouldn’t be much of a threat anymore. Perfect.

Her body hit the wall, her mouth bloody, but she still smiled at him: “Guan Wushan, even without the separation fireI can still kill you. Even without the Peach Spring Sword, He Liansheng is still number one.”

Seeing him silent, Xing Shuishui taunted: “Hey, say something! After scheming against me so many times, don’t you have anything to say about being ambushed once?”

Guan Wushan’s gaze was like poison-dipped arrows. Blood flowed endlessly between his five fingers as he shook a bell. A group of evil cultivators rushed over respectfully, shocked by the blood everywhere.

He pointed at Xing Shuishui against the wall, her breathing also chaotic, and made several hand gestures. The evil cultivators immediately understood and took Xing Shuishui away. He still wanted to use her to threaten He Liansheng.

At this moment, a huge boom came from outside. Several tower pavilions instantly collapsed, and thick black smoke began rising from somewhere in the city lord’s mansion. Faint screams of parasites could be heard from within the smoke, like crying babies.

Guan Wushan’s expression became extremely ugly as he realized he had fallen into a trap.

Finally, the clouds would part to reveal the sun.

Xing Shuishui raised her face, showing a bloody smile: “Back then you sent me to Lingshan as a great gift. I didn’t have a chance to repay you, but now I finally do. Do you like this gift? Guan. Wu. Shan. Your death draws near.”