Zanxing was completely unaware of the events happening in the Chaos Hall.
She and Bu Jiang were slowly making their way back from Heishi Mountain.
The rain seemed to have lessened a bit; the tree branches on the mountain were washed clean and shining, and the ground where they walked showed a shallow small depression.
“Before I married your father, he did indeed have a lover. However, back then I didn’t know who that woman was, and we seldom talked about such matters. After all, it was all in the past, and it had nothing to do with me. I was not interested, and he had no reason to bring it up with me.”
Zanxing said, “You’re really open-minded.”
“That’s only natural. It’s old news, why dwell on it?” Bu Jiang smiled and continued, “It’s not just me. No one in Heishi City knows what his old lover really looked like. However,” Bu Jiang paused, “you say he abandoned his wife and child, which is somewhat strange. Because in my memory, Gui Diaotang should be the one who was abandoned.”
“Abandoned?” Zanxing stopped in her tracks. “Impossible. I saw clearly in the Buddhist Wheel memory that Jiang Yiru gave birth to Gui Yansheng alone. They lived in a remote mountain village to avoid others. How could they be abandoned by the Demon King in such a pitiable state?”
Bu Jiang thought for a moment, and a hint of doubt appeared in her eyes. “That’s true. However, before I was with him, I once saw him drunk alone one night, murmuring a woman’s name and saying ‘don’t go,’ looking quite infatuated.” Bu Jiang sighed, “At that time, he was already the tenth Demon King of Heishi City, with unparalleled prestige and fear from everyone. Yet, he showed such a vulnerable side at night. It was because of this that I thought, why not try to see what it’s like to be with the Demon King?”
“Enough of this,” Zanxing said, having already read about the ‘marriage first, love later’ part in The Demon Queen’s Confession: On the Wedding Night, I Discovered My Husband’s Illegitimate Child and not wanting to hear it again.
“In any case, after that, I pursued your father for many years. By the time I married him, he had never mentioned that woman’s name again. If Gui Yansheng hadn’t appeared later, I would have almost forgotten about her.”
“Then why did he kill all the half-demons?” Zanxing asked. “Half-demons have demonic blood as well. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to live?”
“That was to intimidate the demon race,” Bu Jiang explained. “Humans and demons cannot produce offspring together.”
“Is there reproductive isolation as well?” Zanxing frowned. “But Gui Yansheng is a half-demon. If humans and demons can’t produce offspring, how did Gui Yansheng come into existence?”
Bu Jiang did not answer and looked towards Heishi City in the distance.
After a long while, she spoke softly, “I don’t understand that either.”
“For hundreds or even thousands of years, there has been no offspring from marriages between demons and humans in Heishi City. Demons are different from humans. They have chaotic demonic essence in their bodies. If a demon is willing to sacrifice their cultivation to suppress the chaotic demonic essence and live with humans, it might resolve this issue. However, long-term suppression of chaotic demonic essence is extremely painful, and demons are lustful by nature, so no one has succeeded in recent years. Jiang Yiru giving birth to offspring only means that your father managed to suppress the chaotic demonic essence when he was with her.” Bu Jiang narrowed her eyes slightly and said softly, “He truly loved that woman.”
Zanxing couldn’t understand. If he truly loved her, he should have taken good care of her. How could Jiang Yiru end up in such a state, dying alone in sorrow and sadness?
“I didn’t understand why he issued the decree to kill all half-demons. There were no half-demons in Heishi City and the decree seemed redundant at that time. But now I understand,” Bu Jiang smiled. “It seems Gui Diaotang, having been abandoned by that human woman, harbored resentment and wanted to sever all ties between demons and humans. Not wanting to say it directly, as it would make him seem petty, he claimed the decree was to kill all half-demons, warning the demon race not to get emotionally involved with humans.” Bu Jiang’s lips curled, “What a fool. In thousands of years, he’s the only one among demons who was foolish enough to have genuine feelings for a human and produce a half-demon.”
“Oh, perhaps there will be another in the future,” she said, glancing meaningfully at Zanxing.
Zanxing: “…”
Why is she involving innocent people now?
Although Bu Jiang spoke of Gui Diaotang as if he were innocent, from Zanxing’s perspective, Gui Diaotang was a father who abandoned his wife and child, shirking responsibility. It was no wonder Gui Yansheng harbored such feelings. Gui Yansheng had witnessed Jiang Yiru’s tragic end firsthand. Driven out by villagers, he risked everything to enter Heishi City in search of his father, even losing his beloved Xiao Chun in the process, only to learn that his father was about to remarry. And in Heishi City, half-demons weren’t even allowed to exist. No wonder he practised the Path of Ten Thousand Ghosts and Asura to kill countless demons in search of strength. Zanxing could barely endure one percent of the pain from the ten thousand ghosts knawing at his heart, yet Gui Yansheng had endured it all. Without immense hatred to push him forward, he could never have achieved this.
Zanxing sighed, “It would have been better if Gui Yansheng had been able to meet the Demon King. If he had met the Demon King and the Demon King had feelings for Jiang Yiru, he certainly wouldn’t have allowed Gui Yansheng to be cast out. There would have been no past grievances and no current suffering.” She added, “It’s just a pity that as soon as Gui Yansheng entered Heishi City, he encountered that woman who stole faces. Even if he had met you, his mother, things might not have turned out this way.”
Bu Jiang was always quite open-minded about matters of romance. She had had countless lovers compared to Gui Diaotang. If Gui Yansheng had met Bu Jiang when he arrived in Heishi City, she might have taken him straight to Gui Diaotang, relishing the drama.
“Indeed, Gui Yansheng was simply unlucky. He encountered whoever was there when he entered Heishi City, but he happened to meet the Skin-Stealing Woman who held a grudge against your father. That vile woman had malicious intentions from the start. She didn’t kill Gui Yansheng but deliberately incited father and son to turn against each other. Unfortunately, she succeeded in stirring up trouble.”
“Skin-Stealing Woman?”
“Yes, back in the day, there was a demon in Heishi City known as the Skin-Stealing Woman. She used her beautiful skin to commit various atrocities, killing people to repair her own skin. Heishi City forbade harming children, but she secretly abducted and tortured young ones. Your father burned her skin and destroyed her cultivation but spared her life due to her previous contributions. I thought she had reformed for a while, but it seems she was plotting mischief in the shadows.”
Zanxing asked, “Where is she now?”
“She’s long dead,” Bu Jiang said. “During the great war between humans and demons, there were countless casualties. She also died in that battle, but who would have thought that even after all these years, her death would leave such a significant threat behind?” She didn’t continue, gazing silently at the heavy rain on the mountain.