Thirteenth month of death

Chapter 254 The Thought of the Unprincipled
As soon as the Blood Fiend Sect Master finished speaking, the entire maple forest suddenly trembled violently.

The crimson maple leaves detached from the branches and coalesced in the air into a giant blood-red dragon, circling behind him.

"Wu Dao, you've finally shown yourself!" The Blood Fiend Sect Master grinned maliciously, and the blood jade bead at his waist suddenly burst forth with a dazzling red light. "Back then, you nailed this Blood Soul Bead to my sect, causing my sect to suffer from unrest for a hundred years. Today, you will pay for your blood debt!"

Li Daosheng knew he had been mistaken for Wudao, and he couldn't explain it away. The blood dragon was already roaring and pouncing.

He instinctively swung his sword to block, and the long scar between his eyebrows suddenly became hot, as a strange power surged from within his body.

The moment the longsword collided with the blood dragon, it unleashed a power far beyond his imagination, shattering the entire blood dragon into pieces.

"Hmph." The Blood Fiend Sect Master laughed instead of getting angry. He made a hand seal, and the shattered blood droplets suddenly transformed into countless tiny blood needles, shooting down from all directions.

Li Daosheng felt a moment of dizziness, his consciousness began to blur, and his body seemed to be taken over by another will.

Do not……

It's more like the subconscious.

He saw his hand holding the sword in a posture he had never practiced before, the blade tracing mysterious trajectories in the air.

The incoming blood needles suddenly stopped three feet away from him, then changed direction and shot back at an even faster speed.

"Swallow!" The Blood Fiend Sect Master roared as he summoned the Blood Bead, which spun rapidly in the air, absorbing all the blood needles.

His face suddenly turned deathly pale, clearly indicating that this move had taken a huge toll on him.

Li Daosheng felt the corners of his mouth involuntarily turn up, revealing a cold, mocking smile: "After all these years, you're still so... vulnerable."

The voice was clearly his, yet it carried Wudao's unique indifference and mockery.

Upon hearing this, the Blood Fiend Sect Master flew into a rage and suddenly transformed into a blood-red shadow as he pounced.

One after another, daggers piercing through the void appeared, aiming straight for Li Daosheng's throat.

Li Daosheng's body reacted automatically, and his longsword thrust out at an odd angle, the tip of the sword precisely striking each of the blood-red throwing knives.

The Blood Fiend Sect Master made a series of hand seals, but unexpectedly, Li Daosheng suddenly pointed his left hand like a sword, aiming for his throat.

"Pfft—" The Blood Fiend Sect Master spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered back several steps.

He looked down in disbelief, and a strange black mark was rapidly spreading from his throat to his chest.

"The Unborn Finger of the Yama Sect..." His voice began to tremble, "...you really did steal all the sects' secret manuals..."

Li Daosheng felt his consciousness becoming increasingly blurred, as if he were sinking into the deep sea.

He saw his body slowly walking towards the Blood Fiend Sect Master, each step carrying a suffocating sense of oppression.

The Blood Fiend Sect Master wanted to retreat, but found his legs to be as heavy as lead.

"Use it, Blood Fiend Sect's Blood Transformation Technique." Li Daosheng heard himself say in a ruthless tone, "Let me see how well you've mastered the number one escape technique in the Mountain and Sea Realm."

The Blood Fiend Sect Master's face turned ashen. Suddenly, he bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood onto the blood bead.

The bead suddenly shone brightly red, transforming into a blood-red curtain that enveloped him.

"You wicked one! I admit you're powerful, but killing me won't be so easy!" The Blood Fiend Sect Master grinned maliciously from within the blood-red curtain. "This Blood Soul Pearl has already been refined by me and is bound to my life. If you kill me, the pearl will shatter!"

Li Daosheng felt his body pause for a moment, as if he was thinking.

The next moment, he saw his left hand slowly rise, his five fingers spread out and aimed at the blood curtain.

"You think... I care?"

The cold words had barely left his lips when his five fingers suddenly clenched together.

The blood curtain burst open like an egg being crushed by an invisible hand.

The Blood Fiend Sect Master let out a shrill scream as his blood vessels burst, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

The strangest thing was that the spurted blood did not fall to the ground, but instead condensed into a thin line in the air, which was slowly absorbed by the long mark between Li Daosheng's eyebrows.

The blood jade bead hovered in mid-air, trembling as if it were trying to escape, but was firmly imprisoned by an invisible force.

"Come back," Li Daosheng said softly. The Blood Jade Bead immediately turned into a red light and entered his brow.

As the Blood Jade Bead returned to its place, Li Daosheng felt a massive influx of information into his mind—fragments of memories left by Wudao within the magic artifact.

He saw how Wudao had stormed into the Blood Fiend Sect alone with a sword, and how he had nailed the Blood Jade Bead to the beam of the sect's main hall, claiming it was a gift to borrow a secret manual, but in reality, it was pure force to subdue him.

This Blood Jade Bead was later referred to as the Blood Soul Bead by the Blood Fiend Sect.

Li Daosheng felt strange at this moment. He was clearly watching Wudao's memories from back then, but... he felt as if he had personally done these things. It was as if...

Is it really me?

"Li Daosheng!"

A clear shout exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.

Li Daosheng suddenly came to his senses and found that Su Moshi had been standing beside him at some point, with the blue light of the bronze mirror enveloping him.

"Wake up!"

Su Moshi's face was as pale as paper, clearly indicating that forcibly activating her magic power had aggravated her injuries. "Your mind has been corrupted."

Li Daosheng then realized just how dangerous his situation had been.

The memories of the wicked are actually assimilating him!

He calmed down, but suddenly felt that the blood-red jade bead that had entered his brow was slowly assimilating him...

"There's something strange about that bead."

Su Moshi bit his fingertip, and a drop of his blood fell onto the bronze mirror.

Ancient characters suddenly appeared on the mirror, shining onto Li Daosheng's brow.

"A pure heart is like water, and pure water is the heart..."

As she chanted the incantation, countless tiny golden characters appeared in the blue light of the bronze mirror, binding Li Daosheng's entire body like chains.

The words seeped into his skin, traveled through his veins, and finally converged at the long mark between his eyebrows.

The intense pain caused Li Daosheng to kneel on the ground; he felt something being forcibly ripped from his body.

The red light of the Blood Jade Bead and the blue light of the bronze mirror clashed fiercely within his body, each collision bringing excruciating pain.

After an unknown amount of time, the pain finally began to subside.

Li Daosheng weakly opened his eyes and found that the Blood Jade Bead had detached from his brow and was floating in front of him, emitting a soft red light, no longer possessing the eerie aura it had before.

A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of Su Moshi's mouth, but he breathed a sigh of relief: "It's been suppressed for now."

Li Daosheng reached out and grasped the Blood Jade Bead. Wudao's fragmented memories still existed, but they no longer tried to devour his consciousness.

"Thank you." He stood up with difficulty and helped Su Moshi up. "Let's leave here."

The death of the Blood Fiend Sect Master had clearly alarmed the entire sect, and chaotic footsteps and shouts could be heard all around.

Li Daosheng put away the Blood Jade Bead and helped Su Moshi retreat quickly out of the valley.

Just as they were about to leave the maple forest, a small, thin figure suddenly darted out from behind a tree and blocked the road.

He was a boy of twelve or thirteen, dressed in the robes of a Blood Fiend Sect disciple, holding a short sword in his hand, his eyes filled with hatred.

"You...killed our sect leader!" The boy's voice trembled, yet he stubbornly held up his sword. "I will take revenge!"

Li Daosheng felt a surge of irritation, and the long mark between his eyebrows began to burn again.

He instinctively raised his hand, and a force gathered in his palm—

"Don't."

Su Moshi's rebuke jolted him awake.

Li Daosheng stared in astonishment at his hand; he had just wanted to crush the boy in front of him.

"roll!"

After realizing that something was wrong with him, Li Daosheng felt a surge of anger and glared fiercely at the young man.

The boy's face turned pale, the short sword in his hand fell limply to the ground, and he retreated in terror.

"Let's go..."

Li Daosheng looked at Su Moshi.

Su Moshi gave him a deep look.

They summoned the bronze mirror, stepped onto its surface, and soared into the sky...

(End of this chapter)