Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Su Chang'an looked at the inner demon in front of him, whose face was all scrunched up in tears, and clicked his tongue in disgust.

This thing has the exact same face as me, yet it's crying with snot and tears streaming down its face; it looks incredibly filthy.

Su Chang'an felt as if he were running naked, and the shame went straight to the top of his head. He wished he could go up and kick him a couple more times.

"Alright, stop wailing."

Su Chang'an grumbled and cursed, but his hands didn't stop moving.

She casually tore off a wisp of soul power, shaped it into a handkerchief, and without caring whether the inner demon was willing or not, smeared it directly on its face.

"Ugh... Ugh!" The inner demon rolled its eyes back as it was being suffocated, its hands flailing wildly in the air.

"Don't move!" Su Chang'an hissed, her grip surprisingly strong as she smeared the demon's face like she was wiping a table. "Crying like this with my face on your head, anyone who didn't know better would think I, Su Chang'an, had suffered some terrible injustice outside. Hold it in!"

The inner demon was jolted by the shout, and the cry that was about to come out was swallowed back, turning into a series of unstoppable hiccups.

She shrank her neck, letting Su Chang'an's not-so-gentle hand grope her face.

The red veil was pulled straight, and the messy hair was smoothed out with a few strokes of that hand.

Although his movements were as rough as if he were petting a stray dog, and he didn't say a single kind word, a trace of confusion slowly appeared in the inner demon's swollen red eyes.

Since she was born in this sea of ​​consciousness, she has never been treated as anything other than an "object".

Chen Xuan looked at her either like she was trash or like she was an enemy.

No one has ever called her ugly while simultaneously wiping her nose like this.

"Hiccup..." The inner demon let out a loud hiccup, cautiously raised its eyelids, and stole a glance at Su Chang'an.

"What are you looking at? Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out." Su Chang'an casually threw away the dirty soul-power handkerchief, clapped his hands, and plopped down on the scorched ruins. "Tell me, how exactly has that unfilial son tormented you these past few years? He's quite a character to have driven you to this pathetic state."

Mentioning this almost caused my tears, which I had just managed to stop, to overflow again.

She sniffed, then moved closer to Su Chang'an with a pitiful expression, like a wronged little wife who had found a backer.

"He's not even human..." The inner demon pointed at the desolate sea of ​​consciousness, his voice trembling, "He doesn't need comfort, he just needs pain."

Su Chang'an frowned: "What do you mean?"

"The literal meaning." The inner demon bit his lip, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes. "Every time he's about to give up, or when I try to take advantage of his weakness to soothe him with illusions, he never flinches."

The inner demon reached out and gestured as if to stab.

"He would take a sword and plunge it directly into his own thigh."

Su Chang'an's heart suddenly clenched.

"How deep?"

"It went right through me." The inner demon's voice was choked with sobs. "Even the bones creaked from the pain. He used that excruciating pain to bring himself back to his senses, then pointed his finger at me and yelled at me to get out."

Su Chang'an remained silent.

She looked down at the scorched earth beneath her feet, her fingers unconsciously digging into the soil.

That delicate girl who was terrified of pain, who would hold up her hand and blow on it for ages if she even got a small cut on her finger when she was little, has now learned to stab herself with a sword?

(In Su Chang'an's eyes)

Why not stab it through?

"Is he sick?" Su Chang'an cursed, his voice hoarse. "Who practices martial arts like that?"

The inner demon curled up in a ball, muttering softly, "He thinks that if I show even the slightest weakness in front of you, or indulge in a life of pleasure, it's a betrayal of you. He's a madman."

Su Chang'an took a deep breath, suppressing the surging soreness in his chest.

"Anything else?" she asked. "Besides self-harm, what else did he do?"

The inner demon didn't speak, but simply raised its hand and gently waved it towards the air.

The originally gray and hazy sky of the sea of ​​consciousness suddenly rippled.

Like a giant water mirror, a clear image slowly emerges.

The image shows a huge black warship breaking through the clouds and traveling through the void.

The deck was empty except for one figure.

Chen Xuan, dressed in faded black clothes, sat cross-legged at the bow of the boat.

The broken sword lay across his knees, and he held a coarse cloth in his hand, wiping the blade clean.

The movements were mechanical and stiff, like a lifeless sculpture.

The wind was strong, making his robes flutter, but he didn't even blink.

"What time is it?" Su Chang'an asked.

"Right when he left the Northern Region," the inner demon said, his eyes filled with complex emotions, looking at the screen. "He remained in this position for three whole months. He didn't close his eyes, didn't move, and didn't even drink water."

The images flow.

Snowstorm, scorching sun, torrential rain.

No matter how the weather changed, the figure sitting at the bow of the boat never moved.

He lived as if he had turned himself into a stone.

Only when wiping the broken sword would a trace of life appear in those lifeless eyes.

Su Chang'an looked at the emaciated young man in the picture.

His face was so thin it was unrecognizable, with high cheekbones and sunken eyes. There was no trace of the spirited young man he once was.

"That idiot..." Su Chang'an gritted her teeth, her eyes reddening. "Doesn't he sleep? Isn't he tired?"

The inner demon said in a low voice, "He said that only when he is awake, only when he holds a sword in his hand, can he feel that you are still here."

The scene shifts again.

This time, it was no longer a deathly silent deck, but a boiling sea of ​​blood.

Void Beast Tide.

The countless Void Beasts swarmed like locusts, completely surrounding the lone warship.

The Chen family's protectors wanted to activate the defensive array.

But Chen Xuan refused.

In the scene, the gaunt young man, carrying a broken sword, charged alone into the horde of beasts.

There was no strategy, no defense.

It's a completely reckless fighting style.

A Void Beast's claw pierced his shoulder, but he seemed not to feel the pain. He swung his sword backhand and severed the beast's head, then laughed loudly.

The laughter emanating from the screen sent chills down Su Chang'an's spine.

That's not enjoyment, that's madness.

That's seeking death.

Su Chang'an stared intently at the screen, his nails digging into his palms. "Does this unfilial son want to die out there?"

The inner demon sighed, "He promised you he would live well. So this is the only way he can torture himself. He treats himself like a weapon, honing himself until he dies, as long as he doesn't die from the training."

In the scene, Chen Xuan was covered in blood, with three broken ribs, the white bone fragments piercing through his flesh and protruding.

But he stood amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, supporting himself with the broken, chipped sword, his eyes fierce as if he were a demon that had just crawled out of hell.

Even the elders of the Chen family who were watching from a distance looked at him with fear and apprehension.

That was fear of madmen.

As Su Chang'an watched, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, as if a wad of wet cotton was stuffed inside, and even breathing became painful.

The boy she raised, the boy she would never have dared to say a harsh word to, has been driven to this wretched state.

"Is there anything else?" Su Chang'an's voice was icy cold.

"Yes." The inner demon seemed to have started talking and was no longer afraid. With a wave of his hand, the scene changed again.

This time it was in a magnificent palace.

A woman dressed in colorful robes, with an exquisitely beautiful face, was holding a wine cup and smiling as she approached Chen Xuan. She was a goddess from a major sect in the Central Continent, possessing both a stunning figure and exceptional beauty.

The woman seemed quite interested in Chen Xuan, her eyes sparkling with seductive charm, and she even went so far as to reach out and touch his face.

"roll."

Chen Xuan in the video only uttered one word.

The woman paused, seemingly surprised by the rejection. Somewhat unwillingly, she leaned forward and said in a sweet voice, "Young Master Chen, why are you so aloof? I just..."

Swish!

A cold light flashed.

Half of the woman's hair bun was cut off, and her long black hair fell in a flurry.

If she hadn't dodged quickly, it wouldn't have been her hair that was cut off, but her head.

Chen Xuan didn't even lift his eyelids, only coldly staring at the broken sword in his hand, uttering a sentence that made the woman feel ashamed and indignant:

"You're not even worth a single hair on her head. Don't smear my eyes."

The woman covered her face and ran away crying.

Seeing this scene, Su Chang'an's originally gloomy expression softened slightly, and a faint smile even appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"At least this kid has some conscience." Su Chang'an snorted. Although he cursed, the sour feeling in his heart had subsided a lot. "But his temper is too bad. He deserves to have no friends."

The inner demon curled his lip, thinking to himself, "This isn't just a bad temper, this is practically destined to be single forever!"

"Alright, stop showing it." Su Chang'an waved his hand, signaling the inner demon to put the images away. "Watching too much of this is upsetting."

She stood up, dusted herself off, and her gaze sharpened again.

"Since this unfilial son is living such a miserable life, what are those old bastards in the Chen family doing?" Su Chang'an sneered. "Taking him back to be worshipped as an ancestor? I think they're taking him back to raise as a Gu poison!"

The inner demon's body stiffened abruptly.

She raised her head, her eyes filled with terror, and pointed outside her consciousness, her voice low as if afraid of disturbing something.

"You guessed right."

"Trouble is brewing."

The inner demon swallowed hard and shrank back behind Su Chang'an.

"The Chen family took him back not to make up for any debts, nor to let him acknowledge his ancestors."

"What was that for?" Su Chang'an narrowed his eyes.

"To raise poisonous insects."

The inner demon's voice was somewhat gloating, "Every generation of the Chen family initiates the 'Trial of the Imperial Son'."

"They threw Chen Xuan, along with all the other geniuses they found from the other branches in Zhongzhou, into a cage."

"It's like raising poisonous insects."

"They don't provide resources, they don't offer protection, and they might even deliberately incite bloodshed."

"They want these 'imperial sons' to devour and kill each other."

"The winner lives, the loser dies."

"Only the one who survives to the end, devouring everyone's fortune and bloodline, can become the true 'Emperor' of the Chen family and be qualified to compete for the throne of the Great Emperor in that lifetime."

As Su Chang'an listened, the expression on his face completely disappeared.

Instead, a chilling sensation, as if one had fallen into an ice cave, filled the air.

"What a fine family the Chen family is."

"What a fine trial for the imperial prince."

Su Chang'an laughed in anger, a laugh so bright it sent chills down one's spine.

"So, they took my kid back not to treat him like a human being, but to raise him like a dog?"

"You want him to work for the Chen family? You want him to be the most poisonous Gu king?"

Su Chang'an cracked his neck, making a series of snapping sounds.

She turned around and looked at the broken sword stuck in the center of the ruins, the killing intent in her eyes almost solidifying.

"Let them dream their pipe dreams."

"The kids I raised, do they think they can scheme against them?"

Su Chang'an took a step forward, his red robes fluttering without wind, and the terrifying aura of a quasi-emperor erupted without reservation at this moment.

Although it is only a projection of the soul, and although it is in the sea of ​​consciousness.

But that fierce protectiveness of his own kind was so intense that it could change the very fabric of the world.

Su Chang'an grabbed the inner demon by the back of the neck and lifted her up like a chick.

"What?" The inner demon kicked its legs in fright.

Su Chang'an did not answer the question from the inner demon, but instead looked at the thick haze above his sea of ​​consciousness.

"You unfilial son, hold on to your mother!"

"Your dad's here!"