The man pulled back the tip of his blade: "Aren't you afraid they'll die? I'll let you watch me cut off their heads one by one. This is the first…"

Before the man could exert any force with his wrist, the longsword in Ye Yang's hand had already transformed into a stream of light, piercing through a distant tree trunk.

The man's right hand, which was holding the knife, trembled violently: "Spare me…"

Before the words of begging for mercy could leave his mouth, the sword energy on Ye Yang's longsword burst forth, and the silver-white sword light rose violently into the air, splitting a tree trunk more than a foot thick vertically in half.

As a spray of fresh blood gushed out from the splitting tree trunk, the man behind Lin Zhao was suddenly divided into two from the middle, falling in opposite directions onto the ground.

The fallen figure not only didn't turn into will-o'-the-wisp, but instead burned like a piece of paper, turning into wisps of green smoke that scattered into the air.

The heart demon who had kidnapped Lin Zhao was very cunning. He brought over someone else's corpse for me to see, trying to conceal his true hiding place.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that I had already discovered someone inside that tree trunk.

I controlled Ye Yang and used his sword to kill his true form. The heart demon was also killed by Ye Yang as a result.

I said calmly, "Retrieve the sword!"

Ye Yang turned his palm outward, and under the pull of Ye Yang's true energy, the distant Cold Flame returned to his hand.

Before Ye Yang's longsword could return to its sheath, it suddenly flew out of his hand again and pierced into the ground at an angle in the distance.

Ye Yang and I slowly walked towards the longsword. Ye Yang pressed down on the hilt with his hand, and I kicked away the loose soil on the ground. Soon, a woman's face was revealed.

I squatted down in front of the woman and said, "Open your eyes! I know you're not dead."

The woman slowly opened her eyes, and two lines of hot tears flowed down from the corners of her eyes: "You killed my husband!"

I said in a deep voice, "If you're talking about the person hiding in the tree trunk, then you're right."

"You're so ruthless!" The woman wanted to get up, but Ye Yang used his sword to push her back down.

I asked the woman, "What exactly do you want to do by chasing after me all this time?"

"He just wants me to live!" The woman said while crying, "We both know that only one of us can live. But someone told us that as long as he can kill any one of you, I can live."

"He chose to kill you."

The woman's voice became even more sorrowful: "He knew he wasn't your match, so he begged that person to tell him how to kill you."

"That person said: If you want to kill them, you have to put yourself in a situation where you're sure to die. You have to kill someone first and disguise them as you. He did it."

"When I saw him kill someone, I was so scared that I trembled. But he told me: I did all of this. In the future, whether I'm sentenced or suffer retribution, I'll take it all on myself!"

"Then…"

"He saw that you were about to walk out of this road, so he made his move. But you killed him."

"You even split him in half. You're so ruthless!"

I said calmly, "If it weren't for us, wouldn't he have died anyway? And it would have been because of you. Why are you feeling sorry for him now?"

The woman said sharply, "What do you know?"

"I never wanted him to die. He forced me to do this. He explained to me for days, saying: If one of us has to die, I'll choose myself. This family needs you, the child likes you more, and you're better at taking care of the child."

"My choice to die is actually my selfishness. Once I close my eyes, I won't know anything. But you'll have to spend half your life taking care of the family, taking care of the child, thinking about it, and feeling guilty. You'll be in more pain."

"Forgive my selfishness!"

"Before he left, my husband made all the arrangements and left everything to me."

"You don't understand anything! All you know is how to kill."

I responded calmly, "Perhaps you're right! In your eyes, I'm an unforgivable murderer. But I have to tell you, I also want to live."

"I can't just use my life to fulfill the wishes of someone who wants to kill me, can I?"

"If I could do that, I wouldn't be a mortal."

As I spoke, within a radius of dozens of meters, a sinister wind suddenly howled and demonic energy surged wildly.

The black energy emanating from the woman's body was like countless chains, coiling around me and Ye Yang.

The other party's figure simultaneously appeared more than ten meters away from me, with demonic energy swirling around her body and her eyes as red as blood.

She has entered a demonic state!

The woman said sharply, "I don't care what you think! I must live. For my husband and for my child."

I have to say, that woman doesn't understand sorcerers, let alone top swordsmen.

A true master who can control a sword with his spirit can still kill people with his sword even if you cut off his limbs.

Ye Yang's longsword pierced through the woman's forehead amidst her screams.

The distant heart demon also collapsed on the spot!

I stood up and said, "The people here can give rise to heart demons, so someone must be inducing them."

Feng Ruoxing shook his head and said, "It's not just the people here, but everyone's heart demons need to be induced. Someone is deliberately leading us into a demonic state."