Meanwhile, outside the Bai family compound, on a flat hill behind it, a slender figure in a rose-red qipao floated in the air. Her gaze fell upon a middle-aged man.
It was Lin Fengxuan!
However, at this moment, two figures were trailing behind Lin Fengxuan.
One of them was none other than the Dragon Gate Master, Han Tiandao.
But what was astonishing was that Han Tiandao's pupils were a hazy grey, his expression vacant, like a mechanical puppet.
The other figure was an elder. His aged face was deeply wrinkled, riddled with hollows. His withered skin was coated with a deathly pallor, making him quite unsettling to behold if he were walking in the dark.
"Hongying! What are you trying to do?"
Lin Fengxuan wore a faint smile as he looked at Ji Hongying, who was suspended in the air. His eyes held both shock and a hint of confusion.
Her growth rate seemed to have exceeded his expectations.
"Foster Father! This should be the last time I call you that!"
Ji Hongying slowly descended from the sky, her feet touching the ground. Her beautiful eyes held a fleeting look of complexity.
"Oh! Why?"
Whether Lin Fengxuan feigned surprise or was genuinely stunned by Ji Hongying's words, his relaxed smile vanished at that moment.
"Hongying! Ever since I adopted you from the orphanage, I've raised you as my own daughter and never mistreated you!" Lin Fengxuan's expression darkened, and he spoke with a hint of pain. "I raised you, and yet you want to sever ties with me. Is this how you repay my upbringing?"
"Hehehe! Raised you as your own daughter?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Hongying threw her head back and laughed, her voice filled with desolation. "Then, my dear father, please tell me."
"Which father would implant a soul-controlling Gu into his own daughter's body?"
"Which father would use his own daughter as a tool to achieve his goals, slaughtering innocents?"
"Which father would casually give away his own daughter to others for his own profit?"
"Tell me, is there such a father?"
Ji Hongying unleashed all the anger and sorrow within her heart. Clenching her fists, she stared coldly at the man before her and posed her soul-piercing questions.
Could such a person even be called a father?
Lin Fengxuan fell silent after hearing her words. But in less than a second, he re-examined the woman before him and actually smiled. "Good! It seems you've truly grown up. You dare to defy me now!"
For some reason, seeing Lin Fengxuan's smile sent a chill down Ji Hongying's spine. In that smile, she actually felt a sense of perverse satisfaction.
Lin Fengxuan's gaze was akin to appraising a perfect work of art.
Yes!
To him, Ji Hongying was a meticulously carved creation. Now that the creation had developed a rebellious consciousness, Lin Fengxuan felt a twisted sense of accomplishment.
Clap, clap!
"Good! Very good! My little Hongying, you've done wonderfully!" Lin Fengxuan applauded as if celebrating her. "If I'm not mistaken, now that you dare to stand against me, the soul-controlling Gu within you must be gone, correct?"
Lin Fengxuan's attitude at this moment left Ji Hongying bewildered.
She had clearly broken free from his control, yet for some reason, she felt as if she were still bound by a set of shackles, restraining her.
She even had a bizarre feeling that everything happening now was within Lin Fengxuan's grasp.
"This... is impossible!"
Ji Hongying instinctively took a step back, pushing away the absurd thought.
This small movement did not escape Lin Fengxuan's notice. His eyes seemed to pierce directly into Ji Hongying's current state of mind.
Then, he smirked.
"Strength can only arm the body! Hongying, oh Hongying! The shadows from your childhood have long made your heart fragile. Then, with what will you arm your fragile heart?"
Lin Fengxuan shook his head and sighed inwardly.
This creation, it seemed, had not yet reached perfect flawlessness.
"Hongying! Some things, even if you sever ties with me, cannot be changed in the end!" Lin Fengxuan stepped forward, his hands behind his back, and said sternly, "The blood you've stained your hands with, the innocent souls you've extinguished, the sins and karma you carry will not simply vanish because you've broken ties with me!"
"That's right, you can break free from my control. But those painful memories in your mind will forever follow you. Every time you wake from a nightmare, the unease and fear in your heart will drag you back into the abyss!"
"You... cannot escape!"
Lin Fengxuan's words echoed in Ji Hongying's mind like bewitching demonic sounds. Every word, every sentence, awakened the memories she had constantly tried to evade.
The blood on her hands was indelible!
The people she had killed could not be brought back!
Her sins could never be purged!
"No... that's not true!"
Ji Hongying retreated continuously, her trembling fingers pointing at Lin Fengxuan, shaking her head as if to explain. "Those were things you made me do, not me! I didn't want to kill them!"
"Yes! I made you kill them!"
Lin Fengxuan moved closer to Ji Hongying, admitting what she said. But then, he looked directly into her eyes and questioned, "I have sinned, I admit it, and I will not evade it. But... what about you?"
"Do you want to evade everything you've done?"
"Do you wish to sever ties with me to put your mind at ease?"
"Do you want to say you were forced, that you bear no guilt whatsoever?"
"If that's the case, do you think the departed souls will accept it?"
At this moment, Lin Fengxuan had reached Ji Hongying, his voice chilling. "Stop dreaming, my child. Even if you escape me, your heart will never find peace."
"No... I... it wasn't me..."
Unconsciously, Ji Hongying's pupils became vacant, her mind a muddled chaos, memories intertwining and overlapping.
All sorts of emotions surged forth at this moment.
Guilt! Fear! Unease!
"Ah!"
Boom!
A chaotic energy erupted from Ji Hongying's body. The collapse of her mental world plunged her into madness.
Seeing this, Lin Fengxuan recoiled sharply. However, a smile curved his lips.
"My child, unleash the energy within you to your heart's content!"
He raised his hand, and in his palm was an unknown Gu worm emitting a black aura.
It seemed that this Gu worm had also played a role in subtly guiding Ji Hongying's emotions, causing them to swell to the brink of collapse in such a short time.
Otherwise, her inner world wouldn't have been so fragile.
"Very good! Excellent!"
Lin Fengxuan gazed at the gradually collapsing Ji Hongying, his smile growing increasingly sinister. "When you completely lose your sanity, you will be the perfect vessel for my Soul Devouring Demonic Gu!"
One minute later.
At this moment, Ji Hongying, having vented all the power within her, knelt on the ground, her eyes hollow, devoid of any light.
"Hahaha! The opportunity is here!"
Lin Fengxuan laughed heartily and threw the Soul Devouring Demonic Gu in his palm towards Ji Hongying.
But at this moment, something peculiar happened.
In the sky.
It suddenly began to rain.
Coincidentally, just as the Gu worm was about to touch Ji Hongying's body, it was struck by a raindrop.
Then!
It actually turned into a wisp of black smoke and was annihilated!
"???" Lin Fengxuan.