Only an idiot would keep evidence of their crimes on their phone. Unfortunately for me, Yun Shanhai isn’t an idiot.
So I didn’t find anything.
But that doesn’t matter.
Because if it’s not on the phone, I can just film it live.
“Come on, smile for the camera.”
I pointed the camera at Yun Shanhai.
Then I used Soul Search to read the memories from his mind, broadcasting them right in front of the lens.
“Ahhh—Father knows he was wrong! Yunxian! Don’t! Yunxian, don’t do this!”
As the memories revealed his filthy past, Yun Shanhai finally broke down.
Hearing this guy still shamelessly call himself ‘Father’, I dutifully sped up the filming.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. The renowned Confucian Master, the famous Mountain-Sea Hermit, you really know how to play.”
Even I was shocked by the positions in Yun Shanhai’s videos.
At that party, there were men and women, black and white, human and non-human—among them, Yun Shanhai especially favored those immortal spirits with tentacles.
While filming, I sent out the recorded videos—those scenes of bribery, the trading of power for sex, and more—to Yun Shanhai’s entire contact list.
I sent them to all his VX friends, QQ groups, his private social circles, even to the reporters’ mailboxes, the news websites, and—
To the Students’ and Parents’ phones.
I did all of this right in front of Yun Shanhai.
He could only watch helplessly, unable to do a thing.
[Master Shanhai, I… never thought you were this kind of person.]
[Confucian Master? Turns out you’re just a shameless fraud!]
[Master, when are you going to invite me to play along? I’m even wilder than you~]
Hm? That one’s a bit off…
[Master Shanhai, did you send this to the wrong person? I’m with the Disciplinary Committee…]
[Beep beep beep, beep beep beep—]
Yun Shanhai’s entire social circle exploded.
The videos spread instantly on QQ groups, and then onto all sorts of unsightly websites.
[Master Shanhai, I’m your personal Public Relations! Why aren’t you answering my calls? The internet is in an uproar! We can’t hold out much longer!]
Yun Shanhai’s phone vibrated crazily.
Even Musicheng couldn’t sit still anymore.
[Yun Shanhai, I get that you’re losing it, but why would you leak our transactions?!]
After a while, Musicheng finally caught on.
[Is this… Yunxian? Or Yun Luo Xian?]
I didn’t reply.
I just let Yun Shanhai savor this feast a while longer.
“Kill me…” Yun Shanhai rasped in a low growl. “Kill me! You little beast! Isn’t this what you want, for me to die?!”
“No, no, you’re not going to die. Your body won’t, anyway—only Social Death awaits you.” I wagged my finger.
“You’re going to live, become my puppet, and savor the stench of your infamy for the rest of your days.”
“You… you…”
I raised my hand in a slicing motion, like zipping his lips shut, taking back my control over Yun Shanhai’s mouth.
“Hand over that mouth of yours, best you keep it shut so you don’t spout filth at me. Besides… thanks to you, I have business to take care of.”
Before Yun Shanhai’s status could be stripped by the Spirit Association, I manipulated him to dial a call.
It went to the headquarters of the Forging Association.
They hadn’t yet received news of Yun Shanhai’s implosion, so for someone of his high standing in the association, they remained exceedingly respectful.
[Are you certain you want to lift the Seal on the Xianlu Crafting Shop?]
“Yes.”
[Did you discuss this with the Mu Family?]
“I did. The Mu Family has other plans. Just follow the order and pass it down.”
[Understood, understood…]
As the head of a major business department in the Spirit Association, Yun Shanhai had the power of life and death over all Craftsmen in his region. The Forging Association would never dare defy him.
So the other side didn’t dare ask more, and executed the order right away.
“Well done. Now, enjoy your Social Death. Once you’ve completely fallen, I’ll send you to reunite with that mother and son.”
Smiling, I handed the phone back to Yun Shanhai, ordering him to keep scrolling through the chat messages and type out greetings to the ancestors of all his superiors.
Then, happily, I strode away.
.
[Boss, the Seal on our shop has been torn off.] Master Lu sent a message.
I nodded. “Got it. Open up quickly—no telling when we’ll get sealed again.”
Yun Shanhai would soon fall from grace, and then the Forging Association would lock us down once more.
During this window, the Xianlu Crafting Shop had to build its reputation.
After hanging up with Master Lu, I left Yun Shanhai’s courtyard.
Slowly, normally, I walked toward the school on my own two feet.
Halfway across the Bridge, I suddenly stopped.
“Yun Shanhai is already as good as dead…”
“Yun Muchen is dead, that wretch killed herself.”
“All the people I wanted to kill… seem to be gone.”
“My revenge…”
“Succeeded?”
“Just like that? When did it happen?”
All these years, I had longed for this outcome every moment.
While eating, sleeping, cultivating, fighting, on the brink of death—
You could say my entire existence was for this.
Other than that, I had nothing.
And now, this moment had come.
I suppose… I should be happy?
But why…
Why is there not even a shred of joy inside me?
Everything feels so faint, so weightless.
Calm, as always.
I thought… I thought at this moment I would be happy, that from now on I could live peacefully, unburdened.
That’s what I imagined, every single time.
But.
They’re dead.
And I haven’t found even a trace of the happiness I sought.
Everything is so light, like a dream, without any sense of reality.
Only those inescapable, painful memories remain vivid.
Those punishments, those tortures and agonies, never brought me any relief.
The Dream Demon is still here, a chain wrapped tight around my soul.
Oh.
So, inflicting pain on others can’t make you feel better.
The pleasure comes only in the split second you inflict pain, a fleeting thrill of ‘an eye for an eye.’
But it passes instantly.
If you want to loosen the chain, to breathe again, you have to keep inflicting pain.
Dig up that wretch and Yun Muchen, gather Yun Shanhai, think up new torments, make them keep suffering.
Heh, humanity never lacks ways to torture its own.
Let me think, aside from the tortures of the Eighteen Levels of Hell, there’s also the Top Ten Tortures of the Last Century, and… with a little imagination, surely we can invent new games.
Hm? The wretch and Yun Muchen have already been cremated?
Only Yun Shanhai is left—how is that enough.
All at once, a great sense of emptiness rushed in.
To fill that hollowness, I instinctively started plotting.
Right! If I don’t have them, then substitutes will do—people who look like them. Watching them suffer would bring me joy and comfort too.
It has to be this way!
Otherwise, what will I do?
Otherwise, now that they’re dead, what will I do with the rest of my life?
I can’t stop. All these years… tens of thousands of years! I have only this one goal, only this one skill! I can’t stop… this can’t end! It can’t end!
How could it all end so easily?!
Now that they’re dead, what meaning does my life have???
.
I don’t know when, but I sank to my knees beside the Bridge’s railing.
Tears fell into the River, not even stirring a ripple.
It doesn’t care.
It’s seen it all before.
What I consider the meaning of my life, means nothing to it.
.
And then, I don’t know when—
A tentacle reached out.
And pulled me into a gentle embrace.
She cares.