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A tiny flower laid in the hand of the charred statue. Pure white petals rested on ruined black stone. Xie Lian felt like he might explode in the face of this mockery. With no one else to blame, he called Wu Ming out of the shadows.
“What’s with this flower? Who did this? You did this?” Xie Lian demanded.
Wu Ming responded quietly, “It wasn’t me.”
“Liar! No one else would have done it.”
Wu Ming’s head was bowed low, “Forgive me. I simply thought that-”
Xie Lian cut him off, “Then stop thinking.”
Xie Lian dropped the flower to the ground. The sight of its weak and delicate petals sickened him. He ground his heel against the pathetic flower, maring its beauty into ugliness.
“Get out of here,” Xie Lian ordered.
Wu Ming shook his head, “I want to stay.”
“Your loyalty is wasted on me. Leave!”
Wu Ming silently faded into the shadows.
Xie Lian paced in the broken-down palace aimlessly. The vengeful spirits would be released soon enough. The time and place was already set. All that was left to do was wait. Xie Lian felt his annoyance grow. He could feel eyes on him, staring at him, waiting and wondering.
“Wu Ming.”
Wu Ming appeared from the shadows. He hadn’t left.
“Why are you still here? I told you to leave.”
“I will always stay by your side, even if you try to push me away,” Wu Ming answered with utmost sincerity.
‘Feng Xin swore to stay forever too, but even he left when I pushed him away. Wu Ming is no different. I just have to prove to him that I’m not worth his loyalty.’
With that thought, something inside Xie Lian snapped. An irreparable change was overtaking him. He was already a monster. Soon, he would unleash the human face disease on the people of Yong’an. What difference did one more victim make?
“Kneel.”
Wu Ming dropped to his knees immediately. Xie Lian brought his foot up to his chest and pushed. There was almost no resistance. Wu Ming fell backwards into the ground.
“Pathetic.”
Xie Lian kicked and kicked. He was sure he heard the sounds of bones snapping, yet Wu Ming did not move away. He didn’t even cry out once.
‘It’s not enough.’
“Give me your sabre.”
Wu Ming rose to his knees and offered Xie Lian the sabre with no hesitation. Xie Lian unsheathed the blade and tossed the scabbard to the ground. He drug the blade down Wu Ming’s front. His robes fell open from the slice. His flesh parted but could not bleed.
Wu Ming was already dead, after all.
Xie Lian made a second slice and then a third. Still, Wu Ming did not react. He dug the blade into Wu Ming’s thigh. Wu Ming remained silent.
‘It’s still not enough.’
Xie Lian thrust the blade in between Wu Ming’s ribs. He could feel the drag of bones and muscle. His dead heart would not beat. It would not bleed. Wu Ming did not scream or cry. There was no satisfaction in the act.
Or at least, there was no satisfaction for Xie Lian. With Wu Ming’s robes cut open, Xie Lian could see that Wu Ming was erect.
“How disgusting,” Xie Lian pressed the flat edge of the blade into Wu Ming’s cock.
At last, Wu Ming cried out, but it wasn’t in the way Xie Lian was expecting. His body jerked as his come spilled out, staining the blade.
“You’re sick,” Xie Lian spat as he kicked Wu Ming into the ground again.
“I’ll be whatever you want me to be. Please use me however you want, Dianxia,” Wu Ming sighed.
“Hmph. I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you? You’re truly shameless.”
Xie Lian dug the blade into Wu Ming’s flesh a few more times but lost interest. He ordered Wu Ming back onto his knees. He brought the blade up to the side of Wu Ming’s head and held it there for a moment. Even under the silent threat, Wu Ming stayed still. He did not beg or plead.
What was there to beg or plead for? His life? He was already dead.
‘Just like mother and father .’
Xie Lian shook the thought away. He moved the blade down with just the slightest amount of pressure. The string holding Wu Ming’s mask snapped. The white mask fell to the dirty floor. Wu Ming made the slightest noise and pressed a hand to the right side of his face, but Xie Lian ignored him.
Xie Lian snapped the blade, leaving less than a quarter attached to the hilt. He wrapped a bit of Wu Ming’s torn clothing around the remaining bit of the blade.
Xie Lian held the cloth and brought the leather wrapped grip to Wu Ming’s mouth, “Suck.”
Wu Ming obeyed.
He took the hilt into his mouth. He bobbed his head, mimicking such a vulgar act. Drool leaked out of his mouth and ran down his chin.
“Enough.”
Wu Ming stopped.
“Get on your hands and knees.”
Wu Ming scrambled into position. Xie Lian tore away the remaining scraps of Wu Ming’s clothing. He was completely exposed, yet still he did not try to leave.
‘Break.’
Xie Lian pressed the pommel into the ring of muscle. He pressed harder and harder, forcing it inside. He watched with perverse fascination as it disappeared. He pressed in more. Each twist of leather was slowly enveloped by pale skin.
Wu Ming arched and writhed but did not move away. Soft gasps and moans fell from his lips.
‘He’s enjoying this.’
Xie Lian pulled the hilt almost completely out before slamming it back inside. It was only coated with a small bit of Wu Ming’s saliva.
‘It should hurt. It should hurt. Make him hurt…’
Xie Lian thrusted the hilt aggressively, but it only made Wu Ming moan more.
“D-dianxiaaa...I-I-ahhh!” Wu Ming’s body convulsed as his come sprayed across the floor.
“Disgusting, vile, wretched creature.”
“Please let this useless one offer Dianxia pleasure,” Wu Ming begged.
‘Everything else has been lost already. I’ll never be able to ascend again. Why bother with preserving my cultivation? ’
Xie Lian removed the hilt. He unwrapped the cloth, exposing the broken bit of the blade. He stabbed the fragment into Wu Ming’s side, but Wu Ming did not cry out in pain.
“Kneel.”
Wu Ming quickly moved back onto his knees before Xie Lian. His hair had been pulled down to cover the right side of his face.
Xie Lian parted his robes enough to pull his length out, “Suck.”
Wu Ming’s mouth enveloped Xie Lian immediately, but Xie Lian kicked him away, harshly.
“Too cold! Warm yourself first, you idiot.”
“F-forgive me Dianxia! Is this better?” Wu Ming’s mouth lowered on him again.
Wu Ming’s mouth was warmer this time. His tongue was soft and wet as it rubbed against him. Xie Lian could see why so many people would do something so inappropriate.
The slightest sigh escaped Xie Lian, “Better.”
With that one word of praise, Wu Ming’s body shivered. Xie Lian could feel the wet splatters of come landing on the ends of his robes. Xie Lian didn’t care about Wu Ming’s pleasure. He was supposed to be giving the pleasure he held himself back from for so many years.
Xie Lian reached down to grab a fistful of Wu Ming’s hair, not noticing how he uncovered the right side of Wu Ming’s face. He fucked into Wu Ming’s mouth roughly, moving deeper and deeper. He thrusted back far enough to block his airway, but Wu Ming didn’t need to breathe. It still didn’t satisfy him.
‘It’s still not enough. Hate me. Despise me. Resent me. Abandon me.’
Xie Lian finally noticed Wu Ming’s eyes were squeezed shut.
“Look at me.”
‘Hate me.’
Wu Ming’s left eye cracked open.
Xie Lian tugged on Wu Ming’s hair harder, “I said, look at me!”
‘Despise me.’
Tears formed in the corners of Wu Ming’s eyes. He made a muffled cry into Xie Lian’s cock. It was a desperate plea that failed to form into words.
It was the first time Wu Ming had resisted. The sadistic monster inside Xie Lian latched onto this detail. He would break him. Xie Lian pulled Wu Ming up to his feet by his hair then released him.
“Are you trying to hide something?”
‘Resent me.’
Wu Ming held his head low, “I’m sorry! Please forgive me, Dianxia.”
Xie Lian yanked the broken sabre out of Wu Ming’s side. He pressed the jagged end into his own neck, splitting open his skin just the smallest bit.
“Look. At. Me.”
‘Abandon me.’
Wu Ming’s eyes snapped open. Mismatched red and black eyes flooded with terror. If the situation were different, Xie Lian might have thought his eyes were pretty.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, Dianxia! Hurt me as much as you want, but please, not you...never you...” tears were spilling down Wu Ming’s cheeks.
“Is this what it takes to hurt you?”
Xie Lian dragged the broken blade down his chest. It was deep enough for blood to be dripping down his front, but not deep enough for the bloodloss to make Xie Lian feel lightheaded. It certainly wasn’t deep enough to make him die, not that he could truly die anyway.
Wu Ming snatched the broken sabre from Xie Lian’s hands. He tossed it with all his strength just to get it further away from Xie Lian. Rage took over Xie Lian.
Xie Lian lunged forward and pinned Wu Ming to the ground. He screamed, “Why do you care so much!? Curse my name! Hate me!”
The string of the half-smiling, half-crying mask snapped. The mask fell to the ground and cracked in half. The crying half laid face down while the smiling half peered up at Xie Lian, continuing to mock him.
“I could never hate Dianxia. Dianxia is the only god.”
Xie Lian couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even think. All he could do was feel as a dark need rolled through him. He needed to devour and destroy. He needed to ruin Wu Ming.
Wu Ming was like soft white petals on charred stone. Just like the flower, Xie Lian would grind him into the ground and crush him into nothing.
Xie Lian reached a hand in between his robes. His fingers emerged slick with his own blood. His cock had softened, but as he smeared the blood across his length, it hardened again. The fluid was sticky, but he didn’t care. He forced Wu Ming’s legs up and out of his way and slammed his cock inside.
‘It hurts.’
The pressure squeezed around Xie Lian painfully.
‘It hurts. ’
The blood-wet skin dragged unpleasently.
‘It hurts.’
Wu Ming begged for more.
‘It hurts.’
“You’re disgusting. You’re pathetic, useless trash.”
Each word was marked with a sharp and painful thrust of Xie Lian’s hips.
A strangled cry came from Wu Ming. His body clenched around Xie Lian, even tighter now. A small trickle of come leaked out his untouched cock.
“You’re so filthy and depraved. You make me sick.”
Xie Lian continued fucking Wu Ming. He tried to make it rough and painful. He wanted it to hurt.
“You’re a failure. You’ll never be able to-”
‘...save anyone.’
Xie Lian was speaking to Wu Ming. Yet he knew each word was only about himself. When Xie Lian looked at Wu Ming’s face, he was surprised to see that he was crying. Xie Lian didn’t know if it was the pain, the words, or something else. Until finally he noticed, the tears were falling from his own eyes.
Xie Lian’s own tears ran down Wu Ming’s cheeks.
Wu Ming’s hand reached up towards Xie Lian’s face, slowly and cautiously. When Xie Lian felt the slightest brush of his fingertips, he slapped the hand away.
“Don’t touch me,” Xie Lian meant for the words to come out harshly, but they sounded weak and broken.
“Dianxia…”
“SHUT UP! I told you I’m not him! I’m not!”
Wu Ming’s earlier words echoed in Xie Lian’s mind.
“Dianxia will forever be Dianxia.”
Xie Lian was supposed to push Wu Ming away. Wu Ming was supposed to hate Xie Lian. He was supposed to despise him. He was supposed to resent him for this pain. Wu Ming was supposed to abandon Xie Lian, just like everyone else.
Xie Lian was the one who was disgusting.
He couldn’t continue anymore. Xie Lian backed away from Wu Ming. He stumbled and fixed his torn funeral robes as best he could.
Wu Ming sat up. He was looking at Xie Lian with a look of confusion. “Dianxia…?”
“Don’t let me see you ever again.”
Xie Lian turned away. He picked up Fangxin. He stepped forward until he felt something tug on the sleeve of his robes.
“Dianxia, please, I swear I won’t abandon you,” Wu Ming’s voice was just as sincere as before.
Xie Lian yanked his sleeve out of Wu Ming’s grasp. “Ruoye, bind him.
Xie Lian resumed walking. He heard the thud of a body falling to the ground.
“DIANXIA! Please! Don’t do this! I swear, I am forever your most-”
“Ruoye, gag him.”
The screaming stopped.
Xie Lian left the broken palace. He thrusted Fangxin into his torso and fell into the street.
---
Xie Lian was waiting for the pain of taking on the resentful spirits, but it never came.
Down the street, Wu Ming was holding Fangxin.
“WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON’T TOUCH THAT! GIVE ME BACK THE SWORD!” Xie Lian screamed.
From within the thick dark cloud of spirits, a broken wail was heard.
Eventually, Xie Lian’s awareness returned. He heard Bai Wuxiang’s laughter. He taunted Xie Lian and explained that Wu Ming was his very last believer.
“Even after you tormented him all night, he still believed in a pathetic god like you.”
‘No...no…’
Bai Wuxiang continued taunting Xie Lian, but he couldn’t hear the words anymore. He was too lost in his own agony to listen.
‘I told you...your loyalty is wasted on me. Why didn’t you listen? Why? WHY? ’
Yet no matter how many times Xie Lian asked why, he never heard the answer.
“I am forever your most devoted believer.”