Soul-Burning Substitute: Blood Mist Slays the King of Hell

A seven-hundred-year promise of “A Yan” could not stop him from driving his sword through me and pinning me in the water prison of the Demon Realm.

I am Yunshang, born to be a stand-in for my older sister, Yun Zhi. Our parents’ affection and Xie Han’s devotion all belonged to that first love, who had faked her death. As corpse-corroding water ate through my collarbones and burned my soul (tap “Soul-Burning”), my flesh was rotted by brine, and the blood from my heart was nourishing her soul. An eerie red glow shimmered in the lamplight.

Only when Xie Han held that lamp and said, “I will bring you back to life no matter what,” did I glimpse the truth: Yun Zhi had faked her death to steal my spiritual meridians, and he had endured everything while plotting in secret. Even the hatred of my own family had come from altered memories!

The day blood dyed the water prison red, my chains snapped apart. Black-red blood mist poured from my wounds and coiled into a thorned flower of the Nine Hells (tap “Blood Mist”). I rose from the pool of blood, all lingering attachment gone:

“Xie Han, our seven-hundred-year pact is over.” I fashioned a hairpin from shattered bone and a blade from blood mist. “Either kneel at my grave and beg forgiveness, or I’ll use this blood flower to send you into the cycle of reincarnation (tap “Slay the King of Hell”).”

The stand-in returns after burning her soul. In the King of Hell’s palace, the blood flower at my fingertips lights up the netherworld. “Will you choose your first love, or me... the woman who can make blood flowers bloom across all three realms?”