Yin Jiuzhao was the only Vermilion-Feathered Demon in the Nine Heavens, and his demon core could heal the wounds of every race.
Twenty-three years ago, he found a blood-soaked girl in the ruins of the demon realm and named her Mo Nian. He taught her to speak and cultivate, and shielded her from three attempts on her life by the Heavenly Punishment Bureau. She called him “Master” and said, “You’re the only person I’ll ever trust.”
Then she became the Demon Venerable and personally cut out his demon core.
The night she took it, snow fell across the Nine Heavens. Mo Nian held the still-beating crimson core and smiled at him. “Master, I have to save someone. Only your demon core can trade for his life.”
Yin Jiuzhao leaned against her shoulder and spoke softly. “You raised me for twenty-three years. One core in exchange isn’t a bad deal.”
She turned and left without looking back.
He did not die. The Vermilion-Feathered Demons possessed an ancient secret: after having their core removed, they could survive for a hundred days by sustaining their lives with “reversed words.”
He said, “It doesn’t hurt,” though the pain made him cough up blood. He said, “I don’t hate you,” though hatred split his bones. He said, “I won’t come looking for you,” yet every night he stood outside her bedchamber, watching her drink with that man until dawn.
Until, in the forest of steles, he ran his fingers over a blue brick bearing her words:
“I took your core to free you from the heavenly law.”
It turned out there was a hidden law in the Nine Heavens: if a Vermilion-Feathered Demon lived beyond a hundred years, they would become a prisoner of Heaven, eternally confined to the Ninth Heaven. If she did not kill him, he would never again be his own person.
Yin Jiuzhao wiped the blood from the brick and turned toward the Demon Abyss.
“Mo Nian, I won’t take the path you chose for me.”
“I choose you, and I choose death.”
You think I killed you, but I was saving you. You think you hate me, but you love me.
