Chapter 4, Heart Demon
In fear, Zhuo Fan tightened a hand over his chest. The pain was so excruciating, it brought him to his knees, mumbling, “What’s going on? Did my cultivation deviate?”
His heart welled with panic. If he deviated right as he built his foundation, the result wasn’t as simple as losing all progress. He would never again be capable of cultivation, he would become a cripple.
But the pain left as soon as it came.
Zhuo Fan stood up and took a deep breath. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Yet the next step brought with it the same heartache!
“No, this isn’t deviation but… heart demon!”
Thinking of this, he began to look for the source of the heart demon. If a cultivator ignored it, he wasn’t far from deviating and becoming a demon.
Zhuo Fan soon found its source, but the result left him feeling discontent.
Before being possessed, Zhuo Fan was a devoted servant. Luo clan’s young miss was very kind to him and so he pledged life-long devotion to the clan. The resentment before death was born out of regret of not protecting the Luo clan.
It was then the Demonic Emperor’s hatred and his resentment fused, possessing his soul and breathing life into his body. And his resentment became a contract with the Demonic Emperor, turning into his shackles.
In short, the Demonic Emperor lived so he could replace him in protecting the Luo clan, or the heart demon would haunt him.
“Blast it! This punk is the worst. He wants me to be a servant?” Zhuo Fan wanted to cry but no tears came out as he kept cursing.
How could the glorious and magnificent Demonic Emperor Zhuo Yifan, the Eighth Emperor of the Sacred Domain, be tied down by some nameless clan?
Yet the heart demon couldn’t be ignored either.
Helpless, he caressed his forehead, “It would be better if a punk like you wished for vengeance instead. This way, it would’ve taken me a few years to kill him. Yet… you went and ruined my life.”
“Who’s there? Show yourself!”
An aged voice shouted and Zhuo Fan sensed a thick killing intent aimed at his location.
Shaking his head, he sighed and walked out.
Since he got found out, he might as well go deal with that traitorous Steward Sun…
Seeing who it was, Steward Sun smiled with derision, “Humph, I wondered who it could be, when in fact it was just a little bastard.”
Then Steward Sun turned to Luo Yunchang, paying him no heed.
“Young miss, I advise you to hand over the Returning Dragon Palm martial art to avoid any unnecessary casualties. I don’t think you want that either.”
“Rubbish, geezer Sun, you traitor. As long as we’re here, you won’t harm a single hair on young miss and young master.” The Luo clan’s guard captain took a step forward.
Luo Yunchang glared back, her pretty face filled with resolve, “Steward Sun, Returning Dragon Palm is a spirit ranked martial art handed down in the Luo clan for generations. We will never hand it over.”
Zhuo Fan snorted inside.
He was wondering why the mountain bandits raided the Luo clan. It was all for a mere spirit ranked martial art.
On the Martial Emperor Continent, all cultivation methods and martial arts were divided into five ranks: spirit, profound, earth and heaven. Each in turn was split in low, mid and high. In Sacred Domain, spirit ranked martial arts were at every corner and mere trash in the eyes of a Demonic Emperor such as himself. He had thousands of them already.
It was a total waste to die for such junk.
Zhuo Fan sighed and shouted bored, “Young miss, it’s just a spirit ranked martial art. Just give it to him and I’ll just give you another.”
All eyes quivered in shock, then looked at him like a nut case.
“Zhuo Fan, quite the cheeky tone you have there. Taking out a random spirit ranked martial art? On what grounds can a fifteen-year-old Luo clan servant do that? Ha-ha-ha…”
Steward Sun threw his head back and laughed, eyes filled with mockery. Even the bandits followed with their taunting laughter, not hiding their ridicule.
While the guards looked at him in doubt. Even his former friends familiar with him looked oddly.
[This kid is usually honest. Why does he speak nonsense all of a sudden? Did the mountain bandits scared him silly?]
[Eh, that must be it!]
With that, all guards changed their looks into those of sympathy.
Zhuo Fan saw through them and just shrugged. His repertoire wasn’t limited to spirit ranked martial art, and even included Demon Emperor’s ancient art, the Nine Serenities Secret Records. But they’d never believe him.
“Zhuo Fan, enough nonsense. Hurry up and look after the young master.”
Zhuo Fan turned at the scolding voice to find Luo Yunchang in a mask of rage. But her eyes conveyed a trace of pity.