He thought he had slumbered for too long, forgetting much of his past. In reality, a soul stake was driven into the crown of his head, specially placed by a high monk when he was entombed, possessing the effect of separating soul and spirit.
Thus, he only remembered that he had been murdered.
The one who killed him was the woman he loved the most.
She had colluded with his imperial brother, and together they plotted his demise. She had dug out his heart, while his imperial brother had disfigured his face.
After killing him, they disposed of his body in a mass grave on the battlefield, burning him to ashes along with the other fallen soldiers.
His hatred surged, and to exact revenge, he became a vengeful spirit, devouring other lost souls on the battlefield to strengthen himself, eventually becoming a Soul Lord.
Some memories of his time as a Soul Lord were hazy. He only recalled that he had become an evil spirit in the eyes of others and had successfully exacted his revenge.
He killed his imperial brother, who had ascended to the throne. Before dying, his imperial brother cursed him to a miserable death, calling him a madman.
But would he care about the curses of a dead man?
He thought to himself, one down, one to go.
However, he searched the entire royal palace but could not find the woman who had betrayed him.
Later, he learned that the woman had committed suicide, burning herself to death in the palace just the day after his death.
He couldn't understand why she had betrayed him.
If she had betrayed him, why did she commit suicide?
His original quest for revenge morphed into a vow to find her reincarnation.
For this purpose, he did not hesitate to stir up a bloodbath in the human world, causing widespread devastation.
Ultimately, he, this malevolent spirit, was sealed by a group of righteous cultivators.
They severed one of his little fingers, a lock of his hair, and dug out a piece of his bone, driving a soul stake through them. These were then placed in four scattered locations to disperse his power. His true self was sealed within nineteen coffins in the Yin-Yang Dual Poles Pond of the Du Sheng Daoist temple to be worn down until his soul was scattered.
Nourished by the death energy, his muddled mind would sometimes clear. He could feel an aura emanating from her that was of the same origin as his. That ineffable sense of familiarity made him involuntarily lower his guard and resistance, wanting to get closer to her.
This subtle feeling…
A name suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Could she be—He stepped forward, as if making an absurd yet expectant query, "You… are Ah Miao?"
Gu Junshi was not surprised by his answer, as he had mistaken her before.
Using the last shred of kindness she had towards him, she told him the truth: "My name is Gu Junshi."
Upon hearing her denial, he became even more convinced: "It is you."
A reincarnated person would naturally not remember the events of their previous life, but he knew it had to be her!
Seeing his resolute belief that she was the reincarnated Nan Weng Miao, a flicker of malevolence flashed within Gu Junshi's dark, calm eyes.
She had denied it, but he remained insistent. Then, she could fulfill his wish.
She approached him: "What do you want Ah Miao for? To kill her? But she has already died once. Do you think dying once wasn't enough, and you want to hunt her down through life and death?"
Her words, as clear as water, seemed to strike a nerve in Ren Huang. The malevolence radiating from him intensified slightly. "I just want to ask you, why did you betray me back then?"
Gu Junshi, who had become a "substitute" in his eyes, thought for a moment and honestly replied, "You were ugly."
Ren Huang seemed to suffer a great blow.
"I'm not ugly!" He suddenly thought of something, touched his face, and the rough, uneven sensation reminded him of something. His throat tightened, and he said hoarsely, "At least before you betrayed me, I wasn't this disfigured."
Gu Junshi thought of other reasons.
"You are stupid."
Ren Huang gritted his teeth, "I'm not stupid!"
Gu Junshi recalled the most crucial aspect of harmony between couples.
She stated with certainty, "Your technique is bad."
Technique?
At first, Ren Huang did not understand her meaning. It was only when he noticed her eyes inadvertently drifting towards his lower body that the air in his chest exploded. Breathing heavily and blushing, he retorted, "What are you, what are you saying? We never, never—"
Never?
The woman he had yearned for all along had become his concubine, and he had managed to endure without making a move?
Inferring from a typical domineering CEO's mindset, this man might… not be capable.
But saying it out loud, Gu Junshi feared he wouldn't be able to handle it, so she paused for a moment and subtly reminded him, "Then what do you think the reason was?"
At this moment, due to his emotional instability, the malevolence surrounding Ren Huang surged like a disaster. The death energy within the "Gate of the Yellow Springs" was also drawn by him, pouring into his body from beneath the ground.
His eyes flashed crimson: "Because you are a slut!"
Although he was now insulting the woman he believed to be "Nan Weng Miao," it was unacceptable to insult her to her face.
Gu Junshi flicked her sleeves, unleashing a powerful aura, cutting off the supply of death energy to him. The area around Ren Huang became instantly void.
She took a step, her body dissolving into nothingness.
The next step, she had already appeared before him.
A cold finger, exceptionally slender and fair, gently touched the acupoint above his brow.
She let out a soft, musical laugh, her tone light and gentle, but in the tense atmosphere, it was laced with heavy mockery. "I'm a slut, and you still love me? Then aren't you… even more of a slut?"
For a "slut" he called her, he had been looking for her, against his better judgment, for hundreds of years, causing turmoil everywhere.
In every life, every life she knew, he had never given up.
Was it obsession, or was it love? Did he truly understand?
Boom— Netherfire instantly engulfed him. His clothes and decaying, foul-smelling flesh in the flames melted away bit by bit…
In an instant, he became the eerily beautiful skeletal frame she had known in their first life.
"What have you done—I've turned into bones?!"
Ren Huang, who had been reduced to bones by a single fire, clicked his jawbone, "Kadak, kadak." Though his entire body had been burnt, and he had no throat, it was unclear where his voice was coming from.
This netherfire not only destroyed his vengeful spirit body, assembled during his time as Soul Lord, but also burned away his malevolent and violent disposition. He was now merely a clean skeleton, the Ren Huang.
Seeing it, Gu Junshi's previous sinister and cold expression vanished. She retracted her finger, her quietly focused gaze devoid of emotion.
But those who knew her would understand that due to her elite upbringing, she rarely showed her emotions. Therefore, her smile did not always indicate happiness; rather, her most peaceful moments were when she was truly pleased.
"Do you like it?" she asked.
Ren Huang stared blankly at his slender, distinct white finger bones, turned them over, and blurted out, "...It's quite nice."
Ren Huang was naturally prone to emotional outbursts.
Without the defilement clinging to him, without the past hatred that drove him mad, his true nature remained indescribably troublesome.
However, without love and hate, he at least wouldn't be trapped in a quagmire of pain and choose self-destruction.
She thought, as if repaying the "karma" of his help in their first life, she decided to help him… eliminate love and desire!