I Swear I’m Not a Demonic Cultivator - Chapter 44
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- Chapter 44 - : You've Truly Put Me Through the Wringer
Chapter 44: You’ve Truly Put Me Through the Wringer
Fang Zheng stepped out of the Blood Sacrifice Floating Pagoda Great Prison-Suppressing Formation, alone, facing the bone-white behemoth of a ship that blotted out the sky, and the thousands of Demonic Path cultivators swarming its decks.
His expression remained calm, but his mind raced with calculations.
The Demonic Saintess before him possessed unfathomable power and commanded a vast force. A direct confrontation would be suicidal.
He had just expended immense energy deploying the Great Guardian Formation, and the Righteous Path cultivators behind him were all severely wounded.
The only viable option was “enlightenment”—to use reason, righteousness, and compassion to resolve this conflict. He needed to make her understand that slaughtering wouldn’t solve anything and that peace was the only way forward.
Having made his decision, Fang Zheng cleared his throat, preparing to deliver a peace speech that would be etched into history.
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the sea of Demonic cultivators to lock onto the masked Saintess at the ship’s prow.
Channeling his Haoran Demonic Essence, he amplified his voice to resonate clearly across the entire battlefield.
“Fellow Daoist, please stand down.”
Enhanced by Demonic Essence, his voice deepened into a resonant, gravelly tone, filled with undeniable authority, like the final edict of a Demon Monarch.
“When will this cycle of vengeance end?”
“This entire affair is a misunderstanding. Grant me this favor—put an end to this bloodshed, and let us transform this conflict into harmony. What say you?”
Fang Zheng believed his words were reasonable, well-reasoned, and brimming with sincere intentions of peace.
However, to Yun Shuishui and the assembled Demonic Cultivators, his words sparked a tsunami of fanatical fervor.
What did she just hear?
The Holy Son said… it was a misunderstanding?
Yes! It must be a misunderstanding! We, his lowly servants, dared to presume his divine will, imagining he needed our help to crush these ants. That very assumption was the greatest misunderstanding of all!
The Holy Son said… to give him face?
What an extraordinary grace! The Holy Son would actually “grant” us “face”! This is his way of signaling that he already considers us his own!
The Holy Son is so gentle!
Yun Shuishui trembled with excitement, her cheeks already flushed crimson beneath her mask.
She understands! The Holy Son is rebuking us! He doesn’t need our intervention—he intends to handle these “spoils of war” in his own way!
Yun Shuishui grasped the implication instantly. She took a swift step forward and bowed deeply to Fang Zheng below.
Then, turning to address all the Demonic Cultivators, she declared in a voice brimming with fervor:
“The Holy Son has commanded!”
“Today, the Holy Son shows mercy, seeking to turn swords into jade and silk! You fools, withdraw at once and pay homage to the Holy Son’s ascension to the throne!”
“Once the Holy Son ascends, the entire Demonic Sect will follow his command without question!”
The moment the word “ascension” was uttered, a thunderous cheer erupted from the colossal bone ship, shaking the very heavens.
“Hail the Holy Son’s ascension!”
“May the Holy Son live ten thousand years! May he unify the Xuan Heaven!”
Amidst the frenzied cries, eight Demon Monarchs, each as towering as a mountain, slowly emerged from the ship’s hold, carrying a resplendent golden object.
It was an enormous golden throne!
Forged from an unknown dark-gold metal, the throne was intricately carved with terrifying reliefs depicting ten thousand demons prostrating in worship amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The backrest consisted of a pair of massive, outstretched bat wings that seemed capable of blotting out the sky. The armrests were two snarling skeletal dragons, their jaws agape, clutching soul fires between their teeth.
A pure, violent, and domineering aura of imperial majesty radiated from the throne, threatening to crush all who dared approach.
Boom!
The eight Demon Monarchs slammed the golden throne heavily before Fang Zheng.
Yun Shuishui stepped to the side of the throne, gestured toward it with fervent devotion, and said, “Holy Son, please ascend to your rightful seat!”
Fang Zheng froze in utter bewilderment.
A throne? Ascension? What in the world is going on? I was just trying to mediate! Why are you suddenly bringing out all these props?
“N-no, no, no…”
Fang Zheng repeatedly refused.
“I won’t become the Holy Son. I, Fang Zheng, am a man of clear understanding.”
“What virtue or ability do I, Fang Zheng, possess? How dare I usurp such a lofty position?”
“You’re only bringing ruin upon me!”
“You’re only bringing ruin upon me!”
Becoming the Holy Son would truly cast him into the Demonic Path, yet…
Refusing would mean they wouldn’t heed his warnings and would slaughter all their comrades in the Righteous Dao Alliance.
Just as Fang Zheng found himself in this impossible predicament,
a sudden calamity erupted!
“Aaaah—!”
A twisted, ear-piercing scream erupted without warning from the Blood Sacrifice Floating Pagoda Great Formation behind him!
Jie jie jie… The beast slumbering deep within his heart had awakened!
Zhao Xun and Lu Chuxue grinned malevolently.
Fang Zheng whirled around.
In the next instant, his pupils dilated violently, as if struck by lightning.
Beneath the crimson dome, this was no longer a sanctuary.
It was a slaughterhouse.
A blood-soaked meat grinder, meticulously crafted by his own hands, was now churning with terrifying efficiency!
Countless ravenous crimson chains dangled from the dome, sinking their barbs deep into the bodies of the critically wounded Righteous Path cultivators.
Fang Zheng turned to see.
The first to scream in agony was an Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Fang Zheng remembered him—the very man who had just threatened to take them all down together.
But now, the Elder’s face bore no trace of resolve, only boundless terror.
A thick, crimson chain pierced his Dantian, frantically draining his Spiritual Energy, vital Qi, and life force. These energies materialized as visible crimson light, surging into the Crimson Dome to reinforce the cage.
His body withered at an alarming rate.
His eyes locked onto Fang Zheng outside the Formation, his mouth opening and closing silently, as if pleading for mercy.
Then came the second, the third…
“Help… save me…”
“Devil! Fang Zheng is a devil!”
“He set up a Killing Formation… he’s refining us all into his Cultivation Power!”
Lu Chuxue and Corpse Servant Zhao Xun faithfully carried out Fang Zheng’s order to “protect the Fellow Daoists.”
Standing at the heart of the Formation, they furiously poured their Demonic Energy into the formation nodes.
In their eyes, these Righteous Path cultivators were riddled with “impurities” that only the Holy Son’s supreme Great Formation could completely “purify,” granting them eternal “rebirth.”
Finally, several cultivators near the edge, their injuries relatively minor, mustered their last reserves of strength, driven by their primal instinct for survival.
They combined their efforts, launching a suicidal assault against a weak point in the Crimson Dome!
Boom!
A gaping hole tore through the Crimson Dome.
Seven or eight figures, drenched in blood and utterly disheveled, scrambled out of the breach, rolling and crawling in their desperate escape.
They glanced back at the horrifying Great Formation that was devouring their fellow disciples alive.
Then they looked beyond the formation at Fang Zheng, seated upon a golden throne and worshipped by ten thousand demons.
A bone-chilling “truth” instantly pierced their Divine Souls:
“Run! Report back to the world! Fang Zheng has completely turned into a Demon!”
“He slaughtered Hundred Herbs Valley! This entire thing was a trap set by the Demonic Path from the beginning!”
“He plans to Blood Sacrifice us all as a coronation gift!”
The survivors roared, transforming into streaks of light as they fled towards the horizon without a backward glance.
Each word seared Fang Zheng’s nerves like a red-hot branding iron.
Fang Zheng watched as the “Guardian” he had personally crafted turned into a “Slaughterhouse.”
He watched as the fellow disciples he had sought to “save” were being refined alive.
He watched as the few fleeing survivors forever nailed him to the Devil’s pillory of infamy.
Then he turned his gaze to the golden throne radiating boundless Demonic Might, and to the frenzied eyes that worshipped him as a god.
A bone-chilling coldness and an absurd sense of helplessness instantly seized his heart.
Wrong.
Everything was wrong.
Ding!
The System’s emotionless voice echoed in his mind like a malevolent taunt.
New Mission Issued: Exemplary Teaching
Mission Description: Demonic Path Holy Maiden Yun Shuishui has strayed from the righteous path. As Host, you must lead by example, using love and justice to guide her. Show her that violence cannot solve problems and guide her toward becoming a person who benefits the world.
Guide her?
With love and justice?
Fang Zheng’s gaze slowly swept across the hellish scene before him.
The string in his heart, which he had called “conviction,” snapped with a brittle crack, utterly severed.
Reasoning fell on deaf ears.
Good deeds turned into massacres.
Those he saved saw him as a Devil.
Those who harmed him worshipped him as a God.
This world…
Had gone mad.
Fuck guidance.
Fuck love and justice!
An unprecedented surge of savagery and despair erupted from the deepest depths of Fang Zheng’s heart!
He didn’t want to explain anymore.
He didn’t want to try anymore.
He just wanted to escape.
Escape this irredeemable, utterly absurd world!
“Holy Son?”
Yun Shuishui gazed at Fang Zheng’s suddenly deathly silent back, her voice tinged with confusion as she called out softly.
Fang Zheng didn’t turn around.
He glanced at the golden throne, a symbol of supreme Demonic Might, then at the flesh-and-blood hellscape behind him, devouring life as countless souls willingly flew into the Human Emperor Banner.
In the next instant, the Haoran Demonic Essence within him surged uncontrollably, erupting and boiling like never before!
Not for battle.
Not for protection.
Only for escape!
Boom—!!!
A jet-black demonic light, condensed with boundless despair and the aura of annihilation, erupted from beneath his feet, tearing through the heavens!
Fang Zheng’s figure vanished instantly.
He chose neither the south, where the Demonic Path Holy Land lay, nor the east, where the Righteous Dao Alliance held sway.
With a speed that shattered space itself, he fled madly toward the legendary far north—a realm of endless ice plains and death.
He left behind only the Demonic Path crowd exchanging bewildered glances, an empty golden throne, and the Blood Sacrifice Floating Pagoda Great Prison-Suppressing Formation, still faithfully executing its “Guardian” command.