[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 100

Shiliu still held the dagger in her hand, but the white child who had once lain in her embrace had completely vanished, without even a trace of his clothing left behind. Not a drop of blood remained on the blade.

She sat in a daze, unable to process what had happened.

It was only then that she noticed, lying quietly on the filthy ground, a peach-shaped pastry, now covered in dirt and almost unrecognizable. It was slightly misshapen, as if it had been clutched tightly in someone’s hand.

It was the snack Shiliu had bought for the white child—the one he had carefully hidden away, intending to save it for the red child and Lady Rat.

Shiliu was speechless. Trembling, she picked up the pastry, wanting to clutch it tightly, yet afraid to squeeze too hard.

On the muddy ground, a small drop of water splashed softly, darkening the deep brown earth with a damp stain.

When they finally emerged from the underground tunnel and saw the sky again, He Chong looked up at the heavens. Though the day was overcast and stormy, after being underground for so long, even such dim light felt glaring to his eyes.

Once the dizziness passed, He Chong turned to look at Shiliu with concern.

Shiliu ignored everyone and walked alone to the back of the City God Temple’s main hall.

Inside the walls stood solemn, grand Buddhas; outside, Shiliu dug a shallow pit.

She did not erect a tombstone, for there was no body to bury—only a misshapen peach pastry that no one would ever eat again.

Watching Shiliu’s retreating figure from afar, He Chong sighed softly. His junior sister usually seemed as if nothing could faze her, almost as if she had mastered the art of detachment—neither overly joyful in prosperity nor overly grieved in adversity. In a positive light, one could call her calm and serene; in a negative light, one might say she seldom let anything touch her heart.

But He Chong also knew that beneath her layers of seemingly indifferent defenses, Shiliu’s heart was innately tender and soft. It had not been tempered much by hardship, and she was not one to express or vent her emotions. Because of this, when she was hurt, she tended to bottle everything up inside. He truly worried that this would leave her with lingering emotional scars.

Yet He Chong also understood that if he tried to broach the subject with her now, she would likely avoid any deep conversation, pretending instead that nothing was wrong.

At some point, Li Xuanci had also come to stand nearby. Just as He Chong was feeling awkward and unsure whether to retreat, he heard Li Xuanci ask, “Can a living corpse demon still enter the cycle of reincarnation?”

He Chong was surprised—could this ruthless king of hell actually have felt a stir of compassion? But then he noticed that Li Xuanci’s gaze was subtly fixed on Shiliu’s distant figure and understood his real intention.

He also looked toward Shiliu, who was gently covering the shallow pit with soil, sighed, and told the truth. “The formation of a living corpse demon itself defies the natural order of heaven and earth. It exists outside the cycle of reincarnation. The soul has already transformed into demonic energy, taking on a physical form. The body of a living corpse demon is condensed from this energy—once the form dissipates, the demonic energy scatters as well. A soul can turn into demonic energy, but demonic energy can hardly return to being a soul. After dissipating into the world, there is no possibility of rebirth or re-entering the cycle of reincarnation.”

Li Xuanci’s expression remained unchanged. He gestured slightly toward Shiliu and asked, “Does she know?”

He Chong’s eyes filled with worry as he nodded. “Shiliu has studied the ancient texts even more thoroughly than I have. She must know.”

Li Xuanci said nothing more. He Chong continued, “The red child and the white child were likely once the same person. It seems they were indeed loved and cherished in their early years, but after losing their mother, they were neglected and abused, sold to a circus, and later sought revenge through arson, eventually transforming into a living corpse demon.”

“The red child once said in front of us that the white child had disobeyed and needed to be replaced. ‘Disobeyed’ probably referred to our intervention—the red child felt the white child was no longer under control, so it planned to dig out his heart and reclaim it. Still, I can’t help but feel there’s something strange about it.” He Chong couldn’t quite figure it out, but he couldn’t let it go either, frowning as he pondered deeply.

Finally, Li Xuanci glanced at He Chong and said meaningfully, “He said the white child had disobeyed, so naturally, he had to be replaced.”

“Not eliminated, but replaced.”

He Chong was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened in sudden realization. “You mean… the white child might have been deliberately split off?”

Li Xuanci didn’t answer directly. Instead, he lifted his sword, gazing at its cold, gleaming edge, and said, “Have you ever forged a sword? To craft a weapon, you must repeatedly temper it, hammering out all the excess impurities until only the sharpest, most responsive blade remains.”

Impurities—the most precious, innocent kindness within a soul, treated as useless and excessive, deliberately split away.

A chill ran down He Chong’s spine. It took him a long moment to speak. “You’re saying someone intentionally split the living corpse demon, letting the white child retain the soul’s goodness so that the red child could become pure evil—a perfect tool for carrying out their wicked deeds.”

Li Xuanci flicked the blade with his fingertip and said calmly, “Even a completely rabid mad dog, if used properly, can become the most effective claw and fang.”

He Chong felt a rush of anger. That someone would dare to refine and unleash such a destructive monster as a living corpse demon spoke volumes about the danger posed by the mastermind behind it. Anxiously, he asked, “But now that both the red and white children have dissipated, and there’s been no trace of Lady Rat, how can we investigate further?”

“The people may be gone, but the rats remain. As long as we follow the trail of the rat plague, we won’t lose the clue,” Li Xuanci said dismissively, as if the matter were already settled.

Yet doing so would inevitably mean more people falling victim to the plague. He Chong gazed worriedly at the nearby City God Temple and sighed helplessly.

A low rumble of thunder echoed from the horizon—the rain was finally coming.

Afterward, they found a household, paid to settle in Yaniang, and then the group set out on the road to find Lady Rat.