[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 99

Suddenly, she looked up and saw countless pairs of tiny green eyes flickering quietly on the cave ceiling not far away, shifting in and out of the light and shadows. Now that the torch was drawing closer, those green eyes began moving rapidly and chaotically, emitting sharp squeaks in the darkness as they swooped down toward the four below.

Shiliu’s breath caught in her throat. The countless hidden green eyes were like nameless ghost fires igniting in the netherworld, threatening to bury them in this filthy darkness. The suffocating stench of decaying flesh, mixed with the dust falling around them, assaulted her senses.

The darkness blurred distances. In an instant, grimy rat tails were almost touching their eyeballs. Shiliu couldn’t dodge in time and instinctively tried to crouch. But the moment she moved, someone grabbed her and swiftly pulled her back.

Li Xuanci held his sword in one hand and pulled the short-legged Shiliu into his embrace with the other. The blade cut through the stagnant, rotten air, creating a sharp gust in its wake. Wherever it passed, sharp, urgent squeaks echoed, accompanied by the grotesque sound of tearing flesh.

The faint light from the torch flickered rapidly, alternating between brightness and darkness. In those fleeting moments of illumination, they could see countless rat corpses piling up, filthy blood splattering chaotically in the air. Yet, despite this, an endless stream of grey rats with small, gleaming grey-green eyes continued to surge forward from behind.

He Chong and Jin Zhan also drew their swords, fighting desperately. But it was clear these rats were endless, impossible to kill them all. With each breath, the smell of blood grew heavier, and their hearts sank deeper.

Shiliu was not without fear. She could clearly sense the breathing of those around her growing gradually heavier. Her martial skills were poor, so she couldn’t be of much help. She could only silently draw the small dagger tucked in her robe, blade facing outward, ready to fight the rats to the death at any moment.

This couldn’t go on. Just as Shiliu drew her dagger, the grip around her waist suddenly loosened. She turned back in surprise. Although she was a bit of a burden, she’d been one all along—why let go now?

But Li Xuanci used his sword to cut a strip from the hem of his robe, wrapping it around the blade. He reached his other hand toward Jin Zhan, calling out, “Medicinal liquor!” Jin Zhan, his forehead already beaded with sweat, stiffened and immediately fumbled in his robes, actually pulling out a bottle of medicinal liquor and tossing it over.

Li Xuanci caught it in one motion, pouring some onto the cloth-wrapped sword. Instantly, flames leaped from the blade. The scorching fire was far brighter than the dim torch, suddenly illuminating the dark cave.

The fire was more effective than any sharp sword. Jin Zhan and He Chong quickly followed his example. With three flaming swords brandished, the hidden green eyes in the darkness screeched and retreated like a tide, vanishing back into the filthy darkness, leaving only the ground littered with rat corpses emitting a nauseating stench.

Shiliu finally couldn’t hold back a quiet retch, struggling to swallow the foul air. The ground was disgusting enough; if she really vomited here, it would be even more unbearable.

Li Xuanci didn’t miss her slight struggle behind him. The irritation born from the rat corpses eased somewhat. Raising his sword like a torch, he continued forward, the others quickly following.

He Chong and Jin Zhan walked to one side. He Chong nudged Jin Zhan with his elbow and asked quietly, “Why do you carry medicinal liquor with you?”

Jin Zhan fell silent for a moment, not wanting to outright say it was because the prince thought Shiliu’s talent for causing trouble was second to none, so he kept items like wound medicine and medicinal liquor on hand. After thinking for a long while, he finally choked out, “I’m a kind person. I usually carry it to help others.” Leaving a bewildered and skeptical He Chong behind, he hurried ahead.

The cave’s terrain was complex. The four searched for a long time, going back and forth between several openings, but all were dead ends, forcing them to return empty-handed. He Chong couldn’t help but feel some doubt and asked, “Are you sure this Lady Mouse and the White Child are in this cave?”

Li Xuanci only said dandan, “Rats have their own paths. If they only used rats to spread the plague, rat holes would suffice. Why dig such a large tunnel? It’s naturally for Lady Mouse and the Red and White Children.”

Only then did Shiliu understand. It seemed he had guessed this from the moment he discovered the tunnel, which was why he was willing to condescend to enter. Otherwise, at the very beginning, he wouldn’t even deign to deal with smoking out rat holes, leaving it to her senior brother and the others.

Distracted, Shiliu didn’t watch her step and stumbled, instantly losing her balance and falling forward. Not wanting to land on the disgustingly dirty ground, she struggled comically and vigorously, finally steadying herself by grabbing the cave wall. But her hand slid into a sharp depression in the wall, immediately drawing blood.

Before Shiliu could even cry out in pain, a trickle of fine dust, accompanied by a low rumble, fell from above. Everyone quickly gathered, alert for a repeat of the earlier scene.

But this time, no horde of thousands of rats appeared. Instead, the dark, damp cave wall split open like a mountain parting the sea, a crack slowly widening, emitting a faint light from within.

Shiliu and her senior brother exchanged glances. He Chong frowned and stepped forward to investigate. He sniffed the spot where Shiliu had been cut, then raised the flaming sword for a closer look before looking up and saying, “Blood Seal.”

It was a type of barrier that used blood as a sacrifice. Each time, fresh blood had to be offered at a specific spot to open it. Due to its sinister nature, orthodox sects rarely used it, while demons and evil spirits employed it without restraint.

In such a dark cave, if not for Shiliu’s accidental stumble, they would never have found such a hidden barrier point.

There was no time for Shiliu to feel proud. The group first followed the light inside, arriving before a large door.

The three exchanged glances, raised their swords, and Shiliu once again tightened her grip on the small dagger in her robe, peeking out from behind Li Xuanci. Then, Li Xuanci kicked the door open with force.

The scene before them, however, caught everyone off guard.

The White Child lay on the ground, his chest exposed. The Red Child straddled him, holding a sharp blade that had pierced the White Child’s chest. Blood flowed, crimson flesh splayed open. The Red Child was about to reach into the opened chest and pull out his heart. The White Child seemed unable to speak; the moment the Red Child’s hand touched his heart, he closed his eyes.

“Stop!” Shiliu shouted. At the same time, Li Xuanci’s sword flew out.

The blood-stained sword traced a bloody arc through the air. The Red Child only had time to turn his head before the sword tip pierced his left eye. The devastating force tore through flesh, pinning him to the cave wall. A deep, bloody hole remained in his eye, splattering blood flowers behind him—grotesque yet sharp.

He Chong felt a chill looking back. Although the Red Child wasn’t human, he still appeared childlike. If it were him, he probably couldn’t have acted so decisively and mercilessly.

But the Red Child seemed utterly indifferent. Despite the pain on his face, he struggled to reveal a bizarre smile, reached out, gripped the sword blade embedded in his eye socket, and forcefully pulled it out, shreds of bloody flesh still clinging to it.

Clang! The Red Child threw the bloodied sword to the ground, struggled to his feet. Streams of hot blood gushed from the bloody hole in his eye socket, disfiguring his childish face, merging with the red clothes he wore.

His face and stature were still those of a child, yet the blood covering him and the evil aura on his face made him seem like a wrathful deity.

“You found us after all.” He showed no panic, instead remaining relatively calm, even with defiance. He kicked the motionless White Child on the ground and said, “It’s all this trash’s fault.”

Shiliu’s eyes were fixed on the White Child on the ground. His face was devoid of color, his white clothes stained, blood continuously spreading from his chest onto the white fabric. His small hands were clenched, lying motionless on the ground.

Blood surged restlessly; only a roaring sound remained in her eardrums. Shiliu’s mind stopped working. Belatedly, she heard her own voice ask, “Why?”

The Red Child was weakened but still leaned against the wall, a sweet smile appearing on his face. He smiled so sweetly, contrasting with his blood-covered face, making it all the more eerie.

“Who told him to disobey? Those who disobey naturally need to be replaced.”

Shiliu didn’t know how to argue with such a naturally evil child. Her hands, hanging at her sides, clenched tightly, trembling slightly. Finally, she couldn’t hold back and roared, “You set fires and harmed people! That’s a sin! Heaven and earth won’t tolerate it!”

She didn’t know how to curse. Her eyes were red with anger, but she could only say these mild words.

In contrast, the Red Child continuously spat piercing words from a child’s mouth.

“If it’s a sin, isn’t he an accomplice too? Why put on this hypocritical act?” The Red Child stared at Shiliu with his bleeding eye, filled with malicious pleasure.

“He… he’s different from you!” Shiliu stammered.

“How is he different!” The Red Child’s tone instantly shifted, as if he had locked onto prey, and he said fiercely.

“He puts out fires; you set them! You both suffered in that circus troupe, yet one chooses good, the other evil. That’s the biggest difference!”

But upon hearing this, the Red Child suddenly giggled, his voice clear like a child’s, yet inexplicably chilling.

“Did he tell you he was kidnapped by traffickers? And that he escaped when the circus tent caught fire?”

A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in Shiliu.

The Red Child laughed, revealing sharp little canine teeth, spewing terrifying words from his mouth. “He wasn’t kidnapped at all. His birth mother died, he got a stepmother and a younger brother, and he was sold to the circus. No one wanted him. No one wanted this pitiful wretch.”

“And that fire—how do you think it started? We set it together, planned it for a long time. Locked them all inside, just listened to those fools crying, screaming, banging on the door, begging me to let them out. But I refused. I stood right behind the door, listening to them wail like ghosts and howl like wolves, until finally, there was no sound left. Pitiful wretches—they’re the pitiful wretches!”

“Later, I even roasted that stepmother and her cheap son and ate their meat. Too bad they were burnt. A pitiful wretch’s meat isn’t tasty at all.”

He pointed at the White Child again, laughing innocently and wantonly. “He ate too. Ate a lot.” Just then, a drop of blood fell from his eye socket, hitting the ground and splashing a small blood flower.

“The one you’re defending is just a murderer with blood on his hands, same as me. And you’re completely fooled! Fool! Big fool! Truly a pitiful wretch!” The Red Child grew excited from humiliating her, ignoring his bleeding eye, speaking excitedly.

Shiliu’s eyes were red. She didn’t know whether to believe or not. She couldn’t deny her wavering, yet felt guilty for her doubts. Pushed to the limit, stimulated, she charged forward recklessly.

Seeing Shiliu charging at him, the Red Child’s eyes lit up, his hand secretly clenching.

At the critical moment, Li Xuanci was faster. He flew forward, blocking the way, stopping the bull-like, red-eyed Shiliu behind him. With a flick of his toe, he retrieved the sword from the ground.

“What are you, to act clever in front of me and call someone a fool?” His lips curled, but there wasn’t a trace of warmth in his eyes—cold as an ice cellar.

The real King of Hell was displeased.

Li Xuanci spoke, mercilessly revealing the cruel truth. “You and this White Child are one, aren’t you?”

These words finally pierced the Red Child’s arrogance, innocence, yet never genuine mask. For the first time, fury flashed across his face.

A fatal blow.

This impotent rage was fully captured by Li Xuanci. He continued his brutal analysis, “You wear an identical longevity locket around your neck. Even the scars visible on your arms are exactly the same.”

“You clearly look down on him, call him a pitiful wretch, so why such hatred and revenge toward his stepmother? When you mentioned burning the White Child’s stepmother and brother earlier, you said ‘I,’ not ‘we.'”

“Everything you just said was a mix of truth and lies, but you never once relaxed your attention on the White Child. What you want is his heart, isn’t it? That’s why you deliberately provoked this fool, hoping to use her as a hostage to exchange for taking the White Child away.”

The Red Child hung his head, teeth clenched tight, his expression twisted like melted wax, as if an adult were squeezed into a child’s face—weird and terrifying.

He Chong suddenly understood and exclaimed, “If they are split from the same Living Corpse Fiend, then their life forces must be connected! He just tried to retrieve the White Child’s heart, so the heart must be their lifeblood! Aside from that, even fire or water couldn’t harm this Living Corpse Fiend. But if the lifeblood is struck, the Living Corpse Fiend will dissipate!”

Li Xuanci’s eyes changed. He raised his sword to strike the Red Child, but the Red Child let out a long roar to the sky, the canine teeth in his mouth transforming into fangs as he lunged to bite Li Xuanci.

The two instantly became locked in combat. The Red Child fought more fiercely, his sharp fangs terrifying, nearly biting off one of Li Xuanci’s arms. Li Xuanci could only temporarily evade, then quickly drew his sword across his palm. His blood flashed with a red light on the blade before he thrust it like lightning into the Red Child’s body. Unfortunately, it missed a little, only striking the shoulder.

Shiliu rushed to the White Child’s side, picked him up, and called out urgently, her voice couldn’t help but be mixed with sobs. But the blood kept flowing; the White Child’s face was already devoid of color.

A tear fell, landing just on his lips, seeing through the cracks. The White Child’s eyelids fluttered, finally opening.

There was almost no light in his eyes, his pupils dilated and unfocused, unable to focus. After a long moment, he finally weakly called out, “Sister,” then smiled slightly and struggled to say, “Sister, it hurts so much.”

More tears fell with that word “sister.”

The White Child, as if unaware, continued with difficulty, “Sister, I… I didn’t mean to lie to you. I just remembered… so many terrible things in my mind. I don’t know what’s happening.”

Shiliu sniffled and coaxed him, “It’s okay. Then don’t think about it. A very powerful person promised me he could protect you. I can protect you.”

But the White Child shook his head. His fingers lifted with difficulty, pointing at his splayed-open chest. “I heard everything just now. Take out the heart. I don’t want to hurt people anymore.”

Shiliu kept shaking her head, repeating, “It wasn’t you. You didn’t hurt anyone. It wasn’t you.”

The White Child looked at her, smiled gently, and said, “I remember now. I remember everything. We split from the same soul. I took all the goodness in the soul; he took all the evil. That’s why he’s so bad, why he killed so many people.”

“Sister, I don’t want to go on like this. Please help me. Don’t let me keep sinning. I want to see Mother. I miss her so much.”

The blood on the White Child’s body flowed more and more, his white clothes almost completely stained red. Only his eyes remained fixed on her, refusing to close even when he could barely see anymore.

Shiliu didn’t speak, just kept pressing in vain on the bloody hole in his chest. After a long time, she finally uttered one word.

“Okay.”

The White Child smiled gently, revealing the small dimples on his cheeks. “Sister, Lady Mouse… I don’t know if she’s good or bad. But if you can help her find release, I still beg you to help her.”

He looked into Shiliu’s eyes and finally bid his last farewell. “You really look like my sister. Can I call you that? Sister, please send me to find Mother.”

Shiliu’s hand finally released his continuously bleeding chest.

On the Red Child’s side, the fight with Li Xuanci was intense, but ultimately injured by Li Xuanci’s pure Yang blood, he fell increasingly behind. Finally, he opened his bloody mouth and spewed fire all over the sky.

Li Xuanci couldn’t dodge in time; his arm was licked by the flames. The Red Child’s eyes gleamed with triumph, ready to press his advantage, but the triumphant smile on his face suddenly froze.

Behind him, Shiliu raised her dagger into the air, suppressed the trembling in her fingers, and finally plunged the dagger into the White Child’s chest.

“No!” the Red Child screamed, but it was too late. A blinding red light flashed from his own chest, and he knelt down on the ground.

The bodies of the Red and White Children simultaneously began to burn as if in flames, gradually turning into fragments piece by piece. Amid the fire, the Red Child struggled unwillingly, but could only watch as his body crumbled. At the final moment of disappearance, he shouted, “Lord Qingyang will not let you off!”

Then, he completely turned to ashes.