Chapter 39: Kill That Witch (2)
Chapter Thirty Nine
Back to the present.
"What are you all waiting for?!" "Kill her!" "End her life before her corrupt existence spreads to all of us!" "Burn her now!" The crowd roared impatiently; they seemed eager, almost excited, as if they couldn’t wait to watch a five-year-old girl burn to death.
Yuexin watched them through tear-filled eyes as tears rolled endlessly down her cheeks, down her face, and soaked her blue robes. Why were they all acting as though she wasn’t human?
Everyone who had died by her hands had wanted her dead first; they had all tried to kill her, every single one of them.
Yet somehow, without even understanding how she had done it, she always ended up killing them instead, including her own father. He had tried to kill her too, and she had killed him first... at least, that was what she believed.
She didn’t know why he had tried to kill her; unlike the others, her father had never radiated hostility. He had only ever shown warmth, kindness, and goodwill. So why had he tried to kill her? No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.
But every time she remembered his final words, every time she remembered the tears in his eyes, a terrible pain would wash over her heart. It hurt so much, and mixed within that pain was another emotion.
A feeling she couldn’t quite understand, a feeling her young mind couldn’t properly grasp, yet it lingered there deep within her heart, growing heavier with every passing second.
Yuexin’s sobbing continued as she looked at the wrathful expressions of the crowd, their hateful gazes feeling like countless blades stabbing into her tiny heart. Then her gaze drifted elsewhere and landed on the face of someone standing amidst the crowd.
The moment she saw the woman, her cloudy mind cleared slightly, and the frantic beating of her heart settled ever so little; it was because she recognized her.
The woman was none other than her mother. Her mother stepped forward... one step, then another... her expression cold and unreadable.
Seeing the only person she still believed she could trust, Yuexin’s eyes brightened slightly as hope flickered within her heart. "Mom..." "Help... I..." Her trembling voice had barely left her lips before it was abruptly cut off by a furious shout. "Mother?!" "Shut up, you monster!"
The scream struck Yuexin harder than any weapon ever could, and her small body froze. "You killed my husband!" "You ripped his heart out!" "And now you dare call me mother?!" "You... You killed him!"
Tears streamed down the woman’s face as she stared at the little girl tied to the execution pole. Yet there wasn’t a single trace of warmth in her gaze.. only hatred, only grief, only blame.
"Don’t you ever call me mother!" "I am not the mother of a monster!" "You are a monster, Yuexin!" "You deserve nothing but death!"
Yuexin’s eyes trembled violently, her heart shook, and her soul quivered. She stared blankly at her own mother as the woman disowned her in the cruelest way possible; the hostility in her mother’s eyes was even greater than the hatred directed at her by the crowd.
In that instant, any lingering hope of surviving vanished completely. Instead, she could only stare listlessly at her mother. The woman stepped forward and spat directly at her face, then she turned and walked toward one of the city guards holding a torch.
Without hesitation, she grabbed the burning torch from his hand. The crowd watched silently; then, before everyone’s eyes, she personally lowered the flame onto the bundles of wood surrounding her daughter.
She was the one who lit the fire, the one who began the execution. Her gaze met Yuexin’s one final time, then she spoke words that pushed Yuexin deeper and deeper into despair: "Burn to ashes... You damned witch..." The fire immediately began spreading, faster and faster.
The dry wood crackled loudly as orange flames rose into the air. The crowd erupted into cheers, their faces filled with joy and satisfaction. They were happy that the witch girl was finally about to die.
But Yuexin wasn’t looking at them anymore; she wasn’t even looking at her mother, the woman who had personally condemned her own daughter to death.
Instead, Yuexin stared into nothingness, her eyes empty, void of emotion and void of hope. A few thoughts quietly surfaced within her mind: Maybe this is for the best... Maybe I really deserve to die... Maybe everyone would be happier if I disappeared.
As those thoughts echoed within her heart, she slowly closed her eyes, waiting for the flames to consume her, waiting for everything to finally end. Yet before the fire could reach her, a figure appeared... a man dressed entirely in black.
He emerged so suddenly that nobody even saw where he came from. The flames that had been rising toward Yuexin instantly vanished; with nothing more than a casual wave of his hand, the entire fire was extinguished. The crowd was stunned.
Every voice fell silent; every face turned pale, because they all understood one thing: a powerful cultivator had arrived, a very powerful one.
The black-clothed stranger calmly stepped onto the execution platform. Without saying a single word, he untied Yuexin from the ropes binding her, then he gently lifted her into his arms. No one dared stop him, and no one dared question him.
There were a few fools, however, who thought they had the courage to challenge him. The moment they opened their mouths to protest, an invisible force descended upon them. Crack! Crack! Crack! The sound of bones shattering echoed throughout the square.
The men screamed in agony as they were slammed into the ground, their bodies twisted unnaturally. Most of their bones had been broken instantly. The horrifying display silenced everyone; not a single person dared speak another word or step forward.
Fear spread through the crowd like wildfire. And so, under countless terrified gazes, the mysterious cultivator simply turned around and walked away. No one stopped him, no one followed him, and they could only watch helplessly as the powerful stranger disappeared into the distance, taking the child witch with him.
-----
Hours later... Yuexin sat quietly, her small and listless eyes fixed on the face of the man who had saved her from an inevitable death. "Why...?" she asked softly, her voice small, blank, and devoid of energy.
The events that had transpired today had clearly left a deep scar upon her fragile heart. The man bent down slightly and gently patted her head. He knew what she was truly asking.
"No child ever deserves something like that." Yuexin immediately cut him off. Her small voice rose, carrying emotions that she had barely managed to suppress. "No!" "I’m not a child!" "I’m a monster!" "Everyone said that!"
"Everyone believes that I’m a monster!" "I’m not a child... I’m a monster that drinks blood!" The little girl trembled as tears gathered in her eyes once more.
The man simply looked at her shaking figure before slowly shaking his head. "Trust me." "You are no monster." "You are just as human as everyone else." "You are simply different." "And there is nothing wrong with being different."
The man sat down beside her and continued in a calm voice. "People often mistake power for monstrosity." "They believe that possessing strange abilities automatically makes someone a monster." "But that isn’t true."
"Monsters are not defined by the power they wield." "They are defined by how they choose to use that power." He turned toward her and looked directly into her tear-filled eyes.
"And from everything I’ve seen, you have never used your power to commit any true act of monstrosity." Yuexin’s eyes became even wetter. She fought desperately to hold back her tears. "But..." "But I killed him..." "I killed my own father." "My own father..." Her voice cracked.
"Because I couldn’t control it." "I don’t want this power." "It makes me a monster." "I don’t want it." Her shoulders shook violently. "Can you take it away?" "If you can’t take it away..." "Then can you at least kill me?"
"Please..." "Please kill me." Yuexin looked at him with tear-filled eyes. At this moment, there wasn’t even a trace of hope left within them.
The man remained silent for a long while. He simply watched the broken little girl before him.. a child who had been abandoned by everyone, a child who had been condemned simply for being different.
Finally, he spoke. "I don’t have the ability to take your power away." "And I won’t kill you either." Yuexin lowered her head.
Disappointment flashed across her face. But before she could say anything, the man continued. "However..." "I can help you control it."
Those words caused Yuexin’s head to slowly lift. The man’s voice remained calm and steady. "Everything that has happened to you so far... Every tragedy. Every mistake. They happened because you were alone.
You had no mentor. No guide. No one who understood what you were going through. So you were forced to struggle by yourself." He gently placed a hand on her head. "But that is different now. I will help you.
I will teach you how to control your power. I will teach you how to live with it. And I will make sure that no such tragedy ever happens again."
Yuexin stared blankly at him. The warmth in his voice was something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. The man smiled slightly. "You believe your power is a curse. But I don’t. I believe it can become a blessing.
I will teach you how to turn it into one. I will help you live alongside other people. I will help you become stronger. And most importantly... I will help you accept yourself."
The man turned his calm and warm gaze toward her. For the first time since meeting him, Yuexin felt as though she was being looked at as a person.. not a monster, not a bloodsucker, not a witch.
A person, a child, someone worth saving. The man smiled softly. "From this day onward... Your name will no longer be Wu Yuexin." The little girl blinked; her tear-filled eyes widened slightly.
The man continued. "You will officially join the Li Clan. And from this moment forward... You shall be known as... Li Yuexin."
