Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 42

Cui He and the others could not withstand such a fierce assault.

They wept and shouted, “We were wrong!”

“We truly understand now! Please, let us go!”

“Aaaagh!”

Their bodies were charred black and riddled with ice arrows. They looked utterly wretched.

Yuan Yao temporarily halted the formations and asked with a grave expression, “Are you certain you’re ready to repent this time? I don’t want empty lies. I want genuine remorse.”

“We’re ready! We’re ready!” they answered at once.

“Then begin.”

Gongshan Yongyuan dropped to his knees and rushed to speak first.

“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have spied on the woman next door while she bathed. I’m a pervert and a lecher. I will turn over a new leaf and never behave like a degenerate again. I shouldn’t have abandoned my childhood friend, and after I ran away, I shouldn’t have been too afraid to tell his family so they could save him. More than anything, I shouldn’t have left him behind!”

Yuan Yao suddenly asked, “Was your childhood friend good to you?”

Gongshan Yongyuan froze.

Memories from his childhood rose in his mind.

The more he remembered, the more disbelief filled him.

He and that boy had once been inseparable. They shared every tasty treat and every entertaining toy. Half-forgotten memories surged back one by one, until he found it difficult to breathe.

Drip.

A tear fell before he could stop it.

He pressed a hand to his chest, dazed.

How had he become so greedy, grasping, and obsessed with profit?

When they were children, he and his friend had promised to become immortals who saved the dying and healed the wounded…

“Waaah!”

Gongshan Yongyuan suddenly threw back his head and sobbed, covering his face with both hands.

“I was wrong… I shouldn’t have abandoned him…”

Nor should he have forgotten the person he once wanted to become.

At the same time, System 250’s voice sounded in Yuan Yao’s sea of consciousness.

【Target Gongshan Yongyuan’s Awakening Value has reached 50. Congratulations, Host. You have received one day of life. Your current lifespan has reached seven days.】

Gongshan Yongyuan wept uncontrollably.

“I won’t be a bad person anymore! I’m going to be good!”

Yuan Yao pursed her lips.

“Has he… awakened?” she asked System 250.

【Target Gongshan Yongyuan has successfully reached an Awakening Value of 50 and completed initial awakening.】

“Then he needs an Awakening Value of 100 for complete awakening?”

【Correct, Host.】

Yuan Yao became thoughtful. “What conditions are required for complete awakening?”

System 250 played dead.

Yuan Yao snorted. “Two-Fifty, one day I’m going to drag you out and give you a good beating.”

【…】

Gongshan Yongyuan’s tearful repentance left the other two men staring blankly.

They had actually heard him say he wanted to become a good person. For a moment, they wondered if the lightning had damaged their ears.

“Wipe your tears and snot,” Yuan Yao told him. “I know you’ve truly reflected, so I’ll spare your life.”

Gongshan Yongyuan remained lost in grief and could not pull himself free.

Yuan Yao turned to Zhang Zhengchu and Cui He.

“Your turn. Which of you is going first?”

Cui He narrowed his eyes. “I will.”

He paused, then began.

“When I was six, I was jealous that my parents favored my younger sister, so I pushed her down a slope and broke her right leg. When I was seven, I stole my father’s spirit stones and blamed her. At twelve, I wanted to begin cultivating, so I made my sister persuade our parents to sell everything they owned to fund my path.”

“At twenty, after endless hardship, I became an outer disciple of the Chongxu Sect. One day, a senior brother and I had to return to my hometown for a mission. He lusted after my sister and molested her while I was away.”

“When she told me, I slapped her across the face. I called her shameless and accused her of seducing my senior brother. Then I humiliated her and said she was worth less than mud. She had been beautiful since childhood and won everyone’s love without effort, while I was small and ugly. Yes. I was jealous of her.”

Hatred crept into Cui He’s eyes as he spoke.

Even Zhang Zhengchu stared at him in disbelief. He shoved Cui He hard.

“I never imagined you could be so cruel to your own sister! She’s your blood!”

Zhang Zhengchu knew he was no good man, but he was fiercely protective of his own.

He cherished his family.

Cui He’s expression did not change.

“She stole the love that should have belonged to me.”

Zhang Zhengchu grew even angrier. He had a younger sister too.

Yuan Yao asked, “Do you know what you did wrong?”

“I do,” Cui He answered calmly.

“Do you regret it?”

He shook his head. “No.”

He had merely taken back what belonged to him.

Yuan Yao’s eyes turned cold.

He was not like Gongshan Yongyuan.

Gongshan Yongyuan had realized his wrongs too late.

Cui He was simply evil.

Yuan Yao sneered. “You resent your sister for stealing your parents’ love, but did it ever occur to you that she had no choice in the matter? She was loved because she deserved to be. And was she truly the only reason no one loved you? When she covered for you, was it because she feared you—or because she loved you?”

Agitation twisted Cui He’s face.

“She was afraid of me, of course!”

He seemed to remember something and began laughing.

“Her whole body shook whenever she was afraid. She couldn’t even look at me. I was stronger, so she had no choice but to submit.”

Thinking of what his sister had endured, Yuan Yao laughed in fury.

“Yes. You’re right. Your parents never loved you. Your sister never loved you. Not one person in this world has ever cared for you sincerely—because you, Cui He, are not worthy of love.”

The words stabbed like a needle into Cui He’s heart.

Scenes from the past surfaced in his mind.

His parents and sister *had* loved him.

But he refused to admit it.

If he did, every cruel thing he had done would lose its excuse.

Yuan Yao walked closer and stared down at him.

“Tell me where your sister is.”

Cui He became vigilant in an instant.

“What do you want?”

Yuan Yao’s voice was colder than ice.

“To help her overcome her inner demon and forget you ever existed.”

“Even if you kill me, I’ll never tell you! Hahahaha!”

Cui He laughed wildly.

Yuan Yao no longer wanted him as a target. Killing intent rose in her heart.

She deliberately pressed on his wound.

“Are you that afraid? Afraid she’ll forget you, because then there truly won’t be anyone left in the world who loves you?”

Cui He’s face contorted.

“Shut up! Shut up, you bitch! I don’t care!”

Yuan Yao smiled confidently.

“That’s all right. Even if you refuse to tell me, I can still find her.”

“You bitch! You’re not allowed to look for her!”

Reason deserted him completely. He charged at Yuan Yao and triggered the formation again.

Dozens of ice arrows shot toward him.

“Aaaagh!”

He could not dodge. In an instant, the arrows pierced his body. Blood poured from his mouth.

Cui He collapsed to his knees. Forcing one blood-soaked hand toward her, he stared at Yuan Yao with bulging eyes.

“You… can’t… find her…”

Then he remembered.

His expression emptied, and tears spilled down his face.

The memory he had deliberately buried broke free.

His sister had hanged herself the very day he humiliated her.

“You… can’t find her…”

Not ever again.

Cui He laughed and wept. His Dao heart shattered, and he coughed blood without end. His cultivation plummeted to nothing.

As he drew his final breath, he thought he heard a voice beside his ear.

“Big Brother, you’re not ugly at all. I love you more than anyone.”

So, in the end…

He had been this insecure and this cowardly.

【Target Cui He’s Awakening Value has reached 50.】