Hatred Is Love Taken to the Extreme - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I watched Lian Ji leave and asked, [System, is Jiang Yilan really at the Late Mahayana Stage now?]

The System fell silent for five seconds before answering evasively, […Yes, Host. But it wasn’t because of the divine artifact…]

Me: [?]

System: […Host, did you forget about your Extreme Yin Constitution? Ten days and ten nights of doing it…]

Me: […]

I flew into a rage. “Fuck! Jiang Yilan, that @¥****$* mother****ing bastard***!”

The System shrank back. [Host, you have such a filthy mouth.]

That only made me angrier. “And you, System! I was perfectly happy mooching off my friends and bros in the modern world, but then you dragged me into this garbage world and made me suffer for over twenty years! System, I’ll * your ******@**¥***!”

Trembling, the System curled itself into a ball and hid deep inside my mind, terrified that I would drag it out and beat it senseless like I used to.

I closed my eyes.

I forced down the heavy thoughts churning endlessly inside me.

After a long while, I opened them again.

The anger and resentment were gone, leaving only cold indifference and understanding.

That night of passion had unexpectedly helped Jiang Yilan advance by one minor stage.

But as his sworn enemy of many years, I didn’t believe he would capture me and keep me as his personal plaything just to improve his cultivation.

Such methods were beneath him.

Still, his breakthrough put me in a very difficult position.

I couldn’t beat him when he was at the Middle Mahayana Stage. Now that he was at the Late Mahayana Stage?

…

Worse yet, I had only held the position of Demon Lord for a little over three months. My iron-fisted methods might have cowed everyone for the moment, but I hadn’t had nearly enough time to establish complete control over the Demon Realm.

The various elders kept one another in check, while open attacks and hidden schemes abounded. There were even spies from the Cultivation World among us.

The Demon Realm was far from safe.

I needed to prepare as soon as possible and find another opportunity to break through to the Mahayana Realm!

At a remote tavern in the Cultivation World, I sat beside a window with my face disguised as an ordinary man’s. A black robe covered my body, and I had pulled the brim of my hat low.

The people at the next table were engaged in a lively discussion.

“Hey, have you heard? Immortal Venerable Qinglan has reached the Late Mahayana Stage!!”

“How old is he? He isn’t even a hundred yet, is he?”

“A hundred? He’s only eighty-one this year!”

The corner of my mouth twitched.

If we weren’t in the Cultivation World, I would have assumed someone that age was a decrepit old geezer.

System: [Host, by that logic, you’re forty-eight this year. That makes you a middle-aged man too.]

Me: […]

“With talent like his, do you think he might break through to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm before he turns a hundred?”

“Impossible! Once you surpass the Soul Formation Realm, advancing through every realm becomes as difficult as ascending to the heavens…”

Someone rolled his eyes. “It’s only as difficult as ascending to the heavens for people like us. For peerless geniuses, breaking through is as easy as eating and drinking. Just look at Ji Fen, the newly appointed Demon Lord of the Demon Realm. He isn’t even fifty, yet he’s already at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm! He’s even more talented than Immortal Venerable Qinglan was back then!”

Another person scoffed. “So what if he’s talented? He’s still a wicked demon who commits every evil imaginable. Heaven will strike him down sooner or later…”

A third person drawled, “Why wait for Heaven? Everyone knows Jiang Yilan is his sworn enemy. Now that Jiang Yilan has broken through, there’s no way he won’t tear Ji Fen limb from limb…”

…

I lowered my eyes and calmly sipped my tea.

Wonderful. Everyone believed Jiang Yilan was going to kill me.

I raised a hand to lower the brim of my hat and was just about to leave when a man suddenly entered through the stairway amid the bustling crowd.

He wore a crescent-white robe. His face was refined and strikingly handsome, yet tinged with a cool aloofness.

My fingers clenched beneath my sleeve.

Jiang Yilan.

Immortal Venerable Qinglan, whom they had all been discussing.

Yet no one around us exclaimed over his appearance. Everyone simply carried on with whatever they had been doing.

Jiang Yilan had cast a spell to conceal his features. To ordinary people, looking at him was like trying to see flowers through a layer of fog. His face appeared hazy and indistinct.

What was he doing here?!

Turmoil surged through my heart. Alarm bells erupted in my mind, flashing red. I had an ominous feeling that if he caught me this time, I would never escape again!

At that moment, Jiang Yilan’s gaze passed through the crowd and landed unerringly on me. One eyebrow rose slightly.

Every hair on my body stood on end. After being sworn enemies for so many years, I could say with absolute certainty that he had recognized me!

I made my decision instantly. Slamming through the half-closed wooden window, I leaped out of the tavern in a spray of splinters. Screams erupted behind me as my black robe snapped in the wind. Spiritual power surged beneath my feet, carrying me dozens of feet away in an instant.

But in the next second, spiritual power and pressure cold enough to freeze the soul swept toward me from behind like an inescapable net, sealing off every possible route and trapping me firmly in place!

A soft chuckle followed. An arm wrapped imperiously around my waist and carried me safely to the ground.

The spiritual power surging within me, ready to strike back, was casually suppressed.

He pushed back the brim of my hat and peeled away my disguise. Cool fingers pressed against my lips, stroking them lightly.

Those icy, phoenix-shaped eyes met my furious glare.

“Jiang. Yi. Lan.”

I spat out his name one syllable at a time through gritted teeth.

Jiang Yilan smiled and said gently, “Ji Fen, long time no see.”

Me: “…” Long time no see, my ass!

Without hesitation, I thrust the poisoned needle between my fingers at his neck!

He caught my wrist with ease.

I heard him sigh. “Ji Fen, you really are disobedient.”

The next second-

Crack.

The sound of my wrist being dislocated rang out.

I didn’t even flinch. My other hand remained just as restless, slamming a talisman toward his chest!

Crack.

My other wrist was dislocated as well.

Agony shot through both wrists at the same time as pain exploded at the back of my neck. No matter how unwilling I was, I could only sink helplessly into darkness.