Hell Emperor.

Chapter 274 Ren Changhong-Heart Knot
When Ye Jie took out two magical weapons of the Netherworld, the whole audience was in an uproar. Voices of doubt and anxiety were heard everywhere. Everyone was doubting the authenticity of the two magical weapons of the Netherworld in Ye Jie's hands.

However, the aura of a fourth-grade magic weapon could not be faked at all. Soon, Di Ting's pronouncement completely dispelled everyone's doubts, leaving only deep shock and confusion:
"Two fourth-grade magic weapons, the overall level is stronger than the one fourth-grade and one fifth-grade magic weapon of the Nether Spirit Hall! If the Nether Spirit Hall cannot produce a stronger Nether Spirit magic weapon, the winner of this competition will be the Demon Luo Hall."

Di Ting's words represent the decision of the Hall of Equality, and there will never be any falsehood in them.

Knowing that the Netherworld Palace was about to lose, everyone was horrified:
"How could this happen... That Shura actually took out two fourth-grade magic weapons!"

"We are about to lose. Will the main account in the palace be lost forever? We will all become lonely ghosts who have been expelled from the palace..."

"Wait! Those two were clearly cheating. They changed people midway to perform the Dark Spirit Divine Art. Is this also allowed?"

The ghosts' endless discussions soon reached Di Ting's ears, and it immediately responded with a voice as muffled as a bell that spread throughout the venue: "Pingdeng Hall is your witness, the rules of this competition do not restrict substitutions in the middle of the competition, as long as the person who performs the Nether Spirit Divine Art is one of the first few to go on stage."

Seeing this rule, the ghosts' discussions died down. With the prestige of the Pingdeng Hall in the past, no one would be foolish enough to question what Di Ting said, as that would undoubtedly offend the entire Pingdeng Hall.

This scene made Moralang, who was sitting high in the main seat, laugh. His laughter was full of arrogance, which made the ancestors of the Nether Spirit Hall around him look livid.

On the other side, Su Miao had a grim look on her face. She didn't expect that the conditions that she had relaxed for the Nether Spirit Palace would now be used by the enemy. As a result, she was immediately at a disadvantage.

"Xura Jie... I underestimated you! Not long ago, after seeing the disintegrating injuries on Youdie's body, I thought you were no longer a threat. Unexpectedly, you actually found a way to restore Youdie! It turns out that you are the backup plan prepared by the Demon Palace..." Su Miao gritted her teeth and stared at Ye Jie, never moving away for a moment.

Beside her, Yao Yin sensed her impatience and took the initiative to hold her hand: "Don't be anxious, calm down. Even if we give them the advantage for a while, so what? The final victory will definitely belong to us!"

Su Miao took a deep breath, calmed down, and regained her confidence: "That's right! The two of us working together are enough to evolve a real artifact! Does he think that he has won by taking out two fourth-grade artifacts? Let us two crush their delusion! Sister Yaoyin, turn into my sword!"

After saying that, Su Miao stretched out his hand and concentrated his hands. Yao Yin moved in response, and his body turned into a series of white light spots. The light spots were a little bigger than those of other people, like round white pills, fitting together and condensing, and finally turned into the white divine sword in Su Miao's hand!

As the magic sword came out, its mighty power suddenly spread out, stirring up thousands of gusts of air. Countless spectators who were nearby fell to the ground, but they had no complaints. Their eyes were all fixed on the magic sword that was as bright as the moon and as cold as snow, as if all their souls had been completely hooked away.

"A third-grade divine weapon, the Wonderful Sound Soul-Captivating Sword! Let's see what you can use to defeat me this time!"

Holding the magic sword tightly in his hand, Su Miao raised the corners of his mouth, and his whole body was filled with strong confidence, as if he had already seen the victory coming.

Di Ting walked over slowly, and after completing the appraisal, he raised his head to prove to the audience that what Su Miao said was true, which immediately shocked the audience and the cheers continued:
"A third-grade divine weapon! Fairy Miaorou is really amazing. Once the divine weapon came out, the result of the competition was already determined. We won!"

"Let's see what those Shuras can use to fight us now!"

"It's not that easy to use the Dark Spirit Divine Art to transform a divine weapon. It requires one to burn one's soul for the other party and give up everything in order to do it! With those cold-blooded Shuras, they can't transform it into a divine weapon anyway!"

Even the Palace Master, Ming Ji, couldn't help but smile at Su Miao when she saw the artifact appear. Her appreciative eyes seemed to say that the Mingling Palace had a successor.

Hearing the discussions of the crowd, Ye Jie looked embarrassed. He thought that taking out two fourth-grade magic weapons was already amazing, but he never expected that Su Miao took out a third-grade magic weapon in the blink of an eye.

"A third-grade divine weapon? Hiss..."

Ye Jie smiled bitterly. With the life-and-death relationship between him and Xia Wei, this was enough to produce a third-grade artifact. Now where could he find a third-grade artifact? It seemed that this competition would end in failure.

Thinking of this, Ye Jie shook his head helplessly, and then dissipated the effect of the Nether Spirit Divine Art, allowing Ren Changhong and Youdie to return to their original state.

As soon as he recovered, Ren Changhong was filled with anxiety: "Su Miao actually took out a third-grade artifact. What should we do now? Shura Jie, you must think of a solution quickly..."

Ye Jie spread his hands and said, "It has come to this, and I am powerless to save the situation. Su Miao and his group were more prepared than us, so it is not surprising that they won this competition. Do you have any other way to defeat the third-grade artifact?"

Ren Changhong fell silent. Indeed, the appearance of the third-grade magic weapon had completely ended the competition. No matter how the two struggled, it was all in vain.

"It seems that this is our limit..." Ren Changhong sighed, "Being able to reach this point has far exceeded my expectations. At least we have forced Su Miao to produce three of her Netherworld magic weapons. At first, I was worried that we would be defeated immediately, which would be a disgrace to the Moruo Palace. I wonder if this result can satisfy His Majesty Moruo..."

After saying that, Ren Changhong raised her head tremblingly and looked towards His Highness Moro who was sitting on the highest throne, overlooking all living beings. However, the undisguised disappointment in Moro's eyes made her heart sink to the bottom.

Moro crossed his legs, propped up his head with one hand, glanced at the two with his starry eyes, and said disdainfully: "If you lose, you can commit suicide."

"What? This..." Ye Jie was shocked. The punishment for losing the competition was even more severe than he had imagined.

There was no joking in Moro's tone, but he was telling a cruel fact. The endless killing contained in it made people's souls tremble and feel like they were falling into the abyss. But on second thought, voluntarily committing suicide was much better than being tortured in the Moro Palace.

Ren Changhong trembled all over: "Your Highness Moro, please think twice..."

Moro did not answer, and there was a mocking coldness in his star-like eyes.

Seeing this, Ren Changhong knew that he could not escape punishment no matter what, and laughed bitterly:
"Your Highness Moruo, I accepted the responsibility of participating in this competition. I also asked Shura Jie to make up the numbers. This matter has nothing to do with him. If you want to punish someone, punish me alone! After the competition is over, I will commit suicide to apologize. I beg Your Highness to let Shura Jie go."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Moro also showed an interested look, "In that case, then I will give you a chance. I will only execute one of you, as for who it is, you decide for yourselves, I don't care." "Only execute... one person?" After these words came out, Ren Changhong pursed his lips, stood there in a daze, and said nothing for a long time.

"Are you ok?"

Ye Jie noticed that something was wrong with Ren Changhong and asked him with concern.

"I... I remembered a lot of things." Ren Changhong had a complicated expression and subconsciously took a step back. "When I knew that I would not live long, many memories of the past came flooding back to me. I thought of my apprentice and my master, and I thought of everything I had done in my life..."

"Your master? I don't think I've ever heard you mention him." Ye Jie felt uncomfortable, but he still pretended to be calm and eased the atmosphere.

Ren Changhong glanced at him, then spoke, slowly telling the story of the past: "It was a long time ago. At that time, I had just entered the mountains to start practicing. My parents died of illness. I asked Master for leave to return to my hometown to build a tomb and erect a monument for them, but Master did not allow me to do so."

"Why not? Are you afraid that you will also be infected with the disease?" Ye Jie followed up her question.

Ren Changhong shook his head: "My master said that emotions are worldly distractions that will only become a hindrance on the path of cultivation. Only by abandoning the seven emotions and six desires can one achieve the great way. I was moved by the death of my parents, which means that I have not cultivated well enough, which is a mistake."

Ye Jie was stunned and speechless for a long while. He could only shake his head: "Could it be that the grace of parents' giving birth to us is also tied up by distracting thoughts? Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be so heartless?"

Ren Changhong bit his lip, suppressing the sadness in his heart: "Master let me make my own choice. If I go, it means that I can't let go of my obsession and can't figure out what's important on the road of cultivation. In the future, I won't be taught the Taoism, and my status as the successor of Xuannv will be abolished. If I don't go, it means that I am determined and focused, and I am qualified to inherit Xuannv's Taoism."

"Then your choice is..."

Ye Jie sighed, he guessed the answer to the question.

As expected, Ren Changhong said, "I didn't go. Since then, my Xuan Nu Sutra has made rapid progress. I began to believe what Master said, that the so-called emotional bond is really useless."

Ye Jie remained silent. He had been a ghost catcher for many years and had seen all kinds of things in the human world. After many people died, what they were most worried about was not fame and fortune in the human world, but the descendants they had raised. Ren Changhong's choice also made him sigh.

"Who is your master? She should be the 167th generation successor of the Xuannv Sect. I wonder what her name is..." Ye Jie asked.

"Don't mention her name. She died a long time ago. I killed her." Ren Changhong said coldly.

"Really..." Ye Jie's eyes twitched. Considering Ren Changhong's temper, this was not impossible. "But why... Is it because of the hatred that she didn't let you return to your hometown to build a tombstone for your parents?"

Ren Changhong shook his head: "I don't hate her. On the contrary, I was very grateful to her at that time. She made me understand that the way of heaven is ruthless and all emotions are just burdens on the road of cultivation. I killed her just to use her to practice the Xuannv Sutra."

"Xuannv Sutra..." Ye Jie frowned. This reason frightened Ye Jie more than simple hatred.

Ren Changhong shrugged, "For a while, my Xuannv Jin was stuck in a bottleneck and could not improve for a long time. At that time, my master was the only person I was close to, so I wanted to see if I could let go of all the ties and whether my heart was as firm as she expected. I wanted to see if I had the ability to achieve the Great Dao!"

After a pause, Ren Changhong also showed some reminiscence when he mentioned the memories buried deep in his heart. "So I took advantage of her unpreparedness, ambushed her, killed her on the spot, and her soul flew away! This was indeed effective, and my Xuannv Sutra was finally completed. I guess she never thought that the disciple she taught would actually put her to death."

After listening to Ren Changhong's story, Ye Jie remained silent for a long time before he spoke: "So you actually have such a past... Now I understand why you always look so unkind and why you treat your disciple like this."

Ye Jie was filled with emotion. Ren Changhong's path of cultivation had gone astray from the very beginning, and he went further and further astray, almost leading Shen Qingge astray as well.

Thanks to the tragedy of the master and disciple killing each other, Shen Qingge was the winner in the end. Otherwise, this mistake would have continued endlessly.

"My disciple, she still loves me until now. Although my master has a heart as hard as iron, would she have the same feeling? I still remember the astonishment in her eyes before she died, and a hint of... relief. Tell me, am I wrong?" Ren Changhong asked in a sad voice.

Ye Jie comforted her and said solemnly: "You did nothing wrong, you just became what your master expected you to be. If anyone is wrong, it must be her. You are just a victim. Your whole life has been troubled by the tragedy of that year. Even if you become Shura, you can't get out of it. Now, you don't have to regret the path you have taken in the past. It's done, just accept it."

Ren Changhong turned his head to the side, where Ye Jie couldn't see, raised his hand to wipe away the faint tears on the outside of the Shura mask, and murmured: "Thank you, Shura Jie, you taught me a lot... Although the time I spent with you was short, I learned more than in the past sixty years. If I could meet you earlier, perhaps many things would be different..."

At the end, Ren Changhong's eyes also showed some determination. She stared at Ye Jie and said word by word: "I'm sorry, I may not be able to teach you the Thirteen Swords of Shura in the future. As for now... I have one more favor to ask of you."

Ye Jie lowered his head. He could hear some cruelty and ruthlessness in Ren Changhong's words. She seemed to have turned into the unkind Shura of the past. But he did not blame her. Even if they were deeply in love, it was inevitable that they would meet in battle. Finally, he sighed, "You want me to go to the Lord of the Demon Palace to die?"

Ren Changhong laughed, raised his elbow, and pushed Ye Jie hard: "No, I want you to find my disciple Shen Qingge in the future and tell her that I miss the time when I taught her. As her master, I am sorry for her. Tell her not to wait for me anymore."

"What……"

Ye Jie was stunned in the place, and only felt a loud bang in his ears, as if something was broken. He never thought that Ren Changhong, who was always cold, would say such words to him. From what she said, it was clear that she was ready to die. She wanted to bear the punishment of the Lord of the Demon Luo Palace alone, and leave the hope of survival to herself.

Sitting on the main throne, Moro raised his eyes slightly, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth that no one noticed.

(End of this chapter)