After nine lifetimes of reincarnation, the yandere villainous heroine descends.

"That's enough!"

The white-haired old woman clutched her chest, struggled to her feet, and spoke in a voice as cold as iron.

The woman in black robes seemed not to hear, her gaze still fixed on the little boy, as if talking to herself, or perhaps deliberately provoking him: "What are you afraid of? Are you afraid I'll kill your grandmother, or are you afraid... you're really just a puppet?"

"Lu Wanheng, I've said enough!"

The white-haired old woman had bloodshot eyes, and her body was faintly emanating a demonic aura.

Upon hearing this name, Lu Wanheng slowly shifted his gaze to her face.

Gazing at that wrinkled face, no longer the radiant beauty of his memory, a mocking smile curled at the corner of his lips: "Isn't this the once infamous Holy Demon Abyss Witch, Si Anhe? How did she fall to such a state, still needing to fabricate a puppet to keep by her side, deceiving herself?"

Si Anhe clenched her fists tightly, took a deep breath, and said to the little boy in a deep voice, "A-Shu, go back inside."

The little boy called Ashu didn't move; he stubbornly remained standing in front of her.

"Ah Shu, aren't you listening to Grandma anymore?"

Si Anhe's voice softened, carrying a hint of barely perceptible fatigue.

The little boy looked up at her pale face, then glanced back at Lu Wanheng who was closing in, and finally shook his head, saying softly but firmly, "I'm not going back. I want to protect Grandma."

Looking at the scene before him, Lu Wanheng suddenly laughed, the curve of his lips carrying a hint of madness.

Her eyes, however, were filled with a bone-deep hatred: "Heh... Si Anhe, look, even a puppet has learned to protect you."

"He was the same way back then. Even though I raised him single-handedly, even though I was his only master, he insisted on protecting you, an outsider!"

Her voice rose higher and higher, becoming shrill and almost tearing: "Si Anhe, do you know how much I hate you? It's because of you that he died! I've wanted to kill you countless times."

"Heh... But I promised him I wouldn't touch a hair on your head. You're the one who stole him away from me from the very beginning!"

Finally, she pointed sharply at the little boy, her eyes almost overflowing with madness: "He's already dead! Yet you've created this puppet that looks exactly like him and kept it by your side, Si Anhe, you really are... incorrigible!"

Even if the little boy was completely oblivious, he could still pick up on the most jarring information from these fragmented words.

He trembled, slowly turned around, and looked at Si Anhe with disbelief and fear in his eyes. His voice trembled uncontrollably: "Grandma...is what she said true? Ashu...is Ashu just a puppet?"

Si Anhe met his clear yet flustered eyes, and her gaze instinctively darted away for a moment.

He then steeled himself and gently slashed the back of the little boy's neck.

The confusion in A-Shu's eyes hadn't faded when her body went limp and she collapsed, only to be caught steadily by Si Anhe.

She carefully placed the unconscious Ashu on the bamboo couch beside her, then turned and stared intently at Lu Wanheng: "The one who truly killed him is you."

"What did you say?"

Lu Wanheng's laughter stopped abruptly, and his eyes suddenly turned fierce.

"I'm saying, you're the one who killed him."

Si Anhe spoke slowly and deliberately, her voice as cold as ice.

"Besides, I've known him for a long time longer than you have. Your so-called title of 'Master' is nothing but a shackle you use to imprison him and deprive him of all freedom! You've never truly understood him; you only know how to possess and control!"

"Si Anhe, do you really think I won't kill you?"

As if a sore spot had been touched, Lu Wanheng's black mist surged instantly, and his killing intent swept out once again.

"If you hadn't seduced him, how could he have betrayed me? How could he have risked his life to protect you?"

"betray?"

Si Anhe sneered, a trace of grief flashing in her eyes.

"He never betrayed you. He just wanted to break free from your cage and be himself again. It was you who couldn't accept his differences, couldn't accept the light in his eyes that wasn't for you!"

Lu Wanheng's black robes fluttered wildly, and his imperial aura almost crushed the entire Dao Academy.

"I don't care! He's my disciple, and he should belong to me for life! No one can take him away from me, even in death, he should stay by my side!"

"This isn't love, it's obsession, it's madness! You don't understand at all!"

Si Anhe was surrounded by a surge of demonic energy.

"Heh... I don't understand? All I know is that he belongs to me, Lu Wanheng, and has never belonged to you, Si Anhe."

She suddenly stopped smiling, her tone eerily calm: "I've come today to tell you some news."

Si Anhe's heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of unease crept up her spine.

She stared at Lu Wanheng, wondering what shocking thing this crazy woman was about to say next.

"He is not dead."

Lu Wanheng's voice was light and airy, yet it struck Si Anhe's heart like a heavy hammer.

"I found him."

Those few words struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving Si Anhe frozen in place.

She stared intently at Lu Wanheng, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

The scene of his soul being destroyed back then was still vivid in his mind. Lu Wanheng went mad because of this and slaughtered half of the cultivation world. After that, he guarded that tomb and lived in seclusion from the world.

Everyone thought she was long gone and buried in a desolate grave, but only Si Anhe knew that she was still alive, trapped in her memories, never to die.

Now, she has awakened from eternal silence, bringing with her this very sentence.

"impossible……"

Si Anhe's voice was dry and trembling, "His soul has long since vanished, how could he still be alive?"

"Because he was never born of this world."

Looking at her distraught appearance, Lu Wanheng curled up a cold smile.

"I dispersed my cultivation, turning into countless fragments of divine consciousness, which drifted to all planes. After countless years, I finally sensed his aura within a body, and he was standing right in front of that body."

Si Anhe staggered back a few steps, her legs gave way, and she collapsed heavily to the ground.

She didn't want to believe it, yet she knew perfectly well that Lu Wanheng possessed such madness and ability, and that he wouldn't have come out of that grave to deceive her for no reason.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, and the pain was so intense that I could hardly breathe.

"Si Anhe".

Lu Wanheng looked down at her, his tone full of contempt.

"So I don't care about you at all now. In my eyes, you're nothing but a lowly ant. Since I promised him I wouldn't kill you, I won't harm you in the slightest. Just keep clinging to this puppet and continue imprisoning yourself here."

"Lu Wanheng, what do you want to do?"

Si Anhe suddenly looked up, her eyes showing genuine fear for the first time.

She knew this woman's stubbornness all too well; once she set her mind on something, she would stop at nothing to achieve it.

"Heh... Si Anhe, are you scared?"

Looking at the fear in her eyes, Lu Wanheng finally revealed a vengeful satisfaction on his face.

The smile spread from the corners of his mouth to the depths of his eyes, carrying an almost twisted satisfaction. "I told you, you and this puppet you created will just waste your time here forever."

As soon as she finished speaking, she pointed a single finger straight at the sky.

In an instant, countless jet-black beams of light crashed down from the sky, transforming into bottomless shackles of darkness.

Layer upon layer, the small Taoist temple was completely sealed into a cage.

"I will find him; he will eventually belong to me."

Lu Wanheng's voice echoed within the shackles, carrying a frenzied obsession.

"Si Anhe, you will forever live in the agony of unrequited love. This is the best revenge I can take against you!"

As she finished speaking, her figure gradually blended into the surrounding darkness, disappearing along with the terrifying pressure.

Only Si Anhe, trapped in the barrier, and the little boy who was unconscious on the bamboo bed remained.

Si Anhe slumped to the ground, staring at the dark shackles that separated heaven and earth, her eyes filled with lifelessness.

After a long while, she slowly got up, walked to the bamboo bed, gently stroked the little boy's cheek, and murmured, "A-Shu... he's really still alive..."