Meanwhile, Long Lin wasn't faring any better. He stared blankly ahead, raising his hand as if to wipe away someone's tears, his eyes full of tenderness.
I didn't need to think much to guess what he was seeing.
He must have seen Man Yue.
"Man Yue, come with me. I'll give you the life you want. As long as you're willing, I can give up everything and leave this earthly turmoil with you."
At first, their memories were not good, but as time went on, it seemed to be the start of a nightmare.
They seemed to see the most unacceptable and terrifying things deep in their hearts.
Their minds were on the verge of collapse. They even started to fight each other. Watching them like this, my heart ached.
"Gu Yuan, can you let him out now?"
Just as Gu Yuan was about to speak, a cold voice came from behind him.
"You can't let him out." Gu Yuan and I looked in the direction of the voice. The Heavenly Emperor and Long Jin had also come here.
"You..." The Heavenly Emperor looked at me, paused for a moment, and then continued.
"Your husband is going to be the Heavenly Emperor in the future. If we let Long Lin out now, it will be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains. Father is doing this for Yuan'er's sake. You should know better than me what to do." At first, the Heavenly Emperor was talking to Gu Yuan, but in the end, his eyes turned to me. That terrifying look was comparable to Ying Gou's.
What he meant was for me to kill them both, so as to pave the way for Gu Yuan to become the real Heavenly Emperor.
Although the Heavenly Emperor didn't mention killing once, every word he said implied it.
As the saying goes, one thought can turn you into a demon, and another can make you a Buddha. Only now did I truly understand that in fact, a demon and a Buddha are not that different.
Long Jin seemed to have also understood the Heavenly Emperor's intention. He quickly stepped forward and said, "Brother Emperor, he is your son."
"Humph, son. Look... Does he even regard me as his father? All he can think about is seizing power. He has long forgotten my identity as his father."
"Now, I only have one son, and that is Long Yuan. He will be my successor as the Heavenly Emperor in the future."
The Heavenly Emperor had already made up his mind to take their lives, but he didn't want to do it himself. Instead, he wanted to use my hand to kill Long Lin.
This scheme of killing someone with a borrowed knife was really brilliant. In this way, he could keep his good name as the Heavenly Emperor, and at the same time, make Gu Yuan bear the guilt of killing his younger brother.
A person who is blinded by power and covets the position of the Heavenly Emperor will surely follow his instigation and start killing.
I was still hesitating. After all, I had a deep friendship with them. How could I just kill them?
"As the saying goes, to capture the enemy, you must first capture their leader. Look at those dead soldiers in the desert. To end this war as soon as possible, you must make a decision immediately."
After the Heavenly Emperor finished speaking, Gu Yuan stepped forward and said only one word to me.
"Kill..."
I was stunned for a moment. I thought I had misheard. I quickly looked into Gu Yuan's eyes.
His eyes were still as cold as ever. It was obvious that he wasn't acting on impulse. He was very calm at this moment.
Since Gu Yuan had already made his decision, I of course wouldn't go against my oath. Since I had said that I would stand by his side, I would absolutely obey his decision.
I nodded at Gu Yuan. Two talismans in my hand swept gently in front of me. Two yellow talismans flew out and quickly circled around the Twelve Constellations.
The Twelve Demon Maidens were as beautiful as celestial beings descending to earth before. However, as they swayed their bodies, changes began to occur to them.
Scales gradually grew on their originally smooth skin. Even their faces and bodies were covered with snake scales.
Twelve pairs of golden snake eyes glowed purple. They walked towards Jun He and Long Lin from their positions.
The closer the demon maidens got, the stronger the evil aura on them became. Until their facial features were completely distorted, their fangs and snake tongues protruded, and they spat out twelve streams of purple air.
Jun He and Long Lin drew their swords and stabbed them into each other's chests.
At this moment, blood splashed everywhere. As the blood spread, the formation was gradually broken.
However, just as the formation was gradually disappearing, the yellow talismans that were controlling the Twelve Demon Maidens suddenly caught fire.
I was extremely shocked and wanted to step forward to stop it, but it was already too late. The burning speed was simply as fast as light.
Before I could even blink, those things had already turned into two streams of black ash and fallen to the ground.
Looking at the Twelve Demon Maidens again, they were now letting out shrill screams. Flames burned all over their bodies. In just a few seconds, they turned into a pile of black ash, not even leaving a single bone.
"What... What's going on?" I looked at the ground in surprise, finding it hard to believe.
"Hahaha... Hahaha... The Twelve Demon Maidens are nothing more than that."
The Heavenly Emperor laughed loudly to the sky. His voice was full of schadenfreude.
"It turns out that what Long Jin said was true. The blood of the Dragon Clan can really break the Twelve Constellations Formation."
I glared at the Heavenly Emperor with hatred in my eyes. My resentment towards his deception was clearly shown.
"You... You deceived me?" I roared at him.
The Heavenly Emperor wasn't angry at all. Looking at Long Lin's body lying on the ground, he even laughed more crazily. That kind of madness was like being possessed.
"So what? Without the protection of the Twelve Constellations, you're actually just a medicinal ingredient. Wasn't the rain of red - snake corpses also caused by the Twelve Constellations?"
"For ten thousand years, what I've been longing for the most is the Twelve Constellations of the snake scales. I originally wanted to use them for myself, but Xi Nv couldn't control the Twelve Constellations at all, and the snake scales were even lost... But I never expected that my good son is actually the master of the snake scales."
"Do you know how long I've been planning for this day? Now, although I haven't obtained the power of the Twelve Constellations, as soon as they appeared again, I've eradicated them."
"Hahahaha... Long Lin is dead. Now that Long Yuan has no protection from you, he's just a useless person. He still dreams of becoming the Heavenly Emperor of the Celestial Realm. He's just daydreaming."
At this moment, the Heavenly Emperor was almost crazy. His eyes were blood - red, and the red blood vessels covered his eyeballs. That kind of evil look really made people shiver.
But I wasn't afraid, because I was Gu Yuan's protector. No matter what happened, I would stand in front of him.
"Now you're just a medicinal ingredient. As long as I get the spirit of the snake scales from you as a medicinal ingredient, I'll become the most powerful king in the Three Realms. No one will be able to shake my position as the Heavenly Emperor. Hahaha..."
After the Heavenly Emperor finished speaking, he spread his arms with an enjoyable look on his face, feeling the worship from the Three Realms.
Just as he spread his hands, a sound of fighting came from the desert. Then, yellow sand filled the sky around the desert. Inside the sandstorm, clusters of black mist rolled towards us.