đź“– Chapter 1058 - Atonement!
“You are evil.”
That was my master’s favorite sentence.
But in my opinion, I am innocent. In the first place, my life is different from hers. I am a weapon. There is no reason for me to be like a decoration.
But when I said that to her, my master told me that I was making excuses.
I didn’t mind. As an oldie, I don’t care what a little girl thinks. But for some reason, when she called me evil, it still made me a little unhappy.
And so… I decided that I wouldn’t swallow her. I would watch as she holds me in her hand and walks step by step toward being the same evil she spoke of.
I was certain that I would see it happen.
However… compared to her calling me evil, what I hated the most were her eyes. They were very pure, like clear mirrors that let me see myself reflected in them… And at the same time, they always looked at me with a pitying gaze. It made me feel so uncomfortable. I hate pity. I hate purity. I wanted to eat her.
But I had to hold myself back. More than I wanted to eat her, I wanted to see what happens when she finally gave in and becomes like me. Would she still look at me with a pitying gaze? Would her pure eyes still seem to be filled with stars?
In the first year… I failed.
Unexpectedly, after becoming my master, she didn’t use my power at all. Even though the year wasn’t a happy one for her, she didn’t kill a single living thing.
It was the same in the second year, and the third, and the fourth. Finally, in the fifth year since she became my master, I couldn’t bear it any longer. After going so many days without food, the indescribable bloodthirst in my body turned into hunger, and I was filled with the crazy urge to destroy everything around me. But then, I saw the purity and pity in her eyes again, and I’ll never forget what she said to me at that time.
“Must you kill?”
"I'm hungry!"
"I understand."
After our conversation, my master cut her own wrist and bathed my body in her blood. I drank her blood greedily, and its sweetness carried a fatal attraction. But when I saw her face turning pale, gazing at me with that same unchanging stare, I suddenly felt a little scared.
What I was scared of was… I don’t know, actually. But for the first time in my life, I restrained myself and stopped drinking. This made me hate that purity of hers even more. I told myself that I would definitely see the day that her gaze lost its light.
I was sure that that day would come soon. In the ninth year since she became my master, the sect she belonged to was invaded by a group of devil cultivators and slaughtered down to the last man.
When she found out, she immediately hurried back to the sect with me in tow. As she looked at the ruins of her former sect and the countless corpses that littered the ground, she cried. That was when I told her that I could help her take revenge. I told her that as long as she allowed me to use my power, I could help her slaughter anyone. We could even go to her enemies’ small worlds and bury the entire place.
I kept tempting her, trying to persuade her, but… I don’t understand why, but I failed.
She didn’t choose to wield my power. Instead, she just left in silence. However, I clearly felt a strong emotional fluctuation for a moment.
It was the same in the following years. Thirty-seven years later, one of her pets was killed brutally, and she remained silent. Six hundred and fifteen years later, one of her old friends died miserably, but she didn’t do anything.
Time and time again, she was forced to part with those she loved. Time and time again, she suffered unjust and unreasonable treatment. Time and time again, the darkness of the world reared its ugly head… But she continued walking through it all. Her back may have bent in exhaustion at times, but the look in her eyes never changed.
If not for my protection over the years, she would have long died already.
I couldn’t understand her. In the end, I finally asked.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I owe you. I don’t want you to be a weapon of slaughter anymore. Even if I am sad, even if I want revenge, even if I feel that living is a kind of torture, for me… the most important thing is you.”
I didn’t believe her answer at all.
But my desire to see her gaze change became even stronger. Thus, I restrained my hunger. Every ten years, she would bathe me in her blood to keep me from starving. Just like that, we wandered across the entire starry sky together.
Perhaps it was an accident, perhaps it was because of me, or perhaps it was just her destiny, but in the following years, her life was very miserable. There were many times when she was utterly helpless, and every time, I told her that I could change everything as long as she allowed me to.
But even when her hair turned white with age, my wish still remained unfulfilled.
And then one day, she died.
I should have been happy to see her corpse. I should have been happy, because it meant that I was free. I could continue to kill and devour, and no one would stop me. I wouldn’t have to see that disgusting gaze of hers ever again.
So then why… did I seal my memories of that day?
I don’t know why. But ever since she died, I became silent, and there seemed to be some heavy emotions pressing on my body.
These emotions made me feel a little uncomfortable whenever I killed. I don’t want to admit it, but it’s true that after spending a short few hundred years with that girl, she changed me.
As the years went by, I met more and more masters, but they often abandoned me of their own initiative.
That’s because I was no longer a killing sword. My blade drooped in sadness, and as my sadness intensified, my power slowly weakened.
…
Ten thousand years have passed. I am no longer a devil weapon. Instead, I am a blade of the most ordinary iron.
My edge is covered in rust, and my ominous aura is a thing of the past. My whole body is decaying, and my life… seems to gradually be fading away.
I don’t understand why this is happening. But finally, the fires of my life wink out, and the sealed memories of that day reappear in front of my eyes.
On the red mountain peak, she strokes me gently while looking at the starry sky. Although her head was full of white hair, although her face was full of wrinkles, her eyes are still pure.
"What are you looking at?" I ask.
"I’m looking at the sky."
“What’s there to see? It’s all black.”
“The world may be black, but in my heart, the sky is filled with the brightest light.”
"I don't understand."
“Then look at it more. Look for a hundred years, a thousand years… If you can’t finish looking in this life, continue staring into the sky in the next life. One day, you will understand.”
“I have a next life? In my next life, I hope that I’m an even stronger weapon!”
“Do you know what a zombie is…? They are born from resentment and live in eternal darkness. I will accompany you… This is my atonement.”
“Atonement… Why do you always say that you owe me?” I ask after a moment of silence.
But no answer comes. Her red blood soaks my body. This time, she didn’t keep anything back, or maybe… I forgot to restrain myself.
No, not maybe.
The one who killed her is me.
Looking at her corpse, I remain silent for a long time, long time… In the end, I seal away my memories of this day. The reason isn’t because of her, but because of that sentence.
"I'll accompany you."
Now, I finally understand that I have always been… so very lonely, from the moment I was born until today.
I also finally understand that she was the person I have been waiting for all this time. The moment I killed her, my own life was over as well.
As memories appear in my mind, I try my hardest to raise my rusted blade, to look toward the sky…
Tears flowed down unknowingly. Not from the devil blade who had just unsealed its memory, but from… Wang Baole’s eyes. At some point in time, he had opened his eyes as he sat cross-legged in meditation.
And as his eyes opened, an endless devouring intent burst out from his soul. The devouring seed within his body instantly cowered, and his resonance with the law of devouring immediately skyrocketed, reaching the same level as his law of light, 98%!
But none of this caused the slightest stir in Wang Baole. At that moment, he lowered his head blankly and looked at his hands, muttering to himself…
“Past lives… All of this really happened? Why did my past lives… contain karma with the future ones… and why was she always there…”
Wang Baole fell silent. Suddenly, he waved his right hand, and a vague black shadow appeared above it. It was the shadow of… his past life as a devil blade!