#29: Gouging the Heart

The paper on the windows had been burned away by the fire. Di Jiang and Wen Yao quietly watched everything happening inside the wooden hut from outside the window. The moment Dong Biling drank the poisoned wine, a torrential rain poured down from the sky, quickly extinguishing the flames that engulfed the hut.

The fire died down, but no one inside the hut spoke.

Silence was the only presence now.

Dong Biling waited for death, Dong Liancheng sobbed, and Dong Yezhen quietly watched the two, a mocking smile on her face. Only Yueying beside her tugged at Yezhen’s sleeve from time to time, seemingly still anxious, but Dong Yezhen remained unmoved, still ignoring her.

Until about half an hour passed, approaching midnight, Dong Biling’s poison still had not taken effect.

Yueying again tugged at Yezhen’s sleeve, her action rousing the startled Dong Yezhen. Yezhen sighed, then suddenly shrugged and smiled, saying to Biling, “Does waiting for death feel good?”

Dong Biling looked at her, saying nothing, her eyes shimmering with a light of utter hopelessness.

Liancheng, on the other hand, was very anxious and shouted, “Now you can let me go, can’t you!”

“She can go, you cannot.” Dong Yezhen turned to Dong Liancheng and said, “Before coming here, I told myself that if you could drink the poisoned wine to save Biling, I would give up revenge.” At this point, Yueying glanced at her in alarm, but Yezhen ignored her and continued, “But it’s clear I was overthinking. You will always love yourself. For you to sacrifice yourself to save another is simply a fantasy.”

“You... what do you mean by that?” Dong Liancheng had a bad premonition. Sure enough, the next moment, he heard Yezhen slowly say, “Neither cup of wine was poisoned. I was merely testing your true feelings.”

“What!” Dong Liancheng was shocked.

Yezhen grinned hideously again, taking off her clothes one by one until not an inch of her exposed skin was whole. Pieces of her skin looked as if they had been sewn onto her flesh and bones, especially the scar on her belly, which still bore the marks of sutures, appearing stark red and glaring.

Dong Liancheng and Dong Biling’s eyes widened, seemingly unable to believe the scene before them.

“Is it terrifying?” Dong Yezhen gave a desolate smile. “This is what you gifted me.” She said, stepping closer to Dong Liancheng.

“You, don’t come over! You’re not human!” Dong Liancheng was aghast, truly unable to imagine how Yezhen, having suffered such severe injuries, had managed to survive.

“When you held me, when you cherished me, why weren’t you afraid? When you gave me that knife, why didn’t you think of retribution?” Dong Yezhen bent down. At the same time, Yueying came over and handed her a glowing dagger, her eyes seeming to say, “It’s time.”

“What exactly do you want to do!” Dong Liancheng wailed. Dong Yezhen dangled the dagger before his eyes. At this moment, he was losing even the courage to cry out.

“I don’t want to do anything; I just want Biling to see your true colors,” Dong Yezhen said, turning back to Dong Biling, “This is your spouse, the one who speaks words of love, who swore eternal vows of mountain and sea. But look, he’s so scared he’s incontinent now.” She finished speaking and covered her mouth slightly. Although she no longer had a sense of taste, she still made a gesture as if something smelled very unpleasant.

Dong Biling stared at Yezhen, her eyes never leaving her abdomen.

“Is it frightening? It should be frightening,” Dong Yezhen chuckled, “But as long as I eat his heart, my skin can be as good as new, truly becoming a normal person.”

“What!” Dong Liancheng’s face changed again.

“I made a deal with an artisan. He can bring me back to life and lend me strength, and the terms of the deal are for me to personally gouge out your heart.”

As Dong Yezhen spoke, Di Jiang’s face outside the window changed.

Making a deal with a heart?

This was not a tradition of the artisan clan.

“What are you waiting for! Quickly gouge out his heart! Otherwise, once midnight passes, it will all be too late!” Just then, the little girl Yueying beside Dong Yezhen suddenly cried out in urgency. His voice was hoarse and raspy, definitely not that of a ten-year-old child, and certainly not a girl’s. This was clearly the voice of an old man.

Upon hearing this, Di Jiang realized that Yueying was not a mute girl but a man. A real man.

Di Jiang raised an eyebrow, like a hunter discovering interesting prey.

After Yueying spoke, Dong Yezhen still couldn’t bring herself to do it. She calmly glanced back at Yueying, but the light that burst forth from her eyes was a long-sealed love. Her raised right hand hesitated, and finally, she actually let go of the dagger and chuckled softly.

“I won’t kill you,” Dong Yezhen said, uttering these words.

This sentence made Dong Liancheng sigh in relief, but it made Yueying’s entire body tremble.

“What nonsense are you talking about! Hurry up and do it!” Yueying urged again.

Dong Yezhen, however, stubbornly shook her head. “I won’t kill him; killing him would stain my hands.” She finished speaking, glanced at the ashen Dong Biling nearby, and threw the dagger. With a “clack,” the dagger landed steadily in front of Dong Biling.

“You come,” Dong Yezhen said blandly. “I’m giving you a chance for revenge.”

Dong Biling glanced at the dagger, then at Dong Liancheng, but finally lowered her head and lamented, “If even elder sister can’t do it, how could I? Men can be as ruthless as he is, but we are, after all, just women... I only regret being blind and trusting the wrong person.”

“Heh... I’m also a woman...” Dong Yezhen gave a desolate smile, a tear of blood sliding from the corner of her eye. This was the prelude to her body’s collapse.

Yueying was filled with disbelief. He rushed forward anxiously, embracing the softly collapsing Dong Yezhen. But he was still only the size of a child, and even though his strength was comparable to that of an adult man, he seemed to be struggling.

“Yezhen! How could you be so foolish!” Yueying looked concerned, but in just a moment, Dong Yezhen’s facial skin began to peel off bit by bit. Dong Liancheng, closest to her, watched the changes on her face, and fear made him forget even to scream. He could only sit there stunned, letting the blood left by Dong Yezhen soak into his clothes.

“Gouge out his heart! Then you can truly become a living person!” Yueying quickly picked up the dagger again and handed it to Dong Yezhen.

“Too... too late... I’ve already died... The person I love wants me to die, and the person who loves me can’t live either... Even if I could live again, what would be the meaning...” Dong Yezhen’s voice was filled with sorrow, as if every word she uttered cost her all her strength.

“Who says it’s too late! I say it’s not too late!” Yueying grasped Dong Yezhen’s wrist, plunged the dagger into Dong Liancheng’s chest, and with a powerful twist, the heart was separated from the body.

Dong Liancheng’s eyes widened. He watched with his own eyes as his heart was gouged out by Yueying. In his pale hand, that heart seemed to still be beating.

“Heh... his heart is still red, I thought... I thought it would have turned black by now...” Dong Yezhen smiled faintly, and her lips split into two, no longer able to close.

“Sister!” Dong Biling was stunned by the scene, but she no longer seemed afraid. Instead, she empathetically felt Yezhen’s pain and sorrow.

Dong Biling crawled over, grasping her flesh and blood that scattered like flowing sand. With a reach of her hand, only a pool of blood remained.

In the air, Dong Biling’s last words echoed: “I don’t understand why people can share hardships but not wealth. Human desire is infinitely vast, so vast that in the end, they turn into devils without even realizing it. The Liancheng I loved was the one who protected me then, not the one later who didn’t even blink while gouging out my heart and tearing apart my bones... But, but Lingyue, the only person I’ve ever truly wronged in this life is you. If I could live again, I hope, I hope you could be with me... I don’t want his heart and liver, I just want to be with you... How wonderful would it be if you had taken my lifespan instead? At least... at least for these few decades, I could have relied on and accompanied you...”

“Yezhen! It’s my fault! I was wrong! Don’t leave!” Yueying cried out in anguish, but it was useless. Dong Yezhen had already dissolved into a pool of blood, her body and soul vanished, never to live again.

Hearing this, Di Jiang’s heart suddenly trembled.

Although she had long suspected that Yueying’s identity was unusual, she never imagined that ‘she’ was the artisan, Gong Lingyue, whom she had been searching for more than two years.

Gong Lingyue had a male body with a feminine appearance, a youthful face, and a petite stature like a child, and never spoke. It was no wonder Di Jiang failed to recognize his true identity.

Just then, a strange thing happened. Gong Lingyue’s black hair began to turn grey, then gradually from grey to silver. His exposed skin outside his clothes also became cracked inch by inch. Soon, thick wrinkles covered his face.

He transformed from a child directly into a frail old man.

And this happened in an instant.

“The Five Decays of Heaven and Man,” Di Jiang couldn’t help but blurt out.

“What are the Five Decays of Heaven and Man?” Wen Yao frowned.

“The Five Decays of Heaven and Man refer to beings outside the three realms, or immortals. They are not supposed to suffer the pains of birth, aging, illness, and death, but due to some reason, their time is ultimately approaching, and they won’t live much longer.”

“He’s an immortal?” Wen Yao asked in surprise.

Di Jiang shook her head. “He’s an artisan, from an ancient family that gains lifespan by bringing others back to life.”

Their conversation attracted Gong Lingyue’s attention. He looked up, his eyes scanning them indifferently, then turned back to Dong Biling and said, “You may leave. Yezhen’s ordeal was merely to show you who Dong Liancheng truly is. She used her own life to bring you clarity. I will not kill you.”

Dong Biling looked stunned, but she still didn’t move.

Gong Lingyue’s words made it even harder for her to accept. She would rather Yezhen hated her! She didn’t want to owe her even more...