Chapter 168 The Shattered Tyrant

Chapter 168 The Shattered Tyrant

"Hide behind me."

"If I don't die, you can't die."

Those promises he once made with such conviction, those grand words he uttered in his lucid moments, now felt like resounding, ironic slaps across Pei Yunjing's face.

Every word was like a sharp blade, tearing his self-esteem to shreds.

He lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the dying Tangli in his arms. His eyes slowly moved from her pale face to the deep, gaping wound on her left arm where the flesh was torn and the bone was visible.

What is he doing?

He desperately wanted to protect her, even at the cost of defying the world and slaughtering the Northern Rong.

He wanted to hide her in that so-called "Demon-Locking Tower," building an impregnable fortress to prevent the wind and rain from eroding her in the slightest, and to prevent the malice of the world from tainting her in the slightest.

He thought he was the strongest shield in the world, her only support.

But what was the result?

The raging wind and rain could not harm her, nor could the venomous assassin kill her.

Finally, he cornered her, swung his sword to sever her life force, and nearly killed her...

It was him!

"I am... a monster."

Pei Yunjing's pupils trembled violently, and the last trace of pride and coldness in his crimson eyes completely collapsed.

The thought that he had forcibly suppressed in his heart with coldness, arrogance, and killing finally broke through the soil at this moment, growing into a poisonous vine that devoured reason and tightly wrapped around his heart.

People feared him, calling him a madman, a demon, and a monster who could lose control at any moment.

He never cared, and even scoffed at it.

Because he felt that as long as he was strong enough and his sword was fast enough, he could control everything, including this broken body and that soul that was already riddled with holes.

But now, the stark reality lay before him, cruelly mocking his arrogance—

He has no control over it at all!

He's a monster who only brings disaster and destroys beauty.

He is a scabbardless weapon, a raging inferno that burns everything; anyone who gets close to him will either die or be seriously injured.

As long as he is by her side, she will get hurt, bleed, and... die.

"dirty……"

Pei Yunjing looked at the hand that was supporting the back of her neck.

Those slender knuckles and palm lines were covered in sticky red, stained with her blood.

A nauseating sense of self-loathing overwhelmed him instantly like a tsunami, and a strong feeling of disgust surged up his throat, making him wish he could chop off his hands.

He doesn't deserve it.

These hands, stained with sin and unable to even control their own sword, are utterly unworthy to touch someone as pure as her.

She is a goddess, the light that all beasts worship.

He was nothing more than a demon struggling in the mud.

"Don't touch her...you'll kill her..."

Pei Yunjing muttered to himself, his voice broken and incoherent.

He seemed to have been scalded by a raging fire, or perhaps he had touched some sacred and inviolable taboo, and hurriedly let go of his hand.

"call--"

Losing her support, Tangli's body slumped to one side, falling once again into the Snow Wolf King's soft, thick fur.

The wolf king turned its head, its eerie green eyes quietly looking at Pei Yunjing, its gaze seemingly carrying a hint of pity, yet also a scrutiny unique to wild beasts.

Pei Yunjing, however, staggered backward as if avoiding a plague.

One step, two steps.

His steps were unsteady, as if he were walking on cotton, or barefoot on sharp knife tips. With each step back, he was engaged in a fierce battle with the instinct to rush forward and embrace her.

"Bang!"

When he took the third step back, his knees buckled, and he could no longer support his heavy and broken body.

In the center of this desolate snow valley, under the watchful eyes of all the beasts.

The most esteemed regent of the Great Sheng Dynasty, the iron-blooded war god who once struck fear into the hearts of the Northern Rong, knelt down in despair.

He knelt before his own sins, before the lover he had hurt with his own hands.

The icy snow water instantly soaked through my knees, and the biting cold surged up my meridians.

But he couldn't feel the cold, because his heart had frozen into a block of dead ice, shattered into powder.

Pei Yunjing lowered his head, his usually upright back now hunched over in a humble curve.

He braced his hands tightly on his knees, his fingers digging deep into his flesh, drawing blood, trying to use this physical pain to stop the uncontrollable trembling in his body.

But it couldn't be stopped.

That tremor came from the depths of the soul; it was fear, regret, and despair enough to drive a person mad.

He didn't dare to look up at her.

I was afraid to see her tightly closed eyes, afraid to see the glaring bloodstain on her face, and even more afraid... if she woke up, I would see even the slightest bit of fear and disgust in her eyes.

If that were the case, he would really go crazy.

"Cough...cough cough..."

A suppressed sob escaped from the depths of his throat, like the whimper of a trapped beast on the verge of death.

His eyes were bloodshot and filled with alarming veins, and his eyes held a barren, desolate landscape.

Pride, self-esteem, confidence, expectations for the future... all of these were shattered by his own hands at that moment, with that sword strike.

The world was vast and boundless, and the wind and snow were dark and gloomy. He felt like a lonely soul abandoned by the world.

Only one thought remained, echoing wildly in his mind, tearing at his nerves like a curse—

Pei Yunjing, you deserve to die.

If she dies, you shouldn't live either...