"Huo Li...my dear daughter," he reached out to hold her hand but she moved back.

"Father...what are you doing here?" she questioned with confusion and doubt on her face but the hate and anger burning in her eyes upon setting her eyes on him fanned trouble.

​​

Outside the pagoda, the sect madam who was already getting impatient decided to go in, she took one step forward but the first elder held her hand back.

"Sect madam," all eyes turned to her.

"You mustn't do this," he warned

"Mother, what are you doing?" they all understood the situation and they had already expected it, they had already been waiting for a long time and now the sun is about to set but she still isn't out, her mother would never forgive herself if she disappears.

"I need to go in, I shouldn't have sent her in," she responded then she tried to snap her hand out of the first elder grip but he still held her back.

"What if something happens to you in the pagoda, the sect leader is currently in seclusion and the fate of the sect now relies on you until he is out, you absolutely cannot go," the first elder argued, they were quite surprised that he actually wants her to be safe when he should be the one who wants her out of the way.

"Do you know what the most terrifying thing about the pagoda is?" she questioned, her eyes showed she fears something in particular.

"Mother, is there something other than demons and monsters in the pagoda?" Huo Ying asked

"The Mind destroyer...." Bingchen spurted out of his mouth with his eyes widened when he turned to Huo Ying.

"It is all my fault I should have warned her of the mind destroyer, even if she defeats the monsters and demons in the pagoda, she will not be able to survive the mind destroyer," her mother answered, almost breaking down in tears with her other hand on her chest.

"What is the mind destroyer?" Huo Mei questioned

"I read it in one of the books, it says that the mind destroyer is a demon that can consume people mind with his voice and it can use your greatest source of hate and anger to make you give in to your inner demons, it tempts you with power and it can multiply,"

"If my memory serves me right, the mind destroyer is one of the highest-ranking demons, the only reason he is inside the pagoda is that he made a bet with one of the former sect leaders and he lost so it had no choice but to never leave the pagoda and it is also bounded to the pagoda," the third elder chimed in, the fears on their faces was too evident.

Everyone knows how hot-tempered Huo Li is, if she is tempted with her greatest hate she will definitely not be able to resist it and considering how much she likes feeling powerful and full of strength, it will be really hard for her.

"No...Huo Li will not give in," Yu Yan said with confidence then they all looked up at the pagoda.

Huo Li circled her supposed father with a suspicious look in her eyes, she had thought her father had died after all this while and that is the only reason why she didn't find him as soon as she started cultivating, her only wish at this moment if for him to be real, only then will she be able to rip him to pieces for doing something so inhumane to her mother and then abandoning her when trouble came.

"It is me Huo Li, I am your father, you remember me, right?" He moved closer to her with his arms spread wide.

"Of course I do, How can I ever forget your despicable and disgusting face," she clutched her sword tightly, thinking of how to destroy him.

"That's right...I abandoned you, you see...you were such a difficult and problematic child just like that whore of a mother you had but it is a relief that she is now dead," the smile on his face disgusted her to the bones, she couldn't believe he actually doesn't feel remorse.

She raised her sword against his head while gritting her teeth, she really wanted to split his body into two at that moment, but she stopped, remembering that killing him will mean her inner demons will be able to take control of her.

"Kill him...." a voice whispered behind her, she turned her head slightly to see a demon with two horns and really small pouted lips painted red.

"Kill him....he is an evil man, remember he abandoned you and let your mother return to her death,"

"No...I can't kill him," she refused with tears welling her face and her eyes had already turned red.

"I just knew you won't be able to kill me just like that mother of yours, the both of you have power but your minds are weak and not worthy of your power, back then I was just the senior disciple of the sect but no one gives me respect, however, you mother was different...."

"What...."

"She was powerful and everyone in the Jianghu world knew her for being the skilled and powerful guardian of the flame sect second to Huo Jingyu, so I thought I should deceive her then I will be able to absorb her cultivation even if I can't have her flame power using a demonic method but I needed her to fall in love with me," he broke into a peal of hysterical laughter but Huo Li looked at him in disbelief.

"So you are saying you did that to my mother because you wanted her cultivation...I am really disgusted to be the seed of your evil act," she lowered her sword against him but she stopped when it was just one centimetre away from his head.

"You see...he is really despicable, he caused you mother death, let me show you, child," the demon placed his hands on her shoulder gently soothing her soul.

- - - - - - - -

"Are you happy now that you made me get expelled from the sect,?" Young Guo Jing who had just been expelled from his seat said, confronting her on their way after they left the Qiuhua sect.

"Do you not even feel an ounce of guilt for what you did?...the only reason I have not killed you till now is that I don't want this child to live without a father, otherwise, I would have ripped you to pieces, you piece of trash," she clenched her fist, glaring into his eyes with a flame of anger burning inside her but she withheld her self for the sake of the child in her arms.

They stared into each other's eyes for a while until she spat out blood.

"You..." she looked down at her chest, where she had just been stabbed with a small hidden knife which he still held in his hand with the sharp edge in her chest, the thick coagulated blood seeped out of the side of her mouth.

"You are really despicable and you can't be saved, you still want to kill me..." she couldn't lay her hands on him because she doesn't want her child to be fatherless but the next thing she knew is that she was sent flying by another hit on the same side of the chest where he stabbed.

She landed on the ground, holding her child in her arms then he walked towards her and knelt by her side.

"I have been looked down on in my sect and I will not be looked down on by you, how dare you call me a piece of trash,"

"Do you think you are strong because you managed to defeat me, I am only letting you go for the sake of this child," she pushed him away then she hurriedly stood up and picked up the knife he dropped then she stabbed it into his chest, both of them slid back until his back hit the bark of a tree.

"I will let you go but you will go with this child and you will treat her like your own blood, if you kill me then you will never be able to live since my sect will hunt you down but I will give you a chance only for the sake of this child," she pulled the knife out of his chest causing him to scream in pain, then she handed the child to him.

"I would not leave this child to you if I wasn't scared that she might be in danger if the flame sect finds about her, I will leave the child with you and return to my sect to receive my punishment, even if you are despicable I hope you will not raise her to be as despicable as you are," she dropped the knife and walked away with her bloodied chest while he watched her back until he was out of sight but as soon as she was out of sight, he glared at the child with hate in his eyes.