The wind rising from the Soul Well was so cold it felt like it could pierce flesh and bone.
Ye Yi sat on the rim, his hand hanging loosely over his knee, black mist curling around his fingers. He stared at the dark souls below, watching them claw upward one after another—like they were trying to pry open the heart he'd buried for decades.
He had never imagined he would—
turn back and miss a fragile, ordinary little girl.
He had believed he'd gone mad enough to be nothing but demon nature,
believed every trace of softness had been buried with Yan Ling in the past.
But he was wrong.
Completely wrong.
What surfaced in his mind was Ling Dang back at the relay station.
Every day she'd flit in like a small bird,
arms full of pastries, fruit, hot soup, and whatever else she'd managed to scavenge,
sitting beside him and chattering without pause.
"Big brother! This is so good, try it!"
"It's fine if you don't talk, I can talk forever!"
"Don't be mad… please…"
When she smiled, her eyes shone like scattered stars.
And back then—
he had despised her.
Despised how loud she was.
How annoying.
How close she dared to come.
He had even felt a killing intent toward that kind of light.
He wanted to crush her voice, to destroy that naive brightness—
because it was something he could never possess.
And now he realized…
Back then, she had been a world he could not reach.
Warm. Real. Bright.
While he had been walking through cold, through dark, through death.
Ye Yi closed his eyes.
Something in his chest tightened again.
He couldn't accept it.
He was Ye Yi.
Soul-thief.
Demon Lord.
How could he—because of that girl's tears, her hunger, the way she called someone else in her dreams—lose control like a mortal?
"…Ridiculous."
He laughed under his breath, but it sounded like teeth sinking into bone.
And then—
His demonic qi jolted. He snapped back.
He was no longer at the Soul Well.
When he lifted his head, he was standing—
in front of a small-town diner.
Warm firelight leaked through the cracks of the door.
The scent of oil, wheat, and sauce blended together, a warmth so human it felt like it could cut through demonic qi.
Ye Yi's gaze stilled.
He knew exactly what it meant.
This was not deception.
Not a demon delusion.
Not calculation.
This was his heart walking here.
He had come to buy food for her.
That foolish little thing.
The one who trembled in black fog, who fainted from hunger, who cried "Brother Luo" in her sleep.
He actually wanted… to feed her.
His fingers trembled—barely.
He almost didn't believe himself.
"…How did I fall this far?"
He had thought his heart was dead.
But that girl—
that naive warmth, that careful, desperate way she used her brother's shadow as an anchor—
had made the deepest crack inside him begin to leak light.
That was more dangerous than love.
Because he knew—
He was no longer only treating her as leverage.
He wanted her to depend on him.
Wanted her eyes on him.
Wanted her to say his name instead of anyone else's.
Even if she was terrified of him.
Even if the one living in her heart was that hot-blooded Fire Yao brat.
Ye Yi lifted his hand and stared at his palm.
It was faintly warm—
not from demonic qi, but from emotion.
"Little thing… do you know?"
His voice sank low, as if seeping up from underground.
"The more you fear… the more I want to leave you nowhere to run."
"The more you think of someone else… the more I want you to look only at me."
"The more you cling to this body… the more I want you to understand—"
In Ye Yi's eyes, a black flame rose slowly, bottomless and deep.
"What you should rely on… is me."
The diner's lamplight reflected in his ink-dark gaze.
Ye Yi reached out and pushed the door open.
In that moment, he finally admitted it—
He didn't want to feed her.
He didn't want to take care of her.
He wanted her alive.
Alive, properly alive.
Alive long enough for him to lock her completely.
Thoroughly.
Forever.
[Demon Capital · Stone Hall]
Ling Dang didn't know how much time had passed. She only knew her stomach hurt again—hollow and aching.
She had just jolted awake from a dream.
In that dream, Luo Ye was gentle as firelight, and she had nearly sobbed, begging him to take her home.
But when she opened her eyes—
standing before her was the cruelest seam between dream and reality.
Ye Yi.
He returned carrying a food box, his face dark as he approached.
Ling Dang froze.
It was the first time… she had seen something in his hands that looked like it was meant for her.
But what she felt wasn't warmth.
It was fear.
A fear so deep it sank into bone.
Ye Yi set the box down, voice flat to the point of terror.
"Eat."
Ling Dang didn't dare reach for it.
She clutched Ling Shuo's coat and shrank back, tense like a cornered animal.
"Y-you… why all of a sudden…"
Ye Yi's eyes darkened, like a well that swallowed moonlight.
He stepped closer, one slow step at a time.
"What? Aren't you hungry?"
Ling Dang's heart beat so wildly she could barely breathe.
—This wasn't her brother.
Her brother would never look at her like this.
Her brother's gaze had always been gentle, never something that made her afraid.
But Ye Yi's gaze now…
was the look of a predator staring at prey he intended to claim.
Ling Dang's voice shook, barely audible.
"Y-you suddenly treat me well… it makes me more scared…"
Ye Yi stopped.
Ling Dang looked up. Her lashes were damp, tears close, her voice thin as wind.
"Because… you're not my brother…"
She bit her lip and forced the truth out of her chest.
"The way you look at me… isn't a look my brother would ever have."
She had seen that look before—
on Luo Ye.
A look between a man and a woman.
Possessive. Intent. Heavy with meaning.
Ling Dang's heart clenched.
Cold swept through her.
She grabbed the sleeve so hard her fingers turned white.
She understood Ye Yi's soul lived inside her brother's body.
She understood the one in front of her was a demon, not her brother.
And she understood the want inside that gaze—
was not something an older brother would ever feel toward his little sister.
The clearer it became, the more terrified she was.
Her brother wouldn't stand that close.
Wouldn't stare at her lips, her breathing.
Wouldn't look at her as if he wanted to swallow her whole.
Her chest felt bound tight. She stumbled backward on instinct.
Ye Yi fell silent for a beat.
It wasn't anger at being exposed.
It was something struck awake—deep, dark desire.
He lowered his head, close to her ear, voice so low it slid into her bones.
"So you finally understand."
Ling Dang shivered.
Ye Yi lifted his hand. His fingers hovered by her cheek, not quite touching—yet the pressure was suffocating.
"I left this Abyss for you."
"I carried food for you across half the realm."
"I… let emotions I shouldn't have touch me again."
His eyes were black enough to devour her.
"You're right to be afraid."
The corner of Ye Yi's mouth curled, slow and deliberate.
"Because I'm not your brother."
"And what I want… isn't something a brother would want."
Ling Dang jerked back, her spine slamming into the icy stone wall, both hands strangling the coat.
She knew—
the moment Ye Yi changed…
was the moment real danger began.
Ye Yi watched her shaking hands, his voice low, echoing like the deep sea.
"From today on…"
"It doesn't matter if you fear. It doesn't matter if you run."
He reached out, pinched her chin, forcing her to raise her head.
"I will make you—depend on me."
Tears spilled from Ling Dang's eyes, her breathing shredding into panic.
Ye Yi murmured, "Until you can't tell anymore…"
"whether you're afraid of me… or whether you can't live without me."
Gray fog surged.
The Demon Capital's night grew colder.
And for the first time, Ling Dang truly understood—
Ye Yi's change wasn't salvation.
It was falling into a deeper abyss.
"Ling Dang."
Her heart pounded like a drum, her fingers locked white around the sleeve.
Ye Yi looked at her the way one looks at something they intend to own completely. His tone was light—yet the pressure suffocated.
"I will use you… to exchange for the Yao Spirit Heart."
Ling Dang trembled violently, her face turning paper-white.
Ye Yi reached out, pinched her chin, made her look at him.
"Don't rush to cry. I never said I'd hand you over."
Ling Dang's breath shook.
Ye Yi's voice softened—almost gentle, low as a lure.
"I'm only… borrowing you."
She understood.
She was being used.
But she also understood—
Ye Yi's "gentleness" was more terrifying than any threat.
He looked into her eyes, speaking as if seducing her into a cage.
"As soon as I obtain the Yao Spirit Heart… I will control the Yao Realm."
His palm covered the back of her head—like comfort, like a trap closing.
"Then I'll let you eat every delicacy under heaven. No more hunger. No more cold."
"No one will dare bully you."
"Whatever you want, I'll give it all."
Ling Dang's voice trembled. "I-I don't want that… I don't…"
Ye Yi lowered his gaze. Watching her like a frightened animal only made the black, swelling possessiveness inside him expand.
He leaned to her ear, voice slow, heavy, poisonous.
"I will make you the most honored woman in the Yao Realm."
"By my side—"
"Forever."
Ling Dang tried to recoil, but his hold tightened.
Ye Yi's voice turned colder than the deepest nether wind in Abyss Hollow.
"As for them—"
He meant Youqing, Luo Ye, Lin Lie, Cang Yuan, Sang Qi, Li Yan… the ones who would come for her.
"They'll stay there forever."
"And savor… the taste of death."
Ling Dang's pupils shrank. Her face drained.
"Don't… don't do that… Ye Yi… please…"
Ye Yi smiled—almost mild.
But the smile was cold and twisted, full of ownership and a hunter's satisfaction.
"Don't be afraid."
"As long as you stay obediently by my side, they won't suffer."
"As long as you do this for me… I won't hurt you."
His fingertip traced her cheek.
It was her brother's face—
but not her brother's soul.
Ling Dang shook like she'd been thrown into ice water.
"So—"
Ye Yi lifted her chin, forcing her into his eyes.
"When they come to exchange…"
He smiled.
"I'll make them… offer the Yao Spirit Heart with their own hands."
Ling Dang's eyes filled with panic, fear, despair—
and yet she understood, painfully clearly.
The one in front of her was not her brother.
It was Ye Yi.
A demon.
And this time—
he had come with possessiveness, control, and the certainty of chaining her to his side.