Evil is the Natural Order
Zi Shou wasn't the only man brought to tears by the cruelty of this situation, held against his will between Huan Yi and Taotie, Di Yi too wept at the seventh prince's fate, blaming himself for having caused his misfortune.
Indeed, even though he didn't understand why his children had turned into unfathomable demonic experts, with the abundance of evidence that they generously offered him, Di Yi could tell that they used him as bait to trap the seventh prince, betting that Zi Shou's virtue and morality wouldn't allow him to stand idle before injustice.
"Are you even really my children? No. Impossible! I can't have possibly raised scoundrels like you!" Di Yi could no longer believe it.
"You are correct. You don't have any children to begin with. So how could we be yours?" Huan Yi directly replied, and struck hard by the Demon Child's words, Di Yi shivered.
"Imp…impossible! I have children! Di Xin and Di Yao! I've spent years raising and loving them with all my heart!" Di Yi refused to accept Huan Yi's words, but the more he challenged them, the more uncertain he became. Slowly, the mind trick broke, and the realization that this was all a sham settled on the old man. But as he floundered in uncertainty, Huan Yi put the final nail in the coffin.
"You've committed three severe mistakes in your life. First, you were born ugly. Second, you didn't manage to learn marketable skills and pursue a well-paying career. Third, you didn't have enough vice or courage in you to cheat, lie, deceive and build yourself at the expense of others.
Because of these three mistakes, you've spent the last 45 years of your life as an ugly candied fruit seller. Is it so hard to believe that you didn't find any woman willing to help you pass on your genes?" Huan Yi rhetorically asked, his words forcing Di Yi to confront his past.
Indeed, though he'd tried his hardest, with neither look nor means, Di Yi never managed to keep a woman by his side. It didn't help that he had no useful skills to offer, and unless angered to the limit, struggled with words.
Yes. This was all a sham. He never had a family to begin with. Struck hard by the realization, Di Yi balled up his fists, his eyes turning red as his face twitched and twisted uncontrollably.
"How can a child be so evil? You are…a monster! A vile and unredeemable monster too arrogant to realize how pitiful he is! I feel sorry for you!" Ignoring Taotie, Di Yi put the blame for all this madness and suffering on Huan Yi, cursing him with all his heart.
"The assumption here is that I am a child. I am not. You do not need to feel sorry for me, and I will not allow you to. I am the purest incarnation of malice, hell-bent on having my way with this world. And if the fulfillment of my goals must come at the cost of insignificant creatures like you, I will crush your peace without hesitation, and feast on your sufferings," Huan Yi said in a calm and indifferent tone, but as those sinister words rolled off the Demon Child's tongue, unbeknown to Di Yi, Huan Yi's left arm trembled. The black star mark on his palm burning as if challenging the words he'd just uttered.
Taotie noticed her master's pain, frowning in silence.
"But you, the mortal who dares to comment on my nature, are you any better? Given the chance, strength and courage to act at will, would you still be the harmless old man that you are now? If you could turn back the wheel of time and be reborn as a strikingly handsome man with vast wealth and power, would you still be putting morals above all else?
Let's find out!" With one jerking motion, Huan Yi stretched his right hand out. Demonic energies flashed in his purple left eye, projecting the image of dancing devils and enchanting demonesses.
Di Yi's eyes glazed over, his body going limp as Huan Yi's purple eye overwhelmed his senses.
"Di Yi, what is your deepest desire?" Huan Yi asked. His voice boomed in the old man's soul, spreading throughout his entire being. For reasons he couldn't comprehend, Di Yi could no longer lie to Huan Yi. His thoughts, emotions and desires poured out without fail, revealing all that he was, and all that he aspired to be.
"A…family. I want a…family. A wife…and children…that love me as much as I love them." Di Yi replied, causing Huan Yi's lips to arc into a fiendish grin.
"And what are you willing to give up in order to see that desire fulfilled?"
"Anything…as long as it's just mine, there's nothing that I cannot give up." Di Yi didn't hesitate, further stretching Huan Yi's grin.
"Very well. Then in exchange for giving you the tools to fulfill that desire, I will take your soul. Any objection?" Huan Yi asked, and without hesitation, Di Yi shook his head, accepting the Demon Child's offer.
He wasn't being mind controlled. In fact, with his current cultivation level, unless he relied on external energy sources, Huan Yi would have to endure a lot of Karmic Pain to force even a mortal to do things that went against their core principles. Instead, to set up the groundwork for a Demonic Pact, Huan Yi's Eye of Dancing Devils led Di Yi into acting purely on his deepest desires.
"Very well," Huan Yi said, and put his right hand on Di Yi's forehead. One of the 10,000 white lotuses emerged, flying into the old man and burning a lotus-shaped scar into his forehead. Vast purple energies flooded Di Yi's body, transforming his flesh, blood and bones as the Eye of Dancing Devils got to work.
To Taotie's surprise, Di Yi not only got 40 years younger but became handsome enough to turn heads wherever he went. Better, a devil appeared in his soul, concealed by the weaves of karma, all while bringing his innate physical abilities to superhuman levels. Now, based on raw physical strength alone, Di Yi could smash the average Sacred Bone realm human expert into pieces.
His cultivation talent was also off the charts. And if that wasn't enough, Huan Yi also put a cultivation method from the Manuscript of Forbidden Secrets in Di Yi's soul: the Art of Immolation.
"Go Di Yi. Go hunt your dreams. You are free to become whatever you want to be." Huan Yi said, and without a word, Di Yi vanished in a puff of black smoke. A miniature spectral version of the candied-fruit vendor appeared in the palm of Huan Yi's hand, flashing a wolfish grin.
"Pathetic mortal ant. How dares he question you with such a weak and influenceable soul?" Taotie sneered at Di Yi's quick fall.
"It's fine. I like it. I like seeing mortals challenge my beliefs before I confront them with the vanity of their nature. It makes their fall all the more entertaining. Di Yi will come back, an improved and useful minion." Huan Yi smiled at the miniature soul, then closed his fist around it.
The mini soul vanished in Huan Yi's palm, fusing with the Demon Child.
"At least monsters aren't deluded about it. But humans have spent so much time tricking themselves with false notions of morals and ethics that they've forgotten a simple truth:
Evil is the natural order. You just have to look at the world at large to see…that nature itself sponsors and rewards evil." Taotie remarked, prompting her beloved master to nod in approval.
"And that is why of all primordial entities, my potential is by far the greatest." Huan agreed.