Sing Wei’s Heart Demon

--- (POV - Sing Wei) ---

'Is this place the location of where I will face my heart demon? Nothing but darkness surrounding me. Is this what's inside my heart or is this just the normal trial grounds.'

A deep manly voice entered into her ear. "This is place is modelled after what's deep inside your heart. Darkness. There is no light, just darkness within your heart."

She quickly pulled out the fan at her side and swashed it around her. Coiling flame walls surrounded her as she used her technique to attack and defend the voice near her ear.

"You think this puny fire can harm me? *whew*"

A the sound of someone blowing came out from the darkness and her flames where extinguished. She was shocked as these flames were born from her immortal technique which are able to harm those higher than her power.

Her guard was raised and she once again waved her fan. A giant flaming fan was projected in her hand many times the size of the fan in her hand. She had the fan in hand as she carefully scouted out for the enemy ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice.

Out of nowhere a foot landed on her back forcefully sliding her across the ground as she struggled to keep balance. The attack to her back was swiftly followed by an attack to her left arm, then right arm before hitting her back again.

She can't react nor see what's hitting her. She just holds out using the strength of her body refined by her flame to resist the attacks waiting for a chance. After two rounds of attacks her right arm was just attacked and before anything else landed, she lashed out an attack with her flaming fan towards her back.

A giant flame wave scorching the air came out and evidently hitting something as a silhouette was seen within the flaming wave. Instead of being pleased about hitting something, she instead felt dread as the figure was just standing, they're not showing any reaction to the raging flames around it.

A familiar voice started sounding within the room making her heart shake. "Didn't I tell you as a child. When you play with fire make sure you don't get burned."

The flames turned around, lashing out back towards her. The flames being wild and untamed started to burn her skin and set her clothes and hair on fire. She quickly supressed the flames using her Qi but she was still left with some burn marks.

"You have grown up it seems but you are still childish and naïve. To use flames that you cannot control is a death wish. I could tell the moment the flames left your fan they where wild and no longer yours. FOOLISH!"

A fist arrived at her stomach launching her backwards a few meters before she managed to stabilise herself. She coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood. 'Fuck that likely broke a rib or two combined with the attacks from earlier both my arms are feeling dead. But this voice, where do I recognise it from? It seems so familiar.'

"Hmph, already forgotten about me. What an unfaithful daughter, forgetting the sound of her own father."

'Father! That's right. That's where I recognise that voice. The voice of that man, my father. Wait how is he here. What's going on.'

A hand landed on her head making her flinch in surprise. "Dear daughter is your memory really that bad. Not only do you break this old man's heart and forgot his voice but also forgot about your mission. I will have to have a nice long chat with your mother about this, and maybe punish her for not teaching her daughter well enough to remember her father's voice."

Her eyes flashed with rage. "Leave mother out of this. Why are you here father? What mission are you talking about?"

She looked at him dead in the eyes not even questioning his existence. The heart demon shaped like her father smiled creepily at his successful entrapment. "Daughter surely you remember the mission. You where the one to even suggest it to me. Infiltrate the palace and turn the useless prince into our puppet and use his status to get supporters and contacts."

Because of Changs manipulation of her memories her face becomes horrified when she remembers the conversation. He is not worried about her finding out about him manipulating her memories because they where only altered so her heart demon can become equal strength and something she can overcome to increase her mental fortitude.

Should she defeat her heart demon he set it up so the memories will be removed and events in here altered slightly in her memory. Her mind was in shambles as she didn't know what to do.

Memories started surfacing within her head. A little girl constantly surrounded by bad people wanting to use her as nothing but a tool for their own betterment with only a single person standing up for them.

A young beautiful woman with red dark red short hair. Her face was soft and delicate but wrinkles and signs of stress where visible on her young-looking face. She protected the young girl from many attempts to give her away or use her for stuff that she should not be subject to at such an age.

Over time the woman became more and more frail while the young girl's power grew as she started cultivating so she can protect herself. Eventually the evil influences started to affect the young girl as she grew up. She grew arrogant and full of hate yet she still had a soft spot for the person who protected her.

Unknown to the young girl the older woman was her mother and was a concubine of a clan elder who used her body to shelter her from being used. Eventually the clan master took a liking to her mother and took from the elder, making her his concubine instead, while she was born from an incident where the clan leader forced himself on her mother many years before.

Eventually when the young girl grew up she found out about her mother's identity and then started to use her contributions to save her mother from any pain but her arrogance and hateful nature was still stuck to her. She did many bad things to other women and commoners and didn't see anything wrong with it yet still tried her hardest to protect her mother.

When the young girl turned into a young woman the clan leader announced her forced marriage to another clan's young master. Although she hated it and her mother was trying to remove the marriage, she instead stopped her mother and used it as a chance to take her mother away from the clan leader.

She agreed to the marriage yet looked for ways to get around it as she knew the young master's reputation. She instead made a plan for the bedridden prince and pitched it too the clan leader.

Her pitch was successful and because she timed it with the announcement of the prince looking for concubines and women, she had the perfect way in and excuse to cancel her marriage with the other clan.

Events happened after that and she managed to make her way into close connection with the prince and started to use the royal's connections to satisfy her clan leader to keep her mother safe.

Over time the evil that previously surrounded her was no longer their and it was slowly disappearing as she started falling in love. Eventually her bad memories at her clan where forgotten, locked away deep inside her heart.

She wanted to just say no to her father but the painful memories of her mother stopped her from doing so. The heart demon kept on plucking on her heart strings trying to return her back to her previous personality.

"Don't go forgetting our deal. You get me connections and in return I won't touch your mother."

"Your mother is missing you. You have been away for so long and she hasn't heard a word. Many times, have I been tempted to "comfort" her but didn't. If you don't hurry up, I might just lose self-control and have to give her some special "comfort" and lessons about teaching her daughter to be more punctual."

"Remember your previous fiancé, well it seems his father the clan leader has taken an interest in your mother and is trying to tempt me as to give her to him as a way to get closer. If you don't hurry up and give me some better connections worth me saying no then I might just have to agree."

His words kept sounding in her head over and over. She started to go crazy as the voices started multiplying, repeating the same words over and over, overlapping each other.

Just as she was about to crack and agree to help her mother, she wanted one last chance to remember her times with Chang and her love. She remembered the words he said to her which made her fall in love. "If anyone you any problems let me know, I am a prince and an arrogant bastard who will slaughter and torture anyone who touches or looks at my people."

Those words struck her heart once again as the drove away all her feelings of hesitation. She turned to look the heart demon with arrogance in her eyes. The heart demon smiles deviously seeing the arrogance and was ready to take her over.

She finally spoke to the happiness of the heart demon. She lifted up her hand and held a fist before leaving a single finger still up. "Fuck you" was all she said.

The heart demon was stupefied. He lashed out in anger. "How dare you talk to your father like that. Do you not care about the repercussions of saying those words? Just you wait, I will make you hear the wails of your mother once again."

Arrogance was still in her eyes as she retorted with a *Hmpf* "Try it, I dare you. My lover is the prince of the empire who had complete control over the life and death of the clan. Touch my mother again and I can have him wipe out the clan with minimal effort. You should be grovelling at my feet that I haven't already told him about the clan's treatment towards me as a child."

The heart demon was panic stricken as how her heart was now clear. Filled with nothing but arrogance and confidence in her lover's status and power to supress any threats he could make.

He felt his power rapidly draining as the source of his power, her negative feelings where quickly being drowned out by the overwhelming love and trust she has and that no matter the situation Chang can help her. She was no longer afraid to ask for help and now knows that he was her lover for a reason.

The fight started as he tried his last resort to survive and take over her body. Previously he was able to put out her flames due to the weakness in her heart but now he was unable to use her hearts weakness to put them out. They where now like a true phoenix, unextinguishable.

The flames started to slowly overpower him as her speciality was playing the long game using her fan for fence while counter attacking automatically due to the flames. He however didn't have time on his side due to his ever-draining power.

Eventually his body shattered and many wailing souls came flying out. Unlike Yan Yin's experience with the souls her flames swiftly purified the souls before she felt a wave of exhaustion and dizziness as she left the trial.

She left the trial and her mind was in a mess. The memories he implanted changed slightly and her experiences as a child where made an illusion made by the heart demon by taking bits of the truth of her childhood and making up other bits.

She didn't care however as now that she was out her real memories about how her mother is already dead emerged. She had trust in Chang and that if her mother was in that situation, he would already know and would have saved her. The thoughts were put to rest as she happily got up and went to Chang to ask for help with training but also help with releasing her pent-up emotions that gathered during the intense situation, she was in.

Unfortunately for her, the chance to have alone time with him was ruined as the other women started to awaken.