“Not kill him?”
I let out a cold laugh. “Let’s find out.”
I swung my sword toward Xiao Yi Han, but his figure blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he was behind me. He caught my wrist with ease and chuckled. “What kind of assassin declares their intentions upfront? You’ve just been waiting for an excuse to see your master again, haven’t you?”
“Nonsense!” I snapped, spinning around to strike again. But before my blade could land, he pressed on an acupoint in my arm, sending a shock through my body. My sword slipped from my grasp as my arm went limp. I staggered forward, and Xiao Yi Han caught me, pulling me into his embrace. His hand gently cupped my face.
This posture—this scene—it was too familiar. It had haunted my nightmares for years.
I tried to push him away, but my strength failed me. He held my face lightly, his expression tinged with helplessness. “Little disciple, stop making a fuss. I promise you, once I return from the demon realm, I’ll stay by your side forever. I’ll never leave you again, all right?”
All right?
At this moment, after eighty long years, he had the audacity to ask me this? To say such things?
“No!” I shouted, summoning all the strength in my body to shove him away. Staggering back, I tripped and fell to the ground.
“Eighty years ago, I cried and begged you not to abandon me, but you walked away without a word,” I said, my voice trembling with anger. “And now, when I’ve finally stopped caring about your abandonment, you casually ask me to take you back? What gives you the right?”
I glared at him. “Where were you when I was ostracized by my peers? When I sat alone in the little courtyard on the mountain, waiting for you to return? After you left, I was ridiculed and bullied. If not for the sect elder taking pity on me, I wouldn’t have even managed to cultivate an immortal body.
“After the elder passed, I was utterly alone. Ten years, twenty years, thirty, forty, fifty—every year, I was by myself. Do you know what loneliness feels like? When one day, I woke to find the snow on my shoulders thicker than the frost on the cliffs, I realized that if I turned to stone right there, no one would notice.”
I stared at him, my voice cold and steady. “You ask if I’ve been well all these years? Let me tell you—only after you die will I have the chance to live well.”
A heavy silence settled over the Jade Spring as my words lingered in the air. I lowered my gaze, suddenly feeling foolish. Why had I spilled all this to Xiao Yi Han? It was as if I were begging for his pity.
I picked up my fallen sword, knowing full well I couldn’t defeat him today. I was about to deliver a harsh parting remark when Xiao Yi Han spoke.
“If that’s how you feel,” he said calmly, “then kill me.”
His decisiveness startled me.
I looked up at him.
The moonlight reflected off the spring, casting ripples of light across the water and onto both of us.
Meeting my gaze, he repeated, “If it will ease your pain, this life is yours to take.”
I let out a sharp laugh. “Xiao Yi Han, do you think I don’t dare?”
Without hesitation, I lunged forward. My sword, infused with my spiritual energy, pierced through his chest, cutting through fabric, flesh, and bone. Blood gushed out, but Xiao Yi Han didn’t so much as flinch.
Instead, he looked down at me, his lips curling into a careless smile. “Little disciple, executing someone usually takes one clean stroke. Are you planning to dull your blade by carving me bit by bit?”
My hand trembled as I gripped the sword hilt, staring at the blood pooling from his wound. My heart wavered.
I had dreamed of this moment for decades, imagined it countless times. But now, as he stood before me, offering no resistance, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I couldn’t kill him. Not because I wasn’t strong enough, but because… I didn’t want to.
Even now, I couldn’t bear to.
Clenching my teeth, I pulled the blade from his chest. The wound, though deep, was hardly life-threatening for someone like him. He said nothing, and neither did I. The silence stretched on, as if we could stand there for an eternity.
But an unexpected voice shattered the stillness.
“My, my. I rushed over as if my life depended on it after getting your message, my lord, and it nearly killed me!”
The voice was sultry, and its owner emerged from the trees with an air of seductive elegance.
I turned to look—and froze.
It was her. The demoness from so many years ago.
Her appearance hadn’t changed a bit. Her beauty remained as mesmerizing as ever, but I was no longer the child easily swayed by her charms.
The demoness took in the scene: my bloodied sword, Xiao Yi Han’s injury. She paused, then exclaimed, “Oh, my lord… You told me in your letter yesterday that by the time I arrived, you would’ve already sent your disciple away. What’s this all about?”
Xiao Yi Han didn’t reply.
I watched them with cold detachment, understanding now that he had stayed in contact with her all this time.
But what could I do? I couldn’t even bring myself to kill him.
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