Before Qing Han became my disciple, he already had enemies. He was being hunted when he stumbled into Mistveil Mountain. I’ve never forgotten that, though I never asked him for the details.
To me, once he entered my sect and became my disciple, it meant severing ties with the world outside. The petty grievances and dramas of mortals and demons alike were beneath my notice—nothing in their brief lives warranted even a glance from me.
When Qing Han joined, he promised to leave his past behind. I believed him, so I never pressed him about it. Whatever he was before—a street thug or a noble heir—it didn’t matter. As far as I was concerned, his life began the moment I pulled him from Mirror Lake.
Unfortunately, Qing Han didn’t see things the same way.
He had his own secrets, his own plans. And when the time was right, after he had learned all the spells he deemed necessary, he betrayed me.
I still remember that day vividly. The sky was overcast, the kind of gray that threatens snow but holds back. By then, I had already begun to feel the early signs of my power waning—my body grew tired far too easily. I was resting, half-asleep in my room, when I suddenly heard Qing Han’s voice through a long-distance transmission spell: “Master, there’s a demon at Mirror Lake!”
The words jolted me awake. I leapt to my feet immediately. A demon at Mirror Lake, and I hadn’t sensed it? It must have been a powerful one! Qing Han never used such an urgent spell before—he must have been trapped.
Acting without hesitation, I broke the seal under my bed and retrieved my ancient Li Shui sword, a weapon I hadn’t wielded since leaving the battlefield. It had been my companion for millennia, a relic of my glorious past.
I rushed to Mirror Lake, expecting to face a formidable demon. What I found instead was Qing Han, waiting silently for me.
Like a fool, I walked right into his trap.
It took immense effort to break the formation he had set, leaving me too drained to fight him. He immobilized me with a binding spell, and I could only watch as he took my Li Shui sword from my hand.
My lips trembled with fury, but I couldn’t utter a word.
Qing Han knelt before me, bowing deeply three times, his forehead striking the thick ice of the lake with enough force to crack it. When he finally rose, his fists were clenched tightly, as if holding back a flood of emotion. Yet when he turned to leave, his face was expressionless, his steps resolute.
He didn’t say a single word. And I had nothing to say in return.
I had saved him from Mirror Lake, and now, on that very lake, he had betrayed me. The symmetry was almost poetic—laughable and cruel.
Even now, I can’t fully describe what I felt in that moment. But one thought rang clear in my mind: This little brat once promised he’d never leave me without saying goodbye.
Well, he kept his promise in a way. He didn’t leave silently—he defeated me to say he was going.
He didn’t look back, showing not a hint of hesitation.
As I watched his figure disappear down the mountain path, I felt like all these years I had been raising a thankless wolf. The boy who once begged me to keep him and teach him had only been planning for the day he could leave me like this.
He had planned it all so perfectly.
But!
Do I look like someone who smiles magnanimously and lets betrayal slide?
Certainly not.
I’m petty, and I don’t take this kind of insult lightly. Fueled by rage, the moment his immobilization spell wore off, I left Mistveil Mountain for the first time in years, swearing to drag that ungrateful disciple back and give him a good thrashing—seven times seven lashes, to be exact!
But I never expected that when I finally found him in the vast Three Realms, it would be at the edge of the Demon Abyss.
I didn’t see Qing Han himself. A demon I captured told me with a grim face that my ungrateful disciple had fallen into the abyss, taking his sworn enemy—the Demon Prince Li—with him. They had perished together.
I couldn’t believe it. That moment on Mirror Lake had been our last.
Even more shocking, I learned the truth of Qing Han’s past: he was the son of Demon Prince Li and a celestial woman from the Heavenly Realm. Li had imprisoned Qing Han and his mother for years, and when they tried to escape, Li killed her with his own hands. Now, Qing Han had avenged her by killing his father—and himself in the process.
As I stood at the edge of the Demon Abyss, I found I no longer blamed him for betraying me, for stealing my sword, or even for leaving me behind. I didn’t even want to punish him anymore.
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