Hearing this roar, Su Yueli froze for a moment, then threw on an outer garment and rushed outside. She stumbled and pushed open the door, looking at Jun Shu with grief, and cried out: “Brother Jun!”
“Shut up!”
Jun Shu raised his hand pointing at Su Yueli with disheveled clothing and messy hair: “I’m giving you one chance. Explain clearly—what’s going on?!”
“This must be Young Master Jun?”
Ning Buxiu straightened his clothes and walked to the door, carefully draping the outer garment over Su Yueli. He smiled appropriately at Jun Shu: “I’ve often heard Yueli mention you. I’ve long admired your great name.”
“Mention?”
Jun Shu laughed coldly: “How did she mention me? Young Master Ning, why don’t you tell me?”
Ning Buxiu sensed Jun Shu’s hostility. He looked toward Su Yueli. Su Yueli froze for a moment, pulled at Ning Buxiu, and lowered her voice: “Buxiu, you go inside first. He and I may have some misunderstanding…”
Before she finished speaking, Jun Shu, who had been holding back for so long, saw them being lovey-dovey and couldn’t control his fury at all. He raised his hand and smashed his xiao toward Ning Buxiu!
Ning Buxiu’s expression changed abruptly. He pushed Su Yueli away, retreated three steps rapidly, then in a flash moved to the corridor, dodging Jun Shu’s jade xiao while anxiously calling out: “Jun Shu, this is Yueli’s spiritual sea. Fighting here—are you insane?!”
“The one who betrayed me,” Jun Shu’s eyes were full of coldness, spiritual power gathering on the white jade xiao as he smashed it viciously toward Ning Buxiu, “why should I care if she lives or dies?”
“No!!”
Su Yueli screamed. Her spiritual sea couldn’t withstand Jun Shu’s Nascent Soul-level assault at all and she immediately vomited blood.
Several elders saw this and hurriedly stood up, quickly stepping forward.
“Quickly,” one of them placed both hands at Su Yueli’s temples and shouted to the others, “Come help stabilize the spiritual sea.”
Meanwhile in the spiritual sea, Jun Shu’s eyes had long since turned red with killing intent as he fixated on the constantly dodging Ning Buxiu: “Do you know what she told me?”
“She said she loved me, she only loved me alone, she would never love anyone else, she would give me her everything.”
“Brother Jun, stop! Stop!” Su Yueli clutched her head kneeling on the ground and shouted, “I was lying to him! I just wanted to save him! Please spare us!”
Hearing this, Ning Buxiu’s movement paused. Jun Shu’s jade xiao stabbed directly into his abdomen. Jun Shu tilted his head: “See? This is what women are like.”
Ning Buxiu’s lips were stained with blood. He gripped Jun Shu’s jade xiao tightly, gritting his teeth: “Let’s go outside to talk.”
Jun Shu smiled: “How deeply devoted.”
Having said that, Jun Shu yanked out the jade xiao. Ning Buxiu collapsed to the ground, breathing lowly.
“Buxiu!” Su Yueli rushed urgently to Ning Buxiu and held him, raising her head to look at Jun Shu, crying like pear blossoms in rain: “Brother Jun, it’s all my fault. Any and all mistakes are on me. Kill me, but don’t hurt Buxiu.”
“Don’t hurt him?” Jun Shu laughed, “You made vows and pledges with me, then turned around and married someone else, and you still want me not to hurt you two? Why don’t you think about how you hurt me?”
“You misunderstand,” Su Yueli shook her head desperately, “No, I didn’t marry him. I only merged spiritual seas with him. I’m pure! My body is pure!”
“Yueli!” Ning Buxiu leaned in her arms, breathing lowly, “Even if it’s to save me, you can’t say such things. You…” Ning Buxiu turned to look at her, eyes full of deep affection, “You will forever, forever be, my, Ning Buxiu’s, wife…”
Su Yueli said nothing. She shook her head desperately with tears in her eyes, unable to say a word.
Jun Shu watched the two with such deep feelings and only felt wave after wave of nausea rising.
He stepped forward, half-squatted down, grabbed Su Yueli’s chin with one hand, forcing her to look at him: “Still lying?”
“No,” Su Yueli shook her head, “I’m not lying, I…”
“Let’s go out,” Jun Shu smiled, “Your senior sister is still waiting for you outside.”
Su Yueli froze slightly. Jun Shu looked toward Ning Buxiu: “Do I destroy his spiritual sea to get out, or do you voluntarily take us out?”
“I’ll take you out.”
Ning Buxiu naturally wouldn’t let Su Yueli’s spiritual sea be damaged. He immediately spoke up. He raised his hand, index and middle fingers together, pressed against his lips, silently chanting an incantation. After a moment, Jun Shu only felt his vision suddenly darken. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Su Yueli in the ice coffin with closed eyes coughing urgently. Beside the coffin lay a pale-faced man—it was Ning Buxiu from the spiritual sea.
Qin Wanwan stopped playing the flute and walked to Jian Xingzhi’s side. Jian Xingzhi leaned against a small table with his arms crossed, examining Su Yueli. Seeing Qin Wanwan approach, he spoke softly: “With her spiritual sea damaged to this extent, Su Yueli’s cultivation path has probably come to an end.”
Qin Wanwan’s movement paused. After a moment, she nodded: “Perhaps.”
Compared to their calm, Jun Shu appeared extremely angry. He yanked off the talisman papers from his head and walked to the ice coffin, his tone gentle: “Yueli, it’s time to wake up.”
Su Yueli’s lashes trembled lightly. She slowly opened her eyes and saw everyone around her. Her heart panicked, but she quickly steadied herself.
She propped herself up to sit, pretending to have just awakened, glanced around rather bewilderedly: “How… why is everyone here? Martial Uncle, Martial Uncle,” Su Yueli glanced at the elder behind her, then turned to look at the cold-faced Song Xinian, “Senior Brother!”
As she spoke, she shifted her gaze to Qin Wanwan beside her. After a pause, she cried out in delight: “Senior Sister!”
She hurriedly rose from the ice coffin and stumbled toward Qin Wanwan, tears in her eyes, excitedly grasping Qin Wanwan’s hands: “Senior Sister, you’re still well! Being able to see you again, I’m truly so happy!”
“What are you happy about?” Qin Wanwan showed confusion, “I pushed you off a mountain cliff—you’re still worried about me?”
“I believe Senior Sister had her difficulties,” Su Yueli’s face was full of sincerity, “You must have been acting for my benefit.”
“Su Yueli!” Song Xinian couldn’t listen anymore and interrupted Su Yueli’s words, “Why your senior sister pushed you off the cliff—don’t you know?”
“I…” Su Yueli couldn’t figure out the situation for a moment. She didn’t dare speak rashly and could only look at Song Xinian with tearful eyes, “Senior Brother, why are you suddenly treating me like this?”
“Yueli,” Jun Shu watched Su Yueli act with a cold smile. Seeing Su Yueli shifting focus, he walked behind her, raised his hand to press on her shoulder, and gently reminded her, “This Daoist friend who came out of your spiritual sea—who is he? Hurry and introduce him to everyone.”
Hearing this, Su Yueli’s mind immediately went into chaos. Ning Buxiu saw Jun Shu approaching Su Yueli and immediately swung his sword over, shouting loudly: “Don’t touch Yueli!”
In the spiritual sea, Ning Buxiu had deliberately restrained his cultivation fearing he’d hurt Su Yueli. Now without such concerns, he actually fought Jun Shu to a draw.
The two fought in Linglong Pavilion until the sky darkened. Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi quickly dodged to the side, cracking melon seeds while watching the show.
“Su Yueli!” Jun Shu saw Ning Buxiu attacking desperately and coldly reminded Su Yueli with a laugh, “Who exactly is this Daoist friend, what’s his relationship to you—speak!”
“This humble one is Ning Buxiu from Desolate City,” Ning Buxiu concentrated all his cultivation on his sword and slashed down, “Yueli’s husband…”
“He’s my friend!”
A loud shout—Ning Buxiu froze abruptly. Jun Shu met the sword intent and with one stroke of his xiao sent Ning Buxiu flying to the ground.
Ning Buxiu crashed heavily against the wall, clutching his abdomen and gasping as he stood: “Yueli, don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you…”
“Young Master Ning and I have no relationship—just friends.” Su Yueli was completely unaware that what happened in her spiritual sea just now had been witnessed by everyone. She gritted her teeth and made her decision.
Ning Buxiu was the Young Master of Desolate City, but the northern Desolate City was cold and harsh, far from as prosperous as Jun Shu’s Le City. Their relationship with other sects wasn’t deep, and Ning Buxiu didn’t have cultivation like Jun Shu. Comparing the two, Su Yueli made up her mind.
She didn’t dare look at Ning Buxiu behind her, full of shock. She lowered her head to explain: “That day after Senior Sister pushed me off the cliff, I was saved by Young Master Ning. Young Master Ning happened to also be injured. To repay the life-saving grace, I agreed to let Young Master Ning enter my spiritual sea to cultivate and heal. It was an emergency—I didn’t inform the sect or…” Su Yueli glanced at Jun Shu, “or Brother Jun. I hope all the martial uncles, martial aunts, senior brothers and sisters, and Brother Jun will understand.”
No one responded. Everyone looked at Su Yueli with doubt in their eyes.
“Yueli,” Ning Buxiu struggled still, “you are my wife…”
“I’m not!” Su Yueli gritted her teeth and interrupted him, “I just wanted to save you.”
“But that’s not what you told me initially!” Ning Buxiu came to his senses and spoke angrily, “If it was only to save me, why would I need to teach you the Ning family secret technique, merge spiritual seas with you, share cultivation with you? Su Yueli,” Ning Buxiu’s face turned cold, “tell me one more time—what is your relationship with me?”
“That’s right,” Jun Shu also smiled. He spun his jade xiao, looking at Su Yueli, his eyes carrying coldness, “You also tell me—you’ve accepted countless treasures from me, had me protect and promote you all along, been intimate with me, and agreed to marry me. You tell me, what is your relationship with me?”
Su Yueli lowered her head, not daring to respond. Song Xinian couldn’t listen anymore and finally spoke: “What about me?”
Everyone looked at Song Xinian together. They saw Song Xinian with red eyes staring at Su Yueli: “You told me you were devoted to the path and didn’t want to talk about romantic matters. I truly believed you were single-minded, taught you techniques daily, accompanied you through your troubles, and gave up half my life to save you. Su Yueli, if you don’t like me then you don’t like me—why lead me on like this?”
“I wasn’t…” Su Yueli’s eyes reddened as tears fell. After thinking for a long time, she finally realized there was no way to salvage this situation. She simply sat down on the ground and sobbed.
“It’s all my fault,” she wept lowly, “I couldn’t bear to hurt you all, didn’t explain things clearly to you, and let you misunderstand. Senior Brother, I just didn’t want to make you sad.” As she spoke, she glanced at Song Xinian.
“Buxiu, I only wanted to save you, I had no other thoughts. You proposed dual cultivation—I was afraid of hurting you and didn’t know how to refuse. I had hoped we could part on good terms, but who knew it would come to this? The person I truly love is only one,” as she spoke, Su Yueli looked toward Jun Shu, “Brother Jun.”
She was full of deep feeling: “Can you love me once more?”
Jun Shu looked at her coldly. Su Yueli leaned forward and grabbed Jun Shu’s robe hem: “I was wrong, I know I was wrong. I’ll never be indecisive again, never hurt your heart again. Brother Jun, please forgive me…”
Jun Shu said nothing. Looking at the person before him, he didn’t know why, but he thought of Qin Wan from years ago.
When Qin Wan was young, she also liked to act coquettishly like this. Back then he had some affection for her too. But as years passed, Qin Wan’s thoughts turned more and more toward cultivation. Though she still loved him, it was far from Su Yueli’s ‘purity.’
But looking at it now, how was Su Yueli’s ‘purity’ pure at all? More of it was likely the scheming that Qin Wan had told him about back then.
Jun Shu turned his head to look at Qin Wanwan, who was cracking melon seeds with Jian Xingzhi: “The one whose forgiveness you should beg for most isn’t me.”
Su Yueli froze, then immediately understood Jun Shu’s meaning. She crawled on her knees to Qin Wanwan, anxiously grasping Qin Wanwan’s robe hem, pleading with her: “Senior Sister, please forgive me. I didn’t mean it. I truly didn’t want to harm you. That day when you pushed me down, I thought you wanted to kill me. After falling off the cliff I met Buxiu. Later when I saw Brother Jun, I immediately told him you were in danger, but I fainted before I could finish. Senior Sister, I truly didn’t mean it…”
“Are you truly unintentional?” Qin Wanwan looked at her and tilted her head. Su Yueli shook her head: “I wasn’t, I didn’t…”
“That day you fell off the cliff—you didn’t see what appeared?” Qin Wanwan looked at Su Yueli. Su Yueli froze. Qin Wanwan tossed melon seeds into her mouth and affirmed, “You saw it.”
“You and Ning Buxiu practiced dual cultivation technique. The coma was your own choice. You chose to only speak my name and not reveal other details—why is that?”
Su Yueli couldn’t speak. She clutched Qin Wanwan’s skirt tightly, her hands trembling slightly. Qin Wanwan continued pointing out her doubts: “And after you fell unconscious, you actually clearly knew what was happening outside, yet you could still ignore it all and continue framing me with your coma. You still say you weren’t intentional?”
“It wasn’t framing,” Su Yueli stammered to explain, “It’s just that waking early would damage my divine sense…”
“Let me tell you what your plan was.”
Qin Wanwan interrupted her, put the melon seeds on the table, clapped her hands, squatted down, and looked at Su Yueli kneeling on the ground. Her voice was very soft: “You knew they all loved you. You knew that if I survived on that cliff, I would bring back that treasure you dreamed of. So you deliberately fell unconscious after seeing Jun Shu, watching them interrogate me. If I were a bit foolish, I would tell everyone what I obtained on the cliff. With their feelings for you, they would unhesitatingly cut me open alive and give that thing to you.”
Hearing this, Su Yueli’s eyes widened abruptly.
“Ning Buxiu was just an accident,” Qin Wanwan seemed to have long since seen through her thoughts, “With or without him, you wouldn’t have woken up, right?”
Su Yueli looked at Qin Wanwan in disbelief. Qin Wanwan sighed, looking at her as if somewhat troubled. After hesitating a moment, she still raised her hand and slapped Su Yueli hard across the face.
Su Yueli was knocked to the ground by the slap. Ning Buxiu instinctively wanted to protect her, but then remembering something, his face turned cold and he stopped in place.
Su Yueli stared blankly, covering her face. Qin Wanwan stood up and looked down at Su Yueli.
“This slap is for Qin Wan. On that mountain cliff, Qin Wan saved your life, yet you lied and harmed her. Now that you’re betrayed by all, your divine sense damaged, your cultivation path at an end—this is your retribution. In the future, I also hope you will reform yourself, turn to goodness wholeheartedly, repay virtue with virtue, repay grace with grace.”
“And to all of you present,” Qin Wanwan raised her head to look at everyone, frank and open, “When Qin Wan was young, she was saved by all of you, raised by all of you. You were her teachers and fathers—this is the grace of raising and teaching.”
“Junior Sister needn’t be so polite…” Song Xinian quickly spoke, but before he could finish, Qin Wanwan interrupted him, speaking calmly: “But Qin Wan has also devoted her heart and strength to Wenxin Sect for many years. Abolishing her cultivation on the Judgment Platform also settles the karmic ties with Wenxin Sect. We owe each other nothing.”
Song Xinian’s expression froze. Qin Wanwan turned to look at Jun Shu: “And though Young Master Jun and City Lord Jun had the grace of saving Qin Wan when she was young, Young Master Jun has repeatedly attempted to kill Qin Wan. Merit and fault offset each other—we can barely call it even in grace and resentment.”
“The humiliation at the Judgment Platform killed Qin Wan’s heart. Though Su Yueli was the cause, it was all of you who didn’t trust Qin Wan, it was all of you who acted, it was all of you who hurt Qin Wan’s heart. If Su Yueli is evil, then all of you are heinously guilty. Now that the grace is gone, between me and Wenxin Sect, if there are any entanglements, only hatred remains.”
“From this day forward,” Qin Wanwan’s jade flute transformed into a sword. She raised her hand and severed a length of her black hair. As the hair floated down, Qin Wanwan looked at everyone, “Qin Wan and all of you—bonds of gratitude severed, righteousness cut off, no more entanglements!”