Only then did Ming Li suppress her killing intent. The Star Power in her meridians, which had been boiling with murderous intent, suddenly diminished. The Sacred Pilgrimage Fire regained dominance, severing her connection to the star meridians from her previous life. Her Thunderous Roar meridian instantly fell from full boundary back to the fourth boundary, sixty-ninth heaven.

Li Yansi hadn’t expected their fight to become so serious.

Earlier, she had sensed them fighting but assumed it was just a minor scuffle, so she hadn’t intervened. Who would have thought that in just a moment, it would escalate to this life-threatening degree?

Jiang Ying clutched her throat, unable to speak. It was hard to tell if it was lake water or sweat that made her long hair stick to her face, leaving her features indiscernible in the mess. She struggled to stand, supported by a senior Yi Xiu disciple who had arrived with Li Yansi.

Li Yansi looked at Jiang Ying’s miserable state and thought to herself: this will be difficult to explain.

*

News of internal fighting causing serious injuries among Yi Xiu disciples quickly spread throughout the Seven Academies.

Cui Yuanxi initially paid no attention. He had many matters to attend to every day, and such disciple conflicts were usually handled by the Seven Academy Masters. It wasn’t until he learned that the severely injured person was Jiang Ying that he immediately left to find her.

Jiang Ying’s face had been damaged by Sound Bind, which looked serious but only required applying medicine for a period to heal. Given her status and background, she would certainly use the best medicinal products, so this wasn’t too serious.

The main concern was Sound Devouring Twist. If Li Yansi had intervened any later, Jiang Ying would have become mute from her injuries.

After timely treatment, she could now speak, though her voice sounded hoarse and rough.

When Cui Yuanxi saw Jiang Ying’s miserable condition, his temple throbbed violently with anger. He demanded: “Who?”

The Yi Xiu senior disciple at the door said quietly: “The newly admitted disciple, Zhou Li.”

Her again.

Cui Yuanxi looked on coldly. This newcomer not only took the silver bracelet but also injured Jiang Ying severely.

“When did Nan Que’s newcomers become so arrogant?” he said with fury in his eyes. “Private fighting in the inner academy, causing serious injuries, must be severely punished. Send her directly to the Disciplinary Tower and punish her according to the highest offense.”

However, the Yi Xiu senior disciple hesitated: “Young Master, Zhou Li has evidence of pressure and threats from high-level disciples of other academies, and it also involves Jiang Clan grievances. It proves that Jiang Ying struck first, so whether Zhou Li should be sent to the Disciplinary Tower needs to go through the Seven Academy tribunal.”

“Seven Academy tribunal?” Cui Yuanxi laughed coldly. “Who proposed this?”

“Master did,” the Yi Xiu senior disciple quickly added. “Cui Sheng has already agreed.”

Hearing this, Cui Yuanxi’s expression darkened as he turned to visit San Sheng Peak.

San Sheng Peak, Moon-Gazing Hall.

Eight spirit substitutes stood on the platform before the hall, each corresponding to different Eight Meridians for Cui Yaocen’s new disciple to practice spiritual techniques. It was already night, but Qian Li couldn’t rest and was sweating profusely as he struggled against the spirit substitute representing the Body Techniques meridian.

Cui Yaocen sat nearby at a stone table, reading a book and occasionally glancing up to check if her disciple’s techniques and approaches were correct. She was very satisfied with Qian Li’s performance, but when she saw Cui Yuanxi walking up the stone steps, her satisfied expression immediately turned displeased.

Cui Yuanxi ignored Qian Li, who was training, and went straight to Cui Yaocen, asking: “Why did you agree to the Seven Academy tribunal?”

“Why?” Cui Yaocen laughed coldly. “You have the nerve to ask?”

Cui Yuanxi said, “Jiang Ying is already injured that badly…”

“How many rules have you broken for Jiang Ying over the years?” Cui Yaocen said with cold eyes. “Just for a bracelet, you found high-level disciples from seven academies to pressure a newcomer. Is this what the Young Master of Nan Que should do? How will other sects view Nan Que when they learn of this? Jiang Ying has six meridians at full boundary, yet was defeated by someone with a single meridian at full boundary.”

She paused, raising her hand to set up a sound-isolating formation, then continued: “I warned her not to use the Thunderous Roar meridian carelessly, but today she acted on impulse, used Sound Devouring Twist, and was countered…”

Cui Yuanxi: “Wasn’t it that disciple who used Sound Devouring Twist on her?”

Cui Yaocen looked at him as if he were an idiot: “Yi Xiu Academy says her Thunderous Roar meridian is only at the fourth boundary. How could she use the advanced Sound Devouring Twist that requires full boundary?”

“I also warn you, stop being foolishly led by Jiang Ying, believing everything she says. Look at your current state. Think carefully about whether all these years of kindness toward Jiang Ying were to compensate her or to use her as a substitute to compensate someone else.”

Cui Yuanxi’s pupils contracted at her words, his voice trembling: “Sister, what are you saying…”

Seeing him like this made Cui Yaocen angry. She slammed the book on the table and stood up: “Cui Yuanxi, figure it out today. Jiang Ying’s star meridian reversal has been fully healed. There’s no need to keep that woman alive! Put away all your ridiculous excuses and ask yourself honestly, what’s the point of keeping an empty shell sustained only by a weak Spiritual Court meridian?”

Cui Yuanxi felt his mind explode with a deafening noise. His hands clenched into fists inside his sleeves, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he struggled to speak: “It’s for when Jiang Ying’s body is unwell and needs…”

The rest of his words died in his throat under his sister’s stern, contemptuous gaze.

His heart pounded violently, with a taut string in his mind about to snap.

“What else do you think you can exchange from that body for Jiang Ying?” Cui Yaocen shattered his disguise word by word, forcing him to face his inner self. “She should have been allowed to die peacefully when the blood-nurturing technique ended. Yet you hid her from me, turning her into a puppet without consciousness. When you became unwilling to let her die, you should have known what you truly wanted.”

Cui Yuanxi felt his throat constrict, unable to breathe. His sister’s words struck him like thunder, leaving his cowardly self nowhere to hide. Facing himself, he finally realized what he had done.

Cui Yaocen said, “Now Bei Dou people are hiding throughout Nan Que, waiting for us to slip up so they can seize the opportunity. I absolutely will not allow your actions to tarnish Nan Que. Tonight, I’ll resolve this woman for you, ending your obsession!”

She had just begun to move when Cui Yuanxi intercepted her. The Star Power that erupted the instant they clashed was so intense that it shattered the sound-isolating formation. The shockwave swept across the training area, forcing Qian Li to dodge sideways, looking in surprise at the two who had suddenly begun fighting.

Cui Yuanxi could never stop Cui Yaocen when she was determined to act. She struck him with a slap from a distance, drawing blood. A droplet of blood hung in the air, which Cui Yaocen pointed at with her finger. The mountaintop barrier could only be broken with Cui Yuanxi’s blood.

The Circulating Qi incantation of a Sacred Pilgrim could reach its target instantly, even from thousands of miles away.

The blood droplet flew off to break the barrier. When Cui Yuanxi saw Cui Yaocen pointing out another killing incantation, he was terrified. He leaped forward to block it: “Sister!”

The killing incantation pierced through his shoulder, sending him flying far back to crash onto the ground. Half his body became paralyzed, unable to move, his star meridians damaged. But he had barely managed to block this strike, causing the killing incantation to dissipate before reaching the mountaintop.

Cui Yaocen looked at him with an ugly expression: “Cui Yuanxi!”

Cui Yuanxi struggled to rise from the ground, sweat and blood mingling on his face. Pain twisted his brow, yet he desperately persisted, stubbornly blocking Cui Yaocen’s path.

“Sister, I’ve said it before. I don’t want her to die.”

Seeing him risk his life to block the killing technique, Cui Yaocen finally couldn’t bring herself to strike again. She only cursed: “Fool! Get out of here!”

Cui Yuanxi didn’t even have time to wipe the blood from his face before rushing toward the small house on the mountaintop.

Seeing him leave so quickly, Cui Yaocen was filled with anger, her face darkening like water. Even from a distance, Qian Li could feel the unreleasable fury of this Supreme powerful being.

He scratched his head, hesitantly saying: “Master, would you like to hit me to vent your anger?”

Cui Yaocen: “…”

“Focus on practicing your Body Techniques meridian!” She left in a huff, her sleeves sweeping behind her.

Only when Qian Li was left alone in front of Moon-Gazing Hall did he sigh in relief, finally at ease.

*

Cui Yuanxi had never come to the mountaintop cottage in such a miserable state before.

He anxiously repaired the barrier. Inside the cottage was his most precious treasure, one he would never relinquish to anyone, even in death. Each day, he lived in fear that someone would discover it, checking daily that the barriers remained intact and his treasure was still there.

Day after day, yet he never dared to face his own heart.

In the distance, the lights of Zhu Que State stretched like a dragon. Fireflies flickered around the eternally blooming cherry tree, gleaming with light. Inside the cottage, a porcelain beauty sat quietly by the window, her eyes vacant. In her gray pupils, the beautiful scenery was reflected, yet she could not truly appreciate this beauty.

Cui Yuanxi dragged his injured, powerless body and fell to his knees by the window, his gaze complex and indiscernible as he looked at the person behind the window. His heart filled with a sour ache, his nose stinging and eyes reddening uncontrollably.

As if afraid to disturb the beauty below the window, even the falling cherry blossoms and the wind were silent.

He should have realized long ago where his anger upon seeing Jiang Ying injured came from.

It came from the indelible memory of Qing Ying covered in blood.

*

Years ago, when Qing Ying saw Cui Yuanxi injured, she would be startled, running over to ask what happened, who did it, and if he had been beaten by Zhou Zixi again.

Qing Ying patiently bandaged his injured, bleeding hand while unable to stop her chatter: “Zixi doesn’t mean it either. He’s like me, dislikes people from the south. It’s because southerners used to say bad things about my martial sister. But there must be good people in the south, too, just rarely seen.”

He watched the vibrant, lively young woman before him, who lowered her eyes to bandage him, gentle and attentive, making his heart flutter irresistibly.

Initially, Qing Ying thought Cui Yuanxi was just an ordinary cultivator from the south, seeking healing methods for a friend in the north. She appreciated his kindness toward his friend and was grateful to him for coincidentally saving Dong Yeyun when they first met.

Even Dong Yeyun could exchange a few words with him; only Zhou Zixi showed him no courtesy.

However, Zhou Zixi’s dislike of Cui Yuanxi was purely because of how southern pilgrims treated his martial sister, which extended to his dislike of all southern cultivators.

Qing Ying often advised him not to consider all southerners bad and to judge people individually. She thought this cultivator from the south, seeking medicine for his friend, was very good.

Qing Ying: “He always praises martial sister as the most powerful Sacred Pilgrim!”

Zhou Zixi looked at her as if she were an idiot: “That’s him judging individually, too.”

Qing Ying was confused: “What do you mean by judging individually?”

Dong Yeyun, sitting nearby, cleaning his sword, casually remarked: “He knows praising your martial sister will please you.”

Qing Ying smiled proudly with narrowed eyes: “Of course! I’m always happy when someone praises my martial sister!”

Dong Yeyun said, “I mean, he likes you.”

Qing Ying froze, startled again. Ming Li and Chen Zhou returned from outside, asking: “Who likes whom?”

“No one, no one!” Qing Ying hastily shook her head, giving silent signals to the two who knew not to speak.

Ming Li looked at Zhou Zixi, who silently lifted his chin in indication. Zhou Zixi, singled out by this glance, lost all interest in Qing Ying’s matters and went forward to share private words with his martial sister.

That evening, Cui Yuanxi invited Qing Ying to see the city’s lantern festival.

Qing Ying had seen the city’s lantern festival since childhood but found it fascinating every year, never tiring of it. In the surging crowd, she was having too much fun. When she turned back and couldn’t see Cui Yuanxi, she was stunned, searching everywhere until suddenly her wrist was grabbed and she was pulled back.

It was the first time she had seen Cui Yuanxi look at her this way.

Intense and passionate, like flames that could burn her skin.

Cui Yuanxi said, “Don’t get lost.”

That day, Qing Ying watched the lantern festival with a calm heart for the first time, never stepping outside Cui Yuanxi’s field of vision.

Having lost her parents at a young age and been raised by her master and martial siblings, Qing Ying carried an indelible inferiority complex. Although everyone in Bei Dou treated her well, they were all more capable than her. Their care for her was born of protection and responsibility, making it difficult for Qing Ying to feel needed or acknowledged. She often doubted whether her existence mattered.

She always thought: her martial brothers and sisters were kind to her because they were kind and gentle beings, not because she deserved to be treated gently. Otherwise, why would she have been abandoned by her parents at birth?

Qing Ying’s inferiority was so deep that she often struggled to accept even her name.

Her master said it was the name her parents had left her, which was why he hadn’t changed it.

There are no blue cherry blossoms in the world, just as she shouldn’t have come into this world.

When Ming Li occasionally noticed Qing Ying’s thoughts, she went to East Yang to make that silver bracelet for her, placing a blue cherry blossom inside the bell, telling her such flowers did exist.

But Qing Ying didn’t understand at the time, simply feeling that her martial sister was too good to her.

When releasing lanterns by the river, Qing Ying mentioned this casually, only to hear Cui Yuanxi say: “Perhaps your martial sister wanted to tell you that blue cherry blossoms do exist in this world.”

“That was just to comfort me,” Qing Ying smiled, turning her head from where she crouched by the river, releasing lanterns. But she saw Cui Yuanxi lower his head, his gaze earnest and tender as he said, “Your martial sister wanted to tell you that you are that unique blue cherry blossom existing in this world.”

“If your martial sister didn’t mean it that way… then I do. Your parents perhaps knew that such flowers don’t exist, but they gave you this name because you were special to them, one of a kind.”

Cui Yuanxi bent down to wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes, saying softly: “You were to your parents, as you are to me.”

How much truth and how much falsehood were in those words when he spoke them, Cui Yuanxi could no longer remember, or rather, he dared not remember.

But it was at that moment that Qing Ying firmly imprinted his image in her heart.

There were many boys around her—martial brothers, fellow disciples, friends—but only Cui Yuanxi made her understand what it meant to have a fluttering heart, to miss someone, to cherish them.

They had sweet memories too, the beauty and sweetness of a young girl’s first love, believing it would last a lifetime, until old age.

Until she was taken from Bei Jing Gui Yuan to the south.

Qing Ying didn’t understand what was happening. In this confusion and fear, she was subjected to the blood-nurturing technique, while Cui Yuanxi didn’t dare show his face to her, listening to her screams, her breakdown, her hysteria. His heart seemed numb, yet day by day, he became more determined not to let her die.

He even grew insanely jealous that Qing Ying still thought of her martial brother during her breakdown, so that when she was on the verge of death from blood loss, she still begged his sister to spare Chen Zhou.

Cui Yuanxi thought Qing Ying could still live after the blood-nurturing technique, until he realized that no matter what he did, the person in his arms grew increasingly weak, and he fell into terror.

Qing Ying knew nothing—not about the despicable things he had done, not about his initial intentions when approaching her. As long as she didn’t know, he could pretend nothing had happened. He could still be the kind southern cultivator in Qing Ying’s eyes, the person she said she loved the most.

With this thought, Cui Yuanxi looked at the person in his arms who could no longer be awakened and finally went mad, doing something even Cui Yaocen couldn’t imagine.

He kept Qing Ying, even if only as a puppet that frequently shattered and needed mending.

*

Under the moonlight, the cherry tree was gentle and beautiful, its extending branches almost touching the porcelain beauty’s forehead.

She remained silent and still, unmoved by the person kneeling and weeping before the window.

Cui Yuanxi hung his head, tears mixing with blood, falling onto the cherry blossom petals on the ground. He finally understood what he had done:

He had let Qing Ying die when she loved him the most.