“You’ve also remembered an old friend?”

Jian Chou’s reaction was clearly beyond Liang Tingyu’s expectations, so she observed Jian Chou with growing interest—

Cultivators seeking the Dao have always advocated for “ruthlessness.”

Those with attachments must sever their attachments; those with love must cut off their love; those with lingering wishes must fulfill their wishes. Only by casting aside all external objects and internal emotions that confuse the mind can one pursue the Dao with a unified heart.

The methods of pursuing the Dao also vary greatly.

Those with kind hearts endure a hundred years of solitude, quietly waiting for relatives and friends to pass away naturally, allowing attachments to fade on their own; those with ruthless hearts, unable to wait so long, draw their swords and rise up, exterminating relatives and friends to achieve solitary existence…

Clearly, Liang Tingyu herself absolutely did not belong to the former category.

Before she devoted herself wholeheartedly to seeking the Dao, she had once had a husband.

Now, seeing Jian Chou’s expression while trapped in this desperate situation merely reminded her of her husband from the past who had stretched his neck to receive execution. But who could the “old friend” the other person remembered be?

“It seems you must also be someone with a story. What a pity though…”

Though Jian Chou’s words earlier had carried a hint of displeasure and icy meaning, in Liang Tingyu’s eyes at this moment, she was nothing more than a lamb awaiting slaughter, posing no threat whatsoever.

So she merely sighed faintly: “You and I, after all, follow different paths and cannot work together!”

The first half of the sentence still carried a soft, regretful tone; but by the time she reached the words “cannot work together” in the second half, nothing remained but gloomy coldness!

Infinite killing intent!

The moment her words fell, Liang Tingyu’s left hand suddenly released its grip!

“Whoosh!”

The golden mandarin duck battle-axe in her palm immediately flew out, transforming into a golden stream of light that shot straight toward the male cultivator’s phantom in mid-air!

In this moment, the flow of time seemed to become sluggish.

In the eyes of the White Silver Tower crowd who couldn’t react in time, and even in Jian Chou’s eyes who also couldn’t react, a strange and magnificent scroll quietly unfolded.

After flying to the male cultivator’s front, endless red light surged and roared on the golden mandarin duck battle-axe’s blade surface!

Looking carefully, one would discover this wasn’t endless red light, but countless dancing dark red silk threads. They emerged from the mandarin duck battle-axe, heading straight for the male cultivator’s phantom!

Like embroidery threads shuttling through a skilled seamstress’s clever hands, they instantly wove through various parts of the male cultivator’s body.

And it seemed like…

One after another, endless threads of love!

The male cultivator had originally stood proudly in the void, holding a pill furnace in his hands, with a natural aura of clarity between his brows. Though only a phantom, just from his appearance and bearing, one could easily glimpse his considerable cultivation and pure, kind nature from when he was alive.

Before these endless red threads attacked, he seemed to be merely a phantom, only gazing at Liang Tingyu, unable to perceive anything else in the outside world, with nothing but her in his eyes.

But the moment these countless red threads pierced through his body, he trembled slightly.

Beneath those loving eyes, light smoke suddenly rose like melancholy clouds before a mountain storm—a shallow yet profound sorrow, so fragile it made one’s heart tremble!

He came alive!

If the original male cultivator had looked lifelike but ultimately lacked vitality, then now, after these red threads wound around his body, he was like a puppet infused with soul and consciousness, suddenly coming to life!

Thus, that unchanging devotion and undispersed melancholy on his body became real.

All these changes happened in an instant.

Jian Chou had no time to react at all, let alone prevent anything. She could only watch helplessly like everyone else around her.

Or perhaps, she watched with a heart full of complexity.

No one knew this male cultivator’s surname or given name, or where he came from.

But anyone with intelligence could deduce his identity from Liang Tingyu’s scattered words—a chilling identity:

The husband Liang Tingyu had killed in pursuit of the Dao!

He still seemed unable to see anyone around him.

Endless red threads, like strings controlling a puppet, shuttled ceaselessly through his body, yet he acted as if he couldn’t see them, merely extending a pale palm and slowly opening it in front of his chest.

Two lips faintly tinged with blue-white opened and closed slightly, producing a muffled murmur: “It’s raining…”

…It’s raining?

Wasn’t today’s weather perfectly fine? When did it start raining?

In this instant, almost everyone failed to react, instinctively looking up toward the sky—

At some unknown time, the previously cloudless clear sky had become overcast.

Several cold winds swept down from the dark hanging canopy, and those fog-like dark clouds also covered the area, accumulating at the horizon and forming mountain-like curved lines.

The entire “回”-shaped White Silver Tower suddenly became dark.

“Pitter-patter…”

Cool raindrops fell from the sky, immediately moistening the spectators’ carved windows and bamboo curtains, wetting the male cultivator’s open palm, and dampening Jian Chou’s gently upturned face.

It was really raining.

Outside the White Silver Tower, in Broken Immortal City, in Mingri Xinghai, on every street and alley, countless pedestrians stopped and looked up at this rare rainfall.

Inside the White Silver Tower, the flat and chaotic Across-the-Shore Platform was suddenly shrouded in a misty rain curtain like light gauze.

Yet Liang Tingyu still stood in place, holding another mandarin duck battle-axe in her other hand. The falling cold rain could not shake even a trace of expression on her face—still emotionless, unfeeling, unmoved.

She merely took cold steps forward, walking toward Jian Chou.

A battle disc measuring two zhang and six chi quietly appeared beneath her feet.

Though not every Kun line was illuminated, compared to ordinary people’s battle discs, it was already sufficiently brilliant. However, at this moment, what drew more attention was the red and black Dao seal in the corner of this battle disc!

It looked exactly like intertwined Harmony Immortals, but half deep red and half pitch black!

Dao seals in the world come in all strange forms.

Everyone knows that because Dao seals involve different attributes, their manifestations of light and color on battle discs naturally vary. Among them, “natal Dao seals” derived from pushing and interpreting the “talent Dao seals” of demonic and divine beasts are particularly special, all presenting dazzling golden color.

But…

No matter how well-traveled the crowd was, they had never seen a Dao seal with two colors in one body, let alone one half pitch black!

Jian Chou had once carefully studied various rules regarding battle discs and Dao seals. Seeing this situation, how could she not understand?

The secrets hidden within Liang Tingyu were probably not few!

Without needing to think, she knew the other party was about to unleash her trump card!

Unprecedented crisis immediately enveloped Jian Chou.

She could clearly feel that the moment this Dao seal appeared, the spatial fluctuations around her body almost immediately stagnated, as if forcibly cut off by something!

Sealed!

This was to completely seal the space around her, cutting off her path to escape using the Swallowing Wind Sword’s ink tide transformation!

And at this moment, she couldn’t resist, couldn’t move a single step!

This was an almost overwhelming force, still carrying that previous barbaric and domineering feeling, ancient and weathered, like a faint dragon’s roar from the depths of the sea…

“Splash…”

The rain grew heavier.

Cold raindrops scattered on Liang Tingyu and Jian Chou’s bodies, passed through the male cultivator’s ethereal form floating in the air, splashed onto the blood-stained rock surface of the Across-the-Shore Platform, and drummed against the surrounding delicate window frames…

The world before Jian Chou’s eyes suddenly became much more blurred.

She couldn’t see the spectators’ expressions, couldn’t see Zuoliu’s demeanor in the cage diagonally in front, couldn’t even clearly see what patterns the blood stains formed after being washed away on the Across-the-Shore Platform…

On her forehead, the wound from Liang Tingyu’s blade still remained, with rainwater mixed with blood rolling down, staining her pale cheeks.

“Whoosh!”

On the high platform, strong winds suddenly arose!

Liang Tingyu, who was very close to her, had already stopped, her spinning battle disc beneath her feet suddenly halted, and thousands of brilliant lights immediately pierced through the rain curtain, converging beneath her feet onto that half-red, half-black Dao seal!

“Hum!”

With a slight tremor, the entire Dao seal immediately flickered with chaotic red light and surging black energy!

The moment this red light and black energy rose together, the red threads that had been winding and shuttling through the male cultivator’s phantom, and the black runes that had been crawling all over Liang Tingyu’s body, all underwent mysterious changes.

Thousands of red threads, thousands of runes, seemed to come alive.

The former writhed within the male cultivator’s body like living things, expanding and contracting as if transmitting some unfathomable power; the latter transformed into dense “black ants,” almost struggling to emerge from Liang Tingyu’s skin surface!

What a shocking scene this was!

Everyone present gasped in horror upon seeing it! The way they looked at Liang Tingyu was now clearly looking at a terrifying fierce god, a savage monster!

But Jian Chou’s gaze only lingered on Liang Tingyu’s body for a moment.

In others’ eyes, her complexion appeared too pale, whether from this sudden cold rain or from the difficult situation where she could see no hope of victory.

She merely blinked and looked toward the male cultivator in the void.

In the rain curtain, his figure appeared so frail.

As those countless red threads grew brighter, a hint of dark crimson finally slowly rose from the depths of his light, clear eyes, quickly filling those sorrowful pupils.

He grasped the mandarin duck battle-axe floating in mid-air tightly in his hand, then turned his body sideways to face Jian Chou, raising his blade high almost simultaneously with Liang Tingyu on the other side!

In this moment, grief and bloodshed coexisted!

In this moment, the wind grew wilder and rain more violent across the sky!

In this moment, Jian Chou’s gaze pierced through his ethereal shell and crimson eyes…

She seemed to see the loving scenes of this couple from the past, and also seemed to see the tragedy when the butcher’s knife was raised, the husband’s despair, the wife’s coldness…

Yet there wasn’t a trace of revenge, not a trace of hatred!

In this male cultivator’s eyes, there was only willing devotion, only the unwavering determination to be her blade and her cold edge, only the deep love that remained unchanged even when she betrayed him while he remained faithful…

The Swallowing Wind Sword had quietly disappeared, the three-zhang battle disc brilliantly shining beneath her feet, and the Deer-Cutting Knife with its three parts cold, sharp intent had somehow reappeared in Jian Chou’s palm.

Cold raindrops hung precipitously at the knife’s tip!

They had clearly reached the critical moment of utmost urgency!

She should have released the “trump card” she had carefully prepared for so long, thoroughly ending this storm at the White Silver Tower today, yet at this moment, she couldn’t help but want to ask:

“Is it worth it?”

Is it worth it?

The dreamlike voice, low and heavy, was instantly swallowed by the surrounding noisy rain sounds and scattered across the Across-the-Shore Platform filled with bloody stench.

But the male cultivator seemed to have heard it.

His raised mandarin duck battle-axe blazed with red light so intense it became thin, looking like half a piece of deep red glazed glass, actually echoing with the mysterious black glazed blade in Liang Tingyu’s hand.

Between heaven and earth, the rain sounds never ceased.

Every drop of rain seemed to become a blade, becoming extraordinarily clear in this moment!

The male cultivator slightly closed his eyes, as if listening to this rain sound, or as if recalling something, his expression becoming somewhat dazed.

When he opened his eyes again, looking back at Jian Chou, only infinite clarity remained, along with cloud-like tenderness.

It was a sigh filled with either melancholy or self-pity: “Love makes one obsessed…”