Chapter 16: Unworthy

“How careless of me, to let a junior like you eavesdrop,” Yun Dai said with regret.

“Though it’s a pity, Sect Leader, we cannot allow this child to live.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

The next moment, Jun Lin ran her sword through Yun Dai from behind.

“Ugh!”

Yun Dai looked down in disbelief at the sword tip protruding from his chest.

“Why… Sect Leader… why…?”

“Even though I am unscrupulous in my methods, I haven’t lost my humanity to that extent. I wanted to just expel you from the sect, but after some thought, leaving someone like you in this world would only cause more people to get hurt.”

“Besides, if you joined another sect and sought revenge against me — haha, I don’t want to spend my nights looking over my shoulder. So, for the sake of my peaceful sleep, please just die.”

Jun Lin pulled out her sword, and Yun Dai’s life gradually began to fade.

But before he expired, a mass of black mist flew out of his body, accompanied by a roar of resentment.

“Curse you! To think I gave my all for the sect, only to end up like this. Damn you, Jun Lin! Just you wait!”

Having said that, the black mist vanished from the hall.

“Yun Dai!!! Don’t run!!!!!!”

Chu Lingshuang screamed herself hoarse.

But Chu Lingshuang couldn’t possibly catch him.

She could only kneel on the ground, wailing helplessly.

As she wept, a pendant suddenly appeared in her blurred vision.

Chu Lingshuang looked up and met Jun Lin’s eyes.

“Take it back. This was left for you by your master.”

Chu Lingshuang’s hands trembled as she held the final relic.

Tears poured down like rain.

“Master… Master… Master!!!!!!!”

At the same time, Chu Lingshuang, who was being forced to witness the past all over again, was on the verge of a breakdown.

She began to run wildly in the opposite direction of the images, but this small world was like a kaleidoscope trapping her inside.

No matter where she ran, how far, or how fast, those scenes followed her relentlessly.

Whether her eyes were open or closed, her ears plugged or listening intently, she couldn’t block them out.

She couldn’t stop the scenes from replaying one by one, over and over again.

Once, twice, three times.

Ten times, twenty times, thirty times.

“No! I don’t want to stay here! Let me out! Let me out!!!!!”

Chu Lingshuang screamed like a madwoman, drawing her sword and slashing wildly at the air.

But those memories only shattered into halves for a fleeting moment before piecing themselves back together — appearing before her once more.

Until finally, Chu Lingshuang could bear it no longer.

She raised her precious sword, aimed it at her own throat, and drove it through.

….

Clang

Chu Lingshuang’s body collapsed onto the floor.

She feebly opened her eyes and realized she was back in the study of the Profound Sky Sect.

The first thing she saw was Chu Fan’s profile.

His gaze wasn’t fixed on her.

He was looking toward the small worlds of Lin Anlan and Xie Xiaoya.

It was only then that Chu Lingshuang realized the truth.

‘Give me a chance? Chu Fan never believed I could succeed from the very beginning.’

Even though she was the first to emerge from the small world, it wasn’t due to her strength.

It was because of death.

The small world was like a dream; those who died would be forced out.

She wasn’t the first to pass.

She was the first to be disqualified.

Chu Lingshuang forced her body up and walked to Chu Fan’s side, falling to her knees with a thud as she cried out: “Master, please just kill me!”

Chu Fan remained silent.

“Master! I’m just a stupid, arrogant beast! Please kill me!”

Chu Fan still didn’t say a word, but this silence only made Chu Lingshuang’s agony worse.

She drew the sword at her waist and pressed it against her neck.

Just as she was about to end it all — repeating the same act from the illusion…

Ting

With a casual flick of his hand, Chu Fan used a single pebble to knock the sword from her hand.

He said coldly: “Yuying, take her down to rest.”

“Yes, Master.”

Shen Yuying helped Chu Lingshuang to the side.

As Shen Yuying stood beside the slumped girl, Chu Lingshuang rasped:

“Laugh if you want.”

Instead of laughing, Shen Yuying gave her a slight bow.

“Thank you.”

“What?”

“Seeing the way Master looked at you, I thought you would be a formidable rival. But I truly didn’t expect that between you and Master… it was actually like this… Hahaha.”

“In any case, I must thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for?”

Chu Lingshuang looked up at Shen Yuying.

“For giving up the position of the First Disciple, of course. Otherwise, how would I have ever met Master?”

!

Chu Lingshuang’s pupils shrank violently.

Yes, she had personally ruined her own life.

That position had originally belonged to her, unbreakable.

Even the existence of a second or third disciple wouldn’t have happened.

That was a world that belonged only to her.

Yet, because of her arrogance and stupidity, she had run it through with a sword.

“Looking at it now, I really did worry for nothing.”

“I thought your feelings for Master wouldn’t lose to mine, but now it seems you’re nothing more than a clown. Honestly, what was I even worried about?”

“What did you say!”

Chu Lingshuang finally looked up in anger, glaring at Shen Yuying with wide eyes.

Even though she had lost her status as a disciple, when it came to her feelings for Chu Fan, she was absolutely confident she wouldn’t lose to anyone.

Shen Yuying looked down at her from above and said unhurriedly: “Don’t be in such a hurry. Listen to my three points.”

“First, if I were you, and Master saved me just for my dual cultivation physique, that would be a dream come true.”

“Second, if Master wanted that so-called Ice Phoenix Heart, I would dig it out myself and offer it with both hands.”

Suddenly, Shen Yuying seemed to think of a beautiful scene.

She cupped her blushing cheeks with her hands.

“Ah~ To actually become Master’s heart… to be with him forever and ever, never to be separated. What a beautiful sight that would be~”

Noticing Chu Lingshuang’s fearful gaze, Shen Yuying cleared her throat and composed herself.

“Ahem. As for the third point.”

Shen Yuying’s gaze suddenly became filled with a murderous intent.

Chu Lingshuang felt as if she had seen that look somewhere before, but she couldn’t quite remember where.

“If Master were a great demon who slaughtered a village of over 500 people, and a survivor from that village came seeking revenge — if I were you, the first thing I would do is pull them up by the roots for Master.”

“What…?”

“Anyone Master wants to kill only proves that they deserve to die. If Master is a villain or an evil cultivator, then I will be a villain or an evil cultivator as well.”

“If Master is an existence the world cannot tolerate, then all I have to do is stand on the opposite side of the world.”

“And massacre the entire world.”

Having said all this, Shen Yuying looked at Chu Lingshuang again.

There was no longer any of the previous hostility in her eyes.

Instead, there was only contempt and indifference — the way one looks at the weak.

“Your world seems to have many things in it. Friends, faith, justice, right and wrong, and black and white.”

“Master is just the largest part of it. I’m right, aren’t I?”

Chu Lingshuang remained silent.

“Don’t disgust me. Why should Master be compared alongside your trivial things? You’re insulting him.”

“My world — no, I don’t have a world. I had nothing from the very beginning.”

“Master gave me everything. Therefore, Master is my entire world.”

“So, if this strange world tries to do anything untoward to my world…”

“Even if my legs are broken and I have to crawl, or my hands are broken and I have to use my teeth to bite, I will definitely get to him and tear off the most painful piece of flesh from that world.”

Drip

Chu Lingshuang’s pupils trembled as she looked at the nearly crazed Shen Yuying.

A drop of cold sweat fell from her chin.