Inside the room, two terrifying forces of spiritual power were still clashing madly, compressing the air until it emitted a sharp, shrill screech.
At the center of this storm of energy—enough to make even a Jindan Cultivator pale—Ye Chen suddenly spoke.
His voice was not loud, yet it easily pierced through the roar of spiritual power and reached Xiaoxiao’s ears.
“Xiaoxiao, I’m sorry.”
This apology made the anger and obsession burning in Xiaoxiao’s eyes pause for a moment.
“This past year, it was my negligence.”
A trace of helplessness and guilt appeared on Ye Chen’s face.
“I was immersed in cultivation and failed to respond to your longing in time. That was my fault. But it was never because of… what you said, that I didn’t want you anymore.”
The moment his words fell, the mountain-like protective spiritual power surrounding Ye Chen’s body suddenly dissipated without warning, like the tide receding.
He gave up resisting.
In an instant, Xiaoxiao’s overwhelming Lingya, condensed from a year’s worth of grievance, resentment, and despair, lost all barriers and crashed fiercely into Ye Chen’s chest like a broken dam!
“Pu—!”
Ye Chen’s body was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer.
He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, tracing a pathetic arc through the air before slamming heavily into the distant wall with a dull, thunderous sound.
If not for his physical body being far stronger than ordinary people, this blow would have shattered his internal organs.
“Gongzi!”
In that instant, Xiaoxiao’s pupils contracted sharply! The coldness, madness, and hatred in her eyes were replaced by a panicked instinct.
She almost reflexively withdrew that raging spiritual power in an instant.
But she was still a step too late.
Ye Chen slid down the wall, landing on the ground.
He clutched his chest, coughing violently, as a trace of bright red blood slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Time seemed to stand still.
Xiaoxiao stood dazed in place, staring at the figure curled up in the corner against the wall, at that glaring streak of blood red.
Her mind went blank.
I… What did I do?
I hurt him?
How could this be… I didn’t want this…
A surge of overwhelming panic and regret, like icy tides, instantly drowned her heart.
Instinctively, she wanted to rush forward, to help him up, to wipe away the blood from his lips.
But her feet felt nailed to the floor, unable to move.
She forcibly suppressed the urge that nearly tore her apart.
No… I can’t go over…
The words of Senior Brother and Senior Sister, and the blinding images in the “Mirror of Water” held by Master, once again surfaced in her mind.
What he said was a lie… He was tricking me…
Her gaze, after a moment of panic, was once more shrouded in icy coldness.
Yet the heart that throbbed wildly with pain at the sight of his injury could not be calmed, no matter what.
Did I… just now, really use too much force?
She wanted to see what else he had to say.
If… if he really became Dao Companion with that Red-haired Woman, and even already…
Then, I…
I…
Xiaoxiao’s gaze suddenly lost focus.
Her world seemed to lose all color, leaving only endless gray and white.
In her mind, a frenzied voice echoed, offering a singular, overwhelmingly clear answer.
The content of that answer was pure white.
A pure white that erased all offensive red, all noisy words, all obstacles between her and him, completely wiped away and cleansed.
In that world of pure white, only he and she remained.
Forever.
Just as her consciousness was about to be consumed entirely by this destructive thought, Ye Chen’s voice sounded again.
Though weakened by injury, it forcefully pulled her back from the edge of collapse.
“Xiaoxiao, did you forget?”
Ye Chen braced himself against the wall and slowly stood up.
He didn’t wipe the blood from his lips but simply gazed at her with those still calm eyes.
“I never thought of you as my maid.”
“I have always regarded you as my truest friend.”
His voice was soft, yet every word struck the heart within Xiaoxiao that was about to freeze over.
“No matter if you were that powerless mortal girl in the Ye family back then, or now, a direct disciple of Tianjian Peak with outstanding talent and cultivation at the Foundation Establishment stage…”
“In my eyes, you have never changed.”
“You have always been the Xiaoxiao I cherish.”
“You… you’re lying!”
Xiaoxiao suddenly erupted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
She pointed at Ye Chen, her voice sharp with agitation.
“Then how do you explain that red-haired woman! Did you already… with her… Now that my cultivation is high and my talent outstanding, you’re using honeyed words to deceive me again!?”
Ye Chen looked at her angry yet trembling figure, and the stone in his heart finally settled.
That was enough.
As long as she was still willing to argue, to question, instead of being purely indifferent, it meant that there was still room to make things right.
He took a step forward, ignoring the sharp pain in his chest, moving slowly but steadily toward her.
“No, Xiaoxiao, you misunderstand.”
His voice was gentle and calm, carrying a power that inspired trust.
“There is nothing between me and her. If you don’t believe me, you can ask anyone in the sect. A year ago, I only met her once by chance by the shore of the Inquiry Lake.”
“It was your Master who misled you.”
Before Xiaoxiao could refute again, Ye Chen continued, his words cutting straight to the heart of the matter like a sharp blade.
“She doesn’t want you to become entangled in worldly Karma, much less to have any mundane ties with an ordinary cultivator like me, someone she deems of ‘mixed spiritual roots’.”
“As for your Senior Brother and Senior Sister saying I didn’t want you anymore, that was merely their opinion. They are not me. How could they know the bond between us?”
Ye Chen’s gaze grew deep and distant, as if traversing time to the past.
“Do you remember? In that small courtyard of the Ye family, you used to help me wash, prepare meals, and care for my daily needs every day… When did I ever speak harshly to you, or ever have the slightest thought of abandoning you?”
His steps halted in front of Xiaoxiao.
He stared into her eyes and spoke word by word.
“Do you know, Xiaoxiao? Back in Qingyang City, when I asked if you would accompany me to the Zixiao Sword Sect… If, at that time, you had said ‘no’…”
“I would have stayed with you. Stayed by your side for a lifetime, until the end of your years, until you passed away in peace. Only then would I set out alone to seek the elusive Immortal Path.”
“I never once thought of abandoning you.”
As the final word fell, the entire world seemed to fall silent.
Xiaoxiao’s body began to tremble violently.
The ice in her eyes, under the impact of those words, cracked with a sharp shatter.
Next, countless fissures spread, until finally, it all collapsed.
All the grievance, longing, and fear suppressed for a year surged forth like a breaking flood, impossible to restrain.
“Waa—”
She could no longer hold back and burst into tears.
Ye Chen looked at her, eyes full of compassion.
He slowly raised his hand, just like before, and gently placed it on her head, stroking her soft hair.
That simple gesture completely shattered the last barrier within Xiaoxiao.
She threw herself forward, clinging tightly to Ye Chen, burying her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
Her cries were heart-wrenching, filled with endless grievance and release.
Ye Chen felt the trembling of the girl in his arms, and looking at her—now even taller than himself—a complex, indescribable feeling welled up inside him.
He could sense how difficult her year of cultivation had been.
Even more, he could feel how her heart, corroded by loneliness and misunderstanding due to his own negligence, had become battered and scarred.