At this moment, Lin Xinyi looked at Qin Huaiyin, who was only two steps away.
Although Qin Huaiyin was usually someone she could manipulate at will, she now radiated an overwhelming sense of pressure.
“In a cramped Cave Abode, right in this pavilion, my whole body felt like it was being torn apart. Do you know that kind of pain, Master…?”
Qin Huaiyin took a slow step forward, causing Lin Xinyi to retreat in fear.
Her body had not yet recovered from her heavy injuries.
Let alone channeling spiritual energy, even basic movement had reached its limit.
“What… what do you want to say…?”
“I have nowhere left to go. One year is so lonely, Master…”
Qin Huaiyin slowly crouched down, quietly observing the Lin Xinyi before her.
For some reason, being stared at like that made Lin Xinyi’s skin crawl.
She wanted to turn her head away to avoid her gaze, but her chin was tilted up by a finger.
“Master, why do you dare not look at me? Is it because you know that you went too far…?”
“I… I’m sorry…”
Qin Huaiyin was visibly stunned by those words.
She hadn’t expected Lin Xinyi to apologize.
Lin Xinyi now wore a remorseful expression.
“I was too selfish before and ignored your feelings. I’m sorry… Huaiyin…”
Lin Xinyi showed a look of genuine repentance.
The questioning words at the tip of Qin Huaiyin’s tongue died away when she saw her master like this.
One year of loneliness might not be long in the grand scheme of cultivation, but Qin Huaiyin had been burned by that Flood Dragon’s blood every second of every day.
In her most desperate moments, she had only hoped that her master—who treated her as a mere tool—would come back to see her, even if just once.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you suffered so much. I… what I said back then might have been too much…”
Lin Xinyi used a pillar to support herself as she slowly stood up, her words seemingly filled with true emotion.
Qin Huaiyin bit her lip.
Over the past few decades, she had wanted to escape this place countless times.
But now that she had succeeded, Qin Huaiyin felt a sense of loss.
Where could she go?
Back to her home in the mortal dynasty?
“Master, you… what’s the use of saying this now…?”
After feeling the power within her body, Qin Huaiyin had wanted to prove she wasn’t someone to be toyed with, that she would never again be someone’s furnace.
Yet, seeing Lin Xinyi appear in the Lotus Pavilion covered in wounds, she felt a flicker of concern.
She should have been happy.
“I’m sorry, Huaiyin. Master was wrong all these years…”
Once stable on her feet, Lin Xinyi continued her apology while stepping toward Qin Huaiyin, acting as if she had truly repented.
“Can you forgive Master just this once…?”
“But how can I let go of everything you did…?”
Qin Huaiyin gritted her teeth, torn over whether to seek revenge.
Although Lin Xinyi had confined her to this Grotto-heaven to raise her as a furnace, she hadn’t done anything else truly excessive.
Qin Huaiyin couldn’t harden her heart.
“Master really knows she was wrong. It must have been miserable to be locked away here alone, suffering through that pain. I’m sorry…”
Seeing her once-proud master apologize so sincerely, Qin Huaiyin’s anger vanished.
After all, how could there be no affection after decades together?
“Master is seriously injured. I remember there are healing pills in the Grotto-heaven. I’ll go get them…”
Though her tone remained cold, she couldn’t go through with it.
She reasoned that her master was selfish only because she was forced by the cruelty of the Cultivation World.
‘Since we are both people with miserable fates, why make things hard for each other? Besides, Master apologized…’
Qin Huaiyin kept rationalizing it to herself as she turned around to head into the Cave Abode.
The moment she turned her back, leaving herself completely defenseless, Lin Xinyi’s repentant look vanished.
A wicked smile played on Lin Xinyi’s lips.
‘So what if Qin Huaiyin had the fortuitous encounter of becoming a true dragon? In terms of experience, she is still just a naive novice.’
“I’m sorry, disciple, but Master doesn’t dare gamble on your kindness…”
After standing up by the pillar, Lin Xinyi silently withdrew a dagger capable of piercing a Nascent Soul cultivator’s body from her storage space.
At the same time, she carefully coated the hidden blade with a deadly poison.
[Dragon Scale Dagger]
[Rank: High-grade]
[Refined from the scales of an adult Flood Dragon. Extremely sharp, it can cleave mountains and snap blades. Wounds caused by it will never heal, leading to incessant bleeding.]
Lin Xinyi looked at the dagger refined from the corpse of the Flood Dragon she had killed years ago.
It was the perfect tool to send the girl on her way.
It could even slice through protective Qi.
But even then, Lin Xinyi wasn’t satisfied.
She applied a top-tier poison capable of destroying both body and soul.
One scratch was all it would take to kill her.
“Even though I don’t blame you, Master, it would have been better if you had spent more time with me…”
Qin Huaiyin was still unaware of the movements behind her.
She gently touched the scales on her face.
Though the scales shimmered blue and complemented her pale purple hair, giving her a unique beauty, the memory of the pain remained etched in her soul.
Lin Xinyi was covered in wounds and couldn’t channel her spiritual energy, but she was busy thinking of how to backstab her overly kind disciple.
“I am truly sorry. Master did wrong. I shouldn’t have been so crude in my attempt to increase your strength…”
Hearing the apology, Qin Huaiyin felt a bit better.
She had waited a long time for those words.
“It’s fine now. After all, I only have you left, Master. I will continue to be a good disciple…”
“Is that so? Then Master is truly relieved!!”
Seeing her target completely let down her guard, Lin Xinyi didn’t hesitate.
She whipped the dagger out and lunged.
The sound of the sharp blade slicing through the air echoed as Qin Huaiyin felt a sudden impact against her back.
Seeing the dagger buried up to the hilt, Lin Xinyi was filled with the joy of success.
In her decades of cultivation, she had learned one thing: never show your back to an enemy.
“My dear disciple, do you really think our relationship could go back to the way it was? You are a true dragon now!”
Lin Xinyi didn’t think much further.
The poisoned dagger had pierced through, tearing a hole in the girl’s neat clothes.
Lin Xinyi thought to herself that even if she had evolved into a true dragon, she was the one who would have the last laugh.
‘In the end, I’m the one who will have the last laugh. Now I just need to deal with Bai Qianqian and Luo Qingyao, and everything will be under control.’
“It’s a pity, but this poison kills on contact. I doubt you can even hear me anymore!”
Her voice grew more arrogant, though she felt a twinge of regret.
If she weren’t so powerless right now, she wouldn’t have wasted such a prime furnace.
After all the effort she had put in, having to destroy it just as it was time to harvest because it became uncontrollable was the ultimate pity.
“Whatever. Even if only the corpse remains, it’s not…”
She waited for the girl to collapse, but the girl didn’t fall.
Instead, the sensation from the dagger felt completely wrong.
“Master… why did you do this? Were the words you just said lies too…?”
Hearing the questioning voice, Lin Xinyi’s heart skipped a beat.
She slowly pulled the dagger back, only to find that the blade was gone.
Only the hilt remained in her hand; the rest lay shattered on the ground.
“Why… why didn’t it go in…?”
Lin Xinyi was stunned.
The incredibly sharp, poisoned blade had shattered into pieces.
She held nothing but a useless hilt.
“You’ve got to be kidding… this is a joke, right!?”
She stared in disbelief at the broken dagger.
It should have been impossible.
Upon closer inspection, she saw that there wasn’t even a red mark on the girl’s skin, let alone a wound.
“Why did you lie to me, Master…?”
When Lin Xinyi looked up, she locked eyes with Qin Huaiyin, who had turned around.
Panicking, Lin Xinyi dropped the hilt on the ground.
“No… no, no. Right, I was just saying… there was a loose thread on your back. Would you believe that…?!”
Lin Xinyi stammered an explanation as she scrambled backward.
She tripped and fell onto her backside.
Looking at the spark of fury igniting in Qin Huaiyin’s eyes, Lin Xinyi felt fear once more.
“Wait… wait, disciple! Master didn’t mean it like that. I just…!”
She looked at the shattered dagger and the shards on the ground, then recalled her own words.
No explanation could save her now.
“Master said it just now, didn’t you? You wanted to refine my corpse. So, if I want revenge, it’s just self-defense…”
Qin Huaiyin spoke coldly.
Her vertical pupils were fixed on the terrified Lin Xinyi.
Normally, Lin Xinyi would never be this pathetic.
But now, she couldn’t channel a drop of spiritual energy.
When Qin Huaiyin lunged and pinned her down, the terror in Lin Xinyi’s eyes was indescribable.
“Any last words? Master…”
The last shred of kindness in Qin Huaiyin’s heart vanished with that betrayal.
She had intended to forgive her, so why did things have to come to this?
A tear escaped the corner of Qin Huaiyin’s eye as her fingers tightened around Lin Xinyi’s vulnerable lifeline.
Her slender neck was gripped firmly, and Lin Xinyi began to feel the dizzying sensation of suffocation.
“Don’t… don’t kill me…”
“Goodbye, Master…”
“No… no, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me, I’ll do anything…!”
“Anything? Master, what kind of resolve are you holding to say those words…?”
“Just… just don’t kill me. You… aren’t you my good disciple…?!”
“Master, you really are someone who only thinks of yourself, no matter what…”