In a daze, Ren Yuanhao seemed to hear someone calling his name, but the voice was too distant, as if separated by mountains and seas by the time it reached his ears.
He wanted to circulate his energy, but the two 'engines' within his body were like waterlogged and dead fires; he couldn't even sense the 'qi' that filled the heavens.
—Am I dead?
Out of reverence for death, he tried to move his fingers, and in that instant, he seemed to touch something slippery and cold—it was the dead body of a snake.
He wasn't dead, and his senses were recovering extremely slowly. Gradually, he could hear the slightly muffled dialogue of two people.
"Junior sister, as long as you come with me and stop resisting, I'll spare this man's dog life for now. If you insist on resisting, this sword, I guarantee, will land squarely in his heart. Then, not even the King of Heaven can save him."
"Why are you troubling someone with whom you have no enmity?"
"No enmity? Those who block my path are my enemies. We cultivators seek neither fame nor fortune; when we walk the world, the only things we can trust are the blades in our hands. Junior sister, our sect's Saintess is advanced in years. Several days ago, she observed the celestial phenomena at night and saw the destiny star dim, fearing her life was in peril. You are the second Saintess of our sect, and only you are qualified to ascend to that position. The entire sect eagerly awaits your return home."
Liu Furong's voice seemed to pause for a good while before she spoke with a slight tremor, "Saintess? What a sacred title it sounds like, but do you truly understand what it entails?"
Her voice grew colder and lower, her entire being as if plunged into a sunless, shadowed corner. Then, in a voice filled with despair, she said,
"Saintess, only through the seasonal sacrifices can one step out of the Immortal Ascension Tower. Do you know, I've been to the Immortal Ascension Tower. The four walls are sealed wooden rooms, devoid of anything superfluous: a bed, a stool, a bronze mirror, a comb, a table, an incense burner, and a partitioned space for washing. Apparently, paired objects are considered a taboo, a defilement there."
She paused, her tone continuing to soften.
"Whenever night falls and the moon is full in the west tower, through the needle-sized ventilation holes, specks of moonlight would filter through. That was the only natural light in the Immortal Ascension Tower. I still remember how Aunt Qing pressed her face, which you all consider so aloof, against the ventilation hole, her flesh almost bleeding from the strain as she continued to squeeze. Then she uttered a sentence that has remained etched in my memory: she said that whenever she lit a lamp and watched the candlelight burn quietly, her shadow cast upon the wall made her feel warm all over. She felt that although the vast house was somewhat empty, it wasn't bad. But when she extinguished the lamp, darkness surged towards her. And this light, seeping through the ventilation holes, sometimes accompanied by the moon's movement and the sun's transit, changing its position, made her realize time was passing. It made her realize that even this light was pursuing freedom, and it made her understand the terrifying nature of loneliness."
As she spoke, Liu Furong's voice turned into a cold recitation: "She said the most frequent thing she did in the Immortal Ascension Tower was look in the mirror, which made her feel like there were two people present. When you raised your left hand, the right hand in the mirror would move. Over time, you would split the reflection of yourself into another person who didn't belong to you. You'd speak to her, and she'd immediately agree; you'd be silent, and she'd also remain stoic. Through the mirror, you could discover another world, and you'd be overjoyed, as if you'd found another realm. But one day, the mirror shattered, and in the vast room, only you remained. Even if there had only ever been one person, you would feel an unbearable loneliness, a solitude so profound it could drive one mad."
While speaking, Liu Furong did not neglect her task, carefully dripping the antidote into the mouths of her two nearly stiffened junior brothers. Ren Yuanhao watched all this vaguely, but a fire was raging madly in his heart.
"So, after hearing these words from the Saintess, you conceived the idea of defecting from the sect?" Ji Changqing seemed to be wiping his long sword with a white handkerchief.
"So what if it is, so what if it isn't? The sect's teachings instruct us to uphold justice and use our meager strength to save all beings. Even after escaping, I have never done anything that goes against our doctrines."
"Oh? Really? In the end, it's all due to your selfish desires, disregarding the entire sect. Moreover, before coming here, I heard about your reputation. 'Three catties of meat' is your famous maxim, Doctor Sha." Ji Changqing pointed at the decaying black coffin, his voice laced with disdain, "Look, with so many coffins placed before the door, how can anyone possibly consider you a righteous person? And you talk about saving all beings? It's simply a joke, a disgrace to the sect!"
His words struck like thunder, causing the branches to tremble. Liu Furong looked up at the roof of her thatched hut. The birds that should have been perched there awaiting food seemed to have been startled away by the chilling, murderous aura. She could no longer hear their cold chirping or the chirping of insects in the weeds. Everything seemed to have been utterly destroyed the moment this person arrived. Even if she were to miraculously escape from his grasp today, this place would be irrecoverable forever...
With this thought, Liu Furong felt utterly despairing. Her only wish was to protect that foolish young man who had stepped forward to shield her. As for defying fate and the belief that man can conquer heaven, she considered them mere jokes.
Her fate, from the moment she entered the sect, had been like a precisely calibrated pointer; no matter how much she struggled, she could not escape its pattern.
"You let him go, and I'll go with you."
Liu Furong's beautiful eyes dulled, becoming ashen.
"You've made up your mind?" Ji Changqing asked with a lingering tone.
"It's not a matter of whether I've made up my mind. If I hadn't, would you have left empty-handed?"
Ji Changqing's expression suddenly changed, his sinister eyes instantly radiating a peculiar, eerie light.
"Perhaps I truly can help you."
Liu Furong naturally did not believe him, but Ji Changqing's next words left her utterly stunned.
"The position of Saintess requires an ice-pure and unsullied body. You have lived in seclusion for many years; whether you have retained your virginity is yet unknown!"
"What exactly do you mean!"
"With your intelligence, you surely understand my meaning, don't you?" Ji Changqing saw no need to beat around the bush. A sinister gleam flashed across his pale face. "Very well, whether you are a virgin or not, as long as I verify it, then this matter will be perfectly resolved!"
"Shameless wretch!" Liu Furong brandished her green bone-cutting knife, her face cold and stern.
Ji Changqing let out a shrill, sinister laugh. As he turned his head, he suddenly caught sight of the two junior disciples beside him, who had, at some unknown time, awakened!
"It seems you've overheard things you shouldn't have. Consider yourselves unlucky!"
Ji Changqing's sword moved like a phantom. He drew and sheathed his sword in an instant, severing the heads of both of them.