After rebirth, the eldest sister voluntarily abdicated and gave way to the wise.

Chapter 645 Clouds Gather and Disperse, Hardly to My Desire (2)

I don't remember how I felt when she said those words. I only remember that the sky was very dark that night, there weren't many stars, and the moon was hidden deep in the clouds. If you stretched out your hand, you could only see its vague outline.

I could no longer utter any words against my conscience. I simply sat silently and quietly beside her, letting the evening breeze gently caress my face, causing our dresses to flutter together, entwined and refusing to dissipate.

Later, when the demon race rebelled and monsters roamed freely, she was ordered to go out and exterminate them. Every time she led a team out, she always returned quickly; she never failed a single mission. She was revered as a war goddess by everyone, and no matter how difficult the task, they would always find her.

She became increasingly busy, spending more and more time away from the sect, and when she returned, she was covered in injuries, both large and small.

Unless her life is in danger, she almost never bothers the elders of Danfeng. Instead, she comes to me under the cover of night so that I can treat her wounds, apply medicine, and bandage her wounds.

She didn't know that my west wing was filled with pharmacology and alchemy books I borrowed from Danfeng. Compared to swordsmanship, my medical skills had become increasingly refined.

She had no idea that it was the first time she had knocked on my window in the darkness, her shoulder covered in blood. I knew it was her and happily opened the window, only to be met with the sight of crimson blood dripping from her sleeve. That scene haunted my nightmares for so long.

In every nightmare, I dream of her lying in my arms, covered in blood, and no matter how I call out to her, there is no response.

That despair, that suffocation, almost drove me insane.

"Stop always rushing to the front, okay? That six-legged beetle has the power of a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, and you're only a Golden Core cultivator. Are you really courting death?"

"You'll die! You'll die!"

With trembling hands, I gently tore open the clothes that were already stained with her bloody wounds. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I dared not let them fall, afraid of hurting her injuries.

Her sobs concealed a breakdown she couldn't perceive.

Jiang Liqian, Jiang Liqian, the pride of heaven that everyone envies, how could you know how deep and unforgettable your cruelty towards me was?

Your unwavering trust in me is both a sweet treat I can't refuse and a cold, piercing sword, cutting into my already fragile heart again and again.

"Don't cry. Your sadness makes me sad too." A hand gently stroked my face, tenderly wiping away the warm tears welling up in my eyes. She sighed, filled with guilt, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you worry so much. I haven't done enough..."

Tears eventually streamed down the cold night.

I buried myself in her arms, my shoulders trembling.

It's not that you're not good enough, it's that you're too good, too good.

Do you understand, Qianqian?

This kindness will eventually engulf you.

She gradually fell asleep leaning on my shoulder.

She rarely slept, and after leading the team to annihilate the demonic beasts, she hadn't slept at all. In fact, she was the one in the entire Tianqian Sect who most needed a good night's sleep; she was just too, too exhausted.

She was either cultivating or slaying demonic beasts, and in her spare time she also devoted herself to teaching the new junior brothers and sisters. She didn't have a single moment for herself.

The moonlight was cool and clear. I held her in my arms, took her hand, and gazed at her all night long.

The next morning, she woke up with her long, dark eyelashes opening like butterfly wings, as if embracing the dark world with the dawn.

"Didn't sleep all night?"

"Don't worry, wait for me at home. I'm on my way."

Just before leaving, she turned back to look at me with concern: "I will defeat the enemy soon and come back to see you."

Watching her departing figure, my fingernails dug into my flesh without my noticing.

She forgot that yesterday, her wounds were so deep that bone was visible; half of her arm was almost bitten off. She should have stayed to recover...

“Your Dao heart is unstable; you have too many thoughts and desires.” Xin Sui frowned as she looked at me, a hint of doubt and disapproval flickering in her clear, glassy eyes.

"Where's Qianqian? Weren't you on the mission with her? Why are you the only one who came back? Where is she?" I asked him urgently, not listening to anything else.

Xin Sui paused for a moment: "You came here just to ask her?"

"Of course!"

“Junior Sister Ruyi, I’ve told you before, you’re simply not suited for swordsmanship. You should give up Sword Peak and come to our Music Peak. Your aptitude for music theory is exceptional. The Great Dao is infinite, but human lifespan is finite. You really shouldn’t waste your time on a path that’s not right for you.”

"What are you so fixated on? Is there anything more important than pursuing the Great Dao?"

"Senior Brother Xin Sui, you don't understand..."

Yes, he didn't understand. Xin Sui couldn't persuade someone who was stubbornly unrepentant.

"We discovered something very important during this mission. My senior sister asked me to take the wounded back first and report this to the sect. She will go alone to track down the clues so that they don't get lost."

She was gone for three months without a word.

Later I learned that she was investigating the whereabouts of the demons who had suddenly appeared in the world.

The night I decided to go find her, I fell asleep for no reason. In a boundless dream, I saw the Heavenly Book—the true Heavenly Way of this world.

It showed me what a shallow tribulation, a death tribulation.

Heaven had ordained her destiny, and the end of that destiny was defined by only one word—death.

Ten deaths, no life.

My face turned deathly pale, and I frantically tore at the book, but every time I tore one, it would reappear perfectly intact in front of me.

I could only beg it, abandoning all my dignity and self-respect, begging it to tell me how to break this deadlock for her.

"I'd give my life for her, please, tell me how to help her, please, have mercy on us, the people you created..."

The heavenly book is silent, and the dream crumbles.

I saw Shen Qingqing standing by my bed.

She gave me a bright, innocent smile: "Senior Sister Yun, let's work together."

"You're just jealous of Senior Sister, aren't you? You all entered the sect together, but she climbed so high and so far. Why is that?"

How ridiculous.

She actually thought the person I was jealous of was the one I hid deep inside, the one whose every move would tear my heart apart.

But I still agreed to her request.

I don't know if this was guidance from the celestial book, but her arrival really gave me an idea.

A method I devised out of selfish motives, one that is unforgivable.

—Pull her down from her pedestal and make her a powerless ordinary person again. Ordinary people don't have to fulfill the divine duty of sacrificing themselves.

But things eventually got out of control.

I forgot, how dare a mortal defile the gods?

How could a god willingly fall from his pedestal?

She committed suicide in the Valley of Ten Thousand Demons, filled with hatred, and my God, she was finally soaked through in that torrential rain.

She doesn't know that I still have so many things I haven't had a chance to tell her: my love, my hate, my resentment, my sorrow... all because of her, and all because of her.

Just like I didn't have time to tell her that I had prepared a small courtyard for us who had lost our home.

There are two very large ginkgo trees in the courtyard, and under the trees is a swing woven from old vines. In spring, colorful wildflowers bloom under the trees. In summer, a pleasant shade will envelop the swaying swing. In autumn, the golden ginkgo leaves will fall like petals, layer upon layer, on the path home.

When winter comes, the branches will be covered in snow, a silver-white world. We can climb to the top of the tree together and look at the vast mountains and the pure white sky.

I will keep my promise to her, stay by her side for a long, long time, and gaze at her with unwavering devotion. I will always be there for her whenever she needs me.

The sword she gave me is fused with my blood. I slumber beneath the falling golden ginkgo leaves, as if still bound by our promise, as if she were still carrying me on her back, walking up the seemingly endless celestial ladder. Her warm breath falls on my cheek, sometimes warm, sometimes cool.

I never thought I would come back to life.

I never imagined I would see her again.

Even without Xuan Ling's reminder, I knew that this reunion was only for atonement, nothing more.

She was never meant to be mine.

It doesn't belong to anyone.