Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

"Your disciple longs for that feeling from you, Master... So many years have passed and it remains unchanged! You clearly have feelings for me too!" Jing said, her eyes brimming with tears.

Qi Zhimu's eyes turned cold, and the pressure around him plummeted.

You're mistaken.

That icy gaze, so different from what it had been moments before, deeply stung Jingliu's heart.

She reached out her trembling hand, wanting to touch his cheek, her voice broken and fragmented.

"Master...why has there never been a place for me in the softest part of your heart?"

"What am I to you?"

Qi Zhimu avoided her hand, as if issuing a verdict.

"Just master and disciple, nothing more."

He took two steps back, creating distance between them.

"Stop being so stubborn, or else—I will sever our master-disciple relationship and we will become strangers from now on."

These words were sharper than any divine weapon in the world, piercing right through Jingliu's heart.

Her mind was a complete blank.

Just master and apprentice...

If they remain obstinate, the master-disciple relationship will be severed...

From this point on, the road to ruin...

These words buzzed in her ears, draining all her strength, and she stood there blankly in the water, at a loss.

Qi Zhimu saw this and felt a pang of pity, but he didn't show it at all.

But the resolute words he was about to utter ultimately left her with a sliver of room for maneuver.

"Hundreds of years have passed, and that scoundrel Hulei is still active in the galaxy. You keep saying you love me, then come back with Hulei's head and surpass me before you talk."

After saying that, he turned and left with a stern face.

The space returned to silence, with only the soft sound of water droplets falling.

Jingliu looked down at his reflection in the water.

The pain from her fingertips digging deep into her palm reminded her that this was not a dream.

Ah… Master, how cruel you are…

She slowly raised her hand to gently touch the corner of her lips and neck where she had been kissed. The despair in her eyes gradually solidified, turning into a bottomless pool of stagnant water.

Why?

Why do you still push me away even after things have come to this?

Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold can easily gain your gentleness and your closeness.

And I, having given my whole heart and soul, only received a severing of ties in return…

Is it because I'm not good enough?

No.

It was the master who was trapped by the so-called master-disciple relationship, and he cared too much about those meaningless worldly conventions.

Jingliu slowly sank his entire body into the water, leaving only his scarlet pupils visible.

Amidst the misty haze, an eerie light flickered deep within his pupils.

It's okay... as long as we don't sever ties... as long as I can stay by my master's side.

I will be good... I will hide this love, hide it where even you can't see it...

I will be patient, patient until I surpass you... until the day you can no longer use the term "master and disciple" to refuse me.

I will endure until... the day when only the two of us are left in this world.

"Master..."

Jingliu's voice revealed a chilling, morbid obsession that had been accumulating for nearly a thousand years.

She savored the memory of their earlier contact: his body temperature, his breath, the suppressed yet real desire...

It's okay if I don't mean it, Master...

It's just killing Hu Leiyao, kill him.

Let alone one, as long as I can gain my master's approval, I can kill a hundred or a thousand Hu Lei!

So what if I surpass you? Surpass you.

"You'll be mine sooner or later... and only mine."

No matter how much they say they can only be master and apprentice, or that it's just the effect of alcohol, the body doesn't lie.

Using the influence of alcohol as an excuse is, in fact, the statement itself is the biggest flaw.

If it was due to alcohol, why didn't you go to Mianxue and Qinghan, but instead came specifically to find her?

They had long since retired from the military and rarely left Qingxinju.

But Master skipped over the ones who were closest to him and had been with him the longest. What does that mean?

This means that when Master's consciousness was in a state of confusion, the person he wanted most was Jingliu!

"Your disciple will wait for you, Master, forever and ever and ever and ever and ever... Heh... Hahahaha..."

Jingliu chuckled softly, the curve of his lips slowly rising carrying a hint of madness and insanity, yet also a terrifying clarity.

The master is saying no now because she hasn't met the requirements yet.

Therefore, as long as the requirements are met, all of Master's involuntary forbearance can be released.

And the void that has remained in her life all these years will be completely filled.

The stunningly beautiful face reflected on the water's surface was filled with a chilling, morbid obsession.

……

That night.

Qi Zhimu, under the pretext of going to Pierpont for trade, obtained permission from the Tianbo Bureau to travel far with a hundred jars of plum blossom wine and left Luofu with Qinghan.

Jing Liu saw it all, but didn't take it seriously. Instead, he became more and more convinced of a certain fact.

…Master is a fraud.

What merchant? He's just using this as an excuse to avoid her.

No problem.

Anyway, she'll be leaving Luofu soon and rejoining the expeditionary force.

Now more than ever, Jingliu desires to sever Hulei's head.

Centuries have passed, and this new leader of the Bu Li people remains active under the surveillance of the various immortal ships' diviners, and has never been captured or killed.

Looking at the entire history of the Buli human race, they can be considered outstanding.

Of course, Jingliu did not think the other party was too cunning, but only believed that the gap between himself and his master was still very large.

The previous leader, Wusa, was equally formidable, yet he too was slain by his master's sword.

If the predictions of the Grand Diviner were truly accurate, then why would the Immortal Ship have suffered so many calamities and countless sacrifices?

Therefore, the Jingliu school has always regarded the results of deduction as the answer to exhaustive search, without blindly believing or relying on them.

This expedition lasted for nearly a year.

When he returned, Qi Zhimu had already returned to Luofu from Pierpoint.

He did indeed close the deal, and the hundred jars of plum blossom wine sold for a high price.

The master and disciple reunited, yet maintained a perfectly controlled distance.

The intense emotions from before their separation were gone from Jingliu's eyes; only the disciple's respect for his master remained, which seemed perfectly normal.

Qi Zhimu showed no sign of anything amiss, acting as if the accident had never happened.

Only one young man felt both joy and sorrow.

I am happy that my strict master has been gone for nearly a year, but saddened that my gentle grandmaster has been gone for half a year.

Over the past six months, he has been following the plan left by his master step by step, optimizing his training on his own, and has even received praise for doing a good job.

Now that Jingliu has returned, Jing Yuanxing eagerly tells her about this experience.

She had her back to the boy and chuckled softly.

Praise? Hehe...

She stopped putting pressure on Jingyuan.

In her mind, her master only needed her as his disciple, after all... her master had explained why he was lenient with Jing Yuan.

For the next ten years or so, there were no major upheavals.

Jingyuan grew up very quickly, passed the adult examination and joined the Cloud Cavalry, and began to participate in patrols.

Jingliu knew a fact when he was promoted to Xiaowei many years ago: Xiaowei were qualified to bring inexperienced new recruits into battle as long as they submitted an application.

There's no need to follow the rules Qi Zhimu mentioned back then.

Her master only said that on purpose because he had extremely high expectations of her...