Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

Thank you to the amazing verification from 【阮梅从不逾矩】!

……

The Black Tower had anticipated Jing Liu's question.

Qi Zhimu wouldn't hide his past life experiences from them, but if they didn't ask for details, he would only give a rough overview; otherwise, he could talk for days and nights without finishing.

Judging from Jing Liu's expression, he clearly doesn't know much; at most, he only knows the incomplete experience of his first life from the Black Swan.

However, the question still needs to be asked.

"Tell me how much you know about Zhi Mu's first incarnation, so I can answer your questions by focusing on the key points."

Jingliu carefully recalled what he had seen hundreds of years ago and gave a brief retelling.

"First, it's about the hardships Master endured when he was saved by Ruan Mei, and then it jumps to the day the virus in his body was eliminated and Ruan Mei's birthday was celebrated."

"This last part is the longest, continuing until Ruan Mei tells her master that he has overstepped his bounds and puts him in solitary confinement."

"Finally, during the last three months of my master's life, he passed away peacefully in the arms of a black swan."

"The memory bubble that the Black Swan gave me back then contained only so much information; I can only make rough guesses about the rest of my master's experiences."

Revisiting Qi Zhimu's first life, Jing Liu's emotions unconsciously subsided, and she pursed her lips.

The master's first life was not complicated; strictly speaking, it was easier to understand than his third life with the Black Tower.

The master was rescued by Ruan Mei, and he respected her, making her the center of everything he did, and giving her the best he could.

Back then, they only thought Ruan Mei was drunk and acting crazy without realizing it.

The first two years were fine, but in the third year, even though she wasn't drunk, she was punished without even asking why her master had touched her feet.

Thinking of this, Jingliu remembered the important information that Black Tower had mentioned some time ago.

The plum blossom wine made by the master craftsman is aged three years or less and will not make you drunk no matter how much you drink.

Therefore, objectively speaking, we cannot place all the blame on Ruan Mei for what she did back then.

After listening to what Jingliu said, Black Tower felt more confident.

"What triggered Zhi Mu's departure from Ruan Mei? Didn't the Black Swan tell you back then?"

"Never mentioned."

"No wonder. This is the only mistake Zhi Mu made. He didn't want to see Ruan Mei go down a path of no return, so he deleted her research data."

"...The data wasn't backed up?"

"Ruan Mei's brain is a backup, but to be honest, for Ruan Mei, Zhi Mu did something he shouldn't have done, so he was driven away and returned to Huai Mu Star to live out the rest of his life."

"What does this have to do with today's events?" Jingliu was still puzzled.

"Ha... How can there be no connection? The connection is huge, it's so huge that it's at the level of the source of cause and effect."

Black Tower couldn't help but laugh gleefully, while simultaneously picking up a blue lotus petal floating on the water in front of him and flinging it towards the mirror stream.

As the petals submerged in the water, a screen formed by the water curtain took shape and began playing specific segments.

The kind with sound.

Jingliu didn't recognize the figure's back at first, but he could see the style of the hair tied up at the back of the head and instantly recognized it.

Isn't that Ruan Meiyao?

Before Jingliu could even think, a familiar voice suddenly came crashing down on her, making her body stiffen.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll be officially a master."

The simple eight words from Ruan Mei instantly brought back countless memories of waking up in the middle of the night.

"From this moment on, you have completed your apprenticeship."

Her master had said something similar to her before...

Back then, the pain was so intense that I couldn't breathe, as if I had lost the whole world. It wasn't until after the sudden battle that I realized my master had his own unavoidable difficulties.

What about Ruan Mei? Does she have her own reasons?

Hei Ta paused the playback and said with a sneer, "The reason for this sentence is what I just told you: the only time Zhi Mu truly overstepped the bounds."

Jing Liu suddenly realized.

That wasn't a difficult situation, but rather a decision made by Ruan Mei based on her personal initiative.

Jingliu's hand, hidden underwater, bulged with veins, but quickly recovered.

The students taught by Ruan Mei really do resemble her...

"Let's continue the replay..."

"You want to send me away? Teacher... you can punish me however you want, just don't send me away, okay? I don't want this kind of punishment..."

"This is not a punishment."

Ruan Mei turned around, her face expressionless.

"I've taught you everything you can learn. Staying here is just a waste of time; it's pointless."

"teacher--!"

Jing Liu frowned slightly, only then realizing that this memory was from Qi Zhimu's first-person perspective.

The arm that suddenly appeared in the video quickly reached for Ruan Mei's wrist, paused in mid-air for less than half a second, and then grabbed her sleeve.

The way they addressed each other was so pleading that it was almost obsequious.

But what did we get in return?

Ruan Mei's face remained expressionless, showing not a trace of emotion.

She pulled the sleeve back from Qi Zhimu's hand and coldly uttered two sentences.

"I'll say it again: you've completed your apprenticeship, leave now. I won't see you again until the research is finished."

"If I don't contact you a hundred years from now, just forget about me. I don't owe you anything, and you don't owe me anything either."

It was that last sentence that made Jingliu feel as if he had broken through the shackles of the cultivator in the book, instantly enlightened and understanding everything.

At the same time, a sense of annoyance welled up in my heart.

The things that Master briefly mentioned to her during a heart-to-heart talk some time ago were exactly the scenes shown on the screen!

At that time, she asked her master if he hated Ruan Mei. Her master said no, and explained why.

It was just a conversation a short time ago, yet she didn't immediately recall it...

It seems her condition has flared up again without her realizing it. Just seeing Ruan Mei caused her to let her emotions override her reason, ignoring the truth she already knew...

"...Hehehe...Hahahaha—"

Jingliu couldn't help but laugh.

He was initially quite restrained, but soon turned into unrestrained laughter, containing a touch of long-lost madness.

She knew all too well how one would feel upon hearing those words.

The sky is falling and the earth is cracking; the world is collapsing?

Ha...it's nothing special!

But, but...

The same event, in a broad sense, can have different effects on different people.

The reason Master spoke those heartless words and cruelly drove her away was because he made a selfish decision. He didn't want to implicate her or let her remember a dead sinner in the future.

The master had long prepared himself to never return, unwilling to see his disciple cling to the past and be unable to look forward for the rest of his life.

What about Ruan Mei?

He was simply disappointed and annoyed that his student had made a mistake, so he didn't even bother to teach him a lesson or correct him and chose the simplest and most direct approach.

— Drive them away.

On the other hand, her master, even if he had no other choice, had at least given her a warning back then: never do it again.

To be honest, Jingliu felt that if he hadn't heard his master's answer back then, heard him say that he had never had any romantic feelings for him, and then broken down and kissed him...

In that case... there's a high chance that her master won't be able to bring himself to let her graduate.

It somewhat implies that he overstepped his bounds and then had to bear the consequences himself...

In this respect, it is undeniable that my master is the same as myself.

But her master was doing it for Ruan Mei's sake, while she was doing it for her own selfish desires. She insisted on proving that her master was lying and forced him to admit that he had fallen in love with her.

Therefore, the nature of this aspect is completely different.

But, but—

Even in his condition, my master never told me to forget him and that we should be even from now on!

"No wonder Ruan Mei was afraid of being found out by her master and kept searching for him. She never expected that her past self would become her current enemy."

"Ruan Mei believes that her master has forgotten her, and that once this past is revealed, there will likely be no chance of reconciliation with him!"

"She's afraid of this future, afraid of facing this scene, hahaha..."