Are you really trying to cultivate immortality? Something feels off.

"I allowed you to kill those elders because I might hate them too," Nie Qingyi said coldly, "but I didn't allow you to do that to A-Yun."

"Sister..." Shen Yuan knelt on the ground, slowly kneeling forward a little. "Ever since Wanjian Mountain, A-Yun has been disobedient. I've been planning for so long, am I going to let it all go to waste at this moment? I have no choice, I really have no choice."

A tear slid down his pale face, covering the deep red mole at the corner of his mouth: "You wouldn't see me, you wouldn't see me no matter what you did, you left me without a single word. I didn't know you were so badly hurt, I just thought you didn't want to see me. I thought about you day and night, I regretted it day and night, wondering why you wouldn't talk to me, regretting that I shouldn't have been so willful back then, I..."

In the Nie family of Nanchuan, men held a low social status. If he didn't seize power, he wouldn't even be able to enter Qifeng Hall, let alone have the right to think of Nie Qingyi.

"My injuries are severe and difficult to heal; it's uncertain whether I'll live or die," Nie Qingyi's chest rose and fell slightly, "so how can I give you an answer?"

Shen Yuan looked at her, his expression a mixture of crying and laughing: "Ayi, I'd rather not have Xiaoyun, I'd rather we never have a child. Back then, the elders advised you not to give birth to Xiaoyun, saying the consequences would be unimaginable. You comforted me, saying it was okay, that Nie Zhao was born in the same way, and if only you had known..."

"I gave birth to Xiaoyun for you," Nie Qingyi said, her eyes slightly red. "Ever since Zhao'er was born, you have been resentful every day. Even after I cleared out everyone in the backyard, the resentment in your eyes did not disappear."

"I know you hate Zhao'er, that you feel pain and heartache when you see her, I know all of that," Nie Qingyi said. "That's why when Xiaoyun came unexpectedly, I felt that it was a gift from God to you and me, a salvation. I thought that once you had your own child, you would no longer hate her."

"Ah Yuan," she said, her beautiful brows furrowing slightly, "I don't want you to be in so much pain."

A tear suddenly fell from Shen Yuan's eye. He knelt on the ground, propped himself up, and carefully buried himself in Nie Qingyi's arms: "Ayi... whatever punishment you give me, I'll accept it. I was wrong. You can make me live or die, I'll accept it..."

"If it weren't for Zhao'er, I would never have seen you today," Nie Qingyi said, her fingers clenching slightly. "You joined forces with the Blood Moon Hall for revenge, and I can understand that."

Shen Yuan gently raised his head, his eyes glistening with tears.

"But," Nie Qingyi looked at him, "you have harmed so many people in Chidi, capturing ordinary people to turn them into corpses, which I absolutely cannot tolerate."

"Have you ever thought that they also have families, wives and children, and people they care about?"

"No, I didn't—" Shen Yuan frowned slightly.

"Are you still going to try and argue?" Nie Qingyi glared at him hatefully. "Didn't you just say you'd let him die? What are you afraid of now?"

"I didn't arrest any civilians," Shen Yuan said urgently, grasping her hand. "The people I gave to the Blood Moon Hall were all prisoners held in the Ten Thousand Poison Cave."

Nie Qingyi narrowed her eyes: "What?"

"How could I arrest ordinary people? I wouldn't," Shen Yuan buried his face in her lap, his eyes red. "Sister, I know that if I arrest people from Chidi to make corpses, you will be unhappy and will never speak to me again for the rest of your life. What difference is there between that and sending me to the eighteenth level of hell? I agreed to let the Blood Moon Hall make corpses so that we could better control Chidi and the Nie family. But if you abandon me because of this, what's the point of all this?"

Like a wronged child, he buried his face in Nie Qingyi's arms and burst into tears: "Sister, I'm not a good person, I've done a lot of bad things, but I won't make you angry, I won't do that, you believe me, Ayi..."

Nie Qingyi paused, then gently wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes with her fingertips: "I will verify everything you've said. You know my temperament; if I dare to tell a single lie, I will not let you off easily."

"You just won't believe me—" Shen Yuan raised his head, his eyes red and swollen from crying, his lips pale, the blood-red mole at the corner of his mouth even more vivid, his eyes filled with grievance and resentment, "Then kill me, stab me to death right now, so you can give your eldest daughter an explanation. She, Nie Zhao, is the Phoenix Maiden of this lineage, while I'm just a consumptive ghost who lives for today and doesn't know tomorrow!"

Nie Qingyi didn't expect him to react so strongly, and frowned slightly: "Keep your voice down, I didn't do anything to you."

"You don't believe me, you don't love me, I'd rather be dead!" Shen Yuan hugged her, his chest heaving, his face flushed an unnatural red from the intense emotions. "Sister, I may treat human life like dirt, I may have done countless evil deeds, but I can swear to God I've never lied to you. I never have before, and I never will. I even told you the truth about wanting to harm the elders of the Nie family. Who can't I kill? In short, I, Shen Yuan, am born cheap, a sickly wretch, and I owe God nothing. If I weren't afraid of upsetting you, I would have killed Nie Zhao too!"

“Pah!”

Nie Qingyi slapped him across the face, making his brow throb with anger.

"You're going to drive me crazy," her voice trembled. "Elder Nie owes you, I owe you, but Zhao'er is just a child. I can understand if you hate her, but have you ever thought that she's also my child! How dare you touch her..."

Nie Qingyi wanted to say, "Then I'll kill you." But then she thought, "Shen Yuan is incredibly audacious. He's capable of anything. Why would he be afraid of death?"

Her eyes darkened, and she said coldly, "Then you can forget about ever seeing me again in this lifetime."

Shen Yuan's tear-streaked eyelashes trembled slightly, and he answered hastily, "No, Ayi, I won't, really, as long as she doesn't make you sad..."

"No matter what, it's not allowed," Nie Qingyi said coldly, looking at him. "I'll do whatever you say on everything else, but there's absolutely no room for negotiation on this matter. My daughter, our daughter, you're not allowed to touch any of them."

Shen Yuan was taken aback for a moment: "Ayi, I thought it was you."

"What did you think?" Nie Qingyi frowned slightly.

"It's nothing," Shen Yuan carefully wiped away the tear stains that had fallen on Nie Qingyi's hand, his lips slightly pursed. "I will never hurt Nie Zhao and Xiao Yun again. Ayi, I swear, if I break my promise to you, may I die a gruesome death, my bones and blood be destroyed, and my soul be forever condemned to eternal damnation, never to be reborn."

His sister had always been cold to people, and her own daughter was no different, so he assumed she didn't care about those two kids.

Shen Yuan lowered his eyelashes.

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have gone so far.

If we don't touch Xiaoyun, we can find other ways. We misjudged our sister's intentions and have now upset her.

It's all his fault.