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

Nie Qingyi's fingertips trembled slightly.

"From childhood to adulthood, you've never been kind to us. All you ever did was scold us and make harsh demands," Nie Zhao choked out. "When I made a mistake, you made me kneel in the ancestral hall, didn't give me food, and said I wasn't worthy of being the Phoenix Maiden of this lineage, unworthy of inheriting the Nie family. Why did you treat me like this?"

"You treat me as a tool, as something to pass on the responsibility of this land, and I accept that."

"But can you love me even a little bit?" Nie Zhao's tears streamed down her face like pearls. She raised her hand to cover one side of her face, looking disheveled and helpless. A hoarse voice rolled from her throat, "Mother, I'm willing to be your tool, but can you at least let me feel that you love me, even if you're lying to me, even if you're just pretending..."

"It's not that I don't love you," Nie Qingyi said hoarsely, her eyes also reddening. "I grew up the same way, and my mother taught me the same way. I don't think it's bad for you and Xiaoyun. You are my daughter, revered by countless people, and you should shoulder the responsibility of protecting Nanchuan. It's not that I'm forcing you, but if you're not strong enough to bear all the burdens you should bear, in the cultivation world where strength is paramount, your fate and Nanchuan's fate will not be good."

"My body can't hold on much longer. In these past ten years of seclusion, I haven't found a way to remedy the origin of my bloodline," Nie Qingyi said. "With my cultivation at the Nascent Soul Realm, it's not difficult for me to survive, but look, today I only made a slight move, and my internal energy backfired so badly that I vomited blood."

"I can no longer protect Chidi," she said, raising her eyes with complex emotions as she looked at her daughter. "Zhao'er, Xiaoyun is still too young to understand. You are the Phoenix Maiden of this lineage, destined by Heaven. Nanchuan will ultimately depend on you to survive."

Nie Zhao looked up, her eyes reddened by tears, and it took her a while to answer.

"I see…"

She lowered her head, wiped away her tears, and after a long while, she finally spoke: "Mother, do you love me? Today there is a Spirit-Inquiring Pill, and I want to ask you truly, without a doubt, if you have even a little bit of it."

She tossed her hair aside, her nose also red: "A little bit of love for me?"

Nie Qingyi looked at her, her gaze tracing her features bit by bit, from her daughter's eyebrows and eyes that resembled her own, to her tear-reddened nose, and finally to her slightly pursed lips.

Her Zhao'er has grown up. Before she knew it, the little girl who was only waist-high to her had grown into a tall and graceful woman just like her.

Nie Qingyi's eyes welled up with tears, and a single, unformed, transparent teardrop hung at the corner of her eye, like glass.

She spoke slowly, "Zhao'er, you are the child I gave birth to after using up half my life force. No one loves you more than your mother."

……

After an unknown amount of time, a sob was heard in the quiet room.

Nie Zhao lowered her head, pressed her palms to her forehead, and cried so hard that her whole body trembled.

This is such a short sentence, it can be said in just a few words.

But it was such a long time, so long that she waited for a full twenty-eight years.

Perhaps in the Nie family, the word "love" is a luxury.

It would be best to have it, but you can live without it.

The direct descendants of the Nie family in Nanchuan bear heavy responsibilities from birth: to be selfless and strong.

Love will naturally be relegated to the bottom, becoming the least worthwhile thing.

Therefore, the love of the women of the Nie family cannot be easily expressed, because they have received too little affection since childhood, and every bit of it is precious, which is why it is stuck in their hearts and throats.

It's hard to express, impossible to express.

"Mother, Mother," Nie Zhao wiped away her tears, then suddenly burst into laughter, "I was just thinking, if I could feed you a Spirit Inquiry Pill every day, you would say you love me every day and be so gentle."

She sighed softly, a slight smile playing on her lips. "It's alright. Just hearing it once is enough. Even if it's only because of the Spirit Inquiry Pill."

With too many tear stains on her face to wipe them away with her hands, she brushed her bangs aside and prepared to get up.

Suddenly, a handkerchief was handed to someone from the side.

Two little birds are embroidered crookedly on the edge, and they even have tail feathers.

"Zhao'er, I have already reached the Nascent Soul Realm," Nie Qingyi's voice rang out, trembling slightly, with a hint of helplessness at the end, "The Spirit Inquiry Pill for the Nascent Soul Realm has no effect on me."

Nie Zhao suddenly froze.

*

Does not work.

Tan Suiting sat on the soft grass, his face ashen, clutching a dirty corner of his clothes in his hand.

Even without close inspection, you can tell what the marks on them are.

Why didn't the elixir work on him?

He was still in a daze when he woke up, not knowing where he was. He only remembered that last night's dream was very real and sweet, and he vowed never to let himself have such a dream again.

When he looked down, he saw the bright red hairband he was holding in his hand.

He wouldn't have a hairband of that color.

Moreover, he didn't have a hairband; his headdress was personally chosen by Yu Xintang when he came out of the East Sea.

So whose hairband is this?

Half an incense stick later.

Tan Suiting felt relieved and let go.

He was expressionless, his face ashen and bloodless, calmly pondering what the Sevenfold Eternal Tide Return Technique was.

He's probably going to die.

I glanced around and saw that the cave wasn't very big; I could see it all in a couple of glances.

I didn't see Xie Weixing.

Being severely impacted by reality to a certain extent can actually lead to calmness.

He thought about it carefully and came to two conclusions. Two possibilities.

First, Xie Weixing ran away.

Because of his beastly behavior last night, which was truly despicable, his senior brother could not bear the humiliation and had no choice but to run away.

Secondly, Xie Weixing ran away and planned to abandon him.

Because he was in this dilapidated cave last night.

In this dilapidated cave without even a bed or folded blankets, in this cave where even going to the toilet is considered too remote, she was so stupid that she couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams, and forcibly raped her senior brother.

He should get up immediately, rush back to the Nie family mansion in Nanchuan, and truthfully confess his numerous crimes to his fellow disciples. Then he should be escorted back to the Fenghua Sect and kneel before the Hall of Longevity to receive his punishment.

What crime? Last night, he was bewitched and forcibly took advantage of his senior brother, who had saved him countless times and was the best to him, and even forced him to flee overnight, afraid to return.

What crime would this be considered according to the ancestral precepts of the Feng Hua Sect? And what crime would it be considered in the cultivation world?

Tan Suiting's expression was indifferent. He took out a set of clean clothes from his storage ring, changed into them, and prepared to face his death calmly.

Just as I got up, a noise suddenly came from the cave entrance.

Tan Suiting narrowed his eyes, and with a soft sound, Feng Lian instantly grasped it in his hand.

Are the Blood Moon Hall people chasing after us?

That's perfect, he's in a very bad mood right now.

……

Xie Weixing was startled by the flash of sword light as he entered, and turned his head slightly: "What the hell?"

Tan Suiting was stunned. The Feng Lian sword, which had just been drawn, was immediately put back in and turned into a plain ring, which was then worn back on the base of his finger.

"Senior brother...?"

"Hmm," Xie Weixing responded, "Are you hungry? Let's have breakfast."

After saying that, he lifted the cloth bag in his hand.

---

Electricity...orz