Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"No... I won't forget what happened before, nor will I pretend it never happened."

"I just wanted to tell you..."

"If killing you would leave me with a shadow that I can never shake off for the rest of my life, then I will carry that shadow with me. Anyway, my back is empty, so carrying something is not a big deal."

"You're right, aren't you, Xiaoxin?"

……

When Zhang Ruoxue's words reached Qu Wuxin's ears, her meaning was crystal clear.

Realizing he was likely doomed, Qu Wuxin was momentarily stunned, then gritted his teeth, and all his sorrow and resentment erupted at once.

"What a joke...! Stop talking nonsense!"

He struggled frantically, his face contorted in pain, and screamed wildly at Zhang Ruoxue:

"Who do you think I became like this because of? It's all because of you! It's because you didn't save me that I chose to become a demon and embarked on this path. Who do you think is to blame for all of this?!"

"It's all because of you, my heartless sister, that I've ended up like this. I was just trying to survive, and I became a demon just to survive. What did I do wrong?!"

"Those so-called righteous cultivators, those so-called innocent civilians, yes, I killed them, but so what? I just want to become stronger, so that one day I can stand at the top of the world, live as I please, without worrying about being threatened by death, without worrying about being abandoned by some scumbags again!"

"I did nothing wrong! I did nothing wrong!"

"You owe me all of this, you owe me everything!"

……

Zhang Ruoxue didn't hear a single word of Qu Wuxin's crazy words.

She simply turned her head silently and asked a question softly.

Is it okay now?

Yunping knew that she was asking him a question.

Under the moonlight, the young man in white raised his head, looked up at the bright sky, and then parted his lips slightly, saying:

"I respect your choice."

"If you're asking whether we can begin, then my answer is only one... if that's what you want—"

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his face calm, just like the serene moon.

"You can go now."

After receiving a reply from the teacher, Zhang Ruoxue slowly turned her head back.

A rare hint of sadness appeared in those deep blue eyes filled with stars, but beneath that sadness lay countless convictions.

She took a deep breath and said to Qu Wuxin:

Did you hear that?

He said, "You can go now."

Qu Wuxin's eyes widened in shock as he suddenly saw the silvery-white flames burning on Zhang Ruoxue's raised right fist.

The fear of death swept over him in that instant, but even stronger than the fear was the anger and hatred that burst forth from his broken heart.

"Qu Wenxue!!!! You—"

Before he could finish speaking...

A fist rises, a fist falls.

The deafening explosion drowned out everything, and the pure moonlight remained calm against the dark backdrop of the sky.

The night, when everything is quiet and still, is a rare moment of tranquility in this chaotic world.

The smoke and dust dissipated, and the night grew quiet and still.

Everything seemed as if it had never happened, yet it also seemed as if everything had already happened.

In the cemetery outside Shatterwood City, there seems to be another corpse that should be buried.

Beneath the rapidly surging and vanishing force of the fist, anger, hatred, rage, helplessness, sorrow... it all seemed to disappear.

Instead, a figure appeared...

From afar, the girl stood beneath the bright moon. For some reason, despite her profound cultivation, reaching the realm of a saint, she possessed an extraordinary saintly aura under the power of the full moon.

Even so, whether it's Yun Ping or Gu Xingzhuo, if viewed from an outsider's perspective, they would find that she, who possessed the power of a saint, had become much more dejected for some reason.

Her back wasn't as straight as before, probably because she was tired...

It's also possible that it's because it's carrying something on its back that others can't see or touch.

……

……

Yun Ping calmly watched Zhang Ruoxue's retreating figure, then raised his head and gazed up at the bright moon.

Moonlight fell on his face as he savored the moment, but in the end he could only sigh helplessly and patted Gu Xingzhuo's shoulder beside him.

"gone."

He knew that there were many things in this world that were beyond his control.

Zhang Ruoxue made her own choice and chose to bear the consequences of taking that path.

She did not bid farewell to her past with tears, nor did she feel any confusion about the future.

This is indeed a good choice for Zhang Ruoxue, but the price to pay for choosing this path seems to be a bit too heavy.

"what……"

Gu Xingzhuo, who was still lost in thought about Zhang Ruoxue's retreating figure, snapped out of it, glanced back at Yun Ping who was turning to leave, and blinked blankly.

"Um, teacher, you..."

By the time he realized what was happening, Yunping had already walked far away.

Watching his teacher's departing figure, Gu Xingzhuo silently uttered the rest of his words:

"Teacher, are you...?"

"What important thing did you forget...?"

……

At this moment.

The bound silver-haired girl stared at the tomb collapsing due to the violent tremors, and at the demonic threads still clinging to her body, and silently yawned.

With her lifeless eyes drooping, she murmured thoughtfully:

"How much time has passed... Why hasn't that old scoundrel come to pick me up yet...?"

"Ugh... I'm so tired..."

"I really want to eat hot pot."

43. The Demon Emperor's Order to Assassinate

"Again... Ruoxue's life has truly been full of twists and turns."

In the city of Broken Wood.

With her long, beautiful silver hair cascading down her back, she sat at the table, gazing at the large bronze cauldron in front of her, which could almost hold three or four people, lost in thought.

In the center of the large pot, the broth was almost boiling, and countless ingredients were being simmered in it—most of which were local specialties that Ye Yuchan had never seen before.

It looked like a fish with slender limbs that seemed to be doing the butterfly stroke, or a ginseng that looked almost identical to her own spiritual root, or a spirit-surge leaf that emitted a faint purple light... In short, what was placed in front of Ye Yuchan could not be called a hot pot at all.

She tried not to attach her spiritual energy to the wooden chopsticks, and the moment she inserted them into the chopsticks, the tips of the chopsticks dissolved and emitted a pungent odor.

Ye Yuchan silently put down her chopsticks, staring intently at Yun Ping, who was eating meatballs one after another beside her: "You old rogue, can you explain what this thing is?"

"Hot pot, huh?" Yunping said righteously, blatantly lying, "Didn't you want to eat hot pot to make up for it?"

"This is absolutely culinary disaster..." Ye Yuchan's lips twitched as she pointed to the unidentified fish in the pot that was swimming between the breaststroke and the butterfly stroke: "Look, this fish has already swum four laps. Are we going to have to award it a gold medal for synchronized swimming later?"

"There's only one in this pot, that's called individual training, where did the gold medal come from?"

Ye Yuchan's face darkened: "That's not the problem at all!"

"Oh, don't think so much~" The old rogue waved his hand and continued to pick at the vegetable leaves that exuded an ominous aura. He ate as he spoke, "This pot of mine is the Azure Flame Sacred Cauldron used by the seventeen miraculous alchemists of the Human Emperor era. The pills refined in this pot are all rare and precious treasures. There is not a single cultivator in the world who would not want them."

"Back then, a war for the Sacred Cauldron even broke out over this pot. Don't worry, this thing is as safe as you can imagine."

"And what about the fish?"

"Hmm..." Yunping stared at the unknown fish in the pot that seemed to be taking a bath, and pondered for a while: "I think it's probably because the spiritual energy in this Azure Fire Cauldron is too strong that this fish has become a spirit."

Ye Yuchan: "..."

On this day, the silly man completely gave up his dream of having hot pot.

She sat to the side, watching Gu Xingzhuo slowly eating around the table, and Fang Yan eating with his face turning purple but not daring to utter a word, and sighed helplessly.

As for Zhang Ruoxue—

After returning to Shattered Wood City, she left behind the words "I want to be alone" and locked herself in a room.

Two days have passed since then, but she still shows no sign of coming out. Although two days without food has no effect on a cultivator, Ye Yuchan is more concerned about the girl's mental state.

Everyone knows that Zhang Ruoxue is an idiot, and what's more, this time she not only witnessed it with her own eyes, but also directly participated in sending her own younger brother to hell.

She was implicated in her brother's death twice in a row. No one could bear such a thing.

On the other hand, the old rogue, regarding Zhang Ruoxue's strange behavior these past two days, only left one comment:

"Don't worry, she's not that irrational. She just needs some time to process things. That's just how people are."

Then he started living a carefree, idle life in Shattered Wood City, doing nothing all day long.

—I should go see her.

With this in mind, Ye Yuchan silently left the table.

"Junior sister?"

Gu Xingzhuo called out to her, his face full of confusion: "What's wrong? Why did you leave so suddenly?"