When she went into closed-door cultivation, A-Yin would guard the cave dwelling outside, sitting in meditation. When she was injured, A-Yin was more anxious than anyone else...
She had long since grown accustomed to it, never thinking of it as anything out of the ordinary.
As time went on, she had even developed a habit of expecting to see that figure the moment she turned around.
Though A-Yin had a sharp tongue, she had managed all the tedious chores of Wanjian Peak for her. She remembered how A-Yin would eagerly approach, only to retreat in disappointment after receiving a few cold words.
She had taken all of this for granted.
She had always believed that this would never change.
How arrogant she had been, what a bastard!
She had self-righteously assumed that once her Dao foundation was repaired, the rifts between her and her junior sister could be smoothed over as well.
But once a crack appeared, it was incredibly difficult to restore things to how they once were.
A-Yin had waited for a thousand years, only to receive coldness, avoidance, and rejection time and time again.
Now that her Dao foundation was restored, she wanted to turn back and pull her junior sister back to her side.
By what right?
Jinglian parted her lips, her throat dry, but no matter how she racked her brain, she could not find a single word to say.
An apology?
A-Yin had already heard enough of them.
An explanation?
At this point, what was there left to explain?
Every word of what A-Yin had just said was the absolute truth; she did not even have the room to refute it.
Perhaps her junior sister would actually live a much more relaxed life if she left. She would no longer have to worry about the administrative affairs of Wanjian Peak, rack her brains to run to the Sword-Falling Terrace, or face her cold expression.
A-Yin had a straightforward personality. Without her as a burden, Biluo Peak would surely be a completely different place.
The moment this thought surfaced, she immediately crossed it out.
She recalled what A-Yin had just said...
A-Yin had retained her youth just to wait for her to look back.
Even though A-Yin wore a mask and used the alias Liu Shisi, claiming she didn't want to see her, she had still sat in Yunqi Cave.
What if A-Yin stopped waiting?
What if A-Yin really left?
What if A-Yin smiled at someone else, treated someone else well, and offered that thousand-year-old affection to another person in the exact same way?
Jinglian's fingers suddenly clenched, her knuckles cracking loudly.
She suddenly remembered what her young disciple had said back on the Sword-Falling Terrace: “I want to lock A-Yuan up, imprisoning and trapping her so she can never leave for the rest of her life...”
Back then, she had chased A-Ci around the hall with a bamboo switch, furious that her young disciple dared to harbor such obsessive and paranoid thoughts.
But now, her junior sister wanted to leave. Her divine sense would never linger on her again, and her gaze, her smiles, her concern... everything would be withdrawn, leaving not a single trace behind.
In Jinglian's sea of consciousness, the exact same obsession flared up.
Almost in the same instant, she loathed herself.
What a hypocritical, sanctimonious bastard.
She had lectured her young disciple with such self-righteous authority back then, yet now that it was her turn, her very first thought was that she did not want to let her junior sister go, so she should lock her by her side.
But once the obsession surfaced, it could no longer be suppressed.
“A-Yin!” Jinglian's voice trembled as she pleaded.
Liu Ruyin did not answer. She merely stood a few paces away, her eyes behind the mask gazing coldly at her senior sister, waiting to see what kind of excuse she would fabricate next.
Jinglian took a step forward.
Liu Ruyin did not retreat, but her spiritual energy swept out, erecting a barrier in front of her.
“A-Yin, it was my self-righteousness,” Jinglian said, her throat tightening. “I thought you would always be there... I thought that no matter how I pushed you away, you would always return. It never occurred to me that one day, you would truly stop waiting.”
“And so?”
“And so...” Jinglian took another half-step forward and raised her hand, wanting to grasp Liu Ruyin's wrist. But just as her fingertips barely brushed the fabric of her sleeve, Liu Ruyin took a sudden, massive step back, avoiding her.
“Jinglian, did you not understand a single word of what I just said?” Liu Ruyin's voice drifted from behind the mask, sounding utterly exhausted. “You are used to me chasing after you, used to me worrying about you, and used to summoning me and throwing me aside at your whim.”
“Now that I say I am leaving, you are simply not used to it. This is not because you cannot bear to part with me; you are just not used to it!”
“No... I...” Jinglian was not good with words, and her usually eloquent tongue felt as if it were tied in knots.
“How is it not?” Liu Ruyin hardened her heart.
Her bad senior sister simply lacked discipline.
The corner of her mouth twitched. “Jinglian, do you know that when you reach out to pull me back, I can already guess what you want to say?”
“But let me tell you, I have heard those kinds of words for a thousand years. It is always like this: the moment your attitude softens slightly, I eagerly throw myself at you.”
“And once I do, you turn cold again.”
She raised her hand, curving her thumb and index finger into a circle, gesturing to an empty ring. “I am just like this ring. You put it on when you are happy, and when you are not, you take it off and toss it into a corner to gather dust.”
“Now that your Dao foundation is almost restored, you suddenly remember to pick me back up... Jinglian, is my worth so cheap to you?”
Jinglian's face paled inch by inch.
“No,” she said, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, causing a dull ache. “A-Yin, it is not a matter of worth. It is that I did not dare.”
Liu Ruyin froze.
“After my Dao foundation was damaged, I was trapped in the mid Soul Transformation stage, unable to make any progress. You are an illusion cultivator, and your innate talent and comprehension are no worse than mine. It was only a matter of time before you charged into the Void Refining realm.”
“I was afraid of dragging you down. I was afraid that because of me, you would be targeted by those who keep their eyes on Wanjian Peak.”
Jinglian spoke faster and faster, as if she wanted to pour out all the words she had kept suppressed in her heart for hundreds of years. “I was afraid I wouldn't be able to protect you, afraid that I would drag you down at the most critical moment.”
“So... so I did not dare to want you. It was not that I did not want to.”
Liu Ruyin remained silent for a long time.
“Hahaha...” Her laughter sounded desolate. “So you understood everything all along. Then what have I been all these years? A joke?”
She raised her hand to slap her.
But as her hand drew near Jinglian's face, it stopped.
Her fingers curled in midair, trembling slightly.
She still could not bring herself to do it!
She could not bear to see this person suffer even a tiny bit...
The veins on the back of her hand bulged, and her entire arm shook.
She hated herself for not being able to go through with it, hated that even at this point, she still could not bear to let her senior sister feel even a sliver of pain.
But the fire burning in her chest made her vital organs ache.
Why?
This person had bullied her so much.
Why was she so furious, yet still could not bring herself to strike her? Why did her heart begin to soften the moment her senior sister spoke a few gentle words?
A thousand years of grievances clogged her heart, making her feel so stifled she could not even vent them.
Liu Ruyin suddenly retracted her hand, ripped off the silver mask from her face, and threw it to the ground.
The mask hit the floor tiles with a loud clang, bounced, fell back down, and rolled into the corner of the wall.
Before Jinglian could react, her junior sister had already closed the distance.
She grabbed Jinglian by the lapels and yanked her downward. Caught off guard, Jinglian was forced to bend over, their faces almost pressed together.
Liu Ruyin turned her head, aimed for Jinglian's neck, and bit down hard.
The instant her teeth pierced the skin, Jinglian's body tensed.
Her teeth sank deeper into the flesh bit by bit, and blood began to seep from the edges of the bite mark, dripping down her neck...
Jinglian did not dare to dodge.
She even withdrew her protective spiritual energy, enduring the pain raw. The sharp pain of her flesh being pierced transmitted into her sea of consciousness, yet she did not push away the person in her arms.
Because she felt that the lips biting into her neck were trembling!
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