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墨書 Inktalez
Why do you treat me so well, to the point of giving up your own life?
Here, for the first time, I feel that even surrounded by the warmth of family, it cannot warm my heart, which is cold at this moment.
The night is deep, and in this vast mansion, there is no place for me to call home; I can only endure alone in this biting wind and waning moon.
Suddenly, I find myself huddled in a corner, tears flowing freely. It's not that I'm not strong; I've just fallen too deeply, too deeply to extricate myself, which is why it feels so heart-wrenching...
When Shen Muhan emerged from Qingyue's room, it was already midnight. His face was weary, and his tall figure swayed unsteadily, yet his departing footsteps were resolute and final.
Qingyue watched that lonely figure retreating, tears streaming down her face. Her heart roared like a tempest, as if sour saltwater were poured over a bleeding wound, causing unbearable pain.
In the end, she had overestimated herself.
For that woman, he even disregarded his parents' dying wishes and openly abandoned half of his cultivation in front of her, severing ties with his own sect.
Indeed, just like that, they transformed from inseparable siblings into strangers... strangers...
"Ah... Shen Muhan, I hate you! I hate you! I hate you..." she cried out in anguish.
Unable to contain herself, Qingyue spat out a mouthful of blood and howled at the sky. After her cries subsided, she cast aside all pride and dignity and wept uncontrollably.
The wind howled, rain fell heavily, and the waning moon vanished into the clouds. Torrential rain poured down, drumming on the dense leaves with an eerie rustling sound. Xia Muxin, numb all over, hazily lifted her head as large droplets fell onto her face—cold and piercing. It blurred her vision, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was tears or rain.
At this moment, her head felt heavier than her body. She groped for a nearby tree trunk to rise but was suddenly struck by dizziness and nearly collapsed to the ground. Once the dizziness faded, dim lights began to appear before her eyes. Even these faint glimmers were gifts from the thunderstorm; she couldn't help but want to laugh madly.
Raindrops fell into the muddy ground, and amidst the sudden flashes of lightning and thunder, murky splashes erupted, drenching Xia Muxin completely. The mud beneath her feet was thick and slippery, even rising over her instep. Yet she stood there like a fool, staring down at the ground, trying to catch a glimpse of her own disheveled appearance in the swirling muck.
The unexpected downpour caused Shen Muhan to furrow his brows. His pale face twisted slightly as he moved forward with heavy steps, but he had forgotten where he was headed and didn’t even know where Xia Muxin was resting in the guest rooms.
Since the fierce battle with Ming Lie, this place had turned into ruins. In just a few months, it had returned to its former state; not even a single tree had been moved. However, all his subordinates had been sent out on missions, leaving only Qingyue and two guards at the estate.
He had brought Xia Muxin here primarily because the environment would help Mother Gu lure out Child Gu, sparing her some pain. He never expected Qingyue to act in such a manner.
When he saw her pale face lying on the ground, blood trailing down her wrist, his mind went blank. The only thought that remained was that she could not die. Without considering much else, he picked her up and left. Now he regretted not informing Muxin; she would likely be heartbroken for a while.
After soaking in the medicinal bath, she must have exhausted herself greatly and needed rest. He decided to check the room closest to the bathhouse. He knocked on each door one by one but felt something was off, so he pushed open the doors directly. However, despite searching all thirty-six rooms in the estate, he could not find Xia Muxin anywhere. His heart tightened as he suppressed the metallic taste of blood in his throat and rushed back to the bathhouse. The water in the medicinal tub had yet to be cleaned but was already cold; the smell of blood was particularly foul—something Muxin despised.
Unexplainably, a chill shot from his toes straight to his head. He stepped out of the bathhouse and ran aimlessly, muttering Muxin’s name under his breath.
Then he spotted her small figure huddled beneath a tree, and Shen Muhan nearly cursed himself.
“Girl…”
He tried to approach her softly, calling her name in a low and gentle tone.
Yet Xia Muxin remained unmoved, standing there like a puppet without even lifting her eyes. A sharp pain pierced Shen Muhan's heart as he closed the distance between them. With one swift motion, he scooped her into his arms as if she were a precious treasure, using all his remaining strength to hold her tightly.
At that moment, he desperately wanted to tell her that no one could come between them again or tear them apart. But before he could utter a word, a wave of blood surged up his throat, and he coughed out a mouthful of blood. As darkness began to envelop him, he clutched Xia Muxin's hand tightly as if seeking forgiveness or fearing she might leave him.
Xia Muxin finally came to her senses; tears flowed freely down her cheeks as confusion swirled within her mind, leaving her unsure of how to respond.
She felt utterly weak and limp at that moment. Looking at Shen Muhan like this made her heart ache, and dragging him away was simply beyond her strength. The entire manor was devoid of life; even the place that had just been brightly lit was now shrouded in darkness.
Suddenly, she remembered something at Shen Muhan's waist. With a surge of excitement, she bent down to fumble around his waist, and soon sent a signal into the sky. After doing all this, her body felt as if it had been dismantled; not only did it hurt, but she also felt incredibly sore and weak, collapsing into the filthy mud and gasping for breath.
Out of nowhere, Qingyue's pale, bloodless face loomed large before her, with eyes wide open in anger, looking terrifying in the dim night. Xia Muxin let out a sharp scream, her heart nearly leaping out of her throat.
“Qingyue, you...”
At the same time, she protected the unconscious Shen Muhan with one hand, trying to keep Qingyue at bay, but the words she wanted to say faltered on her lips.
The rain pelted down relentlessly, stinging her face.
“Xia Muxin, if I can't have it, neither will you.”
Qingyue's hair was disheveled, wearing a white inner garment and red boots, resembling a terrifying ghost in the night. Coupled with her fierce expression, she was both shocking and horrifying.
Xia Muxin had never been afraid of ghosts or spirits, but today’s Qingyue genuinely frightened her. And then there were those words... Suddenly, she tightened her grip around Shen Muhan and looked warily at Qingyue, who was so close.
All three of them were injured to varying degrees; Shen Muhan was the worst off. Not only had he exhausted half his cultivation while healing Qingyue, but he had also depleted his internal energy to sever their connection.
Qingyue had lost too much blood; her face was deathly pale and she swayed unsteadily on her feet. She cursed herself for not having killed this woman sooner. Now she had harmed her senior brother and put herself at risk as well. But it didn’t matter; as long as he was by her side—alive or dead—she would be content.
Xia Muxin had been soaked in that dark potion for several hours and then caught in the rain. She felt hot and cold all over; while she wasn’t injured as severely as the other two, she was still barely hanging on to life.
“Qingyue, calm down. This won’t solve anything,” she tried to reason with the frenzied Qingyue. She pinched her thigh hard to force herself to stay awake and not faint.
She didn't know what had happened between them, but at that moment, it was a scene of mutual destruction. The only thing she could do was to calm Qingyue's emotions.
However, Qingyue seemed to be going mad, shaking her head with a face full of despair and tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Xia Muxin, you know nothing! He watched me grow up, taught me how to speak, how to walk, how to take my first bite of food. Before I met you, even if all the women in the world threw themselves at him, he remained indifferent. But after meeting you, his eyes no longer held any regard for me, his little junior sister. All his love and affection are now solely for you. Do you understand? From the moment I saw you, I felt a murderous intent rising within me. But I was afraid that if I acted on it, he would be upset and angry with me. Do you know how much I regret my foolish actions? I would rather he never marry than to marry anyone other than me." By the end of her words, Qingyue was almost screaming in madness. Her voice was hoarse and somewhat slurred. Seeing Xia Muxin staring blankly at her, she threw her head back and laughed wildly before continuing:
"Did you think I wanted to stay alone in this broken villa after returning? It was him who confined me here and sent everyone away, saying I needed to reflect. You have no idea what he has done for you these past few months. He even tried to practice a technique he couldn't master himself. Finally, he upgraded that Mutated Pigeon and captured Ming Lie. He even found Mother Gu. But to lure out this Child Gu, we had to return to Jun Yuan Villa because it has the best conditions and the highest quality medicinal materials. Even that medicinal vat is priceless! Yet in the end, he exhausted all his cultivation for you and severed ties with his sect. Tell me, is such a man not better off dead?"
Xia Muxin's mind buzzed as Qingyue's words echoed like a broken record in her head. The last few words from Qingyue sent chills down her spine, causing her to throw herself onto Shen Muhan, trying to wrap her frail arms around him tightly. But he felt too heavy; lifting his arm felt like an insurmountable task.
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up..."
She kept patting his back, crying softly and screaming.
"Someone! Help! Someone..."
But no matter how she called out, Shen Muhan remained with his eyes closed. Finally, she remembered Zhuang Ding and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Huh... are you talking about those two?"
Qingyue's eerie laughter reached her ears. Suddenly, two still-bleeding hearts appeared in her hands; they were faintly pulsating in the rain-soaked night. Xia Muxin's eyes widened in terror as she covered her mouth with one hand, feeling utterly helpless even as she cried.
Qingyue's smile was particularly sinister and chilling; it stood out starkly against the eerie backdrop of the rainy night. In an instant, she bit into one of the bleeding hearts and chewed it while looking at Xia Muxin with a mocking tone: "Do you know how many hearts Ming Lie has consumed in his lifetime? How much blood he has drunk?"
Xia Muxin trembled as she had never witnessed such a horrifying scene before; bile rose in her stomach but refused to come out.
She did not know if Qingyue had swallowed that piece of heart, but seeing her lingeringly lick her crimson lips, she leaned in and seductively said, "But... what I want to eat the most right now is..." As she spoke, her brows lowered, and her blood-stained finger pointed at Shen Muhan beneath Xia Muxin, her voice sharp as she declared, "It's his heart."
Xia Muxin shivered and instinctively moved back while holding onto Shen Muhan, trying to distance herself from Qingyue. However, the scene from just moments ago seemed to replay in her mind like a nightmare—an identical woman forcing her to eat the heart of a family member.
"Y-You... don't come any closer! If you do, I won't hold back!" At the same time, she reached into the mud, feeling around blindly. Suddenly, a chill ran through her fingertips as she grasped something in her hand and warned.
Yet she soon realized that what she held was not a weapon but a stone. The cold temperature of the stone seeped through her fingers and into her limbs, mirroring the despairing state of her heart, which felt battered and hopeless.
But it also ignited a flicker of hope. Where were Ming Yi and the others?
Qingyue merely smiled with a bloodthirsty grin before tossing two wet hearts aside. Her gaze turned icy as she extended her hands toward Xia Muxin.
Xia Muxin was so startled that she couldn't even make a sound. Her eyes widened as she watched the skeletal claws approach. In a panic, she swung her palm towards Qingyue's hand—one strike wasn't enough, so she struck again; two strikes weren't enough, so she struck three times.
With her eyes shut tight, she swung wildly, yet the stone remained firmly in her grip.
Qingyue had already lost too much blood and did not expect that her carelessness would lead to being struck. A crimson line appeared on the back of her translucent white hand, and the ugly wound became even more glaring in the dim light of that rainy night.
- End of Chapter -
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