So it really was because I went too far with what I said last night…
Catching a glimpse of the slight redness at the corner of Jiang Moqing’s eyes, Lin Que could already imagine the scene from the night before….her setting up a soundproofing formation, curling up alone under the blankets, quietly crying to herself.
No wonder the little demon had been able to feast on desire this morning.
Even though Lin Que believed he hadn’t done anything wrong, it was clear that, to some extent, he had hurt Jiang Moqing.
Looks like the Heartless Valley’s cultivation method isn’t as powerful as the legends claim. It still can’t completely sever emotions and desires.
In Lin Que’s eyes, his senior sister was a genius. Since she had practiced the Heartless Valley’s technique for years but still hadn’t reached the level of severing all emotional ties, it must be the method that was flawed…not her.
At breakfast in the inn, Lin Que ordered two bowls of sweet porridge and some steamed jujube cakes. Things on the sweeter side.
Jiang Moqing sat across from him, taking small sips of the porridge.
It was sweet. So sweet that the taste seemed to seep into her heart, and even her lips curled up ever so slightly without her realizing it.
“Junior Brother still remembers what I like to eat…”
“But I’ve forgotten the memories we shared…”
Because cultivating the Heartless Valley’s method involved actively choosing to seal away past memories, Jiang Moqing had forgotten many of the things she and Lin Que had gone through together. It wasn’t until the dreams she had recently that those memories began to return to her, bit by bit.
Thinking of this, Jiang Moqing’s mood slowly darkened and she began to contemplate something deeply.
Why had she gone to the Heartless Valley in the first place? Why had she chosen to forget almost all her memories of Lin Que? And… what about the blood-written letter she had left in her own handwriting?
[Never, ever go near Lin Que again. Don’t disturb his life anymore!]
That jagged message, written in blood, remained etched in Jiang Moqing’s mind to this day.
Was she supposed to follow what the bloodletter said? Most likely, yes. After all, Jiang Moqing had confirmed the handwriting was hers. There must have been a significant reason for her to write something so extreme.
But still… at the very least, she wanted to stay until she had helped her junior brother heal his arm. After that, she would definitely leave. She would no longer disturb his life.
Throughout the entire breakfast, Jiang Moqing kept her head down, staring into her bowl of sweet porridge. She didn’t say a word, nor did she dare meet Lin Que’s eyes.
It wasn’t until she had taken the final sip of porridge that she slowly opened her mouth.
“Junior Brother… about today’s healing… would it be alright to wait until tonight? I’d like to use the daytime to continue traveling.”
As she spoke, her gloved fingers laced together and rubbed slightly against each other. Her expression was somewhat unusual.
“Alright,” Lin Que replied without objection. “But since you already helped me guide the flow of spiritual energy once, I’ve grasped the method now. There shouldn’t be a need to do it the same way as before, right?”
“…No.”
Jiang Moqing shook her head and firmly denied it. “This cultivation method requires extremely delicate control through divine sense. Even the slightest mistake can cause the opposite of the intended effect. Someone must oversee the entire process.”
“…I see. Alright then.”
The technique used to heal the meridians in his arm was indeed effective. Moreover, Jiang Moqing had never given Lin Que the complete cultivation outline of the method for him to study, so he couldn’t be certain whether her explanation was truly accurate.
That said, Lin Que could understand why she hadn’t shared the full method. After all, a cultivation art capable of repairing damaged meridians, even if it couldn’t fully restore them, was unquestionably rare. The fact that she was willing to help him at all was already a tremendous favor, and there was no way Lin Que would ask for more.
Seeing that Lin Que had accepted her explanation, Jiang Moqing quietly let out a sigh of relief deep down.
But at that very moment, the voice of her inner demon surfaced once more.
He believes you…but do you believe yourself? Deceiving others like this, deceiving yourself like this… is that really the conduct of a righteous sect? As expected of the noble and upright senior sister~
Jiang Moqing didn’t respond. She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, stood up, and looked at Lin Que.
“Junior Brother, let’s go.”
Don’t think pretending not to hear means nothing happened. A woman who lies to herself….”
The inner demon sneered. Yet it still received no response, as if Jiang Moqing truly hadn’t heard it at all.
After finishing breakfast, Lin Que and Jiang Moqing continued on their way toward Evil Dragon Pool.
“At our current pace, we should arrive by tomorrow night,” Lin Que said calmly as he looked over the map Ao Xinyu had provided. “That’s even a bit faster than expected.”
Thanks to the Wind-Repelling Technique, even while standing on a fast-moving flying sword with no physical protection, the map remained perfectly steady, neither fluttering in the wind nor at risk of being torn apart.
“So we’ll arrive by tomorrow night…”
Jiang Moqing followed behind Lin Que, her eyes fixed on his upright figure. Her heart tightened, and a growing sense of uncertainty and unease welled up inside her.
The journey that had just begun, shared by only the two of them, was already nearing its end.
She knew Lin Que’s strength well. If they arrived at Evil Dragon Pool tomorrow night and took a short rest, by the next morning, he would likely have slain the evil flood dragon within.
And then… he would return home, resume his peaceful, happy life with his junior sister, and from then on, their paths would likely never cross again.
Jiang Moqing’s fists slowly clenched. Even as her nails pierced through her gloves and dug into her palms, she remained completely unaware. And yet, her heart was telling her something entirely different.
This is how it should be. Isn’t this exactly what I planned from the beginning? Help him heal the old injury in his arm, then quietly leave his life without disturbing his peace and happiness.
She knew full well she was someone with no future. So she couldn’t drag her junior brother into it….not ever.
And yet—
Jiang Moqing didn’t realize that her emotional fluctuations had already far exceeded the limits set by the Heartless Valley technique. They had crossed into the realm of normal human emotion.
Behind her, a dark silhouette with a figure similar to hers silently emerged. It seemed to be smiling.
The next day’s journey passed uneventfully.
After all, Lin Que and Jiang Moqing didn’t set foot on the ground the entire day. It wasn’t until nightfall that they landed in a city, found an inn, and stopped to rest.
As before, they booked two separate rooms. But this time, Jiang Moqing followed Lin Que into one of them.
It wasn’t about keeping things proper or separated. It was simply to heal him.
The two sat cross-legged on the bed, facing each other, hands extended and fingers interlocked.
Lin Que closed his eyes to regulate his breathing and swallowed an internal pill, while Jiang Moqing slipped off one side of his robe and applied a medicinal ointment to his arm with her hand.
Her fingers traced the firm, powerful lines of his muscles. The mere skin-to-skin contact, coupled with the sensation of his heat and the steady pulse of his veins, was enough to make Jiang Moqing’s mouth go dry and her breath grow hot.
Even circulating the Heartless Valley technique could hardly suppress this kind of heat.
As she looked at Lin Que’s closed eyes, the slight tremble of his thick lashes, his high-bridged nose, and those sharply defined lips like they were carved from stone, Jiang Moqing couldn’t help but lean in a little closer.
She wanted to be closer…wanted to touch him more intimately.
Her body temperature was steadily rising, and desire surged like a tide, almost ready to overflow. At some point, a faint, unhealthy flush had crept across her usually cold and serene face.
But just as her fingers began to tremble, as if ready to act on that impulse, Lin Que who was still meditating with eyes closed spoke.
“Senior Sister, can we begin?”
“…Yes. Yes, we can start.”
It was like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her. Jiang Moqing regained some of her composure, channeled her spiritual energy, and began guiding it to observe the flow of Lin Que’s energy channels and how he was absorbing the medicine.
This time, the process of absorption took even less time than before, and the efficiency had noticeably improved.
Noticing that the session had ended, Jiang Moqing reluctantly let go of Lin Que’s hand, which had been pressed against hers, and sincerely praised him.
“Junior Brother, you truly are a genius. To fully absorb such potent medicine within an hour…it was even faster than last time.”
“You flatter me, Senior Sister. If it weren’t for your guidance, I wouldn’t have been able to reach this point,” Lin Que replied humbly.
“No… I didn’t do anything beyond what was needed. It was all thanks to your own efforts.”
After exchanging a few modest words, Lin Que burst out laughing.
“Senior Sister, hasn’t it been a long time since we last had a normal conversation like this?”
“Mm… yes, it really has. It’s a nostalgic feeling.”
Jiang Moqing smiled shyly. It was a stark contrast to her usual cold, aloof demeanor outside.
Being with Lin Que didn’t require thrilling adventures or emotional highs. Just staying by his side, sharing these ordinary conversations, was enough to fill her heart with warmth.
But then, Lin Que suddenly changed the subject. “That’s why… I think parting ways back then was the right decision after all.”
He looked at Jiang Moqing, his expression softening slightly, gentle and tinged with a faint smile.
Yet that smile, for some reason, sent a wave of panic through Jiang Moqing’s heart.
She liked Lin Que very much, but she didn’t like the way he smiled, as if he had truly let go of the past. That smile made her feel, with painful clarity, that she had really lost him.
“Why would you say that, Junior Brother?”
Jiang Moqing didn’t ask him directly why they had parted ways back then. She didn’t want Lin Que to know that she had sealed away and forgotten that part of her memory, which still hadn’t returned.
That’s right~ This way… he’ll think you’ve truly moved on~ And then, when his guard is down, you’ll have your chance…
The voice of her inner demon echoed in her mind at the worst possible moment.
I would never do something like that! And the reason I haven’t told him about my memory loss isn’t as despicable as you think. I just… don’t want him to worry. I don’t want him to think I’m running away from the past.
Aren’t you running from the past? Ever since that day, you haven’t once truly faced yourself.
You… coward.
“I am not.”
As Jiang Moqing silently argued with her inner demon, Lin Que continued speaking:
“When we were together, you stopped being yourself. And I stopped being myself too. Only after we separated were we finally able to be independent.”
His tone was calm, tinged with a hint of sentiment. “Seeing you return to how you were in the beginning, Senior Sister, truly makes me happy. Even though I’m no longer under Teacher An’s tutelage, as long as you don’t mind, I Lin Que will be your junior brother for the rest of my life.”
“For life… a junior brother, huh.”
Upon hearing those words, Jiang Moqing suddenly lost all desire to argue with her inner demon. And the demon’s voice too fell completely silent.
It was as if both of them had gone quiet.
A senior and junior for life… but only that, just senior and junior.
That was what Lin Que meant to say.
It felt as though all the strength had been drained from her heart. Jiang Moqing’s limbs went weak, but she still forced a smile to the corners of her lips and responded to Lin Que.
“Mm. We’ll be senior and junior for life.”
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