Jiang Moqing was ill, and the cause of the illness was Lin Que himself.
Thus, Lin Que presented the only cure he could think of.
“Choose. Either we separate, or I die.”
Using his own life as leverage, he forced Jiang Moqing to make a choice.
Watching this scene, both Jiang Moqing and the observing Qin Wanyuan were stunned.
“One month of time… which means that from the moment Lin Lang was imprisoned by Senior Sister, he had already stopped absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and silently allowed Senior Sister to do whatever she wanted the whole time, all for this very moment…”
In truth, Lin Que understood very clearly that since Jiang Moqing had chosen to walk that most extreme path, it meant she had already prepared everything in advance, and an unprepared him had no possibility of escaping.
And that was indeed the case.
The only chance was to wait until Jiang Moqing had fallen into such madness that she lost herself completely. Only then would she overlook certain things.
So Lin Que chose to gamble.
And he had indeed won the gamble.
Looking at Lin Que beneath her, whose aura was growing weaker and weaker, Jiang Moqing truly panicked.
Lin Que was serious.
She really did want to be with her junior brother forever. Even if she herself died, she wouldn’t care.
But… what if her junior brother died because of it?
Jiang Moqing had never believed that dying together meant eternal companionship. Death was simply death….nothing would remain, and even the remnants of a soul would likely dissipate into heaven and earth sooner or later.
What’s more… the guilt of having caused her junior brother’s death would follow her for the rest of her life.
For a brief instant, Jiang Moqing suddenly hated herself. Why hadn’t she learned some of the evil cultivators’ soul-binding techniques? If she had, she could have preserved her junior brother’s soul and then rebuilt a body for him.
The terrifying thought lingered in her mind for only a moment before she ultimately abandoned it.
She didn’t want to kill her junior brother. Absolutely not.
“Junior Brother… are there really… only these two choices?” Jiang Moqing’s voice carried a trace of pleading. She understood very well that she truly was about to be abandoned.
And all of this was her own doing. There was no way to undo it.
Looking at Jiang Moqing’s tear-filled eyes, a hint of reluctance flashed through Lin Que’s gaze, but he still closed his eyes and then… nodded.
“I’m foolish. This is the only method I could think of.”
“Alright… I understand.” Jiang Moqing’s voice trembled slightly. She took the key to the chains out of her storage ring, unlocked the shackles, and freed Lin Que.
As for herself, she climbed down from the bed and curled up on the floor, crying.
The moment he regained his freedom, Lin Que took a deep breath. His withered body greedily absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy, and in those lifeless, vacant eyes that had seemed dead, a trace of color finally returned.
He trembled as he supported himself against the bed, got down, and retrieved two robes. One he draped over himself, and the other he placed over Jiang Moqing’s body.
“For the sake of both of us being able to live well, I think… it would be best if we never met again.” Lin Que said calmly.
“…..” Jiang Moqing said nothing, only crying silently.
The moment Lin Que turned around, Jiang Moqing sat up. Looking at his departing back, a trace of desolation flashed in her eyes. Then, without the slightest hesitation, she took out a spirit sword from her storage ring and slashed it toward her own neck.
Slash—
The blade cut through flesh, but it was not Jiang Moqing’s slender neck that was wounded….it was Lin Que’s hand. He had grabbed Jiang Moqing’s sword.
Drops of blood fell to the ground, mixing with the tears. Lin Que coldly looked at Jiang Moqing, who was kneeling on the floor, while Jiang Moqing stared in shock at Lin Que’s injured hand.
She raised her head. “Junior Brother, why did you save me…”
Before Jiang Moqing could finish speaking, Lin Que had already raised his hand high and slapped her across the face.
Her cheek burned with pain. Jiang Moqing’s expression remained frozen in shock, as if time had stopped, while anger appeared on Lin Que’s face.
This was the first time he had ever slapped Jiang Moqing.
It was also the first time he had ever been this furious.
“Jiang Moqing, is this the answer you’re giving me?”
Lin Que glared at Jiang Moqing, gritting his teeth. Nearly squeezing every bit of air from his throat, he roared, “Do you want me to feel guilty for the rest of my life because of this?! Jiang Moqing, let me tell you….your life stopped belonging to you alone a long time ago! If you treat your own life so cheaply, how can you face the teacher who saved you back then?!”
The moment she heard Lin Que call her by her full name, fear actually flickered in Jiang Moqing’s eyes. She covered her burning cheek, looking like a child who had done something wrong.
“I… I… Waaaah!!”
The miserable beauty cried loudly, like a child, wailing without restraint.
Lin Que did not comfort her. He merely watched her coldly, letting his blood drip onto the ground as if he felt no pain at all.
If he showed even a trace of tenderness now, everything he had done before would be for nothing.
Jiang Moqing was ill….gravely ill. If he continued to stay with her, it would only harm her, and it would harm himself as well.
Rather than continue entangling themselves and tormenting each other, it would be better for them to separate, allowing both of them to return to being independent… people again.
So he simply watched quietly. Only after Jiang Moqing’s sobbing finally stopped did he softly say to her, “Now… do you understand what you should do?”
“…Mm.” Jiang Moqing nodded with a hoarse voice.
“Good. As long as you understand.” Lin Que nodded, then turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
After that, Lin Que applied to An Xiaoyao for permission to leave the mountain gate, wishing only to become an ordinary inner sect disciple. An Xiaoyao originally wanted to persuade him to stay, but seeing the determination in Lin Que’s eyes, she finally gritted her teeth and agreed.
The two parted ways. Jiang Moqing went to the Heartless Valley to cultivate, while Lin Que remained in the Sword Seeking Sect as nothing more than an ordinary inner sect disciple, living a quiet and peaceful life.
Watching the course of these events unfold, even Qin Wanyuan, who was merely an onlooker, could see Lin Que’s determination and decisiveness.
“If Lin Lang truly wants to part ways with someone, then he would really be that resolute…”
She suddenly felt a trace of fear. If one day Lin Que also chose to leave her, would he be just as decisive?
“Pah, pah, pah! Why am I thinking about such unlucky things? I would never do anything that extreme… At most, I just died for love with him in my previous life. And that was in a previous life anyway, it doesn’t count. Mm, it doesn’t count!”
After comforting herself like this in her heart, Qin Wanyuan finally let out a sigh of relief.
However, she soon thought of another problem and couldn’t help but grow worried.
“Senior Sister pushed things to such an extreme that Lin Lang had to threaten with his life just to get away. How am I supposed to win him over now… This knot in his heart won’t be easy to untie.”
“If I had known earlier, I should have chosen Master from the start. At least there aren’t that many conflicts between her and Lin Lang, and Master’s personality is so gentle. She definitely wouldn’t go to such extremes like Senior Sister…”
After thinking about it for a moment, Qin Wanyuan stopped herself, because the thought was somewhat rebellious, even bordering on betraying her master.
However,
What Qin Wanyuan didn’t know was that, at that very moment inside the cave, Jiang Moqing opened her eyes which were now filled with tears.
“I… remember now.”
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