Chapter 45 - Letter
"I don't hate you."
A divine sense sounded in her empty heart; this finally caused a slight ripple in the depths of her eyes.
Luo Hongyu turned her head to look at the boy; he had no facial features, but she could feel his gaze.
"Because I understand you too well."
"I have seen all your forms from when you were a girl until now. Your good, your bad, the parts of you that make people like you, the parts that caused me pain—I know them all."
"Therefore, I can't muster any feelings towards you."
"I myself also find it very strange. Clearly, the 'I' conversing with you now was born from resentment, yet at this moment, I feel nothing at all."
"Perhaps I had already found relief long ago, but I just hadn't noticed it yet."
Luo Hongyu, as if she had found some pillar of support, dragged her body, staggering to her feet, and walked towards the direction where the boy was.
But the boy just continued to speak:
"By now, I am already dead in body. As resentment, having no lingering attachment, I should naturally also dissipate."
"Don't... Don't! Don't!!"
"If possible, I hope you can forget me."
This way is the best fulfillment for both of us.
The pain you gave me, I have also returned to you.
Why not just write it all off.
The black-robed boy waved his hand and disappeared like a flame that had been snuffed out.
This wisp of remnant thought's world of consciousness also evaporated along with him.
This also represented that this Shuang po-soul, thoroughly and completely, cleanly and entirely, now belonged to Luo Hongyu.
Upon it, there would no longer be even half a trace of Luo He's aura.
When Luo Hongyu woke up again, it was the Immortal Ascension Platform, which seemed as if it had experienced the end of the world.
The blood on her body had long since coagulated into clots, but her injuries, for some reason, had recovered as if new, and the spiritual energy within her body was also incomparably abundant.
The broken blade of the Lu Lan Sword was stuck in the ground beside her. She slowly stood up from the lightning pit, but after not even two steps, she fell to the ground again.
She clutched her chest.
The sword heart was lost.
She touched her waist.
The red jade was shattered.
Not far away, that old, worn mask lay peacefully on the ground.
After more than twenty years, it had returned to the hand of its original owner.
Luo Hongyu picked it up, held it in her embrace, lay on the ground, and closed her heavy eyes.
Someone had died.
She felt she should have been a young girl with ordinary talent from childhood, but who had a younger brother who was very good to her.
She wanted to push him to see the temple fairs, wanted to plant many flowers he liked for him, wanted to take him to see their Senior Sister.
As for what the future would be like, she hadn't thought it through yet. If he could still cultivate, she would cultivate with him until mortal death; if not, she would grow old together with him.
She wanted to look into his beautiful eyes and smilingly say to him...
Everything he had given her back then, she wanted to return to him.
And then, he still had to call her Elder Sister.
Holding such a simple and unadorned wish, she curled up her body and slowly fell asleep amidst the ruins.
Hoping that all of this, just like those eighteen years, would, after waking up, all be a nightmare.
"......"
A gaze from high above the Immortal Ascension Platform silently watched everything below.
She propped her head on her hand, pondering.
I didn't expect the effects of the Immortal's Tear to actually still linger until now... Looking at it, I don't know if it's good or bad.
But looking at that Young Master's appearance... in terms of the result, perhaps Luo Hongyu didn't necessarily succeed; the current Luo Hongyu looks no different from a cripple.
Should one say, "beyond the dark willows, bright flowers and another village appear," hehe.
As for Luo He, she actually didn't care too much.
The Willow Flute is still with him, which means he at least hasn't reached the point of complete soul annihilation.
If fated in the future, they could meet again.
Huoxin stretched lazily and grandly; she couldn't help but feel she'd truly watched a good show. Moreover, the oath was removed, and she was also unrestrained.
Indeed, the most important thing about being a ghost is freedom, ya.
When Huoxin left this place, she sighed with emotion like this again.
...
In that remotely located teahouse within Gengyang City, it had long since been deserted.
Behind the overturned tables, chairs, and benches, a sheet of letter paper lay on the counter.
On it was a line of graceful handwriting that read:
[Something major has happened in the Remnant Moon Sect; I must return immediately. It seems I won't be able to make it for the excitement of this Immortal Ascension Assembly.
Don't ask me why I didn't notify you. Hmph, this young lady simply didn't find it necessary.
However, since you've seen this letter, it means you either have some conscience and still remember the favor you owe this young lady.
Or you're just thick-skinned and looking for this young lady's help again; it's definitely for no good reason.
But no matter what, I'm informing you here: I temporarily can't get away right now.
If anything happens, be careful yourself. If it really comes to it, use the heart method I taught you to cultivate demonic qi and run to the Remnant Moon Sect to find me.
That's all.
By the way, the lotus flower you gave me, I like it very much.
In the future, I will give you an even more beautiful flower in return. Goodbye.]
...
When the Heavenly Tribulation dispersed, and the people who had previously fled in terror returned here, they discovered the soundly sleeping Luo Hongyu.
What happened afterwards was recorded thus...
In the 297th year of the Xuanxiao Calendar, Luo Hongyu of the Tianchen Sword Sect forcibly crossed a death tribulation during the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
Although she broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, however, her sword heart was tainted, and the Lu Lan Sword broke; whether this was a benefit or a detriment, who could know.
In the same year, Autumn Maiden Sword Gu Jing's whereabouts became unknown; Sect Master Luo Wenshui passed away due to illness.
The Young Master refused to succeed the position; the Seven Swords had lost two of their number. The Tianchen Sword Sect suffered a great loss of vitality; as the leader of the Immortal Path, its future was bleak.
The balance between the Righteous and Demonic paths also teetered on the verge of collapse. After that year, it was feared it would no longer be an era of peace.
...
Within Xianfeng City, a group of men dressed in coarse cloth short shirts crowded around a gaunt young man in the center, continuously fawning on him and refilling his wine.
"Reverend Immortal, and then what?"
"Heh... and then... hic..."
The gaunt young man let out a drunken hiccup, looking at the few people before him with hazy, intoxicated eyes.
He actually wasn't any Reverend Immortal at all, merely a bottom-of-the-barrel handyman disciple from the smallest branch of the Remnant Moon Sect, newly initiated, who after cultivating for over ten years was still at mid-stage Qi Refining.
He was responsible for running errands at this small stronghold here; to put it bluntly, he did odd jobs.
But he didn't really mind, as he quite liked the feeling of being called "Reverend Immortal" by these common mortals.
So, even though he clearly knew these people before him had no interest at all in what he was saying, he still took a large gulp of wine and continued to speak dazedly:
"And then, that is, our Demonic Son, His Lordship, was naturally going to capture that... hic, demoness and bring her back."
"Haha, who asked her to possess something that didn't match her strength... That, that Old Demonic Lord's Demonic Sarira, has always been a legendary treasure..."
"But as it turned out, ah, that demoness, truly... still had some tricks up her sleeve."
"She feigned submission but secretly harbored a killing move... Just as His Lordship the Demonic Son was about to successfully inherit the Sorrowful River, she erupted and directly crippled him."
"Not only that... she even snatched away the Sorrowful River and fled for her life with it."
"Hearing Reverend Immortal say it like that, that demoness really is quite a character."
"...A character? Hmph..."
The gaunt young man waved his hand disdainfully, shaking his head and saying:
"With the Demonic Son crippled, the Old Sect Master was so enraged on the spot he wanted to massacre a city, and personally made a move to capture her and bring her back to the Remnant Moon Sect..."
"No matter how much of a character she is... hic, I reckon she won't live past half a year.”