Chapter 36 p2
Nuan Nuan, always quick with a solution, had suggested rewriting fate.
In short, transferring a normal lifespan to Pei Yu.
That way, she would no longer be a cursed child, the conflict with the Sacred Seal would be resolved, and she would live.
That’s what Xin Yao was determined to do.
—Give her lifespan to Pei Yu.
She was leaving anyway. The curse would disappear with her, and Pei Yu would be safe.
The only cost was the excruciating pain Xin Yao would endure.
Her bones would break, her eyes would disappear, her organs would fail.
In the end, she would dissolve into nothingness, her body turning to dust.
Was she afraid?
Of course she was.
But she was more afraid of the regret of not doing everything she could.
She looked down at her fingertip, where a faint light flickered, a spell cast by Nuan Nuan.
All she had to do was touch her forehead with that light, and Pei Yu would be saved.
Having died once before, Xin Yao knew the true horror of death.
The pain, the fear, the utter despair, it tormented not just the body, but the soul.
Xin Yao, usually so timid, somehow found the courage, her hand trembling as she slowly raised her finger towards her forehead.
Tears streamed down her face as the wind and snow swirled around her, her fingertip almost touching her skin.
Just then, a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, its grip firm and unwavering, as if holding onto the entire world.
Xin Yao, startled, looked up, her tear-filled eyes meeting Pei Yu’s in the bright, snowy light.
Pei Yu, her white clothes stained with blood, knelt before her, her injuries a testament to the cost of her journey.
Ignoring her wounds, she looked up at Xin Yao, her expression gentle, a soft smile playing on her lips, tears streaming down her face.
She looked at Xin Yao, her voice soft.
“Yaoyao, let’s get married.”
“This isn’t the time for a proposal!” Xin Yao cried, her tears flowing freely.
“And I… I can’t stay.”
Pei Yu didn’t ask where she was going, or why she couldn’t stay. She didn’t pry into her secrets.
She simply brushed the light from Xin Yao’s fingertip away, then took her hand, her voice a soft plea.
“For me, please stay.”
Meanwhile, Li Henqing, having been thoroughly beaten by a furious Pei Yu, had just fallen from the sky.
He crawled out of a snowdrift, his appearance even more disheveled than Pei Yu’s.
He was about to approach Xin Yao and Pei Yu when, amidst the chaos, he heard the sound of heavy breathing and the frantic clicking of high heels.
Through the swirling snow, the camera zoomed out to reveal Pei Shuangshuang running towards them.
Her eyes, reflecting the chaotic scene, widened in recognition, as if she had been transported back in time to that nightmare on the mountain.
Li Henqing had appeared just like this, destroying everything.
Back then, she had been too young, too scared, too cowardly. She had run away.
And she had been running ever since.
Years of fear had turned into regret, then resentment.
She had hated Pei Yu.
But later, she had hated herself even more.
For her cowardice, for abandoning her daughter, for not having the courage to face her for so many years, afraid of causing her further pain.
But now, standing there in the snow, looking at Pei Yu, her daughter, covered in blood, and at Li Henqing approaching them, her gaze hardened with a newfound resolve.
She ran towards them.
The Pei Shuangshuang of twenty years ago had been afraid and had run away.
But the Pei Shuangshuang of today, finally finding her courage, stepped forward, overcoming her past cowardice, shielding her daughter with her body.
“I… I won’t let you hurt her!”
She was finally learning to be a mother.
Then, Xin Wanyin and Liu Yue arrived.
How this unlikely group had found each other and ended up on this remote mountaintop was a mystery.
Xin Wanyin, having finally reached the summit, still gasping for breath, saw Li Henqing, blocked by Pei Shuangshuang.
A flicker of recognition sparked in her mind, a distant memory, like a dream from a past life—
She had been standing outside a window, watching Xu Qing and his new wife inside. She had been crying, her heart filled with rage, wanting to claw her own eyes out.
And then a Taoist priest had appeared, ending her suffering with a single, effortless strike.
The pain and torment she had endured had vanished with that single blow.
And this man… he looked exactly like the Taoist priest in her dream.
No, not just looked like.
It was him!
Xin Wanyin’s DNA screamed in recognition, her body trembling with a sudden, inexplicable rage.
“You bastard!”
She lunged forward, slapping Li Henqing hard across the face.
The sound echoed through the silent mountains.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
Li Henqing’s expression remained impassive, his body still.
Then, after a moment of silence, the veins in his forehead throbbed, his grip on his sword tightening as he took a step forward.
His chubby disciple quickly intervened.
“Master! They’re just ordinary humans! Calm down!”
Liu Yue, thinking, “Holy shit! I took my eyes off her for one second!” pulled Xin Wanyin behind her.
“She’s just a child! She doesn’t know what she’s doing! Please forgive her!”
“Forgive her, my ass!” Li Henqing, ignoring Pei Yu, glared at Xin Wanyin. “Don’t stop me! She’s the real cursed child!”
His disciple was distraught. “Master, please calm down! You’re three hundred years old! Why are you arguing with a child?!”
Xin Wanyin scoffed. “So, you’re an old geezer, too.”
Liu Yue quickly covered her mouth. “Shut up! Do you want to make things worse?!”
The once quiet mountaintop was now filled with shouting and chaos.
Meanwhile, Lao Xin was still struggling to climb the mountain.
And Xin Yao and Pei Yu were still engaged in their dramatic scene.
Xin Yao, tears streaming down her face, clutched Pei Yu’s hand. “I can’t stay, Pei Yu. I have to leave eventually. But I have to save you first.”
What a fool.
She had been so afraid of Pei Yu’s snake tail, and now she was willing to sacrifice herself for her.
No, her Yaoyao had always been brave and determined.
And Pei Yu had to be worthy of her love and courage.
She stroked Xin Yao’s face, her eyes soft. “Don’t rush to leave. There’s another way.”
Another way?
Xin Yao looked at her, about to ask, when Pei Yu acted.
One hand held Xin Yao’s tightly, as if afraid she would disappear.
The other hand slowly reached towards her chest, her fingers passing through the fabric of her clothes as if it were water, disappearing into her chest cavity.
The movement, while seemingly effortless, was clearly painful, Pei Yu’s brow furrowed in concentration.
Xin Yao, startled by her actions, leaned closer, reaching out hesitantly as if to touch Pei Yu, but stopping just short of her skin.
Pei Yu’s fingers, inside her chest, closed around something.
The action made her wince, a mouthful of blood spilling from her lips.
Before Xin Yao could react, she pulled, as if tearing something from her chest, offering it to Xin Yao.
Her hand emerged, stained with blood, clutching a small, white, jade-like object.
It was the Sacred Seal of the Snow Mountain.
Pei Yu, in a moment of desperate madness, had ripped it from her own heart.
Having lived with the Seal for so many years, it had become intertwined with her very being, its removal akin to tearing out her own heart.
The pain was unimaginable, even for the usually stoic Pei Yu, her face contorted, her body trembling.
But she didn’t show it. She looked at Xin Yao, a smile on her bloodied lips, holding out the Sacred Seal, her eyes shining.
“See? Now you don’t have to worry about me anymore, Yaoyao.”
While the act had been brutal, it did reassure Xin Yao. She took Pei Yu’s hand, her own trembling slightly, her body weak with relief.
Now, even if she left, she could do so with a clear conscience.
The noisy crowd outside the dilapidated hut fell silent, witnessing Pei Yu’s self-mutilation.
Pei Shuangshuang, seeing her daughter covered in blood, gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
“What… what’s happening? What is she doing?”
Li Henqing, also watching, his expression even more bewildered than Pei Shuangshuang’s, his usually cold and indifferent eyes filled with a strange emotion as he stared at Pei Yu’s bloodied smile, the tears streaming down her face.
It was his chubby disciple who explained.
“The snake demon and the Sacred Seal can’t coexist. So, she ripped it out.”
Xin Wanyin, listening, her brow furrowed, murmured, “That looks painful.”
“It is,” the disciple nodded gravely. “Like tearing out your own heart. She’s ruthless. Is this the power of love? Master, I want a wife too.”
Li Henqing: “Shut up.”
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