Chapter 107 "Stop!" ...

"Stop!"

The outstretched branch stopped in place with a shout, its sharp tip just a finger's distance from Shuangmu's back.

In the illusory image, Shuangmu, trapped in a cage, stares intently at the bamboo in front of him, deep in thought. He rests his chin on one hand, tilts his head, and looks serious, completely unaware of the hidden danger behind him.

The thin hem of her dress billowed in the breeze, trembling precariously as the spikes swayed in front of her.

The swaying fabric was reflected in his constantly rippling eyes. Xie Zhuo's pupils trembled as he stared through the illusory image in mid-air at the calm face behind him, seemingly unaffected by the deadly act within the illusion. His voice trembled without him even realizing it:

"What are you doing!?"

"I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do." Lin Zhechun's tone was quite puzzled, not understanding why Xie Zhuo was stopping him.

“I’ve said it before, he shouldn’t exist.”

He was completely detached from Xie Zhuo's emotions, his aura blending seamlessly with the surrounding world, like an object devoid of life and emotion.

The wind whistled silently, its sound like a muffled sob as it passed through the dense foliage, chilling Xie Zhuo to the bone. The spot on his hand, scalded by the tea, was now red and throbbing with a fine, persistent pain.

Why must we take his life?

He had never developed strong feelings for Shuangmu in the past, but that didn't mean that as a father, he could stand by and watch his child die before his eyes, or be cruelly killed again.

The white silk covering Lin Zhechun's eyes had a few barely noticeable wrinkles, like the subtle shift in the atmosphere, but his voice remained cold and indifferent, like the snowflakes of winter, each one pressing down and making it hard to breathe.

"Xie Zhuo, you are wrong."

"It wasn't me who took his life. He died long ago, thirteen years ago, when Xiao Jin died. What you see before you now is nothing but a soulless body driven by desire. He can't even be called human; he's just a lump of flesh and blood forged with evil magic."

A long-lasting tranquility permeated the space. A grove of bamboo surrounded the not-so-wide open area, with thatched huts appearing and disappearing among the greenery. Only a stone table and the people sitting opposite each other on either side were clearly visible.

On the stone table is a simple wooden chessboard, with cracks faintly visible on the side. Black and white pieces are intertwined and fighting each other on the top of the board. One white piece is surrounded by enemies and is about to be kicked out of the game.

The two people sitting opposite each other may appear to be two players, but the one who is actually in control is always the same person.

"Xie Zhuo, don't be so stubborn. Letting a monster driven by desire go unchecked will only turn his surroundings into hell." He knew all too well the consequences.

To have something you've longed for and finally regained, only to have it snatched away the moment you get it, is like having a piece of your heart torn out.

The wind seemed to pass through an empty heart; the warm blood that flowed through it turned icy cold before spreading throughout his body, chilling him to the bone. Yet, the burning pain from the scalded tea became increasingly acute, though Xie Zhuo couldn't pinpoint the source of the pain. His voice carried an eerie calm:

"That's why you looked so strange that day. Why didn't you take him away then?"

If we had never received it, never possessed it, would the pain have been less unbearable...?

"It's been a long time since I've seen this kind of forbidden technique involving life and death. I couldn't be sure at the time; it will take time to confirm."

Lin Zhechun's voice remained cold and hard. His divine sense fell on the figure in front of him, who had grown into a young man. A suffocating emotion pressed down on the young man, making him momentarily dazed. Images of people bearing the same emotions flashed through his memory.

But time has passed too long, and everything he possessed, including his human emotions, has gradually faded away with the passage of time. He no longer knows when he escaped from that overly repressed emotion; the only certainty is that it took him a considerable amount of time.

The young man whose silhouette appeared in his consciousness was a mortal, lacking the time to escape. He still retained a sliver of human compassion, softening his tone and slowly bewitching him:

“Xie Zhuo, you shouldn’t treat him as that unborn child. He is just a shell that was repaired and grown from that rotten flesh and blood using forbidden techniques. He did not come back to life.”

Lin Zhechun's voice was like a bewitching spirit, and no one knew whether behind it lay sweet candy or a trap full of thorns.

"Let me see him one more time."

The heavy atmosphere was not broken by this sentence. Xie Zhuo raised his eyes, his drooping eyelashes casting a shadow on his pupils. His deep black pupils reflected an endless green, which turned into a dark green swamp, adding a touch of desolate barrenness to the vibrant colors.

...

The bamboo sections that had trapped the two trees and lay haphazardly retracted into the mud with a whoosh, and the bamboo forest blocking his path also moved in an instant, leaving a narrow path just wide enough for him to pass through.

He looked towards the end of the open view and saw a pale blue figure sitting among the verdant bamboo leaves.

The similar colors were clearly distinguishable in Shuangmu's eyes, and he instantly locked onto the figure.

Hiding her displeasure at being left behind, Shuangmu deliberately moved slowly toward the exit, but as she approached that color, she couldn't help but quicken her pace.

"Father, I've been looking for you for so long."

The complaint, which I hadn't expected, was met with a solid hug.

Shuangmu's head was still not fully responsive even after resting on Xie Zhuo's shoulder. He turned his head blankly, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of those turbulent eyes. The complex emotions in those eyes made his already confused mind even more chaotic.

Is Xie Zhuo treating him like that stone?

Although he said it was okay for Xie Zhuo to treat him like a stone, the sudden surge of bitterness in his heart overshadowed the secret joy that his eyes had finally been moved by him.

A warm feeling enveloped him, and the surging waves of desire mixed with a sour taste made Shuangmu reach out and hug the young man tightly.

"Father……?"

The feeling of finally getting what she had longed for made Shuangmu speak very softly, as if afraid of disturbing this dream.

The faint sound was barely audible amidst Xie Zhuo's barely concealed pain:

"sorry……"

I'm sorry I didn't bring you into this world.

I'm sorry, I failed to protect you.

I'm sorry for leaving you for so long.

...

Countless feelings of guilt coalesced into three words, which he uttered with difficulty.

Xie Zhuo held the cold body tightly, as if trying to integrate it into his bones and blood.

Then a breathy sound, so faint it was almost invisible:

"Run, run towards the sky."

He couldn't bear to watch someone kill his child, even if it was just a shell.

The moment Xie Zhuo pushed Shuang Mu aside, the surrounding bamboo forest grew upwards like crazy.

Futakimoto was still unhappy about the sudden loss of temperature, but noticing the changes around him, he gave Xie Zhuo a deep look and then nimbly flew away.

The chess pieces on the board trembled, and the bamboo, unable to move to the vacuum in the middle, could only tilt its branches, casting a net in the sky above to intercept the figures in the air.

"He has never done anything wrong."

Xie Zhuo looked back at the figure sitting in front of the chessboard, hoping to give Shuangmu a glimmer of hope.

Lin Zhechun ignored his words, and the chessboard shook even more violently. The light in the open space gradually diminished, replaced by the shadows of intertwined branches.

The clear sky was completely obscured, and a clump-like object made of flexible bamboo strips appeared above their heads, supported in mid-air by countless bamboo poles connecting its surroundings. Occasionally, muffled thuds echoed from within, clearly reaching the ground and punctuating Lin Zhechun's voice:

"His very existence is a mistake."

Xie Zhuo's nails dug tightly into his palms, but he couldn't stop the bamboo ball from compressing. For the first time, he felt the powerlessness of being a mortal.

The impacts inside gradually weakened and eventually vanished into nothingness.

The bamboo bundle fell to the ground, the branches broke apart, and it shrank back to its original length.

The bamboo in the forest still swayed gently in the wind, its long, narrow green leaves still fluttered; nothing had changed. Except for the figure that, once the bamboo branches had dispersed, revealed a body that would never open its eyes again.

“I removed the forbidden spell from him, and he simply returned to his original form.”

Before Lin Zhechun could finish speaking, Xie Zhuo had already reached the body that had returned to silence forever.

Shuangmu lay quietly on the ground, her face as usual, as if she were asleep.

The restored sky cast a bright, dazzling light that should have made one's eyelids twitch, but Shuangmu lay there peacefully, without making the slightest movement.

Xie Zhuo moved closer, squatted down, and cast Shuang Mu into his shadow.

He reached out, but his fingertips hovered above that face, unable to get any closer.

Shuangmu's vivid image floated before his eyes, and those moments when he had rejected her because she looked too much like Xiaobao became the only things he could cherish.

The exact same face.

Their micro-expressions and actions are remarkably similar.

No two leaves are the same in the world, and there will never be two Xie Baoqiongs in the world.

A soulless body driven only by desires.

He simply returned to his original state.

Lin Zhechun seemed to have never addressed Shuangmu by his name in front of him...

An absurd idea, so ridiculous that Xie Zhuo thought he was going crazy, sprouted like wild grass, and his heart pounded in his chest, almost leaping out of his chest.

He grasped at the only straw, and spoke, his voice trembling as he tried to control himself:

"Where's Xiaobao?"

His words, intertwined with the bamboo shadows, landed on the ground, swaying slightly. Lin Zhechun stepped on them, the fluttering ribbons connecting him to the bamboo shadows, as if he were also one of the bamboos manipulated by the chessboard.

But no one could understand Xie Zhuo's three seemingly nonsensical words, not even someone as strong as Lin Zhechun.

He stood behind Xie Zhuo, his divine sense watching the disheveled young man mutter incoherently.

The young man's low, husky voice rang out again, floating in the air along with the light dust:

"And who is Xiao Bao?"

As Lin Zhechun listened to his incoherent speech, he looked up. The sunlight shone equally on everyone, and he felt the warmth on his face. With eyes that couldn't see the light, he tried to catch the shimmering light in the air through the white silk:

Xie Baoqiong.

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Author's Note: It's a bit late today, lol. I'll update depending on the situation over the next two days. I need to calculate if I have enough words for the next ranking.