Shen Zhaozhao had released Yun Wan'er's hand at some point and stood beside her, holding the hilt of the Zixiao Sword in her hand, her expression indifferent, as if she had just done a trivial thing.

Yun Wan'er opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, to question, or to curse.

But a large amount of blood gushed from her mouth, silencing all the words she had left unsaid.

Her eyes widened, filled with disbelief and a bewilderment she could never comprehend, even in death.

Shen Zhaozhao flicked her wrist slightly and swiftly withdrew the Zixiao Sword.

Yun Wan'er swayed, and the light in her eyes quickly dimmed. She could clearly feel her life slipping away, and the cold touch of death was spreading rapidly from her pierced heart to her limbs and bones.

My vision began to blur and become unfocused, and all I could hear was the suffocating gurgling sound of blood gushing from my mouth.

……Why?

Her fate seemed destined to be different.

She was the pride of the Tianyan Sect, the darling of her master, and the only star in her senior brother Gu's eyes. Her life should have been filled with adulation and smooth sailing, ultimately leading her to the pinnacle and being admired by thousands.

When did everything start to change?

It seems... it was after that rookie competition?

Or perhaps... it's in Liuyunchuan?

She saw that man, a god-like figure formed from the ice and snow of the heavens. At that moment, her shallow liking and dependence on Gu Xuanchen suddenly seemed so ridiculous and cheap...

How could she be content to just stay with Gu Xuanchen?

She, Yun Wan'er, deserves the best in the world.

If... if back in Liuyunchuan, she hadn't stepped into the top pavilion because of that uncontrollable covetousness and greed, and hadn't provoked that person who didn't belong to her at all...

Perhaps even earlier, she hadn't been bewitched by Ye Wushang and hadn't accepted that piece of black jade marrow...

Would her fate have been completely different?

She might still be that beloved junior sister, cherished by her master and protected by her senior brothers, cultivating steadily and steadily, improving her cultivation step by step. Although it would be slower, at least... she wouldn't be like this now, lying in a cold, filthy water dungeon, a gaping hole in her heart, her life slowly draining away with her blood...

This thought, like a venomous snake, bit her hard in the final moments of her life, bringing a sharp, belated sense of regret.

But this remorse was not directed at her fellow disciples whom she had harmed, nor at the seal she had destroyed, nor at her twisted heart.

She just regretted... regretted that she seemed to have... chosen the wrong path?

Did you use the wrong method?

If the methods were more covert, if the planning were more thorough, if...

However, no amount of "ifs" will make any difference.

Darkness, like a tidal wave, completely engulfed her last remaining consciousness.

Those eyes, once brimming with innocence and vulnerability, were now filled with deep confusion and resentment, completely losing all their luster.

...

Inside the water dungeon, there was a deathly silence.

Lingxiao Zhenren stared blankly at Yun Wan'er, who lay lifeless in a pool of blood, as if it had been a long time before he finally realized what had happened.

He suddenly looked up, his gaze fixed on Shen Zhaozhao standing to the side. His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins, his chest heaving violently. A mixture of overwhelming rage, heart-wrenching pain, and an indescribable panic almost tore him apart.

He wanted to roar, to question, to rush forward recklessly—

But the remaining rationality, and the paper talisman figure suspended in mid-air, radiating an invisible pressure, acted like a cold shackle, firmly imprisoning all his impulses.

He finally staggered to Yun Wan'er's side, his hands trembling as he tightly embraced her still-warm but completely stiff body.

It's as if doing this can salvage something.

He raised his head and looked at Shen Zhaozhao, his voice distorted by extreme suppression and grief, carrying an almost tearful question: "Didn't you see?! Wan'er... she regretted it in the end! She already knows she was wrong!"

"Why...why didn't you give her a chance?! She already regrets it!"

He repeatedly emphasized the word "regret," as if it were the only fig leaf he could find to cover up the life that had passed away in his arms, and his own unplaceable grief and guilt.

Shen Zhaozhao lowered her eyes, and with a gentle flick of her wrist, the warm blood on the Zixiao Sword drew a crimson arc in the air before falling onto the cold ground with a soft "drip" sound.

She then raised her eyes, her gaze calm to the point of indifference, and fell upon Lingxiao Zhenren's face, which was contorted with grief.

"Does she regret it?"

"She knows she's wrong?"

Shen Zhaozhao tilted her head slightly, a cold and piercing smile curving her lips.

Stop deceiving yourself.

"She doesn't know she was wrong—"

Shen Zhaozhao's gaze swept over the lifeless corpse in his arms, her tone resolute and cruel, piercingly clear: "She only knew that she was going to die."

"..."

Lingxiao Zhenren trembled violently, his arms around Yun Wan'er tightened involuntarily, and he opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn't utter a single word.

Grief, like a tsunami, overwhelmed him once again.

Yet, beneath this overwhelming grief, an undeniable, chilling clarity emerges sharply, like a hidden reef beneath the water.

yes……

They colluded with the demon realm, broke the seal, harmed their fellow disciples, and extracted and refined their souls...

Each and every one of these incidents is a capital offense.

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