Chapter 71: Breakup

Mother, back then.

This direct questioning, like the sharp pain from the wounds on his wrists and legs, pierced straight into his brain.

He suddenly realized what day it was.

Meng Lanxi died, and the promise he made to his mother had turned to ashes. What made him most desperate was that before Meng Lanxi died, he already knew that he would not be able to fulfill his promise to his mother in this lifetime.

He had no way to help Meng Lanxi or anyone else get her, no matter who it was, in this life.

Because he could not tolerate there being another person in this world who could call her Deng Deng, see her smile that belonged only to him, and receive the embrace that belonged only to him.

For eighteen years, he had walked step by step to where he is today because of the hatred overflowing in his heart.

He had successfully exacted revenge, he had kept the secret and had killed all his enemies. Even thanks to her help, he was able to hide everything and leave. It was simply perfect.

There is only one thing he knows deeply.

This illusory dream, like his life experience, will be buried forever without leaving any trace.

Just like everything between her and me, it was a dream and should not leave any trace.

He held the reins tightly, stared at her for a long time, and finally uttered only one word: "Yes."

These cold words made Qiandeng's eyes burn, and he slowly let go of his horse.

She heard his words, as cold and ruthless as before: "If it wasn't for my mother's last words before she died, if it wasn't because I owed them mother and son, how could I have wandered around your house for so long, and how could I have come to your side and become one of these ridiculous men?"

"So, when you called me Dengdeng, when we imagined our future, when you let me fall asleep peacefully on your shoulder... when you saved me and risked everything for me, were those all fake?"

"Yes, they are all fake." His voice was cold, but his words were rapid and hot.

Before his eyes was his mother's pale face before her death, which turned into the white mist lingering on her cheeks when Qian Deng asked, "Why not you?"; sometimes it was the bloody sunset that was lost in his eyes when he was six years old, which dissolved into a pool of blood when Meng Lanxi finally died.

When his mother was dying, he really wanted to make up for her kindness of giving birth to him with a promise so that she could rest in peace.

But in the end he realized that he had failed to fulfill that promise both physically and mentally.

In the rest of his life, even if he had a bright future, a vast frontier and a broad world waiting for him, what he lost would only be known to him.

Qian Deng refused to let him go, demanding, "Then, after saving Meng Lanxi and helping him connect, why did you come back? You could have taken advantage of the New Year's Day to completely leave. Why didn't you just disappear from our lives?"

Why, why not end it sooner?

He stared into her eyes. She stubbornly held back her tears, but she couldn't hide the redness in her eyes and the desperate look that refused to go out.

In a trance, he seemed to see his younger self, watching all his dreams disappear and never be achieved, and clearly facing the destruction of his own life.

The madness of a desperate beast that was seriously injured and on the verge of death suddenly died out, and the impulse in his heart to destroy the world and himself was dimmed.

"Because," he finally answered, "I have tracked down the murderers who committed the crime and know that they are very likely to have fled to Chang'an."

And he couldn't let others do it, this matter had to be solved secretly and thoroughly by himself.

Qian Deng stared at him intently, thinking of the few rebel soldiers in the ruined temple that he had been determined to wipe out without regard for their lives. He asked word by word, "So, you pursued us all the way, vowing to kill everyone. Even though you knew we were all in the ruined temple and that if a fire broke out, I and everyone else would be in danger of being buried in the sea of ​​fire, you insisted on killing everyone to prevent your mother's miserable fate from being known."

"Since I'm going to do this, I'm sure I can arrange it properly."

"Is that so? If Ji Linyou hadn't risked his life to save him, Jin Tang would have perished in the fire, and Meng Lanxi wouldn't have needed to do anything!" His chest was filled with burning indignation. The horrific truth was completely torn open, blood dripping everywhere. Qian Deng roared desperately, "And you, in order to protect the secret and to help your evil brother, framed the upright and kind-hearted Langjun and the loyal old subordinates of my father and grandfather! Ling Tianshui, I trusted and respected you in vain, and treated you like my father and grandfather. I was so blind!"

Seeing the resentment and despair in her eyes, and the feeling of powerlessness that had left his heart, Ling Tianshui no longer wanted to hide it. He exposed and vented his ugliest side, desperate to tear apart even the last remaining illusions she had about him. "Don't compare me to your father! If it weren't for him... if it weren't for him shielding his soldiers for personal gain and refusing to kill those bandits for us, how could mother and I have been separated for eighteen years? How could my mother have lived this miserable half of her life, and how could she have died so young and depressed?"

"Ling Tianshui! You yourself came from the military, and you know exactly what it means to enforce the law as firmly as a mountain and enforce it as iron! Not to mention my father, when facing a powerful enemy, would you, in a fit of rage, arbitrarily punish a soldier who violated military discipline without going through military law? Just because you're the superior, can you bypass military law and discipline and do whatever you want?"

"You don't have to lecture me from a high position! All I know is that for the past eighteen years, every day and every night, I've had a burning wish in my heart: that they all die!"

"Even if they all have to die, it's not a reason for you to pin the blame on Ji Linyou and vent your anger on my Changhua Palace!"

Qiandeng roared, her heart filled with resentment. A cold light flashed in her hands, and the two sharp blades he had given her were pulled out by her like lightning.

"Ling Tianshui, from today onwards, all our past ties are severed!"

After saying that, she swung the sharp blade and slashed fiercely at the reins in front of her.

The reins suddenly broke, and the black horse under his crotch, which was ready to fight, suddenly loosened its restraints and subconsciously stood up and neighed, raising its front hooves high.

The wounds on his hands and feet were torn apart in an instant. He had been bleeding all the way to this point. He had lost too much blood. Darkness filled his eyes and he could no longer hold on to the broken reins. He fell off the horse and fell into the dust.

Ling Tianshui propped up his exhausted body and looked up at her in front of him. Despite this unprecedented embarrassing situation, he just remained silent.

He only felt dizziness in front of his eyes. In the darkness, only the cold light of the sharp blade in her hand was reflected in his eyes, which was more brilliant and dazzling than the sunlight in the sky at this time.

He saw her figure approaching step by step, and heard her voice sternly: "The relationship between you and me is severed, but I will not forgive your revengeful intentions towards my Changhua Palace and your actions that go beyond the rules!"

Perhaps because the wounds had bled too much along the way, he felt his body gradually getting colder and his joints were frozen, unable to move.

He just stared at her steadily, his voice hoarse: "If the county lady really dares to punish me, then report the crime."

"Alright! Ling Tianshui, you disregarded and even exploited the imperial decree by entering my Changhua Palace to assist Meng Lanxi, disrupting the order of the Imperial Court's Ministry of Rites' selection of a son-in-law. This is your first crime. You shielded Meng Lanxi and orchestrated the fake death and disappearance of Meng Lanxi, attempting to help the real culprit conceal the truth and escape legal punishment. This is your second crime. You targeted my father's and grandfather's former subordinates out of personal vendetta, framing Ji Linyou and accusing loyal officials. This is your third crime! Let me ask you, what do you have to say?"

The remaining strength he had was only enough to barely hold up his upper body, and he raised his hawk-like eyes to look at her.

Unexpectedly, when his truth was exposed and he was captured covered in blood, he still had such a cold gaze.

"What's more—" She stared at him fiercely and angrily, gritting her teeth and asking, "As a soldier of the Tang Dynasty, you infiltrated the Northern Yamen Forbidden Army and my Changhua Palace to avenge an old grudge, provoking trouble and slaughtering people without authorization. What crime should you be charged with?"