Chapter 66 Fear Arises from Love

"Zhuang Jinfu, you've forgotten your roots." Ling Shu blushed, her voice barely audible. She liked her like this, yet she was also afraid of her. "We can kiss a hundred times in private, but we can't kiss even once in the sunlight."

"Ling Shu, you're cutting my heart with a knife." Zhuang Jinfu's enthusiasm also faded.

"They must have tried to persuade you." Because she didn't appear when the disaster struck Bitan Mountain, Ling Shu, for some reason, firmly believed that she must have wanted to save her. Her absence must have been due to someone stopping her.

“It’s not their place to interfere,” she turned to Ling Shu, looking her intently, as if trying to figure out what had changed her. “Who has come to see you?”

“No one.” Ling Shu avoided her gaze.

“It must have been Cang Luo who came looking for you, or it could have been Wang Lifu.” Zhuang Jinfu muttered to himself, then was interrupted, “Zhuang Jinfu.”

“I never had the chance to speak to you as an equal. I know I have always been offensive, but now I have learned to repent and start anew. The me who is speaking to you now is just a wild fox that you rescued on a whim.”

"No, don't overthink it."

“Let me finish. I didn’t think much of it; I’m just stating the facts. You are high and mighty, while I am lowly and humble, it has always been so.” Ling Shu still didn’t dare to look her in the eye, afraid that if she did, the pain from the difference in their status would completely shut her up.

Fear arises from love.

“Immortal Venerable, please allow me to offend you one more time and frankly tell you the pros and cons.” Ling Shu said, then looked up at her and looked away again. “Your obsession with me is not worth it. You cannot abandon the masses outside, and the world cannot accept my love for you. Rather than leaving behind a bad reputation, it is better to end it here.”

Zhuang Jinfu knew that this meant they were going to part ways completely. She couldn't understand why they were playing around just a moment ago, but after a kiss, she had changed completely. It must be because she was abrupt, rash, and too obsessive that Ling Shu resisted her and refused to get close to her.

"Let's not worry about that, okay? We were just together, weren't we happy? Shu'er, I just want you to be happy, that's enough." Zhuang Jinfu was about to get off the bed again when a warm hand grabbed her. Ling Shu knew she was about to kneel down and beg again.

Why do you put yourself down so much? You deserve everything in this world, except me.

Ling Shu had no other choice but to step into the muddiest place: "Zhuang Jinfu, what you gave me is not enough, and you can't give me what I need."

Zhuang Jinfu looked at him as if he had grasped a lifeline, his eyes gleaming: "Whatever you want, I'll give you anything, everything! Just tell me what you want?"

Ling Shu roared, "I want the world to acknowledge our love! I want you to say 'I love you' outright! Can you give me that?! Can you even say it?!"

"I..." Zhuang Jinfu's voice sounded hoarse.

“Say you love me,” Ling Shu said coldly.

"I...I..." The rest of the words seemed to be stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say them no matter what. This was the restriction of the Path of Ruthlessness.

"Tell me!" she pressed.

Zhuang Jinfu opened her mouth, but couldn't even form the words "I love you." She opened her mouth and then closed it again, her lips trembling. A tear slid down her right eye. The fairy maiden wept, as if even the heavens were moved to tears.

Ling Shu's words were like knives, she was determined to stab the pain to the deepest point. She laughed like a madwoman: "Hahaha, you can't even say 'I love you' that common people say, how dare you talk to me about being together? Hahaha, Zhuang Jinfu, I am just a common person, I want the simplest, most straightforward, and most vulgar kind of love."

"You can't give it to me!" she feigned smugness, but in reality, her heart felt like it was being crushed into her flesh by tiny shards of glass, a jumbled mess that she couldn't distinguish between flesh and glass. She held back her tears and scolded, "You say you can't, you can't give it to me, you can't do it, what else do you dare to dream of!"

"I'm not some cat or dog that you can keep in your backyard and feed with fancy food every day. You want me to be a canary or a vine? I'm a wild fox who loves to roam the world. You want me to compromise for you and live your pipe dream!"

Zhuang Jinfu looked at Ling Shu, a complete stranger, with red eyes, like a child being punished for doing something wrong. He tried to force a smile, but the pain prevented him from doing so. He repeated this several times.

As expected, God did not bestow any light upon her.

After Ling Shu finished speaking, she remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, calmly replying, "Yes, I know."

"Open the door, it's almost dawn."

The oppressive aura dissipated, the barrier loosened, and it completely disappeared.

Ling Shu got off at the hotel and passed by her, when suddenly her hand was grasped by her.

"Are you still going to persist?" "No." The tear tracks under his eyes had dried, like makeup made up for crying, or like ink spilled from a discarded bottle. Zhuang Jinfu had shed his aloof and cold demeanor. "I need your help."

"What?" Ling Shu paused for her.

“My Dao heart is unstable. Five months from now, around the Dragon Boat Festival, there will be a natural disaster in Nanxi City. You will come with me. I have a magical power to repair the barrier, which requires demonic power to operate.” This is the only thing that can keep her here for a while.

Ling Shu was taken aback. Perhaps this was all thanks to her, so she had no choice but to agree: "Okay."

"I cannot tell anyone that my Daoist mind is unstable."

"Um."

The master and disciple left Zhujin Mountain. Neither of them slept all night, but neither of them had any desire to sleep. Today was the day to interrogate the rabbit demon, and Li Qiaoyan was in charge of the trial.

Ling Shu wanted to go and listen for Li Chang's sake, but Zhuang Jinfu remained silent and simply followed her out. Whatever the Immortal Venerable wanted to do, no one in the Shangqing Sect, except for Wang Lifu and Cang Luo, dared to stop him, let alone Ling Shu.

When the two arrived, it had already begun. In the torture chamber, various instruments of torture covered the entire wall. The rabbit demon's hands were bound and she was hung on an iron frame, which was stained with blood. Behind her, the wall was covered with bloodstains that led in different directions.

The rabbit demon was pale, and four long whip marks tore her prison uniform, yet she still retained a shred of dignity. She chuckled, "Is this all you've got?"

Li Qiaoyan, holding a leather whip, glared angrily: "I'm asking you a question! Where is the third young lady of the Li family?!"

The rabbit demon suddenly burst into tears, wailing loudly and unbearably: "Li Xinzhi, Li Xinzhi, waaaaah! Li Xinzhi!"

"Madman!" A sharp crack rang out as the leather whip lashed down, the sound of flesh being torn open. "I'm asking you, where is Li Xinzhi!"

The rabbit demon struggled, making a clanging sound as she hit the chains, and she seemed to go mad: "You're asking me?"

Li Qiaoyan had no choice but to put his hands on his hips and press his brows, feeling a great headache. He glanced at the person who had come and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Immortal Venerable, the results of the interrogation are not yet available. The torture chamber is in disarray. What are your orders, Immortal Venerable, that you have graced this humble place with your presence?" After saying this, he looked at Ling Shu and cast a very kind and loving gaze upon her.

Zhuang Jinfu: "Nothing much, just some free time, so I came to listen to the trial."

Li Qiaoyan responded, and then saw Ling Shu walk towards the rabbit demon. Just as she was about to get close, the rabbit demon suddenly bared its teeth and opened its mouth to bite Ling Shu, but Li Qiaoyan quickly pulled her back, and the rabbit demon missed its target.

"The rabbit demon is ferocious, stay away." Compared to the cold words during the interrogation, these words were much gentler.

Ling Shu stared at the rabbit demon and reached out to Li Qiao, saying, "Give it to me."

Li Qiaoyan's eyebrows twitched. This child was indeed raised wild and quite rude. She couldn't help but glance at Zhuang Jinfu, who looked completely used to it. She had a self-consistent logic; after all, this was a legitimate young lady, so it was normal for her to be a little rude.

The whip was handed over.

Ling Shu plucked a fox hair from behind her ear, blew it gently, and it landed on the rabbit demon and disappeared. The rabbit demon lowered its head and looked weak.

"look up."

The rabbit demon looked up indifferently, but when it saw Ling Shu, a shrill scream echoed throughout the torture chamber.

“Li Xinzhi…” Her lips trembled.

"You've hurt me so badly, how can you still have the nerve to live?!" she roared.

Ling Shu scoffed dismissively and retorted, "I harmed you?"

Li Qiaoyan was puzzled as to why she suddenly revealed the truth. Zhuang Jinfu explained that this was a seductive technique of the fox clan, which could bewitch people's hearts. When fox fur entered the body, one would see a phantom image, which would entice one to tell the truth.

It's you, it's all you!

"What about me?" Ling Shu didn't know the truth, so she only said some vague and leading words.

"You begged me to marry you, and when I refused, you forced me into it. If it weren't for you... if it weren't for you... you'd be worse than an animal!"

"Oh."

The "ha" only fueled her emotions further.

"I'll hate you for the rest of my life! I raised that bastard child of Li Chang for sixteen years, sixteen years is enough!"

Those present deduced that Li Chang was the child born to the rabbit demon by the real Li Xin. This explained why she abandoned Li Chang to protect herself; a child born out of love is, after all, a child born without love.

Tears welled in the rabbit demon's eyes, but she made a laughing face: "You're dead, hahahaha! Venus fever, hahahaha! You got yourself sick and died, hahahaha, serves you right!"

Li Qiao was speechless and extremely embarrassed. This was also a scandal for her Li family. The cultivators kept recording the notes, and she couldn't stop them from recording.

Speaking of her third sister, she was indeed raised badly from a young age. Like her second sister, she was raised by a stepfather and a servant, a spoiled and immoral child who could not be considered respectable. It was thought that she had changed her ways, stopped keeping prostitutes and indulging in lust, and focused on cultivating herself and raising Li Chang. Who knew that the person under her skin had changed.

With a thud, someone kicked the stove, causing the iron pliers against the wall to tip over with a clang. Everyone turned to look, and there was Li Chang, who had somehow entered the torture chamber. Her face was filled with disbelief, and she murmured, "No, no, it's not..."

He turned and ran out.

"Li Chang!" Li Qiaoyan called out, but because the matter was not yet finished, he did not chase after her. He had not brought many people with him today, and thought he would go to see her after he finished.

Upon hearing Li Chang's name, the rabbit demon's expression, a mixture of crying and laughing, calmed down for a moment. A fleeting maternal look crossed her face before she shook her head, her emotions extremely unstable: "Your bastard... it's all your fault!"

Ling Shu remained unmoved by wind and rain: "So you replaced me and secretly hid in the Li family for sixteen years."

The rabbit demon struggled incessantly: "This is what I deserve! You killed my entire family of thirteen to force me to be with you, cutting off all my escape routes! These sixteen years are what I deserve! I didn't steal anything!"

Ling Shu waved his hand in front of her, shedding the magic of the fox fur to reveal his true form. He raised his hand and lashed out with a whip, gritting his teeth: "That's no excuse for taking my mother's life!"

"Isn't it all because you are greedy for power and profit, relentlessly hunting me down? I am utterly innocent! For the sake of supreme cultivation, you coveted my mother's demon core, forcing her to her death. She was utterly innocent! And those whose spiritual roots were dug out by you for profit, how innocent were they when they died so tragically!"

"If you have hatred and dissatisfaction, just go after your enemies. But you're relentlessly pursuing us. This is all the bloodshed you've committed for your own selfish desires!"

"Serves you right, you deserve to die! The weak deserve to die!" The rabbit demon stared at her, stopped crying and laughing, and only cursed: "Your mother, that cowardly crab, couldn't even protect her demon core, couldn't even protect her life, who can she blame?!"

Swish—swish swish swish—

"Don't you dare insult my mother!"

"Ah! Your mother fell in love with Wang Lifu, she's a fool too!"

Swish—swish—

"What right do you have to comment on their affairs!"

Ling Shu raised her whip high, furious. Each swing she made was with all her might, as if she was afraid of not killing her.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control and that the rabbit demon would die if the fighting continued, Li Qiaoyan rushed over to stop the man. After several attempts, he managed to wrest the whip from him and signaled to Zhuang Jinfu to lead the man out.

Without saying a word, Zhuang Jinfu grabbed Ling Shu's wrist and started walking out.

Outside the torture chamber, a cold wind blew for a moment before my emotions calmed down. The aloof person quietly stayed by my side and said, "Even if the rabbit demon were torn to pieces a thousand times, it wouldn't be enough to vent your anger. The matter is settled now. Once you've vented, let it go. Getting angry is bad for your health."

"She's going to die, right?"

"yes."

Unable to accept the reality, Li Chang ran out.

She thought her mother was utterly wicked, and that if she didn't do anything bad and lived a good life, she could atone for her sins and still have the will to live.

She had a very beautiful view of the world and all things; she believed that life was the crystallization of love, and that it was filled with expectation and affection. She thought that she herself was like that.

Just now.

She suddenly understood what bitterness meant when her master, Elder An Hong, spoke of.

Li Chang smiled wryly: "Master, bitter melon is still too sweet."

She was not expected to be born, and was even a burden to her birth mother. What kind of mentality did she have to endure disgust and pretend to love and raise the daughter of her enemy?

For the past sixteen years, she has lived a comfortable and peaceful life, yet time seemed to fly by in an instant.

The more she thought about it, the more guilty she felt.

Even the spiritual roots he possessed were forcibly extracted from others.

"Phew—" she sighed, rubbed her hands together, and said, "Is it always this cold by Shuijia Lake?"

Before her stretched a vast expanse of emerald green lake, and she continued walking forward.

Ling Shu calmed herself down, then suddenly realized something: "Oh no! Li Chang!"