Bai Di staggered backward, knocking over the jade table in the ancestral hall behind him.
"Crash—" The sound of the teacup shattering was particularly jarring in the deathly silent ancestral hall.
Moonlight streamed through the broken windowpanes, casting dappled shadows on her pale face, while her bloodshot eyes churned with a deep-seated hatred.
"No...impossible..." Bai Di suddenly laughed hysterically, the laughter sharp and piercing, echoing in the empty ancestral hall.
She scratched her cheeks viciously with her blood-stained fingernails, leaving several shocking bloodstains. Crimson blood beads rolled down the wounds and dripped onto her plain white clothes.
"Nascent Soul stage... Void Refinement stage... and the Demon race..." With each word she uttered, her voice rose higher, her emotions becoming increasingly frantic, finally culminating in a hysterical scream, "Why are you still alive!!"
Bai Ying stood silently amidst the chaos, her blood-stained clothes fluttering even without wind.
The moonlight bathed her in a cool, silvery glow, making her appear as ethereal as a banished immortal.
Those eyes, as cold as an icy pool, swept indifferently over Bai Di's distorted face, his voice as frosty as ice: "Because you chose the wrong path from the very beginning."
These words were like a poisoned sword, making Bai Di tremble all over.
She suddenly remembered the day she first met Bai Ying, when that unfamiliar older sister stood outside the Bai family's gate. When she saw her with her parents, her eyes were filled not with resentment, but with a hint of cautious expectation.
If only...
No! There are no "ifs"!
Bai Di lunged forward, his disheveled hair flying like a demon, his eyes filled with madness: "It's you! It's all your fault!"
Her fingernails, a strange bluish-black, shimmered eerily in the moonlight. "If you hadn't suddenly appeared, I would have been the most favored young lady of the Bai family! My parents, my brother, and everyone else in the Bai family—all they saw was me. It's all because you came back! It's all because you're so strong! Why did you appear? Why did you compete with me?"
Bai Ying gently turned to the side, and Bai Di missed his target, falling heavily to the ground. The blue bricks hurt her knees, but it was nothing compared to the excruciating pain in her heart.
She struggled to lift her head, only to meet Bai Ying's downcast gaze—a gaze devoid of hatred or pleasure, filled only with a chilling calm.
"I never intended to be your enemy." Bai Ying's voice was soft, but every word was clear. "I went back to the Bai family just to see what my biological parents looked like. It was you who unilaterally tried to compete with me. You framed me time and time again, trying to take away everything that belonged to me."
Besides, what you care about isn't really important to me. I can't stay in the Bai family forever, and I won't compete with you for anything.
Bai Di's pupils contracted sharply, and she suddenly burst into maniacal laughter. What she hated most about Bai Ying was this attitude—she clearly possessed enviable talent, yet she insisted on putting on an indifferent act; she could easily obtain everything, yet she feigned arrogance and said, "I disdain to compete!"
"Hypocrite!" she screamed, tearing her hair out. "What are you pretending to be so high and mighty for? If you really didn't care, why did you come back? Why...why..."
Before he could finish speaking, Bai Di suddenly sprang into action! The poisoned dagger hidden in his sleeve was suddenly drawn, its cold light like a viper's tongue, aimed straight for Bai Ying's throat.
This attack was as fast as lightning, carrying the killing intent she had accumulated over the years, and even wisps of poisonous mist rose in the air.
"clang--"
A golden light suddenly shone, and the dragon scales on Bai Ying's waist instantly transformed into a shield.
The immense impact caused the air to buzz, and the poisoned dagger shattered upon contact, its sharp fragments shooting out like meteors, leaving deep dents on the pillars of the ancestral hall.
A cold glint flashed in Bai Ying's eyes, and she lightly waved her jade hand.
The dragon scales transformed into a golden streak of light, accompanied by the sound of wind breaking, instantly piercing Bai Di's heart.
The speed was breathtaking, as if even time itself had been torn open.
"Pfft!"
Blood gushed out like a fountain, blooming into flamboyant blood flowers on Bai Diyue's white dress.
She staggered backward, knocking over the last row of ancestral tablets. The wooden tablets fell one after another, hitting the blue brick floor with a dull thud.
"I...I'm going to kill..." Bai Di's voice grew weaker and weaker, each word accompanied by a cough of blood. She stared at Bai Ying with venomous eyes, her nails digging deep into her palms, "Even as a ghost..."
However, before she could finish speaking, her gaze began to glaze over. Her body slowly slid down, finally collapsing to the ground. The gentle moonlight bathed her, yet it could not warm her increasingly cold body. A once vibrant life had vanished in the cold moonlight.
Bai Ying looked at her quietly, her gaze as calm as still water.
Inside the ancestral hall, only a mess remained, along with the corpse bathed in moonlight.
After a long while, she sighed softly, put the jade pendant upgrade materials from the demon array into her pocket, and turned to leave.
Unexpectedly, at that moment, the storage bag beside Bai Di, freed from Bai Di's restraints, emitted a faint light.
The bag opened automatically, releasing the Bai family members inside.
"Ying'er?!" Zhou Ying was the first to react. She looked at Bai Di's gradually cooling corpse on the ground, and then at Bai Ying standing with her sword. Her face turned ashen.
Bai Ying's grip on her sword tightened slightly. She hadn't expected that everyone from the Bai family was in Bai Di's storage bag, and she certainly hadn't expected to meet them in this way.
The air inside the ancestral hall seemed to freeze, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
"She wanted to kill me, so I killed her." Bai Ying's voice was so dry it sounded like her own. "If you want revenge, I don't mind fighting you to the death..."
Zhou Ying felt a sharp pain in her heart, as if she were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.
Her daughter said those words to her.
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