Chapter 197: The End of Love - It's Rotten.
The clash of swords and blades resounded, and with each exchange, the brilliant flames seemed to blast the earth's depths three feet. Even the scorching heat was enough to scorch flesh, let alone the center of these overlapping flames.
No living creature dared to approach this place; only the two of them chased each other amidst the blazing flames.
In an instant, it wasn't just the blades and swords that collided; the surrounding spiritual energy and demonic energy also collided, producing a sharp sound.
The wind howls like the roar of a tiger or the cry of a dragon, enough to terrify anyone.
Yi Xiaohan dared not relax for even a moment. What appeared to be her relentless attacks, her domineering and ruthless sword energy forcing her opponent into retreat, was in reality Luo You merely dodging her attacks as if playing with the tip of her sword in a gentle breeze. Each time, just when she thought she was about to pierce the black armor, she fell just short. Her calculated moves seemed designed to provoke her anger, forcing her to unleash her fury without any rhyme or reason.
However, she was no longer as impulsive as she had been in her youth, so she was not provoked and continued to stare intently at the other person.
Attack seems to have no way to deal with her; could it be that he should seize the opportunity presented by her attack to launch a counterattack?
However, she could not sense the aura of cultivation on Luo You's body—it was definitely not the Nascent Soul Realm level that he had previously displayed.
Just then, Luo You raised her sword to deflect a wisp of flame and took a sudden step forward. Yi Xiaohan instinctively raised her blade to block, but she was still a step too slow—she finally understood that this slight movement was not her imagination, but rather Luo You's deliberate act. Their battle was like a civet cat playing with a mouse in the yard; in the end, it was truly just a game for the other.
That's far too bad.
A sharp pain shot through his left shoulder. Yi Xiaohan gritted his teeth and raised his hand as fast as he could. Spiritual energy coiled around the tip of his blade, and in a moment it transformed into a blazing sun.
She gripped Luo You's sword tightly in her right hand, preventing her from drawing her sword to retaliate for a short time, and then slashed down with the golden longsword!
Another explosion sent up a cloud of smoke and dust, which, after dissipating, turned the sunken area into a sea of fire.
The sound of dripping blood echoed amidst the raging flames. A figure rose and slowly walked towards a certain direction. In the scorching heat that burned even the lungs with breath, she laughed, turned the cracked sword in her hand, and thrust it forward.
Before her eyes, the woman's clothes shone brightly in the glow of blood and fire, while her face was covered in blood.
The knife was only an inch away to her left, yet it seemed there would be no chance to pick it up again. Luo You slowly bent down slightly and said softly, "I have already seen your suicidal methods, so naturally I will not fall for them."
Just moments before the explosion, she had sealed Yi Xiaohan's spiritual power and turned her sword to strike down.
The tip of the sword moved downwards, gently touching the wound on Yi Xiaohan's body.
Luo You said, "I know that you were once struck by Liu Hua's sword and had your inner demons shattered, which is why you switched to your left hand. Now that you can wield your sword with ease again, it's truly a good thing."
She lowered her eyes, as if she were truly regretful, her gaze falling on the tattered sleeve on Yi Xiaohan's left shoulder and the empty space below it.
"It's a pity, though, that I also severed your left arm just now. Don't you think Heaven hates you? Now, I'm afraid you can no longer wield a sword, True Lord Lanqiu."
Yi Xiaohan's fingertips curled up, as if struggling to lift them. His eyebrows and eyes, which were covered by messy hair, were slightly revealed, and his gaze was fixed on Luo You.
She had no time to mourn anything; she could only continue—continue to deal with the person before her. In this battle that was destined to be lost, Yi Xiaohan had long been prepared to die.
However, we should at least illuminate the long night for a moment, so that the students can see hope.
“I respect you very much, so I can stay a little longer for you.” Luo You nodded. “But it’s time.”
She flung away the broken sword, and demonic energy gathered in her hand, forming a jet-black blade that resembled a branch that could not be burned by fire, capable of growing wildly at any time.
Luo You flicked her wrist forward, and the sword tip pierced through the barrier formed by the remaining spiritual energy, slowly sinking into the woman's heart. She seemed to be carefully sensing the process, so she didn't rush to pierce her opponent immediately, but watched as blood gushed out, the firm flesh torn open, and then demonic energy flowed in little by little, engulfing the warm and vibrant spiritual energy.
In the dead silence, sword energy pierced through the air. Luo You dodged to the side, still holding the sword firmly in his hand.
The person who came was exactly what she expected.
An invisible heat wave whipped at her sleeves, turning their pristine white a pale golden hue in the firelight. Her aura seemed to subtly shift, and amidst the swirling, chaotic spiritual energy, it pierced through like an unstoppable sword strike, chilling to the bone.
Qiao Yanshen immediately spotted the sword embedded in Yi Xiaohan's heart. With a slight tilt of his head, the severed arm came into view, and although he had seen countless similar cases, the blood was still strikingly vivid.
fortunately......
Thankfully, I'm back.
If you don't know when to make a choice, then make your choice now. In the end, she didn't hesitate any longer and chose to turn back.
Luo You's gaze pierced through the thick curtain of fire and landed on her. They were like two identical swords, their mere eye contact instantly creating a clash of swords in the silence. The fury in her eyes seemed even more intense than the sea of fire, like a constantly burning mist of blood.
But the face remains unchanged, especially since a part of "oneself" from millions of years ago still lingers on it. Perhaps when he sewed it back on by hand, he never imagined it would end like this.
Her love and hate burned too intensely; once they erupted, they would soak her entire being.
The former, it turns out, was something I was fortunate enough to have once received. As Luo Yang, I overlooked her pure and ardent gaze, mistaking it for mere youthful infatuation and fleeting affection, failing to recognize its true nature and mistaking it for something else entirely. After all, at that age, one is adept at categorizing everything into one category—forever. I want to be with my teacher forever, I want to be her pride, I want to forever keep her gaze upon me.
Time flowed by like water. When she came to her senses again, those eyes overlapped for a fleeting moment with the blue of her resurrected memory, leaving her momentarily dazed before she whispered:
“Ayan”.
Luo You smiled and replied, "Teacher, how are you going to trick me this time? You've remembered a little bit, do you think you can use it as a weakness to make me change my mind?"
Qiao Yanshen shook his head. "I remember now."
“I know you are my student. You and all the ‘demons’ were once my students, my children whom I protected. I know you were banished by the Heavenly Dao... but that is not the reason for you to be here now.”
Qiao Yanshen raised his hand, slightly spreading his five fingers: "I want to end all of this."
"You don't need to call me teacher anymore."
She made a decision for Luo Yang without her consent. In this relationship, both parties, as teacher and student, had lost their initial feelings, and there was no need to continue. Qiao Yanshen saw a fleeting hurt in Luo You's eyes. This description might be inappropriate, but she really was like an animal abandoned by its owner, who went mad with hatred for being raised and for all the time they had spent together. She returned with fangs, but in the end, she just wanted to go home.
Going home... Qiao Yanshen felt he couldn't bear this expectation.
Luo You sighed and asked, "Where is your sword?" She noticed that Qiao Yanshen's hands were empty.
Qiao Yanshen smiled, his outstretched fingers slowly clenching. Suddenly, the black mist that had once again shrouded the entire Taihui Sect due to the power of the Nascent Soul Realm cultivator began to flow. Like a fierce hurricane, which had previously scattered and ravaged various places without a leader, it finally sensed a place that could be called the eye of the storm, and thus surged around that source.
A fierce wind howled, and night quickly returned to clarity, moonlight cascading down like a waterfall. Dark energy gathered in Qiao Yanshen's hand, churning and swirling, until she gripped it tightly—
A silver sword, as white and gleaming as frost, appeared, replacing the black mist and emanating a chilling aura.
She said, "Here."
Qiao Yanshen glanced at Yi Xiaohan, concealing the worry in his eyes, and turned around to say, "I'll wait for you."
After she finished speaking, her figure disappeared into the night.
Luo You drew his sword, snorted coldly, and with no intention of killing the person in front of him, quickly chased after the direction in which she had disappeared.
Expecting some sentimental charade, Qiao Yanshen simply waited quietly atop Wan Jianfeng, holding the long sword in her hand—which initially seemed cold, but was actually just an ordinary sword, with a narrow, slender blade and no ornate patterns. Her figure, bathed in moonlight, stretched long and thin in the night, her light blue hair ribbon reflecting shimmering silver light, and her fingers peeking out from her sleeves were as pale as if they had been immersed in water all day and had received little sun.
Hearing Luo You's approaching footsteps, Qiao Yanshen turned around, his eyes showing no trace of pain, as he had probably suppressed it long before the other party arrived.
She looked into Luo You's eyes, a deep, blood-red hue reflected in his glassy pupils, like the decay of sweet fruit, or the color of love rotting. Her last vestige of consciousness briefly enhanced her cultivation, offering up all of Luo Yang's remaining memories and emotions—but these contained neither pain nor resentment.
Instead, it was guilt.
This guilt prevented Qiao Yanshen from being indifferent to the person in front of her as before; she could clearly feel Luo Yang's unspoken words echoing in her heart.
After a moment's deliberation, Qiao Yanshen raised the sword in his hand. The sword exuded an overwhelming chill, causing the leaves to wither and all things to fall silent. Even the sharp, blade-like wind on Wanjian Peak ceased, plunging the surrounding area into a deep, ocean-like stillness.
“Ayan”.
She awkwardly uttered the name from her memory. The crisscrossing stitches and gentle face remained unchanged, but her eyes were now filled with malice.
Why do the other two remember, but she alone... harbors such intense and irreversible hatred towards her?
Qiao Yanshen didn't quite understand. In Luo Yang's memory, the three of them were always traveling together, so how could there be such a big difference? When he was transferring spiritual power to Cang He, Qiao Yanshen could feel the lingering connection between them, but he couldn't feel it in Luo You. It was as if she was missing that most important part that everyone else had.
The same was true for the entire demon race. As a result, she was no longer able to connect with Luo Chuan, but instead huddled together with the other exiled people for warmth. They huddled together in pain and eventually merged into one another, sharing the same hatred and the same life without distinction, becoming a race that was hated by all nine realms.
Luo You did not answer Qiao Yanshen, but stared at her intently. Then, almost unable to bear it any longer, she raised her hand and scratched the stitches on her face.
She used tremendous force, as if trying to tear off the stitches embedded in her soul. Unfortunately, even breaking her skin was to no avail; the crimson marks remained unmoved.
Qiao Yanshen stared at her silently.
Luo Yang finally gave up, forcing a cold smile, and softly replied, "I'm here, teacher..."
"Ah Yan has always loved you."
The words that were poured out were pierced by a jarring metallic clang, tearing through their sweet veneer and spilling out thickly. The heavy emotions within were like a torrential downpour, drowning Qiao Yanshen until she could barely breathe.
The sudden approach of the dark figure made her hand go numb from the shock as she hastily tried to react.
The blades clashed repeatedly, and several exchanges had taken place in just a few breaths.
"Let me teach you the sword techniques you've forgotten." Luo You smiled. "I really miss those days. You were always reluctant to be strict, and you would allow us to rest whenever they complained that they were tired."
"Things change rapidly, yet they have a long history. I have remembered every word you said, and I have been pondering them constantly, whether I am asleep or awake."
Unlike her gentle words, every move she made was aimed at vital points, leaving Qiao Yanshen with almost no time to listen to her.
She could only dodge for now, while observing Luo You's swordsmanship. She was right; their sword techniques originated from the same source, but Luo You's were far more skilled and refined than hers. If this continued, she would be suppressed sooner or later.
But Qiao Yanshen also had a solution—she didn't rely entirely on the Luoshui Technique. She had Yan Xueya's guidance, and the company of others, such as the clever techniques she learned from Shen Lixia, the feedback she received from Lu Changqing, and even Si Liuhua's teachings, all of which Qiao Yanshen kept in mind. Her sword strike suddenly became lighter, gently grazing Luo You's cheek, instantly causing her skin to bloom with a vibrant, swirling crimson.
Wisps of demonic energy emanated from the wounds, causing Luo You to pause in surprise before smiling. She continued speaking to herself, "I want to tear you apart."
"No...I..." The young man seemed to be struggling fiercely with something, his eyes trembling. "Teacher, where did Luo Chuan go? Why did you only come now?"
Where were you when the gods tore my soul apart and shattered me into pieces?
When she looked up again, her pale face was already soaked with tears streaming down her face.
These tears were unusual; they were bright red.
She said, "It's too late, teacher, it's too late..."
We can't hold on any longer.
Being with this person before her, whose face had remained unchanged through a thousand years, a person who seemed to be the anchor of her entire life, was excruciating for Luo You every moment. Her parched emotions were beginning to resurface, her hatred was intertwined with love, and her shattered soul was struggling to mend itself. But her emotions had long since vanished, banished with her from the moment she fell to the mortal realm, punished to struggle for millennia yet remain an empty shell, punished to be eternally confined to desolation.
Why.
Why is everything different now that this person has returned? He can hear her calling him "A-Yan" again, and ripples begin to stir in his withered heart.
But Qiao Yanshen only prolonged this lingering pain, making the relationship between them even more irreparable. And Qiao Yanshen probably didn't intend to try to salvage it; Luo You could tell from her eyes that this wasn't an expression of forgiveness.
She just hated her even more.
“I will take you back,” Qiao Yanshen said softly. “Ayan, you have been lost for too long… you are no longer yourself.”
"Just like I'm not Luo Yang anymore."
She twisted her wrist, and taking advantage of the moment when the other woman was distracted by her repeated calls, she plunged the sword tightly into her heart. The tip of the sword pierced through the black armor, and in Luo You's instinctive reaction to turn aside, it barely pierced her collarbone.
However, the young woman did not immediately resist. She simply approached step by step, gripping the sword as if to feel its temperature, and let the black mist dissipate from her body.
"Luo Yang... Luo Yang..."
She cried out helplessly, calling out the name until her last breath, as if all her overwhelming love and hatred no longer mattered, and everything was pointing to just one person.
Even after the demonic energy dissipated, it merely transformed and mimicked again. After briefly revealing her vulnerability, Luo You became indifferent once more. Her fickle appearance was much like the ever-changing waves, and all Qiao Yanshen could see beneath it was madness bound within a human form.
The dried traces of blood and tears remained on her face, blending with the stitches. Luo You could no longer remember ever feeling inferior because of these marks; her gaze almost burned through Qiao Yanshen.
"I will keep you by my side forever."
Qiao Yanshen fell silent. She almost felt sorry for her; despite the repulsive appearance of the person before her, Luo You couldn't even convey her farewell to the person she truly wanted to say goodbye to. All of this strengthened her resolve regarding a certain plan of hers—if she could survive.
Their swords clashed once more, just like the two shadows, one tall and one short, in Luochuan ten thousand years ago, but the laughter and chatter that once filled the air were gone, replaced by a pervasive, murky silence.
After an unknown amount of time, Qiao Yanshen slightly raised her hand and wiped away the blood that had welled up from the corner of her lips. The storm of sword intent fell wildly, and the sound of the sword was like thunder. She saw Luo You's figure fading, gradually revealing his vulnerable demonic body.
It's pointless to let Luo You experience everything she just said, because she is pain itself.
She experiences pain, and she brings pain in return.
Qiao Yanshen's voice was devoid of any emotion, quite calm:
“You don’t love anyone, Luo You. Love doesn’t make the other person doubt themselves, it doesn’t go to great lengths to hurt them. You’re just deceiving yourself.”
Luo You said coldly, "Are you going to deny me again?"
"You can't even recognize people."
Qiao Yanshen shook his head slightly and resolutely raised his sword.
"It's time to end this."
As she drew her sword again, she heard a soft sound. Without hesitation, Qiao Yanshen leaned forward and plunged the sword deep into her face, then saw that face turn into mist. She wanted to escape, but was gently pulled into his arms.
So that's why they became like this—because their souls were split apart…
Qiao Yanshen lowered her eyes. She didn't rush to eliminate the aura, but instead put it away.
After doing all this, a strong dizziness struck, and the brief surge in cultivation dissipated like the receding tide.
The young man froze, staggered a few steps, and collapsed helplessly. The night sky grew increasingly dark, and the moonlight began to wrinkle and sway violently.
The clamor echoed repeatedly in her mind, shaking the very facts she had long ago. Unlike her junior sister who accepted her mission, her relationship with Luo Yang was like her relationship with her mother, filled with painful yet inseparable disagreements. Even touching each other was painful, so how could they possibly reconcile?
Tragically, she didn't want to be that person, yet she found herself beginning to understand her.
One day, she will definitely return to Luochuan.
Until darkness descended and the world fell silent.
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Author's Note: I wrote and deleted this chapter repeatedly... I'm not satisfied with it, it's a mess...
It's actually just a chapter that (briefly) concludes the character's storyline, but it feels very disjointed!
After thinking about it for a while, I realized that it might be because my senior sister was a completely different person in her past and present lives, which is why she and Luo You...
We're not familiar with each other.
Luo You: (Hate and Love)
Senior: I don't know her, so I politely decline.
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