Chapter 52 He stopped and opened his arms
The moonlight was like mercury, heavy and cold, filling the entire bamboo forest.
Su Qinghan's sword was the only living thing in this dead silence. It howled and wailed. Every streak of silver light that sliced through the air carried with it the loneliness, blood, and tears of a decade; every thrust of the sword condensed the life and dignity she, as a daughter, could sacrifice.
There was no moon or bamboo in her eyes anymore.
There was only a dark blue figure.
That was her nightmare, the source of all her pain, and the only thing she wanted to destroy at this moment.
Her being, her heart, her soul, had become one with the "Hanjiangxue" in her hand. The sword burned, and so did she. Using hatred as fuel, she burned herself into a handful of resolute, irreversible ash.
However, just as her sea of energy surged, her sword power reached its peak, and the strongest blow capable of severing rivers and splitting seas was about to take shape in her palm—
He stopped.
It was as if a river running for thousands of miles was cut off by the gods with an invisible wall at the moment before entering the sea.
Chen Ye's figure suddenly and without any warning froze in place.
He no longer dodged or blocked, even the protective Qi had dissipated. He just stood there quietly, letting Su Qinghan's sword energy, powerful enough to split monuments and shatter stone, rustle his clothes, while his body remained like an ancient, silent monument.
This strange stillness caused a crack to appear in Su Qinghan's will that was burning to the extreme.
Her sword froze in mid-air, the cold light on the tip of the sword less than a foot away from his eyebrows.
Why?
Why did he stop?
The thought was like an ice pick, piercing her chaotic, anger-scorched mind.
Is it a trap?
Are you tired of this "game" and ready to show the true power of "Candle Shadow" that can kill with one blow?
She can't see through it.
She only saw that he was looking at her.
A foot away, across the boundary between life and death, across the abyss of love and hate, he looked at her quietly.
Those eyes, once like cold stars and ancient wells, now resembled two sorrowful lakes about to dry up. Deep within the lakes, a pain surged that she could not comprehend, yet felt palpitatingly...
Not for himself, but for her.
Yes, Chen Ye was looking at her, and she was the only one left in his world.
He looked at her cheeks, which had turned increasingly pale due to her frantic use of her internal energy, and on which were still traces of fresh tears.
He looked at her arm holding the sword, which was trembling slightly due to exhaustion, and her persistence made his heart break.
He looked at the flames in her eyes that burned everything. That was once the only belief that kept her alive, but now, it was also burning her to ashes.
That's enough.
That’s really enough.
There was a voice roaring in his heart.
He couldn't hide anymore. Every time he dodged, every time he blocked, it was like using an invisible file to grind away her dignity and pride. He made her look like a mischievous child, and turned her blood feud into a ridiculous one-man show.
And he was the instigator of this drama.
He is the source of this pain.
How could he bear to let her continue to be tortured by the hatred that he had planted with his own hands?
The image of the small courtyard in the suburbs of Beijing emerged uncontrollably in his mind.
That period of time was the only bright spot in his life since he could remember. It was the first time he crawled out of the darkness underground and saw the sun...
He remembered himself clumsily brewing a pot of black medicine while she leaned against the door, a faint, almost invisible smile on her pale face. That smile made him feel that all the tasks and honors in the world were as light as dust.
He remembered the night she'd been battling a high fever. She'd fainted, murmured "Daddy" over and over in a fragile voice. He'd held her hand, using his inner strength, honed by years of practicing the Lightless Heart Sutra, to stay awake all night, sending her a tiny bit of warmth. At that moment, for the first time, this killing machine, he felt the urge to protect someone.
He remembered that she solemnly told him that her name was Su Qinghan.
Su Qinghan.
Every time I silently recite this name in my heart, I seem to be able to taste a hint of clear sweetness.
But he turned this sweetness into the bitterest poison with his own hands.
He once naively thought that as long as "Zhuying" died, he could wash away the blood on his hands as "Chen Ye", love her openly, and make amends with the rest of his life.
What a ridiculous delusion.
He is her enemy. His existence is her hatred.
As long as he is alive, the three words "Su Qinghan" will forever be bound by the shackles of "revenge" and will never have peace.
What she needed was never a lover named "Chen Ye".
All she needs is a dead "candle shadow".
A sacrifice that would allow her to end it all with her own hands, sever ties with the past, and gain a new life.
After figuring this out, Chen Ye's torn and tormented heart suddenly calmed down.
All the pain, reluctance, and struggle have settled into a resolute, almost pious will.
Qinghan, I'm sorry.
I can't give you a future.
Then let me give you back a past without me.
So, he looked at his lover who was tortured by hatred and in tears. All the surging emotions in his eyes finally turned into the purest love and the deepest determination.
Then, in Su Qinghan's confused, alert, and even slightly frightened gaze, he slowly and solemnly opened his arms.
It's a hugging gesture.
A completely open-hearted, defenseless posture.
A posture that exposes his heart, throat, and all vital parts nakedly and unreservedly to her sword.
There was even a hint of a smile on his face.
It was a gentle, liberated smile, as if about to embark on a grand homecoming.
This action, this smile, was like a bolt of thunder from the sky, striking Su Qinghan's sanity, which was about to collapse.
In an instant, all her remaining thoughts were replaced by an extreme and devastating feeling of humiliation.
Who is she? She's the daughter of a former vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, a master detective at the Six Gates! She's risked everything, standing here, waging a divine revenge!
And what about him?
The number one assassin in Tianji Pavilion, "Zhuying"!
He had been strolling leisurely from beginning to end, treating her desperate struggle as a joke. Now, he even gave up resistance and greeted her sword with such a condescending attitude!
This look, this posture, seems to be silently declaring:
"Come on, your hatred is nothing to me."
"I'm standing here for you to kill me because I'm tired of playing with you."
"Let's end all this boring stuff."
Boom——!!!
This silent declaration could crush her pride and dignity better than any vicious words!
Those warm memories, at this moment, were like the fire of hell, burning fiercely in her mind!
Was every word of concern he said in the courtyard filled with pity and a sense of mockery?
His words, "I will avenge you," sound like the most vicious curse in the world right now!
It turned out that she had been a joke from the beginning to the end! A huge, pathetic, and stupid joke, played at the mercy of her enemy and yet still falling in love with him!
"ah--!!!"
A roar, suppressed to the point of distortion, burst out from the depths of her throat.
The blood color on that beautiful face had drained away, leaving only the hideous expression twisted by extreme shame and anger.
Reason was burned to ashes.
Love was crushed into powder.
In her empty eyes, there was only bloody madness.
Since you want to die!
Since you despise my hatred so much!
Then I... will grant your wish!
Su Qinghan poured the last bit of true energy in her dantian, along with her broken soul and endless despair, into the "Hanjiangxue" in her hand.
The sword let out a sharp whine.
She closed her eyes and completely tore apart the face in her mind that had once made her heart beat.
Then, he thrust the sword in his hand forward resolutely and with all his strength!
Puff——
A dull, heart-pounding sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh and blood ended all sounds in the world.
At this moment, time seemed to be frozen into amber.
Su Qinghan could clearly feel a warm and sticky touch coming from the sword in her hand. The strong recoil force rushed along the cold hilt and violently into her meridians, making her entire arm numb.
She opened her eyes suddenly.
The whole world seemed to have turned into a silent and cruel slow motion.
She saw that the "Hanjiangxue" in her hand, the sword of revenge that carried her half-life obsession, was now sinking deeply into Chen Ye's chest without any hindrance.
A bewitching blood flower slowly blossomed on his dark blue collar.
The red color, like a drop of hot iron, burned her retina and made her dizzy.
She did it.
She finally avenged this blood feud with her own hands.
However, the ecstasy and relief of revenge that she had imagined did not appear.
Instead, there was a deeper, colder feeling... emptiness and panic, as if her soul had been pierced through by the sword, leaving a hole that could never be filled.
She thought he would fall.
It will fall down with pain and unwillingness, like a felled tree.
But he didn't.
Chen Ye's body just shook violently, and his already thin face turned as pale as paper in an instant.
But he didn't fall.
Not even retreating.
He slowly lowered his head and glanced at the familiar sword on his chest that belonged to her.
Then, he slowly raised his head and looked at her.
In those deep eyes, there was no expected hatred, no astonishment, and not even physical pain.
There was only a sense of relief... a heavy burden lifted from his shoulders.
And a kind of... so strong that it made her heart suddenly tighten... pity and heartache.
He was pitying her.
He felt heartbroken for her.
Then he smiled.
The corners of his mouth were pulled upwards with difficulty, and an uncontrollable stream of blood flowed out from his lips.
This sad and desolate smile was like a bucket of snow water that had condensed into black ice for thousands of years, pouring over his head and instantly extinguishing all the burning madness and anger in Su Qinghan's heart.
Did she...do something...wrong?
For the first time, this thought pierced the chaos in her mind so clearly.
However, before she could grasp this clue of enlightenment, the scene before her completely broke down her last line of defense.
Shen Ye, bearing the long sword that pierced his heart, used up the last remaining strength in his life and took a difficult step forward.
That step seemed to shatter the void and also shatter her last bit of luck.
His body shook violently, but he stood firm with a terrifying willpower.
He stepped forward again and took a second step.
He wasn't resisting or struggling.
He was... walking towards her.
He was actively, more deeply, burying his life on the sword that she had stabbed.
"No... don't come over..."
Su Qinghan's lips trembled as she uttered a dreamy plea. She tried to draw her sword, but her hands felt as heavy as lead, unable to move. She tried to retreat, but her legs, already pinned to the spot by fear and regret, were already frozen in place.
She could only watch him.
She watched as this man, to whom she had once given her heart and whom she hated to the core, dragged his body, which she had pierced with her own hands, and walked towards her step by step, firmly and slowly.
Every step was like stepping on her heart, causing her to suffocate in pain.
Finally, he came to her.
His breathing became rapid and weak, and every breath brought out more blood foam.
He raised his arms, which had begun to feel heavy but were still gentle, and in front of Su Qingqing's pupils, which were blurred by great shock, he held her, along with the sword still stuck in his chest, tightly...
Embraced in his arms.
This hug was at a distance of a sword.
This hug is the distance between life and death.
The warm blood quickly soaked through their clothes. The scorching temperature made her feel the coldness deep into her bones, more than the biting cold wind.
She could smell the familiar, refreshing scent on him, mixed with a hint of herbs, but at this moment, it was covered by the thick and indissoluble smell of blood.
She could feel the weight of his body pressing down on her shoulders bit by bit, crushing her entire world.
Boom——!!!
Su Qinghan's brain completely exploded at this moment.
She finally understood everything at this moment.
Humiliation? Teasing? Degradation?
It's all fake!
He stopped, not out of contempt, but out of pity.
He opens his arms, not to humiliate, but to fulfill.
He walked towards her and hugged her, not to fight back, but to... let her sword of revenge penetrate more thoroughly, so that she could be freed from hatred more completely!
In this world, is there any tenderness more cruel than this?!
This realization, like a red-hot, poisoned iron, branded deep into her soul, causing her so much pain that even her breathing stopped.
A hoarse voice, so weak that it was almost inaudible, sounded in her ears.
"Qinghan..."
He called her name, just like in that warm courtyard, his voice filled with a longing that broke her heart.
"This way... you won't have to suffer anymore..."
These light words were like an invisible mountain that crashed down and crushed Su Qinghan's soul into powder.
No more suffering...
He thought that if he died, she would be free.
But does he know that her enemy is her lover?
Killing your enemy is killing your lover.
Killing her lover...meaning killing herself with her own hands!
Tears burst out again.
This time, it was silent, scorching, and filled with devastating regret and despair.
"That debt..."
His voice became softer and softer, and his breath became weaker and weaker, like a candle flame about to go out in the wind, which could dissipate at any time.
"I paid it off..."
"The days in the courtyard... were mine... were the light I stole..."
"You must...live...well..."
After saying this last sentence, the arms he was holding around her finally fell down weakly.
His head also rested gently on her shoulder, and there was no sound anymore.
The world was completely and eternally silent.
Shen Ye is dead.
Died by her sword.
Died in her arms.
He paid the blood debt with his life.
His death also proved his love that was so deep and desperate.
Su Qinghan held his rapidly cooling body stiffly in his arms, motionless, as if he had become a soulless ice sculpture.
She won.
She got her revenge.
She sought justice for her father and the Su family.
But why...
Her heart died along with him.
She slowly lowered her head and looked at the face in her arms, which had lost all color but still had a hint of relief in its smile.
She stretched out her hand, wanting to wipe the blood off his face, but her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't even control them.
She extinguished the only light in her life with her own hands.
Then, he imprisoned himself forever and completely in this endless darkness.
"ah--!!!"
A scream so shrill that it didn't sound like a human voice finally burst out from her throat.
The sound tore through the silence of the bamboo forest and startled all the birds sleeping in the forest.
It also tore apart her own broken heart, which could never be healed.
There was no victory or revenge in that voice.
There is only endless regret.
Endless pain.
And...despair of eternal damnation.
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