Chapter 62
With the influx of those unidentified and highly skilled cultivators, the Sword Sect was clearly outnumbered and suffered repeated defeats.
Those people from Wuxiang Temple seemed to have received some kind of signal. They took out poisoned hidden weapons from their clothes and were about to stab at the target.
A figure spun in from the horizon, instantly bringing a focal point to the chaotic battlefield.
The focus was fixed on Xie Wen.
Chu Xianyue was the first to lose control and immediately flew towards Xie Wen, "How did you get out... how did you know..." about today's encirclement?
Xie Wen looked at Chu Xianyue seriously, "Do you think I wouldn't use some tricks like you? Chu Xianyue, I know you're doing this for me too. But this whole thing started because of me. I won't run away, nor will I obediently let them deal with me. I want to fight alongside you."
Xie Wen glanced at Yun Yan, Chi Yufei, and Sikong Mingxue, smiled, and said, "Without me, you would be in a bit of a predicament."
Still so arrogant!
Chi Yufei said, "Okay, Xie Wen, let's have a competition today."
Xie Wen snorted, "Let's see who's better."
Even at a time like this, Xie Wen still had the mood to joke and banter with Chi Yufei? But Chu Xianyue's mentality wasn't as good as Xie Wen's. He was absolutely tormented by Xie Wen.
He wished he could take the person away immediately and imprison them again, so they wouldn't have to step out again!
In this world, everyone wishes she were dead. How could she appear so calmly and confidently in the public eye, while Chu Xianyue was filled with anxiety and fear?
He was terrified that he really couldn't protect her.
Xie Wen gave Chu Xianyue a firm look and simply said, "It's alright."
Chu Xianyue couldn't help but grab Xie Wen's arm, "You shouldn't have come here."
Xie Wen stepped forward and hugged Chu Xianyue, then quickly kissed him on the cheek without leaving a trace. "Don't worry, I won't abandon you."
At that moment, amidst the chaos, Chu Xianyue's world suddenly fell silent, and his wavering heart settled down after she finished speaking.
He was never sure about her feelings for him. He always felt that although she was physically present, her heart was far away. Only by holding her tightly could he feel her real presence.
Now Xie Wen says she won't abandon him. He believes her.
Chu Xianyue touched Xie Wen's cheek and said, "I want you to never leave me."
Xie Wen nodded in agreement. But only on the condition that they could get out alive.
In the blink of an eye, several rogue cultivators dressed in hemp clothing came over with their swords and attacked. Xie Wen and Chu Xianyue were back to back, and soon they were caught up in the fighting.
The two figures gradually disappeared into the distance.
Xie Wen turned around and stood in front of Sikong Mingxue, deflecting a flying hidden weapon with his sword. "Mingxue, it's not safe here. You should go back to the sect quickly."
Sikong Mingxue knew the situation was chaotic and she couldn't protect herself here; she would only be a burden to Xie Wen. It was better to leave as soon as possible. "Then, A-Wen, be careful."
Xie Wen nodded. "Okay, you should go quickly."
Xie Wen turned around and met a group of unfamiliar faces with fierce eyes. She immediately realized that leaving safely today wouldn't be so easy. She had to bring Sikong Mingxue back to the mountain gate first.
Xie Wen carried Sikong Mingxue with one hand while fending off oncoming sword strikes. She also had to be careful of hidden weapons. Only after successfully bringing Sikong Mingxue back to the mountain gate did she raise her sword again to face the approaching enemy.
Xie Wen was entangled in a fight beside Shen Lizhi. She hadn't had a chance to ask Shen Lizhi what was going on, or what caused the profound spiritual energy that was suddenly erupting from Shen Lizhi's body.
Xie Wen managed to exchange a few words with Shen Lizhi when he had a moment, saying, "Lizhi, you must not hide anything from me afterwards."
Shen Lizhi chuckled, "Alright, Awen, as long as you're alright, I'll tell you everything." Xie Wen trusted Shen Lizhi and had no doubts about her. "Okay, I'll wait."
After Xie Wen turned around, Shen Lizhi whispered to his back, "I'm sorry." But Xie Wen didn't hear her.
Xie Wen couldn't see it either, but at that moment, Shen Lizhi's eyes dimmed, a dark undercurrent surging within them. She thought to herself, there's no way she could say it.
If she were to truly confess everything, Awen would definitely not forgive her, and might even want to kill her.
Shen Lizhi realized she had made a huge mistake, but she never regretted doing it.
She thought that Awen could only belong to her alone.
How could Ah Wen possibly show favoritism to someone else?
If this "other person" truly exists, Shen Lizhi can make her nonexistent. That way, Awen will only have eyes for her.
Therefore, she killed Xie Yichun and framed the Wang Chao people for it.
In this way, Awen will never know about this matter in his entire life.
Awen will keep her by her side for the rest of her life and will treat her as his own sister for the rest of his life.
Thinking of these things, Shen Lizhi felt a strange smile creeping across her face, whether from extreme excitement or extreme distortion. The spiritual power emanating from her body also became several degrees stronger.
Xie Wen gradually found herself struggling, as more and more unknown cultivators with profound cultivation levels surged around her. She had to exert all her strength to fight against the oncoming swords and also be wary of hidden weapons swung from the shadows.
However, whenever Xie Wen's strength began to wane, they would hold back their attacks. Did they truly want to kill Xie Wen, or not?
Should we spare Xie Wen's life for other purposes?
Is it because of her identity and bloodline as a member of the Feather Clan?
Xie Wen sneered coldly. The person who set this up actually believed she was a member of the Feather Clan?
I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint them.
She lived in Qingshui Town, and her family was poor from a young age. She and her older sister grew up relying on each other. She wasn't a member of the Feathered Clan. Xie Wen would find a way to prove herself one day!
Just then, Chu Xianyue, Yun Yan, and Chi Yufei on the other side seemed to be drawn together by an invisible net, away from Xie Wen and Shen Lizhi.
Blood rained down in front of the mountain gate, staining the trees and flowers crimson. Cup-shaped flowers, filled with blood, finally succumbed to the weight, bending and splattering blood everywhere. The flower branches, bathed in the blood rain, trembled incessantly.
In the end, only a few unknown cultivators with extremely high cultivation levels remained. They seemed to belong to the same sect but had been placed in various places, not knowing each other but receiving orders from the same person. Moreover, they now seemed to be intentionally isolating the three of them from Xie Wen and Shen Lizhi.
Chu Xianyue realized something was wrong. Just as he was about to struggle to fly to Xie Wen's side, a huge spiritual net completely enveloped the three of them, and the wind direction immediately changed. All three of them panicked for a moment.
Unexpectedly, this group of people had laid an ambush beforehand, and everything was prepared.
But why isolate Chu Xianyue and the other two from Xie Wen and Shen Lizhi? Even if they were determined to kill Xie Wen, what about Shen Lizhi?
The group's plan was so meticulous, almost flawless, that it was impossible for them to have overlooked Shen Lizhi.
There is only one possibility.
Today's main character is not Xie Wen.
It is Chen Lizhi.
Just as Chu Xianyue and the other two were enveloped by the spiritual net, Xie Wen turned his head and was momentarily lost in thought. Taking advantage of this moment, someone behind him thrust out a long sword with a sharp, imposing aura.
Even from several meters away, one could sense the sword's immense spiritual power; it was no ordinary sword. There was no time to block, and no time to escape.
Under the bloodshot gazes of everyone, Xie Wen turned around again, only to catch a body in front of him.
A bloodied body, pierced through the heart by a sword. Shen Lizhi took the sword for Xie Wen, and without thinking, she rushed forward.
Finally, Xie Wen held her in his arms. Her hands trembled, and her voice trembled as she uttered, "Ah, Li." Apart from these two words, she couldn't say anything else. A metallic taste rose in her throat, as if something was choking her, and she couldn't utter a single syllable.
Similar scenes, similar pain, why make her go through it all again!
Xie Wen felt her blood run cold, and in a daze, she was transported back to the battle between the Sword Sect and Kunlun Ruins, where her elder sister died in her arms. One by one, the people she cared about, her closest relatives, were leaving her.
She hadn't even accepted her older sister's death, and now she had to accept Ah Li's departure.
At this moment, Shen Lizhi lay in Xie Wen's arms, clinging to her last breath, and called out, "Sister." Xie Wen responded with a sob.
Time seemed to stand still, and the cultivators stopped their relentless attacks on Xie Wen. Had they stopped, as if they'd had a change of heart? Or had they already achieved their goal?
Is this their ultimate goal? To kill Shen Lizhi? But why go through all this trouble?
Xie Wen couldn't care less about anything else at this moment. Her heart was surging with grief. She pressed her forehead against Shen Lizhi's forehead, feeling her body heat rapidly fading away. A faint light emanated from Shen Lizhi's forehead, and spiritual light flowed towards Xie Wen like a gentle stream.
When Shen Lizhi breathed her last, her real body lying in Xie Wen's arms suddenly transformed into a small jade pendant, floating in mid-air and continuing to emit a faint light.
The jade pendant is only half; it seems there is another half.
Xie Wen stared blankly as he reached out his hand, letting the jade pendant fall into her palm.
Her expression at this moment was indescribable—sadness? heartache? or resentment? At this moment, her feelings for Shen Lizhi were truly a mixture of unrequited love and unhappiness.
The person who loved her killed the person she loved.
And now, this man has taken another sword for her and died in her arms.
Xie Wen couldn't tell whether she should hate, love, be happy, or grieve. It seemed like all of these. Her heart swelled with unbearable pain, as if she herself had been pierced through the heart by a sword.
Just a few seconds ago, when their foreheads were touching, she received all the memories of Shen Lizhi's life.
Those jumbled memories assaulted Xie Wen's mind.
It was as if she had lived through the life of Chen Lizhi.
All the darkness, all the pessimism, all the negativity, magnified infinitely, Xie Wen saw the ugliest and most unbearable side of this world in Shen Lizhi's memories.
However, even in the endless darkness, there still remained a glimmer of clarity, a place where Xie Wen was found.
The Spirit Pendant, from its very birth, was destined for a life of hardship and turmoil. It can transform into various people according to the inner projections of the person who awakens it.
It is good when it meets good people, and bad when it meets bad people.
She becomes whatever the outside world projects onto her.
It had always resided in the Mei family, where it was worshipped and passed down through generations. It was once awakened by Mei Lin and transformed into Chen Huan, acting entirely according to Mei Lin's will, bullying Ying Yue and seducing Mei Shan Ting. It became Mei Lin's tool for controlling Mei Shan Ting.
Later, the Mei family was wiped out, and it was burned to death by will-o'-the-wisps, only to be awakened again by another person.
Unfortunately, that man was a vicious thug in Qingshui Town. He attempted to rape her and dismember her body.
However, when the Spirit Transformation Pendant is consciously awakened, it becomes that person's slave, obeying their every command. When it is unconsciously awakened, it becomes that person.
Shen Lizhi became that kind of person—a vicious and bloodthirsty man whose belly was filled with endless darkness, ugliness, and pain.
She turned around and killed the vicious thug.
At the same time, Shen Lizhi became him. She was bloodthirsty and turned Qingshui Town into a ghost town, but the world mistakenly believed that this was the work of the Ghost Palace Master. In fact, this was not the case.
Since her birth, all she has encountered has been malice and contempt. Her world has become like this. They despise her for being an orphan and a beggar, and beat and trample on her at will. The village chief's son would drag her on an oxcart. Some people once locked her in a dog cage to keep her company with vicious dogs. Some people tried to harm her, and some people forced her to eat excrement.
When being scorned, beaten, and hated, and subjected to casual insults became a habit, her world was filled with darkness, and she became part of that darkness. How they treated her, she would kill them in return. It was simply a matter of give and take. Her world was a mirror.
One day, after killing another person, Shen Lizhi sat by the riverbank washing the blood from her hands and face. Brownish soil drifted down from upstream. Shen Lizhi looked up.
A little girl was squatting by the river washing large white radishes. Xie Wen was only seven or eight years old at the time. She was holding the white radishes and washing them by the river. She carefully rubbed the mud off the white radishes one by one with her little hands and then carefully placed the white radishes in a clean place.
Seemingly sensing Shen Lizhi's gaze, Xiao Xiewen raised her head, her eyes meeting Shen Lizhi's. Shen Lizhi froze for a moment. It was the first time she had ever seen such a pure and innocent gaze, without a trace of disgust or aversion, or even a hint of impurity.
Xiao Xie Wen looked at Shen Lizhi in surprise. After thinking for a while, she washed all the white radishes clean, picked up all the white radishes on the ground, and then walked towards Shen Lizhi.
Shen Lizhi stared at Xie Wen warily, expecting to be met with disgust, unkind words, and treatment. To her surprise, Xie Wen blinked, looked down at the white radish in his arms, picked out the largest and whitest one, and handed it to Shen Lizhi, saying, "Here, do you want to eat it?"
Seeing that Shen Lizhi was still staring at her strangely, Xiao Xie Wen tilted her head and took another bite of the radish in front of Shen Lizhi, her cheeks puffed out and making a crunching sound. "It's a little sweet and crunchy. It's delicious."
Shen Lizhi didn't understand, but she still took the white radish from Xie Wen and took a bite like Xie Wen. It was a little sour, but after chewing it a few more times, a sweet aftertaste remained in her mouth.
Xie Wen smiled, revealing a missing tooth. She was at the age where she was losing her baby teeth, and when she smiled, the missing tooth always let in drafts. Later, she used a white radish to make a "tooth" for herself and said to Shen Lizhi, "Look, my tooth has grown back."
Shen Lizhi followed suit, but she didn't have any missing teeth. Xie Wenji said, "Then use this method when you lose your teeth." Shen Lizhi nodded, and later, whenever she lost her teeth, she would gnaw on a white radish as "teeth."
Later, the two eventually parted ways.
But Shen Lizhi always remembered that white radish. That evening at sunset, that evening with Xie Wen, Shen Lizhi always remembered.
Later, Shen Lizhi wandered from place to place and was picked up by a brothel madam. The madam was one of only two people besides Xie Wen who treated Shen Lizhi fairly well. But the madam's kindness to her came at a price.
The madam was driven by profit, greedy and mercenary. Shen Lizhi was no different.
Fortunately, many years later, she met Xie Wen again.
She recognized Xie Wen at a glance.
...
Xie Wen belatedly realized that he had withdrawn from Shen Lizhi's memory.
She saw her world, filled with darkness and ugliness, yet she could still vaguely glimpse a ray of light. Xie Wen raised her head, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
It turns out that some people really do get through the long years because of the little bit of light you gave them when they were young.
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