The dawn light pricked my eyes, and though I'd slept soundly, worry twisted in my stomach. Lin Jian wasn't beside me. Panic bloomed, cold dread. Where had he gone? My heart hammered a frantic thump against my ribs.
I stumbled out of the tent, searching for any sign of him. My gaze swept the clearing, the silent forest, the distant mountains.
There was nothing. Fear clawed at my throat, a suffocating feeling. Was my inner demon awakened? Had I hurt him somehow? My breath came in shallow gasps, my vision blurring. The red aura pulsed around me, a tangible manifestation of my mounting fury.
But before I could be consumed by it, a voice cut through the haze. "Yinou? Come on, say something."
I spun around, relief washing over me. It was him. The rising sun glinted off his hair, making him look almost ethereal. "It's still dawn! Maybe still night! Where have you been?" I demanded, my voice trembling.
"It's already morning! Good morning." he said, his smile dazzling.
"What a weirdo," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
I turned to go back inside, but he stopped me.
"Here, protect your skin with this." He handed me a hat, a veil woven into its brim. "The sun will be extra hot today. We should wear these," he explained. "It's a good thing, though. There will be a lot of stars tonight."
"Stargazing, what do you say?" I suggested, a small smile tugging at my lips.
"No. We should get going, and get there as soon as possible," he said, his tone firm.
"Killjoy," I mumbled, but resigned myself to the fact that stars weren't that exciting anyway.
Before we set off, he was tinkering with something.
It was strange...he wasn't training or polishing his blade like usual. Instead, he sat cross-legged beside a fire, brows furrowed, hunched over something in his lap like a kid sneaking candy.
I wasn't going to bother him… but I'd never seen him so serious. Too serious. Naturally, that made it my business.
I crept up behind a slanted trunk, leaning just enough to peek. He was turning a half-formed glass flower in his hands. It shimmered faintly under the firelight, still rough around the edges, petals uneven. Clumsy. But delicate.
Huh. That's almost… sweet?
He didn't even look up as he said, "You breathe like a thief."
I blinked. "I don't breathe like a thief."
"You do," he said, still not looking. "Same sneaky rhythm. Short inhale. Pause. Step. Long exhale. You do it every time you think you're being clever."
I stepped out from behind the trunk, arms crossed. "I wasn't sneaking."
He finally looked up and smirked. "Uh-huh."
My eyes flicked to the flower. "What is that supposed to be?"
He held it up with mock pride. "A flaming lotus."
"Hmph! It looks like a crumpled dumpling!"
He gasped, clutching it to his chest. "How dare you insult my masterpiece?"
I hopped onto the slanted trunk, settling above him like a queen on her perch. "Seriously, though. What's the occasion? You finally confessing your undying love to someone?"
He tilted his head, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "Maybe."
"Ooooh," I teased. "Who's the poor soul that has to deal with you?"
He stood, brushing off his clothes, then climbed up beside me, leaning casually against the branch. "Maybe it's for someone who never shuts up."
I raised an eyebrow. "Wow, romantic. You planning to throw that glass dumpling at her, or hand it over with a threat?"
He chuckled. "Eh, whatever works."
The words faded, but neither of us moved. The wind blew the leaves above, and the fire crackled below. I could feel the weight of his gaze, even as I looked straight ahead.
His fingers brushed mine... well, barely, like it wasn't meant to happen.But he didn't pull away.
My heart beat a little too fast. I cleared my throat."We should get moving. The trail won't wait for us."
"Yeah," he said softly. But he didn't budge.
I turned slightly. His eyes were already on me. And for a moment, he looked... tired of holding back.
I blinked, startled. "W-What?"
He shook his head, almost like he was trying to dismiss something."Nothing. Just... " he hesitated, the small smile on his lips fading, "...you always do this. Get too close.Then pretend it doesn't mean anything."
"Says the guy who got close to me first and stares like he's memorizing my face!" I shot back, quieter than I intended.
Then I stood, brushing off my palms. "Let's go."
He followed a second later, footsteps close behind mine... but not too close. Like he needed the space... or didn't trust what would happen if there wasn't any.
We began our journey, the silence broken only by thud of our horses' hooves. A few minutes into the trail, I noticed my horse faltering. "Wait. My horse, it's not well."
Lin Jian halted, his brows furrowing as he examined the animal. "It's sick," he said, then proceeded to remove the horse's gear and lead it away.
He returned a short time later. "I killed it," he said simply.
I remained silent for the rest of the ride, my gaze fixed on the horizon ahead. Lin Jian walked the horse, while I rode it.
We passed a shimmering lake, and Lin Jian dismounted, scooping water into a leather pouch for me. The sunlight danced on the water surface, refracting into a thousand shimmering diamonds.
A quiet peace settled over me, momentarily forgetting the harsh reality of our journey.
That night we settled on a mountain hill, started a fire and went fishing for dinner.
The fire crackled and casted a warm glow on Lin Jian's face as he concentrated on grilling the fish. I was famished, my stomach growling louder than the flames.
To ease the tense atmosphere I said, "You shouldn't have killed the horse. It was kind of cute."
"You believed it?" he let out a small laugh. He lied?
He handed me a flaky piece, and I eagerly took a bite.
A choked gasp escaped my throat. "Ugh!" I sputtered, my eyes watering. Lin Jian's hand instinctively came to my back, patting firmly.
"Careful," he began, but I cut him off. "It's so bitter!" I cried out, the awful taste clinging to my tongue.
"What are you, a drama queen?" Lin Jian's hand dropped back to his lap, an exasperated roll of his eyes the only response he offered.
Minutes later, I choked again, this time for real. A fishbone lodged stubbornly in my throat. I clawed at my neck, my breaths becoming ragged whistles. I saw Lin Jian watching me, a bored expression on his face. He probably thought I was being dramatic again. But I couldn't breathe, couldn't stop the panicked shudders wracking my body.
Suddenly, my vision swam with red spots. The pain in my throat intensified, morphing into agony that spread throughout my body. I fell to the ground, thrashing, a strangled cry escaping my lips.
Then, I wasn't myself anymore. Lin Jian's concerned face swam into view, blurry and distorted.
Oh no! It's the curse.
I leaped at him, pinning him to the ground. My hands, no... claws, raked across his body. His blood splattered against my face, metallic and cold.
"Blockhead.." a choking voice managed to uttered, "Wake up, you'll really kill me in this state..."
And then, abruptly, I was back. Lin Jian lay beneath me, his chest bloody, his breaths shallow.
"Sorry... A-Jian, sorry.." I scrambled back, horror flooding me. I had hurt him, again. But this time... this time felt different. The blood staining my hands, his pained gasps, it all felt terrifyingly real. Where had I seen this before?
Memories, though fragmented, pierced through the fog in my mind. The dungeon, the fear in his eyes as I attacked him, his desperate pleas for me to stop and fight. It was exactly like this... It wasn't a dream. It all really happened.
I had attacked him and killed several of his men that day he brought me into the dungeon...I lived worry free, thinking it was all a dream. That and this was reality.
Guilt... heavy and suffocating, filled my chest. I saw the same disgust, the same fear in his eyes that I had seen that day in the dungeon. He looked at me like I was a monster. And maybe I was.
Despite my attack, he managed to drag his body across the ground to where I was slumped, curled in the corner against the tree. He cradled my head, panting, his breath shallow and ragged.
"It's alright, Yinou..." he murmured, comforting me with a voice that trembled from exhaustion.
I turned to him and hugged him... instinctively.The way a mother might. The way he had always held me during my seizures. I gathered what qi I had left and channeled it into him. He patted my back once... then collapsed into unconsciousness.
I hadn't even realized I fell asleep too.
When I awoke, I was not in the dungeon. I was in a clean, warm, and neat room, encased by a glowing barrier. I didn't know how long I had been asleep. My clothes had been changed to a simple yet fine white robe. My hair had been braided and adorned with unfamiliar ornaments. I checked myself... my strength was fully restored, my qi replenished.
It couldn't have been Lin Jian. He was still gravely injured.
Not long after, a woman entered... composed, with a noble air despite her humble dress. She introduced herself as Wang Long, a servant of Dongying Kingdom. She explained everything.
Su Ning and General Zhou, a famed commander of East Dongying, had brought me back. I had been asleep for two weeks.
Two weeks?
Before I could gather my thoughts, she informed me the Emperor would meet me soon.
When he arrived, Emperor Wang Zhaoyan stood tall, his gaze unreadable. He looked at me for a long moment before stepping forward. My heart seized. I couldn't hold his gaze. I knew what I was. What I carried. I lowered myself to the floor and kowtowed, hair brushing the polished stone.
When I raised my head, he was already reaching out....taking my arms gently and helping me to stand.
He did not waste time.
"Will you cooperate?" he asked. "To bring justice? Even if the criminal is your brother?"
My throat tightened, but I nodded. "Yes... I must."
He watched me carefully.
"I ask only this," I added, "granthim a swift death. Punish me as you see fit... I will atone for the rest."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because he is my blood...and I am the one who received his sin. That alone makes me guilty."
The Emperor was silent for a moment. Then he nodded.
"Very well." he said.
And we made a blood oath.
Though I was not sent to a dungeon, I felt like I was imprisoned still. The room was warm, clean, and far too kind. That kindness pressed heavier than chains. Every night, I bathed until my skin turned red. Scrubbed until it stung. The water ran pink from the guilt I couldn't cleanse.
In the quiet hours, I knelt before the tombs I had built in the courtyard with my bare hands. They were for the lives I felt responsible for.
Su Ning had not yet awakened. I was told he had exhausted all his strength sending a signal to his kingdom. Days passed and then...
One morning, he woke.
Still pale, barely steady on his feet, but awake.
I heard it from Wang Long. I dropped the brush from my hands and ran, but stopped just before his doorway. My feet froze. My hands trembled. I couldn't meet his gaze. Not yet. When he saw me, his eyes lit up and he reached slightly forward... but stopped when he saw how I lowered my head and went back.
He called my name once, gently. But didn't chase. He understood.
After that, every evening, a servant would bring my meal. And always, tucked beneath the bowl: a small folded paper. A quote in his handwriting. Some days, a line from a scholar...other days, words I knew were his own.
One day, it was he himself who came. Tray in hand.
I stood frozen as he waited silently at the door. Then, I stepped aside.He entered. We sat across each other, and spoke quietly of what had happened.
General Zhou had led the assault against Xin Kingdom's western flank. They had taken back the borders swiftly. Dongying had won.
"How did it go so smoothly?" I asked, wary.
"I planted a spy there," Su Ning replied. "And more importantly... they possessed an artifact that could track one's location. We retrieved it. That's how we found Zhang Li's new hideout."
My fingers slipped. The cup fell.
"Too soon?" he asked.
I nodded faintly.
"If you're willing," he said gently, "we want you to help us capture him...and destroy the Immortal's craft."
There was hesitation in me but I still said, "Yes."
Mount Bozhou did not lie in the mortal realm. It was between the human world and the underworld, a boundary of with miasma and cold winds.
Only those protected by talismans could step foot inside and survive.
Before the journey, we gathered in a chamber veiled with formations. Su Ning and General Zhou stood in full armor, Wang Long in the side. She sent her trusted servant Sui, a cultivator.
The main force, soldiers and adepts, were sealed within spirit vessels to be summoned later if needed. Only four of us crossed the threshold into Mount Bozhou.
The terrain a dessert that stretched long, but colder, darker, and slick with death.
Then, a gust. Violent and sudden.
A force that pulled at us.
Su Ning shouted a warning, holding tightly to my arm. General Zhou pressed forward, anchoring himself with his sword. Sui, further ahead, lost his footing first. He grabbed onto my leg instinctively.
And Su Ning, his expression flickering between instinct and something else, hesitated.
Then kicked Sui's hand away.
"General Zhou, catch!" he shouted, not looking at me.
I stared in disbelief. "Why would you--"
But before I could finish, we were all swept into the unknown.
We landed hard in a hidden city buried in the mist. This place pulsed with strange energy. The architecture mirrored the mortal world but twisted, ancient and weather-worn.
"Is this luck?" General Zhou murmured. "Or fate?"
Perhaps this was where Zhang Li had vanished to.
We masked our scents to avoid detection. We knew the longer Zhang Li stayed, the more exposed he would become.
We split up.
Our goal: find him. Trap him. Use me as bait if needed.
But there was another plan... an unspoken one, held in reserve.
Using my heartblood to track him.
It was Wang Long's suggestion, passed privately to Sui.
Because Zhang Li and I shared blood, it could be used as a tool. A dangerous shortcut.
And Su Ning, furious when he learned Sui had told me, stormed out. I chased him down the misted alleyway.
"You promised not to bring that up!" Su Ning snapped at Sui. "You swore it wouldn't be spoken unless necessary."
"She deserves to know her choices," Sui replied sharply. "Not be wrapped in silk."
They glared at each other, two wolves in different skins.
And I stood between them. The bridge, the burden, and the blade.
We had stayed in the buried spirit city for a day now. We had searched street by street, alley by alley... but Zhang Li remained a ghost.
One night, Su Ning saw her again in the dim firelight. Her sleeves had fallen, and her skin glowed red and raw. Faint bruises, the color of roses and ash, dotted her arms.
He stepped forward. "You...who did this to you?"
She froze,then looked away. "No one. I accidently bruised myself during my trainings."
Silence wrapped around them like a robe.
That night, he summoned her again, not as a general, but as someone who could no longer bear to watch her quietly destroy herself.
"If you must hurt someone," he whispered, "then hurt me too."
She looked up, startled.
With a golden incantation etched from his spirit, Su Ning pressed his palm to her back. Light shone... a soft gold thread twisting like silk between their cores.
From now on, everything she felt, he would too.
But his pain? It would never touch her.
"You've run out of places to hide from yourself," he said softly. "So now I'll stand where you hurt, until you stop."
Yinou's breath hitched. She didn't answer.
"I know you're the one doing this to yourself," he continued, voice low. "But must you go on like this? Can't you… let yourself breathe, even just for a moment?"
She looked up at him, lips trembling with something like a smile, though her eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
"You don't believe me," she said, her voice light, too light. "Why would I ever hurt myself? That sounds ridiculous."
There was a moment of silence.
She gave a half laugh, barely audible."This kindness… I'm not used to it.It's making me nauseous."
A tear slipped before she could catch it.She blinked hard, quickly ducking to pick something off the floor... anything."Didn't realize this inn was so dusty," she muttered, flicking at a tiny pebble and keeping her head down. "Disgusting."
Su Ning didn't say anything for a while. Just watched her.When she finally stood up, her eyes were clear again.
He stepped closer and quietly said,"You don't have to pretend it doesn't get to you. I'm not here to shame your softness."
She didn't reply. But her hands trembled—tight fists clenched at her sides.
He noticed.
Without a word, he took her hand gently into his and whispered another incantation. It swept through her like a breeze and eased her tremors.
"Just so you know," he said after a pause, "the curse I casted... you can't break it. Not without a backlash that'll hit us both. Hard."
"And it'll hit you worse," she said quietly, her gaze flicking to him.
He nodded.
"You knew I'd try to break it, so your telling me this?" she whispered.
"I know how deeply you hurt," he replied. "And how far you'd go to protect others from it."
Another silence. Then he reached inside his sleeve and drew a hairpin.
He stepped closer and gently gathered her unruly hair, tying it with his fingers.
She didn't move. Didn't resist.
Only when he slid the pin into place did she speak, almost inaudible:
"Why?"
He stepped back a little, voice low, almost like it wasn't meant to be heard.
"It suits you. Always did. I just didn't realize it until now."
She looked down, the corner of her mouth twitching like she almost smiled... but didn't. Her fingers brushed lightly against her sleeve, eyes fixed somewhere near the floor.
She didn't answer.
And he didn't press her.
This bond also shattered the plan to use her heartblood to track Zhang Li. She could no longer spill her own blood, not without harming Su Ning.
But fate, as always, stirred in secret places.
Yinou felt something. A presence.
One evening, cloaked in a mask, she followed that feeling.
Alone. She didn't tell the others. She didn't even tell Su Ning.
Deep inside, her emotions coiled tightly: guilt, sorrow, andconfusion. A part of her had wanted to stop him, to ask him...to beg him,to leave this path. She believed there was still something left in him. Something that could turn back.
So, she sent him a message.
But Sui saw her slip away and reported to Wang Long.
Zhang Li met her under the dead boughs of a spirit tree. He was no longer the brother she once knew. His eyes were colder now, heavier, as if the weight of the souls he carried had hollowed him.
"Turn back," she told him. "There's still a way."
"There never was," he said.
They fought.
But she had already made her choice. She had prepared for this. Before they even met, she had sent letters bearing his old blood-seal, masquerading as apologies. In truth, they were blood keys, meant to bind him to the Bloodcoil Rope, an artifact drawn from the vaults of Dongying.
As he lashed out, she raised the rope.
It hissed to life. Snaked around him.
He shouted her name, but she did not meet his gaze. She pulled, and the rope tightened, crushing around him with thorns. He struggled, but it was too late.
Su Ning appeared behind her, steadying her hands.
Together, they subdued him.
When they returned to Dongying, cheers rang through the city. The emperor welcomed them at the steps of the palace. Praise and honor were heaped upon them. But when she looked past the ceremony...
She saw her brother, chained in cold iron.
White robes threaded with gold bound his spiritual core. His eyes were blank. The hideout had been found but it was already emptied. His allies scattered.
Tomorrow, he would be judged.
The court was full. Sect leaders. Families of victims. Soldiers. Survivors. And watching from the shadows, those who remembered her face.
Whispers began.
"She was his sister."
The emperor said nothing for a moment.
Then Su Ning stepped forward. "Yes. But it was she who brought him to justice."
The emperor pardoned her.
But it did not feel like a victory.
She stepped outside. Her voice cracked, raw with grief.
"Why must he be punished alone?" she cried. "He was wrong--but I... I let him fall."
Tears streamed down her face.
From the crowd, Bai Lin came. Susu, Mrs. Xiao. Even Li Yang. None spoke... only stood beside her, not in judgment, but quiet mourning.
That night, Yinou visited Zhang Li in his cell.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "For all of it. I… I wanted to save you."
He said nothing. His eyes didn't rise.
Still, she knelt there a while longer, hoping silence could bridge what they lost.
[The next day.]
Zhang Li was taken to the Punishment Hall... a cold chamber built by ancient priests, overseen by the Emperor himself.
The sentence was read aloud.
Sufferknot, a rope woven by a god of vengeance. Each knot represented a life taken. With each breath, he would feel the agony of those souls. Pain deep in the bones. It could not kill, only punish.
Shivercord, cold as death, it sapped body heat the moment it touched skin. The frostbite would begin slowly, creeping from limbs inward, until the heart trembled.
And finally, he was to be offered to Heaven's Judgment.
Bound between both ropes, he would be lifted by ritual into the storm-ringed skies above. If Heaven found him unworthy, it would strike him down.
If silent… he would remain imprisoned for eternity, his body preserved but suffering.
As the wind howled around the platform, Yinou clutched her chest.
And for the first time, her brother looked at her, blank.
She stormed back and closed the door of her room behind her... slowly, like it might cry out if shut too fast. Her hands were shaking, she tied herself to the bedpost. Her wrists bled slightly from the pressure. She stuffed a cloth into her mouth... not to silence the screams, but to stop herself from calling his name.
The spell had been Su Ning's but today she broke it.
And cast it on herself to her brother.
She choked on blood the moment it snapped. Her body convulsed as she took in the pain...every echo of agony that Zhang Li should have endured. Her chest heaved, her vision blurred.
She never cried. Not once.
Later, the door burst open.
Susu rushed in, her steps light but urgent. "Yinou, wake up! I need to tell you--"
She froze in her tracks.
Yinou was tied down, lips blue, eyes dazed. Her skin was too pale.
"Yinou!"
She ripped the cloth from her mouth.
"Someone! Bai Lin! Li Yang! Su Ning! I don't care who... get in here now!"
The next day, before Yinou could even sit up, the doors opened again with violent force.
Wang Long stood there, flanked by Sui and Mrs. Xiao. The look in their eyes was colder than chains.
"She goes with us," Wang Long said.
"She just regained consciousness," Bai Lin protested.
"She goes. Now."
And they dragged her to the Punishment Hall.
Two days later, Su Ning opened his eyes to the scent of incense and the soft hum of spirit wards.
He sat up fast. "Yinou forcefully broke my spell. It must've backfired on her too. W-Where is she?"
Bai Lin's face was grim. "They took her. She's being held at Punishment Hall."
"What? Why?!"
"They think she sabotaged the ritual. They believe she's the reason Zhang Li escaped."
"Escaped? What do you mean! That's insane!"
"She broke your spell, Su Ning. Traces of soul magic were found. Mrs. Xiao says she saw Yinou entering Zhang Li's cell. Wang Long confirmed the one we punished wasn't real. It was a puppet. A living one."
He stumbled out of bed. "That's not possible. That puppet should've disintegrated after the first blow."
"That's why they're punishing her. She took the punishment herself... and now it all points back at her."
They paraded Yinou beneath the sun at noon, her wrists shackled. She knelt in silence.
When Su Ning arrived, he tore his robes and shielded her with his body. The Emperor said nothing. Not mercy, not defense.
Night had long fallen over the Punishment Hall, but the torches burned like they sought to expose guilt in every corner . Su Ning stood in front of the assembly. Wang Long, Sui, and the Emperor seated high above him.
In the middle of the hall, Yinou was crumpled to the ground, her wrists bound in chains too harsh for any human... no, for any being.
She didn't lift her head. She was breathing, barely.
And yet they stared at her like a danger... not a dying girl.
Su Ning stepped forward, voice calm.
"Your Highness! You say this is justice."
No one answered. The Emperor's eyes were hooded. Sui looked smug.
Su Ning's lips twitched into a faint smile. "You call yourselves righteous. Upholders of truth. Yet the moment a mystery arises, the first hand you raise is against the one who cannot speak."
"She broke the agreement and used a spell to deceive us," Sui replied.
"She took the same pain as his," Su Ning cut in sharply. "She used it to punish herself!"
"Even though it was her gege that we demanded she worked with us! She is not the one who deceived you, it's him!"
"She went to Zhang Li's dungeon," Mrs. Xiao added. "I saw it myself."
"A puppet was found in place of the prisoner," Wang Long said. "The same magic threads led back to her. And no one else."
"And that is enough for you?"
Su Ning's voice cracked... not from anger, but disbelief.
"You don't question the ease of the answer? You don't ask why it points to her so perfectly? Or do you prefer it that way... neat little guilt, tied in chains, to satisfy your own fear?"
"Su Ning," the Emperor said finally, "we cannot allow personal sentiment to cloud justice."
"And what is justice your Highness?" he asked quietly, looking up.
No one replied.
"Is it the first to bleed?" he continued. "The quietest one in the room? The one least capable of defending herself? You call yourselves guardians of law, but you look like men chasing shadows and calling it a victory."
Sui narrowed his eyes. "Watch your tone."
"I am watching," Su Ning said. "I have been watching for days now. And everything I see is rotting from the inside."
He turned to the Emperor, slowly.
"You once told me," Su Ning said, voice steady but with quiet disappointment, "that righteousness is about holding the blade even when your hands are trembling. You said truth outlives everything else. But here you are, holding a sword over her head for a crime she didn't commit."
He paused, taking a step back, his gaze locked as he looked at the emperor... no longer with admiration, but with a growing sense of doubt.
"You know punishing her won't bring you any answers. You won't get the criminal, you won't get the confession. So why are you cornering her?"
This man, who had once been a figure Su Ning respected, was different now. It felt as though everything had changed in just one day.
"Enough," Wang Long snapped. "Do you have proof she's innocent?"
"No," Su Ning answered. "And neither do you that she is guilty. And if this is the standard we're willing to accept... then perhaps righteousness was never the point at all."
He took a step forward, something heavy in his palm: The Empress's seal.
He held it up... not in anger, but in sorrow.
"This was meant to be used in service of the realm. To protect it. Even if only once."
He looked at Yinou... her bruised face, her trembling shoulders.
"I use it now."
And he crushed it.
The divine power surged, the seal shattering like a star in his hand.
"Release her."
They released Yinou.
But they never stopped watching her.
Mrs. Xiao approached to "offer support," and instead drove a pin laced with demon poison into her back.
Yinou woke to the sharp, scent of poison burning in her veins. Her vision blurred, but she heard it before she saw it.
Swords drawn from scabbards. The twang of bowstrings tightening. Shouts and magic humming in the air. She was surrounded... soldiers with drawn swords, arrows pointed at her.
She opened her eyes.
Arrows and blades all pointed at her.
No words. Just stares. Cold, condemning, and familiar.
Susu was bleeding at the edge of the circle, clutching her side. Su Ning stood barely upright, blood trailing from a stab wound that soaked his white robes dark.
And still, they looked at her.
Like she was filth. Like she was a monster.
Mrs. Xiao's poison pulsed beneath her skin. Her demon core leaked, burning her from the inside. Someone whispered the word "monster."
She laughed... once, bitter.
So this was it?
After everything.
Even now, they wanted her dead.
"Stay back," she hissed, voice ragged. "I'll lose control."
Su Ning stepped forward.
"I said stay back!" Her voice cracked. Her hands trembled. Her claws were out.
But Su Ning didn't flinch. "Then let me burn with you."
She stared at him. "Are you insane?! I will kill you."
"You won't."
"Why? Because I love you?" Her voice was jagged, broken. "That didn't save me. That didn't stop them. That didn't stop you from looking away... just once."
"I never looked away," he whispered. "Even now. Even like this, I see you!"
She shook her head violently. "You shouldn't have!"
He reached her, bloodied, pale. He pulled her into his arms.
Her claws ripped into his back. It was hard to tell whose blood was whose.
"I'm not worth it," she breathed, muffled into his shoulder. "I'm not worth saving. You should've let them kill me!"
"No," he said, voice soft. "But they will learn what it means to lose you."
Then her power surged. Her heart cracked in two.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Tell them this is what justice looks like."
And she pushed him back with a burst of force.
He stumbled, reaching out. "Yinou!"
"Tell them," she said again. "Tell them I wanted to believe in this world. I really did."
She closed her eyes.
And vanished in a pillar of white light.
The ground split. Silence echoed after the sound.
And Su Ning knelt, smoke curling around him, ash falling like snow.
He whispered her name again, "Zhang Yinou--!"
But there was no one left to answer.