Sisters' Heart-to-Heart Talk

"You've never hated him?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell into dead silence.

Lin Qingxue stood frozen in place, looking dumbfoundedly at Qin Ke'er's matter-of-fact expression.

She dug at her ear, suspecting she was hearing things.

"Senior Sister, are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious."

Qin Ke'er nodded earnestly, meeting Lin Qingxue's gaze with utmost sincerity.

In those clear eyes, there wasn't a trace of falsehood.

But this only made Lin Qingxue even more bewildered.

This... this isn't right, is it?

Shouldn't Senior Sister and the others hate the Heartless Man to death? Why was she pulling this stunt now?

Was she playing a trick on her?

"You, you don't hate him?"

Lin Qingxue asked again in disbelief.

"Why should I hate him?" Qin Ke'er asked in return.

Hearing this, Lin Qingxue became so anxious she nearly jumped off the bed. She pointed a finger at Qin Ke'er, her face flushed with agitation, "You, you, you! How can you not hate him? After joining the sect, not only was he a total playboy who took every girl he met into his harem, but he also caused the destruction of our Azure Profound Sect, caused the death of Eldest Senior Brother, abandoned the sect to leave on his own, and didn't even take us with him when he ascended!"

"Moreover, you scolded me before for speaking up for him."

"You joined Master and the other Senior Sisters in isolating me, and now you're telling me you don't hate the Heartless Man at all?"

"I can't accept this!!!"

Lin Qingxue was so angry her face turned red, her chest heaving violently.

"Senior Sister, you're just here to make fun of me, right?"

"I'm not."

Qin Ke'er shook her head, her voice very light.

She was exceptionally calm today, acting almost like a completely different person from the usually loud and boisterous Qin Ke'er.

If they hadn't spent years living together day and night.

Lin Qingxue would have almost thought she had been possessed by someone.

"Why should I hate him?"

Meeting her confused gaze, Qin Ke'er sighed, her expression extremely complex.

"I may have been reborn, but the person who did those things is the future Ye Shu. The destroyed Azure Profound Sect is in the future, the dead Eldest Senior Brother is in the future, the me who had her true feelings deceived is in the future, and the Heartless Man who abandoned the sect is also in the future."

"But the current Heartless Man is in the present."

"The Azure Profound Sect hasn't been destroyed."

"Eldest Senior Brother hasn't died either."

"I haven't had my heart broken by him either. In fact, before I could even say a few words to him, he was already dead..."

"Since none of it has happened yet."

Qin Ke'er smiled bitterly and looked at Lin Qingxue, "Then how can I hate him?"

"At most, the one I hate is that future Ye Shu."

"Not this ignorant, naive boy who doesn't even know who I am right now."

"This... this..."

Lin Qingxue was utterly stunned.

Was this really her carefree, simple-minded Third Senior Sister? Her mouth was open wide enough to fit an egg, looking at Qin Ke'er as if she were seeing her for the first time.

Only after a long while did she finally speak.

"But... but you already know that the Heartless Man is a very, very bad person. Even if he hasn't shown it yet, he will turn out that way one day."

"What does that have to do with me?"

Qin Ke'er tilted her head and looked at her with an innocent face.

"Even if he goes bad later, the point is he hasn't done anything bad right now."

"Even if a leopard can't change its spots."

"We should wait until he actually shows tendencies of doing evil before we try to stop him. If he wants to join the sect, I'll just find a way to stop him, right?"

She enunciated every word clearly and seriously:

"I have the right to choose not to accept him, but I do not have the right to deprive him of his life."

"This..."

Lin Qingxue was left speechless, completely unable to refute.

To think that out of everyone, Third Senior Sister was the one who saw things most clearly. Even she herself only understood how innocent the Heartless Man was after actually walking in Ye Shu's shoes and experiencing his situation firsthand.

Yet Third Senior Sister had figured it out just by thinking about it.

She actually understood this principle already.

Wait!

Suddenly, Lin Qingxue realized something.

That's not right!

Obviously, she was the one who treated the Heartless Man well. How did it turn out like she was the bad guy, and Third Senior Sister was the one who understood the Heartless Man the most?

Hadn't she slandered the Heartless Man before?

"Then when I just returned to the mountain and we were watching the recording stone, why did you curse the Heartless Man, calling him a big liar, and join Eldest Senior Sister and Second Senior Sister in isolating me?"

Lin Qingxue puffed out her cheeks angrily and accused her.

"You duplicitous woman!"

Hearing this, Qin Ke'er looked at her like she was an idiot, "Master and the Senior Sisters hate the Heartless Man to the core of the earth. If I didn't join them in cursing that guy, wouldn't I end up isolated just like you, you dummy?"

"Guh—"

Lin Qingxue's pupils shrank, her expression freezing on her face.

"So you've been acting this whole time, huh?"

"What else?"

Qin Ke'er rolled her eyes at her, "Do you think everyone is as silly as you, wearing everything on their face and unable to read the room? Look what happened, you got isolated by everyone, right?"

She crossed her arms, looking quite proud:

"Why else am I your Senior Sister? When it comes to IQ, I'm at least ten streets ahead of you!"

"All I can say is..."

"Dummies deserve what they get!"

"You, you, you!"

Lin Qingxue was so frustrated she almost coughed up blood.

And here she thought she was the only one who was clear-headed! It turned out Qin Ke'er was even more clear-headed, and hid it so deeply!

"If that's the case, why did you steal the Heartless Man's opportunities? Don't tell me you went to Serpent City and Yuanyang Town really just for training!"

Lin Qingxue pointed at her nose, wearing an expression that said I saw right through you.

Only she was truly clear-headed!

Everyone else was a fake!

Hearing this, Qin Ke'er shook her head again.

"Junior Sister, with your IQ and Dao heart, you'll probably be stuck at the Golden Core stage for the rest of your life."

"Those opportunities belong to Ye Shu in the future, that's true."

"But the problem is, since they don't belong to him right now, just like he hasn't yet committed his future sins, these things are essentially masterless."

"Since they are masterless, anyone can take them."

"So of course I can fight for them too."

Qin Ke'er tilted her head and looked at her speechlessly, "Before rebirth I got nothing and had my heart broken. If I still don't fight for anything after rebirth, wouldn't my rebirth be a waste?"

D... damn it...

It made so much sense that she actually couldn't refute it.

Lin Qingxue gritted her silver teeth, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Junior Sister, you know what?"

Qin Ke'er turned her head away, looking at the night sky outside the window.

"When that guy died, I didn't feel a shred of joy in my heart, only deep sorrow. I couldn't confide in Master and the others; they would only think I was crazy and treat me the same way they treat you, isolating me."

"That's why I came to find you, to talk to you."

"........."

Lin Qingxue looked at her back, speechless for a moment.

"I always thought Master and our senior sisters were just talking, just here to intercept his fortuitous encounters. Who knew that Master would actually... actually kill that Heartless Man."

"And the senior sisters even looked as if it was perfectly natural."

Qin Ke'er's eyes were filled with melancholy as she let out a sigh.

"I'm not saying we couldn't fight and kill that guy. After all, in the struggle for the Great Dao and the fight over fortuitous encounters, death and injury are inevitable. I just feel that, at the very least, Master shouldn't have been the one to strike. Bullying the weak as a senior... how does that make us any different from demonic cultivators?"

"Furthermore, they even forgot about Xiao Qingli."

Qin Ke'er shook her head, a trace of sorrow revealing itself in her eyes.

"Junior Sister, Master and the others have been blinded by hatred. They've become strangers."

"..........."

Lin Qingxue said nothing.

In her heart, she felt the same as Qin Ke'er, somewhat sorrowful and somewhat sad.

The Master and senior sisters who used to be so close.

Now, they had completely changed.

If... if only this whole rebirth thing had never happened.

Lin Qingxue suddenly had this thought. If everyone hadn't been reborn, and the future was just as her grandfather had described, actually... actually that wouldn't have been too bad, right?

Time slowly slipped away in the silence.

Qin Ke'er sighed.

"The person is already dead. What's the point of talking about this now?"

Saying this, she stood up and walked toward the door. "It's getting late. Rest early."

Just as she reached the door, she paused, but still spoke up:

"If possible, you shouldn't stay on Zixiao Peak any longer. It will only... add to your troubles."

"Senior Sister..."

Lin Qingxue silently watched her back.

Who could have imagined that the Third Senior Sister, who seemed the most foolish on ordinary days, was actually the most clear-headed and perceptive person among them all.

However—

Just as Qin Ke'er was about to push the door open and leave.

A barely audible voice, filled with lingering attachment, suddenly rang out, exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

"Don't... go..."