I Do Not Forgive

Xia Lengyue did not look at Ye Xuan; she was completely immersed in those bloody memories.

"That man, he clearly could have resisted. But for the sake of that woman, he didn't. He just watched helplessly as his blood was drained, bowl by bowl, his body decaying day by day, turning from a young man into a white-haired old man..."

"Why? The woman could never figure it out. Then came Li Chengfeng..."

"In the end, the woman was betrayed and deserted by everyone, besieged by the whole world on Broken Soul Cliff. Just as she closed her eyes and waited for death, that husband, whose heart she had broken and whom she had discarded like an old shoe, rushed out like a fool. He burned his own soul and used his flesh and blood to block a fatal strike for her..."

The story was finished.

The pavilion fell into a dead silence.

Only the mountain wind blew past, rolling up a few fallen leaves and making a desolate rustling sound.

Xia Lengyue slowly raised her head. Those beautiful eyes that had once captivated the world were now bloodshot, and tears fell silently down her pale cheeks like pearls from a broken string.

She looked at Ye Xuan, her gaze full of expectation.

"Ye Xuan..."

In a trembling voice that bordered on pleading, she asked the question that had lingered in her heart for countless days and nights:

"If... if you were the husband in the story... would you... forgive that woman?"

Ye Xuan could feel the surrounding temperature dropping at a terrifying speed as she asked this question.

Countless invisible auras, like unseen chains, locked onto him firmly from all directions.

He knew that if he said a single wrong word, or even showed the wrong expression, he might be torn to shreds by this terrifying power in the next second.

His brain was working at lightning speed.

His survival instinct instantly formulated a perfect answer.

He should tell her in the most sincere and humble tone:

"Forgive! Of course I would forgive! Senior Sister, the woman in the story must have had her own bitter difficulties!

She was born in such a cannibalistic environment, she had no choice!

She just wanted to survive, what did she do wrong?

Besides, didn't she realize her mistakes in the end?

To know one's mistakes and correct them is the greatest good!

A prodigal's return is worth more than gold!

That husband would definitely feel gratified by the woman's repentance!"

Yes, this was the safest answer.

It fit the humble, cowardly, and spineless role he had been playing for the past few months.

As long as he gave this answer, Xia Lengyue would definitely be very satisfied.

She would treat him as the image of her endlessly tolerant husband from her previous life, she would dote on him even more, give him more resources, and his cultivation path would be smooth sailing.

Was it humiliating?

Of course it was humiliating.

But he had endured for so long, what was the harm in enduring one more time?

Ye Xuan could even feel these flattering, hypocritical words rolling on the tip of his tongue, ready to blurt out.

However...

Just at the moment he was about to speak.

Scenes, like the most vicious curses, uncontrollably exploded in his mind!

"Mmm... Senior Brother Zhao... be gentle..."

"He is not my husband, just a dog."

"Old Ancestor~ The medicinal primer is here~ This is the freshest heart's blood, drink it while it's hot..."

"Look at him sitting here, doesn't he look like an old dog with its teeth pulled out?"

Scene after scene, voice after voice.

The humiliation, disgust, and anger that had been deliberately suppressed erupted at this moment like a volcano pushed to its absolute limit!

On what grounds?

Why must I always be the one to endure?

Why should I pay for the mistakes you made? Why should I be the one to forgive?

Why is it that only when you are betrayed by everyone and driven into a corner do you remember my goodness?

Why should your repentance earn my forgiveness?

Is your remorse really that noble?

Fuck this!

I'm done acting!

Ye Xuan slowly, inch by inch, raised his head.

He straightened his back, which he had habitually kept bent for the past few months.

His eyes, which had always been evasive and humble, looked directly into Xia Lengyue's tearful, astonished eyes for the first time, without any fear.

He spoke.

His voice was not loud, but it exploded like a crack of thunder on this silent mountain peak.

"I do not forgive!"

These few words.

Clear, calm, and firm.

The sadness and fragility on Xia Lengyue's face instantly froze.

With the tear stains still wet on her face, she stood there dumbfounded.

Her expression was one of extreme, absurd disbelief.

She blinked, thinking she was hearing things.

"What did you say?"

"I said."

Ye Xuan repeated, his voice even clearer this time: "I do not forgive!"

This time, Xia Lengyue heard it clearly.

Her pupils suddenly shrank into the most dangerous pinpricks.

A chill so terrifying that it distorted space erupted from her body.

The stone stool beneath her, the stone table in front of her, along with the cup of tea that had long gone cold, silently turned into the finest ice crystal powder in an instant, scattering without a trace as the mountain wind blew.

The surrounding spirit plants were covered in a thick layer of frost at a visible rate. The originally vibrant courtyard transformed into a dead domain of ice and snow in an instant.

"Wh... why?"

Xia Lengyue's voice was trembling violently, not from the cold, but from extreme anger and incomprehension.

She stared dead at Ye Xuan, her gaze incredibly resentful:

"Did... did you not hear the story clearly just now? That woman... she already knows she was wrong! She already regrets it!"

"For the rest of her life, she spent all her time missing that man, agonizing over the mistakes she made. She has already been punished! Why... why can't you forgive her?"

Her questioning sounded like she was defending the woman in the story, but her hysterical tone was clearly questioning Ye Xuan:

I, Xia Lengyue, am already in so much pain!

I already regret it so much!

On what grounds do you, Ye Xuan, not forgive me?

Ye Xuan looked at her beautiful yet hideous face, twisted by agitation, and felt completely calm in his heart.

After he said those words, an unprecedented, thoroughly delightful sense of relief spread through all his limbs and bones.

He felt as if he had broken free from an invisible, immensely heavy shackle.

He calmly met Xia Lengyue's almost murderous gaze and spoke lightly:

"So what?"

"What do you mean, 'so what'?"

Xia Lengyue screamed, abruptly standing up and taking a step forward. A terrifying pressure pressed down fiercely toward Ye Xuan like a landslide or tsunami!

Ye Xuan's bones creaked, his legs trembled uncontrollably, his face instantly turned pale, and a trace of blood even seeped from the corner of his mouth.

But he did not kneel.

Like a javelin in a violent storm that would rather break than bend, he stood firmly rooted to the spot, his back perfectly straight.

Ye Xuan looked at her, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his lips, and enunciated every word clearly:

"Why should I forgive?"

Xia Lengyue panicked. She released her grip, her words tumbling out incoherently as she tried to defend her, "But... but that woman already knows she was wrong! She has repented! She is willing to give her life to him! She is in so much agony right now, isn't that enough?"

"Not enough."

Ye Xuan coldly cut her off.

He stood up. Even though his cultivation was low at this moment, his imposing aura completely overwhelmed this mighty expert.

"Belated devotion is worth less than weeds."

"You say she repented? So what?"

"When a knife is plunged into someone, does it stop hurting just because you pull it out? Does the scar vanish? Does it mean no blood was ever shed?"

Ye Xuan advanced on Xia Lengyue step by step, his eyes burning with a fury he had suppressed for two lifetimes:

"You say she had no choice for the sake of her immortal cultivation? That was her choice, so why should that man be the one to pay the price?"

"She enjoyed the wealth and glory brought by her betrayal, she enjoyed the thrill of it, and now that she is down and out, or simply feeling a little guilty, she turns around and sheds a couple of tears, and that man is supposed to accept it with overwhelming gratitude?"

"Why should he?"

Xia Lengyue was forced to retreat step by step until her back hit the freezing wall.

Her face was deathly pale. She shook her head desperately and screamed hysterically, "It's not like that! It's because of love! Because that man loves her! If he loves her, why can't he tolerate everything?"

"Love?"

Ye Xuan laughed.

His smile was uglier than crying, and colder than ice.

"Senior Sister Xia, you think too highly of that man, and you cheapen men far too much."

"I do not forgive, not because I don't love, but because... I am not cheap."

"Why should I be the only one to suffer? Why must I be the saint?"

"Since I was not the one who committed betrayal, since I was not the one who did wrong, then..."

Ye Xuan lowered his head, looking at Xia Lengyue who was slumped weakly on the ground as if he were looking at a pitiful clown, and delivered his final verdict:

"Even if heaven and earth are destroyed, even if the seas run dry and the rocks crumble."

"I will absolutely never forgive."