The Rival Is About to Meet

Bai Ningbing said nothing.

She only watched him in silence, her gaze cold, as if separated by a thick layer of ice.

Bai Yujing did not mind. He paced slowly toward her, continuing in a leisurely tone: "Before I came out of seclusion, I heard my subordinates report something rather amusing."

He stopped about three steps away from Bai Ningbing, tilted his head, and spoke with an unhurried cadence, like someone sharing a bit of gossip that had nothing to do with him: "I hear that a remarkable figure has emerged from the Divine Abyss of Burial—a man in white robes, sword qi sweeping in all directions, slaughtering a host of prodigies and scattering them in defeat. He even smashed the Abyss Rankings to pieces."

He paused, his eyes slowly curving into a smile that deepened as he went on: "They call him the 'White-Clad God of Slaughter.'"

Bai Ningbing's eyelashes trembled slightly. She said nothing.

Bai Yujing waited for that reaction, then rolled the words over his tongue with extra weight: "Who would have thought—that worthless excuse of a husband, whose chest you pierced with your own dagger and whose immortal bone you carved out… is still alive."

Bai Ningbing spun around abruptly, her eyes bloodshot, the cold in them shattered completely, exposing the layers of emotion buried beneath decades of suppression—rage, agony, and a guilt that reached down to the marrow of her bones.

That guilt was so heavy it pressed down on her until she could barely breathe.

"This is all your doing!"

Her voice came out hoarse—not from anger, but from a long-suppressed torrent finally tearing loose like splitting silk: "You were the one who seduced me back then! You told me that if I extracted his immortal bone and used it as medicine, it would help you break through that bottleneck. You said you would spare his life!"

"Hahahaha!"

Bai Yujing suddenly threw his head back and laughed without restraint.

His laughter filled the entire hall, bouncing off the corridors and turning into something hollow and vast.

He laughed without a care, laughed with pure delight, entirely indifferent to the fact that Bai Ningbing's face had gone white as a sheet of paper.

Before the laughter even died down, his arm shot out.

He moved so fast that Bai Ningbing barely had time to react. Five long fingers locked precisely around her jaw, exerting just enough force to tilt her head up and force her to meet his eyes.

Bai Ningbing's pupils contracted. The law-force in her wrist instinctively stirred, but his far greater power crushed it down, leaving her helpless.

And so she stood there, forced to look up at Bai Yujing's eyes.

In those eyes, the warm veneer had vanished entirely. What lay bare now was the truest thing beneath—mockery, coldness, and a casual, condescending cruelty.

"That's your own stupidity."

He spoke word by word, his tone as calm as if stating the simplest fact: "In the cultivation world, the strong devour the weak. That has always been the way. I thought you'd have learned by now: cut the weeds and pull the roots."

He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice: "Besides—who do you think it was that gripped that dagger in the final moment? Who was it that carved out his blood-soaked immortal bone, sealed it in a jade box, and presented it with both hands before me?"

Bai Ningbing's eyes reddened at the rims. Something inside them was rapidly breaking its banks.

"It was because you threatened my entire family's lives..."

"And so what?" Bai Yujing cut her off, genuine impatience creeping into his voice—that impatience carrying a bone-chilling cruelty: "Bai Ningbing, do you think threats are some rare commodity in the cultivation world?"

"If you truly loved him, you could have chosen to die with him, isn't that right? But what did you choose? You chose to live. You chose your family. You traded his immortal bone for your own life and the lives of more than three hundred members of the Bai clan."

His fingers loosened slightly, but did not let go—only easing the pressure enough to let her speak.

"This debt cannot be blamed on anyone else."

His voice shifted back to that warm, careless tone, like an offhand remark: "You planted the cause, so you must accept the fruit."

"You..." Bai Ningbing's eyes burned with wildness.

"Enough."

Bai Yujing released her. He drew out a snow-white handkerchief and slowly, meticulously wiped each finger that had touched her jaw, every movement precise and deliberate.

Bai Ningbing stood frozen in place.

The warmth of his fingertips still lingered on her jaw, and that warmth made her feel as if she were standing on burning coals, wishing she could scrape away that patch of skin.

She forced her gaze downward, pressing back every emotion that surged up, her lashes trembling like two exhausted, struggling butterflies.

Bai Yujing tossed the handkerchief aside. He turned, walked slowly to the window, and gazed out at the surging sea of blood-red clouds, silent for a moment.

"But then," he spoke at last, a genuine note of interest in his voice, "this Ye Xuan—he does surprise me somewhat."

He said slowly: "His immortal bone was carved out. His cultivation was completely destroyed. He was cast into the Burial Immortal Lake... anyone else would have perished utterly, body and soul gone without a trace. Yet he survived. And even cultivated himself to such a level."

A pause. A trace of reluctant admiration flickered through his tone before being swallowed by a light sneer: "Interesting."

Bai Ningbing stared hard at his back. Something in her eyes was burning beyond control.

"Do not touch him." Her voice was low, but every word was crisp and clear, carrying the force of a last-ditch determination: "Bai Yujing, you have already killed him once. That is enough."

"Enough?" Bai Yujing turned his head, a strange glint flashing in his eyes, before dissolving into an even sharper, more penetrating mockery: "Bai Ningbing, when you say that to me now—are you pleading for him, or are you pleading for your own conscience?"

Those words struck like a hidden dart, piercing the deepest wound in Bai Ningbing.

Her lips trembled faintly. She said nothing.

She could not refute him.

Because she did not know the answer.

Perhaps it was both. Perhaps it was neither.

She no longer had the right to love him.

She knew that better than anyone.

But even so, she could not bear to watch him be destroyed again.

"Whatever your reasons," Bai Ningbing lifted her head, her eyes rimmed with red but her expression harder than ever before: "The old grudge between you two is my doing. If you seek revenge, come for me. He has nothing to do with it."

Bai Yujing looked at her. For a brief moment, something like confusion flickered in his eyes, then was overtaken by an even deeper sneer.

He smiled slowly, and that smile carried a tenderness that chilled the bones.

"You think that there is anything in this world you can wash away with a simple 'nothing to do with him'?"

He walked toward her step by step, and with each step she unconsciously retreated, until her back pressed against the cold crystal window, with nowhere left to go: "Back then, to protect your family, you cut off every road he had. Now that he has returned, even if you do nothing at all—do you really think he can pretend nothing ever happened?"

Bai Ningbing clenched her fists in silence.

Bai Yujing stopped before her, his gaze lowered as he looked at her. His voice softened, carrying an air of casual, unwavering certainty. “He’ll come looking for me sooner or later, Bai Ningbing. Not for your sake—for his own. That’s the path he has to walk as a cultivator. You can’t stop him, and I have no need to wait.”

He raised his hand, as if to touch her face again, but Bai Ningbing jerked her head away sharply, her eyes filled with undisguised rejection and disgust.

Bai Yujing’s hand froze mid-air. After a moment, he withdrew it.

He turned and strode toward the depths of the great hall, his voice drifting back languidly, laced with an offhand cruelty. “I’ll go pay your white-clad husband a visit. It’s been three years—time to catch up. As for the outcome…” He paused.

“This time, I’ll make sure he dies with some dignity.”

“No!”

The instant those words landed, Bai Ningbing lunged forward.

All the emotions she had buried deep over the years burst forth in that moment, like a dam shattered by a raging flood—unstoppable, overwhelming.

She didn’t know what she was doing, or whether it would mean anything at all. She knew that with her current cultivation, she couldn’t stop Bai Yujing. She knew Ye Xuan hated her, that he would never trust her again. She knew that charging out now might be nothing but futility.

But she simply couldn’t stand still.

She burst out of the great hall, past the disciples kneeling outside, past the outpost’s outer barrier, transforming into a streak of resolute white light, hurtling toward the depths of the Abyssal Sky Burial Grounds with reckless, life-or-death urgency.

She didn’t know if she’d make it in time.

She only knew that this time, she couldn’t let anything happen to him again.

Even if he would never forgive her, even if her presence was only a wound that disgusted him.

At least he had to live.

Only by living would he ever have the chance to hate her.