Why I Must Stop It

Xia Lengyue was completely dumbfounded.

At this moment, not only had the faith she had held in her previous life collapsed, but even the meaning of her existence in this life had been mercilessly crushed into dust by Ye Xuan.

She had thought that meeting Ye Xuan’s reincarnation was Heaven’s gift of redemption to her.

She had thought this was her chance to make amends for the sins of her previous life.

Day after day, night after night, she had guarded that tiny Qi Refinement disciple in the Azure Cloud Sect, watching him grow step by step.

But what had it all amounted to?

From beginning to end, everything had merely been a naked scheme!

She had been nothing more than a dog led around by the nose by Ye Xuan.

He had used up the evil of her past life, then drained every last bit of the goodness she possessed in this one!

She had been nothing but a tool!

There had never been even the slightest trace of genuine feeling!

“You… you…”

Xia Lengyue raised her hand, its flesh mangled beyond recognition, and pointed at Ye Xuan. A rattling sound escaped her throat before she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Looking at her miserable state, Ye Xuan smiled faintly. Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something particularly amusing, he bent slightly and delivered the final, fatal blow in a falsely gentle tone:

“Still, don’t feel too honored, as though you alone were worthy of such distinction.”

“The only reason I chose you as my Dao Protector back then was simply because… your position happened to be the closest to the Azure Cloud Sect at the time.”

“Otherwise, according to my original plan, that position should have gone to Xiao Honglian.”

“After all, that woman owes me no less than you do.”

“And she happens to be an Alchemy Grandmaster.”

Silence.

On Soulbreak Cliff, apart from the howling wind and pounding rain, not a sound could be heard.

“Ah!”

Xia Lengyue let out a shriek so sharp and piercing that it sounded like a cuckoo crying blood.

There was no anger in that cry, no accusation—only the purest, most extreme despair of a soul being torn completely apart.

She suddenly clutched her head and curled up in the mud and scattered lotus-root fragments. Her body convulsed violently as she wept uncontrollably, froth and blood spilling from her mouth.

She had completely broken down.

Her Dao Heart had shattered, and her soul had collapsed. At this moment, Xia Lengyue had truly become a walking corpse, left with nothing but instinctive suffering.

Ying’er, who had watched coldly from the sidelines, showed not the slightest trace of sympathy at Xia Lengyue’s miserable, utterly tragic state. Instead, she covered her mouth and let out a clear, tinkling laugh.

Her lively eyes glittered with an almost pathological adoration. She stepped forward, gently hooked her arm around Ye Xuan’s, and pressed her delicate body against him. In a voice so saccharine it was cloying, she cooed:

“Husband, you’re really awful…”

“But Ying’er likes it so much~”

Upon Soulbreak Cliff, the raging wind and torrential rain poured down without mercy.

Xia Lengyue curled up beside the coffin whose lid had already been torn away, her entire body smeared with mud, blood, and fragments of rotten lotus root.

Both her hands were mangled, several fingernails had been torn off, and stark white bones glimmered faintly beneath the pallid lightning.

She no longer cried.

It was not that she did not want to. Her tears had simply run dry during those long, agonizing hours. Her eye sockets now felt parched, as though scorched by flames, leaving behind only a hollow, numb ache.

The foul-smelling fragments of rotten lotus root still lay scattered in the muddy water, washed into disarray by the rain.

Almost unconsciously, she reached out and gathered the fragments one by one, as though trying to salvage some precious relic.

Her lips kept moving, but no sound came out.

She had once believed that she had possessed the purest love in the world.

That man had been willing to take a sword for her, willing to die for her, willing to spend his entire life indulging her caprices and fulfilling her every whim.

For hundreds of years, she had tormented herself with that “love,” struggling and sinking day and night in an abyss of guilt and longing.

But in the end, even that illusion had been false.

From beginning to end, she had been nothing more than a sow raised in a pigsty. And the owner of that pig had not even bothered to look after her personally. He had merely tossed her a piece of rotten wood before turning and walking away.

What, then, had her entire life amounted to?

“Let’s go.”

Ye Xuan’s voice came from above her.

He did not even bother to look down at her again. The hem of his black-and-gold robe swayed faintly in the wind and rain as he turned to leave.

Ying’er obediently followed behind him. Before departing, she did not forget to glance back at Xia Lengyue sprawled in the muddy water, a mocking curve tugging at the corners of her lips.

Xia Lengyue abruptly raised her head.

A hoarse growl escaped her throat, like the final struggle of a trapped beast driven into a dead end.

“Husband!”

Her voice was torn beyond recognition. Every word seemed to be scraped out of her ruined throat along with strips of flesh.

“Back then… back then, why didn’t you stop me? You had the power to stop me. Why… why did you stand by and watch me betray you?”

The instant she asked the question, Xia Lengyue herself froze.

She did not know what she was asking. She did not know why she had spoken at all.

She had already lost everything. Even the last shred of her dignity had been shattered in the wind and rain.

And yet, that question was like a thorn, stabbing ruthlessly into her heart.

She wanted to know the answer.

Even if it was the cruelest answer imaginable, she still wanted to know.

Ye Xuan’s footsteps halted.

He did not turn around. He simply stood silently in the wind and rain, his black-and-gold robe drenched by the downpour, yet remaining utterly spotless.

After a moment, he turned his head slightly, revealing half of a cold, knife-carved profile.

“Why should I have stopped you?”

Xia Lengyue’s entire body went rigid.

Ye Xuan slowly turned around. His deep eyes, as still and unfathomable as ancient wells, finally fixed upon her. Rainwater slid down from his temples, but it could not extinguish the icy mockery in his gaze.

“Were you forced?”

“When you threw yourself into Zhao Wuji’s arms, was he holding a blade to your throat? Or when you climbed into Bai Yujing’s bed, had he crippled your cultivation?”

“Xia Lengyue, weren’t you quite happy to accept the resources, techniques, and praise those men gave you?”

“You did it entirely of your own free will.”

“No… It wasn’t like that… I only…”

“Shh.”

Ye Xuan raised a finger to his lips, cutting off her excuse. His eyes filled with deep contempt.

“Was I supposed to imprison you beside me, watch you day and night, and chain you up like a guard watching a thief—just to keep you from cheating on me, the way you once did to me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. If a relationship has to be maintained through imprisonment and surveillance in order to preserve so-called fidelity, can it still be called a marriage?”

Xia Lengyue’s entire body began to tremble violently.

She wanted to argue. She wanted to say, “It was different.”

But when the words reached her lips, they seemed to be blocked by something, and she could not force them out.

Was it really different?

She asked herself that question from the depths of her heart.

Back then, she looked down on Ye Xuan for being a menial disciple. She despised his lowly status and the fact that he could not give her everything she wanted. So she threw herself into Zhao Wuji’s arms, because that man could provide her with the resources of the Supreme Emotionless Sect.

Later, she climbed into Bai Yujing’s bed because he possessed a Heaven-tier cultivation technique.

Each time, she told herself, “This will be the last time. Once I get what I want, I’ll go back to him.”

But every time, she only sank deeper.

And Ye Xuan?

He had never tried to stop her.

Not because he lacked the ability, but because he disdained her.

As Ye Xuan watched her utterly broken appearance, a trace of cold mockery flashed through his eyes.

He paused briefly, as if weighing his words, then slowly said:

“I, Ye Xuan, only select. I don’t cultivate.”

“You’re not devoted, so naturally I’ll find a woman who is faithful and true.”

Ye Xuan’s voice was cold to the extreme. Each word seemed to drift from the frigid winds of the Netherworld Abyss.

“Why should I waste my time on you?”

“Do you really think you’re the only woman in the world?”

Xia Lengyue felt as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

Her entire body stiffened where she stood, motionless. Rain streamed from the ends of her hair, washing over her face, which had already twisted beyond recognition.

Those two sentences were like a thunderclap, shattering the last remnants of her illusions into dust.

So, in Ye Xuan’s eyes, she had never been a soul in need of saving, nor a lover worth waiting for.

She was merely a defective item that had been selected, found unsuitable, and casually discarded.

And Ye Xuan could not even be bothered to pick up that piece of trash and throw it into the garbage. He had more important things to do.

From beginning to end, she had never once mattered to him.