For a moment, the atmosphere deep in the stone cave turned deathly silent.
The faint firelight on the stone walls flickered, casting the old man's withered shadow long against the ground.
Su Yueli watched him quietly, her expression devoid of emotion.
After a long while, the ancestor finally let out a long breath. “Must I die? If I do, the Cangyun Sect... will completely collapse.”
Su Yueli looked at him, her voice flat. “It is merely karmic retribution. Back then, the personal disciple of your Grand Elder framed a dear mortal friend of mine, causing him to freeze to death in a ruined temple. I have already killed that man.”
“And your Young Sect Master, Lu Feiyu—before he rose to power, he slaughtered mortals indiscriminately. Among them... were my parents.”
The ancestor’s turbid eyes narrowed slightly. “So... the great storm you have caused over these hundred years has been for revenge all along?”
“Naturally.”
Su Yueli nodded. “Without these grievances, I would have focused on my martial arts, and you on your immortality. We would have never crossed paths. But in that battle a hundred years ago, you severely injured me to protect Lu Feiyu. Therefore, you must die.”
In her heart, she felt no pure hatred for the old man before her.
This old thing had protected Lu Feiyu back then for the sake of the sect’s prestige. If their Young Sect Master had been executed by a martial artist in front of so many immortals, how could the Cangyun Sect have ever held its head high in the cultivation world again?
For the interests of the sect, his choice had been inevitable.
But understanding his choice was one thing; did that mean the blood debt of her parents and friend should go unpaid? In the end, they both had their own stances. The fault lay in the fact that this old man had been too protective back then, dragging himself into this death trap.
The ancestor closed his eyes, his entire being seeming to wither a bit more.
“If I die... will you involve the others of the Cangyun Sect?”
“I have no interest in that.” Su Yueli brushed her sleeves. “I am not a bloodthirsty person. Those who deserved to die back then are all gone. I cannot be bothered to move against the innocent disciples at the bottom.”
The ancestor slowly opened his eyes, a hint of pleading in his gaze. “Then... after I die, could you perhaps not spread the news?”
Su Yueli glanced at him and immediately understood the old man’s scheme.
As long as the news of his death was not made public, the outside world would fear that the Cangyun Sect still had an ancestor sitting in guard and would not dare to rush in to carve up and annex them. He wanted to use his posthumous reputation to leave one last line of defense for this crumbling sect.
“Very well.” Su Yueli nodded readily.
She turned and walked toward the cave entrance. Without looking back, she waved her hand.
“Within one day, I want to know the news of your self-execution. If you are still alive this time tomorrow, the Cangyun Sect shall be destroyed.”
The ancestor watched her retreating back, a miserable, bitter smile playing on his lips. He let out a raspy sigh. “The immortal path... the martial path... in the end, it is all for nothing.”
The sound of his sigh gradually faded within the hollow stone cave.
...
By the time she left the Cangyun Sect’s gates, the sky had already darkened.
The town at the foot of the mountain was filled with red lanterns hanging along the streets, illuminating the bluestone paths. The night did not make the mortal world any quieter; instead, the streets were teeming with people and carriages, even more bustling than during the day.
Steam rose from the roadside stalls, and shouts of drinking games echoed from the restaurants, creating a lively scene.
Su Yueli strolled through this mundane vitality.
Deep in an alley to her left, a young couple huddled together, whispering sweet words of love, their eyes filled with tenderness. To her right, in front of a candied hawthorn stall, a middle-aged man picked up a playful child while a woman laughingly scolded the boy as she wiped his mouth.
In a nearby teahouse, several old friends sat around a table, clinking glasses and chatting about the trivial matters of the secular world.
Friendship, love, kinship.
These most common yet most sincere emotions of the mortal world were on full display at this moment.
Su Yueli stopped in the middle of the noisy crowd.
The lights from the lanterns reflected on her cold face, making the teardrop mole at the corner of her eye look somewhat lonely.
Having lived for hundreds of years and reached the Thirteenth Realm Flawless body, no matter how lively this red dust became, she was ultimately just a bystander. With no parents and her old friends gone, she was nothing more than a solitary soul.
Buzz—
Suddenly, Su Yueli’s mind stirred.
In her perception, deep in the back mountain of the Cangyun Sect, that already decayed blood qi and vitality had completely dissipated from the world at this moment. The old man must have finished giving his final instructions and executed himself.
A night wind carrying the chill of ice and snow blew against her face.
Su Yueli withdrew her senses and tucked her hands into her wide sleeves, her gaze returning to its usual calm. The seeds sown back then had finally borne fruit today. Her parents’ blood debt, justice for Shen Qing’an, and the pain from a hundred years ago... at this moment, a final period had been placed on it all.
Her great revenge was exacted.
From now on, there would be no connection between the Cangyun Sect and her.
Su Yueli shook her head and continued her aimless walk. For a moment, she lacked a direction. Now, the only people she knew seemed to be Shen Huai'an and the Blue Moon Sect disciple, Qi Feng.
The Blue Moon Sect...
As a power that stood alongside the Cangyun Sect a hundred years ago, Su Yueli did not dare to rashly challenge them, lest she stumble again. After thinking it over, she decided it was better to find a way to break through to the Fourteenth Realm first. In any case, she was not lacking in time.
After wandering the city for a long while, Su Yueli stopped in front of a clothing shop with a green cloth curtain hanging at the corner of a street. She looked down at the blue and white dress she had worn for a long time.
Though the hem had not gathered a speck of dust, it had carried too much blood qi and hardship over the past hundred years. Now that a century-old grievance had been settled and her revenge was complete, it was time to change her clothes and treat it as a new beginning.
Su Yueli lifted the curtain and walked inside.
The shopkeeper was a woman in her forties who was mending clothes by the light of an oil lamp. Hearing the sound, she instinctively looked up. “What style would the customer like to choose...”
Before she could finish, the needle and thread in her hand froze in mid-air, and her eyes went wide. The woman who walked in wore no makeup, yet her face was so exquisite that not a single flaw could be found. Her eyes were cold, and the faint red teardrop mole beneath her eye made her look even more spirited.
Even more rare was her figure—tall and slender, with narrow shoulders, a thin waist, and straight legs. Every movement was devoid of any clumsiness or bulk. It was the natural poise and symmetry of someone who had tempered their flesh, bones, and blood to the Thirteenth Realm Ji Dao, exuding a heroic spirit and charm that ordinary mortal women could never possess.
“Shopkeeper, give me a set of well-fitting robes,” Su Yueli said calmly.
“Ah! Yes... of course!” The woman snapped out of it and hurriedly took a set of newly made light blue and white robes from the counter.
The style of the robes was neat and crisp, tailored perfectly.
When Su Yueli stepped out of the changing area in these robes, the air in the shop seemed to go still. The light blue fabric complemented her jade-like skin, and a white narrow belt was tied around her waist, clearly outlining her long, agile figure. She seemed less gloomy and murderous, and more sharp and refreshed.
The shopkeeper couldn’t help but praise her repeatedly, gesturing with her hands. “Beautiful! Truly, truly beautiful! I’ve had this shop for twenty or thirty years, and I’ve never seen anyone look so handsome in these robes!”
“Your figure and looks, young lady, are simply peerless. You look good in anything!”
Su Yueli looked down at the light blue sleeves fluttering in the breeze, finding them very light and comfortable.
“Thank you.”
She pulled a piece of broken silver from her sleeve and placed it on the counter. Without waiting for change, she lifted the curtain and stepped back into the bustling night.
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