"Xunyi, wait."
Seeing this, Ying Mingchao hurriedly stepped in front of Zi Xunyi.
He had a bellyful of words he wanted to say, but looking at Zi Xunyi as she was now, looking at Xuelin Zhenping cradled in her arms, he couldn't bring himself to utter a single word.
But he didn't want Zi Xunyi to leave, because he knew that this parting could very well be for a lifetime.
So, gritting his teeth, he finally spoke: "Xunyi, I regret it. I shouldn't have been greedy for fame and profit. I shouldn't have been obsessed with cultivation."
"My choice back then was wrong, but can you give me one more chance?"
"Xunyi, let's leave together. Wherever you go, I'll go. We'll never be apart again for the rest of our lives."
Ying Mingchao spoke those words with deep sincerity — it was no pretense, but something that came straight from the bottom of his heart.
Yet there was also a timidity in his words, perhaps because he was afraid — afraid that after baring his true feelings, he would be rejected by Zi Xunyi.
Zi Xunyi froze in place. Chu Feng could see that her eyes had reddened once more, and two lines of tears slid down her cheeks once again.
She was crying — crying so hard that her entire body was convulsing, trembling.
One could only imagine the struggle going on inside her heart at this moment.
The man before her was someone she had loved for over a thousand years, the person she most wanted to spend her life with.
Yet she could not let go of the Blood Scale Monster Clan Chief. Although she held no love for the Blood Scale Monster Clan Chief, she carried a deep sense of guilt.
"If you truly care about my feelings, then let me go," Zi Xunyi said after a long silence.
When she said this, she was smiling, and her gaze was fixed on Ying Mingchao.
That smile might have been forced, but it also looked as if she had finally let go of something.
An on observer sees more clearly — Chu Feng could tell with certainty that Zi Xunyi was putting on a brave face. She could not let go of Ying Mingchao.
But Ying Mingchao hesitated. Of course he cared about Zi Xunyi's feelings, and so he did not want to go against her wishes, let alone force her.
And so he stepped to the side, clearing a path for Zi Xunyi.
He pressed a communication talisman into her hand and said, "Keep this on you. If you run into any trouble, notify me."
"There's no need." With those words, Zi Xunyi soared into the sky, carrying Xuelin Zhenping's body, and departed.
Ying Mingchao, meanwhile, stood rooted to the spot, his posture unchanged — still extending that hand that had offered the communication talisman, the talisman still resting in his palm.
A long time passed...
Snap—
Snap—
Snap—
...
Just then, a burst of crisp applause suddenly rang out.
Chu Feng's gaze snapped toward the source of the applause, and his expression changed drastically.
He discovered in astonishment that a figure stood in the direction from which the clapping had come.
This person had clearly been standing there all along, yet Chu Feng had not sensed them in the slightest. If not for that applause, he would never have realized that someone had been standing there at all.
And the reason Chu Feng was so stunned was not merely because this person possessed formidable strength, but because this person was wearing a blue robe.
That blue robe was identical to the one described by Kong Dou Moyuan.
"How devoted."
"This is absolutely the most passionate love triangle I've ever seen in my entire life."
"Two men, both so in love with the same woman. What a pity... in the end, neither of them got her."
"How tragic, truly tragic. How pitiful, truly pitiful."
The mysterious figure in the blue robe spoke in an unhurried tone, as though having just watched an excellent performance and finally having the chance to offer their review.
"You're courting death."