La cúspide del mundo de las artes marciales

Capítulo 52

He held me and hid me in the closet, looking at me through the sliver of sunlight. His smiling eyes were now devoid of any smile, deep and heavy. "Su Xie, you'll wait for me, won't you?"

He asked me a question, and I stared at him for a long time without answering.

He got angry, leaned in, held my neck, and kissed my lips hard, whispering heavily, "You have to wait for me!"

He slammed the cabinet shut, and the narrow passage vanished in an instant, leaving only darkness; I couldn't see any light.

Sixty-one

There was no light in the cabinet. I smelled the decaying wood and heard the muffled sound of horses' hooves outside, echoing in the small building. It sounded like a battle, getting closer and closer.

I guessed that Yan Shu had already encountered the young master amidst the chaos of battle. In this oppressive space, I couldn't hear anything more. The small antidote I was clutching in my palm was damp with sweat. I stared blankly in the cabinet, not knowing what I was thinking.

In the dull night, I suddenly heard someone scream in the small room, abrupt and sharp, followed by crying, which sent a shiver down my spine.

Pushing open the cabinet, in the cold moonlight and under the ash-colored gauze curtains, I saw Gu Biyun kneeling beside Gu Shaoting's corpse, her face deathly pale.

She looked at me too, her pale face streaked with glistening tears, staring at me in astonishment. "Su Xie... what are you doing here?"

Yes, yes, I had completely forgotten about her. She was sleeping so long and so soundly, she knew nothing. So when she asked me why I was here, she cried so pitifully, asking me, "What... what happened? My brother..." Then she couldn't stop crying and sobbing.

I looked down to find my things, and she sobbed, "What are you looking for? I'm asking you who killed my brother!"

What are you looking for?

I suddenly remembered that my sword was still inside Gu Shaoting's chest cavity.

Gu Shaoting was pinned to the bed frame, his eyes fixed on me. I went over, my fingers gripping the sword hilt, feeling slightly numb. Gu Biyun looked up at me in astonishment, tears streaming down her face, "Su Xie..."

With a sudden burst of strength, I pulled the sword out of his chest cavity. Blood gushed out in beads amidst Gu Biyun's scream. I staggered a few steps and steadied myself by leaning on the sword.

Gu Shaoting's body fell to the ground at Gu Biyun's feet, his face splattered with blood. She was terrified and forgot to cry, just sitting on the ground trembling violently.

They are so pitiful.

"What happened... what happened..." she stammered, her lips pale.

"Miss Gu," I stood up, leaning on my sword, and looked at her in the moonlight, asking, "Do you still remember Lu Ning?"

“Lu Ning…” She turned to look at me, her tears still wet from crying, her delicate brows furrowed, as if she was struggling to think, “Lu Ning… the Lu Ning who died after being jilted by her cousin?”

"I'm not dead." I smiled at her, the tip of my sword pointing at her little by little, its cold light making her face look bloodless.

"How could this be... He was clearly dead..." She was terrified, trembling as she backed away. "You're Su Xie, you're Su Xie..."

Whether I am Lu Ning or Su Xie doesn't matter. I pressed the blade against her skin and asked, "You've been poisoned, haven't you?"

She was pale and speechless.

"Guess what, if there's only one antidote, would you, as the older brother, be willing to die so that I can cure you?" I looked at her in the moonlight and said, "If you guess right, I'll let you go."

"Yes!" she answered without hesitation or thought. "My brother will definitely save me first!"

I pushed the sword tip forward, and blood gushed out. She screamed, gripped the blade tightly, gasped, and staggered back, "You..."

You guessed wrong.

"Impossible!" She was covered in cold sweat from the pain, her voice shrill. "You're lying to me! My brother would never..."

I pushed the sword tip in a little deeper, and her entire back pressed against the bed. I asked her, "Do you want to try if his blood, from when he took the antidote, can neutralize your poison?"

"Shut up!" She trembled uncontrollably, whether from fear, pain, or excitement. "My brother absolutely... absolutely..." She suddenly burst into tears, gripping the sword blade, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

Look, this is what it feels like to be betrayed by the person you trust most. It's more unbearable than being cut to the bone. This is her only relative in the world, the relative she trusts with all her heart.

Blood trickled from her hand gripping the sword blade. "Shut up, shut up..."

My fingers, gripping the sword, were numb and weak. Just as I was about to grasp it with both hands and probe deeper into her heart and lungs, someone suddenly leaped in through the wide-open window, calling out anxiously, "Lu Ning!"

I turned my head and saw him. He was standing by the window under the moonlight, his back to the light so I couldn't see his features clearly. I couldn't make out his face, but the moment he spoke, I knew who he was, "Ruan Bicheng..."

"Lu Ning!" He strode over, looking at the mess in the room, the dead Gu Shaoting, and Gu Biyun, one of my men.

“Cousin…” Gu Biyun burst into tears, her blood-soaked hands clutching Ruan Bicheng’s clothes, her voice choked with sobs, “My brother is dead… I’m going to die too, cousin, I’m going to die…”

Ruan Bicheng looked down at her for a long time, then looked up at me, opening her mouth as if to say something but then stopping herself.

My fingers were numb, and my palms were damp. He suddenly said, "Lu Ning, your hand is bleeding..."

Really? I looked down at my fingers, the gauze wrapped around them was torn and stained with bright red blood, strangely, but I didn't feel any pain.

He came over and carefully took my hand that was gripping the sword. I looked at him and smiled, "Ruan Bicheng, I have obtained the antidote." I opened my palm to show him.

The dark red blood in his palm stained the tiny pill crimson.

He paused, then looked up, his eyes reddening. "Lu Ning... how can I repay you?"

Should I return it?

I pulled the sword out of Gu Biyun's chest, raised my hand and handed it to him, saying, "Kill her, and we'll go together."

He suddenly looked up at me from the edge of the sword.

Gu Biyu spoke first, grabbing Ruan Bicheng's clothes tightly, "Cousin, kill me... If you kill me, she will give you the antidote. Do it!"

Ruan Bicheng stared intently at the sword in my hand. He hesitated; for a moment, he hesitated and couldn't take my sword.

I couldn't see his expression, but I heard Gu Biyun say, one sentence after another: "Whether you are Lu Ning or Su Xie, since you like your cousin so much, why did you force him with the antidote! Is this your love? Such selfish and demanding love..."

"Love?" I suddenly laughed, a laugh that left an empty feeling in my chest. I stared at Ruan Bicheng and asked, "Ruan Bicheng, if someone once abandoned me, lied to me, and used me, but later changed their mind and said they loved me, pitied me, and wanted to repay me with their whole life, but now they are hesitating, what kind of love is that? And what should I do?"

“Lu Ning…” Ruan Bicheng stepped forward, casting the moonlight over my head, her voice filled with anxiety, “I will keep my promise to you, I will go with you, but…”

His words caught in his throat, and he stared in shock at the sword in my hand, which was piercing his chest. "Lu Ning... are you finally going to kill me?"

No further explanation was needed. He hesitated. In that moment, he hesitated, and that hesitation cost me my utter defeat. That hesitation alone caused countless claws to claw at my heart, inch by inch.

"Ruan Bicheng, what should I do? Tell me, what should I do?" Hot blood splattered on the back of my hand, my fingers were numb, I couldn't even hold the sword, I couldn't muster any strength to go any deeper.

Love if you love, die if you die. This time, I've lost completely.

"Lu Ning." He grabbed my hand, looked at me, and said with great heartache, "We still ended up like this... Why couldn't you wait for me a little longer?"

We're waiting for you to take revenge. We're waiting for you to settle your mother and Gu Biyun's affairs. We're waiting for you to eradicate the evil cult...

Waiting for your overall situation.

I gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with both hands and thrust it forcefully into his flesh, pushing him back several steps until he stumbled and leaned against the window frame. The sounds of a thousand troops rushing in from outside in an instant. I looked at him and asked, "I can't wait any longer... What's the point of waiting for you for three years? What was the final outcome, Ruan Bicheng?"

When he looked at me in the moonlight, I suddenly felt that everything had settled down. I was waiting for this answer: love or death, I only needed one answer.

I saw him say, "Ruan Bicheng, let's die together." He then pushed hard with his finger.

"Cousin!" Gu Biyun called out to him hoarsely from behind.

With that one shout, he suddenly grabbed my hand, holding it tightly just as the sword pierced my bone and entered my chest, forcing me to remain completely still. He said, "Lu Ning, I can't die yet..."

I was paralyzed for a moment, when I suddenly heard a cold wind whistling behind me. Ruan Bicheng leaped over me and shouted, "Biyun, no!" He pushed me away, and Gu Biyun's sword pierced straight into his shoulder.

I staggered a few steps and fell backward sharply, but someone caught me around the waist. Someone asked in my ear, "Have you given up, Su Xie?"

The voice was incredibly familiar. Before I could even turn around, Ruan Bicheng's brows furrowed instantly, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Yan Shu? You're not...?"

Two men in black suddenly rushed in from the door behind them and grabbed Ruan Bicheng and Gu Biyun from the left and right.

I turned my head and met Yan Shu's eyes. He looked at me, but said to Ruan Bicheng, "It's me. Do you think I would feel at ease leaving Su Xie here?" He seemed to be laughing, "I'm not that noble. I'm not going to die together. I'm just trying to make her give up."

"Yan Shu..." I couldn't see his features clearly, and I heard my own voice faltering as I asked him, "Have you been here all this time?"

He just smiled and didn't answer me, only saying, "You definitely won't wait for me, so I'll hold on to you even if it kills me. What are a thousand troops? I've never been afraid of death." He pinched my chin, forcing me to look at Ruan Bicheng, and asked me, "Now, have you given up?"

Has he always been there...? Just waiting to see me give up. I don't know when he started knowing my every move. Was it from the very beginning when Ye Baizhi left Ruan Bicheng behind? Or was it from when Ruan Bicheng entered Licheng?

How long has it been? And how much does he know? I had no idea that he had seen through my every word and action from the very beginning; he was just playing along to see if I would give up.

He suddenly raised his hand, and a man in black brought in a man who knelt down at his feet with a thud. He laughed and said, "I still have him."

I looked down and saw the face at my feet, then froze. "Baoze..."

Author's Note: I was stuck for two days but finally got it right! Absolutely no filler! Let the plot jump around! I need to get this twist right so I can relax a bit... *kneeling* Please stop criticizing me... Maintaining daily updates is genuinely difficult! First-person narration is truly agonizing! I genuinely love the female lead, the priestess, and the guild leader!

Guess whether the priest below loves or dies! I'll die first!

Sixty-two

“Baoze…”

He crawled at my feet, looked up at the sound, his brows furrowed, his face glistening with what seemed like tears or cold sweat. Suddenly, he grabbed my leg, his voice choked out, "Su Xie, Su Xie... He killed Mother, he even ripped out her heart and fed it to me... Su Xie, Su Xie, Jinglian is dead too, isn't she? I'll die too, won't I?"

His tears soaked my clothes, burning hot against my skin.

He asked me, "Jinglian is dead too, isn't she?"

I opened my mouth for a long time but couldn't utter a single word; it was like a fishbone stuck in my throat, impossible to swallow or spit out.

“Clearly…clearly we were still together, she promised me she’d come back soon, clearly…clearly you said you’d wait for her to come back…” He looked up at me, tears glistening on his forehead and under his eyes. He was only the same age as Mingxiu, and had never seen so much unbearable things. He was terrified, hugging my legs, gagging uncontrollably. “Thank you, thank you, I’m going to die…please don’t die, okay?”

My whole body felt numb and tingly, as if hundreds of ants had bitten me. Yan Shu held me and laughed, looking down at Bao Ze and asking, "Are you scared?"

Baoze curled up and dry heaved, nodding frantically.

Yan Shu chuckled, bent down, and gently wiped away Baoze's tears and cold sweat from his face with his sleeve, saying, "She protected you so well... Everything you experienced, everything you saw, everything you possessed was the most beautiful. She never let you see how unbearable this world is. She should thank me from the afterlife, thank me for letting you see such a vivid world. At least there won't be anything more unbearable or terrifying than this in the future, right?"

Baoze trembled all over, terrified of Yan Shu. He clung tightly to my leg, choking back sobs as he said, "I... what did I do wrong? I don't know, I don't know anything. If I did something wrong, I apologize... please let me go?"

“How could you be wrong?” Yan Shu straightened up, his eyes brimming with smiles. “I’ve always been the one in the wrong, from beginning to end, utterly wicked.” He paused, the smile vanishing completely, replaced by sarcasm. “I let you go, but who let me go back then? I knew when I was six that this world is so unbearable and terrifying. No one but myself would let you go.”

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at Ruan Bicheng, and asked, "Su Xie, will you let him go? Will you let him and his cousin live happily ever after?"

I stared blankly at Ruan Bicheng for a long time, unable to think of anything to say. I have no regrets about how things have turned out. For better or for worse, I just hope it ends soon.

How grateful I am to Yan Shu! I am grateful that he showed me the most unbearable aspects of this world. All that I trusted, loved, and cared about was gone in this small city of Li.

I am grateful that he waited until I gave up before coming out. If he had come out a little earlier, before Ruan Bicheng hesitated, I think I would never have given up in my life.

At that moment, I even felt that it was a good thing that Baoze died like this.

Excellent.

The sound of horses' hooves thundered in the moonlight outside the building, then abruptly ceased, as if a sudden silence had descended, an extreme stillness, so still that one could hear the faint strains of a song carried on the wind once more.

A clear, bright voice called out from downstairs: "Yan Shu!"

"It's the young master." The man in black, who was hiding under the window and pressing down on Ruan Bicheng, reported while looking outside: "The young master didn't bring many people. Most of them were from Licheng and Xiaoye Kingdom, and some were from the Central Plains."

"Oh?" Yan Shu looked at Ruan Bicheng and said, "As expected, Alliance Leader Ruan also notified your people. I wonder if the Alliance Leader just notified them, or if it was premeditated? Could it be that you and Ye Baizhi have joined forces?"

Ruan Bicheng suddenly looked up at me and explained, "I never joined forces with Ye Baizhi. I only notified people to come and meet me when I was escaping the Demonic Sect. Lu Ning, I..."