Tong looked at her hesitantly, not immediately understanding the meaning behind her words. He simply gripped the bead tighter, his eyes revealing an undisguised expression of ecstasy—
As Xue Ziye lowered her head and murmured, he raised his hand and silently pinched the vital point on the back of her neck.
However, the stagnation of his internal energy caused his hand to suddenly slow down.
Blood Seal! Not yet. Not now... We have to wait for an opportunity.
His hand finally rested gently on her shoulder, and he whispered, "Sister, you seem very tired, don't you?"
Xue Ziye nodded silently, tears that had been suppressed for many days finally streaming down her face—in these past few days, facing Huo Zhanbai and Mingjie, she had felt so much weariness, so much self-blame, so much torment. Despite her reputation as a divine healer and her best efforts, she could not hold back the lifelines that had been severed from her fingertips.
Master Qingran... Master Qingran... Why were you in such a hurry to leave the valley back then, pushing me, at only eighteen years old, into the position of Valley Master? You only left me this purple jade hairpin, but there is still so much I haven't learned...
If you were still here, your disciple wouldn't be in such a helpless situation now.
"Go back and rest early," Tong whispered as she led her towards the Summer Garden.
Along the way, the wind gradually warmed up, and the snow melted quietly as it fell into the air.
In the soft, warm breeze, he felt a sharp pain on the top of his head, and a slight twitch near his Baihui acupoint.
How could someone else possibly undo the golden needles that the Pope himself sealed?
He had merely used the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth to forcibly move the Baihui acupoint and the golden needle by an inch, hoping to convince the woman that he had truly regained his memories. However, it couldn't last long; the acupoint returned to its original state after a quarter of an hour.
However, it doesn't matter now... after all, he has already obtained the Dragon Blood Pearl.
Holding the Dragon Blood Pearl he had painstakingly obtained, he suddenly felt a little ridiculous—after surviving countless brushes with death, he had finally gotten his hands on it. He never imagined that his repeated desperate attempts to seize it by force would be less effective than a single, roundabout scheme, where he could easily trick his way in with a fabricated story.
It turns out that even the most shrewd and strong woman can be blinded by such a situation.
It's even more bewitching than eye magic...
He lowered his eyes, concealing the cold smile within, and led Xue Ziye to the Summer Garden.
“Mingjie,” she stopped as she entered the room, “I think… you shouldn’t go back to Kunlun.”
He was taken aback. Was this woman having some wild idea, insisting that he stay here? The blood seal on his body hadn't been broken yet; if she had such a thought, it would be extremely bad.
Tong frowned, somewhat troubled, unsure how to persuade her.
"Let's rest first," he had no choice but to say.
Let's think of something again tomorrow. If all else fails, we can try to break the blood seal back at the palace—after all, we've already obtained the Dragon Blood Pearl today, and we should contact the scattered followers outside the valley… Once this is done, we should return to Kunlun as soon as possible. Miao Huo and Miao Shui are probably getting impatient.
Watching him turn and leave, Xue Ziye suddenly asked hesitantly, "Mingjie?"
"Huh?" He was a little slow to react to that unfamiliar name, and it took him a moment to realize what it meant. "What?"
"You're not going to suddenly leave again, are you?" Xue Ziye had a feeling of unease, as if her companion, whom she had just regained, would disappear after she woke up one morning.
She suddenly regretted giving him the dragon blood bead.
Tong shook her head, but she was somewhat surprised by the woman's keen intuition.
“Mingjie,” Xue Ziye looked at him and suddenly said softly, “I’m sorry.”
"I'm sorry?" He paused, then asked, "Why?"
"That night twelve years ago, I forgot to take care of you..." As if those words had been buried in her heart for many years, Xue Ziye let out a long breath and put her burning forehead into her palm. "I'm sorry... At that time, Xue Huai and I were desperately escaping, but we forgot that you were still locked up there... I, I'm sorry."
She covered her face: "You killed someone for me when you were six years old and were locked in that dark room. I treated you like my only brother and vowed to be good to you for the rest of my life... But, but back then, Xuehuai and I abandoned you—I'm sorry... I'm sorry!"
Tong was somewhat stunned, and various illusions vaguely surfaced in her mind.
Two people running hand in hand... a village engulfed in flames... screams filled the air, and everyone scrambled to avoid him. He shouted and ran desperately, but... the fear of abandonment caught up with him.
In an instant, he felt a sense of being swallowed by illusions again, and he quickly suppressed them.
“It’s alright,” he smiled, lowering his head. “I didn’t die, did I? Don’t be sad.”
Xue Ziye buried her head in her hands and remained silent for a long time.
"Goodnight," she said softly, lowering her hand.
—Meiji, I will never let you go back to that dark place again.
When I came out, the wind felt so hot and stuffy that it was hard to breathe.
Tong gripped the Bloodstained Sword, feeling an inexplicable discomfort, as if something inside him was making him restless—what was happening…what was happening? Could it be that what that woman said earlier had affected him?
It's all fake...it's all fake.
The illusions kept appearing, but they couldn't shake his heart. He himself was someone who controlled others by creating illusions, so how could he believe any illusions imposed on him? Now, he believed in nothing at all.
Besides, whether those things were real or fake was meaningless to him. He was a person without a past. Tong smiled slightly, her eyes turning a glassy blue:
An assassin doesn't need a past.
All he needed was the Dragon Blood Pearl in his hand. All he wanted was freedom and power!
Stepping out of the Summer Garden, the cold wind carrying snow blew against his face, finally chilling his mind. He gripped the blood-red bead in his hand, gave a slight, cold laugh, and twisted the hilt of his sword with a "click."
A thin snake poked its head out, flicking its red tongue.
"Red, go." He flicked the snake's head.
Chi instantly transformed into a streak of red light, swiftly leaping into the snow and slithering away like lightning. Immediately, more snakes emerged from the sword hilt. These thin, thread-like snakes, coiled together and stuffed into the hilt, immediately slithered out in all directions upon being released—these were the offspring of the Kunlun Blood Serpent, unafraid of ice and snow, and once released, they would immediately head to find their mother.