Lu Pianpian then asked, "Do you still have this old item with you?"
The night wind was cold, blowing the clouds and obscuring the light of the cold moon, making the surroundings suddenly much darker.
Jun Tian's face was obscured by shadows. After a long while, he whispered, "Senior brother, I lost it."
A note from the author:
This foreshadowing should be easy to guess, right?
Chapter 68
The exact same earrings were delivered to two different people. Huan Changming, whom Lu Pianpian killed with her own hands, carefully treasured them, while her beloved junior brother said he had lost them.
Is it irony, or mockery of his foolishness?
Lu Pianpian took out a pair of black jade earrings and showed them to Juntian, saying, "Before Master died, he was always holding these earrings in his hand."
Jun Tian took the earrings and examined them. "Huan Changming killed Master. Master must have snatched these earrings when he fought with him and left them for us to find the murderer."
He hadn't yet noticed anything amiss with the earrings, and shifted all suspicion onto Huan Changming.
Lu Pianpian fell silent.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Jun Tian's eyelashes fluttered slightly. "Senior brother, are you doubting me?"
He gripped Lu Pianpian's hand, his grip a little too strong. "You suspect I killed Master? Why? Just because I also have a pair of earrings like Huan Changming's?"
Lu Pianpian took the earrings back from Juntian's hand. "So, the earrings that Master is holding belong to Huan Changming."
Juntian stared into his eyes without answering.
He was not good with words, and it seemed that he wanted to convey the emotions in his eyes to his senior brother, to tell him that it was Huan Changming who killed their master, not him.
Lu Pianpian understood the emotion in her junior brother's eyes. After a moment, she said slowly, "You said you wanted me to make you a pair of earrings exactly like Huan Changming's. I used the remaining Frost Jade to polish twenty pairs..."
As he said this, he couldn't help but grasp his junior's hand in return.
The junior brother felt his hands trembling and heard him continue, "The earrings I gave to Huan Changming were the first ones I ever made, and I didn't do a good job on many of the details. But the ones for you... are the best pair out of those twenty."
Although Lu Pianpian had some feelings for Huan Changming at that time, compared with Huan Juntian, those feelings were nothing.
He used his spiritual power to place the pair of black jade earrings in the air. Encased in the deep black jade, they were engraved with a line of faint characters.
Jun Tian touched the jade surface with his fingertip, and the line of words inside was illuminated.
May Heaven bless my brother Juntian and grant him a smooth and successful life.
These few words, carved by Lu Pianpian stroke by stroke, contain her best wishes for Huan Juntian.
Huan Changming had never made such a wish before.
The junior brother thought he had the same things as Huan Changming, but only Lu Pianpian knew that what he had and what Huan Changming had were never the same.
The black jade earring fell from the sky into Juntian's hand, and the words inside immediately disappeared.
Jun Tian's eyes were still filled with unresolved emotions. "My earrings were missing before. It's possible that Huan Changming infiltrated the Heavenly Realm and stole them."
Huan Changming had no idea that Lu Pianpian had made another pair of earrings for his junior brother. If he had known, he probably would have risked his life to snatch the earrings from his junior brother and crush them.
Lu Pianpian's voice turned somber, "Before Master passed away, he instructed Senior Sister, 'Do not seek revenge.'"
Jun Tian pondered for a moment, "Master knows your feelings for Huan Changming. He doesn't want you and Huan Changming to turn against each other and can't bear to see you sad."
His words weren't entirely without merit, but to the discerning Lu Pianpian, they were riddled with flaws.
Even a junior brother who is not good with words will one day become eloquent and persuasive.
"You impersonated Huan Changming and killed Master. Did you really think Master was completely unaware?" Lu Pianpian shook off her junior brother's hand. "Master saw through you long ago! He protected you even on his deathbed!"
Why would Master not want to see him and Huan Changming fight each other? It's clear that Master doesn't want to see the two brothers kill each other!
Jun Tian glanced at the hand that Lu Pianpian had shaken off, "Senior brother, you doubt me based on these trivial pieces of evidence alone."
"Does my senior brother truly feel immense guilt for killing Huan Changming, even to the point of trying to shift the blame for killing our master onto me...?"
“If this can put my senior brother at ease, then Juntian is willing to admit to the crime of deceiving his master and betraying his ancestors.”
Even now, he still refuses to admit it and continues to make excuses.
Suddenly, flowering vines burst forth from the ground, piercing the roof and attacking Juntian. Juntian's eyes darkened, and he leaped away to dodge. "Senior brother, are you going to kill me?"
More vines sprouted wildly from the ground, enveloping Juntian from all directions. Juntian took out his sword and attacked the vines. A cold wind suddenly rose and froze Lu Pianpian's vines in the blink of an eye.
Jun Tian controlled the ice remotely, crushing the frozen vines into powder. The ice shards scattered in all directions, and Lu Pianpian appeared from behind the ice, approaching him with a sword in her hand. He raised his knife to block her.
Swords clashed, sparks flying at the point of impact, the blades striking each other with piercing clangs that, when combined, sounded almost like mournful wails.
Lu Pianpian gritted her teeth and slashed horizontally. Where the sword light passed, the wind and clouds surged. Juntian did not attack, but instead blocked it.
He seemed determined not to attack, only to block, but Lu Pianpian's moves were fierce, as if she wanted to drive him to his death.
Jun Tian waved his hand, and an ice platform instantly formed in the night sky. He stepped onto it, his tone somewhat incredulous, "Senior brother, do you really want to kill me?"
Lu Pianpian pursed his lips and did not answer. Suddenly, he threw the sword into the air, condensed a sword incantation, and the sword instantly transformed into thousands of swords, each carrying the killing intent of its master. They floated in mid-air and surrounded Juntian from all directions, waiting for his command to take Juntian's life.
The clanging sound of countless flying swords exploded in Jun Tian's ears. Through the sword array that flickered with red light, his icy eyes kept staring at Lu Pianpian.
Then, he saw Lu Pianpian close her eyes and say, "Let go."
My senior brother really wanted to kill him.
Thousands of flying swords shot towards him like arrows leaving a bowstring, and a very subtle crack appeared in the deathly stillness in Juntian's eyes.
He suddenly threw his sword into the air and quickly formed the same sword technique as Lu Pianpian. In an instant, his sword transformed into thousands of shapes, emitting a dark, eerie light, to resist Lu Pianpian's flying sword.
The swords clashed again, their black and red lights intertwining. As they clashed, a deafening roar erupted, and the remaining shockwave leveled the houses below. The sounds of collapse echoed one after another until finally, all was quiet after a long time.
A haze of post-war smoke filled the air. Lu Pianpian clutched his chest, blood gushing uncontrollably from his throat.
Jun Tian waved his sleeve to clear the fog and saw Lu Pianpian, whose old injuries had recurred. He said calmly, "It was my senior brother who forced me to take action. I did as my senior brother wished."
Blood stained Lu Pianpian's lips crimson, but it only made his pale face appear even paler. He hissed, "This move was taught to me by my master when he was in the mortal realm. My senior sister was not talented enough to learn it, so my master, fearing that this move would be lost, taught it to me instead."
“You just started learning at that time, and my master asked me to take care of you, so I took you with me… It took me a month to learn, but you just watched and learned this move.”
Among the three of them, Qu Fuyi and Qu Surou both believed that Lu Pianpian had extremely high talent in swordsmanship, but little did they know that Huan Jun was the most talented all-rounder among the three of them.
"I never knew I possessed such great talent." Jun Tian's voice was cold as he looked at the knife in his hand. "If that's the case, why didn't I learn swordsmanship, and instead chose to learn the knife?"
“Because you were afraid I would be sad.” Lu Pianpian wiped the bloodstains from her lips. “I practiced swordsmanship for a month, and you learned it just by watching. You were afraid I would feel inferior… Even though you learned it, you didn’t use it in front of me. You could only sneak off to the back mountain at night and use it quietly.”
The junior brother thought he had hidden it well and no one had noticed, but little did he know that Lu Pianpian only had eyes for him at that time. He didn't want others to know, so Lu Pianpian pretended not to know.
But pretending not to know doesn't mean he's unaware.
The junior brother later learned to use the knife, but only to take care of him and his senior sister.
Jun Tian seemed somewhat surprised, but he quickly masked it, saying, "So Senior Brother knew all along."
Lu Pianpian said hatefully, "Why did you kill my master?!"
He refused to believe that his once considerate junior brother would become the culprit who murdered their master!
Jun Tian looked up at the night sky. Thick clouds obscured the stars and moon, and the night sky had become dim and dark.
He waved his sleeve to disperse the clouds and mist, and the stars and moon reappeared, their cold light shining on him. He said calmly, "I did all this for my senior brother."
This answer made Lu Pianpian's throat tighten. He even felt that his junior brother's words were mocking him and pointing out his stupidity.
"If I hadn't impersonated Huan Changming and killed Master in front of Senior Sister, how could Senior Brother have killed Huan Changming himself?"
"You killed your master... framed Huan Changming... just so I would kill Huan Changming with my own hands?"
"Yes." Jun Tian said decisively, "If my senior brother hadn't killed Huan Changming with his own hands, he would still be entangled with Huan Changming to this day!"
"Absurd! Huan Changming and I have long since severed all ties and will never speak to each other again! Yet you still go so far as to use my master as bait to make me kill him. This is completely unnecessary. Huan Juntian, have you gone mad?"
Upon hearing this, Jun Tian's usually cold and stern face suddenly broke into a smile. "Senior brother keeps saying that he has severed all ties with Huan Changming, but from beginning to end, senior brother only has eyes for Huan Changming..."
He asked Lu Pianpian with a smile, "Senior brother, do you really think that Huan Changming is the only one who has fallen for you?"
A black frost flower slowly appeared at the corner of Juntian's eye, its color as black as ink, clearly indicating that he had fallen deeply into demonic possession.
"Senior brother only knows that after his death, Huan Changming became a demon for you for a hundred years... Senior brother does not know that Juntian also committed suicide in front of the incineration furnace, chasing you into the underworld to be reincarnated."
He was not a heartless person. His senior brother had suffered all kinds of torment and humiliation to protect him, and in the end, his soul was destroyed in front of him. How could he not be moved?
His heart went with his senior brother the moment he died.
Therefore, Huan Changming was not the only one who became a demon because of Lu Pianpian.
"Fortunately, my senior brother and I are not mortals, so that absurd calamity in the lower realm has passed and is over. But Huan Changming's ghost is still haunting you! He drove you to your death, yet he still shamelessly comes to pester you and says he likes you!"
"If you don't want to be entangled with him, I will personally eliminate him for you and sever the karmic ties between you and him. But how did you treat me, senior brother? You still want to protect him!"
Lu Pianpian wanted to argue, "I only wanted to reform him and let him..."
“Senior brother, you don’t need to lie to me anymore.” Juntian suddenly interrupted him. “I’ve seen your birth chart. Your Red Phoenix Star is in motion. You have never been heartless towards Huan Changming.”
Lu Pianpian tightened her grip on the sword. "So you used Master's death to make me kill Huan Changming with my own hands... just so I could completely sever my ties with him?"
"Yes!" Jun Tian did not deny it at all. His gaze towards Lu Pianpian suddenly became extremely ardent. "You are the incarnation of the Spirit Rhinoceros Butterfly. It takes thousands of years for one to cultivate and you bear the heavy responsibility of being a divine child, saving all living beings and helping the world! You are a high and mighty god, and you should be worshipped and admired by all the gods. What is Huan Changming compared to you?"
"He is vile and lowly, sinister and insane. What makes him, a lowly demon, worthy of you? Yet you have taken pity on him. Why should he deserve your special treatment?"
Lu Pianpian stared blankly at her junior brother. His smile and obsessive tone made her momentarily forget who he was, and she felt a chill of unfamiliarity.
Jun Tian seemed to sense Lu Pianpian's fear, and his intense tone returned to its previous calm.
He changed the subject, "My senior sister used to tease me, saying that I had feelings for my senior brother. Besides brotherly affection, I do have some unusual feelings for my senior brother. I didn't know what those feelings were before, but now I know them very clearly."
"The love that Senior Sister speaks of is too narrow. Senior Brother is a divine son, and I am also a divine lord. When Senior Brother and I are together, we can cut off all evil and heretical forces in this world, so that there will be no more evil spirits to haunt this world, we can educate all living beings, save all souls, and prevent all things in the world from experiencing the suffering that Senior Brother and I endured when we were in the lower realm."
"Huan Changming is nothing but a filthy ant; he is worlds apart from my senior brother."
"In terms of status and cultivation level, my senior brother and I are a perfect match."
Jun Tian's expression softened as he looked at Lu Pianpian. "Love is fleeting; only by joining hands with my senior brother can we achieve true love."
He never took Huan Changming's love for Lu Pianpian seriously.
He and his senior brother were both gods, high above the clouds, sacred and inviolable, gods that Huan Changming could never compare to.
Yet, this despicable Huan Changming, after hurting Lu Pianpian once, still dared to fantasize about his senior brother.