111: Chapter 111 In my life, I only pursue

[He pointed at you, his finger trembling violently.]

["For the third time, you took off your clothes and lay before me, saying you wanted to be a Mortal couple with me!"]

[He suddenly raised his voice, the sound echoing within the grand hall, carrying a grief and grievance suppressed to the extreme.]

["Every time, you made me think you were going to turn back! Every time, you made me think I had finally caught you! Then you turned around again, continued walking forward, and left me alone where I stood!"]

["You lied to me, lied to me again and again!"]

["Do you think I can't see how you're lying? I know! I f*cking know you're lying to me!"]

[He hammered his own chest fiercely, his eye sockets already bloodshot.]

["Even knowing that, I still believed you! Tell me, am I very stupid? Huh? Am I the stupidest joke under the heavens!"]

[The Imperial Study was extremely quiet.]

[You did not speak.]

[Wei Feisen took another step forward.]

[His eyes were red, filled with bloodshot veins, yet, strangely, his expression became extremely calm at this moment.]

["Tell me."]

[His voice was very low.]

["In all these years... have you, even once, felt anything for me?"]

[He stared fixedly into your eyes.]

["Even once."]

[The night wind lowered the lamplight for an instant.]

[You looked at him, looking at this once arrogant leader of the Black Tiger Gang, looking at this madman who conquered half the empire for you, looking at this man who embraced you on the bed as if you were a rare treasure.]

[You looked for a long time.]

[Finally, you spoke.]

["No."]

[Wei Feisen looked as if he had been struck in the face by a heavy hammer.]

[His body recoiled violently, his footsteps staggered back half a step, and then he gritted his teeth tightly to steady himself.]

[He closed his eyes.]

[The smile at the corner of his mouth that was barely holding on finally collapsed completely.]

["Good." He nodded, his voice as light as a breeze, "Good, I know now."]

["Your heart is so cruel, Lin Shuangwan."]

[He opened his eyes again.]

["The matter of the Puppet shutting down, you knew about it long ago, right? I never held anything back from you, I even gave my fatal weakness to you, and what about you?"]

[He looked at you, with no expectation left in his eyes, only a deathly silence that remains after complete despair.]

["Fine, then kill me."]

[He opened his arms, making no defensive moves, as if he had already accepted his fate.]

["Come on, anyway I'm no match for you anymore, and my people have all been wiped out by you. You won... Your... Majesty."]

[You remained silent.]

[Your hand slowly reached toward the hilt of the sword on the desk.]

[The moment you touched the cold hilt, your fingers stiffened slightly.]

[Just as your hand gripped the hilt, preparing to draw the sword, Wei Feisen spoke again.]

[His voice no longer had the calm from before, carrying a barely audible tremor:]

["Did you really... never, ever like me?"]

[Your hand stopped on the hilt.]

[You did not look at him.]

[Your gaze passed over his shoulder, landing on the sliver of pitch-black night seeping through the window paper behind him.]

[You remained silent.]

[You recalled the bits and pieces of the past dozen years.]

[From the forced marriage on that rainy night in Yunjin City, to fighting side by side in the Black Tiger Gang, from the joint slaughter on Tianquan Mountain, to the desperate intimacy in the side hall over these past three months.]

[Even if there was no romantic love, there was already a not-insignificant bond.]

[In your heart, he was actually like a mad younger brother who would never grow up, possessed a twisted personality, but was only good to you alone.]

[But...]

[You had no choice.]

[You were silent for a long time, so long that Wei Feisen thought you would not answer.]

[You finally spoke.]

[Your voice was very light, yet extremely clear, as if you were stating something you had long thought through, carrying a trace of a tremor that even you could hardly perceive:]

["In this life, I only pursue the Dao of Immortality."]

["Anything that stands in my way has only one word—death."]

[This sentence was both an answer and a verdict, both a cold rejection and the most honest, only explanation that you, Lin Shuangwan, could give.]

[Wei Feisen was stunned for a moment.]

[Immediately, he laughed out loud.]

[It was not sarcasm, not a miserable laugh, but a genuine laugh, carrying a sense of relief that the dust had finally settled.]

["Good." He said, "This time... you didn't lie to me."]

[He closed his eyes again.]

[He stood in the flickering candlelight, like a tree straightening itself one last time before being crushed by the wind and snow.]

["I am truly stupid." He murmured softly, "So many years, clearly I had already been lied to by that woman once, why... did I still believe."]

[Your heart gave a sharp jolt.]

[You closed your eyes, hesitating no longer.]

["Clang—"]

[The long sword left its scabbard.]

[The sword light flashed under the dim oil lamp, cold and white as frost, desolate and sharp as snow.]

[The True Qi of a Great Grandmaster at the Peak was infused into the sword body, without holding back in the slightest.]

["Ssh!"]

[The sound of a sharp blade cutting through flesh rang out in the hall.]

[Scalding hot blood gushed out, splashing a few drops onto your cheek, warm, fishy, and salty.]

[Wei Feisen's body swayed, his tall frame crashing heavily onto the cold floor tiles of the Imperial Study.]

[He did not struggle, and did not even let out a cry of pain.]

[He was dead.]

[You stood beside his corpse, holding the dripping long sword, for a long time.]

[The blood on your face slowly turned cold.]

[You took a deep breath, sheathed the long sword, and your voice returned to absolute coldness and majesty:]

["Someone come here."]

[The hall door was pushed open.]

[Several palace maids and eunuchs on night duty walked in with their heads lowered. When they caught a glimpse of the Great Commander of the Black Tiger Division lying in a pool of blood from the corner of their eyes, everyone was instantly so terrified that their souls flew away and spirits scattered, their legs went weak, and with a "thump," they all knelt on the ground, trembling like chaff.]

["Clean this up." You turned and walked back to the Dragon Throne, picked up a bright yellow silk handkerchief, and gently wiped the blood from your face, "Give him a proper burial."]

[Outside the simulation.]

[Lin Shuangwan sat quietly in front of the light curtain.]

[The shame and heat on her face had long since faded, replaced by an indescribable complexity and silence.]

[She looked at the man lying in a pool of blood in the image, looking at the "herself" sitting on the Dragon Throne, wiping blood with an expressionless face.]

["Very ruthless, right..."]

[She said to herself in her heart.]

[It was indeed very ruthless, using one's body to deceive for trust, using time to hollow out power, and finally... a sword strike to the throat.]

[However, Lin Shuangwan also knew that this was the only correct choice.]

[She knew too well what kind of person Wei Feisen was.]

[He was a madman who was extremely starved for love, extremely insecure, and extremely arrogant.]

[His love was built upon absolute control. Once he discovered that Lin Shuangwan was going to step onto the path of cultivation, was going to leave him to pursue a world he could never touch in his lifetime, he would definitely collapse.]

[He would use that Earthly Immortal Puppet, use the Black Tiger Division in his hands, and at all costs destroy Lin Shuangwan, break her wings, and lock her in a cage forever.]

[Lin Shuangwan took a deep breath, her eyes becoming firm again, having figured out many things.]

["Cultivating immortality is inherently a Heaven-Defying act. In this era of great struggle, it is either you die or I perish. If I don't fight in the simulation, should I wait for the me in reality to fight? Lin Shuangwan, you fellow, I am so moved."]

[She cast her gaze toward the simulator again.]

[Next day, early morning.]