15: Chapter 15 Master, I'm doing this all for your own good!

Hanpo Peak, inner hall.

This is the most core Forbidden Ground of the Mysterious Maiden Sect. Walls made of ten-thousand-year-old profound ice separate the inside from the outside, and cold Qi condenses into a tangible mist, slowly flowing across the ground.

Leng Hanshuang sat cross-legged on a huge cold jade bed.

At this moment, she had shed the majestic aura of the Sect Master from earlier in the day, her brows filled with unconcealable decay and exhaustion.

She raised her hand and cast a soundproof barrier, her gaze piercing towards Liu Yuqin, who was kneeling below, like an ice pick.

"Kneel."

Liu Yuqin knelt on the hard ice surface as commanded, her head lowered, her expression unreadable.

"Yuqin, you've changed."

Leng Hanshuang stared at this Disciple whom she had watched grow up since childhood, her tone carrying a hint of inquiry and disappointment.

"You used to regard Aotian as a god, not tolerating anyone saying anything negative about him. Why did you utter such rebellious words in the main hall today?"

"Is it that Lin Chen? Did he use some kind of charm on you?"

Before her words finished, a majestic Divine Sense at the Soul Transformation Stage erupted, instantly scanning Liu Yuqin from head to toe.

Leng Hanshuang didn't truly suspect Lin Chen had such ability, but Liu Yuqin's abnormal behavior was too sudden.

The Divine Sense swept over, finding nothing unusual. There were no signs of Possession, nor any indications of being afflicted by Gu.

Liu Yuqin was still Liu Yuqin, only... her heart had changed.

Feeling the probing Divine Sense withdraw, Liu Yuqin slowly raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed and brimming with tears, looking utterly pitiful.

"Revered Master thinks this Disciple has been bewitched?"

Liu Yuqin let out a desolate laugh, her voice trembling,

"This Disciple has never been as clear-headed as I am now!"

"Revered Master, look at yourself now!"

Liu Yuqin knelt forward two steps, pointing at a puddle of uncoagulated black blood beside the cold jade bed.

"To suppress this damned cold poison, you endure the pain of ten thousand ants gnawing at your bones every Zi Shi! Your cultivation is stagnant, and your Lifespan is slipping away!"

"But what about Senior Brother Aotian?"

Liu Yuqin abruptly turned her head, her gaze fixed on the scroll enshrined in the center of the ice wall.

The man in the painting carried a long sword on his back, his robes fluttering, standing amidst the clouds, looking down on all beings with an arrogant, disdainful gaze.

That was a painting Leng Hanshuang personally drew before Lin Aotian's Ascension, which she cherished as a treasure, gazing at it daily to express her longing.

"He ascended! He's living freely and happily in the Upper Realm, striving for his Great Dao!"

Liu Yuqin's voice was sharp, carrying a hint of cathartic pleasure.

"Has he ever thought that there's a foolish woman in the Lower Realm, waiting here to slowly drain her lifeblood and die for that Opportunity he left behind?!"

"Impudent!"

Leng Hanshuang roared, her chest heaving violently.

"Aotian has his reasons! Immortals and mortals are eternally separated, he couldn't help himself..."

"Reasons? Couldn't help himself?"

Liu Yuqin seemed to have heard the biggest joke, not only did she not restrain herself.

Instead, she stood up and looked directly into Leng Hanshuang's gradually flustered Phoenix eyes.

"Revered Master, stop lying to yourself. I feel it's not worth it for you!"

"If he truly cared, when he ascended, he would have brought you with him, even if it meant damaging his cultivation! Instead of dumping the mess on you and going off to enjoy himself in the Upper Realm!"

"In his eyes, you were nothing more than a stepping stone to be discarded after use! Your so-called deep affection, to him, might just be a self-pitying joke!"

Boom!

These words were like heavy hammers, precisely striking Leng Hanshuang's most vulnerable emotional defenses.

She was the famous Sect Master of the Mysterious Maiden Sect, her Dao Heart should have been as firm as a rock.

But at this moment, this rock was forcibly chiseled with cracks by her most beloved Disciple, using the cruelest truth.

Those details she had deliberately ignored, those grievances from her midnight dreams, now surged into her heart like a tide.

Leng Hanshuang subconsciously looked at the painting on the wall.

Once, the disdainful gaze of the person in the painting made her infatuated.

But now, no matter how she looked at it, that gaze seemed to be mocking her foolishness.

An indescribable desolation and sting spread from the depths of her Dao Heart.

Making her eternally ice-sealed, beautiful face, for the first time, reveal a hint of confusion and vulnerability.

"Stop talking..."

Leng Hanshuang's voice trembled slightly, trying to maintain her last shred of dignity.

Liu Yuqin's eyes narrowed, knowing the time was ripe.

To break a woman's defenses, one must first destroy her faith.

"Revered Master, your life is your own!"

Liu Yuqin knelt again, this time, she directly grabbed Leng Hanshuang's icy cold hand.

On that hand, purplish-blue ice crystal patterns had already spread to her wrist, a sign that the cold poison was about to attack her heart.

"Junior Brother Lin Chen has a special Physique; he is a heaven-sent antidote. You are merely borrowing his Yang Qi to heal your injuries, it's for treatment! This is completely different from... from the matter of a Dao Companion!"

"This is a temporary measure, it's for survival! What's wrong with that?"

"Could it be... could it be that in your heart, a vague promise, an oath whose fulfillment is unknown, is truly worth sacrificing your own life for?!"

Liu Yuqin's fingers tightened slightly, the warmth of her palm transferring over.

Leng Hanshuang's delicate body trembled.

The rampant cold poison within her, upon sensing this faint human warmth, unexpectedly produced an extremely greedy craving.

It was life's instinctive cry for help.

As long as... as long as there was enough Pure Yang Qi...

She could live!

She could even break through and rise, impacting Void Refining!

The secret chamber fell into a deathly silence.

Life and death, desire and dogma, fiercely contended in Leng Hanshuang's mind.

After a long while.

Leng Hanshuang's mind flashed back to Lin Aotian's departing figure when he ascended, resolute, not looking back.

"When I ascend, I will surely guide you..."

These words were once her light. Now, they had become the shackles that bound her.

If she lost her purity just to cling to life, how could she face that perfect him if they truly met again in the future?

This was her last stubbornness as the leader of the Righteous Path.

"Hoo..."

Leng Hanshuang closed her eyes, exhaling a mouthful of turbid Qi mixed with ice shards, forcefully suppressing her body's turmoil.

When she reopened her eyes, that hint of vulnerability had vanished, replaced by ten-thousand-year-old unmelting ice.

"This matter, do not mention it again."

She slowly withdrew her hand, her tone cold and hard, imbued with the resolve of a warrior breaking his own arm.

"This Revered Master has Medicinal Pills to suppress it; there is no need for such an inferior measure."

"If I lose my purity, what meaning is there in merely clinging to life?"

She waved her hand, her voice filled with deep weariness: "You, withdraw."

Liu Yuqin stared at her blankly, a flicker of disappointment and... unwillingness in her eyes.

But she did not try to persuade her further.

She knew the shackles in her Revered Master's heart could not be pried open by mere words.

"Yes... this Disciple takes her leave."

Liu Yuqin respectfully bowed, then rose and exited the secret chamber.

The stone door slowly closed behind her.

Stepping out of the secret chamber, the dazzling sunlight fell upon Liu Yuqin's face.

The sorrow and worry on her face instantly receded, replaced by a complex and inscrutable expression.

There was both concern for her Revered Master's injuries, but more so, an endless surge of resentment towards everything represented by the three words "Lin Aotian."

"How did I ever fall for such a heartless and ungrateful person?"

She couldn't help but mutter in a low voice.

Merely because of a life-saving grace?

Ridiculous!

In her mind, another face involuntarily appeared.

That face carried a hint of a roguish, playful smile, and those eyes always gleamed with an aggressive light.

And... his unreasonably domineering prowess.

Liu Yuqin's cheeks flushed for no apparent reason.

"Hmph, he's not even half as good as that damned scoundrel..."

She pouted, yet a hint of infatuation, which she herself hadn't noticed, flashed in her eyes.

Immediately, Liu Yuqin looked towards the tightly shut stone door of the secret chamber, a profound smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, Revered Master, Revered Master..."

She whispered softly, her fingertip twirling a strand of hair, her tone as gentle as a lover's murmur.

"Since you're so principled and can't make this decision."

"Then as your Disciple, how can I just stand by and watch you suffer?"

"If you won't open this door..."

"This Disciple will go and pick the lock for you, and while I'm at it... give you a little push."