396: Chapter 396 Do you hate me? After all, it was me who ruined you.

Ever since her cultivation was subjected to a Seal, the fire in Xiao Nianyin's heart had been burning for over half a year, never once extinguished.

Did she hate Xu Ruyu?

She did.

But she also knew that it was she who had harmed him first. It was she who had summoned him from another world, she who had treated him as a Cauldron first, and she who had almost killed him first.

Therefore, she felt she had no standing to hold this hatred.

Consequently, the hatred turned into resentment, resentment turned into silence, and silence turned into her daily bowing and submission.

However, submission did not mean she was convinced.

Today, Xu Ruyu had saved her, and she was indeed grateful.

That feeling of being pulled out of the abyss in a moment of despair, the feeling of suddenly being saved when she thought she was about to be defiled, the ecstasy that surged in her heart when she saw Xu Ruyu appear at the cave entrance—these emotions were all real.

But gratitude was one thing, and resentment was another.

These two emotions were clashing fiercely in her heart at this moment, neither able to suppress the other.

She tied her sash, put on her outer skirt, stood up, walked to the window, pushed it open, and let the wind from outside blow in.

The wind blowing on her face was somewhat cold, but it allowed her chaotic thoughts to gradually calm down.

She gazed at the scenery of Qixia Valley outside the window, her heart filled with a sense of bewilderment.

From outside the door came Xu Ruyu's voice: "Are you finished changing?"

Xiao Nianyin took a deep breath and replied: "Yes."

The door was pushed open, and Xu Ruyu walked in.

He had already changed into clean clothes, still wearing that same green robe, still maintaining that same indifferent expression.

He walked to the table, sat down, and then pointed to the chair opposite him.

"Sit."

Xiao Nianyin sat down obediently, placing her hands folded on her lap, keeping her head lowered.

This was a habit formed over the past half year—to lower her head in his presence, not to look him in the eye, and not to defy him.

Xu Ruyu looked at her and remained silent for a moment.

His Divine Sense silently enveloped Xiao Nianyin.

That was the new ability he had gained after his Breakthrough to the Saint Realm—Divine Sense into Micro.

It could not only perceive the other party's cultivation and aura but also vaguely perceive the other party's most genuine emotional fluctuations.

Within his Divine Sense's perception, Xiao Nianyin's emotions at this moment were as complex as a tangled mess.

There was fear—that was the shadow of what she had experienced today, not yet dissipated.

There was gratitude—that was the instinctive reaction toward her savior after surviving a disaster.

There was guilt—that was the emotion arising from recalling what she had done in the past.

But there was also resentment.

That resentment was deep, hidden in the corners of her Soul, like a thorn buried in flesh. Although temporarily suppressed by feelings of gratitude and guilt, Xu Ruyu could clearly perceive its existence.

The resentment was not heavy, but it was very stubborn.

Xu Ruyu nodded inwardly.

As expected.

A single act of saving her life could not possibly change this woman completely.

Those resentments, that unwillingness, and the sense of humiliation from being ordered around for over half a year would not vanish into thin air because of today's events.

But it didn't matter.

He hadn't expected that one act of a hero saving a beauty would make her completely devoted to him anyway.

Today's event was just the first step.

He withdrew his Divine Sense and spoke slowly:

"Do you hate me?"

Xiao Nianyin suddenly raised her head, looking at him blankly, her eyes full of confusion.

Xu Ruyu looked at her and explained in a calm tone: "Your encounter today, when it comes down to it, was because of me."

"If I hadn't placed a Seal on your cultivation, how would those people dare to bully you?"

Xiao Nianyin was stunned.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.

Xu Ruyu was right.

If not for him, her cultivation would not have been subjected to a Seal. If not for him, she would still be that high and mighty Saint Realm Sect Master; who would dare to show her any disrespect?

All of this was because of him.

But...

Xiao Nianyin lowered her head and fell silent.

Countless images flashed through her mind—how she had schemed against him back at the Hehuan Sect ancestral grounds, how she had treated him as a Cauldron, and how she had almost killed him.

Those images flashed by frame by frame, as clear as if it were yesterday.

She recalled her own coldness and arrogance back then, her disdain and exploitation of him, and her indifferent gaze when he was on the verge of death.

She remembered what he had said: "Back when you recovered your cultivation, you schemed to have those Core Disciples deal with me. When you watched me being beaten to the brink of death by them, did you ever think that I would also feel humiliated?"

At that time, she only thought he was ridiculous.

A mere ant, did it even deserve to speak of humiliation?

But now, she finally understood the taste of that humiliation.

When she was pinned to the ground by those people, her clothes torn, and she heard those vile words, she finally understood what humiliation was, what despair was, and what it meant to wish for death.

And the one who saved her was precisely the person she had once regarded as an ant.

Xiao Nianyin clenched her hands, her nails almost digging into her flesh. She bit her lip, her eyes rimmed with red, yet she held back, refusing to let the tears fall.

After a long while, she raised her head and looked at Xu Ruyu.

In those ice-blue eyes, the emotions were so complex that even she herself could not sort them out—there was gratitude, guilt, resentment, unwillingness, and a kind of... complex sentiment that even she had not realized.

She spoke, her voice hoarse: "You ask me if I hate you?"

She gave a bitter laugh, the smile filled with self-mockery: "Heh, as long as you don't hate me, that is enough. I... have no right to hate you."

She did not say she hated him, nor did she say she didn't.

What she said was—no right.

This answer was very clever.

Xu Ruyu heard the subtext—she had not answered directly, indicating that she indeed held resentment in her heart, but she felt she had no standing to hold this resentment.

This was enough.

He did not need her to completely let go of her resentment now; he only needed her to know—what she owed him.

Xu Ruyu did not continue to press the matter but reached into his bosom and took out an object.

It was a bead the size of a thumb, crystal clear throughout, emitting a faint silver light. Runes faintly flowed on the surface of the bead, looking mysterious and profound.

The soul fixing bead!

Xiao Nianyin's pupils constricted sharply!

Of course she recognized this thing!

The soul fixing bead, an extremely rare Magical Artifact, could be used to lock onto a person's Soul; no matter where that person fled to the ends of the earth, they could be tracked by the holder.

What was even more terrifying was that the person holding the soul fixing bead could detonate the other party's Soul with a single thought, causing the other party to suffer Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, never to be reincarnated for eternity!