550: Chapter 550 What? Saving them doesn't mean my sect is encouraging traitorous behavior?

Xu Ruyu didn't look at him, his gaze still fixed outside the mountain gate.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was cold—as cold as a December wind, every word seemingly dug out from an ice cellar.

"Why should we care about them? From the moment they sold us out to others, they became the mortal enemies of our Hehuan Sect."

The Grand Elder opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

Xu Ruyu continued, his voice turning a few degrees colder: "After going through so much, don't you realize that kindness to the enemy is cruelty to ourselves?

How many of our Disciples died because of their betrayal? How many of our Disciples were left homeless because of their treachery?

Grand Elder, surely you haven't forgotten?"

The Grand Elder lowered his head.

He hadn't forgotten; of course he hadn't forgotten.

The Disciples who died, the blood that was shed, the suffering they endured—he hadn't forgotten any of it.

He just felt that watching his former fellow Sect members die before his eyes was somewhat unbearable.

Xu Ruyu glanced at him, his tone softening slightly, yet still remaining very cold.

"Moreover, if I go to save these traitors now, wouldn't that be telling the Disciples that in the Hehuan Sect, one can betray the Sect? That as long as they change their ways later, they can return?"

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the square.

Leng Ningshuang remained expressionless, Zhao Yan clenched his fists, Ning Caihe gripped his sword hilt, and Qingyan's small face was pale.

More than three hundred Disciples had their eyes fixed on him, waiting for him to speak.

"It's impossible." Xu Ruyu's voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a nail driven into everyone's heart. "Our Hehuan Sect absolutely cannot tolerate traitors.

Once a traitor, always a traitor; never think of coming back.

Today, they must pay the price for their choices. Besides, the fact that I didn't personally kill them is already my greatest tolerance.

Letting them die at the hands of the Righteous Path Alliance is so that after Yun Hezi dies, he can have some dignity when he goes to the underworld to meet the ancestors of the Hehuan Sect."

He turned back around and continued to look outside the mountain gate.

"If Yun Hezi truly wants to return to the Hehuan Sect, then let him use their blood to wash away the shame of betraying the Sect.

That is the only thing they can do."

The Grand Elder didn't speak again.

He took a step back, standing behind Xu Ruyu, and sighed as he looked at the besieged people outside the mountain gate.

Hua Xunhuan stood beside him and said in a low voice, "Grand Elder, don't think about it anymore; the Sect Master is right.

When Yun Hezi sold us out to the Meiying Sect, he became an enemy of our Hehuan Sect.

Kindness to the enemy is cruelty to ourselves.

We cannot let more Disciples die just because of a momentary lapse into soft-heartedness."

The Grand Elder nodded but didn't say a word.

Granny Liu leaned on her cane, looking outside the mountain gate; there was no pity in her murky old eyes, only a calm that came from seeing through the ways of the world.

Leng Ningshuang stood behind Xu Ruyu, seeing the figure lying on the ground far outside the mountain gate.

In her mind flashed the image of Yun Hezi smiling as he gave her pointers on sword techniques back when they were in the Hehuan Sect.

Back then, he was still the Law Enforcement Elder of the Hehuan Sect, very kind to her and to every Disciple.

But that was all in the past.

From the day he betrayed the Hehuan Sect, that smiling Yun Hezi had died.

In his place was a petty man who sold out his Sect and feared death.

She withdrew her gaze and looked no more.

Zhao Yan clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

He wanted to rush out and fight, but Xu Ruyu hadn't given the order, so he couldn't move.

He could only stand there, watching those traitors being besieged, watching them struggle, and watching as they neared death.

He didn't feel satisfied, nor did he feel pity; it was just an indescribable feeling of stifled frustration.

Ning Caihe's sword vibrated slightly in its sheath, not urging him to strike, but rather helping him find a way to stay calm.

He gently pressed down on the hilt, and the vibration stopped.

Qingyan stood among the crowd, looking outside the mountain gate; her eyes were slightly red, but she didn't shed any tears.

She also remembered those people, remembered that they were once Elders of the Hehuan Sect, that they had spoken to her and praised her.

But that was all in the past.

She told herself not to be soft-hearted.

Outside the mountain gate, the people from the Righteous Path Alliance began to close the net.

The old man in the Early Saint Realm walked toward Yun Hezi step by step, the pressure increasing with every stride.

The tip of his sword pointed toward the ground, carving a thin furrow as gravel splashed to either side.

He walked up to Yun Hezi, stopped, and looked down at him from above.

"As a dignified Hehuan Sect Elder, won't you get up and accept your death? Or do you yourself know how disgusting you are, and want to go down to meet your Hehuan Sect ancestors in this kneeling position?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it sounded as if it were coming from far away.

Yun Hezi opened his eyes, looked at the old man, then at the silver-white light curtain behind him, and finally at the sky filled with dark clouds.

He slowly crawled up from the ground.

He was covered in blood, his robes were tattered, and his hair was disheveled, but he was smiling.

In that smile, there was bitterness, self-mockery, and an indescribable sense of relief.

"Xu Ruyu," his voice was very soft, so soft that only he could hear it, "you won."

He gripped the sword in his hand, faced the old man in the Early Saint Realm, let out a great roar, and charged.

No one was behind him.

There was no chorus of Magical Artifacts, no earth-shaking battle cries.

There was only him, dragging a leg that was nearly useless, clutching a longsword full of notches, charging toward a fatal end.

This was the path he chose for himself, and the path Xu Ruyu had chosen for him.

He charged.

Then, everything went quiet.