Avatar Ling Qingyue watched the scene before her with a face full of black lines. Her true body was lying on the ground, and the three little girls beside her were looking at her true body with expressions of complete infatuation. Yet she couldn’t make a move and just cut them down directly.
“Weren’t you planning to leave? Just leave. I won’t stop you…”
“Perhaps leaving right now is the best choice. But faced with an opportunity like this, I choose to refuse…!”
Avatar Ling Qingyue had already been prepared to back down. But the other party, even more arrogantly, expressed their refusal. Between escaping safely and coveting beauty, Meng Li chose the path that led closest to death. After all, the moment she made her move, whether she lived or died was no longer up to her.
“A desire to cleanse, pure as snow. Floating moonlight, what flower reflects her face? Truly as beautiful as a fair lady~”
“You’re my avatar. How come your words are even more flowery than mine?”
“Not important, not important~”
The Evil Self gently stroked Ling Qingyue, her eyes practically watering over. This made even the Good Self beside her unable to watch any longer. She wanted to stop the two before her—after all, she still harbored some sense of goodness.
“Shizun is ultimately Shizun. What we’re doing is already utterly unfilial. If you two do this, it’ll just be the same as before!”
“Saying such hypocritical words. Shizun is this beautiful—do you dare say you haven’t been tempted~?”
“Wasn’t our original goal to escape? Why linger here? Besides, that Senior Sister Nameless already said she’d let us go!”
“A joke. If you want to leave, just leave. We won’t stop you. But as for Shizun, I’m afraid the two of us will have to~”
Meng Li watched the two arguing before her, unsure how to react for a moment. In this situation, perhaps running away directly was the best choice.
Yet, looking at that somewhat dazed Ling Qingyue—already naturally beautiful, but now looking as if hypnotized, utterly adorable—Meng Li only pondered briefly.
“On one hand, paying with my life. On the other, taking advantage of my most beloved Shizun…”
Meng Li gritted her teeth and pushed the two in front of her aside. Although they were both her avatars, on this matter alone, she absolutely could not be swayed by them. Avatar Ling Qingyue, standing to the side, had also overheard the three’s conversation. She couldn’t help but be curious what decision her good disciple would make.
“How could I let others dictate my choice? I won’t choose either!”
Meng Li resolutely turned around and walked towards Avatar Ling Qingyue. Under the shocked gazes of her two avatars, she made a third choice beyond the two options they had presented.
“What? Am I in your way? If you want to leave, I won’t stop you…”
Avatar Ling Qingyue watched Meng Li walk towards her, thinking the other had chosen to leave safely. She inwardly let out a long sigh of relief, thinking she finally wouldn’t have to make this difficult choice. She prepared to step aside and let the other pass.
“Senior Sister Nameless, you wouldn’t mind if your true body did some naughty things with you, right~?”
“I told you, I’m… wait… what did you say?”
Avatar Ling Qingyue stared blankly at Meng Li approaching her. The clear purpose in the other’s eyes seemed to return her to those years, those days of imprisonment. Back then, the other had looked at her with the exact same gaze.
The two avatars behind were also stunned. But in the blink of an eye, expressions of sudden realization dawned on their faces. The beautiful Shizun couldn’t be touched, but the equally palatable Avatar Ling Qingyue—why not?
“You can’t be making me your target…”
Avatar Ling Qingyue was rendered speechless by this move. She had thought the other was about to leave, but the target simply shifted to herself. However, it was clear the other still hadn’t grasped the situation.
“If you’re thinking of threatening me through the true body, don’t bother. If you three can leave even a scratch on my body, it would already be a worthy achievement for a disciple…”
“Hey, you two, go write the character for ‘correct(正)’ on Shizun’s face~”
“You dare!”
Avatar Ling Qingyue immediately lost her composure upon hearing the other’s command. She had thought they would threaten her by harming the true body. She never imagined they would use even more despicable methods.
“Aiya, Senior Sister’s threats scare me so much~ I’m just afraid my avatars might get scared too, and their hands might slip~”
“Fine, what do you want…”
“Need you ask? Of course, it’s to do what I’ve always wanted to do~!”
Facing the slowly approaching Meng Li, Avatar Ling Qingyue closed her eyes as if accepting her fate. After all, she was merely an avatar. Even her self-awareness was synced with the true body.
“It’s but a fleeting moment. If you want to do it, then be quick about it…”
“Then I won’t hold back~”
Meanwhile, within the illusion realm, everything was so illusory, yet seemed so real. Ling Qingyue understood—understood better than anyone—that this place was nothing more than an illusion realm found everywhere.
She only needed one sword strike, or to bring out her true power, to easily shatter everything around her. Yet the events unfolding before her eyes were the moments she cherished most. Everything felt so long, drawn out.
“Shizun, aren’t you hungry~?”
“Once cultivation reaches the great achievement stage, one no longer needs to eat mortal grains…”
Ling Qingyue sat at the table, watching the innocent, almost foolish little girl before her. The other was holding a meat bun, speaking with an expression of pure joy. It was clearly just an illusion, yet felt so real.
“No need to eat? That’s too pitiful. Buns are so delicious, after all~”
“Yes, very pitiful…”
Ling Qingyue propped up her cheek, her eyes revealing no emotion whatsoever. From beginning to end, her gaze could not leave that small, delicate figure. When the other was young, she was just like this—as innocent as an idiot. What step had gone wrong for her to become that kind of person?
Ling Qingyue began to reflect on herself. Perhaps in her previous life, during their first encounter, she had merely tossed down a spirit stone casually and left. She hadn’t corrected the other’s views in time. Or perhaps it was her hands-off style of teaching.
“Thinking back and forth, in the end, it’s all just a brief dream. If I could truly do it all over again and continue like this with you, it wouldn’t be so bad. It’s just that you suffered for it…”
“Shizun, what are you saying? You took me as your disciple and even bought me such delicious food. I couldn’t be happier~”
Ling Qingyue slowly stood up and turned to walk down the bustling street. Little Meng Li, who had still been eating her bun, hesitated for a moment upon seeing this. She hastily grabbed the buns from the table, clutched them in her hands, and chased after her.
“Shizun! Wait for me! I… I haven’t finished eating yet!”
Meng Li wanted to follow, but that figure seemed to grow ever more distant. No matter how hard she ran, she couldn’t catch up. Until finally, she tripped and fell to the ground. Watching the receding figure, she reached out, wanting to stop her, but couldn’t utter a single word.
“Shizun… wait for me…!”
“No thought can be forgotten…”
Even as the crying and shouting behind her became clearer, and everything around seemed to obstruct her, Ling Qingyue knew her heart was beginning to waver. She could perfectly well stop here, just as she had said, and start over from the beginning. But even so, she did not stop.
“If I stop here, then this life would have been lived in vain…”
With these words, Ling Qingyue no longer hesitated. One sword swept out. The original environment instantly transformed, sliced open like a sheet of torn paper. As she took the final step out, Ling Qingyue, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly straightened up.
“In the end, you still managed to get your hands on these strange things. Controlling me might work for a moment, but even if you run…”
“None of them ran…”
Ling Qingyue was just about to rush out directly when she heard the voice of her avatar. Avatar Ling Qingyue was sitting to the side, stroking the adorable creature on her lap. Meng Li had already fallen asleep comfortably.
“Keep your voice down. She’s still sleeping…”
“????”
…………
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