Chapter 43 If This Is What You Want
Chapter 43: If This Is What You Want
There was a well here, with a small child crouching beside it.
Luo Hongyu didn’t know where this place was. She remembered fainting at the Ascension Platform, and when she woke up, she appeared here.
But she recognized this well; it was the one next to the courtyard on Zhishui Peak. When she was young, she often drew water from here to water the grape vines.
This space seemed to contain only this one scene, with the black-robed, fox-masked child bobbing his head as he crouched by the well, as if there was something interesting inside.
It was very quiet here, with only the sound of his steady breathing.
Luo Hongyu, dazed, walked slowly toward him.
“…!!”
The little boy noticed her approach and was startled. He pulled his black robe around himself and hid to one side, looking at her with hateful and vigilant eyes.
As if she were some mortal enemy.
“…”
Luo Hongyu stopped, not daring to approach further.
The adult and child faced off in the silent space for a while, and then the little boy let down his guard.
He realized that when Luo Hongyu appeared here… it meant he was already dead, or rather, released.
This soul fragment had lost its purpose, and soon, this trace of resentment born from early pain would completely dissipate.
That was a good thing.
The boy stood up and ran to Luo Hongyu.
“…Is it you? You’re still alive, right?”
The boy shook his head.
But he had a gift to give Luo Hongyu.
The boy took off the mask on his face, revealing a faceless face beneath.
He put the mask on Luo Hongyu’s face.
…
Luo Hongyu saw a white cloud mountain.
On the mountain was a female half-immortal.
“White Immortal… White Immortal! Please show Luo a clear path… save my daughter!”
The father she remembered as sharp and fierce now looked like a frost-beaten lamp, haggard, kneeling before a white-browed, white-robed woman.
And beside him was a girl with two horn-like braids, wearing a strange white fox mask.
The White Immortal took the girl’s wrist, channeled a strand of immortal energy into it, then shook her head with regret:
“Without intervention, this girl was born with black energy entwining her infant body, the amniotic fluid foul-smelling.”
“Her meridians are broken, her fate carries killing energy, and there is innate yin energy rampaging within her body, though at her young age, it has not yet manifested.”
“Sect Leader Luo… to be frank, your daughter is despised by heaven. The various misfortunes and hardships befalling her are not accidental.”
This swordmaster who had dominated the world in his earlier years stared blankly at his daughter crouching nearby watching butterflies, speechless.
The masked girl tilted her head listening to the white-robed sister talking, completely unaware they were discussing her tragic fate.
“Even if immortal arts barely extend her life, or even if she doesn’t walk the immortal path, a heavenly tribulation will descend upon her in the future, unavoidable.”
“It is fate.”
Luo Wenshui’s eyes reddened completely. Disregarding all propriety, he immediately staggered to his feet, his trembling voice filled with pleading…
“White Immortal… I, Luo Wenshui, have only this one daughter… I must save her, I must! If immortal arts offer no solution, what about non-orthodox immortal sect techniques?!”
“…”
Qi Bai’s profound gaze looked past Luo Wenshui to the girl behind him, as if observing something more distant, more secret.
After a moment, she slowly spoke:
“In South Province, Absolute Demon Cave, there is a shamanic art that relies on another’s soul, connecting spirits to continue life… that is what you seek.”
Hearing this, Luo Wenshui paused, then took a deep breath, his emaciated face showing wild joy.
He pulled his daughter with him to bow to Qi Bai, shouting:
“This junior Luo Wenshui thanks the White Immortal for her guidance! From now on, the entire Tianzhen Sword Sect is at your disposal…”
“Enough… don’t linger, and don’t come looking for me at Mount Tianyuan in the future.”
After sending the father and daughter down the mountain, Qi Bai gazed pensively toward the south, her expression seeming to grow somber.
“…”
This was just a fragment, as brief as could be.
Luo Hongyu stood right beside the masked girl, witnessing this short conversation.
A father desperate to save his daughter, an ignorant child, a half-immortal powerless to change fate.
The mask the girl wore was identical to hers.
Even the slight marks and scratches matched perfectly.
But just these three people, ten sentences, and one mask.
Now they tore Luo Hongyu’s entire inner world into flying fragments.
…
“Haha, Luohe, you’re so silly.”
On Zhishui Peak of Tianzhen Sword Sect, which was exclusively for the sect leader and his daughter to live, a beautiful little girl in a pure white dress holding a wooden sword was chasing a butterfly.
A black figure similar in size to her, but strangely shrouded in black robes and wearing the girl’s former white fox mask, followed closely behind.
Suddenly, the little girl whirled around, pointing her wooden sword at the black figure behind her. The black figure didn’t stop in time and fell straight to the ground.
The girl’s laughter rang like silver bells. She put away her wooden sword and crouched down, her hair like a waterfall blocking the sunlight, filling Luohe’s eyes—the only part exposed from his mask—with her smiling face.
She was the daughter of Tianzhen Sword Sect’s leader, Luo Wenshui.
Because she was the sect leader’s daughter and Luo Wenshui rarely allowed outsiders to interact with her, few people came up the mountain to play with her.
Fortunately, she always had Luohe by her side. Although Luohe was dull and wooden, seemingly unable to speak, and always wore a strange white fox mask…
But he was now the girl’s only friend.
However, the girl always had a mischievous idea about this friend…
“Hey… ah, you dodged again.”
The girl suddenly reached out to lift Luohe’s mask, but Luohe seemed to anticipate it and immediately moved away from her.
“So stingy. Letting me see your face once won’t hurt anything.”
The girl put her hands on her hips disapprovingly, while noticing that Luohe’s gaze seemed fixed on the blood-red jade pendant at her waist.
She took it off and smiled smugly in front of him:
“Hmph, this was given to me by my father. Are you jealous…”
The girl’s words stopped abruptly.
Despite her young age, she noticed a flash of ferocity in Luohe’s normally calm and beautiful eyes as he looked at the jade pendant and herself.
This frightened her, making her step back and hide the pendant in her hand.
“Why… why are you being fierce… If you take off your mask and let me see, I’ll let you look at this jade pendant too, okay?”
“…”
Luohe ignored her and walked straight to one side.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“…”
In an unnoticed corner, Luo Hongyu sat limply on the ground, watching everything unfold before her.
Her earlier thought was correct—this was a punishment for her.
But what she had misjudged was that on the Ascension Platform, the punishment was far from over.
Now, the punishment was just beginning.
People always look back and blame their foolish former selves.
Perhaps…
Self-loathing and self-destruction are indelible code-chains within human nature.
…