"Sigh."
Even with his cultivation completely lost, his dantian shattered, and his senses dulled to the extreme, Ye Feng still acutely sensed that someone was "sneakily" following him.
"This silly girl, she could at least try to hide her shadow!" he muttered inwardly. With every step he took, that familiar sound of footsteps echoed clearly in his ears, beating against the tip of his heart.
A distance of ten steps—she maintained it unfailingly, not a fraction more, not a fraction less.
"Why are you following me?" Ye Feng did not turn back, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
"Who's following you? I'm just heading down the mountain too," the young girl retorted stubbornly, though her voice involuntarily rose a fraction, as if trying to cover up something.
Ye Feng slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on Ye Youning.
The young girl had blossomed into a graceful young woman with a slender figure. The childishness in her brows and eyes had receded, replaced by a gentle, maidenly grace.
Looking at her, a rush of complex emotions suddenly welled up in Ye Feng's heart—a mix of pride and reluctance to let go.
"Over the years, I suppose I've been a pretty good older brother."
"Not bad," Ye Feng felt a touch of inward complacency.
But he quickly snapped back to reality. "This is the crucial moment, I can't mess this up!"
Ye Feng's gaze instantly turned cold, his teeth clenched as if he had made up his mind. "Stop following me! Right now, I can barely look after myself!"
A flash of panic crossed Ye Youning's eyes. She hurriedly took a few steps forward, closing the distance between them, and said loudly, "I won't! No matter what you've become, I'm staying with you!"
Seeing her stubborn expression, a sharp pain stabbed through Ye Feng's heart, yet his face maintained its chilling indifference. "You think I'm still going to treat you like before? Don't be so naive!"
"Do you know how much I hate you right now? If it weren't for you, would I have ended up in this state?"
"What?"
Ye Youning flinched as if she had been heavily whipped. Her body trembled slightly, her eye rims instantly turning red, and her voice choked with tears. "Why are you saying that? I don't understand..."
"You don't understand?" A mocking smirk curved the corner of Ye Feng's mouth. "It's all because of that Chaotic Divine Body of yours! You're the darling of the heavens, a born talent of the Dao, but what about me? All my hard work became completely worthless! Compared to you, my top-grade fire spiritual root, which I was once so proud of, is just a joke! In front of your Chaotic Divine Body, every bit of effort I put in was utterly worthless!"
"No!" Ye Youning's eyes instantly welled up, tears spinning in her sockets. She wanted to argue, but her throat felt blocked by something, and no matter how hard she tried, the words wouldn't come out.
"Not what?" Ye Feng's voice carried a mocking edge. "I used to pride myself on being a favored son of heaven, painstakingly teaching you how to cultivate, but what was the result? Do I even deserve to?! With your current cultivation, haven't you noticed how unstable my foundation is and how chaotic my spiritual energy feels? It was all for finding medicine for you, all thanks to you!"
"I'm sorry..." the young girl mumbled, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. She tried to explain, but facing Ye Feng's accusations, she didn't even know where to begin.
"What's the use of being sorry? Master told me long ago—that hidden injury I suffered ruined my foundation, and at best, my cultivation can only ever reach the peak Nascent Soul stage!"
Ye Feng lifted his chin, his eyes filled with bitterness. "I was the senior disciple of the Seven Peaks of Heavenly Sword Peak, someone once pinned with high hopes to become the future sect master! Now look at what I've become, and it's all because of you!"
The young girl's tears could no longer be held back, falling like broken beads in a rapid patter.
She bit down hard on her lower lip until it turned white, her hands tightly clutching the corner of her robe. She hated herself for being clumsy with words, unable to utter a single syllable at a time like this.
She felt as though her entire world was collapsing in that instant. The brother she had once relied on had become so unfamiliar; those fond memories seemed to turn into empty bubbles, and everything was slipping away from her.
Ye Feng threw his head back and laughed loudly, the laughter echoing through the valley, laden with boundless desolation.
As if he had spent every ounce of his remaining strength, he covered his face with his hands when the laughter subsided, his body trembling slightly as he looked in immense pain. "Ye Youning, I'm already a cripple. I'm begging you, just let me go, okay?"
"Do you really find being with me that painful?" Ye Youning's expression suddenly shifted. She lowered her head slightly, her long bangs casting a shadow over her eyes, veiling her entire face in gloom so that her expression became unreadable.
Ye Feng gritted his teeth and pressed his advantage. "Yes, Ye Youning, let me tell you, from now on we have nothing to do with each other! Whether you want to keep the surname Ye or whatever else is up to you—just stop coming to bother me!"
With that, he slowly turned around, every step agonizingly heavy as if his feet weighed a thousand pounds. He clenched his jaw tightly, his cheeks bulging as he fought back the sharp pain surging from the depths of his heart.
"I have to keep acting," Ye Feng told himself silently, yet the irrepressible grief surged up like a relentless tide from the bottom of his heart, nearly drowning him.
The young girl instinctively took a step forward, wanting to grab hold of Ye Feng.
Ye Feng stopped abruptly, turned his head slightly, and said coldly, "Forgot to tell you—that heretical technique belongs to the Tianmo Sect."
Ye Youning's body jerked as if struck by lightning, her trembling frame instantly freezing in place. Her lips quivered slightly as she mechanically repeated, "The Tianmo Sect..."
The corners of Ye Feng's mouth twitched into an ugly smile, devoid of any warmth. "Yes, the very demonic sect that killed your parents. I've practiced their techniques, and I'm no different from them now."
Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode away. His slender, fair hand was clenched into a tight fist, his fingernails digging deep into his palm as blood trickled down his fingertips, dripping onto the dry earth and vanishing instantly.
From behind came a flurry of rustling footsteps—the sound of the young girl fleeing backward.
As the sound grew more distant, Ye Feng felt as though a sharp blade had been ruthlessly driven into his heart, the pain spreading through his entire body.
...
...
[Words are like a blade, and what you said has torn your relationship apart. The warmth and trust of the past lie shattered into pieces in this single moment.]
[You came to the village where you used to live at the foot of the mountain, using your remaining savings to buy a noodle shop. The shop is small, but kept clean and orderly.]
[Business is mediocre, but fortunately, the villagers you used to know always come to support you. Hearing that Ye Youning has found her footing in the Immortal Realm and become a dazzling presence, they smile with relief and shower her with praise.]
[Ye Youning has not come to look for you again. You feel a mixture of relief and sorrow.]
[In the dead of night, you always find yourself recalling those hurtful words you spoke that day, your heart heavy with guilt and hesitation over whether you were too cruel.]
[Yet you know clearly that for her future, this day was bound to come... Eventually, you would have to leave and become a mere passerby in her life.]
[You comfort yourself, "Transmigrated and now I run a noodle shop in another world"—perhaps this isn't so bad after all.]
...
As the days passed, life seemed to gradually return to peace...