Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Gu Qing Yuan, You Will Regret This

“He is my disciple. Whoever dares to hurt him will have to step over my body!”

“Bai Yang, remember this: Master—and the Song Family behind Master—are your support. Go boldly and do what you want. If anything happens, I’ll cover for you!”

“Bai Yang.”

One scene after another flooded Bai Yang’s mind, sharp enough to make him dizzy. He could even remember how proud Master had looked when she said those words—how certain, how unwavering.

But now…

Everything had changed.

Panic twisted through him. Bai Yang clutched his chest and glared fiercely toward the direction Song Wan Ning had left, as if his stare could drag her back.

The Sect Master walked down from the high seat, gaze falling on the three disciples sprawled across the floor. He looked older, tired in a way that went beyond age.

What kind of shock had Junior Sister Song suffered, that she didn’t even care about her disciples anymore?

He sighed and looked down at Bai Yang. “Bai Yang, this time you were wrong. Go back and apologize properly to Junior Sister Song. Maybe there’s still a chance.”

Bai Yang’s jaw tightened, stubbornness flashing behind his bruised eyes.

The Sect Master’s expression hardened. “If any disciple of mine dares to betray me for outsiders, their ending will be far worse than yours.”

His voice turned cold. “Junior Sister Song has already shown you the utmost mercy.”

After that warning, he called for disciples to carry the three of them back to Cloudsky Peak.

…

The news that Cloudsky Peak’s three true disciples had been carried back spread like wildfire through every corner of the Heaven-Questioning Sect.

Many people cheered.

Grandmaster Song treated them so well, and they still stole pills. They deserved it.

Naturally, the gossip reached Snowfall Peak as well.

At that moment, Gu Qing Yuan was using spiritual power to expel poison from Ye Chu Xue. His face was pale, his breath faintly unsteady. His friend Xia Hou Shang ran in, and as he spoke, his gaze kept drifting between the two of them, complicated and sharp.

Ye Chu Xue pressed her lips together. Ever since she woke, she’d felt the strange looks—whispers that stopped when she turned her head. She didn’t understand why.

But when she heard Bai Yang was seriously injured, she immediately grew anxious.

“Martial Uncle Xia Hou,” she asked, voice tight with worry, “is Bai Yang all right?”

Gu Qing Yuan’s hands paused.

His spiritual power stuttered.

“Cough—cough, cough—” He bent forward, coughing hard as if something had lodged in his throat.

Xia Hou Shang glanced at Ye Chu Xue and felt a stab of irritation on Gu Qing Yuan’s behalf.

Gu Qing Yuan had been injured by Song Wan Ning not long ago and still hadn’t fully recovered—yet he’d rushed to detox Ye Chu Xue anyway.

And her heart only held Bai Yang.

“He’s fine,” Xia Hou Shang snapped. “He won’t die.”

Ye Chu Xue’s lashes trembled. “It’s all my fault. If it weren’t for me, Senior Brother Bai wouldn’t…”

She clenched her sleeves, hating her own weakness. If it weren’t for her, Bai Yang wouldn’t have angered Song Wan Ning.

“What does it have to do with you?” Xia Hou Shang scoffed. “Those pills were Gu—”

“Xia Hou Shang.” Gu Qing Yuan cut him off, voice low and warning.

Xia Hou Shang’s vision went black with frustration. He glared at Gu Qing Yuan—furious at his lack of backbone—then stormed out.

Gu Qing Yuan left Ye Chu Xue with a quiet instruction to rest well and hurried after him.

Xia Hou Shang waited in the bamboo grove outside the hall, arms folded, anger still simmering. When Gu Qing Yuan arrived, Xia Hou Shang’s confusion only deepened.

“What do you even like about her?” he demanded.

Ye Chu Xue was pretty, sure. But Song Wan Ning was even more stunning. No matter how you looked at it, Song Wan Ning was more outstanding—more brilliant, more commanding, like she belonged at the center of the world.

Was Gu Qing Yuan out of his mind?

“Chu Xue is very kind,” Gu Qing Yuan said, eyes softening despite himself. “She’s different from everyone else.”

Xia Hou Shang’s mouth tightened.

Gu Qing Yuan continued, voice almost reverent. “Do you know? She even believes that all living beings under heaven are equal.”

Naive. Kind. Unique.

It made people want to protect her. To keep that pure heart from being stained by the filth of the world.

“You…” Xia Hou Shang stared at him, then let out a harsh laugh. “You really are sick.”

In the cultivation world, everyone equal?

What nonsense.

If everyone were truly equal, why didn’t Ye Chu Xue stay in the Outer Sect? Why did she come here to snatch the resources of a true disciple?

Xia Hou Shang swallowed the rest of his words and forced the conversation elsewhere. “Then what about Song Wan Ning? Are you really going to break off the engagement with her?”

At the mention of Song Wan Ning, Gu Qing Yuan’s gaze darkened. “I already broke it off. There will never be any possibility again.”

His attitude was resolute, his eyes cold. When he spoke of the person who had loved him for over 100 years, it was as if he spoke of a stranger.

Xia Hou Shang’s gaze grew heavy. Emotions he’d buried for years surged up all at once—envy, jealousy, bitterness sharp enough to taste.

Song Wan Ning’s devotion to Gu Qing Yuan was something Xia Hou Shang understood better than anyone.

He’d watched it. He’d seen it. He’d guarded quietly at the edge of it all.

What he could never have, Gu Qing Yuan threw away so easily.

It was absurd.

“Gu Qing Yuan,” Xia Hou Shang said, voice low, “since your engagement has been dissolved… if I pursue Song Wan Ning, you won’t object, right?”

Gu Qing Yuan froze. His eyes snapped to Xia Hou Shang, sharp and startled.

“What did you just say?”

Xia Hou Shang didn’t answer.

The bamboo grove felt suddenly airless, as if the world had paused to listen.

Gu Qing Yuan’s hand clenched. For a long moment, it looked as if something heavy was lodged in his chest, making it hard to breathe.

Finally, he forced the words out, stiff and controlled. “Song Wan Ning’s matters have nothing to do with me anymore.”

“Is that so?” Xia Hou Shang’s lips curled. He stared at the flustered flicker Gu Qing Yuan couldn’t quite hide and said, “Then don’t regret it in the future.”

He turned and left, a trace of secret delight trailing behind him.

It was good.

Good that Gu Qing Yuan and Song Wan Ning were finished.

All these years, Xia Hou Shang had watched Song Wan Ning fight over attention and burn with jealousy for Gu Qing Yuan until she seemed like a different person.

In the past, she had been like the sun hanging high in the sky—brilliant, dazzling, unreachable.

As Xia Hou Shang’s figure disappeared, Gu Qing Yuan stood there for a long time, unease gnawing at him from the inside.

But soon he steadied himself.

Song Wan Ning’s heart held only him. Even if Xia Hou Shang pursued her, so what?

Song Wan Ning would only like him.

—

At the peak of Cloudsky Peak, Bai Yang sat cross-legged on his bed, the Sect Master’s warning echoing again and again in his mind.

He seemed to understand he’d been wrong.

And yet, stubbornly, another voice in him insisted Song Wan Ning was at fault first.

The two thoughts tangled and tore at each other, locked in endless struggle.

His injuries were severe, but he hardly cared. What ate at him far more was Master’s change.

After hesitating for a long time, Bai Yang forced himself upright and swallowed a pill.

The bitterness hit his tongue. He swallowed it down like resolve.

This time, he would bow his head first.

He would step back first.

The decision loosened something in his chest. Bai Yang pushed open the door and headed toward Song Wan Ning’s hall at the summit.

Each senior brother had his own courtyard halfway up the mountain. At the top stood Dawnlight Hall, where Song Wan Ning lived.

He walked quickly, carrying a thin thread of anticipation he refused to examine too closely.

But the moment he reached the summit, the smile he hadn’t realized he wore vanished.

Beside the main hall, a magnificent three-story courtyard had risen as if overnight.

Flowers crowded the path. Drooping willows swayed like dancers, lush and intoxicating.

And there, outside that courtyard, Song Wan Ning stood with her head lowered, fingers gently smoothing a little girl’s hair. Her gaze was tender, full of concern.

Bai Yang stopped so abruptly it was like he’d been struck.

Then a wave of loss surged up—followed by fury so sharp it made his vision shake.

Anger and sourness twisted together, choking his heart.