Chapter 058
Chapter 58: If You Want to Push Me Away, Just Kill Me
Meng Xi Yu and Shi Zi Chu walked one behind the other. The firelight from the walls stretched their shadows very long along the corridor.
Suddenly, Shi Zi Chu halted her steps.
Meng Xi Yu felt a slight pull, stopped, and turned to look back at her.
Meeting the questioning look in his eyes, Shi Zi Chu gently curved her eyes into a smile, her voice soft and tender, “You no longer hate me?”
With that gentle inquiry, her other hand rose, and her smooth, pale fingertips pressed lightly against Meng Xi Yu’s chest through several layers of robes.
Beneath her fingertips, the muscles of his chest tensed instantly, causing his entire body to stiffen.
Seeing the ice-cold hatred gather again in Meng Xi Yu’s eyes, Shi Zi Chu lightly tapped his chest twice.
Back then, the female villain system had controlled her body and stabbed Meng Xi Yu from behind, that blade piercing straight into his spiritual core.
Severely wounded, Meng Xi Yu had returned to the sect and immediately secluded himself in the mountains.
It was only natural that he would hate her.
Indeed, it was best if he did hate her.
The fingertips pressing on his chest were suddenly pulled away by a warm, dry palm.
Her delicate jade-like hand was almost completely wrapped in his larger hand.
Shi Zi Chu curled her fingers slightly but found herself gripped even tighter.
Now, Shi Zi Chu’s one hand was held firmly while her other wrist was captured as well, creating an oddly intimate atmosphere between the two.
“You want to stab me again?”
A sharp, cold gaze filled with unresolved hatred pierced her.
His eyes were full of resentment, yet somehow deeply sorrowful.
Shi Zi Chu tilted her head slightly upward to gaze at him, her expression gentle, though her eyes remained as cold and calm as an ancient well.
Looking into those peaceful, unruffled peach-blossom eyes, Meng Xi Yu let out a self-mocking laugh from deep in his throat.
Shi Zi Chu’s calmness only highlighted how wretched he had become.
“You should hate me,” she repeated softly, her melodious voice gently echoing in the empty corridor.
“Yes, I should hate you!” Meng Xi Yu forced out these words through clenched teeth, as if speaking to Shi Zi Chu and yet also warning himself.
The large hand that held her suddenly rose and gripped Shi Zi Chu’s slender neck.
Yet rather than choking her, it was more like he just gently rested his hand there, exerting far too little pressure.
Shi Zi Chu didn’t even retreat half a step. Calm, cold, and unbothered, she was confident Meng Xi Yu wouldn’t hurt her.
Indeed, Shi Zi Chu’s certainty was not mistaken.
His trembling arm eventually dropped helplessly, and Meng Xi Yu bowed his back, defeated and despondent.
He hated Shi Zi Chu. He hated her for being cold and indifferent, and he hated himself even more for being so weak that, even now, he still loved her.
This tangled love and hate was already etched deeply into his bones.
“What if I truly wanted to stab you again?”
Meng Xi Yu lowered his eyes to gaze at the finger pressed again to his chest. His eyelids drooped, concealing his expression. “Here—it won’t be fatal.”
He pulled her hand downward.
Finally, her fingertip settled over his most vital acupoint, and his harsh voice grew wild, “Strike here—one blow, instant death!”
To die at her hand might be a kind of release!
“Don’t you want to push me away? Don’t you want to clearly sever ties with me?” Meng Xi Yu gripped Shi Zi Chu’s hand tightly. “This is your only way to push me away!”
Shi Zi Chu raised an eyebrow slightly.
[Don’t use life and death to prove your sincerity. After all, I really do kill people~]
“I’m pathetic. I just can’t stop loving you!” Meng Xi Yu mocked himself bitterly, half-crazed already. “I refuse to become a stranger to you!”
“Does it no longer hurt?”
She meant more than the stab wound; she also meant those earlier words, sharper than any blade.
Had he forgotten after only four years? Did it stop hurting?
Meng Xi Yu released Shi Zi Chu’s hand, stepping forward suddenly to pull her tightly into his embrace.
Painful—how could it not be?
But compared to pain, he couldn’t bear becoming strangers!
“Was it truly you, that blade from back then?”
The question from Meng Xi Yu’s mouth sounded like uncertainty, but there was an underlying certainty to it.
Shi Zi Chu didn’t answer. Her fingertips pressed gently against his back, where his heart was.
With Meng Xi Yu’s extraordinary talent, it wouldn’t be hard for him to distinguish truth from lie.
Yet sometimes, he truly didn’t need to be so perceptive!
His rigid, defensive body relaxed a moment later. Meng Xi Yu felt a strange peace, as if calmly awaiting his own death.
Perhaps losing interest, Shi Zi Chu withdrew her hand.
Meng Xi Yu’s voice, cold and bitter with jealousy, asked accusingly, “Why not use me? I am no worse than anyone else, including Jiang Wan Sheng.”
Jiang Wan Sheng was insane, capable of betraying her at any moment!
But Meng Xi Yu never would!
“A’Yu, you’re among the very few who truly care for me.” Shi Zi Chu gently pushed Meng Xi Yu away as she spoke. “I truly don’t want to use or harm you.”
Meng Xi Yu was the first person who treated her so kindly that she couldn’t bear to exploit him. But of course, she pushed him away for more than just that reason.
In strength, he was beneath Xing Lan. In status, he also fell short of Xing Lan.
And Meng Xi Yu even wanted to become her dao companion.
That absolutely couldn’t happen!
So, naturally, she weighed her options and decided to push him away.
“You should calm down and think carefully.” Shi Zi Chu smiled warmly, but her eyes were cold as ice. “I’ll check things over there.”
Without waiting for his response, she turned, ready to walk back toward the two forks in the path.
Meng Xi Yu abruptly reached out and seized her wrist.
“If you want to push me away, just kill me.”
His gaze on her face was filled with an indescribable obsession.
Watching Shi Zi Chu’s slight frown, he smiled faintly. “But you won’t kill me.”
Whether because of their past closeness or some other reason, Shi Zi Chu wouldn’t kill him!
Otherwise, with her ruthless nature, she wouldn’t use harsh words to push him away—she would have directly made him eternally sleep within the ruins.
“You’re so annoying.”
At such times, having a childhood friend was truly irritating. Even if Meng Xi Yu didn’t know her perfectly, he still knew her well enough to guess most of her thoughts with ease.
Shi Zi Chu scolded him lightly, causing Meng Xi Yu to chuckle.
Grasping her slender wrist, Meng Xi Yu pulled her forward, walking deeper into the passageway.
After walking a bit, Shi Zi Chu scolded again, “Idiot.”
She had shown rare kindness, and yet he foolishly threw himself back into trouble!
“Not as harsh as four years ago,” Meng Xi Yu noted.
Shi Zi Chu fell silent.
For some reason, she had the illusion that scolding him more would only make him happier.
After a quiet pause, Shi Zi Chu suddenly laughed. Her curved eyes glinted with teasing.
“A’Yu, you’ll help me, won’t you?”
He himself had willingly offered to be used. As an evil supporting character, naturally, she wouldn’t refuse such a gift~
“Of course,” Meng Xi Yu answered without hesitation.
Shi Zi Chu smiled sweetly and said, “Then, will you go snatch that eighth-rank spiritual herb for me?”
“Gladly.”
Clear, joyful laughter echoed through the empty corridor.
When they finally stepped out of the seemingly endless passage, half an hour had already passed.
The instant their feet left the corridor, they stepped straight into an illusion.
Shi Zi Chu watched the woman approaching from ahead, then glanced sideways at Meng Xi Yu. “A’Yu, why are you in my illusion?”
Logically, he should’ve fallen into his own illusion.
Meng Xi Yu, with clear and indifferent eyes, looked at her. “You’re here.”
Aside from Shi Zi Chu, he desired nothing.
Since Shi Zi Chu was beside him, he could never fall prey to illusions.
Shi Zi Chu withdrew her gaze to look at the stumbling woman running towards her, her voice unusually gentle. “Let go.”
It was time for her to deal with her own illusion!