Chapter 137
Chapter 137: Mother, Save Me
The heat from the aftermath of the fire still hadn’t dissipated. The oppressive, stifling warmth pressed in, like a net falling over them, creating an inexplicable suffocating feeling.
Not hearing a response from Shi Zi Chu, Xing Lan’s face remained as indifferent as ever, with barely a flicker of emotion.
The two stood in silence, caught in a tense stand-off.
Finally, without a word, Xing Lan turned and began walking towards the back mountain.
Shi Zi Chu reacted quickly, grabbing onto Xing Lan’s arm with both hands, her eyes filled with pleading, shimmering with unshed tears.
Xing Lan glanced back, his expression clear.
But Shi Zi Chu didn’t speak; she simply looked at him with an expression that was almost on the verge of tears.
“Jiu Jiu.” Xing Lan sighed, his cold voice slow and deliberate. “The Soul Revival Array will be activated at midnight tonight. By then, it’ll be too late.”
Once the Soul Revival Array was triggered, there was no guarantee he would make it out alive, let alone anyone else.
If Jiu Jiu had her reasons, he would find a way to solve it. But if it was due to something else, he would not allow her to destroy her future like this!
Shi Zi Chu’s pleading eyes carried an air of stubbornness. “I promise, Master won’t die.”
?
Xing Lan almost laughed out of exasperation at Shi Zi Chu’s words.
But, neither scolding nor arguing would solve anything.
Xing Lan suppressed his anger and spoke again, “What about the young sect masters of the Three Sects, the young lords of the Five Schools, or the clan chiefs and young lords of the Seven Clans?”
Shi Zi Chu shifted her gaze, the coolness in her eyes seemed to say, If they die, they die. What’s that to me?
Xing Lan sighed again. “Jiu Jiu, if it’s only you and I who survive, I will be fine. But if you are executed by all these factions, do you know what will happen?”
Shi Zi Chu nodded slightly.
Just as Xing Lan thought she had understood, Shi Zi Chu murmured, “Master, I have my own way.”
?
If you truly had your own way, you wouldn’t have gotten us into this mess!
Xing Lan’s forehead twitched with the pressure of barely restrained frustration.
“Master, don’t scold me.” Shi Zi Chu raised her tear-filled eyes, her brows full of grievance. “I’m about to cry.”
What could he do? Scold? Yell? Even hit her?
She was like a little ancestor!
Fuming, Xing Lan raised his hand and lightly poked her forehead.
Seeing her still look at him with a pitiful expression, Xing Lan deliberately made his voice cold. “You have your own thoughts, and I have mine. Let go.”
Shi Zi Chu obediently released her grip.
Xing Lan immediately sensed something was off.
And sure enough!
Shi Zi Chu leapt up and threw herself at him, clinging to him.
Xing Lan was taken aback but then laughed out loud. “You’re shameless!”
He scolded her, but his hands betrayed him, steadying her by supporting her bottom, letting her rest more easily.
Shi Zi Chu buried her face in his shoulder, pretending to sob. “Wuwuwu…”
“There’s no room for negotiation on this.” Xing Lan started walking up the mountain again. “You still have time to think it over. If you haven’t thought of a good reason by the time we reach the Soul Revival Array, I will destroy it.”
Shi Zi Chu choked on her words as she protested, “Master doesn’t love me anymore.”
“I do love you.”
Not giving her a chance to cause trouble, Xing Lan’s cold voice continued, “It’s precisely because I love you that I won’t let you make a choice that will ruin your future.”
“Under the pretense of ‘doing it for my good,’ you slapped me! Master, how could you hit me?!”
Shi Zi Chu was both angry and embarrassed after getting slapped on the rear.
“I haven’t controlled you at all.” Xing Lan’s voice was still indifferent, with no hint of anger but exuding a quiet authority. “Jiu Jiu, if you can’t explain yourself properly, you will get another slap.”
Shi Zi Chu, enraged, began scratching at him, wanting to show him her strength.
Xing Lan’s neck was scratched twice before he gripped her claws, pinched them, and then scolded lightly, “Out of control.”
Shi Zi Chu collapsed against his shoulder, exhausted, “Master, you started it first!”
“Shouldn’t you be the one to be punished?”
What had he controlled?
Anything Jiu Jiu wanted to learn, he taught her. Anything she wanted, he gave it to her, as long as it wasn’t too excessive. He made every effort to turn a blind eye to her mischievousness.
But control? Was there a more aggrieved master under the heavens?
Shi Zi Chu sulked in silence, refusing to speak.
After a while, Xing Lan sighed again. “Jiu Jiu, how am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me?”
He understood her well, but her thoughts were too complicated.
For example, right now, he really couldn’t guess what Shi Zi Chu intended to do.
“I want to give Master a surprise.”
A surprise?
More like a shock.
Xing Lan fell silent, his lack of trust in Shi Zi Chu now clear.
Shi Zi Chu didn’t try to explain herself further.
At the mountain peak.
The Ru Heng Sword was driven into the ground, forcing the Soul Revival Array from beneath with its sword qi.
Looking at the enormous array, Xing Lan’s expression grew more complicated.
Shi Zi Chu leapt off his body and landed on the ground.
Xing Lan summoned the Ru Heng Sword, about to store away the Life Bound Sword while speaking, “Jiu Jiu… what are you doing?”
Suddenly, Shi Zi Chu seized his hand and pressed the Ru Heng Sword against her own neck.
The fierce sword qi instantly retracted, the sharp blade hovering dangerously close to her delicate skin, yet not a single drop of blood was drawn.
Xing Lan was taken aback and tried to withdraw his hand, but with her body tempered strength, Shi Zi Chu held on tightly, preventing him from moving.
Her peach blossom eyes, which had earlier shed crocodile tears, now glowed red. Fear and panic danced in Shi Zi Chu’s gaze.
“Mother, save me!”
Before the words left her mouth, Shi Zi Chu released Xing Lan’s hand and staggered backward.
Xing Lan hadn’t even had the chance to react before a chill wind brushed past.
Xing Lan closed his eyes for a moment.
That slap earlier… he should have given her more.
Suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared, identical to Shi Zi Chu, but with a completely different demeanor.
While Shi Zi Chu was lively and unpredictable, her aura deceptively gentle, the ghost—her mother—was soft and tender, with a true warmth, an affection a mother would have for her child.
Shi Zi Chu, cradled in her mother’s arms, immediately clung to her neck and began to cry uncontrollably. “Mother! Mother! Is this the only way you’d agree to see me?!”
The woman, who had never seen Shi Zi Chu cry before, was flustered. She hurriedly embraced her daughter, her voice thick with love and sorrow. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Qing Qing, don’t cry.”
Shi Zi Chu held onto her mother’s neck desperately, crying with reckless abandon, “I want to take Mother away, to leave this place. I have a home now. I’ll take you home, Mother!”
Her cries were those of a child who had finally found her mother, a deep and heartfelt sobbing.
Xing Lan turned his gaze elsewhere, his heart a tumult of emotions.
This scene made him want to compromise with Shi Zi Chu, but reason told him that things were not so simple.
The woman gently patted Shi Zi Chu’s back, her voice soft and full of affection. “My Qing Qing has grown up. How have you been all these years?”
She had awoken too late, with too little time to shower her daughter with love.
The origin of this secret realm had been born from her unwillingness to part with her daughter. She just wanted to see Qing Qing again, to know how she had fared.
“I haven’t been well at all. They’ve all bullied me, Mother. They’ve all bullied me because I don’t have you.” Shi Zi Chu cried, her words tumbling out in a jumbled mess.
As a vicious ghost consumed by obsession, she was no saint.
Out of sight of Shi Zi Chu, bloodthirsty killing intent surged within her mother.
But, while comforting her daughter, the woman’s voice remained gentle. “Qing Qing, don’t cry.”
Anyone who had bullied Qing Qing would pay the price with their lives.
Unaware of this, Shi Zi Chu simply clung to her mother, crying in sorrow.
Xing Lan knew all too well the patterns of Shi Zi Chu’s complaints.
But he said nothing, merely watching.