Chapter 2: Confession

The document looked crumpled.

When Lu Hanyi saw it, she froze for a moment.

Then the faint color on her lips was pulled apart by a cold smile.

“Xu Ning.”

Her eyes were sharp as sword light.

“Are you mocking me?”

Xu Ning did not rush to answer.

He looked down at her bare feet on the cold jade floor—her ankles pale, her fingertips still trembling.

The ground was freezing.

She was clearly already too weak to stand, yet she still insisted on questioning him on her feet.

This was Lu Hanyi.

She would rather die than let anyone see her fragility.

“If Fairy Lu thinks so, then let it be.”

Lu Hanyi’s gaze turned icy.

She would have preferred him to show resentment, or greed—something like a normal person.

But Xu Ning did not.

He simply stood there calmly, as if all his emotions were pressed deep into his eyes, making it impossible to guess his thoughts.

She could not control him.

That thought only stoked the fury in Lu Hanyi’s heart.

She had always been annoyed by his meek demeanor.

Now he was using that same tone, but to beg for a letter of divorce from her.

Who would care about a marriage contract that was nothing more than a joke?

“Do you think you’ve been wronged?”

Xu Ning was taken aback.

Lu Hanyi stared at him.

“You think that in these two and a half years, I owe you something.”

“You think you’ve been trapped on Cold Sword Peak, treated with contempt, and now that you’ve finally waited for the day I’m too weak to kill you, you’re using this to force me to bow my head?”

“If that’s the case, then why did you pretend to be gentle for these three years?”

Xu Ning was silent for a moment.

“I wasn’t pretending.”

Lu Hanyi sneered.

Xu Ning looked at her quietly. The sharp sword intent stung his eyes.

“You saved my life, so I took care of you for three years.”

“The sect’s contempt for me is the sect’s affair.”

“Your refusal to acknowledge this marital record is your affair.”

“My wanting to leave is my affair.”

He said it very clearly.

So clearly that Lu Hanyi could not refute him for a moment.

She only felt a surge of blood and Qi in her chest, and her voice turned cold.

“Back then, the sect promised you a chance at immortality.”

“Now that you’re leaving, are you giving that up too?”

Xu Ning was silent for a moment.

When he first came to Cold Sword Peak, he had indeed thought about that immortal opportunity.

For a mortal to seek immortality was like a frog looking at the moon from the bottom of a well.

Even if it was only a faint glimmer, it was enough to sustain him through the wind and snow for a long time.

But later, he understood.

Some moons appear to be in the sky, but in truth, they are just a hook placed at the well’s mouth by someone else.

If he kept looking up to reach it, he would never leave that well.

Xu Ning said calmly, “The word ‘immortal fate’ rests heavily on the word ‘fate.’”

“If it was meant to be mine, I wouldn’t have to kneel on Cold Sword Peak waiting for alms.”

“If it was never meant to be mine…”

He shook his head.

“Forcing it is just emptiness.”

Such an immortal fate was better off discarded.

Lu Hanyi suddenly clenched her fist.

She had assumed that Xu Ning’s patience and forbearance were all for that immortal opportunity.

Which mortal could be unmoved by the pursuit of immortality?

But now he said he didn’t want it.

He didn’t want the marital record with her.

He didn’t want the sect’s promised immortal fate.

Then what did he want? What was he scheming for?

She couldn’t figure it out.

Xu Ning noticed the turbulent emotions in her eyes and lowered his gaze.

“I don’t understand the rules of the immortal sects. So I ask Fairy Lu to sign.”

“If the sect refuses to recognize it in the future, at least I’ll know it’s others who deny it, not you.”

“Heh. And I’m supposed to thank you for your consideration?”

Lu Hanyi stared at him coldly.

He spoke so prettily, but in the end, he still didn’t trust her.

“Xu Ning.”

“I’m here.”

His calm response made Lu Hanyi take a deep breath.

After all, it was just a piece of paper.

She should have done this long ago.

“Fine.”

Xu Ning looked at her.

Lu Hanyi raised her hand to wipe the blood from her lips.

“If you can truly save me, I’ll give you the letter of divorce.”

“From then on, we’ll have nothing to do with each other.”

“But if you can’t…”

The last shred of her sword intent pressed down, and there was no trace of weakness left on her face.

“I’ll take your life. Do you dare?”

Xu Ning nodded.

“I accept.”

Lu Hanyi narrowed her eyes.

Xu Ning pointed at the document.

“But first, sign it.”

Lu Hanyi’s expression froze. “You’re afraid I’ll go back on my word?”

“Yes.”

He said it frankly.

So frankly that Lu Hanyi’s chest heaved violently.

“I, Lu Hanyi, have never gone back on a word once spoken!”

Xu Ning was silent for a moment.

“An immortal’s word is surely as unbreakable as a law.”

“But I dare not trust it completely.”

Lu Hanyi’s face went ice-cold.

After a long while, she said, “Give it here.”

Xu Ning fetched the brush and ink for her.

Lu Hanyi’s gaze fell on the document, and she suddenly asked, “When did you write this?”

“Last winter.”

Last winter.

Lu Hanyi remembered that season.

The snow on Cold Sword Peak was heavy, the wind and bone-chilling cold endless, and her meridians’ cold miasma tormented her every night.

Back then, Xu Ning had hardly slept a full night, staying by her side every night.

Now that she thought about it, Lu Hanyi suddenly found it laughable.

“So you’ve been waiting for today since then?”

Xu Ning said, “No.”

“Then what?”

He thought for a moment.

“At the time, I was afraid I wouldn’t make it through three years. I wrote it as a keepsake.”

Lu Hanyi’s hand paused, and she turned to stare at him.

Xu Ning didn’t explain further. He simply handed her the brush already dipped in ink.

Lu Hanyi looked at that brush and made no move for a long time.

She had never imagined that one day she would sign a letter of divorce under such circumstances.

She was the true disciple of Cold Sword Peak.

But now, it was as if a mere mortal had driven her to the desk.

Lu Hanyi grasped the brush handle.

The reverse flow of her meridians made her wrist tremble; the ink gathered at the tip for a moment, nearly spilling onto the paper.

At the bottom of the document, the name Xu Ning was already written.

Every stroke was neat and clear.

Just like the man himself.

Lu Hanyi raised the brush and set it down.

Lu Hanyi.

The final stroke almost tore through the paper.

She tossed the brush back onto the desk and said coldly, “Satisfied?”

Xu Ning picked up the document and studied it carefully.

As if reclaiming something long lost.

“Thank you, Fairy Lu.”

The address “Fairy Lu” stung Lu Hanyi, her brows growing even colder.

Xu Ning tucked the document into his robes.

“I need to make some preparations.”

Lu Hanyi watched him coldly.

Blood was still seeping from her chest, her sword essence flowing backward inch by inch, pain making her vision darken.

But she remained standing.

She wanted to see what tricks Xu Ning could possibly pull.

Xu Ning turned and left the inner chamber.

The outer room was still cold.

He sat back down on that narrow wooden bed, and only now slowly let out a breath.

Facing Lu Hanyi’s aura, his back was drenched in cold sweat.

The might of an immortal, even badly wounded, was still terrifying.

Then, faint pale green letters appeared silently before his eyes.

[The marital record’s karmic tie has been severed.]

[Qinghua Spirit Root granted early.]

In a daze, Xu Ning felt as if he saw a seed breaking open its shell.

In his dantian, which should have been empty, a thread of green suddenly emerged.

That green was very faint.

Yet it was like a warm breath, flowing slowly through his meridians.

Xu Ning stared blankly downward.

This was the first time, on perpetually snowy Cold Sword Peak, that he had felt something beyond the wind and snow.

For a moment, the wind and snow outside the window seemed to pause.

Cold Sword Peak was covered in snow all year round.

Its rocks were like iron, barren of any life.

But beneath the thick ice on the outer corridor, a tiny hint of green quietly poked through.

Slender.

Frail.

It couldn’t even cover a snowflake.

Yet it was the first spot of green on Cold Sword Peak since winter began.

And in the inner chamber, Lu Hanyi, leaning against the cold jade table, suddenly turned to look outside.

She thought she had just heard something.

Like the sound of a chain breaking.