Chapter 41: Remember to Come Drink the Wedding Wine, Okay? Pinky Promise!

Heart demons are selfish, greedy for life.

So she clung desperately to staying alive. 

Only after securing that would she even consider chasing anything else.

Yet Li Xingyue believed dying together with Su Beiyan was better than living on. 

Was that not a foolish choice? 

As long as one kept breathing, one would eventually meet someone like Su Beiyan again.

Since Su Zhan was not alike, then simply wait. 

Someone seven parts similar, or even identical, would surely appear one day.

 But if one died, then truly nothing would remain.

The heart demon had never understood why Li Xingyue refused to see this truth. She had asked her once before.

“Treating others as substitutes… how pitiful.”

That was Li Xingyue’s answer.

The weak being trampled was the natural order. 

Only the strong held the right to define everything. 

She had known this since childhood, from the first time her parents treated her differently.

Pitiful? 

It was only because the substitute was not similar enough. 

Once properly trained, the so-called love she craved would fall right into her hands, would it not?

At the very least… she would not be like some fool, endlessly reminiscing over the past while sipping tea and savoring every expression and smile of that girl.

The heart demon had sneered at the reply.

She had taken her place as a strong one for granted, openly basking in the power to control everything.

But when she saw Su Zhan holding that spiritual sword, when Su Zhan once again drew a clear line between her and Li Xingyue and called her a thief, jealousy and hatred finally surged within her.

She hated that Li Xingyue was not her. She hated that she was not Li Xingyue.

She accused Su Zhan, her words laced with flattery and pleading, hoping for even a shred of acknowledgment.

Yet when she met Su Zhan’s eyes after they opened again—those clear, indifferent eyes—she received her answer.

…Forget it. She thought. Since it is something I can never obtain, then destroying it is fine.

Die with me, Su Zhan.

***

The woman whose chest had been pierced let out a heart-rending shriek.

Her crimson eyes burned with frenzied killing intent as she raised her hand and seized the tip of the sword embedded in her chest.

She meant to drag Su Zhan down with her.

As long as Su Zhan could not retrieve her Natal Spiritual Sword, she would win.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, her vitality was tenacious. 

Combined with her special physique, even a pierced chest could not kill her immediately. She could still last half a shichen.

And if Su Zhan’s body stiffened for even a moment, she was confident she could condense a wind blade with all her remaining spiritual power and end her.

The wind field wrapped around Su Zhan’s body suddenly grew heavy again, like a massive hammer smashing down from above.

Su Zhan had been able to kill Li Xingyue from the very start. She had simply hesitated the entire time.

When she first crippled Li Xingyue’s right hand, she could have followed through with a clean beheading.

 But Su Zhan refused. 

She believed this gentle girl deserved a dignified death, not one that left her headless.

More importantly… this was her first time taking a life across two lifetimes.

Unless it was truly life or death, she could not bring herself to do it.

Especially when the one she had to kill was someone she had been chatting and laughing with only days ago.

Su Zhan gripped the sword tighter. 

Without any defensive posture, she let the wind pressure pull her upper body downward until she hung upside down in midair, the blade resting against her leg as spiritual power gradually filled it.

The wind pressure around the sword intensified. Su Zhan’s descent accelerated. 

Noisy tearing sounds flooded her ears. 

The beautiful clothes that had once belonged to Su Beiyan were now completely ruined, reduced to fluttering strips of fabric.

Sorry.

Looks like I won’t be able to return this outfit to you in one piece, Senior Sister.

Su Zhan narrowed her eyes and softly spoke the incantation. “Qingyun Sword Art, Seventh Form — Wind Sparse.”

The already ravaged courtyard collapsed completely. 

Dust and smoke billowed outward. 

Stones were shredded by the wind in an instant, then compressed within it into two wind blades shaped like the character “八.”

Su Zhan fell closer and closer to the ground. 

The two wind blades drew nearer as well. 

The hazy smoke made everything difficult to see clearly.

Amid the raging wind, that single touch of crimson grew even more vivid. 

The swaying fabric hanging from the sword hilt gradually straightened into a sharp vertical arc.

Under the howling wind came the clear cry of a sword breaking through the air.

Then two dull, heavy sounds of sharp metal piercing flesh.

Thick blood sprayed outward like blooming sparks. In that single instant, the woman saw springs turn to autumns and years slip away.

Shock and fury twisted her face.

Because Su Zhan, after landing, had not frozen in place as expected. 

Instead, she had attacked directly.

Su Zhan had released a sword qi like a rainbow piercing the sun, cleaving into the woman’s left shoulder. 

Blood streamed from the wound all the way down to the back of her hand.

She could no longer use wind techniques.

Every drop of spiritual power in her body had been spent in that final, desperate gamble.

Su Zhan, however, had only suffered torn clothing at the chest from the fierce wind blade. 

She looked disheveled, but she was not fatally wounded.

“How is this possible!?”

The woman staggered backward, questioning and roaring. 

Su Zhan said nothing. 

She had no intention of explaining. With slightly trembling hands, she lifted her sword and walked forward slowly.

Su Zhan was also nearing her limit, but finishing the woman would take little effort now.

She slowly extended her hand and pressed downward. 

The fleeing woman felt as though she had been lightly shoved and immediately collapsed to the ground.

The woman struggled to rise, wildly waving her arms to keep Su Zhan at bay. 

It was the only thing she could still do, yet it was completely useless.

Su Zhan stopped in front of her. Only after the woman exhausted herself, gave up, and stopped flailing did Su Zhan raise high the sword that had once belonged to Su Beiyan and drive it down with force.

The blade now stood upright before Li Xingyue. Su Zhan still could not bring herself to be completely ruthless, but Li Xingyue had almost no life left. Half a shichen was nearly over.

In these final moments, Li Xingyue finally showed all her exhaustion. 

She lifted her head and stared blankly at the sky. 

Her crimson pupils gradually faded back to gentle brown under the light of the heavens.

Su Zhan looked at her. 

She stared into those calm eyes for a long time before slowly crouching down. 

With a hoarse voice, she spoke softly.

“You are Senior Sister, aren’t you?”

“Haah…”

Li Xingyue did not answer at once. She regained a sliver of awareness and looked at Su Zhan, her voice weak and fragmented. 

“I… can’t even tell anymore… You look so… disheveled right now… just like that rainy night when you died.”

“It was my fault… I came too late… I failed to protect you…”

She coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her gaze cleared a little more. 

Holding the blood between her lips, she forced a difficult smile.

“Ah… You are Su Junior Sister… It was you who killed me… That’s good…”

“I can finally… go see Yan’er…”

“I’m sorry… for making you like this…”

Su Zhan remained silent. She quietly listened until Li Xingyue finished her muddled words, then softly replied,

“It’s nothing.”

“Su Junior Sister… Being able to see you… I am truly fortunate…”

Li Xingyue fought to keep her eyes open. Her voice grew smaller and smaller. 

An overwhelming exhaustion swept over her, trying to pull her into sleep.

“Fortunate my ass.” Su Zhan lowered her gaze, clenching her fists tightly. “I killed you, yet you still say you’re fortunate. You’re deliberately trying to make me feel worse.”

Li Xingyue let out a soft laugh. Listening to the low, scolding rebuttal, she sank into a strange, peaceful state. She felt strangely content that she could still speak with Su Zhan in her final moments.

“Thank you… Su Junior Sister…”

She suddenly thought of something. Her lips parted slightly. In a final spark of clarity, she raised her right hand. 

The limb hung limply, yet it still stubbornly reached toward Su Zhan.

“In the next life… don’t forget to come drink the wedding wine with me and Yan’er… Pinky promise…”

Su Zhan grasped the still-warm hand. Her lips pressed into a tight line as she answered in a low, muffled voice,

“Okay.”

Li Xingyue did not know if she had heard clearly. She did not speak again.

Because in her eyes, the world had turned white. Only one figure remained—a fairy dressed in bright red attire, her face delicate and charming, yet her eyes brimming with tears. 

Li Xingyue’s entire gaze and spirit were captured by that appearance.

That was the girl she had missed for seven years.

The fairy embraced Li Xingyue. Li Xingyue instinctively wanted to struggle.

Her body was far too dirty and disheveled; she did not want to stain the fairy with blood and filth.

Yet she was also so deeply attached to this embrace. She could not bear to push the girl away again.

“Foolish Senior Sister, I’ve come to fetch you…… Let’s go home……”

She heard the fairy whisper softly by her ear.

She gently closed her eyes and pulled the fairy into an even tighter embrace. 

Countless grievances and guilt surged up at once. 

Li Xingyue wanted to speak, but she no longer had the strength to form words.

In the end, all her love and longing condensed into a single teardrop that slid quietly from the corner of her eye.