Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 187: A Mantis Against a Chariot, A Heart of Snakes and Scorpions

“Kill you? How could I ever do that?”

Xu Wanqing shook her head rapidly, her expression the picture of concern. “Wanqing is a healer. I came here only hoping to treat Senior Sister, to stop you from sinking further into the abyss.”

Nian Zhaoxi offered a weak smile, her eyes filled with unmasked disdain.

Xu Wanqing ignored the look. She sighed softly, her hands glowing with gentle light as she began to tend to her Senior Sister’s ravaged body.

“Senior Sister,” she said, her voice soft and melodious, “you should be clearer than Wanqing about the death of Fairy Ruyue 500 years ago. She died because of a delusion. She thought she could stand alone against the rolling tide of destiny.”

“In the end, it was nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot.”

Xu Wanqing’s movements were gentle, but her words were cold iron.

“The result is obvious. She is, after all, a ghost of the past. Azure Mystic does not remember her kindness. The Sect will not write books or biographies to honor her sacrifice. Instead, to protect the Sect’s reputation, they have erased her, covering up the ‘mistakes’ she made back then.”

She paused, wiping a smear of blood from Nian Zhaoxi’s arm.

“Such a person… is a good person.”

“But also a fool.”

The word fool finally cracked Nian Zhaoxi’s stony silence. Her expression rippled with anger. She looked coldly at the woman before her.

“Outsiders say Fairy Ruyue was a moth flying into the flame, a mantis trying to stop a chariot. They call her a fool. But you, Xu Wanqing… or rather, the entire Azure Mystic… do you have the right to say that about her?”

“I admit,” Xu Wanqing replied smoothly, “Ruyue’s courage was admirable.”

“But what was the result?”

“The result is that she risked her life, yet gained nothing. She could not change a thing.”

“What do you call that?”

Xu Wanqing’s voice sharpened. “That is called overestimating one’s own strength. That is called a sacrifice in vain!”

Her eyes bored into Nian Zhaoxi. “And now, Senior Sister, you are walking the exact same dead-end path Ruyue took!”

“Then what about you?” Nian Zhaoxi rasped.

“Me?”

“What did you do?”

“I naturally…”

“Back then,” Nian Zhaoxi cut her off, her voice trembling with suppressed rage, “besides hiding in the corner with Master and the Junior Sisters, shivering in fear… besides watching helplessly as Ruyue forcibly burned her vital essence to block the coercion of the Four Sacred Lands for the sake of Azure Mystic and Gu Xiu… what else did you do?”

The words were sharp thorns, piercing Xu Wanqing’s composure. Her face contorted. “I… you…”

“What? To cover up the shameful cowardice of that year, to hide the truth from the new disciples, have you managed to brainwash even yourself?” Nian Zhaoxi sneered.

500 years ago, the Providence Forbidden Realm had descended.

Azure Mystic had faced a crisis of life and death.

Gu Xiu was prepared to bind himself to the Sect and enter that terrifying Forbidden Realm alone. At that time, the people of Azure Mystic were terrified, paralyzed by fear. Yet, there were those who stood up. For Azure Mystic. For Gu Xiu.

Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!

Like a moth flying into the flame!

It was a past Azure Mystic could not bear to look back on.

Especially now. As Azure Mystic grew powerful, ascending to the status of a Sacred Land, the memory of their weakness—of being bullied and needing to sacrifice their own disciples to survive—had become a stain. A scandal.

They buried it because they were ashamed.

That was the truth.

Xu Wanqing pursed her lips, gritting her teeth. “But she ultimately failed! Now, besides leaving behind a lonely grave, nothing remains!”

“You are beyond reason,” Nian Zhaoxi shook her head slowly.

“I am not unreasonable. I have simply seen the true nature of the world!” Xu Wanqing scoffed. “Eldest Senior Sister, do you know why I killed Gu Xiu back then?”

This time, Nian Zhaoxi did not ask.

But Xu Wanqing answered anyway.

“I killed Gu Xiu for Azure Mystic. And also… for his own good.”

“Azure Mystic has already been blessed with Immortal Fate. We are destined to rise.”

“His existence would only tarnish our luck. He would only provoke those powerful enemies from the past, dragging Azure Mystic back into crisis.”

“He must die. The only difference is sooner or later.”

“If he dies early, he is spared the suffering. Azure Mystic’s Immortal Fate will be solidified, and those threats will cease to exist!”

Xu Wanqing leaned in, her eyes burning with fanaticism. “If he is truly loyal to Azure Mystic, then he should be happy to die for it!”

As she spoke, the mask of the compassionate healer crumbled. The gentle facade vanished, replaced by a face twisted with resentment and venom.

She looked less like a living Bodhisattva and more like a malicious ghost crawling out of the Nine Nether Hell.

Even though Nian Zhaoxi knew Azure Mystic had rotted to the core, seeing this naked malice still caused a momentary lapse in her focus. She murmured, heartbroken, “He is Gu Xiu! The Gu Xiu who sacrificed everything for us!”

“Senior Sister, you are too attached to the past.” Xu Wanqing shook her head, her voice regaining its eerie calm. “He contributed to the Sect, yes. But was it only one-sided? The Sect gave him plenty of help. In my opinion, Azure Mystic and he are even. Neither owes the other anything.”

“What help did the Sect give him?” Nian Zhaoxi’s voice rose in anger. “500 years ago, you only reached out to beg him for resources. 500 years later, you ignored him, bullied him, and plotted against him. Is this the help you speak of?”

Xu Wanqing pursed her lips indifferently. “That was also a form of tempering for him.”

“What did you say?”

Nian Zhaoxi widened her eyes, staring in disbelief. She could not fathom how anyone could be so shamelessly thick-skinned.

Betraying a hero. Freezing a hero’s heart.

She called that tempering?

“Senior Sister, I know you think Gu Xiu was important. But think carefully—even without Gu Xiu 500 years ago, couldn’t our Azure Mystic have risen on its own?”

“You have gone mad!” Nian Zhaoxi hissed through clenched teeth.

“The one who is mad is not me, but you, Senior Sister.”

Xu Wanqing finally lost her patience. The veneer of sisterly affection evaporated completely.

“Gu Xiu must die. This is the tide, the unstoppable general trend. I came here hoping you would see the situation clearly. Stop wasting your energy. Stop hiding Gu Xiu’s location. And stop hiding the truth about Sixth Junior Sister.”

“Your persistence is useless. It will only ensure you end up exactly like Fairy Ruyue.”

“The Great Trend cannot be reversed. It cannot be blocked. It cannot be hindered.”

“Otherwise…”

“You will be crushed to dust.”

It was a warning, not persuasion. She had given this speech multiple times recently.

Master was injured. Fifth Junior Sister Qin Meran had left the Sect and vanished. Sixth Junior Sister He Mengyun remained in a coma.

And outside, rumors were spreading that Gu Xiu had abandoned the Sect.

These events made Xu Wanqing sense a vague, creeping danger. Her heart was uneasy. She needed to find Gu Xiu.

To eliminate the source of the trouble.

To solve the problem at its root.

A Sect hero is only good when he is dead. For the Sect’s future, having Jiang Xun as the sole male disciple was enough.

What a pity.

Just like the previous times, Nian Zhaoxi simply closed her eyes, muttering that she was tired.

Xu Wanqing’s expression turned frosty. She grabbed a handful of high-grade pills and shoved them into Nian Zhaoxi’s mouth. To ensure compliance, she channeled her cultivation, forcing the medicinal energy to dissolve instantly in Nian Zhaoxi’s throat.

In the blink of an eye, the gruesome wounds on Nian Zhaoxi’s body began to knit together.

But this was no act of mercy.

Seeing that Nian Zhaoxi’s life was secure, Xu Wanqing waved her hand.

Buzz.

The Great Formation roared back to life. The terrifying torment struck again, tearing at the freshly healed flesh.

To Xu Wanqing’s disappointment, Nian Zhaoxi did not scream. She merely gritted her teeth, enduring the hellish pain in silence.

“Senior Sister, I forgot to tell you something,” Xu Wanqing said softly, leaning close to the cage.

“Although I don’t know where Gu Xiu went, I have already deployed a method to lure him out and kill him.”

Nian Zhaoxi’s eyes snapped open.

Impossible.

Xu Wanqing smiled, a look of triumphant cunning. “Gu Xiu is a man who values loyalty and righteousness above all else. More than once, he has shed blood within five steps for his friends. This nature is noble, yes… but sometimes, it is a fatal weakness.”

“What… do you want to do?” Nian Zhaoxi forced the words out through the pain.

“I must admit, Gu Xiu is very cautious. He hasn’t contacted any former friends, leaving my spies with no trail to follow.”

“But tell me… if a former acquaintance of his was in mortal danger, and only he could save them… would he continue to hide?”

Xu Wanqing’s smile was exceptionally gentle, graceful as a flower. Yet her words plunged Nian Zhaoxi into an icy abyss.

“Coincidentally.”

“If I remember correctly, 500 years ago, Gu Xiu swore a Great Dao Oath to someone. He promised to protect that person’s descendants once. Because Gu Xiu went to the Forbidden Realm, that oath was never fulfilled…”

“But tell me. If Gu Xiu hears that the descendants of that person are facing extermination now…”

“What choice will he make?”

Nian Zhaoxi felt the blood freeze in her veins.

The Great Dao Oath!

This was a true Karmic binding. If a cultivator violated such an oath, their Dao Heart would crack, and their cultivation would be forever flawed. Xu Wanqing intended to weaponize this sacred vow to force Gu Xiu’s hand!

If he had truly restarted his cultivation and held ambitions for the future, he could not ignore the oath. He would be forced to crawl out of the shadows!

And if he ignored it? It would prove he was truly a cripple with no future, posing no threat to the Azure Mystic Sacred Land!

This was an Open Scheme. A Yangmou.

A trap that could not be evaded, only triggered.

Nian Zhaoxi saw the strategy clearly, and a wave of nausea hit her.

Beneath Xu Wanqing’s compassionate skin lay a heart of pure venom. A snake. A scorpion.

“Xu Wanqing! Have you forgotten that Gu Xiu swore that Great Dao Oath because of you?!”

“You lunatic!”

“You deserve to die!”

Nian Zhaoxi roared, her composure finally shattering.

But her fury only deepened Xu Wanqing’s smile. The “Saintess” turned and walked away, satisfied.

She had finally won a round against her Eldest Senior Sister.

Now, all she had to do was wait for the good news of Gu Xiu’s death.

…

Meanwhile.

Cloud Firmament City. Listening-to-Rain Pavilion. The backyard forge.

Gu Xiu, drenched in sweat, his chest heaving, exhaled a long, white plume of breath.

He raised the forging hammer one last time.

CLANG!

The hammer fell with the weight of mountains.

It struck the Shadow Chasing Sword. It struck the Unfailing Sword Heart.

And with this final strike, the two merged completely. Metal and spirit, past and present, fused into one entity.

“Shadow Chasing. Unfailing.”

“Complete!”