Slaying the Divine, Ascending the Path

40

Xuan Yan didn't answer immediately.

She stood still for a long time, repeatedly glancing down at her dantian, anxiously fiddling with her silver knife's sheath.

She even instinctively tried to help Wei Min but recoiled in fear from the writhing worms. After a while, she pressed her temples as if to calm herself:

"...Mad, everyone's gone mad."

The mountain winds rose again, dark clouds obscuring the full moon.

This time, no copper bells rang.

Half of Xuan Yan's face was shrouded in darkness, the other half lit by the eternal flame at the mountain's peak, glowing red.

My face, too, was half in shadow, half in light.

I turned to look at her: "Sister, you're not mad."

She collapsed to the ground in agony, holding her head as if it was about to split, murmuring:

"Why did I kill them? Let me think, when was the last time I saw my parents..."

The entire Penglai Mountain range resounded with wails and howls.

The ever-burning holy fire, like ghostly flames, adorned the woods.

In such a backdrop, after an unknown length of time,

Xuan Yan, her eyes red, looked up at me:

"Three years ago, that drought demon, you asked me 'why kill it'...

'Why such a question? What did you see?'"

I said, "You killed a small monk, terrified and lying on the ground, younger than me... a small monk."

Xuan Yan finally broke down.

She wailed and wept amidst the mountain's cries, screaming out: "Ahhhhhhhh—"

I lowered my eyes, looking at the delicate wrist guard she made for me.

I hesitated for a moment, still wanting to comfort her.

But then, unexpectedly, Xuan Yan drew her right-hand curved knife and slit her throat.

Her eyes, devoid of focus, uttered her last words.

"...I'll pay them with my life."

Me: "!"

I was too late to stop her, maintaining my raised hand posture, a sharp pain throbbing at my temple.

Before me, Xuan Yan, drained of all strength like the countless people she had killed, heavily fell to the ground.

Not at all graceful.

Her new Mid-Autumn festival dress from Qi Mo stained with dirty gray.

I clenched my teeth, standing silently for a long while, then sighed deeply.

I picked up the peach wood hairpin that had fallen to the ground.

Gently, I placed it in her hair.