The old woman before us had clearly been struck hard by Xiao Qing's words.
She seemed to have recalled many of the shameful things from her past.
Perhaps, back when she cultivated the so-called Ruthless Technique, she had done things she regretted for the rest of her life?
She had abandoned the person she loved and the people who loved her. Perhaps it had not merely been abandonment—perhaps she had even harmed them!
Her expression kept changing, sometimes savage and terrifying, sometimes tormented with pain. Her heart must have been filled with a chaotic mix of emotions.
She suddenly shouted, "No, you're deliberately trying to disrupt my mind! Ruthlessness is ruthlessness. How could it be forgetting love? What difference is there between being ruthless and forgetting love?"
She actually opened her eyes—opened both of them.
Her eyes were blood-red, as though blood might spill out at any moment.
Her gaze fell directly upon Xiao Qing.
Xiao Qing was startled. She cried out, "Red Eye! You have Heavenly Eye Opening too, and it's even Red Eye. How is that possible? The Ruthless Technique cannot cultivate Heavenly Eye Opening!"
The old woman sneered tremulously. "Ruthlessness is ruthlessness. You people cannot let go of your feelings, so you came up with this nonsense about forgetting love. Today, I'll show you what true ruthlessness is!" With that, she raised the cane in her hand and continuously waved it around, muttering something I could not understand. It sounded like an ancient, obscure incantation.
As her chant rang out, I discovered that the entire world had changed. I was already surrounded by mist, and the mist was red—bright red like blood.
Everyone around me had vanished.
Between heaven and earth, there was nothing left but the mist and me.
I knew perfectly well that the dead