Master, You Lied to Me. You Lied to Me Too, Didn't You?

"It was that father and son who destroyed your family and stole your life!"

Sun Jin's voice echoed endlessly in Jiang Qingyi's ears.

"Impossible, impossible." Jiang Qingyi kept retreating, her face pale as paper.

"You must be lying to me! You must be lying to me! You have to be!" Jiang Qingyi's mind was in utter chaos; she couldn't believe what she had heard.

She refused to believe that her master was the son of her enemy.

And it was at that very moment that Sun Jin found an opening, hurling a hidden weapon toward Jiang Qingyi!

But Jiang Qingyi merely tilted her head to the side, the projectile grazing past her hair.

Almost simultaneously, Jiang Qingyi pressed her fingers together, using them as a sword, and swept them across his neck.

"Urgh—"

Sun Jin clutched his throat as blood spurted from between his fingers.

"Save... save me..." Sun Jin reached out toward Jiang Qingyi, his pupils gradually dilating.

Jiang Qingyi's eyes were like dead water as she looked at him, without the slightest ripple.

A few breaths later, Sun Jin's hand dropped limply to the ground. His eyes stared wide ahead as blood stained the soil red.

"Qingyi! Are you alright?"

Xiao Mo finally arrived.

Seeing his disciple's unharmed back, and the corpse of the Blood Butterfly Pavilion cultivator beside her, Xiao Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But upon hearing her master's voice, Jiang Qingyi's delicate frame trembled, and she slowly turned around.

When Xiao Mo saw the look in Jiang Qingyi's eyes, his steps came to a halt.

Xiao Mo had never seen that kind of expression in his disciple's eyes before.

Qingyi's eyes held no luster at all, as if she were already dead, as if her soul had shattered.

"Qingyi, what happened?"

Xiao Mo took a step forward, but Jiang Qingyi slashed out a Sword Qi, carving a line in front of him.

"Master. Do you know?"

Jiang Qingyi spoke slowly, her voice like something from the abyss, filled with despair.

"I could actually remember things from when I was very young—probably from the time I was one year old.

I remember that I had a very happy family.

My father was a moderately wealthy merchant, and though my mother was ordinary, she was very gentle, loved me very much, and loved my father very much.

When I was two, Mother gave birth to a younger brother.

My little brother was very adorable.

When he was a year and a half old, the first name he could clearly call out was 'Older Sister.'

From the day I was born, I never knew what worry was.

But when I was four years old, everything changed.

A group of people burst into our home, and the moment they came in, they started slaughtering indiscriminately.

Whether it was the guards, the servants, or the maid-sister who took care of me—all of them died.

At the time, the cobblestone path was flowing with blood, and the pond in the courtyard had turned crimson.

Father and Mother stuffed me and my two-year-old brother into a cabinet.

They told us not to speak, no matter what happened outside, not to come out.

Inside the cabinet, I held my little brother tightly, covering his eyes and ears.

Not long after, there was commotion outside.

Through the crack in the cabinet, I saw with my own eyes my parents being killed by those people!

In the end, they found me and my brother.

Right in front of me!

They killed my little brother!

Master, do you know what it feels like to watch your family die one by one before your eyes, no matter how much you beg, it's useless?

They didn't even spare your two-year-old brother!

Master, do you know that kind of despair?"

Xiao Mo: "..."

When Jiang Qingyi brought up these things, Xiao Mo knew that she had already learned everything.

"My entire family died, not a single survivor. I was taken to a courtyard."

In this courtyard, I saw so many people.

They tied me to the bed, cut open my back with a knife, and pulled out one of my bones.

It hurt so much. It hurt so much.

I fainted from the pain at that moment.

When I woke up, there were corpses all around me.

Later, I learned that the place where I woke up was called the Mass Grave.

I don't know how my wound healed, nor how I survived.

Perhaps Heaven took pity on me and had some Immortal pass by to heal me.

But I know this—I lived!

At that moment, I swore to Heaven that I would live on no matter what, and I would avenge my parents and my Younger Brother!

They slaughtered my entire family, so I will slaughter their entire family!

Whether the families of my enemies are innocent or not, I will show no mercy!

I will kill his son before his eyes, kill his daughter before his eyes, and then slice him piece by piece into a thousand cuts!

Everyone must die!

Jiang Qingyi lifted her head, her eyes brimming with boundless hatred.

"All these years, your disciple has been secretly investigating who slaughtered my family, but I never found a clue.

That house back then had already turned to ashes.

But, Master—

Just now, when I killed that man, He said, 'Master, your father is the one who slaughtered my entire family.'

All of it was to transplant one of my bones onto you, Master.

Master, is that true?

Is everything he said true?"

Xiao Mo: "..."

"Master! Tell me it's false! He's lying to me, isn't he!"

Xiao Mo: "..."

Jiang Qingyi's tears blurred her vision. Her right hand gripped the Xuan Shuang Long Sword tightly as she screamed, nearly hysterical:

"Master! Answer Qingyi!"

"Master! Say something!"

Xiao Mo let out a sigh, lifted his head, and met Jiang Qingyi's gaze directly. "The man you killed is named Sun Jin. He was one of the advisors of the Xiao Royal Mansion. Everything he said is the truth.

It was the Xiao Royal Mansion that slaughtered your family, and I am the son of Prince Jing Xiao.

Your Sword Bone is inside me."

Hearing her master's words, Jiang Qingyi shook her head. "No. None of this is real. None of it is real. Master, you're lying to me, aren't you? Tell me you're lying too."

"Qingyi, this is the truth."

"Liar!" In that instant, the young girl raised her longsword and pointed it right before Xiao Mo's eyes. "Then why did you save me back then? Why did you bring me back to the mountain? Why did you teach me swordsmanship? Why did you treat me like a brother or a father? Why? Why?!"

"Because I owe you," Xiao Mo said calmly. "I reached the Nascent Soul Realm at eighteen. I thought it was my own extraordinary talent, but it turned out I had transplanted a young girl's Sword Bone. One day, a woman told me that girl hadn't died, so I left the Xiao State Mansion, wanting to find you and make it up to you."

"Make it up." The son of the man who slaughtered my family saved me! Taught me swordsmanship! Raised me! If that's the case, you might as well have killed me!" Jiang Qingyi roared.

Xiao Mo slowly closed his eyes. "Kill me, then. Fulfill your oath. This is what I owe you."

Staring at the man before her, Jiang Qingyi's longsword trembled incessantly in her hand, tears streaming down her cheeks and falling to the ground.

In the end, Xiao Mo only felt a gust of sword wind brush past him.

He slowly opened his eyes. The strip of skirt the young girl had cut off drifted upward before his gaze, gradually rising into the air.

She held her longsword, turned, and walked away. Her voice came from behind her:

"From this day forward, you and I are nothing to each other."