Heart in a Tangled Mess: Liu Yiyi

Inside the quiet private room.

"Mmm..."

A soft murmur, heavy with clear discomfort and pain, shattered the silence of the room.

Liu Yiyi's long eyelashes fluttered a few times, as if struggling to break free from a thousand-pound weight, before slowly lifting.

The haze of waking lingered in her cold, clear eyes for only a fleeting moment before being dispelled by the scene before her.

Beside her lay Su Yan, still fast asleep with her delicate brows slightly furrowed, and the room was in a state of utter disarray.

She froze, her mind a blank slate, as if her memories had been forcibly severed.

However, the very next instant.

Those memories, sharp with pain and suffocating humiliation, flashed through her mind like bolts of lightning.

Hu Tian's hypocritical invitation and that cup of tea...

Zhang Xu's hideous, triumphant face...

The strange, unquenchable heat that had suddenly ignited within her body, the draining of her strength, and the collapse of her reason...

Then, the white-haired figure who had burst through the door like a god descending from the heavens, and that earth-shattering punch that had sent Zhang Xu crashing into the bottom of the lake.

And after that... her own and Su Yan's complete loss of control...

Finally, she only remembered the sensation of ice water being poured over them... dampening the heat within her...

What made her feel even more mortified was...

In her memories, it seemed they had been the ones initiating, while that white-haired elder had remained passive throughout.

What a profound shame and humiliation this was!

If she could, she would wish for all of this to be nothing more than a nightmare.

Once she woke from the dream, everything would be over.

She would still be the cold, self-possessed Liu Yiyi, dedicated to the martial path, the unattainable pearl of the Martial Academy, and the pride of her father's eyes.

But...

A piercing, agonizing pain reminded her with cruel clarity.

This was no dream.

All of this was terrifyingly real.

The memories in her mind were far too chaotic.

She truly could not tell if she had lost the most important thing of all.

At this thought, Liu Yiyi, who had always possessed a will as firm as iron—someone who had gritted her teeth through broken bones during training without shedding a single tear—felt a torrent of despair, rage, humiliation, and endless sorrow surge up, finally breaching the last levee of her heart.

"Ah—!!!"

A cry of pain, suppressed to the absolute limit and finally unable to be held back, erupted from her throat.

It was no longer a cold sob, but a heart-rending wail, as if she were trying to cry out her very soul.

Tears poured forth like a bursting river, instantly streaking the beautiful face that still held traces of an abnormal flush, yet was now as pale as paper.

She curled her body into a ball, her shoulders heaving violently, trembling as she wept, as if she were pouring out all her pain, all her grievances, and all her hatred along with these tears.

This weeping, like the tolling of a funeral bell, finally startled Su Yan from her slumber on the other side.

"Mmm..."

Su Yan's eyelids flickered, and she opened her eyes in a daze.

The first thing to enter her vision was Liu Yiyi, who was weeping to the point of collapse.

She was still somewhat dazed, her head heavy, as fragmented images from the previous night flashed back into her mind, though she could not yet piece them together.

However, when she tried to move her body.

A sharp, searing pain, like a cold blade, instantly pierced through all her confusion and lingering hope.

"..."

Su Yan's body went rigid, her pupils shrinking violently.

All the fragments of memory clicked into place at that moment, piecing together the same unbearable, humiliating, and desperate picture that Liu Yiyi had seen.

She had lost it...

The eldest daughter of the Su Family, raised with such meticulous care, admired and pursued by countless others, who had once held beautiful fantasies about her future husband—the Su Yan who had always maintained a gentle and proper smile while harboring her own inner pride... just a short while ago.

She had lost the most precious thing she possessed.

"Ugh... ah..."

A lower whimper, as if squeezed from the very depths of her soul, escaped Su Yan's throat.

A sense of immense absurdity, a devastating blow, and an endless fear and bewilderment regarding the future washed over her like a cold tide, instantly swallowing her whole.

Then, the number of people wailing aloud became two.

Liu Yiyi's weeping was a collapse, a catharsis, carrying a despair that sought to destroy everything.

As for Su Yan, her sobbing began as something stifled... but gradually, it transformed into the same heart-rending grief.

The two young women, who were usually as cold as snow or as gentle as flowers, now looked like two people abandoned in the wilderness, having suffered the cruelest of injuries.

They looked at each other in silence, with nothing but tears like broken strings rolling down their pale cheeks.

They did not know how long they had been crying.

Liu Yiyi's wailing gradually subsided, turning into intermittent sobs.

She raised her slightly trembling, tear-stained jade hand to wipe her red, swollen eyes haphazardly. Those beautiful eyes, once as cold as stars, were now bloodshot, yet deep within the endless sorrow, a cold and resolute flame slowly ignited.

The next instant.

She actually turned her hand into a palm and channeled her strength, intending to strike her own head.

Fortunately, Su Yan sensed Liu Yiyi's movement immediately. She lunged forward with lightning speed, pinned down Liu Yiyi's hands, and shouted softly:

"Are you mad! You actually want to commit suicide!"

Pinned down by her, Liu Yiyi struggled for a moment, but failed to break free due to the double exhaustion of her physical and mental strength.

Her face was as pale as paper, and she shook her head with hollow eyes. It was neither quite crying nor laughing, and her voice was as low as a dream-talk, yet carried a heartbreaking despair: "My purity is lost; what meaning is there in my living..."

Hearing this, Su Yan was slightly stunned.

Immediately, she took a deep breath, forcing herself to pull a shred of rationality from that immense grief and shame.

She raised her hand, wiped the tear stains from her face with her sleeve, stared intently at Liu Yiyi, and spoke word by word, clearly and firmly:

"Yiyi, listen to me! This matter is not our fault! It was that beast Zhang Xu who set this poisonous trap; we are the victims! We are innocent sufferers!"

Her voice gradually stabilized, and her logic became clearer, as if she were not only persuading Liu Yiyi, but also the version of herself that had also nearly been swallowed by despair just moments ago.

"If we were to throw away our lives because of a villain's scheme and a moment of humiliation, I believe it would be extremely worthless! Especially because of that beast Zhang Xu!"

"Even if he were dead, if he knew we had taken our own lives because of this, he would probably laugh out loud in the underworld! Why should we use our own lives to fulfill his malice?!"

"Besides..." Su Yan's gaze swept across the enclosed private room, her tone lowered but carrying a firm, unshakable conviction, "Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, and I know!"

"As long as we don't speak of it, there will never be a fourth person who knows! Our reputation will suffer no substantial damage!"

She paused, as if having made a certain resolution, her tone even taking on a hint of stubbornness, a defiance belonging to a young girl, "At worst, we just won't marry in the future..."

"In this world, women don't necessarily have to rely on men to survive!"

Su Yan was indeed the daughter of a wealthy family; her thoughts moved extremely quickly, and what she said was very logical.

These few short sentences not only persuaded Liu Yiyi, but even persuaded herself.

One must know that when she was wailing just a moment ago, she had also thought about ending it all right there.

The resolute death-wish in Liu Yiyi's beautiful eyes finally flickered and began to fade under the impact of Su Yan's clear and powerful words.

The strength she had gathered in her palm also slowly dissipated, like a deflated ball.

However, the heaviest, most unspeakable boulder in her heart still pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe.

She mumbled for a long time before finally, with great difficulty, spitting out a few words in a voice that was barely audible: "That... that person..."

Liu Yiyi stopped mid-sentence, but Su Yan already understood who she was talking about.

The white-haired old man who had shattered Zhang Xu with a single punch like a god descending from the heavens was the most crucial person in their unbearable memories.

He was also the person they least wanted to mention at this moment.

"Yiyi..." Su Yan's gaze became deep and calm as she carefully recalled that fleeting glimpse from last night. "That person's strength is definitely above Dark Strength, perhaps even higher. My father has kept an eye on almost all the famous Dark Strength experts in and around Anxi County, and I have heard most of their names or seen their portraits. But that man... his appearance was aged, yet his movements were so fierce; I have absolutely no impression of him."

She pondered, analyzing slowly: "I believe he was likely just passing through, or perhaps a master hiding in Anxi County, definitely not an ordinary person."

"Moreover... if he truly had malicious intent toward us, given his strength and the situation, it would have been impossible for us to be sitting here safe and sound right now."

Her gaze swept over herself and Liu Yiyi. "He... did not seem to take advantage of our vulnerability or overstep his bounds. It was more like... we were the ones who..."

She was too ashamed to say the rest, but the meaning was already clear.

"So..." Su Yan took a deep breath and concluded, her eyes carrying a considerable amount of rationality, "I believe that person was a stranger we met by chance. His intervention might have just been a case of seeing injustice and acting, or perhaps... there was another reason. He left quietly afterward without leaving any signs of coercion or extortion. Leaking this would bring him no benefit and might even invite trouble. He... will most likely not speak of it."

Hearing this, Liu Yiyi sighed inwardly and silently lowered the jade hand that had once intended to end her life.

She agreed with Su Yan's persuasion and deduction.

After all, in those unbearable memories, the white-haired old man seemed more like he had been forced by them.

"Yiyi, we must live on well!"

Su Yan held Liu Yiyi's cold jade hand and said in a deep voice:

"Didn't you say before that your dream in this life is to reach the pinnacle of martial arts and become the first female Martial Saint of the Zhou Kingdom!"

Hearing this, a glimmer of light slowly appeared in Liu Yiyi's tear-reddened eyes.

That's right, her martial path had only just begun; how could it end here?

The next instant.

Unaccountably, the blurred figure of the white-haired old man flashed through her mind again, and there was a faint, familiar sense of incongruity.

"Who... could you be?"