Thought Manifestation

Leng Yaozhu followed her gaze toward the tightly shut door, and a gentle warmth surfaced in her sorrowful eyes.

"Yes... I took in a good disciple."

Leng Yulai tugged at the corner of her lips but said nothing. The coldness in her eyes remained unmelted.

The wounds of decades had long been carved into her bones. They could not be erased by a single sigh or a flicker of envy.

A long silence once again settled over the room.

Leng Yaozhu took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emotions in her heart.

She knew that no amount of apologies would suffice, and no amount of self-reproach could make up for the years that had passed.

If she wanted to untangle the knots that had bound them for half their lives, she could only lay everything from that year bare before Leng Yulai.

White-crimson flames began to burn around Leng Yaozhu as the spiritual power at the peak of the Spiritual Domain Realm slowly spread out.

A phantom projection appeared in midair, and the space around it twisted faintly.

Within the projection stood a young Leng Yaozhu, her head lowered in hesitation.

Before her stood none other than the greatest person of the age—the master of the Sea God Pavilion, Skyraise Douluo Yun Ming!

A voice emerged from within it. "Yun Ming."

"Hello."

"What is it, Your Excellency Heavenly Phoenix? Is there something you want to say to me?"

"What are your plans lately?"

"This is... thought manifestation!" Leng Yulai naturally recognized it. Her already frail body could not help trembling. "Bastard! Bastard! It was that time! You still have the nerve to use thought manifestation to show it!"

Though she said that, her gaze remained locked firmly on Yun Ming's face.

So-called thought manifestation was not a soul skill, but an evolution of one's spiritual power origin.

It could project the memories, images, and past thoughts buried deep within one's mind into reality as tangible, three-dimensional phantasms.

It could not be performed without spiritual power at the Spiritual Domain Realm. Using it before reaching that realm would directly inflict severe spiritual damage and cause one's cultivation to permanently decline.

Normally, the images produced by thought manifestation were blurry and soundless.

Yet Leng Yaozhu's manifestation had not only clear images, but sound as well. She was overdrawing her life origin to recreate the truth of that year!

In the dining room, Xiling, who had just set the dishes on the table, seemed to sense something. He abruptly looked toward the room, his fists instantly clenching.

But before long, his clenched fists loosened. He let out a deep sigh and gave up on the thought of interrupting Leng Yaozhu. "Teacher, Teacher... is this really worth it?"

"Looks like I really have no choice but to make a trip to Shrek."

Inside the room, the projection froze on Leng Yaozhu's somewhat pale face. "If you can spare even a little affection, please give it to Yulai! I'm begging you."

Afterward, the image gradually turned illusory. The flames burning around Leng Yaozhu vanished, her aura instantly weakening as she collapsed to the floor, gasping heavily.

Several strands of silver quietly appeared amid her once-fiery, radiant hair.

Leng Yulai sat there like a wooden puppet, staring blankly at the vanished projection.

She had never imagined that the truth behind the matter she had hated for so long, the matter that had ruined her entire life, would be like this.

"How could this be? How could this be?" Leng Yulai shook her head hard. No matter what, she could not believe the truth was like this. It had gone beyond the limits of what she could comprehend.

All along, she had believed Leng Yaozhu's kindness was an act, merely a way to curry favor with the family elders and compete for power.

The more someone as extreme as her thought that way, the more naturally she would assume the worst.

But thought manifestation could not deceive anyone, especially not a thought manifestation released by Leng Yaozhu at the cost of her life origin. It was even less possible to forge.

The bloody truth lay before her. Everything she had thought, everything she had done, had become an utterly absurd joke!

Pfft—

A mouthful of scorching blood suddenly gushed from Leng Yulai's mouth. Her origin, already gravely injured by Benares, completely cracked apart. The light of her Dark Phoenix martial soul flickered violently, on the verge of collapse.

The madness faded, and the hatred fell to nothing. Only emptiness and regret remained.

"I... what have I done..."

She curled up on the floor, violet-red hair scattered across her face. The Dark Phoenix Douluo, who had always been proud, unruly, and unyielding even in death, found her shoulders trembling violently beyond her control for the first time.

There was no howling, no maniacal laughter.

Only fragmented, broken murmurs, almost suffocated.

To Leng Yulai at that moment, living held nothing but endless torment and suffering.

She slowly raised a trembling hand. Dense, pitch-black dark elements frantically gathered in her palm. That power was not aimed at anyone else, but at her own brow.

There was not the slightest desire to live in her hollow, lifeless eyes—only barren indifference.

This was the only way she could repay her sins, and her last shred of dignity.

"No! Yulai! Stop!"

But Leng Yaozhu was far too weak at that moment. Thought manifestation had consumed thirty percent of both her spiritual power origin and life origin, leaving her no time to stop her.

At that final moment, the door burst open with a bang, followed closely by a streak of dragon flame.

Boom!

A slight tremor ran through the room as the dark power was forcibly shattered and completely dissolved by the searing dragon flame.

Leng Yulai's entire body jolted. The fingertips hanging limply at her side trembled faintly.

Her hollow, dead eyes abruptly lifted. Beneath her disheveled hair, her face, pale and bloodstained, was filled with confusion and despair.

Xiling walked in. He first helped Leng Yaozhu up and let her rest on the bed, then came before Leng Yulai. Without a word, he raised his hand and slapped her.

Slap!

The crisp sound echoed through the deathly silent room.

The slap knocked Leng Yulai's head to one side, and a clear red mark instantly surfaced on her cheek.

Her vacant eyes slowly focused, settling on the calm, indifferent face of the white-haired youth before her.

"Die? You do not have the right to choose death. The only one who can decide whether you live or die is Teacher."

"Until she makes her decision, you will stay put and behave yourself."

On the bed, Leng Yaozhu slowly opened her exhausted eyes. A few strands of silver hair made her already haggard face seem even more worn.

She looked at her sister on the floor, like a puppet that had completely lost all its sharpness, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.

"Xiling, thank you. Leave the rest to me." Leng Yaozhu spoke softly, her voice weak but clear.

Seeing Leng Yaozhu like this, Xiling opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.

A short while later, in the dining room.

The two sat together in silence.

Xiling looked at Leng Yaozhu across from him, who had recovered some of her strength, and rubbed his temples. "So, Teacher, have you made your decision?"

Leng Yaozhu nodded. "Mm... Yulai fell into the path of an evil soul master, and her hands are stained with the blood of many innocents. She should bear this sin."

"But as her older sister, I still want to be selfish once. Could I cripple her martial soul and soul power, yet spare her life? Xiling."

She looked at Xiling expectantly. She had just learned the full course of events as well. She knew Leng Yulai had come to kill Xiling, and she also knew of Benares's existence.

While shocked by it, she was also deeply grateful—grateful that Xiling had spared Leng Yulai's life.

Thus, she did not dare make the decision unilaterally. She could only set aside all the authority of a vice tower master and the bearing of an elder, cautiously asking her disciple for his opinion.

As for the secrets surrounding her disciple, she had no intention of probing further.

Xiling smiled and shook his head. "Teacher, I told you already. This is my gift to you. Handle it however you want. You don't need to ask me."