"Xiangxiang?" The figure before Lu Qingchen slowly came into focus.
"Master, how did you end up like this? It's all my fault. I should never have left you." Ning Xiang gazed at him with aching concern and reached out to stroke his cheek.
Lu Qingchen tilted his head slightly, avoiding her hand.
Ning Xiang looked hurt. "Master, do you still blame me? Those words weren't what I truly felt. Xia Buyan had made me so angry that I spoke without thinking."
"I've loved you for twenty years, Master. My feelings will never change. Once we return to the Profound Heaven Sect, let's become cultivation partners and never part for the rest of our lives, all right?"
Ning Xiang's eyes brimmed with tender affection so deep it could never dissolve.
For a moment, Lu Qingchen fell into a daze.
The words Ning Xiang had spoken before circled in his ears again.
"Weren't you captured by Demon Beasts?"
"My parents rescued me! I heard you were injured, Master, so I hurried over to see you."
Lu Qingchen looked at the girl's smiling eyes. It felt as though ages had passed since Ning Xiang had last acted so sweetly before him.
If only all of this were real...
Lu Qingchen said in a low voice, "You aren't Ning Xiang."
"Ning Xiang" abruptly raised her head, seemingly puzzled, and asked with an air of innocence, "What are you saying, Master? I don't understand."
"You aren't Ning Xiang," Lu Qingchen repeated. He summoned the Canglang Sword and pointed it between "Ning Xiang's" brows. A cold, frosty radiance instantly blossomed along its blade.
"Master, you've already killed me once. Are you going to kill me a second time?" "Ning Xiang's" frail body swayed slightly, her expression wounded, as though she had suffered a devastating blow.
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