"B-but Xun'er is a greedy girl..."
The girl's voice trembled slightly, choked with sobs. Grief surged from the depths of her soul like a raging tide, mercilessly drowning her in an abyss of bone-chilling cold.
Every thread of sorrow was a sharp icicle piercing her heart, leaving her on the verge of suffocation.
"Xun'er, I'm different from most people."
Xiao Qian abruptly turned his head away, afraid to look into her tear-filled eyes.
He knew full well that the moment their gazes met, the love in those eyes would blaze like a scorching flame, burning the defenses he had painstakingly built around his heart to ashes.
She was like a sprite endowed with wondrous magic, always able to breach his defenses with ease and reach the softest corner of his heart.
"My life is destined to be tempered through cultivation, to advance through slaughter, to be forged in battle, to struggle for supremacy, and to face life and death without fear."
"On the long road of pursuing power, even if I'm trapped in the narrow gap between life and death, I will never stop, never retreat. Like a meteor streaking across the dark night sky, I will leave an eternal trail."
He clenched both fists, as though gathering every ounce of his resolve into them, then lightly struck his left shoulder with his right fist, carrying the force of a thousand pounds.
Every word was a roar from the depths of his soul. Every sentence bore his innate boldness and relentless pursuit of power, like a blazing torch in the endless night, lighting the thorn-strewn road ahead.
"I understand and support what you're pursuing," Xiao Xun'er said, her gaze hazy and distant, as though she had fallen into a dream shrouded in mist. "But what does that have to do with our future...?"
Her voice was soft and bewildered, like a lone boat that had lost its way on a boundless sea.
"Because I refuse to lose my blade-sharp edge, and I refuse even more to let emotion become my weakness!"
Xiao Qian looked up at the blue sky, his gaze steadfast and bright as glittering stars.
His eyes held a heroic resolve that would not waver even through a hundred deaths, and an unshakable conviction. Like an eagle spreading its wings and soaring high, he surveyed the earth with a king's bearing, fearless and unfettered by any worldly bonds.
"Once you sink into the mire of emotion, tenderness dulls your blades, attachment softens your heart, lofty goals drift farther away amid loving entanglements, and firm convictions vanish like smoke amid petty concerns. I've heard far too many such tragedies, countless as stars falling from the night sky..."
His tone carried the weariness of accumulated years, as though he had personally witnessed countless human tragedies in which people were trapped by love and their great ambitions worn away.
Those stories unfolded before his eyes like ancient painted scrolls, each filled with helplessness and sorrow.
"When I search my heart, I know I've never been someone who can navigate the world of love with ease."
He slowly lowered his head, a trace of self-mockery and helplessness flashing through his eyes. "I don't know how to cherish someone. I can't sweet-talk them into happiness. Still less do I know how to handle all the tangled little matters, the unavoidable friction, and the heated arguments that come with a lasting relationship."
"Whenever conflict comes, the only thought deep inside me is to run away, like a startled hare frantically searching for a safe haven."
He raised his head again and met the girl's gaze, his eyes full of earnestness and resolve.
"Perhaps in your beautiful imaginings, love means that once two people are together, they can live sweetly and happily without a care, with no arguments or disagreements, only happiness and joy following them like their shadows."
"But reality isn't like that. It isn't..."
Xiao Qian's voice was gentle yet heavy, like an ancient bell echoing through a silent valley, every note tinged with bitterness. "Those legendary loves that endure until death often aren't destroyed by a third person coming between them. Instead, they're gradually worn away by the petty details of everyday life, day after day, like beautiful flowers slowly withering beneath the ravages of wind and rain."
"When we lose that initial sense of novelty with each other, when the drive to forge ahead disappears because of emotional ties, when life's petty concerns and family responsibilities wind tightly around our feet..."
"Love is no longer the intoxicating sweetness it once was. It becomes a heavy responsibility, a dependence we've grown accustomed to."
He paused, letting that cruel reality pierce straight into the girl's heart like a sharp sword, giving her enough time to bear the weight of its impact.
"So I choose to stay away from the river of love from the very beginning!"
Xiao Qian's words were decisive, without the slightest hesitation or wavering. His firm tone was as immovable as a towering mountain. "Only then can I keep charging ahead on the road to power, without burdens or reservations, like an untamed gale roaring across mountains and plains."
The girl remained silent for a long, long time. A complicated expression surfaced on her beautiful face. Confusion, incomprehension, and bewilderment shrouded her eyes like dark clouds, while helplessness, weakness, and sorrow slipped quietly from their corners like cold raindrops.
Her expression was like a richly colored painting steeped in sorrow, every stroke depicting the pain and struggle deep within her heart, stirring pity in anyone who saw it.
But this was the path he had chosen. Like a solitary traveler, he went his own way within his own world, unbound and unattached, advancing resolutely toward that unreachable goal.
"Then did these ten years mean nothing?"
Xiao Xun'er slowly lifted her lovely head, a stubborn light flickering in her eyes.
She fought with all her strength to hold back her tears, refusing to let them fall, like a soldier holding her ground and defending her last shred of dignity.
"They meant something!" Xiao Qian jabbed a finger hard against his heart, then pointed to his head. His tone was firm as bedrock, every word carrying an unquestionable force.
"Those priceless memories, those unforgettable moments as beautiful as pearls, those experiences etched deep into my heart-together, they make up the magnificent painting of my life."
"They are the deepest marks I've left on every rugged journey, the most precious memories in the depths of my soul. Like the brightest stars in the night sky, they illuminate the long river of my life."
"I cherish every road I've walked. I remember every landscape I've passed. But the feelings of the past, I choose to let go. Every journey, every person I've met, every love etched into my bones, every story of joy or sorrow-all are indispensable parts of my life."
"Perhaps at some unexpected moment in the future, I'll halt my hurried steps, drink a bowl of rich, fragrant wine, and slowly savor a beautiful memory."
"But I won't linger over it for long. My journey is like a river surging ceaselessly onward. It will never, ever stop."
At last, the girl's tears came pouring down like floodwaters bursting through a dam, like pearls from a broken string, like a shattered river of stars. They rolled down her face, pale as fine jade, and fell into this cold, unfeeling world.
Each drop seemed to be blood dripping from her broken heart, a sorrowful sight that tore at the soul.
"After ten years, I finally understand you..."
"From beginning to end, you've always been a wanderer!"
She turned away in grief and anger, her heart full of hurt and resentment, and slammed the door behind her.
The tremendous sound was like the blow of a heavy hammer, meant not only to sever her unrealistic fantasies, but also to bid a final farewell to her former self and this love filled with regrets.
Her resolute departing figure left a deep trace of sorrow in the air.
Xiao Qian stood quietly where he was, his eyes fixed on the direction she had gone for a long, long time, until the night dew grew heavy. Cold droplets, like fine needles, slowly soaked his blue robe.
He slowly raised his head toward the sky. The stars glittered like countless eyes silently watching him.
The vast starry sky seemed a silent judge, bearing witness to the struggles and choices within his heart.
He spread his arms as though embracing this boundless, magnificent universe, his stance filled with lofty ambition, yet touched by loneliness and desolation.
How could a man of ambition let romantic attachments halt his pursuit of his dreams!
"Those experiences, memories, and beautiful moments you spoke of-there haven't been enough between us. You still owe me."
The next day, when Xiao Xun'er came out of her room and approached Xiao Qian, who had stood there all night, he was surprised to find that the piercing loss and sorrow of yesterday were gone from her face. In their place was an awe-inspiring resolve. Like a phoenix reborn in fire, she radiated a different kind of light.
He was not the only one who had transformed that night. She had, too.
"What do I owe you?"
He asked softly, his voice as gentle as an early spring breeze brushing over a lake and stirring delicate ripples.
It was as though he feared that speaking even a little louder would disturb the girl before him, who seemed newly reborn.
Xiao Xun'er lifted her delicate little face and slowly revealed a smile of exquisite, graceful beauty.
"Xiao Qian..." Her voice was tender as water, each word a sweet note flowing from her heart. "What you owe me is for us to put aside all our reservations and backgrounds, to forget the feud between you and my father, and truly give me a pure love, a memory that belongs only to us."
The girl gently took his hand, her gaze clear and soft as a flowing stream.
The love within that gaze rose gently like a surging tide, as though some invisible force could soften his hardened heart and bring the high walls he had built crashing down.
"This is what you want too, isn't it?"
A shy blush faintly colored her cheeks, like a pale ribbon of rosy cloud on the horizon, dreamlike and ethereal, lending her a few more shades of captivating tenderness.
Yet at that moment, she displayed an unexpected boldness. Her bright eyes looked straight into the young man's without flinching, blazing with love as hot as a raging flame.
Under her loving gaze, the young man's fortress-like defenses gradually crumbled, like ice and snow slowly melting beneath the warm sun.
As though drawn by some mysterious, powerful magic, he could not help losing himself in her deep, burning eyes. He felt the shock and stirring brought by her emotions, hot as an erupting volcano. Every thread of feeling coursed through his entire body like an electric current, making even his soul tremble.
"All right..."
He heard his own voice emerge dryly from his throat, as though it had come from the distant horizon, carrying a barely perceptible tremor like a candle flame swaying in the wind.
Filled with joy, the girl sprang lightly into his arms like a cheerful sparrow hopping through the woods.
Her arms, white as jade, wrapped tightly around his broad, sturdy waist like two soft yet tenacious vines, as though she wanted to merge them into one, afraid that the moment she let go, he would vanish into the air like a bubble.
Her delicate little face rested gently against his warm neck, unconsciously taking on an intoxicating blush, like peach blossoms blooming on branches in spring, shy and enchanting.
At that moment, all the reservations that had once haunted their hearts gradually vanished without a trace, like morning mist beneath the sunlight.
At that moment, every obstacle standing between them was easily shattered, like fragile glass under a powerful impact, scattered into fragments across the ground, no longer able to keep them apart.
At that moment, you were simply you, and I was simply me. We were no longer individuals bound by all manner of complicated outside factors, only two people deeply in love with each other.
There were no bonds of status, no worldly troubles, no family grudges. Only two hearts nestled tightly together at that instant, feeling that pure, burning love flow between them.
It was as though only the other remained in the entire world. Everything around them ceased to matter. They immersed themselves in this incomparably beautiful moment, and time itself seemed to halt for their sincere love, making that instant eternal...
These final three days.
Before you continue