The truth of that night

"I'm sorry, Jiaojiao..."

Apology filled Lu Cheng's eyes. "Over a decade ago, I laid out this chessboard. And part of it was to trigger the final chance of victory at the cost of my life."

"So, I'm sorry..."

Jiaojiao: "..."

I have to die too? Me?!!

"You bastard..." Jiaojiao fixed her fiery, lively eyes on Lu Cheng and gritted her teeth, but seeing the apology and sincerity in his eyes, she could only shake her head helplessly.

Things had come to this. What way back was there?

Forget it, forget it.

"Jiaojiao, there's one more thing I need to trouble you with..."

"You bastard! You've already done this to me, and you're still asking me to do something?" Jiaojiao snapped.

She was truly furious.

She had been cultivating diligently in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, only for a human man to suddenly intrude, shatter her peace, and forcibly abduct her to become his Soul Spirit. After all their years together, she understood his heart better than anyone. No matter how far he sank among the Evil Soul Masters, no matter how foul his reputation became in the outside world, she had never regretted it in the slightest. Instead, she felt fortunate for her choice, and even felt some sympathy and pity for him, along with a trace of admiration and affection.

We agreed to become gods together, so what do you mean by suddenly turning the blade on yourself?

Just for that woman?

"After I die, I'll dissolve myself, but I've left you a way to survive. My Martial Soul will separate from me and merge with Ma Xiaotao, and you can become her Soul Spirit too. You won't dissipate on your own..." (Equivalent to the Soul Spirits of the Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King era, which could transfer to another Soul Master even after their host died.)

"You..." Jiaojiao froze for a moment.

Though she no longer had to die, she was going to be given away like an object.

"This is the only way I could think of to let you live on a little more comfortably."

Lu Cheng's gaze was complicated as he spoke.

"You..." Jiaojiao parted her red lips, then snorted angrily. "What do you take me for?!"

"Am I an object? Something you can give away whenever you like?"

Lu Cheng looked startled. "Then you..."

"I'll just die with you. That's all."

Jiaojiao spoke proudly.

As she looked at the bewildered young man, however, her eyes grew misty. After all, you're the only master I've ever acknowledged in this life...

Lu Cheng's lips curved, his face growing ever paler.

The blood-red color that had seeped into his pupils at some unknown point slowly faded. This was his first time using Blood Pupils, and his last.

The frozen, stagnant time around him slowly began flowing again. In the distance, a blood moon crashed into his chest. His body jerked backward as the killing blow pierced through him.

Like a torn sack, he shot backward toward the ground below.

Rumble!

An earth-shaking sound rang out.

The unbroken mountain ranges trembled.

Ancient trees snapped at the waist one after another. Only after he had crashed an unknown distance did the noise slowly cease.

"Hah, hah..."

Zhang Lexuan stared blankly at the scene, panting heavily as she landed atop an ancient tree.

It hit him? An illusion? Or was it real?

She had been battered countless times before. Every time she thought she could crush that bastard completely, he would appear behind her with a mocking air and kick her two li away.

After hesitating for a while, she swallowed several pills that restored Soul Power and circulated her cultivation technique on the spot to recover briefly. Only then did she head toward where Lu Cheng had fallen.

She passed through a stretch of forest and came to a stream.

He lay quietly on the soft sand as though dead.

"You... hey, Lu Cheng!"

Zhang Lexuan looked somewhat stunned.

She stepped forward in a few strides and examined Lu Cheng's tattered clothes and the wound on his chest that exposed bone, momentarily dazed. In her memory, he had never been in such a sorry state.

Yet the faint breath she sensed from him did not seem feigned.

"What, can't bear to see me die?"

Lu Cheng opened his eyes, filled with exhaustion and weariness. His breath already flickered like a dying candle in the wind, liable to go out at any moment.

Forcing himself to sit propped against a large rock, he looked at Zhang Lexuan. At that moment, he seemed like a different person. His former image as an unruly, arrogant, sinister, and brutally murderous Evil Soul Master had vanished completely. Instead, a trace of tenderness mingled in his eyes.

It reminded Zhang Lexuan of Lu Cheng from many years ago.

The figure who had doted on her, gentle and warm, who had let her rest easily in his arms and forget all her troubles.

"What trick are you trying to pull now?" Zhang Lexuan's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

Her gaze softened for an instant, then quickly filled with killing intent again.

Did he know he was at the end of his rope and want to play on her feelings to launch a surprise attack?

The young woman had long since lost her trust in Lu Cheng.

She was no longer that naive, ignorant girl who could only cling to his arm and sob. Countless years of trials through blood and tears had shaped her into who she was today.

"Taller, thinner... and prettier too."

A smile lingered on Lu Cheng's lips as he studied her beautiful face. She's changed so much...

"Back then, you were still a little tagalong. Now, you're someone who can hold her own."

"Come here. What's there to fear from a dying man?"

Lu Cheng's lips curved as he gently patted the spot beside him.

"..."

For some reason, seeing this stirred Zhang Lexuan's heart, which had been sealed away for so long, once again.

The beauty lightly bit her red lip.

At that moment, she felt none of the satisfaction of having avenged her great grudge. Instead, her heart seemed to clench again and again, aching a little.

She hesitated, but still stared coldly at Lu Cheng as she cautiously sat a short distance away from him.

"If you have any last words, say them..."

"Mu En was indeed killed by me, and I brought it about single-handedly. All these years, I've had only one wish: to kill them, to kill everyone from that night back then."

Seeing that the young woman remained on guard, Lu Cheng smiled, leaned back fully against the rock, and gazed at the sky as he slowly spoke.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Zhang Lexuan frowned, her eyes somewhat bewildered.

"He wasn't the true culprit who killed your entire family."

A crimson figure floated out of Lu Cheng's body. Her beautiful eyes glanced at the weakened Lu Cheng, then at the bewildered Zhang Lexuan, before she spoke.

"On the contrary, Mu En was..."

Jiaojiao snorted coldly and looked at Lu Cheng, who seemed about to speak but held back. "Since you won't say it, I'll say it for you."

"What happened back then was a trap Mu En set for your Lu and Zhang families in collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult. The aim was to force you and Lu Cheng to go to Shrek Academy, becoming two pawns with no one to rely on, and throw in your lot completely with Shrek."

"Actually, it wasn't even you and him. Back then, Mu En had chosen him alone, and you were on the list of people to be killed."

"Mu En wanted him to have no attachments so he could serve Shrek better. If he hadn't noticed something was wrong back then and staked his own fall into the Holy Spirit Cult as a guarantee to insist on sparing your life, heh..."

"..."

Zhang Lexuan's pupils trembled.

She looked Lu Cheng over, her expression turning somewhat cold.

"So this is your true aim? Lu Cheng, you're still stubbornly lying on your deathbed. Your skill at bewitching people's hearts is as strong as ever. Heh..."

"If you don't believe me, think back to that night." Jiaojiao sneered.

"If he hadn't protected you with all his might, you would probably have died at those two Evil Soul Masters' hands long ago. They didn't deliver a killing blow because Lu Cheng was Mu En's target, and they kept pursuing you because Mu En wanted you dead."

"Wake up, silly girl. Do you really think Mu En was some kindly elder? He and Long Xiaoyao were close friends, and he and Ye Xishui were former lovers. Even now, they still keep in contact."

P.S. Still writing. I'll finish tonight's climax; there are more chapters to come.