I Regret It

In a secluded corner of the Lower Realm, a man held a chess piece, his eyes downcast as he surveyed the chessboard where the situation appeared extremely favorable.

The old man sitting opposite him was wearing tattered clothes, so dirty that their original color was no longer discernible.

His hands, which were peeking out from his sleeves, had wrinkled skin, like old tree bark.

Realizing he had played a game he was destined to lose, the old man chuckled happily, "It's been a long time since I've seen you, Venerable One. Your chess skills are still as formidable as ever. I vividly remember when we first met at the sect, neither of us probably imagined that our reunion would be under such circumstances."

Upon hearing the words "first encounter," the man's brow furrowed slightly, but he relaxed again before the old man noticed.

"I just don't know why the Venerable One is here now?" The old man said, then glanced at the man with a scrutinizing look. "Shouldn't you be...?"

The sound of a chess piece falling with a "thud" interrupted the old man's unfinished words.

The man parted his thin lips slightly. "You lost."

The old man was taken aback, staring at the chessboard in astonishment. "Oh dear, I was so careless, I missed a few moves again."

The old man knew that the person in front of him was no longer as skilled as before, and he was also aware that he was bound to lose this time. He just didn't expect to lose to his opponent so quickly.

"People change. You always look at me with past perspectives, which will only lead to your disappointment. Like now, you're trying to find someone through me. But you've failed." The man's voice was flat, yet it carried a strange hint of sarcasm.

The old man's expression remained unchanged, seemingly undisappointed by the man's answer.

Just as he was about to say something else, a slight noise suddenly came from the chessboard.

Attracted by the sound, the two looked down and saw that a black piece that had played a key role in the game had suddenly cracked open, splitting the piece in two.

"This..." The old man glanced at the man cautiously. Without this chess piece, the already decided outcome of the game had another possibility.

The black stone was precisely what the man was holding.

Her dark eyelashes slowly drooped, obscuring the complex emotions in the man's eyes.

He remembered that the black piece represented Gu Huaiwei!

Fusheng, or rather Gu Huaiwei, endured the excruciating pain in her head and reached out her hand towards Sang Ying.

His vision was somewhat blurry, and he could barely make out her features. But Gu Huaiwei still resolutely and slowly walked towards her.

For every step he took forward, she took several steps back. This obvious resistance made Gu Huaiwei clearly realize her dislike for him.

"Come with your master, okay? Your master will take you away from here. Your master will never treat you the same way as before. Your master will always protect you and give you the best of everything..." Gu Huaiwei said to her former disciple with an almost pleading expression.

But Sang Ying's expression remained as cold as ever. "You are not my master. My only master is Jiulian." Even though Jiulian usually seemed very unreliable, and even though they had only been master and disciple for a short time.

But in all fairness, it was Jiulian who gave her a sense of belonging to the sect, and it was Jiulian who made Sang Ying realize that true master-disciple relationships can be free from other conflicts, and that such a pure and touching emotion is possible.

In contrast, Gu Huaiwei and Fusheng in front of him, though different in other ways, share the same selfishness and obsession.

"The Demon Lord should also know that I once had a master. He was the Sword Master of the Flowing Light Sword Sect and once the most powerful sword cultivator in the Twin Orchid Realm. But I had no fate with him. When he wanted to cripple my cultivation and imprison me for the sake of another disciple, Su Fuyun, I pierced his Dantian. After that, he ceased to exist in the Twin Orchid Realm." Sang Ying paused, her tone becoming increasingly contemptuous, "So, Demon Lord, if you don't want to become a second Gu Huaiwei, please step aside and let me go now."

These words reached Gu Huaiwei's ears, causing him to freeze involuntarily.

Gu Huaiwei Su Fuyun a long time, and when he heard it again, it felt quite unfamiliar to him.

But memories of her kept flooding back into his mind. He remembered how he had treated Sang Ying coldly and how he had stolen the spiritual herb that originally belonged to Sang Ying, all for a single tear from Su Fuyun.

He recalled how he knew perfectly well that Sang Ying had been wronged, yet he still believed Su Fuyun's sophistry and let her suffer in silence.

He recalled that he had already seen that Su Fuyun had a past relationship with the Demon Lord, but in the end he still went after Sang Ying.

Gu Huaiwei looked down at her hands. These hands, which looked clean and fair, were now stained with blood, and it was her disciple's blood!

Why? Why is this happening?

Why did that person tell him the truth? Gu Huaiwei's destined disciple should have been Sang Ying, but why was it Su Fuyun who appeared on that mountain and was brought back by him? Who deceived him? Who plotted against him?!

A jumble of thoughts flashed through Gu Huaiwei's mind, and countless "whys" popped up all at once.

Gu Huaiwei's head throbbed with pain, and his eyes turned blood red from the demonic transformation.

"Sang Ying." He called the name of the person in front of him again with difficulty, but was only met with her more wary gaze.

"I really..." regretted it.

He didn't utter the last three words, because before that, a sword was already piercing his chest.

The Floating River Sword is no ordinary sword; the heavenly lightning on it is extremely effective against any Devil Race. Even though Gu Huaiwei's cultivation level is extremely high, he has now fallen into demonic possession.

Almost as soon as the Floating River Sword touched his outer garment, the heavenly lightning on the sword surged wildly into Gu Huaiwei's body, leaving a dark mark on his chest.

Struck again, Gu Huaiwei bled even more blood from the corner of her mouth.

"I told you, let me leave!"

With the final dragon roar, the massive tribulation was finally coming to an end. The distant immortal mountain had been completely razed to the ground, and golden rain fell the instant the black tribulation clouds dispersed.

The rain was incredibly effective; although Sang Ying was quite far from where the lightning tribulation occurred, she was fortunate enough to catch a few drops.

With just a few drops, her cultivation level instantly returned to the Golden Core Realm.

At this moment, she no longer cared about the Demon Lord. She looked up at the black dragon in the distance. The black dragon was almost twice as big as before! Its sharp claws gleamed, and each of its scales, which were now rounder and wider than before, was more dazzling.

The black dragon that she once saw as pitiful now seemed majestic and awe-inspiring.

Sang Ying even suspected that if Wu Renyao saw Jiang Zhuoxue now, his covetousness for Jiang Zhuoxue would probably deepen even further.

A note from the author:

Alright, Gu Gou's crematorium isn't over yet. Once Xiao Jiang successfully overcomes his tribulation, he'll be sent straight to the crematorium!

I was too busy today, so there's only one chapter left. I'll definitely make it up to you all later!