When leaving the palace, the dim sky remained just as bleak, a dark edge sared across the horizon, its somberness almost unfathomable. It was uncertain whether it would rain or snow tonight.
Zhou Yitang walked in front, and Chen Yi followed quietly behind. The two of them slowly passed the long vermilion palace walls.
Staring at her back, Chen Yi suddenly asked:
"Does the Empress Dowager truly... not have even a wisp of her remnant soul left?"
The one-ard woman kept walking, her head not even tilting as she replied:
"Didn’t you already know that?"
Even though he’d been prepared, hearing Zhou Yitang confirm it like this still dimd the light in Chen Yi’s eyes.
So things the Empress Dowager got wrong, but so... she got right.
For Chen Yi, whose ego was broken and then rebuilt, the Tushan Clan was indeed sothing he could never fully erase.
Lost in thought, Chen Yi glanced at the one who had been the cause of it all.
Noticing his gaze, Zhou Yitang showed no hesitation as she said, "Do you want to bla ?"
However, after a brief pause, Chen Yi softly replied, "Thank you."
As the words fell, Zhou Yitang stopped in her tracks and turned slightly to look at him.
She seed to be asking, "Why?"
She had always known this disciple of hers resisted being manipulated and resisted the changes brought upon him.
Chen Yi exhaled deeply and said:
"No matter how much I bla you, it’s only because you wanted to sever my three corpses. But accepting Tushan Clan as my family... it’s not necessarily a bad thing for . After all, after being in this world for so long, I do find myself missing a mother’s love... Does that sound sappy?"
"Sappy." Zhou Yitang paused and then added, "But I want to hear more."
Chen Yi shrugged and continued:
"For a mont, I truly wished the Empress Dowager harbored even a wisp of a remnant soul. Perhaps then, I might genuinely have succumbed to her. But ultimately, wasn’t it just her calculation to keep , her blade? Maybe there was so genuine emotion mixed in, but how much of it, really?"
He wasn’t blind to the Empress Dowager’s sincerity, but this wasn’t about that. Just because there was so sincerity didn’t an he would respond in kind, especially when she still sought to use him as a blade, still wanted him to kill those who had nothing to do with him.
In the past, Chen Yi might have thought such manipulation was harmless. Even now, so such thoughts still lingered, but... he had changed a little.
Perhaps, as Zhou Yitang once said, part of his true nature was starting to surface.
When one becos compassionate, vulnerabilities multiply. Without strength, those vulnerabilities beco impossible to protect. That’s why Chen Yi often resisted such changes in himself.
At so unknown point, Zhou Yitang had already resud walking. Chen Yi, whose footsteps had slowed earlier, now quickened his pace to catch up.
Walking beside her, he said slowly:
"Looking back now, even if you hadn’t severed my three corpses, I might still have changed for the better."
Zhou Yitang responded quietly, "That wouldn’t have been enough."
Chen Yi understood. What she wanted had never been rely for him to change for the better. Outwardly, she showed no emotions, but in truth, she desired far more than she let on.
Perhaps severing his three corpses was rely the beginning.
Chen Yi certainly wouldn’t let her have her way. He smiled and said:
"In any case, no matter how things unfold, in the end, we’ll just muddle through together, like... in our past lives. No, things will probably turn out better this ti than they did back then."
His words finished, but Zhou Yitang didn’t slow her steps.
In her cool tone, she replied, "You’re too nostalgic."
"And what’s wrong with that?"
"Nostalgic people don’t et good ends."
Hearing his master speak with such conviction, the rebellious disciple was just about to retort, "For instance, who?"
"For instance, ," she replied.
Chen Yi imdiately fell silent.
He inexplicably felt a pang of heartache. Over the past few days, he had indeed grown far softer toward those around him.
Whether it was Yin Tingxue’s constant gentleness, Min Ning’s occasional concessions and countermoves, or Zhou Yitang’s subtle yet undeniable aid—they had all tempered Chen Yi’s actions.
The environnt can change a person. Yin Tingxue had said sothing similar once, but at the ti, Chen Yi had only wanted to dismiss her words with a scoff, not taking them to heart. Even if he had, he would have doubted them.
But now, it seed... there was so truth to it.
Chen Yi took a deep breath and said, "Why is it that every ti I hear you say things like this, it makes my heart ache?"
"Because I speak the truth."
Knowing Zhou Yitang’s nature, Chen Yi replied with a mix of annoyance and resignation, "I suggest you stop speaking the truth from now on. Truths are too hurtful."
"If they weren’t painful, there’d be no need to speak them."
"...."
Chen Yi deliberated for a long mont before smiling bitterly and saying:
"But if it’s too painful, people won’t listen to the truth."
This ti, Zhou Yitang remained silent.
The sky was shrouded in such darkness that no light could be seen, and the surroundings grew even more dim and shadowy, imbued with a hazy beauty. Snow began to fall then, landing on Chen Yi’s forehead. As soon as he touched it, it lted on his fingertips.
The one-ard woman continued walking without the slightest hesitation.
Chen Yi watched her for a long mont before asking:
"Are you hurt?"
Zhou Yitang’s gaze flickered to the side but didn’t give a clear reply.
Chen Yi, half-annoyed and half-amused, said:
"Why bother hiding it from ? Do you plan to sneak off to recover and wait for to accidentally discover it later? Then refuse to admit it, leaving to piece it all together and finally realize how incredible you are?! Zhou Yitang, what era are we in now? Why do you still script things like a cliché drama?"
"I wasn’t thinking that far."
"Then you were thinking sothing," he pressed.
"You’re being unreasonable," she replied.
Chen Yi didn’t argue further. Stepping ahead by two strides, he caught her hand and playfully exhaled warm air onto it:
"I know. That old thing’s current strength is no small matter. They’ve likely reached the cusp of the first rank, possibly entering the top ten in the world. anwhile, your sword is broken, and your cultivation has plumted. You say you’re at fifty percent of your strength, but that fifty percent is your limit. When we return... I’ll... I’ll... take good care of you."
By the end, he could only muster those four words.
Zhou Yitang glanced sideways at him for a mont.
"If there’s sothing to say, then just say it. What era do you think we’re in? This isn’t so ancient folktale." Chen Yi feigned nonchalance.
She replied coldly, "I *am* an ancient person."
Chen Yi laughed heartily, already familiar with her temperant. By the ti his laughter subsided, he pressed no further.
He simply left her with one final remark: "In this lifeti, there will co a day when you’ll be as open and honest with as you were in the last."
Zhou Yitang turned away and slipped from his grasp.
He spoke of "one day," but did she not also yearn for such a mont? To respond in kind using his own logic against him.
The two of them walked away step by step from Donghua Gate, drawing closer to their small courtyard.
When Zhou Yitang, who was walking ahead, stepped across the courtyard threshold, Chen Yi followed, also crossing over the doorfra.
Suddenly, the body of the one-ard woman sagged backward, as if she was about to collapse.
Chen Yi furrowed his brow and stepped back.
Zhou Yitang swayed slightly before steadying herself and shot him a glance sideways.
Chen Yi, indifferent as ever, remarked, "Did you really think I’d catch you?"
The one-ard woman’s face remained expressionless as she turned back and continued toward the guest room.
Her steps were unhurried, steady as she walked to the guest room door. Standing at the threshold, she faced away from Chen Yi and placed her hand on the door. In a blind spot to the eye, her fingertips trembled slightly.
That rebellious disciple had been right—she had just sustained so hidden injuries.
Her True Qi was slightly sluggish as Zhou Yitang used so strength to push the door open. Just as she seed to step across the doorfra smoothly, her toes trembled faintly.
Chen Yi took three or four strides forward, supporting her from behind.
Zhou Yitang didn’t have ti to turn her head before his laughter reached her ears:
"Did you really think I wouldn’t want to catch you...?"
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