"Bibi Dong!?" Liu Erlong's expression finally changed. She became instantly alert, rushing to stand protectively in front of Yu Xiaogang. "What are you here for?"
Bibi Dong paused, her face calm. "Liu Erlong, is he really worth you protecting like this?"
Liu Erlong fell silent, then clenched her teeth. "He's my only family in this world."
"I'm willing to trade my life for his. Bibi Dong, if you want to kill someone, then kill me."
Her voice carried a hint of relief.
'Family…' Bibi Dong's gaze flickered.
"No need. Let her come." Yu Xiaogang suddenly spoke. Bibi Dong turned her head and saw resentment flash across his eyes. As the inheritor of the Rakshasa God, she sensed it immediately. Yet in the next moment, his expression calmed.
"Bibi Dong, you succeeded. You've destroyed me. If you want to kill me, do it."
"But I will never bow to you!"
Looking at Yu Xiaogang's sudden display of arrogance, Bibi Dong thought back to what she had seen over the last few days—he had never once helped Liu Erlong, never shouldered any responsibility as a man. Now, facing her, he suddenly chose to act proud. An inexplicable disgust welled inside her. She wasn't a fool; she knew Yu Xiaogang just didn't want to lose face in front of her.
He said those words only to preserve a shred of dignity.
But Liu Erlong… she truly wanted to die! Bibi Dong could hear the relief hidden in her tone. Day after day of hard labor, coupled with Yu Xiaogang's collapse into uselessness, had left Liu Erlong exhausted in body and spirit. What sustained her until now wasn't love, but kinship—because Yu Xiaogang was her only family left in the world. She couldn't abandon him, so the only one she could abandon was herself.
She was ready to let Bibi Dong kill her, so that she could leave behind a "reasonable" excuse, and find release.
"What if I could cure him?" Bibi Dong suddenly said.
Liu Erlong's eyes lit up at once. Without hesitation, she dropped to her knees with a thud, her voice full of pleading.
"Bibi Dong, as long as you can heal Xiaogang, I'm willing to do anything!" She was about to kowtow.
But Bibi Dong raised her hand, releasing a surge of soul power to stop her, her eyes flashing with sorrow. 'What could make the once-proud Liu Erlong abase herself like this?'
'She only wants to do one last thing for Yu Xiaogang before her release? So even dignity has to be discarded before death?'
'Why is it you who bears the cost? The one who needs saving isn't you.'
'I won't accept such a price!'
"Liu Erlong, you're not worthy, and you're not worth it," Bibi Dong said coldly, turning her gaze on Yu Xiaogang.
"Yu Xiaogang, the Clear Sky Sect is destroyed, but Tang San is still alive. Don't you want to keep living, to see if he can rise up, to avenge you and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"
"Now kneel and kowtow to me. I'll heal you, let you regain soul power, and live a little longer."
Yu Xiaogang's face flushed red. In the end, he clenched his teeth, stood from the chair, and slowly knelt, his expression stubborn as he kowtowed stiffly. As if forced, as if every move was for the blood feud of his clan, not for himself, and certainly not for the woman who had cared for him all these years.
Bibi Dong's body trembled. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the restrained Liu Erlong, a trace of pity flashing through her gaze.
"This seat keeps its word!"
With a wave of her hand, she lifted Yu Xiaogang up with her soul power, channeling the Death Spider Emperor's healing ability into his body. In only a few blinks, she had repaired his meridians. Then, she turned and slowly walked toward the door.
Liu Erlong collapsed to the ground as if her strength had been drained. Propping herself up, she turned to look at Yu Xiaogang, the relief on her face deepening.
Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists, feeling the faint flow of soul power rekindled within him. Joy flashed across his eyes, but his expression remained cold. He stood slowly, his back straight. As if everything was his by right, bought with the dignity he had just sacrificed.
One step, two steps, three steps. He clenched his fists, silently watching Bibi Dong leave.
Four steps, five steps—suddenly, Bibi Dong stopped and turned around.
"As the Pope of Spirit Hall, do you mean to go back on your word?" Yu Xiaogang's heart clenched, but his tone was calm.
"The one standing before you now isn't the Pope of Spirit Hall, but a woman. Her name is Bibi Dong." Her gaze locked on Yu Xiaogang. After glancing once more at Liu Erlong, she raised her hand sharply. A streak of purple light shot out, striking Yu Xiaogang's abdomen.
"Ugh!" Yu Xiaogang groaned, his body collapsing to his knees again, hands clutching his stomach, face ashen.
He felt the soul power he had just regained vanish once more. He was crippled again.
"You!" Yu Xiaogang raised his head, eyes full of hatred.
"Bibi Dong, you are cruel."
"Don't you know? Women are fickle." Her eyes were icy. "I took five steps, gave you five chances. Five chances for you to open your mouth and beg me to heal Liu Erlong—the woman who has silently cared for you all these years, your lover, your only family in this world."
"But you gave it up, for your pride and dignity. And you made me see you clearly."
"Do you think, as a woman, I would spare a man who shirks all responsibility?"
Liu Erlong's face twisted, tears welling up. She opened her mouth to plead again, but met Bibi Dong's gaze and froze.
Yu Xiaogang's face burned red, his head instinctively lowering, unable to look at Liu Erlong.
"Liu Erlong… ha. Life toys with us. You and I are the same—we both loved the wrong man. We are both failures." Bibi Dong laughed bitterly. "I received my punishment, and now you have yours. Perhaps this is the price of being naive."
"Look at him now. Does he look like a man?" She cast a cold glance at Yu Xiaogang.
"Liu Erlong, the only one who can grant you release… is yourself." With that, she strode out the door.
"Pfft!" Yu Xiaogang's face flushed red, his body broken once more. Unable to contain himself, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground.
He… he… had fainted again.
Liu Erlong turned her head, gritted her teeth, and in the end still picked him up. Only, she no longer called out his name.
Meanwhile, Bibi Dong stepped out into the sunlight.
Her foot pressed down, and she shot into the distance.
Her speed was terrifying, like a madwoman fleeing everything.
Only after a long, long while, when her soul power was drained, did her body crash down to the earth. She lay sprawled, then tilted her head back with a piercing howl.
"Qian Xunji! You should have killed me back then! Killed me!"
Just as Yang Yunhai had said, in this world there is no free lunch. Every gift demands a price. Spirit Hall poured endless resources into her—herbs, the best spirit rings, guidance from Titled Douluo. All of it, with the expectation of return. Yet she had told Qian Xunji, to his face, that she would leave Spirit Hall to be with Yu Xiaogang.
A genius raised with such effort, wanting to abandon it all. To make up the loss, there was only one logic: let the genius create another genius.
The simplest transaction.
But afterward, Qian Xunji had been soft-hearted.
He hadn't killed her. He hadn't crippled her and cast her aside. Instead, he naively wanted to "compensate" her. When he hunted down Tang Hao and Ah Yin, when he sought that hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor, there was no doubt—it was meant as a spirit ring for her. And yet he returned gravely wounded, only to be killed by her hand. Cause and effect—retribution couldn't be clearer.
This was the price.
Had he killed her then, perhaps none of what followed would have happened. She wouldn't be living in such torment now.
Thinking of the past years, who could she blame but herself? Her blind eyes, loving a man she should never have loved. If she hadn't chosen Yu Xiaogang, if she hadn't foolishly vowed to leave Spirit Hall, Qian Xunji would have remained her good teacher, and she would still be the carefree Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall.
Everyone must pay for their choices. And this torment was her price.
"Hahaha… the price, everything is the price…" Tears gushed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
A sudden urge to end it all rose in her heart. Qian Renxue had been born; she had given Spirit Hall another genius. She had led Spirit Hall for years, raising it to new heights. She had repaid the Hall's debt in full. She owed them nothing anymore.
But then, she thought of Hu Liena. The girl she had raised since childhood, treated as her own daughter. And she hesitated.
Was Hu Liena truly only raised by her alone?
One day, Nanna would marry. Then she would be alone again. What meaning would everything she had done still hold? Her heart fell into chaos once more.
After a long, long time, she raised her head to the sky.
At the very least, she couldn't let Nanna repeat her mistakes. She had to live longer, to watch over her.
Or… leave this world entirely.
With that thought, the haze in her eyes slowly faded. She stood, inhaled deeply, and walked away.
(End of Chapter)
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