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"I'm sorry," Xuan Ming tightened his arms, pulling the slightly trembling Bibi Dong even closer into his embrace.
"It's my fault."
Bibi Dong lifted her tear-filled purple eyes and looked at him, "Why are you always like this? Why can't you be a little more ruthless? Why do you always take all the responsibility upon yourself?"
Xuan Ming looked at Bibi Dong's tearful questioning, his voice as calm as water: "Someone has to bear the responsibility."
"Bear responsibility?" Bibi Dong's voice carried a trembling mockery, "Bear what responsibility? Bear the responsibility that I'm crazy, that I'm obsessive, that I can't control myself? Xuan Ming, you're always like this! You always take everything upon yourself! You make me... make me unable to even hate you completely!"
She suddenly pushed Xuan Ming away, her purple eyes filled with pain and confusion: "Why can't you be as ruthless to me as you are to Qian Renxue? Scold me for being selfish, scold me for being crazy, scold me for being blinded by power! Why do you always just remain silent when I lose control, or blame yourself for my mistakes?!"
"Don't you know that you... will only make me suffer more! Make me feel even more worthless! Make me unable to even find an excuse to vent!"
Bibi Dong's emotions became agitated again, and the Rakshasa evil energy around her surged violently.
She would rather Xuan Ming treat her like a true enemy, giving her a reason to completely erupt and completely succumb, instead of treating her as he was now, with an almost tolerant attitude of self-blame, making her repeatedly suffer on the edge of madness and sobriety.
Xuan Ming stepped forward and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, his actions carrying a tenderness that was uncharacteristic of his usual cold and hard demeanor: "I'm not taking responsibility."
"I'm stating a fact. Your state, the abnormality of your Rakshasa God Trial, is indeed related to me. My appearance, my choices, affected your mood, which in turn affected your trial."
Xuan Ming paused: "The path is chosen by you, and the power is pursued by you. How to proceed, how to control it, the ultimate power of choice, is always in your hands."
"I cannot make choices for you, nor can I bear the consequences of those choices for you. What I can do is to pull you back as much as I can when you are about to fall into the abyss. But whether to reach out, whether to grasp it, the decision is yours."
"I know you have lost a lot, but... at least you are not completely without anything. Will you go mad for what you have lost in the past, abandoning everything you still possess, or... will you try your best to preserve everything you still have?"
These words heavily struck Bibi Dong's heart, instantly cooling her boiling emotions by a few degrees.
She had lost... too much.
Her innocence, dignity, love, and dreams for the future... were almost completely destroyed by Qian Xunji.
She once thought that she had nothing left but revenge and destruction.
But Xuan Ming's words reminded her.
She still had... the Spirit Empire. This was a vast enterprise she had poured her heart into and built with her own hands, it was the foundation of her revenge, and also the symbol of her power.
She still had... Hu Liena. That disciple who regarded her as a mother, depended on her, and revered her, was one of the few sources of warmth and concern in her cold heart.
She still had... this man before her, whom she hated with gnashing teeth, yet could not truly let go of, and who had even implicitly become a kind of spiritual pillar for her.
Did she really... want to completely succumb to the madness of Rakshasa for the irreversible past, and personally destroy everything she had now?
The pleasure of destruction was certainly tempting, but what after that? Endless emptiness? Or complete annihilation?
Bibi Dong leaned against the cold wall, panting violently, the madness and pain in her purple eyes fiercely intertwining and colliding.
Xuan Ming said nothing more, just watched her quietly, waiting for her decision. He knew this was a hurdle she had to overcome herself.
Time seemed to freeze.
After a long while, the madness in Bibi Dong's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a clarity born of extreme exhaustion, tinged with a hint of despair.
She slowly raised her head and looked at Xuan Ming, "Aren't you going to persuade me?"
It had always been like this; Xuan Ming's words were always cold, throwing choices before others without offering any guidance, let alone any partiality.
Choose whatever you want!
"Persuade? How to persuade?" Xuan Ming retorted.
"Persuade you to let go of the past? Or persuade you to be more optimistic?"
"I can't let go myself, and I can't be optimistic myself."
"In terms of distortion, I'm not much better than you."
"How can I, like this, persuade you? And how can I persuade you?"
His voice was calm, even with a hint of self-mockery, yet it was incredibly real, like a mirror reflecting their equally riddled souls.
Bibi Dong was stunned, the intense emotions in her purple eyes slowly settled, transforming into a deeper, almost deathly stillness of bewilderment.
Yes... what was there to persuade?
To persuade her to let go of everything destroyed by Qian Xunji? To persuade her to forget the unforgettable humiliation and hatred? To persuade her to embrace the sunshine like a normal person?
These words, coming from anyone's mouth, would seem incredibly pale and ridiculous. Let alone from Xuan Ming's mouth—this man who also carried a heavy past, whose heart was also corroded by darkness, and who had even embarked on an almost self-destructive path.
He indeed had no right to persuade her.
Because he himself had never truly "let go" or been "optimistic."
He was just struggling in the darkness, moving forward in the mire, in his own way.
His calmness, his strength, did not stem from relief, but from a deeper acceptance and control of his own destiny, even if that control sometimes seemed cold and extreme.
Xuan Ming watched the fading madness and rising bewilderment in her eyes, and continued, "What I can do is not to persuade you, but to tell you the facts. To tell you that you have choices. To tell you what outcomes different choices will lead to."
"Whether to sink into the abyss with the ashes of the past, or to grasp what can still be grasped now, even if the road ahead is still painful and difficult. This choice can only be made by you yourself."
"Because only you yourself need to bear all the consequences of your own choices."
His words contained no tender encouragement, nor condescending blame, but merely a cold and clear statement of reality. This almost cruel honesty, paradoxically, calmed Bibi Dong's chaotic emotions in a strange way.
No need for hypocritical comfort, no need for useless persuasion. What she needed, perhaps, was precisely this clarity of facing a bloody reality, even if that clarity itself was a immense pain.
Bibi Dong slowly straightened her body. Although the Rakshasa evil energy around her had not completely subsided, it was no longer churning out of control. She looked at Xuan Ming, a complex light flashing in her purple eyes.
"When did you grow up?"
Bibi Dong asked this question very softly, with a hint of trance.
In her memory, Xuan Ming seemed to have always remained as he was back then, in Spirit City, that stubborn, pig-headed child.
Because in Heaven Dou City these past years, his demeanor in front of Qian Renxue had never changed—he was still that cold, stubborn, even somewhat childish youth who constantly clashed with Qian Renxue.
Xuan Ming was silent for a moment, an imperceptible ripple flashing in his ice-blue eyes.
"Probably when I realized that willfulness requires capital, and I didn't have it."
Willfulness requires capital.
He didn't have it.
He was not Qian Renxue, without the halo of Spirit Hall's Young Master, and without a grandfather like Qian Daoliu to protect him. He didn't even have a truly stable home.
Everything he had—power, status, and even the right to exist—was earned by repeatedly struggling on the brink of life and death.
In Heaven Dou City, his maintenance of that "unchanged" demeanor in front of Qian Renxue was perhaps because Qian Renxue, in a certain sense, represented Spirit Hall, represented that past he was once familiar with, yet had to keep a distance from.
That "unchanged" might have been a disguise, or perhaps a yearning for a certain simple time that he himself hadn't even noticed.
But when he truly faced the cruelty of this World, faced the life-and-death trials of the God Trial, faced the sacrifices of the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King, and faced her, this highly unstable Rakshasa inheritor, he no longer had the right to be willful.
He had to be calm, rational, strong, and responsible. Because once he made a mistake, the price would be something he couldn't bear.
Bibi Dong looked into Xuan Ming's unfathomable eyes, and for the first time, she so clearly saw the weight carried beneath that cold exterior.
He was no longer that stubborn youth she occasionally worried about, or even found a bit troublesome.
In places she couldn't see, he had grown into a man who had to face the storms alone, at an almost cruel speed.
This realization added an indescribable heartache and... guilt to the complex emotions swirling in her heart.
She seemed to have never truly understood how heavy the burden on his shoulders was.
She had even always believed from the bottom of her heart that Xuan Ming was a child who would never grow up.
"I'm sorry..." Bibi Dong's voice was almost inaudible. This apology contained too much, for her previous loss of control, and also for her long-standing neglect.
Xuan Ming shook his head, "You didn't do anything wrong to me."
He didn't need her apology. Everything he did was his own choice. Good or bad, it was what he deserved.
He extended his hand to her again. This time, his palm was facing up, an invitation and a promise.
"The choice is before you. Whichever path you choose, I will accompany you."
Not leading, not saving, but accompanying.
Whether she chose to continue to sink into the madness of Rakshasa, or tried to grasp that glimmer of hope, he would be by her side.
This was all he could offer, and all he chose to offer.
Bibi Dong looked at that well-defined, powerful hand, then raised her head to meet Xuan Ming's calm yet resolute eyes.
After a long time, she slowly raised her hand and placed it in his palm.
Her fingertips were cool, yet carried a strange, reassuring power.
"Okay," Bibi Dong said softly. This time, her voice no longer held confusion or pain, only a calm resolve after burning her bridges.
"We... together."
...In the magnificent divine palace of the God Realm.
The scene reflected in the light mirror had frozen—Bibi Dong placed her hand in Xuan Ming's palm, and the two had reached some kind of consensus.
The hall was silent, and the faces of the several God Kings showed varying degrees of surprise.
"Indeed... I underestimated him," the God of Evil stroked his chin, breaking the silence first, his tone carrying a rare seriousness, "I thought he would use stronger means to suppress the Rakshasa evil energy, or try to forcibly purify it with power. I didn't expect..."
"He chose the most difficult, yet also the most fundamental way," the Goddess of Life softly interjected, a hint of approval in her emerald-like eyes, "He didn't try to save her, but let her make her own choice. What he gave was not pity or preaching, but equal understanding and companionship."
The God of Goodness nodded slightly: "Facing reality directly, without avoiding or retreating, returning the power and responsibility of choice to herself. This method is more capable of reaching the root than any forceful intervention. It's just..."
The Asura God's cold, blood-red eyes gazed at Xuan Ming's calm, unruffled face in the light mirror, and he slowly spoke: "He knows the consequences."
"He knows what he's doing, and he's prepared to bear any outcome. This state of mind..."
He paused, not continuing, but the other God Kings all understood his meaning.
What Xuan Ming displayed was not only power and talent, but also a maturity and decisiveness far beyond his age, a profound understanding and sense of responsibility for his own and others' destinies.
He did not rush into a dangerous situation recklessly, but with an almost ruthless clarity, chose the most difficult path, yet also the one most likely to truly solve the problem.
"No wonder our old friend would risk everything for him..."