I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 50 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
Xuan Ming's voice was very flat, devoid of any emotion, as if he were asking an inconsequential stranger. These three words, in the tense, volatile atmosphere, seemed particularly abrupt, even carrying a nearly cruel indifference.
The rage in Qian Renxue's chest felt as if it had been doused with a bucket of ice water, instantly freezing and transforming into a deeper, bone-chilling coldness. Looking at Xuan Ming's calm, almost hollow eyes, she felt all her anger and questioning hit nothing, leaving her powerless and ridiculous.
"Eaten... it?" Qian Renxue repeated the two words, her voice laced with unbelievable absurdity. "Xuan Ming, do you think I'm in the mood to discuss this with you right now?"
She took a few steps forward. Her high heels clicked against the polished floor, producing a crisp, cold echo that shattered the suffocating "warmth" of the restaurant.
"Gu Yuena told me that you will destroy humanity." Qian Renxue forced herself to calm down, her sharp gaze fixed on Xuan Ming. "Tell me, is this true? You helped her establish this Empire, introduce spirit tools, and maintain peace... If all of this is ultimately going to be destroyed by your own hands, then what is the meaning of what you are doing now?!"
"Meaning?" Xuan Ming finally put down his napkin, leaning back slightly in his chair, his calm eyes meeting Qian Renxue's burning gaze. "Do I need to explain the meaning of my actions to you?"
In that look, there was no madness, no paranoia, only a bottomless, heart-stopping tranquility.
"This Empire is her Empire." He tilted his head slightly, gesturing toward Bibi Dong with his eyes. "When she was the Empress, I let it operate according to her wishes, just to make her a little more content. That is all."
"Whether it exists or not makes no difference to me. Just like the food on this table, whether I eat it or not makes no difference to me either."
The coldness in his words sent shivers down Qian Renxue's entire body. She finally realized that Gu Yuena might not have lied to her.
The man before her, his logic had already surpassed common sense. He could help Bibi Dong build, and he could also destroy it in a single thought. Everything depended only on his "mood," or his so-called "promise" and "choice."
"Then what about me?" Qian Renxue's voice carried a hint of trembling and despair that she herself hadn't noticed. Pointing at Bibi Dong, she demanded, "You and her... what is this now? Where do you put me?!"
This was the deepest thorn in her heart, an unhealable wound, the root cause of her feeling betrayed and abandoned by the entire World.
Bibi Dong sighed softly at this moment, finally speaking, her voice carrying a weary, yet resolutely calm tone that Qian Renxue had never heard before: "Qian Renxue, I told you, this is between him and me."
"Between us?" Qian Renxue abruptly turned toward Bibi Dong, her golden eyes filled with bloodshot hatred. "You are my mother!"
Bibi Dong looked at her, her expression complex for a moment, but quickly reverted to undisturbed calmness. "So what?"
She gently picked up her wine glass and took a sip. "I never acknowledged it, and you never regarded me as your mother. Why use this identity to question me now?"
Qian Renxue froze in place, looking at the "couple" before her —one cold as ice, the other calm as water. They were a self-contained unit, completely isolating her.
Anger, grievance, unwillingness, and a sense of loneliness from being abandoned by the entire World, submerged her like a tide.
She looked at Xuan Ming and asked, word by word, "So, for your Fourth Trial, Severing Romantic Ties... how do you plan to sever ties with me?"
Xuan Ming slowly stood up. His tall figure cast a huge shadow in the candlelight, nearly enveloping Qian Renxue completely.
He did not answer her question. Instead, he took a step forward, closing the distance between them. An invisible, suffocating sense of pressure instantly spread out.
He leaned in slightly, close to Qian Renxue's ear, and slowly counter-questioned her in a low, dangerous voice that only the two of them could hear:
"How do you wish me to end things?"
Xuan Ming's deep voice echoed in her ear, carrying a cold, almost cruel amusement. The breath that brushed her earlobe only made her feel a bone-deep chill.
Qian Renxue suddenly raised her head, her golden eyes burning with despair and a reckless madness. She stared directly into Xuan Ming's close, ice-blue pupils and countered sharply:
"Will you kill me? Is it only by killing me that the two of you can have your perfect family reunion, finally rid of my annoying presence?!"
She practically screamed this sentence, carrying the accumulated grievance, anger, and unwillingness of more than twenty years.
Xuan Ming looked at the shattered light in her eyes. A barely perceptible ripple flashed in the depths of his ice-blue gaze, but it was quickly covered by deeper indifference. He straightened up, looking down at her, the corner of his mouth curving into a cold, almost cruel arc.
"I did have that thought." His voice was terrifyingly calm. "After all, Bibi Dong killed Qian Xunji."
This statement was like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly exploding in Qian Renxue's mind!
"...What?" The madness and anger on her face instantly froze, transforming into extreme shock and bewilderment.
Subconsciously, she looked toward Bibi Dong, who was sitting there, hoping to see denial, anger, or any expression that could refute that statement.
However, Bibi Dong merely looked back at her calmly. There were no ripples in her purple-gold eyes, no denial, no explanation, only a silence that was close to admission.
It was true... The truth she had vaguely suspected deep down, but had always been afraid and unwilling to confirm... it was actually true!
Her father, Qian Xunji, was truly killed by Bibi Dong... her mother?!
In an instant, Qian Renxue felt her World completely collapse.
Everything that had supported her all this time—the vague nostalgia for her father, the subtle yearning for maternal love perhaps hidden within her complicated hatred for Bibi Dong, and even the search for the meaning of her own existence—all became fragmented and ridiculously absurd at this moment.
Watching her instantly lose her focus, as if her Soul had been extracted, a fleeting trace of reluctance flashed in Xuan Ming's eyes, but it was immediately replaced by deeper resolve. He knew he had to use strong medicine, he had to push her away completely, pushing her to the safe side of hatred and opposition.
"Buzz—"
With a slight hum, the Blood Spear, bound with bloody Evil Qi and Killing Intent, appeared out of thin air in Xuan Ming's hand. Without the slightest hesitation, the cold spear tip rested on Qian Renxue's slender, fragile neck. The sharp chill instantly pierced her skin, causing a shiver.
"And me," Xuan Ming's voice carried undisguised mockery, as if he were evaluating an insignificant object, "killing you now would count as sending you father and daughter to reunite, wouldn't it?"
Qian Renxue stood there stiffly. The coldness on her neck and the huge void spreading in her heart made it almost impossible for her to breathe.
She looked at Xuan Ming, at the man she had once viewed as the only light she wanted to grasp, who was now pushing her into the abyss in the most cruel way.
"You..." She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"Pity," Xuan Ming's voice was cold as a knife, delivering a merciless blow. "You are too weak. So weak... that you don't even qualify to die by my hand."
"You don't even have the qualification to stand in front of me and question me."
Before his voice faded, Xuan Ming clenched his left fist and, without warning, violently slammed it into Qian Renxue's flat abdomen!
"Pffft—!"
An indescribable, terrifying power instantly erupted. Qian Renxue couldn't even let out a scream. Her entire body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, violently smashing through the restaurant's heavy wooden door, and crashed heavily onto the cold stone floor outside, accompanied by flying wood chips.