Chapter 406: 223, _2
The dim candlelight illuminated her snow-white robe, making it as radiant as the rosy hues of dawn.
Tian Liuli stood in a corner, staring blankly at the moon's reflection outside the window.
Xu Yuan pushed the door open, looking at the dull interplay of light and shadow that seemed to steal away all the brilliance of the room, a chilling silhouette.
A kind of indescribable sadness flowed through the crack of the door, pouring over him.
His throat moved slightly, and he suddenly felt at a loss for words.
The words he had planned to say were stuck in his throat.
She seemed unaware of him, standing quietly to the side, lost in thought. Her lustrous, dark hair fell like a nocturnal icy cascade, seen for its chill, unheard for its sound.
Xu Yuan turned back to close the door, whispering, "I'm back."
"..."
Silence, like the street at the City Lord's Mansion that was bustling in the afternoon but fell suddenly silent and cold at night.
"I thought if this lamp went out before you came back, I might as well leave on my own."
Tian Liuli's lips parted slightly, beginning to speak in a soft voice.
Her voice was like a cold spring flowing over a millennia-old glacier—ethereal and clear, yet one could feel the chill underlying it at first glance.
Xu Yuan's gaze fell on the lamp on the table. A wind blew in from the outside, making it sway like a swing.
On the table, you could also see spots of moisture, seemingly from melted butter.
"Later, I saw it blown out by the wind, yet I couldn't help but relight it, thinking that it was the wind's doing, it didn't count, then it ran out of oil, so I couldn't help but add more oil to it."
She chuckled softly at this point.
That laughter contained no self-mockery nor bitterness—just a simple laugh.
"Then later, I thought, why deceive myself? If I want to leave, I'll leave; if I want to stay, I'll stay."
Watching her still here, Xu Yuan didn't feel overly delighted.
With her hands clasped behind her back, she turned to look at him and said earnestly and slowly.
"Do you, too, deceive yourself?" she asked.
That's why you can say those words so unabashedly, the words about liking me?
That's why, after declaring your affection for me, you immediately engage flirtatiously with other women?
"..."
Xu Yuan remained silent for a long time, then nodded slightly, "Perhaps, I don't know if I've deceived myself, but I don't think I have; if I have, then so be it."
Tian Liuli smiled faintly, "I won't give you any more chances."
Xu Yuan felt a tightness in his chest.
"You know, in your memory, I may seem unreasonable, but in my memory, I've always thought of myself as a reasonable person, because my heart held only the Daoist path, at least before the Tribulation of the Dao. After the Tribulation of the Dao, I thought it still did."
She gave a slight smile and continued, "So, in the beginning, even when Lin kept picking fights and entangling with you, I really didn't care, because I wasn't jealous. I was just worried that maybe she would delay your practice, preventing your ascension. If you couldn't ascend, it would have troubled me."
"Later,"
"I felt that my heart should hold both the Daoist path and you."
Exhaustion tinged her brow and eyes.
"But I was mistaken."
"Oh?"
Xu Yuan looked at her curiously.
The chances for Tian Liuli to share her feelings were not many, so he was always unsure about her thoughts,
"Not the Daoist path and you, just the Daoist path is you."
Her dispassionate expression didn't seem very affectionate, yet her words brimmed with tenderness.
"So, without the Daoist path, there's only you."
"Why?"
He blinked, his heart quivering.
"Perhaps, it's like those romance novels from the Mortal World," she said.
The wind hastened outside the window, stirring her hair, flipping open the Daoist scripture she always had in the courtyard.
In the rustling of flipping pages, the content wasn't the typical knowledge of Spells, but tangled romantic excerpts instead.
"People are always foolish; those who stand alone will no longer do so once they meet someone even more solitary."
"Am I very solitary?"
He sighed and said,
"Perhaps, but at that time, indeed, my interest in you was higher than in cultivating."
Because retracing the path of cultivation held no difficulty or interest for her.
She spoke as if reminiscing about the past, "Although you seemingly appeased us, you were actually resisting us, and you would have preferred to be as far from us as possible. Afterwards, what you did proved my feelings right. Yet, at that time, even though I didn't reveal my identity, merely by my appearance and the status of a True Disciple, you should not have rejected me. I thought it was because you were in love with that Miss Lin with the flaxen hair that you found me annoying. However, later, when I realized you treated Lin the same way, I thought perhaps you had a preference for the same sex, or didn't understand my charm, thus finding me bothersome. But now, it seems I may indeed be a nuisance."
The ever-proud Tian Liuli was ultimately defeated by her own pride.
Even if it was due to the Tribulation of the Dao, she might not like someone, but they must like her.
"Now, I hope my mind harbors only the Dao."
She sighed, "If that makes you happy, I'm satisfied."
"Maybe I don't consider you a trouble,"
Xu Yuan thought for a moment and said.
Perhaps she was indeed troublesome, but weren't all the other several people troublesome too?
"Is that so?"
Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire
Tian Liuli gazed at him quietly, her lucent eyes shimmering in the moonlight.
The next moment, she suddenly raised her hand, and like a blade, her Sword Qi sliced through the air, severing his hands with a swish.
"Do you still think I'm not troublesome now?"
She revealed a slight smile.
"Might be troublesome, but, I rather like the trouble."
Xu Yuan gasped sharply.
The sudden action by Tian Liuli wasn't particularly fast, and he wasn't without time to react.
But he did not resist.
Still, despite this, one must admit, the speed at which these obsessives change their demeanor is indeed consistently fast.
A moment ago, still and calm, the next, dismembered with not just one head but two.
"But what if this trouble doesn't like the other troubles in you?"
Her eyes unwaveringly fixed on him, "If you don't rid yourself of the other troubles, one day, this trouble will crush you."
This wasn't a threat but a foretold future.
"Then we'll address that when the day comes,"
Xu Yuan calmly returned her gaze, "At least today, I'm still standing."
"One last question."
Tian Liuli turned around, her hands clasped behind her back, silently enjoying the night breeze flowing in from the window.
"Do you know why I just severed your hands?"
"..."
Xu Yuan held his breath, thought for a moment, and said, "Because my hands had just touched someone else?"
"You're not too stupid,"
Tian Liuli nodded indifferently, "If you had said something like my answer made you dissatisfied, that would have truly made me dissatisfied."
Xu Yuan didn't ask how she knew, nor did he ask if she knew what happened even before that.
Questions likely to chill one's spine are best left unasked.
"In the future, I won't forbid you from doing anything, but whatever you do, you will bear the consequences, and I hope you understand that, now I can still vent this way,"
She suddenly appeared silently beside him, reached out to gently stroke his cheek, tenderly wiping the blood that had splattered onto his face, softly saying, "But if there comes a day when I really can't endure, then don't blame me."
"I, I understand."
For some reason, Xu Yuan always felt that she would do something terribly frightening one day.
If it had been earlier, her most likely action would have been to confine him right here like a caged canary until his Ascension into the Immortal Realm.
But now, what she would do next, he dared not be sure of.