Chapter 53: The Weight of Betrayal
"Sister, are you leaving?"
"Ah Zhen, I will return. You must keep this secret for me."
Su Ningzhen drifted from her sister's room in a fog, one thought reverberating through her mind like a temple bell—I cannot let her leave.
They had shared a womb, their souls intertwined before they'd even drawn breath. Only once had they been separated—at Two Realms Mountain, when Ningxi had been taken. At the time, Ningzhen thought her sister had merely lost her way. She hadn't known about the half-demon who'd stolen her. How could Ningxi abandon the bond they'd forged over decades for someone she'd known a mere two months?
She must be bewitched. Enchanted. She'll come to regret this. I cannot let her go.
The thought circled endlessly, tightening like a noose until Su Ningzhen found herself kneeling in Venerable Miaohua's meditation chamber, the secret spilling from her lips like poison.
Venerable Miaohua's palm struck her huanghuali table with such force it shattered. Her face froze into a mask of fury. "Su Ningxi dares collude with demons..."
Su Ningzhen kowtowed desperately. "Master, please—the half-demon must have ensnared her with dark arts! Don't blame my sister!"
Venerable Miaohua's lips curved into something that resembled a smile. She stroked Su Ningzhen's hair with deceptive gentleness. "You've done well. When and where did they plan to meet?"
"Tonight. The first quarter hour after midnight. Wind Rest Pavilion."
Venerable Miaohua's eyes narrowed to slits. She produced a red porcelain bottle and pressed it into Su Ningzhen's trembling hands. "Tonight, you will apply this Spirit-Capturing Flower essence to your neck and face. Disguise yourself as Ningxi and lure the half-demon Sang Qi to his death. Succeed, and the position of Mirror Flower Valley Master shall be yours."
The bottle felt impossibly heavy in Su Ningzhen's grip, as though it contained not perfume but lead. Her fingers went rigid and pale. "Master, I don't want to be Valley Master. I only want my sister safe."
Venerable Miaohua's laugh was soft as silk, sharp as a blade. "Very well. I promise you—Ningxi's transgressions will be forgiven."
Relief flooded through Su Ningzhen. She clutched the bottle tight, her eyes hardening with cold resolve.
That night, while Venerable Miaohua trapped Su Ningxi within a binding formation, Su Ningzhen donned her sister's robes and carried her sword to Wind Rest Pavilion. Her heart hammered as footsteps approached from behind. A slender hand settled on her shoulder, and the night breeze carried his scent—deep, intoxicating, unmistakably masculine.
"Ningxi..." His voice rolled over her name like a caress, cool and husky, savoring each syllable with devastating tenderness. The Spirit-Capturing Flower clouded his senses, and he mistook the woman who bore seventy percent resemblance to Su Ningxi for his beloved.
Su Ningzhen turned.
Silver hair cascading like moonlight. Silver eyes gleaming like stars. Wolf ears marking his mixed blood. No matter how beautiful his features, they couldn't disguise his base, inferior nature. This was the creature who'd bewitched Ningxi? Who'd convinced her to betray her master and forsake her family?
Killing intent blazed through her veins. Without hesitation, Su Ningzhen drew the Spring Birth Sword and drove it forward with all her strength.
Caught utterly off-guard, Sang Qi found himself staring into eyes he thought he knew—now cold and filled with revulsion. Agony exploded through his right shoulder as the blade severed meridians and flesh, his arm falling away in a spray of crimson. In the same instant, Wind Rest Pavilion erupted with light as a Beast-Trapping Formation activated. Seven high-level cultivators descended from the shadows like birds of prey.
A trap. She wanted him dead.
The wolf demon's silver eyes fixed on "Su Ningxi" with confusion and anguish so raw it seemed to tear the air itself. "Why..."
Su Ningzhen tightened her grip on the bloodied sword and retreated from the pavilion, forcing the words past her lips: "You disgust me."
"Hehe..." Sang Qi's laugh was broken glass, bitter and sharp. His left hand clutched the stump where his right arm had been, blood pouring between his fingers. His silver eyes bled to crimson, his beautiful features twisting into something feral. "So everything you said... was a lie to deceive me..."
Su Ningzhen took an involuntary step back. "Yes. It was only to survive."
Fearing Su Ningzhen might reveal too much, Venerable Miaohua's voice cracked like a whip. "Everyone, attack! He's a demon tribe priest—don't underestimate him!"
A storm of sword energy converged on the trapped half-demon. His black robes disintegrated into fluttering butterflies as blood painted Wind Rest Pavilion crimson.
Su Ningzhen stood at a distance, gripping the Spring Birth Sword, but those hateful silver eyes pierced through the chaos and bored straight into her heart.
I haven't done wrong. I haven't done wrong. This was all for Ningxi...
She repeated the mantra for twenty years until she almost believed it herself.
Sang Qi's memories of that night remained vivid as fresh wounds. The sweet fragrance that had emanated from "Su Ningxi" then, the gaze that now overlapped with Su Ningzhen's before him—finally, he understood.
"It wasn't Ningxi..." His silver eyes softened momentarily, relief flickering like a dying candle. Then fury returned, darker than before. "But she still married Gao Fengxu..."
"No." Su Ningzhen's shoulders shook violently, her face draining of color. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her voice fractured. "She didn't marry him. Ningxi died. Ningxi died before the wedding!"
Sang Qi's head snapped up, his voice strangling. "She's... dead?"
Twenty Years Earlier
"Ningxi, Sang Qi is dead. You should obediently marry into Bright Moon Manor. Master Gao doesn't mind that you're not a virgin—you should be grateful." Venerable Miaohua tossed the severed arm onto the ground, her voice honey-sweet and ice-cold.
Su Ningzhen hovered behind her master, concealing the Spring Birth Sword, terrified her sister might smell the blood staining the blade.
Su Ningxi sank slowly to her knees. She gathered the severed arm into her embrace, intertwining her fingers with the cold, rigid hand. She kept her head bowed, hiding her expression as tears fell one by one onto the pale flesh.
"He's not dead." Her voice trembled but held certainty. "You cut off his arm but let him escape, didn't you?"
Venerable Miaohua's expression hardened. "He was surrounded by six great elders at Wind Rest Pavilion. Do you truly believe he survived? Ningxi, I know your abilities—you can regenerate severed limbs and revive the dead. Do you think I'd give you his corpse? I've already ground his bones to dust and scattered them to the wind. You have only this arm. What can you possibly do with it?" She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a serpentine hiss. "Obey me, and I can forgive your past transgressions. Otherwise, don't blame your master for being ruthless."
"Master, please!" Su Ningzhen interjected desperately. "Sister just needs time to accept this. I'll persuade her!"
Su Ningxi raised her head, her tear-streaked face pale as porcelain, delicate as paper. Her gaze found Su Ningzhen, taking in her clothes, the Spring Birth Sword barely hidden behind her back. Understanding dawned like a blade through the heart.
"Ah Zhen... it was you." Su Ningxi drew a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, fresh tears spilling over. "You disguised yourself as me and deceived him, didn't you?"
"Sister..." Su Ningzhen couldn't meet her eyes, shame weighing her head down. "Sister, I did it for your own good..."
Venerable Miaohua's patience snapped. "Su Ningxi, I'll give you seven days to decide. After that, Bright Moon Manor will come for the wedding. If you don't enter the bridal sedan, I have ways to make you comply."
She swept from the room in a rustle of silk. Su Ningzhen hesitated, wanting to approach but afraid to face the disappointment in her sister's eyes.
She watched Su Ningxi struggle to stand, stumbling. Su Ningzhen rushed forward to help, but her sister ignored the offered support and steadied herself against the table instead.
"Ah Zhen, please leave. I need to be alone." The tremor in her voice betrayed exhaustion so profound it seemed her spirit had already begun its departure.
Su Ningzhen left reluctantly, glancing back repeatedly, seeing only her sister's thin, solitary silhouette. She closed the door but couldn't walk away, leaning against the thin panel as muffled, suppressed sobs leaked through from within.
She'd never heard Ningxi cry like this. Peeking through a crack, she glimpsed her sister curled into herself, clutching the cold severed arm, shoulders quaking with pain too immense to voice.
"Sang Qi..."
Su Ningxi kissed the lifeless fingertips, trembling as she whispered his name. Her life force poured desperately into the severed limb, trying to restore warmth and sensation. But it was futile. All of it, futile.
"It's my fault... I brought this upon you..."
Su Ningxi locked herself away for seven days. When representatives from Bright Moon Manor arrived with a crimson wedding dress, she emerged transformed—her face gaunt but composed, wearing a faint smile as though grief had released its grip. Su Ningzhen sighed with relief.
After the visitors departed, Su Ningzhen embraced her sister's frail body, resting her head on Ningxi's shoulder as she'd done countless times before. "Sister, are you still angry with me?"
Su Ningxi stroked her hair gently, smiling. "Not angry anymore."
"Are you still... sad?"
Su Ningxi blinked moisture from her lashes, half-concealing her thoughts. "Not sad anymore."
Relieved, Su Ningzhen brightened. "Sister, let me help with your makeup!"
Su Ningxi didn't refuse. She sat obediently before the mirror as Su Ningzhen fussed with her soft hair. But Su Ningzhen had always been impatient, her fingers clumsy with the intricate styling. Su Ningxi smiled faintly, pulled her sister's hands down, and guided her into the chair. "Ah Zhen, let sister teach you one last time. Pay close attention."
Su Ningzhen startled. "What do you mean, 'one last time'?"
"If I marry, I won't be able to do your hair every day anymore."
"Oh..." Su Ningzhen laughed at her own foolishness. "Sister, even after you marry into Bright Moon Manor, I can visit often. I've heard Gao Fengxu is handsome, cultured, and gentle. He'll treat you well."
Su Ningxi tilted her head, carefully arranging the hair, saying nothing.
"Sister, these past few days... I've been so worried. Now that you've accepted everything, I'm truly happy. I was afraid you'd hate me. Do you?"
"Ah Zhen, you're my most beloved sister, my closest family. I know you only want what's best for me."
Su Ningzhen couldn't suppress her smile. "Sister, I'm glad you understand."
"In my heart, you'll always be a child, but without realizing it, you've grown and formed your own judgments." Su Ningxi styled her hair into an elegant cloud-like bun, her voice soft and measured. "I won't be able to accompany you much longer. Remember to control your temper—don't be too impulsive, or you'll suffer for it. When cultivating, being overly ambitious is as harmful as complacency. If you fall into demonic practices, sister won't be there to help you anymore."
"Sister..." Su Ningzhen stared at her reflection, unease creeping in.
"I wanted to leave before, but I couldn't bear abandoning you. I told Sang Qi that once we found a place to settle, if you were willing, we'd bring you along. If not, Mirror Flower Valley would remain your home. You're diligent, ambitious, and obedient. Master favors you, and your talent exceeds all other disciples. One day, the Valley Master position will be yours."
"Ah Zhen, I promised to stay with you forever, but I must break that promise now. However, I cannot bear to break the promise I made to Sang Qi. You'll become Valley Master, with many disciples who respect and love you. You'll meet someone who understands and cherishes you. But Sang Qi only has me. I can't deceive him, nor do I wish to..."
Something warm dripped onto Su Ningzhen's face. She thought it was tears, but when she wiped it away, her hand came back crimson. Her pupils dilated in horror as she looked up to see blood flowing steadily from the corners of Ningxi's lips.
"Sister!" Su Ningzhen caught her sister's collapsing form, but Su Ningxi merely smiled, raising a finger to her lips. "Don't call anyone..." Her voice barely registered. "I don't want anyone to know..."
"Sister, what's wrong?!" Panic clawed at Su Ningzhen's throat. She frantically wiped at the blood, but it kept coming, an endless stream...
"Ah Zhen, I took Fangfei Jin three days ago." Su Ningxi forced her lips into a smile. "Even my body finds it difficult to seek death."
Fangfei Jin—the most potent poison in existence, subjecting one's heart to thirty thousand cuts over three days before granting death's mercy. With her Primordial Yin Divine Woman constitution and infinite vitality, ordinary suicide was impossible. Only Fangfei Jin could make her suffer enough to die.
"Ah Zhen, you no longer need me..." Su Ningxi's breathing grew shallow, her grip on Su Ningzhen's hand weakening. "Will you promise me one last thing? Bury me with Sang Qi... This life can only be like this... If there's a next life, I'll repay him for a lifetime..."
"Sister, sister, don't die!" Su Ningzhen wept uncontrollably. "Sister, I was wrong! Don't leave! I shouldn't have killed him! I hurt you! You can hate me, blame me, but don't leave me!"
Su Ningxi had endured excruciating agony for three days, her consciousness long since blurred. A faint smile rippled across her features as if she glimpsed that cold, handsome half-demon approaching once more. He was ruthless yet gentle, lonely yet easily satisfied, craving just a fragment of warmth and kindness.
—Ningxi, come with me. Let's go to the East Sea.
—But if you practice demonic arts, you can't remain in the human realm for long.
—I'm willing to disperse my cultivation, as long as I can be with you.
—Sang Qi...
She traced his beautiful features in her mind's eye—those deep, feeling eyes—allowing him to embrace her. All the warmth and love this cruel world had denied him, she wanted to give him everything.
But he was gone.
Killed by her dearest sister.
Su Ningxi's eyes dimmed completely, her heart ceasing its rhythm. She didn't hear Su Ningzhen's anguished, desperate cry: "Sister, he didn't die! He escaped!"
But Ningxi could no longer hear.
Su Ningzhen held her sister's body in numb silence, tears flowing endlessly. Time became meaningless until someone finally discovered Ningxi's death.
They pulled her away forcibly, separating her from her sister's corpse. She clawed at Ningxi like a feral creature before they knocked her unconscious. When she woke, she was dressed in wedding garments, lying in the bridal chamber of Bright Moon Manor.
"You're awake." Venerable Miaohua's cold gaze settled on her.
Su Ningzhen thought she'd suffered a nightmare. She struggled upright, taking in her surroundings with mounting confusion.
"Master, where am I? Where's sister?"
"Su Ningxi is dead. Tomorrow is the wedding day. Many from the Immortal Alliance will witness the ceremony. You will impersonate Ningxi and marry Gao Fengxu."
Su Ningzhen's eyes widened in horror. "But sister is already dead!"
"So what?!" Venerable Miaohua shattered a cup in her fury, her face twisting into something monstrous. "How dare she seek death! Fangfei Jin—where did she obtain it?! A Primordial Yin Divine Woman died! It's utterly absurd!"
Su Ningzhen had never witnessed her master lose control like this. Venerable Miaohua clenched her fists, her venomous gaze boring through Su Ningzhen's face as if seeing Su Ningxi herself.
"Ningzhen, you are obedient. This concerns the honor of both Mirror Flower Valley and Bright Moon Manor. You cannot let others discover the deception." Her tone brooked no argument.
Su Ningzhen shook her head desperately. "No... I can't. I need to see my sister. Where is she?"
"Complete the wedding ceremony, and I'll let you see her." Venerable Miaohua's voice could freeze stone. "Otherwise, you'll never see her again in this lifetime."
Su Ningzhen slowly clenched the bedding beneath her fingers. Finally, she nodded through gritted teeth.
Present Day
Sang Qi released his grip on Mu Xuanling and collapsed to his knees, trembling, forgetting even to maintain his hold on the hostage Gao Qiumin. She crawled to Su Ningzhen's side, clutching her wounded shoulder, as Mu Xuanling murmured behind her, "So... the one who married Gao Fengxu was Su Ningzhen. Then Gao Qiumin is Su Ningzhen's daughter?"
Gao Qiumin's body went rigid. She looked up at the tear-stained Su Ningzhen, her voice barely audible with disbelief. "Master... Am I..."
Could I be Master's biological daughter? Is that why she transferred all her cultivation to me, why she passed me the Valley Master position...
Su Ningzhen looked down at Gao Qiumin and suddenly laughed—a broken, trembling sound. She covered her face as tears streamed through her fingers.
"I wish... Qiumin were my child..."
Sang Qi's gaze locked onto Su Ningzhen, his voice hoarse and raw with grief. "What do you mean? Isn't she? Where is Ningxi? Where is her body?!"
Su Ningzhen's voice emerged thick and bitter. "Do you know why Gao Fengxu insisted on marrying Ningxi? Hahaha... What they coveted was only her Primordial Yin Divine Woman body. A Divine Woman contains infinite vitality, able to revive all dead things. Bright Moon Manor's Chaos Zhenzhu had lost its energy. Gao Fengxu wanted to use my sister's vitality to nourish the Zhenzhu, to restore its former power."
"But Ningxi was already dead..." Those beautiful silver eyes lost their light. Sang Qi closed them in agony, voice breaking. "She was already dead..."
She never betrayed her promise to me. But I misunderstood her for twenty years. What were my twenty years of pain and hatred for...
"Dead? So what..." Su Ningzhen's blank eyes gradually filled with fear, fury, hatred, and revulsion as memories surfaced. "The Divine Woman's spirit acupoint is the source of spiritual power, and her womb is the origin of vitality. She had a lifespan of a thousand years, and her vitality wouldn't dissipate for a millennium after death. Gao Fengxu and Master cut open her womb and placed the Chaos Zhenzhu inside her body, using her internal vitality to nourish it."
The Forbidden Chamber
After death, she looked as she had in life—only colder. Her features remained soft and beautiful, as if she merely slept rather than lay deceased.
Venerable Miaohua used her finger as a blade, slicing open Ningxi's lower abdomen. Not a single drop of blood seeped out.
Gao Fengxu—rumored to be handsome, cultured, and gentle—approached the bed holding a golden pearl the size of an infant's fist.
"Is this the Chaos Zhenzhu? It looks dull and lifeless," Venerable Miaohua observed.
Su Ningzhen stared at the pearl, noting its faded luster and mysterious engraved patterns resembling auspicious clouds or vines. She'd heard the Chaos Zhenzhu was omnipotent and profoundly mysterious. Perhaps they intended to revive Ningxi...
"Ancient texts claim that the vitality of a Primordial Yin Divine Woman can revive all things—perhaps it can restore the Chaos Zhenzhu. But a dead Divine Woman..." Gao Fengxu's voice was contemplative. "I don't know if it will work..."
Su Ningzhen, dressed in wedding attire, looked at Gao Fengxu with dawning horror. He had no intention of saving Ningxi. None whatsoever.
"We'll know if we try," Venerable Miaohua said coldly. "Don't forget our agreement. If the Chaos Zhenzhu revives, it must be lent to Mirror Flower Valley for three hundred years."
Gao Fengxu smiled. "If we succeed, I naturally won't renege."
He placed the Chaos Zhenzhu into the incision in Su Ningxi's abdomen. Suddenly, his middle finger turned crimson, and a drop of blood emitting faint golden light seeped from his fingertip, disappearing into Ningxi's body and attaching to the pearl.
Venerable Miaohua's eyes sharpened with suspicion. "Your essence blood? You want to refine the Chaos Zhenzhu?"
"The Zhenzhu's energy is exhausted—it's like a dead object and can't be refined. I merely want to observe if miraculous changes occur within the body of a Primordial Yin Divine Woman." Gao Fengxu's smile was casual, but his eyes gleamed with calculation.
Venerable Miaohua's expression flickered with uncertainty, but she didn't intervene. As he said, no one could predict the outcome.
She used her magic to seal the wound on Su Ningxi's body. Her abdomen remained pale and flat, without the slightest scar.
Su Ningzhen stumbled forward in a daze, trembling. "Master, what have you done to sister..."
Venerable Miaohua turned, her expression indifferent. "You will remain in Bright Moon Manor, acting as Su Ningxi, living in seclusion while carefully watching over her body and observing any changes."
"The most important thing," Gao Fengxu added, "is monitoring what happens to the Chaos Zhenzhu."
Su Ningzhen stared at her sister's lifeless form, remembering her own naive words from days before—that Gao Fengxu was deep and gentle, that he would treat her well...
So... whether Master or Gao Fengxu, they'd only ever intended to use her...
Many years ago, when they were still children, Ningxi had already understood that they couldn't let others discover her abilities, or those bad people would capture them to "plant flowers."
Ningxi had always understood the world better. She'd known these seemingly righteous venerables never possessed true compassion—they only coveted her abilities. The one who'd truly loved her was that half-demon despised by the world, the half-demon her sister had killed.
Su Ningzhen covered her face and sank to her knees before Su Ningxi, weeping uncontrollably.
"Sister, I'm sorry..."
It was my fault. I made you lose your love, made you die with resentment, made you suffer humiliation even in death...
No, it's not my fault. It's Sang Qi's fault. That half-demon seduced sister. If she hadn't fallen in love with him, she wouldn't have committed suicide, and naturally wouldn't have been treated like this after death...
I'm not wrong. It's all because of that half-demon, that damned half-demon...
She hugged herself tightly, helpless and desperate as she guarded Su Ningxi's body, constantly repeating that she should hate the half-demon Sang Qi.
It seemed only by convincing herself of this could she find the courage to continue living.
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