Broken Jade - Chapter 115

Chapter 115

Those events had taken place far too long ago.

Yet Sheng Zhaoning still remembered every scene, every detail, every last word with perfect clarity.

For the first time in her life, she had acted willfully. Casting aside status and rank, she had followed her heart for the one and only time-only to receive those words in return.

She was nothing but a dog. What makes her think she’s worthy of my affection?

No one knew the crushing humiliation and despair she had endured at that moment.

She had never believed that her love had been unworthy. Love was love; regret had nothing to do with it.

But when she heard those words, she truly felt that she had been wrong.

Absurdly, laughably wrong.

“What did you hear?”

Perhaps Wei Yi had remembered something. Even his voice trembled as he questioned Sheng Zhaoning.

She looked at him, a bitter smile tugging at her lips. “Does it still matter?”

After all these years, the heart that had once loved Wei Yi had long since died in Luochuan Lake, rotting away until not a trace remained.

“Wei Yi, you know what I’m like. Once I fall for someone, my feelings don’t change easily.”

Sheng Zhaoning had never spoken to Wei Yi of “love,” held back by her inferiority and timidity.

She had loved him one-sidedly for so many years. Battered and bruised, subjected to endless scorn, she had still never thought of giving up.

Her love was steadfast. If she chose to give, she gave everything she had.

By the same token, once she resolved to let go, she would never turn back.

“I once loved you enough to give you everything.”

“You were the one who rejected it first.”

Twelve years was far too long. Through all that time, even a single false promise in return would have been enough to keep her from giving up.

Unfortunately, he had been unwilling to offer her even that small lie.

The hands gripping her shoulders slowly loosened.

Wei Yi’s arms fell limply to his sides, while crimson slowly crept into his eyes.

He remembered.

Wei Yi had never felt so helpless. He recalled the words he had spoken that day aboard the Luochuan Painted Barge, and a chill rose from the soles of his feet, coursing through his blood until it filled his entire body.

Those words he had blurted out in anger that day… Had she actually heard them?

His heart suddenly plunged into bottomless panic.

Wei Yi raised his eyes and asked, enunciating each word, “So you’re leaving just because of one sentence?”

He still did not understand how much resolve it took for someone to relinquish such an all-consuming love.

Nor did he understand the excruciating agony of carving a person she had loved to the bone out of her very flesh and blood.

Sheng Zhaoning suddenly found herself pitiful.

Perhaps Wei Yi would never understand what love was for as long as he lived.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

The past was already behind her. She would never turn back.

Without betraying any emotion, Sheng Zhaoning retreated two steps.

She turned her head and looked toward the figure who had remained standing on Queqiao all this time. The winter wind was bitter, and the crowds pressed thickly around him.

Even so, he continued to wait quietly, showing no impatience or irritation whatsoever.

Sheng Zhaoning withdrew her gaze, her heart softening even as sorrow welled within it.

Someone was still waiting for her.

“I have lived in Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion for nineteen years. The Wei Clan gave me a chance to live, and I have repaid the Wei Clan’s kindness many times over.”

At this moment, she had already resolved to sever all ties completely.

Over the years, she had risked life and limb for Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion, coming close to death several times. She had killed countless people and carried out countless deeds for the Wei Clan. Whatever debts of gratitude she had once owed, her conscience had long since been clear.

Sheng Zhaoning looked at Wei Yi, absolute resolve filling her eyes.

“Today, I, Sheng Zhaoning, destroy my own martial cultivation. From this moment onward, all bonds of gratitude and loyalty between the Wei Clan and me are severed.”

With those words, Sheng Zhaoning raised a hand, gathered her internal energy, and struck several of her own acupoints.

Wei Yi did not even have time to react before the violent force tore through her meridians.

An explosive wave of agony ripped through her. She dropped to her knees and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Sheng Zhaoning!” Wei Yi shouted, his voice cracking.

Bright droplets of blood splattered at his feet.

Wei Yi rushed forward, grabbed her by the robes, and pulled her into his arms. He hurriedly examined her meridians.

But it was already too late.

Sheng Zhaoning had severed her own meridians. Her true qi was spilling out, and there was no longer any hope of reversing the damage.

Her strength rapidly drained away along with it.

Sheng Zhaoning’s face turned deathly pale as she felt herself weaken at a terrifying speed.

A martial artist who severed their own meridians would become even frailer than an ordinary person.

The rampaging true qi could rupture her organs at any moment. Enduring the excruciating pain of it crashing wildly through her body, she slowly but inexorably pulled herself free of Wei Yi’s embrace.

Cold sweat trickled from her forehead, shattering against the floor and disappearing into the dust.

Han Xu had heard the commotion and now rushed in through the door.

The instant he saw what had happened, his pupils contracted.

“Wei Yi, I no longer have any value to you.” Sheng Zhaoning had to strain just to force out a complete sentence.

She glanced at Han Xu and managed a faint smile before saying to Wei Yi, “You can have him kill me, or you can take me back to the Shadow Pavilion. Either way, from this day forward, I have nothing more to do with the Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion.”

Han Xu immediately drew his saber and leveled it at Sheng Zhaoning.

“Your Highness, we cannot let her leave!”

No one who betrayed the Wei Clan was allowed to walk away alive.

Sheng Zhaoning knew far too many of the Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion’s secrets. If they let her go now, she would only become an endless source of trouble in the future.

The saber pointed straight at Sheng Zhaoning. All it would take was a single command from Wei Yi, and the blade would sever her neck in an instant, extinguishing her life.

Wei Yi stared at the thin, frail figure kneeling before him, his eyes bloodshot.

He had never imagined that Sheng Zhaoning could be so ruthless toward herself.

Only now did he truly understand just how determined she was to leave.

Wei Yi did not know where everything had gone wrong. He only felt as if the monstrous blaze of jealousy in his chest was about to consume him whole.

“Sheng Zhaoning, one day, you will regret the choice you made today.”

He rose and turned his back to her, suppressing every emotion with rigid restraint. He closed his eyes, as though not seeing her would allow him to ignore the stabbing pain in his heart and pretend that nothing had happened.

“Get out!” Wei Yi roared.

Sheng Zhaoning stiffened.

She raised her head and stared at Wei Yi’s back, seemingly unable to believe that he was truly willing to let her leave so easily.

The agony of her ruptured meridians continued to batter her senses.

Sheng Zhaoning struggled to her feet. Han Xu’s saber was still trained on her.

“Your Highness…”

Before Han Xu could finish, Wei Yi’s furious shout thundered in his ears.

“Let her go!”

Han Xu reluctantly withdrew his saber.

His gaze remained fixed on Sheng Zhaoning as she rose from the floor and staggered unsteadily toward the door.

With her martial arts destroyed and every meridian severed, Sheng Zhaoning was now nothing more than a cripple.

She no longer had any value at all.