Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In that instant, all the noise on the Heavenly Inquiry Platform faded into the distance.

I saw the Sect Leader still smiling, the Grand Elder with his eyes closed as he chanted incantations, and my Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters lowering their heads.

Not a single person was surprised.

I was the only one who seemed like the last person to find out the date of my own death.

“Why?”

I asked very softly, because the pain had already burrowed through my brow and into the marrow of my bones.

Master looked at me, his voice equally soft.

“You were born with a Spirit Bone.”

I let out a small laugh.

“And?”

The Sect Leader took over the conversation.

“Ah Heng, do not be resentful. Kunwu has raised you for a hundred years, giving you the best of everything-spiritual medicines, sword techniques, and cultivation caves.”

He spoke like an accountant settling a fair debt.

“Now, the spiritual veins of the Immortal Sects are nearing exhaustion, the Heavenly Gate remains closed, and demons lurk outside. Your possession of a Spirit Bone is both a way to repay your debt and a way to save others.”

I looked at him, suddenly remembering ten years ago.

During a plague at the foot of the mountain, he had told me to take the very first batch of medicine I had refined to the village.

He said that if a cultivator does not protect mortals, then the path they follow is hollow.

Back then, I was so moved I couldn’t sleep half the night.

Thinking about it now, perhaps that was just teaching me in advance how to die willingly.

The Grand Elder opened his eyes.

He was colder than the Sect Leader, not even bothering to fake a sense of mercy.

“Jiang Heng, do not miss the auspicious hour.”

I stared at Master.

“Is that what you think too?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

He raised his hand, and the Frostbloom Sword unsheathed half an inch.

I thought he was going to strike the formation.

In the next moment, the tip of the sword pierced my heart.

Blood surged out, scalding hot.

I doubled over in pain, but I didn’t let go of his sleeve.

He leaned down to support me, his palm pressing against my back.

Spiritual energy poured in through the wound-not to save my life, but to lock my soul in place.

“Ah Heng.”

His voice was right against my ear.

“Don’t shatter.”

I felt a chill run through my entire body.

So it wasn’t my pain he was afraid of.

He was afraid the medicine would break.

I bit into his shoulder, biting until my mouth was full of blood.

He didn’t dodge.

“Hate me,” he said.

I was so pained I could barely hear him.

“What did you say?”

He held me tight, his tone calm to the point of cruelty.

“Remember today. When you wake up in the future, continue to hate me.”

The Formation Fire suddenly flared up.

My flesh felt like it was being torn apart inch by inch, and the Spirit Bone inside my body let out a shrill, piercing cry.

Someone in the crowd started crying.

It was my second Senior Sister, Shen Zhaowei.

Usually, she loved to scold me for being heartless, but today her eyes were red as she gripped her sword hilt tightly.

The Sect Leader glanced at her.

“Zhaowei, step back.”

Shen Zhaowei didn’t move.

Her voice trembled, but she spoke anyway.

“Sect Leader, she knows nothing.”

The Grand Elder said coldly, “Would she be willing if she did know?”

Shen Zhaowei’s face turned pale.

Listening to their voices, I suddenly realized something.

It wasn’t that no one here cared for me.

It was just that they all felt my life wasn’t important enough.

I looked up at Master.

His shoulder was bleeding from my bite, yet his face showed not a hint of pain.

I asked, “Does it hurt?”

His eyelashes flickered.

I began to laugh.

“It hurts me.”

Before the heavenly fire swallowed me whole, I saw the hand holding his sword finally tremble.