My Yandere Disciple Wants to Kill Me - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

…

I didn’t do it on purpose.

It was only because the boy’s alertness was growing by the day. Ordinary methods, like slipping medicine into his food or water, no longer worked, so I had to resort to increasingly devious tactics.

Thus, on that one occasion, after discovering by chance that he would go down to the valley at the foot of the mountain to bathe, I poisoned the hot spring water ahead of time.

As expected, he was insufficiently cautious and fell for the trap.

I paced along the shore, lecturing him so that he would learn his lesson well.

Yun Rong was unable to move in the water, forced to listen to my teaching.

During the lecture, he interrupted me once:

“Master, could you not at least allow your disciple to get dressed first?”

I still remember my answer at the time.

I said sternly, “If you are to kill someone in the future, will your enemy allow you to worry about your appearance? If you are to save someone in the future, will the patient be able to wait for you to wash and groom yourself?”

…

Thinking back on it now, it was indeed too cold-hearted, and far too disrespectful of a young man’s privacy.

I let out a long sigh.

“You are still young and cannot distinguish between different types of affection. I do not blame you. It was I, your master, who failed to maintain proper boundaries in my conduct.”

I told him to stand up and informed him that as long as he promised to set aside these stray thoughts from now on and focus on his studies, he would not need to kneel anymore.

My disciple was still very obedient, nodding in agreement as he always did.

But he hesitated for a long time before looking up and letting out a sigh of his own, reminding me, “Master, today is already the final day of the month.”

“This amnesty of yours is truly timely.”

“…”

I silently counted the days on my fingers and realized he was right.

I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt.

Seeing him struggle to stand, I reached out to help him.

But then I immediately remembered what I had just said about maintaining proper boundaries.

So, I pulled my hand back.

*Thump-*

My disciple fell heavily back into the snow.

Like countless other divine mountains, Ling Mountain was covered in drifting snow year-round, and it had been particularly heavy lately.

I dreamed of Wan Li again.

I dreamed of Kunlun Mountain.

When I woke up, I leaned against the bedframe, clutching my forehead, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

Come to think of it, in the eighty-one years since Yun Rong arrived, I hadn’t dreamed of him again.

And today, vaguely, was the anniversary of his death.

On this same day, at this same hour, a hundred years ago, he had leaped off Kunlun before my very eyes, falling into the Jiyuan.

Qi Zhi thought my headaches were acting up again and rushed into the hall in a flurry, anxious to poke me with silver needles.

…I politely declined her kindness.

I instructed her to bring some people to dig up the wine I had buried the year I first arrived at Ling Mountain.

Carrying the Plum Blossom Brew, I ascended Chaoyun Peak to pay respects to an old friend.

After pouring three cups of wine as an offering, I leaned against the lonely Wordless Stele, slowly drinking the remaining Plum Blossom Brew.

Cup after cup, from dawn until dusk.

I didn’t know when Yun Rong had come to my side.

He held an umbrella to shield my head from the flying snow, standing silently for a long time.

I pulled the paper umbrella from his hand and held up a cup to him.

He paused for a moment, took the jade cup to pour the wine, and also poured three cups onto the ground first before refilling it and handing it back to me.

I found it amusing. “Do you know who he was?”

“I know.”

Yun Rong lowered his eyes quietly.

“A hundred years ago, executed at the Kunlun Void by the Queen Mother of the West. A remnant of the Wuxian Kingdom, Wu Sui Wan Li.”

He paused for a moment-

“And also, your beloved.”

“Beloved?” I glanced at him and tilted my head back to drain the cup. “Did Qi Zhi tell you that?”

I toyed with the cup and said flatly, “Then she must not have told you that I was the one who killed Wan Li with my own hands.”

Yun Rong looked up.

I quite enjoyed that startled look in his eyes as I smiled. “Wu Sui served Di Hong, while I followed Shennong. We were the bitterest of enemies. How could you possibly believe he was my beloved?”

Yun Rong stared at me fixedly. After a moment, he said, “Being bitter enemies and being beloved are not mutually exclusive.”