The Unfettered Immortal - Chapter 2

He cultivated at my side for a hundred years. Together, we crossed mountains and rivers and fought countless sects.

He was always gentle and obedient. I’d worried that, with a temperament like his, he’d be bullied if I wasn’t around someday.

What he took from that was:

“You don’t want me anymore, Senior Sister?”

For some reason, I thought I glimpsed something fierce and unruly in his eyes when he said it.

I must have imagined it. Shaking my head, I finished the last of my wine.

“Of course I won’t abandon you. But every gathering ends eventually. Who can say what the future holds? So, Wuji, you need to be a little colder. Don’t give your whole heart to everyone.”

“What if someone deceives you?”

His expression eased a little. A faint smile appeared, and he stubbornly insisted, “I only give my whole heart to you.”

Then, certain as anything: “And you’d never deceive me.”

He was wrong. In the end, I did.

Everyone called Hongning of the Shao family peerless, a prodigy without equal.

No one mentioned that every gift fate bestowed came with a hidden price.

On the shores of the Eastern Sea, the Heavenly Demon emerged. The mortal world fell into chaos; blood flowed in rivers.

That marked the beginning of a struggle between the demon and me that could end only with one of us dead.

That day, Shao Hongning, heir to Fanyun Sect, stood alone with her sword and cleaved heaven and earth.

That day, the Heavenly Demon shattered, its seeds scattering as it howled in defiance.

And that day, Fanyun’s youngest disciple, always so gentle and proper, rushed through every attempt to stop him, his eyes red.

Watching me dissolve into a mist of blood, he screamed:

“Senior Sister!”

I suddenly remembered something. After I’d made that remark about every gathering having to end, Chu Wuji had continued to brood over it.

I assured him again and again that I’d never abandon him.

Still, he couldn’t rest easy.

“But what if you do?”

Muddled with drink, I raised a hand and swore, “If I ever abandon you, may five heavenly thunderbolts strike me down and may I be cut into a thousand pieces. Will that do—”

I never got the last word out.

I spoke as freely as I acted.

But he covered my mouth with a trembling hand, as though he were the one about to break the oath.

“It doesn’t count. That doesn’t count… It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have asked you such a thing.”

“Heaven above, if that day should ever come, as long as Senior Sister is spared the consequences of this oath, then she can abandon me. She can… It won’t matter.”

Drunk, I laughed at him for being so timid and easily bullied. Why did he take everything seriously?

Who could have imagined that three hundred years later, he’d actually make good on it?

He wasn’t even waiting for Heaven to act. He meant to cut me into a thousand pieces himself.

Talk about holding a grudge!

When he said those words, the heart that had been in my mouth finally gave up and died.

Then he moved a finger.

The sword at his waist flew out of its sheath. He’d really mastered Ten Thousand Arrows Through the Heart, the technique I’d taught him.

And every last one was coming for me.

In a flash, I threw myself at him without hesitation.

No one expected me to fight back. Chu Wuji was now the leader of Fanyun Sect, his cultivation unfathomably deep.

To them, my spiritual power looked frighteningly thin.

Chu Wuji thought so too.

And they weren’t wrong.

I really didn’t have much power left. After destroying the second-to-last demon seed without alerting the others, even my extraordinary talent hadn’t saved me from exhaustion and grievous injury.

Most of my cultivation was temporarily gone.

Otherwise, why would I reveal myself after three hundred years in hiding and come to Chu Wuji for help?

Fortunately, though my cultivation hadn’t recovered, my footwork for running away was as good as ever.

And Chu Wuji was only guarding against an attack.

He hadn’t expected me to pop up at his feet. In the instant he froze, I clung to his lower leg and begged for mercy.

“Spare me, Immortal! I’m innocent! That shameless Shao Hongning refuses to stay dead. She said she still had designs on you and meant to cling to you forever! She possessed me and threatened me into coming here!”

“Immortal, I’ve always despised wickedness! I’m really not that villain Shao Hongning!”

It all happened so fast that the room fell silent.

Then the disciples erupted in chatter.

“My nephew stopped believing stories like that when he was three.”

“Being caught trying to swindle him was bad enough. Now she’s spouting nonsense to his face. Does she want an even uglier death?”

“The sect leader hates Shao Hongning, but he hates her impersonators even more. Wonderful. She’s managed to be both.”

I had no words.

Oh, come on! You might have said so sooner!

Everyone waited for me to die.

The spirit beast added its own biting assessment.

“Only an idiot would believe that.”

Then Chu Wuji paused. He lowered his eyes and lifted my chin with his sword, forcing me to meet his gaze.

The shy, awkward boy I remembered had grown into a tall, cold man.

And that man asked:

“Did she really say that?”