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Chapter 47: But It Was Already in Vain
🕑 Added 2025-03-24 11:55:27 +0000 UTCMei He and Meng Ruo leaped off their swords simultaneously, landing atop a high rock. Their gazes dropped to the broken iron chain on the ground.
The two exchanged a glance, their eyes calm and devoid of surprise.
A disciple of Silver Feather Pavilion, seeing Mei He and Meng Ruo arrive, turned pale with fear and quickly retreated, not daring to speak.
Gu Xueyi’s lips curled into a mocking smile. These people had been loudly condemning Meng Ruo just moments ago, vowing to bring her to justice. Yet now, faced with her in person, they had fallen silent, not daring to utter a single word.
Ji Rong looked at Mei He standing atop the rock and felt that her wife’s words earlier had been in defense of the protagonist.
So the white crane was real after all.
The next moment, Meng Ruo bent down and picked up the bloodstained jade flute from the ground. Straightening up, she addressed the crowd, "I owe all of you an apology."
Everyone was stunned. What did Sect Master Meng have to apologize for?
Ji Rong hadn’t yet grasped the meaning behind Meng Ruo’s words when she continued, her voice echoing through Yunxian Cave, "I deceived you all. The truth is, the secret realm of Tianshui never contained 'Jinse.' The piece was destroyed when Sect Master Yan fell into demonic cultivation."
The disciples were in an uproar. Some, unable to believe it, asked, "If 'Jinse' never existed, why did Sect Master Meng deceive us and gather everyone here?"
"Yes, Sect Master Meng, please give us an explanation!"
Meng Ruo’s expression remained tranquil. "Because a hundred years ago, I made a grave mistake. Only by gathering you all today and confessing my past can I begin to unravel the nightmares that have haunted me for years."
Ji Rong was taken aback. Could it be true, what Yan Haiyao had said, that Meng Ruo had poisoned him?
Meng Ruo’s voice softened as she recalled events from a century ago. "One hundred and fifty years ago, I had not yet come of age. My elder sister was two years older than me. At our father’s command, we both entered the Tianyin Division to cultivate."
"My sister was exceptionally talented and was chosen as a disciple by Sect Master Yan at first sight. I, lacking aptitude, was taken in by Elder Lu of Tianyin Division."
Ji Rong was speechless.
Meng Ruo, once ranked tenth on the previous generation's powerful cultivator List, claimed she wasn’t talented? Then just how gifted was her elder sister?
Meng Ruo gripped the jade flute and continued, "At the time, I was simply happy for my sister. I never expected that a few years later, she would tell me she and Sect Master Yan had fallen in love. Soon after, they publicly announced their union and were wed."
Gu Xueyi raised an eyebrow. Watching the slight tremor in Meng Ruo’s hand, she had the feeling that she was struggling to suppress something.
Meng Ruo said, "After that, I had a terrible argument with my sister. In my anger, I left Qixia Mountain and did not see her for several years. Then, one hundred and forty-three years ago, I remember it was April, when poplar flowers filled the city. My sister’s maid came to tell me that she was dying in childbirth and wished to see me one last time at Tianyin Division."
"I went to Tianyin Division, but all I found were chains and blood. My sister’s wrists and ankles were shackled by Spirit-Sealing Chains. She was so emaciated she was little more than skin and bones. She told me that Sect Master Yan had succumbed to demonic cultivation in his pursuit of 'Thousand Changes' and begged me to take her child and flee."
A heavy silence fell over the great hall.
Yunxian Cavern was so quiet that only the disciples' breathing could be heard.
Ye Chuyang furrowed his brows upon hearing this.
All historical records stated that Yan Haiyao had only ever had one wife. But now Meng Ruo claimed that a century ago, he had married her elder sister. What did this mean?
Ji Rong was even more perplexed. In the game, Yan Haiyao had indeed announced his wedding to the world and held the ceremony at Tianyin Division a century ago.
But the bride had clearly been Meng Ruo, not this supposed elder sister.
Meng Ruo paused briefly before continuing, "But it was too late. I saw Sect Master Yan approaching. In desperation, I cast a spell on my sister’s child, making it appear as a stillborn."
"Sect Master Yan asked me what my sister had told me. I said nothing. He then stared at the child and smiled. I told him that my sister and the child were both dead, and that was all I knew."
"But he didn’t believe me."
Meng Ruo’s voice remained devoid of emotion. "Then Sect Master Yan said to me, 'If A’Ruo is dead, from now on, you will be A’Ruo.'"
"He forced me to take a pill that altered my appearance. The rest is history. Elder Lu’s disciple, Meng Lan, died that day. From then on, the world only knew Meng Ruo."
"I looked in the mirror everyday. People said the Sect Master of Tianyin Division was obsessed with her own beauty. But the truth was, I just wanted to see the face in the reflection."
Meng Ruo laughed softly, staring at the blood on her hands, and whispered, "Yan Haiyao believed he was born to slay demons. So, to increase his power, he saw no wrong in sacrificing my sister. Later, I realized he had lost all sense of shame, caring only for his so-called 'righteous cause,' which was nothing more than selfishness. Even if I killed him, he would never admit he was wrong."
"So I didn’t want him to fall into disgrace. I wanted him to think he was on the verge of success, only to plummet into an abyss."
Yunxian Cave was deathly still.
Ji Rong looked at Meng Ruo standing atop the rock, or perhaps she should now be called Meng Lan. A smile appeared on her face, breathtakingly beautiful yet unbearably sorrowful.
"I knew Yan Haiyao was always wary of me, so I laced my own body with a slow-acting poison. Every time he used me in his cultivation, the toxin seeped into him."
"I remember it was three days before the Demon-Slaying Battle, my sister’s death anniversary."
Meng Lan’s expression turned hazy, her voice ethereal. "That day, heavy snow blanketed Yue City. I added the final dose of poison to his tea. On that day, the four great masters had all gathered at Jinyu Tower..."
Inside the room, Yan Haiyao never expected that I would poison him at this moment. Completely unguarded, he drank the tea without hesitation.
After Yan Haiyao was poisoned, I dragged him into the private chamber and used the very same iron chains he once used to imprison my sister, piercing them through his chest. Just as I was about to drive my sword through his heart, I never expected Sword Saint Yue and Sect Master Mei to break down the door.
Ji Rong was at a loss for words, choked with emotion. The sheer dramatic turn of events was beyond anything she had imagined.
No wonder the writers never filled in the plot holes from the previous era—how could a storyline like this ever pass the review board?
Standing at a high vantage point, Meng Lan let out a sigh and said, “I thought they had come to stop me, but instead, the Sword Saint told me she had foreseen that Yan Haiyao was not meant to die today. He was fated to die a hundred years from now.”
“I didn’t believe her. I wanted to kill Yan Haiyao right then and there, but the Sword Saint said one more thing that convinced me to lower my sword. Afterward, she sealed Yan Haiyao’s cultivation and took him away. I don’t know where she brought him.”
The disciples erupted in shock.
A Kunlun Sect disciple, regaining his senses, looked at the corpse of his fellow sect member with grief and fury. “Even if that is so, what crime did my senior brother commit? If Sect Master Meng knew all along that Senior Yan was still alive, why did you not reveal the truth to the world? Why did you lure us into the secret realm, only for Senior Yan to slaughter so many of us?”
Meng Lan shook her head and said, “After the Battle of Demon Suppression, Sword Saint Yue vanished. The world assumed she had perished, and I had no knowledge of where she had taken Yan Haiyao.”
“The reason I claimed the secret realm contained the Jinse manual was to lure you all inside. I had planned to host a grand banquet upon your return and reveal the truth to all sect leaders.”
“But the day before the realm opened, Sect Master Mei suddenly arrived at my residence. She told me that, on the eve of the Battle of Demon Suppression, Sword Saint Yue had left behind a letter. That letter could only be opened after the second activation of the Tianshui Secret Realm.”
Lan Cen was utterly shocked. No wonder that day, Tang Yu had told her that their master wouldn’t be able to attend the banquet, so it was because Sect Master Mei had found her.
Mei He nodded and picked up where Meng Lan left off, speaking gently, “Master wrote in the letter that she had imprisoned Yan Haiyao within the Tianshui Secret Realm. When the realm reopened for the second time, he would die one month later. By then, we only needed to go to Yunxian Cave to find him.”
Meng Lan sighed apologetically. “The Tianshui Secret Realm imposes a restriction on cultivation levels. Though Sect Master Mei and Elder Gong managed to break the formation, it took a great deal of time. That’s why I arrived late, otherwise, I would have saved these fallen disciples.”
At this, Meng Lan’s eyes filled with sorrow. She bowed deeply to the fallen disciples, then turned to their grieving comrades and respectfully cupped her hands. “Their deaths are my responsibility. Everything happened because of me. Therefore, from this day forward, I willingly resign from my position as the Sect Master of Tianyin Division. The position will be passed to Tang Yu, the son of my sister, this is the least I can do to honor her memory.”
Lan Cen looked at Meng Lan, tears slipping down her face as she choked out, “Master, this was never your fault. You don’t have to do this.”
She had long noticed how Meng Lan treated Tang Yu differently, how the two seemed unusually close. She had assumed Tang Yu harbored ulterior motives toward her master, which was why she had resented him. But now, she realized the truth.
She had misunderstood her master for years. Shame and guilt surged through her, and as she thought about how Meng Lan had likely poisoned Yan Haiyao while also suffering from the poison herself, sorrow overwhelmed her.
Meng Lan gazed at Lan Cen with warmth. People often said that Lan Cen resembled her in appearance. It was true, especially when she cried, she looked just like her elder sister.
She smiled and said softly, “Ah Cen, I won’t be around for much longer. The Tianyin Division will have to rely on all of you to keep it running.”
Meng Lan grasped the jade flute in her hands and thought back to that fateful day at the apprenticeship ceremony. Yan Haiyao had stood at a high vantage point, his eyes fixed on her, yet he had placed the Chongming Flower in her sister’s hands instead.
Looking back, she wondered, perhaps Yan Haiyao had spared her that day because he had already seen the flower in her hair.
For a hundred years, she had believed that this was the greatest mistake she had ever made. She wished she had never worn that flower. If she hadn’t, her sister might still be alive.
Meng Lan looked down at the gathered disciples. Her vision blurred.
The jade flute slipped from her hands, crashing to the ground and splitting into two.
She staggered forward, gazing at the abyss below, a sea of blood. In the depths, she thought she saw her sister’s red robes.
For a fleeting moment, she saw someone holding a jade flute, standing before a Chongming Flower, smiling gently at her.
As the crowd fell into silence, a streak of blue suddenly plummeted from the cliff above Yunxian Cave, like a kite with a broken string.
Mei He’s breath hitched. She leaped onto her Hegui sword and rushed forward.
The cold wind stung her face as she reached out with both hands, desperately trying to grab Meng Lan. “Sect Master Meng, take my hand!”
Their hands met. Meng Lan looked at her and tightened her grip, only to try and pull away.
But Mei He refused to let go, clutching Meng Lan’s hand tightly.
Meng Lan looked at her and said, “Thank you, Sect Master Mei. But there’s no need. I have waited for years. My only lingering wish was to see Yan Haiyao dead so I could finally go find my sister.”
Mei He frowned and shouted, “She’s already dead! What is the point of going to her now?”
Meng Lan smiled faintly, loosening her grip. “There is no point. But the Yellow Springs are so cold, I need to go keep her company.”
With that, the blue silhouette plunged into the sea of blood below, vanishing without a trace.
The shattered jade flute tumbled across the ground, the two broken halves rolling until they finally came to rest against a rock, side by side, inseparable.
