Chapter 22: Liu Yiyi, Heart in Chaos

Inside the quiet private room.

"Mm..."

A soft murmur with obvious discomfort and pain broke the silence in the room.

Liu Yiyi's long eyelashes trembled a few times, as if breaking free from a heavy burden, and she slowly opened them.

The confusion of first waking up only stayed in her cold eyes for a short moment before being dispelled by the scene that entered her eyes.

Beside her was Su Yan, who was still sleeping soundly with her brows slightly furrowed, and the mess on the ground.

She was stunned first, her brain blank, as if her memory had been forcibly severed.

However, the next moment.

Those memory fragments that carried sharp pain and suffocating shame flashed in her mind like lightning bolts.

Hu Tian's hypocritical invitation and that cup of clear tea...

Zhang Xu's ferocious and proud face...

The strange scorching heat that suddenly ignited in her body, unable to be extinguished, the loss of strength, and the collapse of reason...

Then, it was the white-haired figure who broke in like a god, the punch that was earth-shattering and blasted Zhang Xu into the bottom of the lake.

Then... it was the completely out-of-control herself and Su Yan...

Finally, she only remembered that ice water seemed to have been poured in... reducing the scorching heat in her body...

What made her feel even more ashamed was...

In her memory, it seemed that they were the ones who took the initiative, while that white-haired old man was passive the whole time.

What kind of shame and humiliation was this!

If she could, she hoped that all of this was just a nightmare.

The dream woke up, and everything ended.

She was still that cold, self-restrained Liu Yiyi, the pearl high above in the martial arts academy, the proud daughter in her father's eyes.

However...

A sharp pain reminded her cruelly.

This was not a dream.

All of this was so real.

The memories in her mind were too chaotic.

She really couldn't figure out if she had lost the most important thing.

At this thought, Liu Yiyi, who had always been as firm as iron, who had gritted her teeth and endured broken bones and fractures during practice without shedding a single tear, felt a torrent mixed with despair, anger, humiliation, and endless sorrow crash through the last dike in her heart.

"Ah—!!!"

A wail of pain, suppressed to the extreme and finally unable to be endured, burst from her throat.

It was no longer a cold sob, but a heart-rending wail that seemed to want to cry out her internal organs.

Tears were like a broken river, surging out instantly, washing away the beautiful face that still had some abnormal flush but was already as pale as paper.

She curled up her body, her shoulders shaking violently, crying and trembling all over, as if she wanted to pour out all the pain, all the grievances, and all the hatred with these tears.

This crying sound, like a tolling funeral bell, finally woke up Su Yan on the other side.

"Mm..."

Su Yan's eyelids moved, and she opened her eyes in a daze.

The first thing that entered her eyes was Liu Yiyi, who was crying until she almost collapsed.

She was still a bit dazed, her head heavy, and the broken pictures remaining from last night flashed back in her mind, but she couldn't piece them together completely for a while.

However, when she tried to move her body.

A sharp pain, like a cold knife, instantly pierced all her confusion and fluke.

"..."

Su Yan's body froze suddenly, her pupils shrinking.

All the memory fragments returned to their places at this moment, piecing together a complete picture that was just as unbearable and shameful and desperate as Liu Yiyi's.

She had lost...

The eldest lady of the Su family, who had been carefully raised by the family, pursued and loved by countless people, and who had once had beautiful fantasies about her future husband, the Su Yan who always maintained a gentle and appropriate smile but had her own pride in her heart... just a short while ago.

Lost the most precious thing.

"Wu... ah..."

A lower sob, squeezed from the depths of her soul, escaped from Su Yan's throat.

The huge sense of absurdity, the destructive blow, and the endless fear and confusion about the future, like cold tides, instantly swallowed her.

Then, the number of people crying loudly became two.

Liu Yiyi's crying was collapsing, venting, carrying despair that destroyed everything.

And Su Yan's crying, which was suppressed at first... gradually became the same heart-rending sorrow.

Two girls who were either as cold as snow or as gentle as flowers on weekdays were now like two people abandoned in the wilderness, having suffered the most cruel injuries.

Looking at each other without words, only the tear beads like broken lines rolled down their pale cheeks.

I don't know how long they cried.

Liu Yiyi's crying gradually lowered, turning into intermittent sobs.

She raised her slightly trembling jade hand, still stained with tear marks, and wiped her swollen eyes randomly. Those beautiful eyes, which were originally cold like cold stars, were now covered with bloodshot eyes, but in the depths of endless sorrow, a cold and decisive flame slowly ignited.

The next moment.

She actually turned her hand into a palm, operated her force, and wanted to pat her own head.

Fortunately, Su Yan noticed Liu Yiyi's movements at the first moment. She pounced on Liu Yiyi like lightning, pressed Liu Yiyi's hands, and whispered:

"You are crazy! You actually want to commit suicide!"

Liu Yiyi was pressed by her and struggled, but failed to break free due to the double exhaustion of physical strength and mental strength.

Her face was as pale as paper, she shook her head with empty eyes, crying and not crying, her voice was as low as a dream, but it carried a kind of despair that broke people's hearts: "Purity is lost, what is the meaning of my living..."

Hearing this, Su Yan was slightly stunned.

Then, she took a deep breath, forcing herself to pull a trace of reason from that huge sadness and shame.

She raised her hand, wiped the tear marks on her face with her sleeve, stared at Liu Yiyi, and opened her mouth word by word, clearly and firmly:

"Yiyi, listen to me! This matter is not our fault! It is that beast Zhang Xu who set up a poisonous trap; we are the victims! We are innocently suffering!"

Her voice gradually stabilized, and her logic became clearer and clearer, as if she was not only convincing Liu Yiyi, but also convincing herself who had just almost been swallowed by despair.

"If because of the villain's calculation, because of a moment of humiliation, one has to give up one's life, I think this is extremely worthless! Especially that beast Zhang Xu!"

"Even if he died, if he knew we committed suicide because of this, I'm afraid he would laugh out loud in the underworld! Why should we use our lives to fulfill his viciousness?!"

"And..." Su Yan's gaze swept across this closed private room, her tone lowered, but it carried a kind of decisive certainty, "This matter is known to heaven and earth, you know and I know!"

"As long as we don't say it, there will never be a fourth person who knows! It will not cause substantial damage to our reputation!"

She paused, as if she had made some kind of determination, her tone even carrying a trace of near-sulking, a girl's stubbornness, "At worst, we won't marry in the future..."

"In this world, women don't necessarily have to rely on men to live!"

Su Yan was worthy of being a big lady from a wealthy family; the thoughts in her mind turned very fast, and the words she said were also very logical.

A few short sentences not only persuaded Liu Yiyi, but even persuaded herself.

You know, when she was crying loudly just now, she also thought about dying once and for all.

The will to die in Liu Yiyi's beautiful eyes finally flickered and faded under the impact of Su Yan's clear and powerful words.

The force she had gathered in her palm also dissipated slowly like a deflated ball.

However, the heaviest and most difficult-to-speak stone in her heart still pressed her until she couldn't breathe.

Her lips moved for a long time before she said a few words with extreme difficulty, in a voice that was almost inaudible: "That... that person..."

Liu Yiyi stopped talking, but Su Yan already understood who she was talking about.

That white-haired old man who smashed Zhang Xu like a god descending from heaven was also the most critical person in their unbearable memories.

He was also the person they least wanted to mention at this moment.

"Yiyi..." Su Yan's gaze became deep and calm; she carefully recalled the glimpse of last night, "That person, his strength is definitely above the Hidden Force realm, and may even be higher. Inside and outside Anxi County, my father has paid attention to the famous Hidden Force experts, and I have also heard of their names or seen their portraits, but that person... his face is old, but his skills are as sharp as this, and I have no impression at all."

She pondered, analyzing slowly: "I think he is likely passing through this place, or a master hiding in Anxi County, not an ordinary person."

"And... if he really had evil intentions toward us, with his strength and the situation before, it is impossible for us to be safe and sound here talking."

Her gaze swept over herself and Liu Yiyi, "He... seems to have no ulterior motives and no transgressions. It is more like... we were..."

She was too ashamed to speak the words behind, but the meaning was already clear.

"So..." Su Yan took a deep breath and drew a conclusion, her eyes carrying a considerable rationality, "I think that person met us by chance, and his action might just be seeing injustice on the road, or even... there might be other reasons. Afterward, he left quietly, and there was no sign of coercion or extortion. It is of no benefit to him to leak this matter, and it may even cause trouble. He... probably won't say it."

Hearing this, Liu Yiyi sighed slightly in her heart and silently put down the jade hand that had wanted to commit suicide.

She agreed with Su Yan's persuasion and deduction.

After all, in that unbearable memory, the white-haired old man was more like being forced by them.

"Yiyi, we must live well!"

Su Yan held Liu Yiyi's cold jade hand and said in a deep voice:

"Didn't you say before that your dream in this life is to climb to the peak of the martial path and become the first female martial saint in the Zhou Dynasty!"

Hearing this, a trace of brilliance slowly flowed in Liu Yiyi's tear-red beautiful eyes.

Yes, her martial path had just begun, how could it be cut off here.

The next moment.

Inexplicably, the blurred figure of the white-haired old man flashed in her mind again, and there was a faint familiar sense of incongruity.

"Who are you."