Chapter 481: Near Death

Senior Sister!

As the gate at the valley's base opened, the ship bearing the Qilin came out.

"This kid actually came in person," Gu Rongjin said.

Mu Yuanzhi said, "The Qilin is like that; since he didn't come last time, I knew something was off."

Of course, she had also been a little nervous just now.

"Qilin!" Mu Yuanzhi also waved at her junior fellow disciple.

Yueyun hadn't expected the Qilin to come in person; earlier they had clearly said just letting her come to greet him would be enough.

Having not seen Mu Yuanzhi for a long time, the Qilin missed her dearly and naturally didn't want to wait another moment.

As the ship approached, he casually greeted Gu Rongjin and the Witch Doctor, then headed straight for Mu Yuanzhi.

"How have you been lately, Senior Sister?" the Qilin asked.

"Very well. And you—how's your condition?" Mu Yuanzhi said, sizing up the Qilin from head to toe.

"The side effects seem to have been completely lifted." Saying that, the Qilin recalled Mu Yuanzhi's willingness to come this time, his cheerful expression faded, and he said, "Pei Shangling isn't doing so well."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone turned to look at him.

"Let's talk as we walk."

Along the way, the Qilin and Mu Yuanzhi told them everything that had happened to Pei Shangling after arriving at Juechen Valley.

"When he first said it, I didn't really believe it—who would trade their own life for another's? I'm not that close to him, we're not relatives or friends, and Yueyun was even on guard against him pulling some trick, but I wasn't afraid; since he was so determined, I let him try it, and who would have thought what he said was actually true!"

The Witch Doctor interjected, "If the Valley Lord had known this was true beforehand, would she still have accepted it?"

"Of course! This is something he owes me!" the Qilin said.

Those memories he lacked were the terrifying experiences from his previous life; he went through them once in the illusion, so deeply engraved it was as if he had experienced them again, making them impossible to forget.

Furthermore, it was Pei Shangling who chose to use his own life to make up for it; nobody forced him.

"Moreover, he did it with a purpose: he wants you, Senior Sister, to forgive him," the Qilin said.

Although giving up one's life for that reason is still too crazy.

What's the point of forgiving and making up for it if there's no life left?

Mu Yuanzhi asked, "How is he now?"

"Let's see when we get there," the Qilin said.

The group went up the valley; the Qilin led them to the Heavenly Palace, which inside had an ice cellar that had been temporarily converted into a room.

Mu Yuanzhi saw Pei Shangling lying on an ice bed.

Ordinary people couldn't even lie on it; just touching it would make them shiver from the cold.

The Witch Doctor casually remarked, "Looks like it's all cold now."

Upon approaching, Mu Yuanzhi noticed Pei Shangling's complexion was no different from a corpse's—stiff and deathly pale, with no trace of color; if she hadn't seen his chest barely rising and falling, she would have thought it was a corpse.

Gu Rongjin asked, puzzled, "Since you, little Qilin, are healed, logically Pei Shangling should have kicked the bucket by now, right?"

The Witch Doctor smirked, "Quite simple—he must have forced his life to continue."

"That's right," the Qilin nodded. "Using the Symbiotic Gu I newly researched, he's temporarily in symbiosis with the gu worms; as long as the worms don't die, he won't die either, but as you can see, his state is hardly different from death—he's just clinging to life."

"Can he speak?" Mu Yuanzhi asked.

"He can; he shouts your name every day." The Qilin crossed his arms, looking at the dying Pei Shangling, and said, "I don't know whether it's the overwhelming power of the Yin Embroidery or that this new Symbiotic Gu hasn't achieved its expected effect; in any case, he's like this—barely conscious, and even when he speaks it's just incoherent muttering."

The three of them drew closer, each lost in their own thoughts.

Suddenly, Pei Shangling spoke: "Ah Zhi..."

His weak voice was hard to make out what he was calling; his deathly pale lips, tinged with purple, struggled to speak, his eyes tightly shut, as if he were in great pain.

I don't know if it's because he's lying on the ice bed, but his whole body is stiff and rigid, emitting a chill.

"He calls your name, Senior Sister, a dozen times a day, but usually there's no follow‑up," the Qilin said.

"Pei Shangling!" the nearby Mu Yuanzhi shouted loudly.

That sentence was very effective; the person who seemed unable to move shuddered, his lips straining: "Ah Zhi… Ah Zhi…"

"Are you dead?"

I don't know if it was to stimulate Pei Shangling or something else, but Mu Yuanzhi asked.

Before coming, she had already decided what to do if Pei Shangling had already kicked the bucket: what offerings to buy, or whether to bring nothing and just jeer at his grave a couple of times.

He saved the Qilin, and she felt grateful.

But in his previous life, his various misdeeds against the Qilin cannot be ignored; these are debts he ought to repay.

Since he has more or less repaid them, she let it go.

However, treating him as she once did is impossible no matter what.

They are no longer the close siblings of a distant past.

At that moment, Pei Shangling's eyes flew open!

The Qilin thought it unbelievable, for in these past days he had never seen Pei Shangling possess such awareness.

Pei Shangling seemed to be trying to see clearly whether the person before him was the one he constantly yearned for, straining to reach out: "Will you… forever remember… remember me, Ah Zhi? Am I… the person… whose life force… you cannot forget… a special… person?"

Having strained to utter that sentence, it was as if he had expended his entire life; he lay there lifeless, eyes still open, as if awaiting an answer.

"Isn't he dead?" Gu Rongjin wondered, seeing that Pei Shangling's chest showed no movement, and leaned in to check his breath.

Although faint, it was still there.

"He's not dead."

The Witch Doctor stood by, watching the show, curious whether Mu Yuanzhi would forgive this brother of hers.

"To be honest, Pei Shangling, even if you died, I wouldn't feel burdened, but your action will certainly make me remember you forever," Mu Yuanzhi said to Pei Shangling, not knowing if he could hear her.

Pei Shangling could certainly hear it; his obsession sustained him, and even though breathing now is extremely difficult, living is worse than dying, yet he ultimately cannot bear to die—living another day is better, perhaps allowing him one more glance at her.

He could no longer tell whether this answer was what he wanted.

But he knew he had become a special memory in her heart; even a bad person had done something that let her remember it for a lifetime!

Ah Zhi is so kind...

Pei Shangling finally couldn't hold on any longer, slowly closing their eyes.

When everyone thought he had died again, Mu Yuanzhi went over to check his pulse: "Not dead, just hanging on a breath."

Gu Rongjin admired: "Truly a tenacious thing."

"He feels worth studying," the witch doctor stroked their chin and gave an eerie laugh.