A torrent of emotions flooded Su Chen's heart.

He had imagined countless times what it would be like to meet Li Qingyue again.

But he had never imagined their reunion would be like this.

"For the sake of your old age and pitiful state, I, Su Chen, will let you off the hook," Su Chen muttered to himself inwardly.

The past, right and wrong—he no longer had the time to sort through it all.

He only knew that soon, he would have one less person from his past.

"Does the Young Marquis have any other questions?" Li Qingyue slowly drained the tea from her cup and looked at the dazed Su Chen, asking.

Su Chen stood up. "Thank you, Elder Li, for clearing my doubts. You've changed my impression of you."

Li Qingyue smiled. "The world's impression is the world's impression. I only wish to be true to myself. Why should I care what the world thinks?"

Su Chen didn't reply. He simply rose to take his leave, leaving behind a single sentence.

"As a token of my gratitude, I swear on the name of the Jinghai Marquis Residence that I will bring Nangong Meng's body back to the Tianlan Sect for you."

Li Qingyue's pupils widened, then she smiled.

She didn't offer any words of thanks.

She just called out in the direction of his departure, "Young Marquis."

Su Chen turned back to look at Li Qingyue. Their eyes met.

Li Qingyue was reminded of a young man from many years ago; his eyes had been just like this boy's.

So many words came to her mind, but in the end, they all condensed into one phrase: "Young Marquis... please take care!"

Su Chen smiled. "You too, Elder Li."

In the rustling bamboo forest, only Li Qingyue remained.

She walked alone into the depths of the bamboo grove.

There, one bamboo tablet after another recorded the names of people from her past.

There was her only disciple, Nangong Meng.

There was her respected master.

There were her parents and relatives.

And... the grave of a fiancé named Su Chen.

Li Qingyue sat before the grave and murmured, "Su Chen... I must look ridiculous right now, don't I?"

"You used to say, 'thirty years east of the river, thirty years west,' but now... two hundred years have passed."

"Perhaps what I did was truly wrong, but you never came to the Tianlan Sect either."

"In this world, there are many things beyond our control."

...

Su Chen left Li Qingyue's bamboo forest.

He glanced back into its depths, at the aged figure who had long since disappeared from sight.

Su Chen clasped his fists in a salute, two strands of long hair falling across his forehead.

He had come here for two reasons. One was to resolve the grudges of his first life.

The other was to see this person from his past off on her final journey.

Li Qingyue was dying.

Twenty years ago, after Jiang Chen and Nangong Meng from his previous life had died in battle, Li Qingyue had charged into the enemy formation alone, trying to retrieve Nangong Meng's body, only to be surrounded.

In the end, Yu Zhengde had arrived with his army just in time, allowing Li Qingyue to escape with her life.

But on that day, Li Qingyue had suffered irreparable injuries.

Su Chen sighed. The people of his past were withering away, like leaves in the wind.

The grievances of his youth no longer mattered.

Discover the complete story on pawread.com

The traces of his first life were ultimately being erased by time.

Seven days later, news of Li Qingyue's death spread.

The Tianlan Sect mourned for a moment, and then no one mentioned Li Qingyue again.

Su Chen felt a sense of release. His state of mind was subtly changing again.

The unshakable bottleneck to the Spirit Sea Realm showed signs of loosening, giving Su Chen a faint sense that a breakthrough was imminent.

He decided to stay at the Tianlan Sect, seizing this opportunity to see if he could break through to the Spirit Sea Realm.

His stay, expected to be half a year, stretched into a full year.

In that year, Su Chen turned eighteen.

The youngest Spirit Sea Realm martial artist in the Tianfeng Kingdom was born.

In his past life, it had taken Su Chen seventy years to reach this stage.

In this life, it had taken him only eighteen.

Strictly speaking, it hadn't even been a full eighteen years.

None of that mattered anymore.

Having broken through to the Spirit Sea Realm, Su Chen would have to forge his own path forward.

Fortunately, in this life, he had an ancestor who was Marquis Jinghai, one of the ten strongest experts in the Tianfeng Kingdom.

He no longer had to struggle and fumble his way forward alone like in his previous lives.

After breaking through to the Spirit Sea Realm at the Tianlan Sect, Su Chen paid his respects at Li Qingyue's grave one last time before leaving the sect and heading back to the Jinghai Marquis Residence.

However...

On his way back to the Jinghai Marquis Residence, the unexpected happened.

Su Chen was ambushed.

A total of fifteen Spirit Sea Realm experts had been dispatched!

All of them were cloaked and masked, their faces hidden, but their bodies radiated a murderous aura.

"How audacious! Who are you people? How dare you target the Young Marquis? Aren't you afraid of Marquis Jinghai's wrath and bringing disaster upon your families?"

The steward shielded Su Chen, while the Spirit Sea Realm guards formed a protective wall in front of him.

They watched the surrounding black-clothed people warily.

The enemy had fifteen Spirit Sea Realm experts, while Su Chen's side, even including him, had only eight. They were outnumbered almost two to one.

"Heh, since we dared to come and assassinate the Young Marquis, we naturally have no fear of..." one of the black-clothed men began to taunt, as if he had everything under control.

Before he could finish, the leader of the black-clothed men cut him off.

"Enough nonsense! Strike now and finish the Young Marquis! We can't afford any delays!"

In an instant, all the black-clothed men attacked.

The steward intercepted four of the Spirit Sea Realm experts and shouted to Su Chen, "Young Marquis, run! I'll hold them off for you!"

Su Chen didn't hesitate. Unleashing his Spirit Sea Realm aura, he struck down one of the black-clothed men and flew toward the Jinghai Marquis Residence without a second glance.

"Damn it, how did he break through to the Spirit Sea Realm so quickly?"

One of the black-clothed men was stunned. In that split second, Su Chen's guards and steward had risked their lives to hold back an enemy force nearly double their number.

"Young Marquis... please forgive Feng Ding for being unable to serve you any longer. You must... live on!"

A world-shaking roar, like the earth dragon turning over, shook the surroundings.

Su Chen felt the tremor and knew that the steward assigned to him by Marquis Jinghai had bought him time with his life. Without pausing, he desperately rushed in the direction of the Jinghai Marquis Residence.

If he died like this in this life, he would die of pure frustration.

In the distance, amidst the earth-shattering devastation, three figures crawled out wretchedly.

Of the fifteen Spirit Sea Realm experts who had ambushed Su Chen, only three remained.

Ignoring their injuries, the three hastily pulled on new black robes to cover their true identities.

"After him! We absolutely cannot let him escape back to the Jinghai Marquis Residence!"

The three gritted their teeth, unleashed all their latent potential, and chased after the fleeing Su Chen.

They absolutely could not let Su Chen reach the Jinghai Marquis Residence.

Absolutely not!

Because... this was their only chance to kill him