Everything happened too suddenly. Jiang Liu seemed oblivious to everything around him as he slowly walked to Jiang Xiaosi’s lifeless body.
“Foolish child, without you, how is your father supposed to live on?”
His hands trembling, he pulled out the two beads he shared with Jiang Xiaosi and closed his eyes, channeling all his thousand years of cultivation into them. Then, he gently placed them into the wound in her abdomen. A red light flashed as the wound gradually healed, with the beads becoming a part of her body.
“Jiang Liu! What are you doing?!” Shen Koudan tried to steady his staggering body, but he was already severely injured.
“Xiaosi is dead! She’s already dead!”
Jiang Liu weakly shook his head. “She won’t die. She can’t die. She’s Zhao Bing’s daughter! How could she die so easily? Xiaosi, do you hear me? Whether as a human or as a zombie, your father demands that you live on!”
Ignoring her protests, Jiang Liu transferred all his remaining power to Jiang Xiaosi. He had no desire to live any longer, as long as he could bring Xiaosi back. He prayed that heaven would show some mercy this time and stop tormenting them. If there was a next life, he vowed to treasure the opportunity and never again let the one he loved slip away!
He poured all his strength into awakening the power within Jiang Xiaosi. Turning a dead human into a zombie wasn’t difficult, but since Jiang Xiaosi had consumed the Tuogu Xiang, Jiang Liu could only gamble with a life for a life.
After burning through his energy for half an incense stick’s time, Jiang Liu finally collapsed, unable to continue. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiaosi’s body, bathed in a red glow, began to show signs of revival.
Xiaosi, you worked so hard to become human, and now your father has selfishly turned you back into a zombie. I hope when you wake up, you won’t hate me for this…
“Jiang Liu…!” Shen Koudan sobbed as she held his frail body. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing all the people who meant the most to her at once.
“Don’t leave me, Jiang Liu! Don’t! I love you! I’ve always loved you… What am I supposed to do without you?”
“I know… I know… You’re a strong girl. Let go of all the bad things from the past and live your life to the fullest. Be yourself, okay? Promise me…”
Shen Koudan nodded, her tears falling like pearls onto Jiang Liu’s face.
Jiang Liu couldn’t help but smile. How wonderful that, as he was dying, someone was there to hold him and cry for him…
With trembling hands, Shen Koudan tore away the last layer of disguise from her face, revealing the true self that hadn’t seen the light of day in almost twenty years.
“Jiang Liu, look at me… Look at me… This is my real face. Do you see it? I’m not Shen Koudan; I’m Shen Kouqing. Koudan was my sister—she’s already dead. I’m Kouqing. Jiang Liu, remember my name. Remember my face… From now on, I’ll be myself again…”
Shen Kouqing held Jiang Liu tightly. This man knew, from the very beginning, that she had been living as someone else out of guilt and pain, forgetting her own identity. But now, just as she had finally decided to reclaim herself, he was leaving her.
Jiang Liu gently nodded. The woman before him had pale, translucent skin with a red mole at the corner of her eye, like a lily blooming in the morning mist—so fresh and pure, more beautiful than any face she had ever disguised herself with.
He raised his hand to wipe away her tears, smiling at her with the same tenderness as always. Finding herself meant that one day, she would find happiness.
Jiang Liu closed his eyes softly, and his body, in an instant, turned to white bones.
Shen Kouqing cried out his name in agony, her sobs echoing through Manyue Valley for a long, long time…
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