[You have discussed everything with Master Li Wanshou.]
[You know very clearly how poor your health is, and that there is no chance of recovery, so you begin to prepare for your own passing.]
[To ensure your sister can live a better life, you focus on teaching her everything you know—cultivation, survival, and the four arts of immortality.]
[Your sister remains deeply attached to you, but you deliberately distance yourself, adopting a cold deanor to reduce her reliance on you and weaken the bond between you.]
[You think of yourself as nothing more than a dying man.]
[You believe you must not beco a burden to the girl or a barrier to her future.]
[Given your current relationship, you know that after you leave the Heavenly Sword Sect, Xu Moli will do everything she can to find you. To prevent this, you work to sever the bond, hoping to make her care for you less—or even co to resent you.]
[Only in this way will she not search for you when you disappear.]
[Only in this way will she never learn the truth.]
[Only in this way can you leave in peace.]
[Your plan works. Under your intentional indifference, Xu Moli’s dependence on you lessens. However, she still respects you deeply and sees you as her older brother.]
[Under your guidance, Xu Moli successfully becos a Qi Refining Realm cultivator. She is thrilled, but when she looks to you for praise, you simply say two words:]
[“It’s average.”]
[Xu Moli feels hurt by your dismissive words. Rather than offering her comfort, you assign her even more rigorous training tasks.]
[You feel increasingly anxious. Though you should have three years left to live, your body is already showing signs of decline.]
[One day, you notice a troubling hearing issue.]
[You conceal your condition well, ensuring the girl doesn’t notice. Quietly, you intensify her lessons, pushing her to beco self-reliant before your body completely fails.]
[Your relentless teaching thods frustrate Xu Moli, leaving her increasingly upset and confused. She begins to wonder if she has done sothing wrong to earn your cold treatnt.]
Half a year later…
Inside the cave, Xu Moli sat with tears brimming in her bright eyes. Her lips trembled as if trying to hold back a flood of emotions.
“Brother, what did I do wrong?”
Silence filled the room.
A long, heavy pause followed before Xu Xi finally shook his head and said, “You did nothing wrong.”
“Then why, brother? What have I—”
“Mo Li,” Xu Xi interrupted gently, his eyes closing as though he were recalling sothing distant. “Do you rember how long we’ve lived together?”
The girl, confused by the sudden question, instinctively replied, “Seventeen years.”
Seventeen years.
The total ti Xu Xi had spent in this simulated world. It was also the entirety of Xu Moli’s life.
“Yes, seventeen years.”
His voice was soft but tinged with deep exhaustion. It carried a hoarseness that revealed his struggles.
“When I first found you, you were just a newborn. I had to trade my last bit of food to get milk for you.”
“I was so hungry back then…”
“But I worried about you every day—if you were warm enough, if you had enough to eat. I was terrified you’d fall ill or feel unhappy.”
“You fell seriously ill when you were ten, and for seven long years, I never stopped working to save you.”
Xu Xi’s tone remained calm, devoid of bla or resentnt, but it was laced with a deep weariness.
“Mo Li, if it weren’t for you, my life could have been so much more vibrant.”
“I am just a person. I have my own dreams. I can’t dedicate everything to you. I’m not as selfless as you think, do you understand?”
“You’re seventeen now. You’re no longer a child. It’s ti you learn how to live on your own.”
“I—” He paused. “I’m tired.”
The air in the cave grew stifling, heavy with unspoken emotions. The dim light blurred their surroundings.
Xu Moli’s face turned pale. Her bright eyes dulled as she whispered, “So, brother, you think I’m a burden?”
“…Yes.”
Her heart plumted into an abyss. It felt as though everything that made her whole was crumbling, leaving only emptiness.
Xu Moli began to sob uncontrollably, her voice caught in her throat. Without saying another word, she fled from the cave.
She ran and ran, tears streaming down her face, leaving Xu Xi slumped in his chair, silent and unmoving, staring blankly ahead.
Humans are such contradictory creatures.
Xu Xi thought bitterly.
He had prepared countless reasons to sever the bond with his sister, to erase the image of himself as her loving brother.
But when the mont ca, it hurt far more than he had ever imagined.
“This pain… it’s worse than when I burned my spiritual roots.”
Xu Xi clutched his chest, whispering to himself, “But at least now, she can move on without and live her own life.”
[Your words, as sharp as swords, pierced the girl’s heart, leaving her shattered.]
[She wandered alone for hours, crying quietly. Hidden in a secluded corner, she wiped her tears and forced herself to find solace in her solitude.]
[When Xu Moli returned, her expression was colder. She no longer looked at you with the sa admiration, nor did she complain about your harsh training.]
Your heart ached. Yet, at the sa ti, you felt relieved.]
[After this, the girl’s will grew stronger. You sighed and hid the blood you coughed up so she wouldn’t notice.]
[You dedicated yourself entirely to her training. The intense ntal strain caused your body to deteriorate even faster. By the eighteenth year of your journey, you could feel your strength slipping away entirely.]
[You knew it was ti to leave.]
[Though you wished to stay, you knew that if you remained in the Heavenly Sword Sect any longer, the girl would eventually discover the truth.]
[You chose to leave without saying goodbye, flying away from the sect on your boat, heading toward a distant, quiet place far removed from the cultivation world.]
Where would you go?
You were uncertain.
[For the past 18 years, your goals were to cultivate and care for your sister. Now, both of those paths had co to an end.]
[After much thought, you decided to return to Black Stone City, the place where you and Xu Moli had once lived. You wanted to spend your final days in solitude.]
[The cultivation world is vast, filled with mortal dynasties and countless pleasures, but none of them felt as familiar or comforting as Black Stone City, where your mories with the girl were forged.]
With a soft whistle, the flying boat descended from the sky.
Unnoticed by anyone, a young man—now stripped of his cultivation and spiritual roots—settled into the old wooden house with nothing but a wooden sword.
There, he waited silently for the end of his life.
Neighbors who recognized him ca to greet him. He responded politely, but when asked about the girl, he simply smiled and evaded the question.
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