Chapter 523 481: Shang Miaoyan: "Xiaohan, Other Women Will Only Fail You. Come Back to Me!

Pei Yuhang felt as if he were dead drunk. He couldn't remember how he had left Nangong Jin or how he had gotten back to the Cold Palace Sword Mansion.

It was like being trapped in a chaotic dream, where everything familiar—people and places—was turned upside down.

"Liyuan, Liyuan, why did you lie to me? You lied to me for decades... you stole all my feelings... You're even worse than Shang Miaoyan, that woman who controlled my body and freedom for thirty years!

You... you've stolen the rest of my life."

"How could you be so cruel! So cruel! Why... did you have to target me?"

His heart bleak, Pei Yuhang trudged through the white snow, muttering like a drunkard as he staggered along.

Before he knew it, he bumped into a door.

He looked up... It was the door to his own disciple's room, Qing Yueqiu's.

"Yueqiu, are you there?"

Pei Yuhang asked weakly.

He didn't know why he had come here.

Perhaps he just wanted to talk to the one person he trusted most.

Unfortunately, only silence answered him.

Pei Yuhang gently pushed the door and found it unlocked. It swung open easily.

Inside, Yueqiu's room was neat and tidy, but also empty and silent.

The bed, desk, and wardrobe were all covered with simple white dust cloths, as if their owner had left on a long journey and put them there for protection.

Only the faint, lingering scent of perfume drifted through the room.

Pei Yuhang's fingertips brushed across the desk and touched a letter. The elegant, neat handwriting on the envelope made his heart tremble—

"To my Master, Pei Yuhang."

His breath caught. He stroked the familiar script with the pad of his thumb for a long moment before slowly unfolding the letter.

Master:

Yueqiu has departed to completely eliminate the lingering threat of Ji Shenyun.

My Cultivation has improved, and I no longer wish to rely on you for everything. As your proudest head disciple, it is time for me to stand on my own and ease your burdens.

I hope you... will not blame me for leaving without saying goodbye.

—Qing Yueqiu

The letter trembled in his hand. The light in Pei Yuhang's eyes gradually dimmed, and a bitter smile touched his lips.

"Even you... are you going to lie to me, too?"

Pei Yuhang's whisper dissipated into the empty room, but no one answered.

In the courtyard, the sound of light footsteps approached.

"Fan Xuan" peeked her head around the doorframe. Seeing Pei Yuhang standing there frozen with the letter, a dazed look on his face, she struggled to suppress a smile.

'In truth, she had seen Qing Yueqiu preparing to leave the Cold Palace Sword Mansion that morning.'

'If she had been willing to pass a message to Pei Yuhang, he might have been able to catch up to her.'

'But she was Shang Miaoyan!'

'How could she possibly let her Xiaohan keep another woman?'

'That clingy disciple of some goat-herder, good riddance! It would be best if she disappeared from their world forever!'

'She had hidden in the shadows, watching that silly, silver-haired girl walk out of the Cold Palace Sword Mansion. Her eyes were red, but her lips were pressed together stubbornly, and she kept looking back every few steps. It was all Shang Miaoyan could do not to laugh out loud.'

'How naively adorable.'

'Qing Yueqiu, thank you for making room for your Sister Miaoyan.'

'Another rival down! Yes!'

'As expected, the one who's still by his side at the very end is the true winner!'

Shang Miaoyan savored her victory internally for a moment, then suppressed her glee and walked into the room with a worried expression.

First, she looked around the now-empty and cold room with feigned "surprise," then let out a deliberately sorrowful sigh.

"Pei Yuhang, I saw Qing Yueqiu leaving from a distance earlier. I thought she was going to find you, but I never expected..."

"Sigh... But your disciple has grown up. I think as a master, you should respect your disciples' decisions."

Shang Miaoyan slowly approached the silent Pei Yuhang, stopping about three paces away. She clasped her hands in front of her, adopting a considerate posture as she tried to console him.

"Don't worry, Pei Yuhang. Xiaoxuan will always be with you."

Shang Miaoyan's voice was as soft as water, laced with a cloying, bewitching sweetness.

She leaned in slightly and reached out to gently stroke Pei Yuhang's forehead, a gesture that was part comfort, part silent possession.

Pei Yuhang slowly raised his head. His eyes, usually bright and steady, were now as gray as a winter dusk, as if a silent snowfall had buried all their warmth.

"...Xiaoxuan." His voice was low and hoarse, as if coming from a great distance.

"Will you lie to me?"

Shang Miaoyan froze.

'She had never seen this side of Pei Yuhang—so fragile, so empty, like a hollow shell with its soul torn out.'

'—Even back then, when she had pinned him to the bed and crushed the ring representing Lin Qianyan beneath her fingertips, his gaze had still been stubborn and furious, like a wolf that refused to submit.'

'But now...'

'Just one disciple left... It's not like she died. How could he end up like this?'

'Or... did someone bully my Xiaohan?! Who would dare bully him!'

Shang Miaoyan's heart clenched inexplicably, and a strange mix of pity and anger surged within her.

She reached out to cup his face, her thumbs gently stroking his jaw. She pressed her body closer, close enough to feel his ragged breathing.

"Pei Yuhang, no matter who has let you down, my feelings for you... are and will always be true."

She murmured softly, her red lips almost touching the shell of his ear, "That's the one thing that will never change."

"I will never leave you, and I'll never let you be wronged—Mmph!"

Before she could finish, Pei Yuhang suddenly seized her by the waist, his grip so tight it was almost painful.

His kiss was sudden, fierce, and rough.

It was like a drowning man clutching at the last piece of driftwood, or a cornered beast tearing at its prey in desperation.

Shang Miaoyan was startled at first, but then a flash of ecstasy crossed her eyes.

'Because she could feel Pei Yuhang's intense dependence on her...'

Shang Miaoyan obediently tilted her face up, letting him have his way. She even took the initiative, wrapping her arms around his neck and threading her fingers into his hair, gently soothing his frayed nerves.

'Even though Pei Yuhang's heart was full of turmoil, and he was only using her as an emotional outlet... '

'But that's all right, Xiaohan. I'm here.'

'You can do whatever you want...'

Shang Miaoyan closed her eyes. In the kiss, she tasted salt—she couldn't tell if it was from tears or the sweat of anguish.

She tasted his despair—

Like the song of a whale in the deep sea, lonely and mournful.

Like the cold, endless rain of an eternal night.

'Xiaohan... this is the pain other women have brought you.'

'You should have done this long ago, returned to my embrace.'

'I'm all you need. I... am enough!'

'I will envelop you in gentleness, melt you with affection... until you can never leave me again.'

She closed her eyes and deepened the kiss, as if to devour all of Pei Yuhang's pain.

Their emotions pushed to the extreme, the two began to lose control.

The shadow at Shang Miaoyan's feet slowly writhed.

It was the real Fan Xuan.

Watching the Holy Daughter use her appearance to bewitch and capture the White-clothed Sword Immortal, who was at his wit's end, she felt a strange, sharp pang in her heart.

However, despite the bitterness in her heart, the still-rational Fan Xuan knew clearly that Pei Yuhang was not in his right mind.

'The Holy Daughter can't accept Pei Yuhang at a time like this. Otherwise, there will definitely be a backlash!'

So, Fan Xuan hurriedly sent a mental transmission to Shang Miaoyan, warning her:

"*Holy Daughter! Snap out of it!*"

"*If you take him at a time like this, there will definitely be a backlash once he sobers up and comes to his senses!*"

A flicker of clarity returned to Shang Miaoyan's hazy eyes at Fan Xuan's warning.

Hardened by her many experiences in the game of love, she was no longer as reckless as before. After a moment's thought, she realized Fan Xuan had a point.

'But...'

She looked down, seeing a desire in Pei Yuhang's eyes that he had never shown her before.

'That look... how could she possibly stop?'

'It was just too much to resist.'

BUZZ—

At the same time, a Transmission Token began to buzz.

The sound was urgent and piercing, like a final warning from the heavens.

Shang Miaoyan reached out to smooth the tired lines at the corners of his eyes and said softly, "Aren't you going to answer that? Maybe Liyuan is back."

Pei Yuhang was silent for a moment before he replied, his voice indifferent:

"It doesn't matter anymore."

Shang Miaoyan froze for a second, then her red lips curved into a smile.

She smiled so brilliantly, so dazzlingly, that it was breathtaking.

"*Holy Daughter! Holy Daughter! You can't—*"

The moment Pei Yuhang tossed aside the Transmission Token, Shang Miaoyan blocked out Fan Xuan's final, unfinished warning.

"That's right. As long as we focus on each other, nothing else matters."

As she spoke, she reached out enthusiastically and pulled Pei Yuhang into her embrace.