Chapter 64: A Painful Truth

’Wh-What? Why is my heart racing? This can’t be!’ She quickly shook her head as though trying to dismiss the strange reaction, but when she turned toward Qing again, she found herself blushing even more. ’...Never?’ She kept staring at his face for a long moment before withdrawing her attention as she lowered her head.

After a brief moment, Yun Xiya shook her head again and forced herself to focus on the matter at hand. ’It’s not the time for these thoughts. I should tell him the truth, he trusts me enough to swear an Oath to the Heavens without hesitation, so I should open up to him as well.’

Having made her decision, she slowly lifted her head and looked toward Qing, who was still crouching in front of her. "The truth is..." She paused briefly before beginning to explain everything that had happened thousands of years ago.

As Yun Xiya continued speaking, Qing’s eyes widened more and more with every revelation, as he realized that the situation was far more complicated than he could ever imagine.

Yun Xiya explained the events that had led to her imprisonment, including the decisions she had made and the circumstances that had allowed Miye to take advantage of her. Qing listened without interrupting, carefully remembering each detail as he tried to connect her explanation with the information he had already gathered.

After nearly ten minutes, Yun Xiya finally finished speaking and lowered her head again, her expression filled with sorrow. "Do you understand now? Because of my hesitation... she was able to seal me inside this prison realm." Qing nodded slowly, having finally understood the events that had taken place between his Master and the woman impersonating her.

According to Yun Xiya, Miye was not merely a subordinate who had betrayed her or someone who had stolen her identity to gain control of the Nine Lotus Sect. She was Yun Xiya’s own younger sister, someone she had loved and protected since childhood.

Qing stared at Yun Xiya’s trembling form as tears began rolling down her cheeks, and he couldn’t help feeling that the situation was even more tragic than he had first thought. ’This is a truly sad development, but who could have imagined that Miye would turn out to be her own sister?’

Despite understanding the reason behind Yun Xiya’s hesitation, Qing couldn’t shake the feeling that there was still something important he had yet to uncover.

Nevertheless, he now knew almost the entire story of what had happened thousands of years ago.

Apparently, Miye had devised a plan to steal both from her sister while carrying out her other schemes to take control of the Upper Realm. The two had struggled against each other through a prolonged battle of wits, but when Yun Xiya finally had the opportunity to kill Miye...she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Her affection for her younger sister had ultimately become the weakness Miye exploited, allowing her to capture Yun Xiya and seal her inside the prison realm.

However, despite Miye’s success in imprisoning her, she had been unable to immediately obtain Yun Xiya’s Spiritual Roots or Physique, as the process proved far more difficult than she had anticipated.

If Miye attempted to take them through ordinary means, the Heavens themselves would subject her to a test of strength before allowing her to claim them. The process would expose her to a Heavenly Tribulation that she might not be capable of overcoming, making the theft far riskier than she had expected.

Qing immediately connected this information with the ritual Miye had been preparing, understanding why she had spent so much time arranging everything in secret, ’That must be another reason why she is planning to perform the ritual. With everything prepared, she might be able to bypass the Heavenly Tribulation that would otherwise stand in her way.’

With that he looked directly at Yun Xiya and asked, "I understand now, Master. Miye is waiting until she performs the ritual to take your Spiritual Roots and Physique, am I right?"

Yun Xiya nodded as she raised her head, her face filled with sorrow and anguish, "I-I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. I... had loved her since childhood. I never neglected her, not even once, yet... she was swayed by what other people said about her." Her voice trembled as she recalled the person her sister had once been, and Qing clenched his fist at the sight of her suffering.

Qing’s thoughts suddenly shifted toward a memory from his previous life, when Yun Xiya had emerged from one of the highest-ranking Rifts and immediately chosen him as her disciple because of his talent. He remembered how she had appeared before him and accepted him without hesitation, becoming the Master who had guided him throughout his journey.

That memory soon changed into another scene, one he had never been able to forget, where the Demon King’s right hand held Yun Xiya by the throat as he brutally killed her. He could still remember the tears she had shed in her final moments and the last words she had tried to convey, even though her voice itself was gone.

His fist tightened, his teeth clenched, and the killing intent in his eyes threatened to surface before he finally pulled himself out of the memory and exhaled slowly.

Qing crouched a little closer to Yun Xiya and spoke in a calm voice, keeping his emotions under control, "Master, you should understand that she has already committed a grave and unforgivable mistake by colluding with the Demons. Even if she is your sister and you still want to save her, we cannot ignore the possibility that she herself has already been turned into a Demon."

Yun Xiya immediately lifted her head and stared at him with wide eyes, seemingly unable to process what he had just said, "Wh-What?"

"You might not know this, but the Demons possess spells that can transform a Human into a Demon completely," Qing explained, his expression remaining serious as he continued.

"From what I have learned, Miye has contacted the Demon King himself, so there is a high possibility that she has already undergone that transformation." Yun Xiya’s eyes widened even further as his words reached her, and her lips trembled while she struggled to accept the possibility.

’N-No! It... it can’t be! M-My sister...!’ She lowered her head, unable to stop the thoughts racing through her mind, as the idea that Miye might no longer be Human threatened to shatter the last hope she had been holding onto.

Before Yun Xiya could sink further into her thoughts, Qing gently lifted her chin with his hand and made her look at him again, "Master, if there is still a way to save her, then I will definitely help you do it. But if she has truly become a Demon, then there may be no way to bring her back." His voice softened slightly, though he did not withdraw his words or offer her false reassurance.

"For now, all we can do is stop every plan she has put into motion. Once we have prevented her from carrying out the ritual and uncovered the full extent of her schemes, we can determine whether she has already been transformed or if there is still a chance to save her." Qing finished speaking, leaving Yun Xiya staring at him in a daze as she considered the difficult choice before her.

His words were harsh, but Yun Xiya knew that he was not saying them to hurt her.

She remained silent for a long moment, carefully considering everything he had told her and the consequences of allowing Miye to continue, ’If... Miye succeeds, the entire Nine Lotus Sect will be sacrificed. No, it won’t stop there, the entire Upper Realm will be sacrificed for her selfish desires.’

She slowly closed her eyes as the reality of the situation settled over her, realizing that her hesitation had already cost her thousands of years and had allowed Miye to prepare a plan capable of destroying countless lives.

Yun Xiya took a long breath before slowly opening her eyes again, and this time her expression carried a trace of determination beneath the sorrow. ’If I don’t stop her and make her understand, she will never be able to turn away from this path. I... need to stop her.’ She looked directly at Qing and finally gave him her answer, her voice still trembling slightly but no longer uncertain.

"I will help you, Qing. In exchange, I want to be the one who faces my sister. E-Even if she has reached a state where we can no longer save her... I still want to talk to her." Her decision was not simply about defeating Miye or protecting the Nine Lotus Sect, but about facing the person she had loved for so long and finding out whether any part of her sister remained.

Qing arched an eyebrow for a moment before he understood what Yun Xiya meant, and he nodded with a small smile, "I understand, Master. After everything is settled, I won’t interfere with what you choose to do with her."