After Cutting Off Love And Emotions, I Was Pestered By The Demon Sect’s Enchantress - Chapter 26

Severing Affection (Part I)

The tip of the sword was only three inches from A-Xu’s neck. Zhu Shengxi took a step forward, hesitating: “Eldest Senior Sister…”

“Be quiet,” Jiang Lixu said, unmoved. She stared intently at A-Xu and continued her interrogation. “Where did the blood on you come from?”

A-Xu replied nonchalantly, “I ran into a few people on the road. I didn’t like the look of them, so I killed them all.”

She spoke with such an indifferent tone, as if she were as light as brushing away a few small insects.

Jiang Lixu sneered, “As expected of a practitioner of the demonic path, speaking of taking human lives so lightly. Junior Sister, you heard her, didn’t you? Do you still want to defend her?”

Zhu Shengxi looked at her but asked, “Had those people committed any evil?”

A-Xu gave a cold snort and said eerily, “When I kill, I never look at whether they have done evil. It depends entirely on my mood.”

Zhu Shengxi did not expect her to say such a thing and was momentarily stunned where she stood.

A-Xu ignored her and used her jade flute to nudge the blade aside. With a calm expression, she said, “I am not the only one who uses a flute as a weapon. Sect Leader Jiang has a prejudice against me and can harbor suspicions in her heart, but to draw a sword without a shred of evidence—is this the conduct of the Guiyun Sect?”

Jiang Lixu furrowed her brows tightly and looked at her coldly. Just as she was about to say something, her transmission talisman suddenly chimed. She scanned the contents, and her expression turned grave.

Seeing her face visibly darken, Zhu Shengxi couldn’t help but ask, “Eldest Senior Sister, what happened?”

“Someone has launched a night attack on the Guiyun Sect; it concerns the scrolls. I must return now to handle it.” Having said that, Jiang Lixu paused and gave an uneasy warning:

“Be careful yourself.”

Hearing the word “scrolls,” Zhu Shengxi knew the matter was urgent and nodded slightly. “Mm.”

Jiang Lixu sheathed her sword and gave A-Xu a chilly look. As she passed by the woman’s side, her words carried a hint of a threat: “If you secretly harm my Junior Sister, I will certainly not let you go.”

A-Xu’s expression remained indifferent, appearing as if she didn’t take the threat to heart at all.

After Jiang Lixu left, silence returned to the room. A-Xu’s gaze fell elsewhere, remaining uncharacteristically silent.

She knew the person before her would surely ask something, and she had already prepared her explanation in her mind.

To her surprise, Zhu Shengxi asked nothing. She simply took out a clean handkerchief and walked to her side.

However, A-Xu tilted her head slightly, unobtrusively avoiding the wiping motion. She said calmly:

“Just give me a Cleansing Talisman.”

Her words and actions were tinged with an unmistakable distance, utterly different from her usual smiling self.

“Alright.” Zhu Shengxi froze for a moment and silently withdrew her hand, handing her a Cleansing Talisman instead.

As the Cleansing Talisman burned away, the mottled bloodstains on her body were instantly cleared. A-Xu lowered her eyes slightly and tucked the jade flute back into her waist.

“Do you have nothing to say to me?”

A-Xu looked up and swept a glance over her. The bloodstain on Zhu Shengxi’s shoulder was particularly jarring against the white robes, and her face was somewhat pale; she was clearly injured.

“I went to investigate. Others say the head of the Xie family, Xie Funing, has been plagued by illness and has been recuperating in seclusion, never appearing in public. This matter with the Xie family is a bit strange; I’m afraid we’ve already been targeted.” A-Xu answered in a flat voice, without inquiring about the state of Zhu Shengxi’s injury.

Zhu Shengxi suppressed a flicker of disappointment in her eyes. “Mm. Just now on the road, I fought with a woman. The demonic beast she commanded was the same one from the mist that day.”

Hearing this, A-Xu frowned, her gaze falling once more on the wound on Zhu Shengxi’s shoulder. “Using the secret technique a second time still has side effects. You clearly knew this, so why did you go out?”

Her expression was cold, but there was a trace of anger in her voice.

Unsure of A-Xu’s thoughts, Zhu Shengxi explained stiffly, “I… I just went out for a walk.”

Rarely seeing the person before her acting so hesitant, A-Xu felt a bit helpless and couldn’t help but purse her lips with a light smile. “Mm.”

The earlier distance was dissipated by the smile. Only now did she seem like the A-Xu she was familiar with. Zhu Shengxi gazed at her smiling face, and her heart settled.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

A-Xu slowly retracted her smile and looked at her. “What do you want to hear me say?”

Zhu Shengxi met her gaze, her eyes filled with confusion:

“Why did you deliberately say those things in front of my Senior Sister to make her think you are utterly wicked?”

A-Xu’s expression suddenly stiffened before she replied, “I was merely telling the truth.”

“You wouldn’t kill without reason,” Zhu Shengxi refuted her words in a flat voice.

Because of that extremely certain tone, A-Xu’s heart first trembled, followed by several flashes of thin rage:

“Do you think you understand me very well?”

She was the Left Protector of the Demonic Sect. Others said she was cruel, merciless, and killed without blinking an eye—and the fact was indeed so. In her eyes, the so-called “righteousness” spoken of by the orthodox sects was a complete and utter joke.

How could she possibly uphold that so-called righteous path?

Stung by the anger and coldness in those words, Zhu Shengxi felt a bit lost. “I…”

But A-Xu didn’t wait for her answer. She directly chilled her voice, saying word by word: “I practice heretical arts. To people like you, I am someone with an impure heart and a rebel against the way. It is only natural for me to say those things.”

These words invisibly divided her and Zhu Shengxi into two different groups of people, placing them on opposite sides.

Zhu Shengxi frowned. Her heart instinctively did not want to be opposed to A-Xu. She couldn’t help but say, “Regarding what I mentioned before, about coming with me to the Guiyun Sect—have you made up your mind?”

Unlike her previous silence and hesitation, A-Xu refused quite directly: “I will not go to the Guiyun Sect, nor do I want to form a bond-contract with you.”

These words were like a heavy hammer, leaving Zhu Shengxi frozen in place. Her thin lips moved. “But we…”

A-Xu interrupted her words mercilessly, her tone impatient. “So what? It was a matter of mutual consent; what does it count for?”

With a few light words, she dismissed everything about their time together as a moment of uncontrollable passion.

Zhu Shengxi took a few steps back, looking deeply at the person before her. She had always felt that those intimate actions were because their hearts were connected, but to this person, they actually amounted to nothing?

Her heart felt as if it had been torn open, aching silently. Zhu Shengxi stared fixedly at A-Xu, but she only saw coldness and a faint sense of detachment on her face.

A-Xu met her gaze without a single ripple in her expression. Her tone carried a sense of incomprehension: “I don’t understand. Why are you always so stubborn?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to treat those things as a fleeting affair?”

A fleeting affair… These words turned Zhu Shengxi’s face deathly pale. The sharp pain in her heart continued. It took her several seconds to find her voice again:

“But… you said you liked me.”

A-Xu took a deep breath and made her voice cold. “If I like you, must I form a bond with you? I am used to following my own whims and I don’t like being restrained.”

So, becoming Daoist partners with her was a form of restraint to her…

A-Xu clearly hadn’t had this attitude a few days ago; they had even been kissing last night. Zhu Shengxi pressed her lips tight. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Did someone say something to you?”

She had gone out once and returned with this cold and detached appearance; she must have encountered something.

Thinking of this possibility, Zhu Shengxi softened her tone, her voice gentle yet firm: “No matter what others say, my feelings will not change.”

Previously, she had always been cold and would never say such words that bared her inner heart. But after clarifying her feelings, she had been patient and gentle with herself, her actions full of care and protection.

But she didn’t deserve her to be like this at all…

A-Xu slowly clenched her hands, suppressing the bitterness in her heart. Her tone was cold and stiff:

“No one said anything to me. This is entirely my own decision.”

The last shred of hope was also heartlessly shattered.

It turned out A-Xu had never thought about forming a bond with her; it was entirely her own wishful thinking.

In the past, others had always scrambled to flatter her. She had never experienced the feeling of unrequited longing. At this moment, she felt it truly and clearly. Her heart was filled with an indescribable bitterness, even mixed with a hint of resentment.

Zhu Shengxi grabbed A-Xu’s hand and found that her hand was just like her own—cold.

“You said before that you wanted to find a place to live in seclusion, away from the world. We can buy a residence. If you don’t want to go to the Guiyun Sect, then don’t go. I will buy the candied haws you like every day, alright?” Her voice trembled slightly, and the words she spoke had already lost their order.

In the past, A-Xu always enjoyed watching those sanctimonious righteous people reveal their true natures for the sake of profit, killing each other and begging her for mercy.

But now, the “Light of the Righteous Path” in the eyes of others was holding her hand with a tone full of entreaty. Looking at her like this, there was no pleasure in A-Xu’s heart; instead, a dull, agonizing pain surfaced.

“Zhu Shengxi, don’t you think your words are ridiculous? Seclusion? Heh. You are the Northern Hall Master of the Guiyun Sect. They expect you to break through your realm soon and eliminate demons for the sake of the Way. Can you cast these things aside to go into seclusion with me?”

A-Xu ignored the flash of desolation in her eyes and shook her head. “There is no need to say more. I have things to do. Tomorrow night, I will perform the secret technique for the last time. Once the cold poison in your body is removed, we shall each go our separate ways.” Having finished, she walked toward the door.

Zhu Shengxi vaguely felt that her attitude was wrong. This person had pestered her in a thousand ways before, but now she seemed to want to sever all ties with her.

Ironically, she had been desperate to part ways with A-Xu before, but now she didn’t want it to end like this.

Zhu Shengxi watched her retreating back and silently clenched her fists.

In a certain small alley in Jiyu City.

“What is it?” A-Xu asked expressionlessly toward the darkness.

A dark shadow gradually gathered in the gloom, revealing a figure. A hoarse and mocking voice rang out: “I have already lured Jiang Lixu away for you. Why haven’t you made your move yet?”

A-Xu didn’t answer the question but asked instead: “Did the Sect Leader send you?”

“The Sect Leader said that if you still cannot complete the mission, from now on, the Demonic Sect will no longer have a Left Protector. I have already delayed things for you for a few days; this is the final deadline.”

A-Xu showed no expression and replied:

“I understand.”

Seeing this, the dark shadow gave a cold snort and once again merged into the darkness, disappearing.

A-Xu stood where she was. In the dim light, her expression appeared increasingly dark and uncertain.

It was indeed time to end all of this.