After My Death, the Female Lead Breaks the Heartless Path - Chapter 49

The room was pitch black, without a single trace of light.

Yin Ruolan’s hand, which had been about to knock, paused, and she instead gently pushed the door open. As a cultivator of her level, she could see clearly even in the dark, so she distinctly saw that Xu Jingqiu was not asleep but standing before the tightly shut window, staring blankly at it.

Hearing the movement behind her, Xu Jingqiu did not turn around immediately but asked in a very certain tone, “You know everything now, don’t you?”

“…Yes,” Yin Ruolan hesitated for a long moment before deciding to confess everything. ” I really am that person.”

“I kept it from you before because I was afraid you would leave once you found out I was your ‘ex-girlfriend.’ I’m sorry.” Yin Ruolan’s voice grew softer and softer, tinged with deep unease, unintentionally tugging at the contract between them and clearly conveying her emotions to Xu Jingqiu.

But Xu Jingqiu said nothing, not even turning around.

Seeing that Xu Jingqiu showed no reaction, Yin Ruolan’s heart sank halfway. Still, she steeled herself and continued, “I know I’ve hidden things from you again. I’m sorry. I… originally planned to confess after the matter with the Heavenly Dao was resolved. I’m sorry.”

Xu Jingqiu remained silent for a long time before suddenly letting out a deep sigh. Only then did she turn to look at Yin Ruolan, her expression neither sad nor joyful. “This time, I don’t mind. Strictly speaking, I’ve been hiding things from the very beginning too. In fact, I remembered my identity much earlier than you did. In that regard, we’re quite in sync.”

Then, Xu Jingqiu’s tone shifted abruptly. Unconsciously clenching her fists, she asked calmly, though her voice trembled slightly, “But back then, why were you so heartless?”

The conversation had finally reached the most critical part, a past that was the most painful for both Xu Jingqiu and Yin Ruolan.

Xu Jingqiu had only limited information about what had happened. At the beginning, both she and Yin Ruolan were ordinary people, so they naturally did not attract the attention of the supernatural. By the time things unfolded, many traces of Yin Ruolan had already been erased, and Xu Jingqiu’s memories were severely fragmented. The truth remained unknown. All she knew was that after countless days of fleeing, Yin Ruolan had suddenly broken up with her, only to reappear at her engagement banquet with Ai Yanran.

Initially, it was Xu Jingqiu who had confessed to Yin Ruolan. At the time, Xu Jingqiu had no idea that Yin Ruolan was engaged. After learning about it, she never made any further advances or declarations of love, believing she shouldn’t interfere since Yin Ruolan already had a future partner.

When did her feelings change? It was when she saw Yin Ruolan in such a vulnerable state at a bar that her perspective shifted again.

Ai Yanran lived a wild life herself but imposed strict demands on Yin Ruolan, all because the Yin family’s status was inferior to the Ai family’s. Not only Ai Yanran, but even the servants of the Ai family looked down on Yin Ruolan.

If it were just these things as Yin Ruolan had said back then she could endure it, after all, the Yin family had given her everything. But as time went on, the situation worsened. One day, she suddenly realized that not only the Ai family but even the Yin family treated her as nothing more than a bargaining chip, not as a person.

She clung to her dignity but lived in increasing misery. In the end, she had no choice but to work desperately to repay everything the Yin family had given her.

After she sent a member of the Ai family, a man who harbored ill intentions and employed dirty tactics against her to prison, she broke ties with the Yin family. The Yin family tried to force her to apologize, and Ai Yanran did exactly that; in fact, the incident had occurred with her tacit approval.

At that time, Xu Jingqiu, because of an ill-timed confession she had made unknowingly, had already lost her eligibility to continue her studies. She could only work odd jobs at a bar, utterly alone and completely cut off from Ye Shuran. The Ai family had severed all her means of communication.

Two people, both persecuted by the Ai family, found common ground and decided to leave the city together, erasing all traces of their existence. The condition for Yin Ruolan to break away from the Yin family was to repay a large sum of money. After settling the debt, they used what little remained to start a new life.

Unexpectedly, the Ai and Yin families unilaterally tore up the agreement. No one knew who leaked the information, but they were discovered, their lives utterly upended. Forced into a relentless flight, they found no one willing to help them.

After all, the Ai family was one of the top three influential families at the time, with a complex and shadowy network of connections. No one was willing to stand up for two powerless individuals.

Sometime later, Yin Ruolan unilaterally broke up with Xu Jingqiu and left. During her absence, the Ai family showed no mercy; instead, they intensified their efforts, even attempting to kill Xu Jingqiu.

She was the only one who knew about the many unspeakable secrets from back then.

But now a cold, mocking glint flashed in Xu Jingqiu’s eyes.

After awakening to the power of the Outer God, she had lost much of her memory. If the Ai family hadn’t resurfaced on their own, she might have forgotten their existence entirely. The Ai family, assuming she still remembered the past, tried to deal with her as they had before. But this time, she had powerful backing and was no longer the defenseless young girl she once was.

Her memories after that remained somewhat hazy even now. She only recalled swiftly dismantling the Ai and Yin families their list of dirty deeds was long enough to warrant the death penalty many times over. She vaguely remembered that both Yin Ruolan and Ai Yanran were gone by then.

“You still remember what the Yin and Ai families did back then, don’t you?” Yin Ruolan didn’t answer directly.

Xu Jingqiu nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“I received messages from both families. They had set up a kill order, promising to spare you if I agreed to their terms. Having grown up in the Yin family, I knew how ruthless their methods were. If they had been toying with us like a cat with a mouse before, they were now ready to end the game. I was too panicked at the time. I didn’t want anything to happen to you, so I agreed and returned. After I went back, they did withdraw the assassins in front of me.”

Xu Jingqiu waited until Yin Ruolan finished before speaking. “No, after you left, the attempts on my life intensified. Many times, I narrowly escaped death in the truest sense.”

Yin Ruolan let out a bitter laugh. “I know. They even found someone to impersonate you to deceive me. I didn’t dare get too close to you, afraid they would find out.” She truly hadn’t expected the two families to go to such lengths.

Xu Jingqiu also knew that both of them were just ordinary people back then. She waved her hand and chose to move on to the next question: “Then what about after the Yin family collapsed? The Ai family was also in trouble at the time, right? Why didn’t you want to see me or discuss it with me back then?”

“I was targeted by an Outer God,” Yin Ruolan replied with a bitter smile.

Xu Jingqiu understood what she meant. Both of them were ordinary people, and facing a god-like enemy, staying together would have been futile. But just as Yin Ruolan hadn’t wanted her to get hurt back then, how could Xu Jingqiu have stood by and watched?

Both of them knew the truth, but no matter how they looked at it, it was already too late. Yin Ruolan didn’t dare to hope for Xu Jingqiu’s forgiveness, she only wished that Xu Jingqiu would still stay in the demon realm.

But clearly, things wouldn’t go as she hoped: “What’s done is done. It’s been so long, and I truly don’t hate you anymore. Those things, there’s no need for me to dwell on them anymore.”

Yin Ruolan’s pupils contracted, and she asked anxiously, “Then you…”

“I think it’s best if we part ways for now, don’t you agree?” Xu Jingqiu said calmly. “At the very least, let’s both take some time to cool off. Before I leave, I’ll resolve the matter of [Madness].”

This time, Xu Jingqiu entered the forbidden land without anyone accompanying her, only Xiao Bai went with her. Yin Ruolan weakly reached out her hand, then let it drop helplessly. Just one look at her, and Ye Shuran knew the conversation had gone badly.

“Since there’s still some time, do you want to talk?” Ye Shuran offered.

Yin Ruolan nodded, though she seemed disheartened.

Ye Shuran looked around but couldn’t find anywhere to sit. Seeing this, Bai Yi promptly transformed into the size of an adult white tiger, allowing Ye Shuran to sit on her back, then proudly lifted her head.

After spending some time together, Ye Shuran was already familiar with this behavior and skillfully ruffled her fur, praising, “Well done, well done! So impressive!”

“Alright, tell me, what exactly happened back then? By the time I returned to the country, both the Ai and Yin families were gone. I really don’t know the details.”

Yin Ruolan briefly recounted the events of that year, adding more details based on Xu Jingqiu’s experiences. But as she listened, Ye Shuran began to feel something was off. When she heard Yin Ruolan say, “After being targeted by the Outer God.”

Ye Shuran instantly covered her ears and buried her face in Bai Yi’s belly fur: “No, no! Don’t say it, I don’t want to hear it!”

Why did she have to be so curious!

Yin Ruolan gave a wry smile and didn’t continue. She concluded with one sentence: “Whether it was my disappearance back then or Xiao Qiu being trapped here now, it was all orchestrated by Him.”

Ye Shuran felt as if she had truly boarded a pirate ship. After stewing in silence for a while, she grew breathless, lifted her head, and resignedly picked up her phone: “Let me check the data from back then, Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

Ye Shuran flipped through the data in disbelief, carefully confirming it several times before speaking in a daze: “Our own world was actually once dominated by an Outer God, though the domination was at a low level. But later, the Outer God was severely injured and lost its control.”

Yin Ruolan also sensed something amiss and narrowed her eyes: “Was that Outer God the [Heavenly Dao]?”

“Yes, but initially, His control was very cautious and limited to a specific scope. Moreover, there were no figures of the Seven Kings’ level in the anomalies within our world, so it went unnoticed for a while.” Ye Shuran raised her head, meeting Yin Ruolan’s gaze, and affirmed her thoughts. “The control was confined to your and Xiao Qiu’s sphere, even including my ‘studying’ abroad, and further back, the death of Xiao Qiu’s parents, all of it was orchestrated by that entity.”

Yin Ruolan clenched her fists, her voice dripping with slow-burning fury: “We should have spared no cost to eliminate that creature from the start!”

Ye Shuran quickly fanned Yin Ruolan to help her calm down, as the demonic aura was beginning to affect her as well. “I think Xiao Qiu has probably realized this too. After all, she has access to much more detailed information than I do.”

“As for her suggestion of parting ways, how should I put it? Knowing something is one thing, but accepting it is another. Separating truly is better for both of you right now.”

Support