The Severing of Chains and the Echo of Love

Qiu Yue lay on the scorching ground, the intense pain from her severed arm feeling like countless red-hot steel needles savagely piercing her, with each breath she took pulling at her torn internal organs.

Yet, what tormented her more, pushing her to the brink of suffocation, were Lin Mo’s words and his calm, unruffled eyes—devoid of fear, anger, or even a trace of lingering resentment he deigned to offer.

“There is nothing, Qiu Yue.”

These words, like the most biting gale from the far northern wastes, instantly froze every last vestige of warmth in her blood, colder even than the frost Lin Mo had previously used to pierce her flesh.

She no longer felt the scorching ground, only that the entire world was receding from her, plunging into a dark, dead void.

Her hollow, azure pupils violently constricting and trembling, like a dying fish desperately trying to grasp the last familiar flicker of light from that void—

But now, there was nothing left.

She could not comprehend it.

She loved him! She had used every possible method to keep him by her side, breaking his wings, dulling his edge, making him hers alone.

Wasn’t the fear in his eyes, born because of her, proof that he cared for her, that he couldn’t leave her? Wasn’t his occasional, irrepressible anger due to the fervent emotions he harbored for her deep within his heart?

She had always believed that love was such a violent, possessive, terrifying, and inseparable thing.

Just like her love for him, which surged tempestuously, so profound it demanded expression through harm, so deep it required confirmation through control.

“You… you’re lying!” Qiu Yue’s voice was hoarse beyond recognition, like gravel repeatedly scraping against rough leather, tinged with a heavy scent of blood.

Recklessly, she used her remaining left hand to prop up half her body, lifting her head.

Her face, once as delicate as a doll’s, now blood-stained, twisted, and ferocious, stared directly into Lin Mo’s downward gaze.

“Look at me, Lin Mo! Look at me! Look closely! I am Qiu Yue! You are Qiu Yue! How could you possibly not love me?! You’re just angry! Yes! You’re angry that I control you! Angry that I hit you and cursed you! Isn’t that right?!”

Her voice rose higher and higher, laced with shrill hysteria, and she was afraid.

Lin Mo, still crouched before her, remained utterly motionless.

“Yes, whatever you say is right.”

Crash—

Something shattered completely within Qiu Yue’s heart.

“No, it’s not like this…” The madness on Qiu Yue’s face froze, like withered grass covered in ice and snow, leaving only cracks and ashes.

The light in her eyes completely dispersed, as if most of her soul had been instantly drawn out, leaving only an empty shell futilely moving its lips.

Large, pea-sized tears, mingled with bloodstains, rolled unexpectedly from her hollow, azure pupils.

Initially scalding, they instantly cooled and solidified upon contact with the dust-laden, scorching, charred ground, like wilting crystals.

Her left hand, which had been propping her up, seemed to lose all strength, and she abruptly collapsed back onto the ground.

She suddenly crumpled, her forehead striking the scorching ground with a dull thud.

This despair and sense of nihilism, born from the deepest core of her soul being utterly negated, was overwhelming.

“It’s not like this… it’s not…” she murmured to herself, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, easily drowned out by the lament of spewing lava.

She resembled a lost, utterly abandoned child, unable to find their way home, left with nothing but boundless cold and solitude.

Lin Mo watched her collapsing, trembling form.

Within him, the towering tidal wave of countless fears, angers, hatreds, and survival instincts, suppressed for ten years, now strangely subsided into an even deeper, frozen stillness.

It was not pity, nor was it satisfaction, but rather the calm and detachment that followed a complete end.

It was over.

He slowly stood up, his gaze no longer lingering on the cowering Qiu Yue, but instead cast towards the distant, churning sea of lava and the barren, scorched earth frozen by chilling air.

The power of the Snowflame slowly receded around him.

The shimmering aura, a blend of sunset hues and frost that had enveloped him, gradually withdrew, like a peerless, formidable blade returning to its sheath.

“Our grievances,” Lin Mo’s voice rang out clearly, undeniable, piercing through Qiu Yue’s lament and the distant roar of the lava, settling upon this scarred land with an unyielding finality.

“Born of compulsion, they shall end today with this battle. You, Qiu Yue…” He paused, that silence feeling as heavy as a thousand jin, brutally crushing Qiu Yue’s last shred of hope.

“Never appear before my eyes again. There is no love between you and me.”

These words were the final steel blade, utterly severing Qiu Yue’s soul.

Qiu Yue’s body began to tremble violently, as if pierced by an invisible, immense force.

She curled up, and soft whimpers and low sobs slowly began.

Her hollow gaze fixed on the bottomless chasm before her, where ice and fire intertwined.

She opened her mouth, but no sound emerged, only Lin Mo’s reflection in her violently constricting pupils.

Lin Mo no longer spared her a glance, as if she were merely a heap of lifeless stones on the ground.

Turning to leave, he merely gathered a beam of light at his fingertip and aimed it at himself.

It was slow, not difficult to block.

Yet Qiu Yue’s body and mind were already shattered, her Dao Heart utterly broken.

She had deeply loved Lin Mo, but only now did she realize she had been wrong.

The beam of light pierced Qiu Yue’s forehead.

It brought no pain whatsoever, not because Lin Mo was merciful, but because her heart was already dead, incapable of feeling any pain.

She watched Lin Mo’s retreating figure, walking into the distance.

Then she saw…

“Wan’er! You won!” A clear cry, imbued with endless surprise and profound relief, cut through the layers of roaring, erupting lava.

The owner of that voice, her clothes stained with blood and her aura weak, defiantly walked slowly towards Lin Mo.

Without hesitation, his feet pushed off!

Lin Mo’s steady walk instantly transformed into a hurried dash, even stumbling slightly from his urgency, reaching Ji Xue in just a few steps.

“Your Highness!” Lin Mo’s voice lost its usual composure, which had previously resonated across the entire scene, now tinged with a subtle urgency and lingering fear.

He instinctively reached out, carefully supporting Ji Xue’s swaying body with a gentleness he himself hadn’t noticed.

“Didn’t I tell you to hide properly and recover from your injuries? Why are you…”

He paid no heed to the pallor of her injured face; the cold facade he had deliberately maintained in front of Qiu Yue vanished abruptly, replaced by the genuine concern he only ever revealed when she was near.

Ji Xue, now steadily supported by him, managed to force out a dazzling yet somewhat weak smile despite her pain.

Her brows held the vibrant spirit of one who had survived a great ordeal, even mixed with a hint of triumphant pride.

“Didn’t we win? What does it matter! The commotion outside was so huge, how could I possibly lie still!”

She took a breath, trying to make herself sound stronger, her eyes sparkling as she proudly looked at Lin Mo.

“As expected of my… subject!”

Her tone, however, was impossibly light, and she even secretly winked at Lin Mo.

“Mission accomplished, Your Highness. With such a formidable subordinate bringing you glory, remember to raise my wages, alright?” Lin Mo, too, involuntarily curved his lips in a smile of relief.

He nodded slightly, a gesture framed by etiquette, yet the reverence within it had entirely transformed into an unspoken understanding and warm response between them, devoid of any pretense or distance.

Ji Xue finally couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, which tugged at her wounds, making her hiss lightly in pain, yet her shoulders still trembled with mirth.

A deeper smile also formed in Lin Mo’s eyes.

This light, joyous laughter, weary yet immensely relieved, permeated the lingering scent of scorching and blood on the battlefield, clearly piercing Qiu Yue’s ears in her fading consciousness.

That laughter wove into an invisible net, carrying pure affection.

Just before Qiu Yue was gradually engulfed by white light and expelled from the secret realm, it plunged like an invisible venomous thorn deep into her already crumbling soul.

It echoed repeatedly within her sea of consciousness, trembling ceaselessly, like a parasitic worm clinging to bone, relentless and unending.

‘If only… if I had known the love in Lin Mo’s heart… would the one standing here, laughing with him… be me?’

‘Was I wrong…?’

‘No, there should be no doubt.’

Looking towards Lin Mo, Qiu Yue already knew she was wrong.

‘I’m sorry…’

But before she could utter the words, her consciousness was completely severed.