CHAPTER 16 (Part 2)
The Heart-Severing Immortal
The peach blossoms stopped drifting.
As if even the wind feared her.
Zheng Wen Te stood frozen, unable to move.
The woman before him was no longer the one who cried beneath a dead tree.
She was something carved out of heartbreak and centuries.
An immortal.
A calamity.
Her eyes locked onto his.
"You should not have returned."
Zheng Wen Te's throat tightened.
"I had to."
Her lips twitched.
"Had to?"
She raised one hand slowly.
Qi gathered around her fingers like black frost.
"You always had to."
"You always chose something else."
The air grew heavy.
The pavilion stones began to crack beneath her pressure.
Zheng Wen Te stumbled back.
"Listen to me—"
She flicked her wrist.
A blade of invisible energy sliced past his cheek.
Blood sprayed.
Zheng Wen Te gasped, falling to one knee.
He hadn't even seen it.
He touched his face.
Warm blood.
Real.
This was not a dream.
The woman's voice remained calm.
"That was mercy."
Zheng Wen Te's hands trembled.
"…Why?"
Her gaze sharpened.
"Because I wanted you to feel it."
"To know…"
"What it means when someone leaves a wound open for eternity."
Another step.
The blossoms around her blackened.
Zheng Wen Te's chest tightened.
He forced himself to speak.
"I was wrong."
"I thought feelings were chains."
"I thought immortality meant cutting everything away."
His voice cracked.
"But all I did was destroy you."
For the first time—
something flickered in her eyes.
Not softness.
Not forgiveness.
Something worse.
Pain.
Then it vanished beneath ice.
She laughed quietly.
"You destroy?"
She leaned closer.
"You did not destroy me."
"You abandoned me."
"And abandonment…"
Her voice lowered to a whisper.
"…is what creates monsters."
The orb in Zheng Wen Te's palm pulsed faintly.
Warm against the cold.
The woman noticed it instantly.
Her expression sharpened.
"That orb…"
Her voice became dangerous.
"Shangdi's key."
Zheng Wen Te froze.
"You know it?"
Her laugh was hollow.
"Of course."
"The Creator watches all tragedies."
She lifted her hand again.
"If Shangdi sent you…"
"Then this is not reunion."
"It is punishment."
The air screamed.
A storm of silver-black Qi erupted, filling the pavilion like blades.
Zheng Wen Te's instincts screamed.
Run.
But his legs would not move.
He whispered:
"…Please."
The storm paused.
The woman's eyes narrowed.
"Please?"
Zheng Wen Te swallowed hard.
"…Give me one chance."
Her gaze was endless.
"A chance…"
"For what?"
"To explain?"
"To apologize?"
"To pretend love can be repaired like broken pottery?"
Zheng Wen Te's voice trembled.
"No."
"To stay."
The words fell into the silence like a stone.
The woman's eyes widened slightly.
Zheng Wen Te continued, forcing each syllable out.
"I ran away in my last life."
"I ran away in Earth."
"I ran away until everything became empty."
He looked up at her.
"This time…"
"I will not run."
The storm around her trembled.
For one heartbeat—
the Heart-Severing Immortal looked almost human.
Then her face hardened again.
She whispered:
"…Then survive."
And the storm descended.