CHAPTER 33 — The Woman Who Waited (Part One)
(~400 words)
Night fell over the Outer Sect.
But sleep did not come.
Not to Zheng Wen Te.
Not after what he had seen.
The courtyard was empty now, the disciples scattered back to their quarters, whispering rumors like wildfire.
Some said he was cursed.
Some said he was blessed.
Some said he was neither.
Just… dangerous.
Zheng Wen Te sat alone beneath a crooked pine tree, his back against stone.
The cold seeped into him, but he did not notice.
His mind was still trapped inside that vision.
That voice.
That woman.
"You left without resolving your heart."
He pressed his palms against his eyes.
"I don't even know you…"
The words sounded pathetic in the dark.
A vow across lifetimes.
A chain that Heaven refused to cut.
How could something so intimate…
become punishment?
Footsteps approached.
Soft.
Measured.
He didn't need to look.
Lian.
She stopped beside him, arms folded, moonlight catching in her hair.
"You're not sleeping."
Zheng Wen Te gave a dry laugh.
"Is that even possible anymore?"
Lian did not smile.
She lowered herself onto the stone step beside him.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then she asked quietly:
"When you saw her…"
Zheng Wen Te's throat tightened.
"…She was crying."
Lian's gaze sharpened.
"Crying because she missed you?"
He hesitated.
"No."
His voice dropped.
"She was crying because she hated me."
The air went still.
Lian's expression shifted—something between pity and unease.
"That kind of hatred…"
"It doesn't fade," she murmured.
Zheng Wen Te stared at the ground.
"I don't deserve forgiveness."
Lian's voice was blunt.
"Then why are you still alive?"
The question struck like a slap.
Zheng Wen Te froze.
Lian continued:
"Shangdi could have erased you."
"He could have granted you the eternal sleep you begged for."
Her eyes narrowed.
"But instead, He sent you here."
She leaned closer.
"So tell me, Zheng Wen Te…"
"…What did you do?"
Zheng Wen Te's breath trembled.
"I don't know."
Lian watched him carefully.
"That's not an answer."
Zheng Wen Te whispered:
"It's the only truth I have."
Silence.
Then—
Lian exhaled.
"Ancestor Mo left something for you."
Zheng Wen Te blinked.
"What?"
She reached into her sleeve.
A jade slip.
Simple.
Unadorned.
But heavy with authority.
Zheng Wen Te stared.
"What is it?"
Lian's voice turned grim.
"A mission."