"Look at the people below. They're holding my clay effigies, shouting my name. Aren't they reveling in it?"
"Look at the Adepti behind me. They hang there so quietly. Aren't they 'willing' to pave the way for me?"
"Look at Morax beneath my feet. His Exuvia has become my throne. Isn't he 'willing' to let me take over Liyue!"
Before her words faded, she abruptly raised her hand and slapped the Festering Desire's blade with vicious force.
Clang! With a crisp ring, Lumine felt her hand go numb, and the longsword slipped from her grasp.
But the Festering Desire traced a bizarre arc through the air, its blade suddenly flashing with a dense black light.
The residual Abyssal aura within the sword resonated with the darkness inside Yunqin!
The longsword reversed direction, whistling through the air as it pierced straight through Yunqin's chest!
Dark energy swirled from the wound, writhing on her chest like a living creature.
Yet Yunqin seemed to feel no pain. She slowly lowered her head, gazing at the hilt protruding from her chest, then lifted her eyes to Lumine.
Lumine's face was a mask of helplessness. The hand that had held the sword trembled slightly, the resolve in her eyes gradually replaced by panic.
Yunqin slowly reached out, her fingertips gently closing around the hilt. The icy touch instantly stilled the Festering Desire, even freezing the swirling dark energy in mid-air.
"Look." Her voice was terrifyingly calm, as if she were speaking of something that had nothing to do with her.
Yunqin pointed to her chest. Not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound, only a black mist slowly swirled there.
"There's no blood here. Even if I'm killed, I'll still be alive. What's so bad about living in a dream like this? I won't be treated like a monster, won't be abandoned by everyone. Everyone will worship me, need me..."
Seeing the almost numb plea in Yunqin's eyes, Lumine's heart felt as if it were being squeezed by a ruthless hand. A dense, sharp pain spread through her veins to every limb.
She opened her mouth, her lips pale with tension, her voice trembling uncontrollably. "Yunqin, let me explain... Those Millelith soldiers who captured you and took you away were fakes, Abyss mimics! And the one who pierced your chest... that wasn't the real Zhongli. It was a trick by the Abyss, designed to make you hate us!"
"Enough." Yunqin suddenly spoke, her voice as still as stagnant water, cutting Lumine off sharply.
She slowly raised her hand, her fingertips gently tracing the bloodless wound on her chest. The mark left by the Festering Desire still emanated dark energy, and the icy touch of her fingers made the emotions churning in her eyes even more complex.
There was mockery for the "truth," weariness from arguing, and an even deeper, irresolvable despair, like ink dropped into clear water, swiftly staining all light black.
"Right and wrong... I no longer have the heart to distinguish them."
"So what if the Millelith were fake? So what if Rex Lapis was fake?"
Her voice suddenly rose, her chest heaving violently, her tone laced with long-suppressed hysteria. Each word was like a shard of broken glass, piercing the eardrums.
"When the Liyue Qixing posted those notices, claiming I was possessed by a god's lingering resentment, what were their intentions?"
"When the people of Liyue read those notices, pointed at me, and called me a 'monster,' without a single thought for how much I'd helped them, what were their intentions?"
"So what if it was all fake?" Yunqin's voice dropped abruptly, filled with a shattered powerlessness.
She lowered her gaze, her long lashes casting fragmented shadows beneath her crimson eyes, as if she were fleeing something, or forcing herself to accept it.
"What I saw, what I felt... that's how it was!"
"The steps they took backward when they saw me were real! The stones they threw at me were real! Those cold stares and vicious words... they were all real!"
"No, they weren't!" Lumine took an urgent step forward, reaching to grab Yunqin's arm, but Yunqin instinctively pulled away.
Lumine's hand froze in mid-air; she could only argue more urgently, her eyes reddening with agitation: "Back then, in the Golden House, you were being corrupted by Abyssal erosion, and your power was out of control. We posted the notices because we were afraid you'd harm innocent people. It was the only way..."
"Shut up!" Yunqin swung her arm, and a powerful aura instantly spread out, like an invisible tidal wave overturning the surrounding air.
The scene of the Rite of Descension suddenly twisted and shattered. The bustling crowd, the high platform, and the dragon corpse all dissolved into blurry light and shadow, replaced by boundless darkness.
Lumine felt her body stiffen, her limbs as heavy as lead, once again unable to move. She could only watch as Yunqin walked toward her, step by step.
Yunqin's figure grew increasingly indistinct in the darkness, only her crimson eyes glowing with a terrifying light, radiating a suffocating pressure, as if she would completely devour Lumine in the next moment.
Yunqin gently covered Lumine's eyes with her hands. The icy chill of her fingertips seeped through Lumine's eyelids, like a thin layer of frost settling on her skin.
"Since you refuse to believe me, I'll show you the 'truth' I experienced." Her voice whispered by Lumine's ear, as light as a sigh, yet carrying an irresistible curse that made Lumine's heart involuntarily clench.
A gentle breeze blew past, and Lumine felt her eyelids lighten.
When she opened her eyes again, she was standing at a street corner in Liyue Harbor; the midday sun was so blinding that she instinctively squinted, and though the streets were bustling with people, they exuded a strange, deathly silence.
No one was laughing or joking; everyone's gaze was wary, as if guarding against something.
Not far away, Yunqin stood in her familiar dress.
She faced a crowd of citizens, her face filled with anxiety and grievance, her hands clenched tightly as if pleading: "I'm not possessed by a god! I won't hurt you, please believe me, okay?"
But every time she took a step forward, the citizens would retreat in unison, as if encountering a flood or a savage beast, their fear and disgust a stark contrast to her plea.
"Stay back! You monster!"
Many in the crowd shouted such things.
Yunqin frowned deeply but still refused to give up.
She urgently tried to gather her Elemental Power, but the faint elemental glow that had just appeared at her fingertips now became proof of her "threat."
Seeing this, the citizens screamed and scattered in terror, some even dropping their vegetable baskets, as if they had encountered a rabid beast.
They scrambled into alleys and houses, shouting, "She's going to attack! Run! Don't let her catch you!"
Gazing at the empty street, Yunqin's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, the faint elemental glow at her fingertips slowly fading.
She lowered her gaze, staring at her palm.
At this moment, these hands had become a symbol of a "monster."
The light in her eyes flickered out like a candle in the wind, leaving only endless loss and confusion, like a lost child who didn't know what she had done wrong.