Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Li Ji clenches his fist once more. His face steels, but he is unable to find a word to say.

Ding Dang stares at him sorrowfully, her gaze slowly buried by the color of despair. With unfounded strength, she slowly climbs up from the ground.

The mountainous wind blows and her robe dances along with the caress of the wind. Her pink robe is reminiscent of the peach blossoms in spring, beautiful and delicate. Her hands lightly brushes across her face to wipe away her tears, but they are unable to wipe away all of it. Her white fingers adjusts the hair that has fallen to the front of her face to the back of her ear so as to make herself neater and prettier.

The peach blossom-like lady beneath the sun trembles slightly in the midst of the wind, as though the most beautiful and desolate sight of a blossom before its withering.

Gently, she speaks, Li lang, do you despise me?

Li Ji doesnt respond.

Ding Dang stares at him. After a moment, she slowly lowers her head and says, I get it.

Li Ji harrumphs and says, Dont act so pitifully. Did you think that I was oblivious to what you were thinking of when you suddenly lit a torch at the peak of the mountain? Are you calling for your lover, who is waiting at the bottom of the mountain? How many times have you made me a cuckoo these days! At this, he becomes incomparably incensed and he glares intensely at Ding Dang.

Ding Dang shakes her head, and with an ashen complexion, she says, I have not done anything apologetic to you, but if you must think of it that way, there is nothing I can do. If you dont want me... me... me... As though her heart is aching deeply, she cant find the courage to finish those words. However, after a moment, she grits her teeth together and says, Even if it is without you, I still wish to cultivate. Return me my Spirit Stones. At most, we will just be strangers to one another from now on.

Li Ji lashes out, Didnt I tell you just now that I dont have it now? A thousand Spirit Stones isnt a small sum. Give me some time. I will return the sum to you within at most a year.

Ding Dang massages her chest as she smiles dreary, Since you also know that it isnt a small sum, how can I afford to wait a year for you? Who knows how you would be by then. Anyway, I beg of you to leave an open path for me. Either you bring me up the mountain, or return me my Spirit Stones, and I will visit the Immortal Discerning Mirror myself.

I dont have it!

Ding Dang grits her teeth and says, If thats the case, then I will stake my everything on a journey to Nansong Mountain then.

Li Ji is taken aback. His complexion immediately darkens as he roars, You bitch! What do you intend to do? Are you trying to intentionally turn me into a laughingstock of the entire sect? Are you trying to make unable to walk with my head held high in the future?

Ding Dang glances at Li Ji and her lip quivers. Eventually, it forms a disconsolate smile and she turns around to walk down the mountainous path.

Li Ji immediately rushes over and grabs Ding Dangs shoulders. He bellows furiously, What do you intend to do? Are you insane? Why must you coerce me like this?

Such means and such brutality, Lu Chen is truly a demon beyond any of his imaginations. Despite obviously not possessing any cultivation, being just a ordinary mortal, he is able to crush him instantaneously. Unstable, Li Ji crashes onto the ground. Catching sight of the demon-like black dagger in Lu Chens hand, fear manifests on his face.

Just as Lu Chen is about to advance forward towards him, he hears Ding Dangs voice from behind, Lu Chen...

Lu Chens footsteps halt. Glancing at the frightened Li Ji, he keeps his dagger. Then, he walks over to Ding Dang and hugs her figure.

Fresh blood gushes onto his body, dyeing the cloth covering his chest. Silently, Lu Chen stares at Ding Dangs body with a lowered head. He gaze sweeps across the the blurred fusion of blood and flesh at her abdomen, as well as the wound through her chest.

Ding Dangs body trembles for a moment.

Lu Chen quietly tightens his embrace on her.

With strenuous effort, Ding Dang looks at him and says weakly, My wound... You... Can you save me?

Hugging her, Lu Chen is silent for a moment before shaking his head slowly.

Ding Dang cries. She cries miserably and her teardrops fall like pearl drops onto her bloodied body. After a moment, she looks at Lu Chen through eyes blurred with tears, as though an innocent child grasping onto her final straw of hope. She raises her hands which are filled with fresh blood and feebly grasps onto Lu Chens shirt. Leaning her head on his chest, through choked sobs, even her voice is trembling:

I... Am I going to die?

Lu Chen holds her even tighter. Meeting her gaze, after yet another moment of silence, he replies softly, Yes.

...

Lianqi has appeared once in the novel before.

Lianqi literally translates as Forging Breath, and it is the fundamentals to cultivating.

Gazing quietly at Li Ji, unwillingness, anxiety and frustration blinks into her eyes.

It is clearly stated that she is feeling these emotions out of pity/sympathy for Li Ji (if I didnt interpret it wrongly). However, I am unable to find a way to phrase it in so... Compromising.