Xia Qingcheng didn’t have time to continue hesitating. He quickly slashed his wrist to let the blood drip into the totem, and then entered the ancient tomb.

Within the ancient tomb, there were many traps. If Xia Ling did not rely on the bottle of blood he gave her, she would not have been able to find the Shengxue Pearl.

Xia Qingcheng barely thought twice and headed directly towards the location of the Shengxue Pearl. Sure enough, when he approached the secret room where the Shengxue Pearl was stored, he saw Xia Ling there.

"You are indeed here." Xia Qingcheng sighed, even when he came in, he was still unwilling to believe that Xia Ling was truly here to steal the Shengxue Pearl. But he was wrong.

The Xia Ling of the past was truly gone.

"Regret it?" Xia Ling sat beside the throne where the Shengxue Pearl was worshipped, and the altar where the Shengxue Pearl was placed was already empty.

"If you are asking whether I regret saving you years ago, then I can clearly tell you, I don’t regret it." Xia Qingcheng looked at Xia Ling: "Saving you, I’ve never regretted it. You are a member of the Xia Clan and, regardless of whether you acknowledge it, from the moment I saved you, you became the Clan Leader’s Wife of the Xia Clan. Outsiders do not know the truth, and assume that I like you, which is why I have never taken another wife. But you should know, I have been waiting for your return. However, if you truly don’t want to come back, I wouldn’t force you. Ling’er, saving you was both my duty and your father’s expectation. We all hope for you to live well. What does being invincible in the world mean? You left the Xia Clan and became invincible in the world, but are you truly happy? Have you really lived well these years?"

The only thing he didn’t know was whether his repeated concessions truly saved her or harmed her.

"Lived well?" Xia Ling laughed aloud: "Do you think I could possibly be living well? Do you know that you really shouldn’t have saved me? Do you know how utterly agonizing it is for the living me? I owe you a life, I caused my father to die because of me, I have nothing left, everything I wanted is shattered. I don’t care for any position as Clan Leader, nor do I truly want to be invincible. I just don’t want to live like this."

She hated Xia Qingcheng, truly hated him deeply. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

She hated his soft heart, hated his compassion, hated his responsibility for the entire Xia Clan. She truly, deeply hated him.

If he could have been a bit more ruthless, if he could have been a bit more selfish, if he could have even just a little bit of consideration for himself, he wouldn’t have saved her back then. If he hadn’t saved her, he could have married a gentle and virtuous wife, and if she had just died, she wouldn’t have woken up to face all this.

She didn’t really hate him; she might hate herself for waking up. She truly didn’t want to face reality, not even a bit.

But her life was saved by him, and her father risked his life to beg for it, so how could she die?

For all these years, she hasn’t been able to escape this whirlpool; she’s like being roasted in a fiery pit, never a moment without pain.

So what happiness, what living well? How could she possibly live well bearing such a debt?

"Ling’er, the past is already past. As long as you are willing to let go, you can always start afresh."