Shenhe did not respond.
Instead, she cautiously raised her eyes, her gaze fixed on Lin Mo.
The crimson eye shadow, paired with her pale gray irises, gave her a uniquely striking aura.
Looking into Shenhe's focused eyes, Lin Mo couldn't help but smile and ask, "Shenhe, if you're all bound with red ropes, how did you still manage to get into trouble?"
Shenhe merely turned her face slightly away, her tone cool. "Years ago, I already realized the red ropes cannot truly bind the soul."
"Just like when you said you would wait for me in Liyue Harbor after I grew up... you lied to me, Lin Mo."
...
As Shenhe spoke to this point,
Yae Miko patted Lin Mo's shoulder with a look of gleeful schadenfreude. "Lord Yuri Lily, that's exactly the sort of thing you would do. You never disappoint~"
Shenhe immediately shot a frosty glare at Yae Miko.
The murderous intent she had been suppressing began to seep faintly from her eyes once more.
"Uh... ahem."
Lin Mo awkwardly changed the subject. "Shenhe, how... how did you discover the red ropes couldn't bind the soul?"
Mentioning this matter,
Shenhe turned her head back, her cold eyes meeting Lin Mo's. "That year, I left the mountain without permission and came to Liyue Harbor to find you."
"I searched through all the records in Liyue Harbor."
"I found every man named Lin Mo who had lived in Liyue Harbor over the past twenty years." "None of them were you."
As she said this, her eyes drifted towards the direction of Mt. Aocang. "That very day, because I could no longer suppress my killing intent, I slaughtered over twenty members of a Treasure Hoarder band who had just raided a merchant caravan."
The next moment, Shenhe's gaze returned to Lin Mo, her voice icy. "From that day on, I understood."
"The red ropes binding me only represent my dependence on you."
"What allowed me to suppress my Lonely Fate was you."
"But what makes me unable to restrain the killing thoughts in my heart is also you~~."
Shenhe's eyes lowered as she finished speaking.
"Last night, I heard from my master."
"That the savior who rescued Liyue is named Lin Mo, an adeptus from long ago."
"I didn't think it was you. I assumed it was just someone with the same name."
"But, hearing that name again..."
"My heart found it hard to remain calm."
"So just now, I couldn't help but come to find you."
"Shenhe..."
Lin Mo's heart was truly filled with guilt.
He had indeed lied to her back then.
After all... he never imagined that in the future, there would be a day when he could meet Shenhe again.
At that time, Lin Mo's only thought was to complete the mission of that lifetime and move on to the next cycle of reincarnation sooner.
He remembered the mission of that lifetime was titled "Save Shenhe, the Girl with the Lonely Fate, and Deliver Her to the Adepti."
At first, Lin Mo thought this task was simple.
If he just left the little girl at the doorstep of the Cloud Retainer,
Wouldn't that motherly white crane adopt her?
But... the mission was not as simple as Lin Mo imagined.
Lin Mo remembered.
When he entered that cycle of reincarnation,
Liyue's famous exorcist clan happened to be undergoing a great calamity.
A powerful remnant of a demonic god set its sights on the most active exorcist family in Liyue.
Within a mere ten days or so,
A branch of this exorcist family met tragedy: the wife died of illness, the young daughter went missing, and the husband, driven mad, hanged himself from a tree in the courtyard.
The villagers of the exorcist clan were terrified of the demonic remnant.
They were willing to compromise, to agree to any demand it made.
The demonic remnant arrogantly declared, "I demand you offer me young children."
The villagers discussed amongst themselves, debating which family's child to sacrifice to the evil entity.
And the child chosen by the villagers
was the young girl, Shenhe, who had been divined since birth to bear the Lonely Fate.
Now, Shenhe looked at Lin Mo's bitter gaze fixed upon her.
Her thoughts couldn't help but return to that year when she first met Lin Mo.
That year... she was not yet nine years old.
But to this day, she could not forget the words her parents spoke to her as they pushed her towards the evil entity.
"You were born with this fate!!"
"Just by living, you bring danger to those around you!"
"It would be better... to just die like this!"
"Exchange her back... and bring peace back to the village!!"
Shenhe remembered clearly.
Her own birth father pushed her towards the evil entity with his own hands.
The evil entity was pleased with the tribute offered by the villagers.
Just as it was about to seize Shenhe and take her back to its lair to savor its prize,
"I... don't want to!"
The young Shenhe voiced her resistance.
That Lonely Fate, which made everyone despise her, caused Shenhe to gradually lose her reason.
Talismans, Daoist arts, sword techniques.
In the hands of the nearly frenzied Shenhe, they erupted with power far beyond anything before.
The skills of the exorcist clan, Shenhe's innate prodigious talent.
In that moment, were fully displayed before everyone.
The young Shenhe had actually managed to injure the evil entity.
But... it was merely an injury, nothing more.
After all...
No matter how much of a genius Shenhe was,
She could not face a remnant of a demonic god that the entire exorcist clan could not defeat.
She was sent flying far away.
Her small body slammed heavily against the cliff face of Mt. Tianheng.
Then, she plummeted vertically, crashing hard onto the ground.
"...I don't want to die like this..."
A fierce desire to live burned in Shenhe's eyes.
She clenched the exorcist sword in her hand, unwilling to yield.
But...
Severe internal and external injuries, broken bones.
Made it impossible for Shenhe to even get up to resist.
She could only watch helplessly as the evil entity bared its fangs and advanced towards her step by step.
It was at that moment.
Shenhe... heard the sound of the wind.
"How lamentable~"
"Falling leaves, scattered~"
A warm voice reached her ears.
Immediately after, a verdant sword aura swept past her side, slashing towards the evil entity approaching her.
In that instant,
The evil entity's body was cleaved in two, dissolving into a wisp of gray smoke.
"You're injured so badly!"
"I... I'll find a way to save you right away, hold on!"
Shenhe desperately tried to turn her head.
She wanted to see clearly who the owner of this voice was.
But... her severe injuries forced her eyes to close.
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T/N:
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