Chapter 10: What Exactly Did I Do Wrong?

[You have discussed everything with your Master, Li Wanshou.]

[You are well aware of how terrible your physical condition is; there is no possibility of saving it. You begin to arrange your final affairs.]

[To enable your younger sister to live a better life, you begin to teach her, including but not limited to cultivation, social conduct, the Four Arts of Cultivation, and more.]

[Your younger sister is very dependent on you, but your attitude begins to turn cold, aiming to reduce her reliance on you and distance your relationship.]

[You believe you are merely a dying man.]

[You should not become a stumbling block that binds the young girl's future.]

[Given your current relationship, after you leave the Heavenly Sword Sect, Xu Moli would undoubtedly search for you at all costs. Therefore, you are proactively sabotaging this bond, wanting to lower Xu Moli's favorable impression of you—perhaps even making her hate you.]

[Only in this way will she not go looking for you once you go missing.]

[Only in this way will she not discover the truth.]

[Only in this way can you… leave in peace.]

[Your actions are quite effective. Under your deliberate coldness and neglect, Xu Moli's level of dependence on you has decreased, yet she still remains full of respect for you, regarding you as her elder brother.]

[Under your guidance, Xu Moli officially becomes a Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator. She is delighted, but while she looks at you with eyes full of expectation, you say only two words.]

["Mediocre."]

[Xu Moli feels aggrieved because of your coldness. You do not comfort her; instead, you arrange even more cultivation lessons.]

[You are anxious. Theoretically, you have three years of life remaining, but signs of your body's collapse have already begun to appear.]

[One day, you discover that your hearing is failing.]

[You disguise it well, and the young girl does not notice your physical abnormality. You silently accelerate the teaching process, wanting to train her into someone who can stand on her own before your body completely collapses.]

[Your overly harsh teaching plan causes more dissatisfaction and grievance in the girl. She begins to doubt whether her place in your heart is important.]

[Why has it become like this? Why has the elder brother who once doted on and cared for her become so cold today?]

[With more and more grievances and doubts, Xu Moli can no longer endure it.]

Six months later.

Inside the Immortal Cave.

The girl, with a face pure and ethereal, had crystal tears overflowing from the corners of her eyes. Her lips were pressed tightly together, as if ten thousand grievances were swirling in her heart.

Her lips trembled slightly: "Brother, what exactly did I do wrong…?"

Silence.

A long silence.

Facing his sister's inquiry, Xu Xi shook his head: "You did nothing wrong."

"Then why on earth did Brother—"

Mo Li.

Xu Xi interrupted the girl's questioning, his eyes slightly closed as if reminiscing: "Do you remember how long we have lived together?"

The girl didn't understand why he would suddenly ask such a question, but she still answered instinctively: "Seventeen years."

Seventeen years.

This was the total time Xu Xi had been in the Simulation, and it was also the girl's own age.

"Yes, it has already been seventeen years."

Xu Xi spoke softly, his voice thick with deep exhaustion and a hoarseness and numbness that could not be ignored.

"When I first met you, you were just a newborn baby. To keep you alive, I had to use my last rations to trade with others for some breast milk."

"I was truly starving back then…"

"But I still worried every day, afraid you weren't happy, afraid you weren't warm enough, or that you didn't have enough to eat."

"When you were ten, you suddenly fell ill with a severe disease. It took until this year, at seventeen, for you to be cured. For seven years, I labored without a moment's rest for the sake of your illness."

Xu Xi's voice was very calm, without complaint or blame.

It merely revealed a bitter weariness.

"Mo Li, if it weren't for you, my life could have been much more wonderful."

"I am human too; I have my own dreams. I cannot think of you in everything. I am not that great, do you know that?"

"You are already seventeen; you are no longer a child."

"It's time you learned to take care of yourself and live independently!"

"I—"

Am tired.

Inside the Immortal Cave, an oppressive and gloomy atmosphere permeated the air.

The light became dim and blurred.

The girl's face turned pale and her eyes lost their luster from his words. She seemed to want to refute something, but in the end, she could only manage one sentence: "So, does Brother think Mo Li is a burden?"

"…Yes."

Her heart was heavy, as if falling into a bottomless abyss. All her emotions were eaten away, and in the end, she could only flee in a pathetic state.

Xu Moli choked up, unable to make a sound.

She ran quickly.

She ran out of the Immortal Cave.

Only Xu Xi remained, slumped on a wooden chair, having lost all his strength. He said nothing, lost in thought for a long time.

Humans are indeed incredibly contradictory creatures.

Xu Xi thought to himself.

He had prepared various excuses long ago to sabotage his relationship with his sister and erase the image of a good elder brother from the girl's heart.

But when it came to actually carrying it out, his heart still felt pained and reluctant.

"It really hurts… even more than when I burned my Spiritual Root back then…"

Xu Xi clutched his chest and muttered to himself: "But this way, that child can completely break free from my influence and live well in the Cultivation World."

[Your words were incredibly sharp, like swords piercing and tearing through the young girl's heart.]

[She ran out alone for a long time.]

[Crying alone, wiping away sorrowful tears alone, she forced herself to find comfort in a deserted corner in the most pitiful, aggrieved, and lonely manner.]

[By the time Xu Moli returned, her expression had grown much colder. The gaze she directed at you was no longer filled with the same respect as before, and she no longer complained about your training.]

[Your heart is aching; your heart is rejoicing.]

[After this incident, the girl's will became much firmer. Amidst your feelings of relief, you pretended to casually cover your mouth, not letting her see the blood you coughed up.]

[You assisted the girl's cultivation with all your heart. The high-intensity mental focus caused your body to collapse even faster. On a morning in the eighteenth year since your Transmigration, you found yourself growing increasingly weak.]

[You knew it was time for you to leave.]

[Though your heart was reluctant and you wished to witness more of the girl's growth, if you continued to stay at the Heavenly Sword Sect, she would eventually discover the truth.]

[You chose to leave without saying goodbye, piloting a Flying Boat to depart from the Heavenly Sword Sect alone. You cut through the wind and clouds, sailing toward a place far from the Cultivation World.]

[Where to go next?]

[You are very lost.]

[In the eighteen years since your Transmigration, your goals have always been cultivation and taking care of your sister. But now, neither of these goals can be pursued.]

[After thinking for a long time, you decided to return to the former Blackstone City to spend the remainder of your days alone.]

[The Cultivation World is vast, with countless Mortal dynasties and places of pleasure as numerous as the stars. But to you, none were as familiar and comfortable as Blackstone City; after all, it held five years of memories shared between you and the girl.]

Whoosh—

The Flying Boat descended from the sky.

Without anyone noticing.

Silently, the young man, who no longer possessed any cultivation or Spiritual Root, moved back into the old wooden house with only a Wooden Sword.

Living alone, he quietly awaited death.

During this time.

Some neighbors who still remembered the young man greeted him, and he responded to each one.

When asked why the girl wasn't with him, he merely smiled and avoided the subject.