Chapter 152 — Unfilial
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
A flicker of grief passed through Master Shuijing's eyes, and she said gently, "Qi'er, the shore lies behind you once you turn back. If only you cut these threads of feeling, it is no such terrible thing. At least there is still your master, still Xiaozhu Peak, still the Canglan Sect to take you in."
Lu Xueling jerked her head up, so suddenly and with such force that it startled anyone to see; her clear, lovely face was now full of anguish and desolation, and even her voice seemed to tremble: "Master, but I cannot cut them."
Master Shuijing's expression changed drastically. She fixed Lu Xueling with a deep stare, then suddenly raised her hand and brought it down—crack—a heavy slap across Lu Xueling's face. Lu Xueling did not dodge or draw back; she stood rooted where she was without moving, only biting her lip as her body slowly began to tremble.
"You—what did you say?" Master Shuijing's voice too seemed to shake, yet it was filled through and through with fury. "You—you traitorous disciple, do you know what you are saying?"
Lu Xueling's face had long since gone bloodless, yet meeting Master Shuijing's gaze, as though she had resolved herself at last, she said with finality, "Master, you took me in as a child and raised me, taught me and kept me—there is no kindness deeper than this. Xueling is unfilial, has angered and grieved her master, and deserves death ten thousand times..."
Her white robes fluttering, she knelt once more before Master Shuijing. "Xueling would rather die than betray her master and the righteous path. If in days to come I meet that Zhang Qingyue, I shall do all in my power to take his life with the Tianxuan. If I fail, then I shall simply die at his hands..."
Master Shuijing had been all fury at first; hearing Lu Xueling declare that she would not betray the righteous path and would fight Zhang Qingyue to the death, her expression eased somewhat. But the words that followed turned her face white with shock once more.
Kneeling before her, Lu Xueling drew a deep breath and drew her gaze back, looking at the ground before her—as though looking too into the depths of her own heart—and said slowly, "But this single thread of guilty feeling, your disciple cannot cut. She cannot cut it."
The room fell in an instant into deathly stillness, as though even the sound of breathing had stopped. A moment later, Master Shuijing's shrill, furious scolding rang out, echoing through that quiet chamber:
"You—you traitorous disciple, get out! Get out! I never want to see you again!..."