48 DENIAL 1/3 (2/2)
As for her claim that ”And even after all that, I still have to suppress myself to the point my talent has been maimed, nipped at the bud!”, it was referred to the fact that not only did she have her talent stolen but she would also have to try her best to prevent any breakthrough in her cultivation as long as she could, hoping to delay the inevitable theft of her promised talent for as long as possible.
Indeed, this Rin girl had said his best: she had truly been maimed. Her bright future had been taken over by a stranger that she would have to call 'Master' during the day and only be able to curse as a Bastard at night…
Akin to how people would have to bow to Tian and curse his tyranny behind his back.
Her rage and situation, in a similar way, could indeed be said to resemble Cheng Hao's very… own?
”…” The youth frowned.
Was that… right?
Had that question been asked a thousand years ago, it surely would have been.
Heck, a few months ago too, he would have undoubtedly said yes.
However, as for right now…
After a long period of silence, enough for the first stars to emerge into the darkening sky, Cheng Hao's furrowed forehead relaxed and he shook his head, uttering a single word…
”…No.”
”…'No'?” Hearing Cheng Hao's reply, Rin turned her head over, the droopy-eyed girl's expression slightly puzzled as well as a little bit irritated, ”Whatever… might you mean?”
”…” The golden-eyed child smiled but did not reply. He instead glanced off in the distance, as if he were peering upon some distant land. Only then did he open his mouth again and gave voice to his thoughts:
”You say you find in me a kindred spirit, one that can understand you… And I indeed do. I understand you better than anybody else on this godforsaken land could ever possibly do!”
”Just like you, I also used to be moved by senseless revenge. In fact, I used to be a sanguinary and bloodthirsty weapon that only wished to watch the world burn, to inflict pain, to defeat the powerful that took away what was rightfully mine, that took away the one life that to me was far more important than the world itself.”
”Long before you, I had an enemy I deeply yearned to crush underneath my feet once, thousands of times, that I'd dream about killing and torturing day and night, to the point sleeping became more of a torture than going without it and cultivating to exhaustion instead.”
”However, once I followed that road until the end, I just realized the futility of it all…” The child first rubbed the bridge of his nose and then looked at the gray-robed beauty straight in the eyes, ”Too bad, it was way too late by that point: that hatred had been ingrained in my soul for so long already as a warsong that would never stop booming in my head and would only grow in intensity the closer I got to my goal, never to quiet down.”
”That was 'back then', though.”
”Now, for some odd reason, that booming warsong is no longer loud enough for me to be unable to think straight, I no longer see my fluttering robes as I would war flags, and my eyes no longer look at the world as if it were a battlefield.”
”That seething rage… does not dictate who I am anymore.”
”Yes, I understand you, and I know the rage within you as well as I would know an old friend. On the contrary however…” Cheng Hao shook his head and delicately placed down the empty glass of that delicious damasked Chrysanthemum Beer that had started it all, ”You… You have too long a road to travel before you can even come CLOSE to understanding me!”