Chapter 49: Revenge 9

  They tore at their clothes, their hands grasping at Nalan Xinnuo's snow-white chest, fondling and squeezing her wantonly. Countless hands reached out from the shadows to grope her indecently.

  Nalan Xixiao's whole body trembled, but she didn't resist at all, letting them toy with her. In the cage, Nangong Jin roared furiously: "Stop! Let her go! Nalan Xixiao! Don't make me hate you, kill them!"

  However, Nalan Xixi did not move. She knew that if she resisted now, the next second would be Nan Gongyin's death. Although, even if she didn't resist, he might not necessarily survive either.

  But she refused to give up, no matter how slim the hope was, almost to the point of non-existence.

  Because it was Nan Gong Jin, she couldn't give him up.

  Du Gu's gaze gradually turned cold, and Du Gu Yan's expression also became increasingly serious, not like the expression of someone who was about to avenge.

  The Qiang soldiers rushed up, roughly and rudely trampling her body, but hesitated to use foreign objects to invade half a step. However, in an instant, Nalan Xian's body was already covered with bruises.

  Dugu Qiu calmly said: "Continue."

  This is an order, it's a signal for them to take the next step in their invasion. The Qiang soldiers went wild, lifting up Nalan Xinnuo's body...

  Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from behind! The hard cage shattered into pieces, and immediately afterwards, the cave was in chaos. People didn't even have time to react before wails of despair erupted everywhere.

  Nalan Xixi only felt her body become light, and she was tightly wrapped in a wide but cold embrace.

  At the most desperate moment, a tight hug burst in, Nalan Xianyu's conditioned reflex stretched out to wrap around his neck, she heard the loud noise, heard the sound of the cage shattering, he came out!

  The cage has shattered, the originally hard branches are split and scattered everywhere. The fleeing soldiers cannot avoid these fragments that fall like rain, crowdedly running towards the cave entrance, but still can't escape being pierced to death.

  Nalan Xixi's eyes opened in surprise, but met a ferocious face. It was Dugu Qiu, who subconsciously trembled and then met Dugu Qiu's disappointed gaze due to her reaction. For some reason, she felt a thread of sympathy in her heart.

  But in an instant, more than half of the soldiers in the cave had died. Nan Gong Jin's eyes were bloodshot as he stood not far away, his body covered in blood that was either his or his enemy's. He stared coldly at Dugu Qiu, the tip of the sharp sword in his hand dripping with fresh blood onto the ground.

  On his pale face, cold as frost, they knew that this was Nan Gong Jin. The angrier he got, the colder and more cruel he became. At this moment, he was like a demon king, unstoppable, making people not even dare to resist.

  "Let her go." It was a warning, more like an order.

  Dugu Qiu looked at him without fear, stretched out his hand and grasped Nalan Xixi's throat, saying coldly: "Put down your sword."

  Nalan Xixi's heart was filled with bitter laughter as she finally understood that this wasn't a battle of revenge, but their unwillingness to accept defeat.

  What they resent most is each other's betrayal.

  He hated Dugu Lie again, no matter how he wanted to chop the people of the Dugu family into pieces, but in the end, he couldn't put them to death. And he, no matter how much he hated his vendetta against the Southern Palace, couldn't erase that Nan Gong Jin from his heart.

  They cannot erase from their hearts the most cherished and least wanted to destroy friendship.

  They can't kill each other.

  Suddenly, Nalan Xianyu's heart sank. So, this was the current situation. They could kill anyone, so the only way to avenge, the only way to make him suffer was... to kill her.

  Nan Gong Jin refused to put down the sword in his hand, and he stared coldly at Dugu Qiu. Seeing this, Dugu Qiu tightened her grip on Nalan Xian's throat, making it harder for her to breathe, and her face turned pale.

  Nangong Jin furrowed his brow, slowly releasing his hand, the sword in his hand fell to the ground, making a crisp collision sound with the ground.

  Du Gu Yan stood there, expressionless. He didn't make any move, didn't stop, didn't retreat, didn't go up to engage in a final life-and-death duel with Nan Gong Jin, and didn't dodge the flying debris either.

  He stood there with a sulky expression, coldly staring at Nan Gong Jin.

  Nangong Jin's gaze remained fixed on Nalan Xianyu, never leaving for a moment.

  "This is between us, let her go." Nan Gong Jin's tone softened a bit, less cold, less commanding, more consultative.

  Du Gu Ke sneered. Negotiate? Nan Gong Jin, now you want to negotiate? What about back then? Did you give me a chance to negotiate back then? You didn't even tell me what happened to you, how much you hated the Du Gu family, why you hated the Du Gu family.

  If you had told me, I might have gone to avenge you first and perhaps such a tragedy would not have occurred.

  But then, perhaps there wouldn't be a Luo Tian today... Heh...

  Is this a matter between us? That's also a matter between you, but why, why do you have to be so ruthless, regardless of everything, and rush to make us confront each other?!

  Nan Gong Jin saw what Dugu Qiu was thinking of. They had been through life and death together for so many years, and each other's thoughts were crystal clear at a glance.

  Nangong Jin's face was no longer as icy as before, but rather an exhaustion that couldn't be washed away. "What if it were you?"

  What if you had gone through all this?

  Du Gu's body trembled slightly, and Nalan Xianyu could feel his heartbeat suddenly skipping a beat.

  What if it were you? If you were me and Dugu Lie did something like that, would you go tell his brothers and say, I'm going to kill your big brother, none of you should stop me?

  Alas, isn't that a bit too naive? I'm not someone who has never trusted this world, it's just that the trust I had brought me irreparable losses and lifelong pain.

  Nalan Xizuo's nose suddenly felt sour, and he had an overwhelming urge to cry. What are you all hesitating about? Why must you hope that the other person will understand? This matter has long since lost its right or wrong, and it can no longer be explained clearly.

  But what's even more distressing for her right now is... Dugu Qiu can't kill her.

  He should have taken action long ago, he should have ended it. But he was hesitant, he... couldn't bring himself to do it.

  Just as Dugu Qiu was hesitating, a sudden gust of wind flashed by! Nalan Xianuo subconsciously shouted: "Don't!"

  But it was too late. A warm flow slowly flowed down her shoulder, and Dugu Qiu's eyes widened in surprise, his hands gradually weakening, his chest, blood gushing out.

  Nangong Jin dropped the sword stained with fresh blood from his hand, pulled Nalan Xian'er into his arms and wrapped her in his outer cloak.

  Nalan Xixi looked at Dugu Qiu's chest, which was constantly bleeding, and could no longer hold back her tears. He... had never wanted to kill Nan Gongyin, nor had he ever wanted to kill her.

  Otherwise, when Nan Gongyu made his move, Suo Mingwu should have appeared to protect him with his life. However, Suo Mingwu did not appear, and there was only one possibility: Dugu Qiu had given them advance orders not to harm him.

  Dugu Yan still stood by, looking at Nangong Jin with a smile that was not quite a smile, full of sarcasm.

  In the end, he made the first move.

  Nalan Xixi broke free from Nan Gongyin's arms and ran to the wheelchair, grasping Du Gujue's thin hand.

  Du Guo Qiang looked at her with great effort, his eyes filled with unprecedented gentleness and sorrow. He breathed weakly, his life slipping away from his chest little by little.

  At the moment when Nalan Xixi grasped his hand, he could no longer hold back and burst into tears.

  "Sorry......" His voice was very weak, and only Nalan Xixi heard it.

  I'm sorry, I'm sorry for taking advantage of you at such a moment. I'm sorry, in this final moment, but still hurt you.

  Nalan Xixi shook her head, this was the first time in her life that she cried out loud and unreservedly. Only in front of him could she cry like this. "I don't blame you."

  When he heard Nalan Xixi's reply, he was speechless and tears streamed down his face. He had no more strength to speak. Nalan Xixi knew that everything was already irretrievable, so in the end, she should let him hear such forgiveness in time.

  Nangong Jin stood not far away, calmly watching all of this, but the panic in his eyes could not be concealed.

  Suddenly, everything seemed to have changed. Everything was different from what he thought.

  Dugu Qiu looked at him, in his eyes was the trust and determination they had when they both escaped from under the enemy's sword thirteen years ago. "I'll believe you one last time, don't...don't abandon her."

  He slowly closed his eyes after finishing speaking.

  This is his revenge.

  Trust is the last punishment I give you.

  Nangong Jin looked at his departure in astonishment, watching Nalan Xixi cry out in pain for the first time. He didn't hear him tell her that story himself, and he couldn't see what his purpose was in all of this.

  Nalan Xixiao listened to that story, a story that had nothing to do with hatred. Everything was just his blame, he blamed his distrust, he blamed his betrayal.

  But he never hated him.

  Nangong Jin shook his head, his body involuntarily backing away from them. He wanted to retreat, to get some distance between himself and the others, to forget everything that had just happened, to pretend that nothing was different.

  He can't bear this punishment.

  Heaven is proving to him, telling him he was wrong, that he destroyed with his own hands everything he once cherished. Then when it all reappeared, he again destroyed it with his own hands.

  Heaven is proving it to him again, and he no longer dares to believe in this world... It's a kind of sadness.

  Dugu Yan finally shifted his gaze away from him, walking slowly over to pull Dugu Qiu's hands out of Nalan Xinnuo's grasp and place them properly on either side of the wheelchair.

  Then, pushing the wheelchair, he walked out of the cave.

  Under the reflection of the flames, his back looked as heroic as ever, not at all like someone who had experienced such cruelty.

  He pushed the wheelchair, from behind, the person on the wheelchair was still there, they slowly left, leaving an unchanged back view, giving him the final blow.

  They have never changed, never left, never doubted, and never hated.

  The one who changed is you, the one who left is you, the one who doubted is you, and the one who was killed by hatred is also you.