NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41: Making Choices for Yourself
Seeing that he didn’t seem affected at all, Si Jingzhu was taken aback herself.
She knew very well that she was the Original Immortal.
The taste of the Original Immortal, to mortals or cultivators, was like heavenly nectar. Just one sip could make all worldly delicacies seem bland.
But Young Master Sang’s expression didn’t look fake.
He seemed to be genuinely frowning and said it didn’t taste good.
“I’m very picky. I still prefer shredded pork with green peppers.”
What’s with your obsession over that shredded pork with green peppers!?
Si Jingzhu felt strangely insulted but couldn’t help but ask:
“Don’t you… really feel like having another bite?”
“Not at all.”
Young Master Sang shook his head in disdain: “It really stinks. You should take a bath.”
“You stink! Your whole family stinks! You’re stinky from head to toe!”
Young Master Sang’s comment completely broke Si Jingzhu’s defenses, and she started cursing.
But Young Master Sang noticed something.
The bite marks on Si Jingzhu’s fingers had completely vanished.
So that’s how the Immortal medicine works…
“Does your injury… heal itself no matter how severe?”
“Not that impressive! Then I’d be invincible, right?” Si Jingzhu shot him a sarcastic glance.
“But…”
Just then, her gaze dropped: “Most injuries will heal on their own.”
No matter how much pain.
How much torment.
No matter how she abuses herself.
Flaying.
Being torn apart.
Even the most unimaginable tortures.
No matter how one harms oneself, it would all revert back within a day.
Young Master Sang looked at the girl curled up in the corner.
No longer like before—proud and infuriating.
Instead, she became very quiet and subdued.
“…If you want to eat me, just go ahead and do it.”
She spoke as if to herself, biting her lip, her beautiful eyes shimmering with a hint of despair.
“I can’t resist the fate of being eaten.”
“At least I want you lot who want to eat me to experience the pain I’ve accumulated over the years.”
Her hands tightly gripped her clothes.
Young Master Sang thought for a moment, sat back casually, and asked:
“So.”
“You saying you’re a masochist, enjoying self-abuse and pain, is just a cover-up for your real purpose, huh?”
“You think I want this!?”
Si Jingzhu suddenly shouted, a hint of anger rising.
For the first time, Young Master Sang saw glimmering tears in her youthful, pretty face.
“At first… it really hurt.”
“Pain that cuts to the bone, that feels like my soul is being torn apart…”
“But, over time,” she suddenly hugged her head lightly, her voice cracking slightly, “that feeling eroded my brain like poison.”
The more pain there was, the more dependent she became.
It felt like only that skin-splitting, blood-soaked sensation could make her aware of being alive.
Awareness that she was just like ordinary humans—she had intelligence.
She felt pain.
She didn’t want to die.
She didn’t want to be eaten.
“When I came to my senses, I couldn’t escape this dependence anymore.”
“The more it hurts, the better… the more pain keeps me alert.”
“Once I leave the pain, I become numb, indifferent, as if I can’t muster interest in anything.”
She gently bit her lip, whispering: “Like a cooked duck waiting to be served.”
“…I don’t want to become like that.”
Young Master Sang silently listened to all her words.
“Alright, your purpose has been achieved.”
Si Jingzhu suddenly wiped the corner of her eye, regaining her earlier high and mighty attitude:
“What do you think? Should I tell your leader? This is a great contribution. After your leader eats me, they’ll definitely reward you.”
“Or do you plan to secretly consume me while no one is watching? Even a little cultivator like you could soar to great heights and reach the merging phase!”
“Are you tempted yet?” she slowly grinned, but a trace of sorrow flashed in her eyes, “What will you choose?”
Eat me?
Hand me over for fame and fortune?
Ah, pitiful humans are still the same as ever.
But she didn’t wait for Young Master Sang’s reply.
Young Master Sang silently stared at her for a while.
After a moment, he looked around in confusion and strangely pointed at himself:
“You’re asking me?”
“What does it have to do with me?”
Si Jingzhu was taken aback.
“No, you’re the Original Immortal, I’m not.”
Young Master Sang looked at her like she was foolish: “Whoever you want to be eaten by, you choose that yourself, why ask me?”
“Don’t pass decisions off to others for everything, lazy people like you would get bonuses deducted in a company.”
Si Jingzhu seemed to not fully grasp Young Master Sang’s logic.
She opened her mouth, hesitated, and finally said:
“Ah, are you joking? Or did you not understand what I just said?”
“I’m the Original Immortal! No matter which choice you make, it should be—”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand what I’m saying!”
Young Master Sang slammed the table in annoyance: “I said it! Make your own choice! Don’t bother others with everything!”
“Seriously, that’s why I hate this world.”
“If compulsory education isn’t widespread, aren’t the little monsters I meet all warped in their views?”
“If even one kindergarten teacher diligently asked you what dreams you have growing up, what you wanted to be.”
“You wouldn’t be here wallowing in self-pity, forcing me to make choices for you.”
He pointed at Si Jingzhu, “It’s you who’s the Original Immortal, not me! If you want to be eaten, make your choice and go find that person to eat you.”
“If you don’t want to be eaten, figure out a way to survive.”
“If Master Yu Xia wants to eat you, then figure out how to kill her.”
“If I want to eat you, then figure out how to kill me.”
“This is as simple as one plus one equals two, how can you think about it for so long?”
Si Jingzhu didn’t understand what he was saying.
But nobody had ever spoken to her like that before.
No one had told her what she wanted to do.
In her memory, there was only Master Yu Xia’s “What can you do?”
You can play freely in the sect.
You can enjoy the wealth and glory of humanity as the Sect Leader’s daughter.
You don’t have to be eaten by me right now.
But you can’t leave.
You can’t descend the mountain.
You can’t tell anyone about your identity.
You can’t betray all my hard work.
These words had imprisoned her like a nightmare for over a decade.
From the awakening of her intelligence.
To gradually growing up.
In a few years, she would reach the age to be eaten.
“You shouldn’t ask me how to choose.”
Young Master Sang looked at her seriously and said: “You should ask me.”
“I want to kill Master Yu Xia, what condition do you need for me to help you?”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”