“Han’er…”
Though overwhelmed with sorrow, Mu Bailin still couldn’t help but open her mouth, trying to salvage things.
“Shut up.”
However, Gu Han’s cold voice instantly shattered all her thoughts.
“Don’t call me that. It’s disgusting.”
“No… Han’er, Master only wants—”
The disbelief in Mu Bailin’s beautiful eyes quickly turned into panic. She hurried to explain.
“I said—don’t use that sickening title to address me. There’s no closeness between us anymore to warrant that.” Gu Han’s tone grew colder with each word, freezing the space around them.
That title reminded him of too many things.
Things that, the moment he recalled them, made his chest tighten with frustration, and even stirred a pain in the heart he thought had long gone numb.
In his past lives, out of gratitude for her teachings, he had always tried to be the best disciple he could be.
He knew that his master had long suffered from a cold poison due to her past cultivation, causing her sleepless, painful nights. So every month, regardless of the season, he would go down the mountain into the secret realm to gather the earliest-blooming Cold-Dispelling Herbs.
According to the original plot, once Ye Qingyun joined the sect as Mu Bailin’s disciple, his cultivation soared. He began his cliché journey of slapping faces, pretending to be humble while stepping on others, and ultimately rising to the peak of life.
Not only did he win over the hearts of many female leads, but even his own master Mu Bailin fell for him.
Of course, neither his master nor those junior sisters ended well.
After all, the protagonist in this story was someone who walked the line between good and evil, willing to do anything for his own benefit.
The love-blinded master and junior sisters never realized that Ye Qingyun approached and used them purely for his own gain.
In the first life—when Gu Han had just transmigrated—Ye Qingyun rose to power in this world. After using them up, he discarded them and went off to other realms, chasing even more beautiful women.
Afterward, the old enemies he hadn’t completely eliminated came back with a vengeance. With no other outlet, they redirected their hatred and destroyed the Wandering Sword Sect along with everyone left in it.
It was Gu Han, with just a single sword, who fought his way into the enemy’s headquarters and saved his master and the others from the execution platform.
He remembered clearly—his master had cried with deep regret, vowing that if given another chance, she’d never trust Ye Qingyun again.
And yet… in the lifetimes that followed, even when Gu Han hinted—no, outright stated—that Ye Qingyun was a problem, his master and the junior sisters always firmly believed in Ye Qingyun.
They even began to suspect Gu Han’s character, ignoring him, belittling him, and even cursing him to his face.
He had already given them countless chances.
But if they refused to believe him, if all his efforts were meaningless…
Then what was the point?
He would sever it all from the beginning, embrace his true self, and walk the path of a ruthless villain.
“Master admits… this matter was indeed my mistake… But you know what it was like at the time—Ye Qingyun and Liu Ruyan returned seriously injured… and you showed no sign of returning. Liu Ruyan testified herself, and so I—”
“What’s this now? Weren’t you just accusing me of shirking responsibility? And now you’re shifting the blame to Liu Ruyan?”
Gu Han sneered coldly, his eyes full of disdain.
“You’ve known me for so many years—do you really not know what kind of person I am?”
“And I told you clearly, again and again, that the demonic beast was lured there by them. I was simply following the rules. But did you ever truly listen?”
“Han’er… that’s not it… please, listen to my explanation…”
It felt like countless steel needles pierced her heart.
Mu Bailin was filled with both pain and panic.
“You were acting so differently. You were never like that before. That’s why I panicked, and I just—”
She hadn’t even finished when Gu Han’s cold laughter cut her off again.
“Exactly!”
“The old me was too naive. I wanted to be your pride. I wanted to be the devoted senior disciple.”
“Even when my junior sisters broke the rules, I took all the blame. I carried all the pain. I gave you all my kindness and care.”
“And what happened? You started thinking my kindness was something I owed you, didn’t you?”
“So the moment I stopped being kind, you thought I’d changed?”
“Heh, do you even realize how much like an ungrateful mutt you sound?”
Even if she had just doubted the situation a little back then—even a sliver of belief in Gu Han—things wouldn’t have spiraled this far.
To Gu Han, she had been the last light—the only redemption.
But she had personally cast him into the abyss of despair.
“I don’t want to waste another word on you.”
“Master, this is the last time I will call you that.”
“I told you before—I’ll repay the years of guidance I received, until we owe each other nothing.”
“If there’s nothing else, don’t come looking for me again.”
“That way, we can at least part with some dignity.”
As he finished speaking, Gu Han completely ignored Mu Bailin, who had frozen in mid-air, her face blank with shock.
With an expression of indifference, he brushed past her and soon vanished into the thick night.
…
The cold wind howled.
Mu Bailin stood pale as a sheet, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Her heart… ached unbearably.
She truly felt like she had lost someone incredibly important.
Meanwhile, as Gu Han walked away, his mind kept racing.
He really didn’t want to return to Profound Feather Peak.
But he still had things there.
Besides, the Demon Suppression Tower hadn’t been fully unsealed yet. And Ye Qingyun hadn’t been dealt with.
If he just slipped away from the Wandering Sword Sect quietly now, he’d be no different from a stray dog.
And that… wasn’t how a proper villain should act.
…