The color of the flowers started to turn red. It was just like a plague, spreading in all directions. That was also the reason Yang Zhai had always tried to keep the blood away from the flowers. If the blood of a beast falls on the flowers, they would become normal flowers. If the blood of a normal human fell on the flowers, they would become Rank one materials, which could be used to destroy a person's will.
But if the blood of a cultivator fell on the flower, it would change into a material known as the Will Of Malice. The more the blood or the powerful cultivator's blood was, the higher the Rank. The flowers that were changing colors had become Rank5 materials. They had only one purpose, and that was to be refined into a Ka. Once the refined Ka attacked a person, the person attacked would be tortured to no end, before eventually losing blood to the Ka, making the Ka even more stronger. This was another quality of the Black-Flower leaves, they could be turned into the Will Of Malice.
But Yang Zhai didn't focus on the flowers, his eyes were only focused on Cho Byeol. Cho Byeol's eyes were also focused on Yang Zhai. She touched Yang Zhai's face with her left hand. Her hand was stained with blood.
"Thank you, I know, this was difficult for you, but thank you for freeing me from the shackles. And I won't stop you from crying. Cry as much as you want, while there is someone to comfort you, while I am here," Cho Byeol said slowly.
"Please forgive me, I wanted to give you a painless death so that you won't suffer anymore, but I couldn't even do that." Yang Zhai said to Cho Byeol, with tears in his eyes.
"Don't worry about that, it's not as painful as I was enduring every day. Instead, it feels like a remedy to my wounds. And I can at least talk with you before you start to live your days alone." Chi Byeol said before stopping and then continuing again,
"And also, your fate is even more sad than mine. I am at least freed from it, but you have to live with the sin of killing your own lover, the one you loved more than your life. And I guess this is your first time killing someone, I don't know whether I should be happy or sad. But I think it's good that I am not dying at my enemy's hand."
"And Yang Zhai, do you remember what you said to me once?" Cho Byeol looked at his face with a smile and tears on her face. Her left hand was still touching his right cheek.
"About what?" His tears were falling on Cho Byeol's cheeks.
"When you said to me:'what will you do if the one you love is in pain, and there is no remedy in the world for that pain? Will you kill him to free him from the pain, or will you let him be tortured so that he could always be with you?': I think you chose the answer yourself. But whether it is considered good or not, I don't know. But I do know one thing, and that is that killing the one you love—who is in pain and there is no remedy to cure the pain—puts one free and leaves the other one to suffer forever, leaving that person alone." She stopped for a moment before asking,
"Can you promise me one thing, Yang?"
"What is it?" The man spoke, knowing that this would be her last wish.
"Forget me," with that her left hand slid down Yang Zhai's right cheek, leaving the blood marks behind. Her head lost strength and drooped backward. The backsides of both of her hands touched the ground. There were still some last tears that fell from the corners of her eyes and touched the ground.
"The heavens spoke of fate, the love
Requires immortality, the grief forces
The men, the mortals are freed by
Being a bubble, will the immortals make
The grief immortality, oh the heavens!
Listen, there exists a change,"
These were the lines spoken by Yang Zhai, his face was looking at the sky, with tears coming down his face.
…..
In the morning,
Yang Zhai was standing in front of a grave near the garden, the garden was filled with red flowers. Even the process of the flowers combining had increased. Even if the flowers combined and matured fully, they would remain the 'Will Of Malice'. They would not turn into the Black-Flower leaves now, no matter what.
This grave was made with his own hand. He didn't use any techniques or tools. His hand was bleeding, he dug the grave without giving any rest to his hand. Because he had also made his physical body stronger, he had more stamina and power in his hand. His gaze fell on the flowers.
"Oh, so they have turned into the 'Will Of Malice'." Yang Zhai mumbled to himself in a daze, he didn't give much thought to it, turned around, and left. He was in a daze. He was trekking like a zombie, without any purpose or thought. Instinctively, the direction he was walking in was the cave. He had only walked for about twenty minutes when he saw Bae Ah coming toward him. He didn't care and kept on walking. A few seconds later, Bae Ah came to his side, while holding something in her hands that were closed together. It couldn't be seen what was in her hands. She asked Yang Zhai,
"Yang Zhai, did you see Cho Byeol? Do you know where she is? I can't find her. I slept last night and when I woke up, she was nowhere to be seen, nor were you. I found a beautiful gem for her, she would surely like it," She was excited when she said this. She couldn't wait and impatiently asked Yang Zhai.
Yang Zhai looked at her hands, which were closed together, and at her excited expression. He turned his head slightly to his right and said slowly,
"She died, I killed her,"
These words fell like lightning on Bae Ah. Her arms lost their strength and the gem fell to the ground. Her arms were straight now. Her eyes widened. The gem, that fell to the ground, broke. It was a rainbow color in the air and when it fell to the ground and broke, it turned into a transparent white glass. She stepped forward with her face darkened, then she grabbed his robe's collar with both of her hands and said with a low voice,
"You're joking, right? You loved her more than yourself, how could you kill her? And besides, you never killed anyone. Just tell me, where is she? Please don't joke about something like this."
"I am not joking, it's true," Yang Zhai didn't deny it.
"Just tell me the truth. I am sure, you are joki…" Before she could even finish her sentence, her gaze fell on the blood on Yang Zhai's robe and the blood on his face. His clothes were also covered in dust. She now knew that whatever Yang Zhai said was true.
"You are a crazy man. How could you kill the one you loved? Or did you ever love her? She loved you with all her heart, but you, you killed her. " She shouted at Yang Zhai with anger. She could not believe Yang Zhai. Was he even a human?
"Then tell me. Should we have let her suffer? She was living a life worse than hell. She was being tortured every day. You know too, that we couldn't heal her. Her pain and suffering were because of the methods that were being used on her for so many years. Even a Rank six or maybe even a Rank seven method wouldn't be able to help her." Yang Zhai shouted back at Bae Ah.
"We could have asked her father. Perhaps, he might have been able to help her," Bae Ah replied to Yang Zhai.
"If her father could heal her, he would have already done so many years ago. Do you think he is that much of a fool that he didn't even know that there was a problem with Cho Byeol's body? Even if he didn't, he should have found it abnormal that her body was still fragile, even after becoming immortal. But he still couldn't do anything. Why do you think that is?"
When Bae Ah heard this, she released Yang Zhai's collar and turned around.
"I am leaving, goodbye." She said this with tears in her eyes and left.
Yang Zhai didn't stop her. What purpose did he have to stop her? There was nothing. Even though she was his friend, that was because of Cho Byeol. Now Cho Byeol wasn't here anymore.
Yang Zhai kept on walking after Bae Ah left and reached his cave. He went to his bed and sat there, looking at the table and empty cave. There was only the furniture left. Except for him, no one was in the cave. In his eyes, there was a trace of loneliness. This was the first time he had felt so lonely. This was the first time he had regretted his kindness.
He was a man, whose kindness resulted in a regret. But today, he knew one thing, and that was that he needed to change. He was trying to stay the same and always paid the price. This was just like fate. Everything was fated, so why shouldn't he just change? Fate and change were two opposite things. One was to happen and one may happen. Fate was to(will) happen and change may happen. But he didn't care, he had already decided to change. But would fate let someone escape the clutches that easily, then how could it be called fate? Maybe, even his change was fated, but he didn't care anymore. After all, a tree was fated to mature, it would change from a sapling to a mature tree. But in the end, it would evolve, that is, if it was not cut.
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