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For three years, Sha Wu Sheng had thought he’d found solace in the eye of the storm. The way Lin Xue Ya looked at him now left no room for such idiotic thoughts. It was a familiar expression, cold and unaffected. Gale had had his fun, and now that the storm was done with him, it was ready to cast him aside.
“It gives me pleasure to see you in the state you’re in.”
Wu Sheng's heart sank, turning into ice. He was such an idiot, he should have seen it coming. But he had believed the one person in his life that had seemed to have accepted him and told him he could choose the man he wanted to be. Not only had he believed him, he had loved him.
Now, Lin Xue Ya would laugh at him for being so gullible, and he would leave. And he would think of Wu Sheng no more, because there was nothing more he wanted from him, nothing more for him to take, and that was as far as his interest had ever gone.
Anger boiled inside Wu Sheng, and he growled. No. No, he would not have that.
“Anyone who believes a word the Enigmatic Gale says dies! Anyone who he comes in contact with I will slaughter to the last man!” Wu Sheng gritted the words out, spilling the blood of all the people who stood in his way. If he was not going to become a respectable man, if he was not going to have his peace, he might as well make sure he could not be ignored. He was going to fly against the winds even if it meant letting them shred his wings apart. “I will kill you, no matter what! With my own hands!”
Wu Sheng was forced to watch Lin Xue Ya leave in the end, but it didn’t matter. He could kill the man later, once he had made good on his threats.
For a year, Sha Wu Sheng had kept his word. Everyone he had so much as suspected of being connected to Lin Xue Ya, he had killed. But then, words lied, swords did not, and would he have ever killed Lin Xue Ya was a question that was now going to have to remain forever unanswered.
He knew there had been times he could have, even at the Sword Art Assembly. He had chosen to do it later. After his revenge would feel sufficient.
When they had met at the temple and he was in the possession of the Soul Echo Flute, he should have killed Lin Xue Ya then. He had not. Later. He could kill Xue Ya later, once they’d reach the Seven Sins Tower.
Of course Xue Ya had betrayed him again before they’d reached the tower. It did not surprise him, this time. He should have killed him then.
But no. He could kill Lin Xue Ya later, as he had no way to escape. Trying his swords against Mie Tian Hai came first.
Cold spread through Wu Sheng’s whole body, as if contacted from the steel that impaled his chest, all the warmth rushing out with his blood and his life. He had sought this answer for a long time. He had finally met an opponent stronger than him, and so his cursed fate was coming to a close.
Blood splattered on the floor as he took a shaky step. He could feel Lin Xue Ya’s eyes on him, but even if his expression had betrayed any of his thoughts, Wu Sheng’s vision swam too badly to make out the details. A pity. He wanted to see Xue Ya's face.
Still, Xue Ya was looking at him, and maybe that was enough at this moment. It felt fitting for him to be there, to see the end of the Screaming Phoenix Killer, as he had been the one that made him into that man, for better or for worse. Either way, Wu Sheng had never planned to die quietly out of Xue Ya’s sight, easily forgotten.
Wu Sheng staggered and tried to focus. A blur of silver hair, blue robes. Xue Ya did not move out of his path. Wu Sheng’s mouth curved into a joyless smile. Not like he was any threat to the man anymore, barely able to close the distance between them.
“I’ll be waiting ahead in ambush, once again,” Wu Sheng said. He had to laugh at his choice of last words, and he mostly expected Lin Xue Ya to do so, too.
Xue Ya did not, instead answering him seriously. “Right. Until we meet again, then.”
Wu Sheng was going to kill Lin Xue Ya. Later. Always later. He was not in a hurry.
All the remaining strength left Wu Sheng’s legs and he collapsed onwards. With the last bits of his consciousness he felt how Xue Ya caught him, and the familiar smell of pipe smoke surrounded him, carrying his mind back to some happier days. Ah, to think that after all they'd been through he would still find his peace from this person.
At last, the storm stood still.