Chapter 1913: The Truth (Part 1)

"Mei Yin, tell me... right now, the Cosmic Thorn is in your hands, and you're the only one who knows everything. I need you to tell me with your own mouth!"

Yun Che was already controlling his emotions with the greatest willpower. On the day he had looked down upon the Four Regions and been crowned emperor, he had even arrogantly believed that nothing in the world could ever again shake his heart to its core.

But emotional upheavals too intense were repeatedly assaulting the limits that the Cloud Emperor could control.

"...!" Shui Meiyin bit her lip hard, and a drop of scarlet blood slowly oozed from the wound.

She lowered her head, her voice strained and pained: "If... it was all her doing, she would have had no reason... not to tell you everything when you returned... Brother Yun Che, please... please stop forcing yourself to believe..."

"You are forcing me, you are forcing yourself!"

Even now, when she had no words to defend herself, Shui Meiyin was still stubbornly resisting... even though it was so futile.

And that only made the light in Yun Che's eyes grow even more manic, his voice turning into a low, uncontrolled roar: "Everything is fake, even the possibilities I forcibly imagined for you are fake! Why do you still refuse to admit it?! What are you hiding?! We've come this far, why won't you tell me?!"

"...!" Shui Meiyin said nothing, only trembling more violently, as if she had fallen into a bone-chilling icy prison abyss.

"......!" At that moment, Yun Che suddenly realized something. His eyes flashed with shock, and he hurriedly loosened the grip he had on her shoulders.

The fabric of her shoulders had been torn by his uncontrolled profound energy, and upon her snow-white skin were several bruised marks he had clawed into her.

Yun Che's hands remained suspended in mid-air for a long while, until a faint light profound light glowed between his fingers, gently covering her fragrant shoulders and slowly erasing the bruises.

Drip...

Tears fell drop by drop onto his knees. They were warm and silent, but it felt like a knife was gouging his heart.

In these past few years, Shui Meiyin had suddenly become very prone to crying.

He clearly remembered that when he had told her the news of Xia Qingyue's death, Shui Meiyin had completely broken down, throwing herself onto his chest and crying for a very, very long time... At that time, she said she was crying tears of excitement and joy.

Now he thought about it—if it had been tears of joy, how could she have cried so heart-wrenchingly?

During the three years they had trained together in the Zhou Tian Divine Realm, sometimes he would wake up from meditation to find Shui Meiyin staring vacantly in one direction, her face stained with tear tracks.

She would always quickly put on a smile, telling him that after going through such a disaster, being able to gather and be close like this was like a dream, making her so happy she felt like crying.

Even on Blue Pole Star, in moments that should have been the most relaxed and warm, her eyes would often inexplicably cloud over.

"My Mei Yin is forever fifteen"... He had said this teasingly to Shui Meiyin more than once, because she had been so much more prone to tears in recent years.

Now, he suddenly realized that her "tearfulness" over these years was absolutely nothing like what he had thought.

Those tears, perhaps every single one, had originated from the deepest depths of her heart.

"Mei Yin, I'm sorry." He placed his hands on her shoulders again, but this time with infinite gentleness, and his voice softened as well: "I thought I had grown strong enough, but instead, I still can't control myself... losing control so pathetically."

"But the truth of this matter is far too important to me. Tell me... tell me, okay?"

Her head remained deeply bowed, tears falling without cease... If one were to look into her eyes now, they would find that she, with her Stainless Divine Soul, had a terrifyingly dull light in her gaze.

"I can't... I can't..." she murmured, her voice bereft of its usual ethereal quality, painful and somewhat wooden: "This is... a promise... her... final wish..."

"I can't... I can't..."

Promise...

Final wish...

Wish?!

"Mei Yin, listen to me. Look into my eyes."

Yun Che gently cupped her tear-streaked cheeks: "I know that between you and her, there must have been some agreement. You promised to keep all the secrets. And you've done an excellent job—all these years, not a word, not a single character have you let slip."

"It's a painful thing to deceive those close to you, but for the sake of your promise to her, you didn't hesitate to weave lies for me time and time again... You really have done more than enough."

"Those truths were peeled away by accident, discovered bit by bit by me. They weren't exposed by you, nor were they spoken by you. Now, telling me everything is just a confession forced by the fact that everything has already been uncovered—it's not breaking your promise, and certainly not betraying her."

Yun Che's words caused a slight tremor in Shui Meiyin's dim eyes.

His voice grew even softer, his gaze holding not a shred of blame for her lies, only deep, profound pity: "You've been carrying all the secrets and truths, knowing everything she did, yet you could only watch as the world belittled her, insulted her, scorned her, laughed at her... and even more, watch me resent her, hate her, until I wouldn't even allow anyone to mention her name in front of me..."

"That feeling must have been very painful, right?"

These words struck like a heavy hammer into the deepest part of Shui Meiyin's soul. The trembling of her body and pupils suddenly intensified several times over.

"And besides, have you forgotten?" A soft, gentle smile tugged at the corner of Yun Che's lips: "Now it's different from back then. We are now formally husband and wife. Happy things, sad things, heavy things... even the guilt that comes from breaking a promise—we should bear and carry them together. That's what it means to be true husband and wife, right?"

"So, tell me, okay? Compared to confessing everything, you must be even more unwilling to see me with a hollow, empty heart, or to see her, who silently did all of this, continue to bear a tarnished name, infamy, and curses... right?"

Her starry eyes trembled violently... and trembled again...

"Mm... tsk..."

Sobs finally broke through. At a certain instant, her constricted pupils shattered like crystal, scattering into countless heartbreaking stars.

"Wah... wahh... WAAAHHHHH!"

Her heartstrings, emotions, and tears all burst their banks at once. She threw herself onto Yun Che, sobbing loudly.

All these years, behind every smiling face she wore, a sharp thorn had been constantly stabbing into the depths of her soul. Whenever it touched, it would pierce her heart, leaving her suffocated for a long, long time.

"It was her... it was Qingyue big sister... it was her Cosmic Thorn... it was her... wah... WAAAHHHHH..."

She finally cried out that name...

And finally, she no longer had to bear all of this alone.

It was as if the countless mountains that had been pressing down on her heart for so long collapsed in an instant. She cried out recklessly, venting without restraint, as if she wanted to release all the pain, heaviness, suppression, and torment of these years...

But beneath the flood of overwhelming emotions, she was already sobbing so hard she couldn't form words.

Yun Che held her tightly, closed his eyes, and clenched his teeth together hard.

His heart had long been certain... but hearing Shui Meiyin speak her name with her own lips had still caused the ground to crack and the heavens to collapse within him.

...............

Far above, the breathing of Mu Xuanyin had also become unusually erratic.

If Yun Che's mind had not been in a state of chaos many times greater than hers, he would have instantly sensed her presence.

Unable to rest easy about Yun Che, she had ultimately quietly followed.

And had heard... a truth far too shocking.

Xia Qingyue... The one she had betrayed and grievously wounded Yun Che back then—the hardest to believe and accept, apart from Yun Che himself, had been Mu Xuanyin and Chi Wuyue.

Especially Chi Wuyue. So many years had passed, and Xia Qingyue had long since perished, but she still carried it in her heart, unable to let go.

"Demon Empress," she murmured to herself, "Your perception of her was never the so-called greatest error of your life... It never was..."

...............

"...Back then, when Brother Yun Che was in the Northern Divine Realm, the fact that Liuguang Realm had sheltered you for a day was exposed and spread. Then, Qingyue big sister arrived swiftly, heavily injuring my father, crippling his profound veins, and taking me to the Moon God Realm to be imprisoned."

It took a long time for Shui Meiyin to calm her emotions, and she began to narrate everything that had happened back then. Her eyes were already red from crying, and still hung with sparkling teardrops.

"My father, my sister, and I had understood very early on that this matter would sooner or later be discovered. We had all prepared ourselves for it. We just hadn't expected it to come so soon... But in truth, the news that Liuguang Realm had once sheltered you was deliberately leaked by Qingyue big sister."

"...I see." When everything was reconnected in Yun Che's mind, many things took on an entirely different shape.

"If it had first been discovered by other King Realms... especially the Fan Di Divine Realm, and they had imposed severe punishment, the consequences would have been unpredictable. So, she spread the news first, letting the Zhou Tian God Realm know ahead of time, luring Zhou Xuzi to Liuguang Realm. Then, in front of him, she grievously injured my father and crippled his profound veins, and then announced that I would be confined to the Moon God Realm for a thousand years."

As one of the Three Great Upper Star Realms of the Eastern Divine Region, the Realm King Shui Qianheng being grievously injured was one thing, but having his profound veins permanently crippled... that was undoubtedly a punishment of extreme cruelty.

It crippled not just Shui Qianheng, but the very core pillar of Liuguang Realm.

Even Zhou Xuzi couldn't bear to watch and pleaded for leniency on their behalf.

Zhou Xuzi had always been very fond of Shui Meiyin; everyone in the Eastern Divine Region knew how desperately he had wanted to take her as his disciple. So, when Xia Qingyue imprisoned Shui Meiyin, Zhou Xuzi could only plead. If he had asked for her to be transferred to the Zhou Tian God Realm's custody, the world would have surely whispered that he was shielding her.

Thus, the punishment for Liuguang Realm was settled. The method of punishment was so brutal it chilled one to the bone, and it had the witness and intercession of the Zhou Tian God Emperor. In this way, no one—including the Fan Di Divine Realm—could interfere further in this matter.

Moreover, if anyone, coveting Shui Meiyin's Stainless Divine Soul, tried to use Liuguang Realm's crime as a pretext, they would have to contend with the Moon God Emperor's displeasure.

"On the surface, it was a severe punishment, but in reality, it was a form of protection for Liuguang Realm and for me." Shui Meiyin sniffled. "She told me that the profound veins my father had lost... once Brother Yun Che returned, he would surely be able to restore them."

"And so it was." She lifted her face, another unbidden teardrop rolling down. "Father has completely recovered. I really, really wish... I could tell Qingyue big sister about this face to face."

Yun Che asked softly: "Back then, after she caught... brought you to the Moon God Realm, she told you everything, right?"

"Yes." Shui Meiyin nodded. "Deliberately spreading the news and punishing Liuguang Realm to protect it was only a secondary reason. What she most wanted to do was to have a legitimate reason to bring me to her side."

"Then, in the deepest Moon Prison of the Moon God Realm, she took out her Cosmic Thorn and told me... everything."

Yun Che's breath caught in his throat.