A Cunning Pervert in the Cultivation World Chapter 590: A Shameless Man and A Coward (3)

"What about Fen Ziyan?"

Zi Yuanling’s dull crimson eyes opened slightly.

"Were you going to kill her?"

At the question, the cell grew even quieter.

Zi Yuanling stared at him for a long moment, as if the question itself had cut deeper than all the ones before it.

Then she slowly shook her head.

"...No."

Her voice was soft, but firm.

"...I never planned to kill my own daughter."

Her fingers curled faintly against the wood.

"...I was going to finish what I had accepted. Let the blessing run its course. Let that thing use this body until there was nothing left to take."

She paused.

"And then I was going to destroy myself with it."

Then a faint, tired breath escaped her lips.

"If I self-destructed at the right moment, I could drag the being possessing me down with me. That was the only ending I could still choose."

Her lifeless crimson eyes lowered.

"...Ziyan was never meant to die with me."

"Even if this body burned... even if I became something that should never have existed... she would still have a path left."

A faint, almost fragile certainty entered her words.

"...She could still undergo nirvana and she could still be reborn."

Zi Yuanling closed her eyes again.

"That was the one thing I refused to take from her."

"...I see."

Li Feng’s voice was quiet.

"Thank you."

Then he stood up

Zi Yuanling’s lifeless crimson eyes snapped open.

For a moment, she simply stared at him, as though she could not understand what she was seeing.

Then her voice tore from her throat.

"Wait—!"

"Is that all?!"

Her voice cracked against the wooden walls of the cell.

She tried to sit up, but the branches tightened just enough to keep her from lunging forward.

Her pale face twisted with disbelief.

"Don’t you want to punish me?!"

Her breathing grew ragged.

"I used my own daughter! I killed Zhao! I accepted their blessing! I let that thing crawl into the capital and killed... millions of lives!"

Her voice rose, raw and almost desperate.

"You dragged me here! You said I was shameless! You even called me a coward!"

The branches creaked as she strained against them.

"And now you just say ’I see’ and thank me?!"

Her crimson eyes locked onto his back.

"Are you really going to walk away like none of it matters?!"

After those words, Li Feng turn to looked back at her.

For a moment, he simply stood there, listening to her ragged breathing and the faint creaking of the branches.

Then he sighed.

"...To be honest."

"If you had truly been evil, and I hadn’t seen your memories... I might have treated you like any other enemy."

Zi Yuanling’s crimson eyes trembled.

"I would have locked you away, forced the answers out of you, or ended it cleanly and moved on."

Li Feng’s dark gaze remained on her pale face.

"But now that I know..."

He paused and scratched his cheek.

"It’s a bit difficult to do that with a clear conscience."

At those words, Zi Yuanling’s pale face twisted with anger.

So this was the man who had dragged her here, called her shameless, and claimed he would punish her?

...Such a hypocrite man!

Her crimson eyes sharpened with disgust.

"Then you’re just weak."

The words came out sharp, almost venomous.

"You shouldn’t spare a woman simply because she looks pitiful, or because she had reasons for what she did. Having a reason does not make a sin any less of a sin."

"Zhao is still dead...!"

"Ziyan was still used...!"

"The capital still burned, and millions died because of it!"

Her crimson eyes glared at him through the branches.

For the first time, they held nothing but fierce disgust.

"...Don’t dress your weakness up as mercy!"

Her voice trembled slightly, but there was no hesitation in it.

"If you can’t punish me for what I’ve done, then you’re no different from every other man who loses his resolve the moment a woman looks sad."

"So don’t pretend you’re merciful."

"You’re simply too weak to see your own judgment through."

She clenched her fists.

Her crimson eyes burned with fierce determination.

"If you still want to survive in this cruel world, then kill me... punish me!"

Her voice rose until it was almost a roar.

"Prove to me that you are a strong and resolute person!"

"Prove that you have the resolve to carry out your own judgment, no matter how cruel it may be!"

Li Feng just listened quietly to all of her accusing words and shook his head.

"You think refusing to kill or punish you means I lack resolve?"

His dark gaze settled on her.

His voice remained calm.

"No."

"I am simply refusing to let you decide how your story ends."

He paused.

Then, almost casually, he dropped the next words.

"Everyone is still alive."

The cell went still.

Zi Yuanling stared at him.

For a moment it seemed as if she had not heard him at all.

The fierce disgust on her pale face froze in place, as if her mind had refused to accept the sentence.

"...What?"

The word left her lips hoarsely.

Li Feng did not repeat it immediately.

He only looked at her, dark eyes calm, as if he were stating a fact instead of tearing her world open.

"Concubine Zhao. The people in the capital. The ones you thought had already burned..."

His voice stayed quiet.

"...They’re still alive."

Zi Yuanling’s lifeless crimson eyes widened.

She looked completely dumbfounded, as if the words had struck something inside her that she no longer knew how to protect.

"...How... That’s impossible."

Li Feng did not raise his voice as he continued calmly.

"And there is no need to worry... your punishment will still happen."

He paused, watching the disbelief settle across her pale face.

"I told you. I am a shameless man, so it won’t be done by me."

"It will be done by your daughter."

"I will let her decide."

He paused, then asked quietly,

"Have... you ever thought about what will happen to Fen Ziyan after this?"

Zi Yuanling’s lifeless crimson eyes trembled.

Li Feng’s voice remained calm as his gaze stayed on her pale face.

"Will she be happy?"

"Now that her home is gone. Her people are gone. And her mother is gone."

The wooden cell seemed to grow colder.

"Have you ever thought about the girl who would have to live with that?"

He did not wait for her answer.

In his mind, Fen Ziyan’s face rose clearly.

Arrogant on the outside.

Sharp-tongued and proud, always acting as if she needed no one.

...But beneath all of that, she had always needed warmth.

A place to return to.

A person who would still look at her, even after she pushed them away.

Li Feng’s eyes darkened at those thought.

Strangely enough, his future self had never mentioned what happened to her.

Not a single word.

And somehow, that silence felt heavier than any warning.

Because Li Feng knew Fen Ziyan well.

At least, he thought he did.

If her home was gone...

If her people were gone...

If the mother she still loved had vanished from her world...

What would she have left?

Perhaps she would pretend to be fine.

Perhaps she would curse and laugh and act as though none of it mattered.

But Li Feng could already imagine what would be waiting underneath that facade.

...Nothing.

Just an unbearable emptiness.

His fingers tightened slightly.

He had a vague, unsettling feeling that Fen Ziyan would not simply live on after losing everything.

And if she reached that point of despair...

...She might choose to follow her mother into death.

Li Feng looked at Zi Yuanling one last time.

"...So take this time to think it through carefully while I focus on finding a way to bring Fen Ziyan back sooner."

With that, he turned and left.

Behind him, Zi Yuanling remained where she was.

Her lifeless crimson eyes were still wide, fixed on the empty space where he had stood.

The woman who had demanded death, cursed his mercy, and tried to force his judgment by offering up her own life... was left behind in complete silence.

And for the first time, she had... no idea what to say.

_

_

_

Li Feng walked out silently as a wry smile touched his lips.

It was not amusement.

It was the tired, crooked expression of a man who had just refused the easy ending and chosen the heavier one instead.

He had seen her memories and he had heard her demand death with her own mouth.

And still, he had left her alive.

"...I really am shameless as always," he murmured to himself.

His smile soon faded.

It was not that he did not want to punish Zi Yuanling.

If anything, a colder part of him still wanted to.

He had seen the capital burn and he had felt the weight of all those lives that had been lost.

Even though everything had turned out well in the end, that did not erase what she had done.

A sin was still a sin, regardless of how the story ended.

But Li Feng also understood something.

If he killed her now, or even punished her himself, Zi Yuanling would simply accept it.

She already believed she deserved to die.

To her, his punishment would only be another way of paying for her sins.

She would accept everything and convince herself that her crime had finally been repaid.

And somehow... that was not the ending Li Feng wanted.

It was too easy.

He would rather make her live with the consequences than give her the punishment she was asking for.

His footsteps slowed.

Fen Ziyan’s face rose in his mind.

Her arrogant smile, sharp tongue... and the fragility she would never willingly show anyone.

His gaze slowly deepened.

Perhaps this was never his decision to make alone.

Zi Yuanling had committed her sin against an entire Dynasty.

But she had also deceived her own daughter.

She had lied to Fen Ziyan, manipulated her, and left her to bear the consequences without ever knowing the truth.

If anyone had the right to decide what should happen to Zi Yuanling now...

It was Fen Ziyan... her own daughter.

Then,

Li Feng exhaled quietly.

"Let her decide."

For someone like Zi Yuanling, that might be harder to accept than death.

She could accept punishment.

She could accept death.

But facing the judgment of the daughter she had deceived was something entirely different.

And once Fen Ziyan had decided her fate...

Li Feng would have no problem having his own turn.

He continued down the wooden corridor before finally speaking.

"Little Ling."

A rustle of leaves stirred through the wooden corridor, warm and attentive.

’Yes, Master?’

"Keep that woman... Zi Yuanling alive."

His voice was calm, but there was no room for misunderstanding.

"Do not let her take her own life. Do not let her destroy her body and do not let her do anything reckless."

He paused for a moment.

"For now, keep her alive and well."

He glanced back toward the direction of the cell, though the thick wood had already sealed it from sight.

’Understood, Master. I will watch her~’