CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 56 - CHOICES MADE BY THEM

The memory still made her sick. She’d stared at the vial of slow-acting toxin in her trembling hands, knowing that she held the life of the man she loved.

On one side: her emperor, her savior, the person she’d devoted her entire adult life to serving.

On the other: Xiao, her baby brother, the last remnant of the family that had died to save them both.

’What choice did I have? What choice was there?’

She’d wept as she’d mixed the poison into his evening tea, her hands shaking so badly she’d nearly dropped the cup.

Every sip he’d taken had felt like a dagger in her heart, but she’d forced herself to watch, to be present for what she’d done.

’I’m a murderer. A betrayer. The worst kind of servant.’

For months, she’d administered the slow death, watching him grow weaker and more frail with each passing day. Sometimes she’d catch him looking at her with those intelligent eyes, and she’d wonder if he knew—if he understood that his loyal Mei Ling was the instrument of his destruction.

The guilt had been eating her alive, a constant gnawing presence that made food taste like ash and sleep impossible. She’d started planning her own death, thinking it only fitting that she follow him into whatever came after. The only thing that had stopped her was the knowledge that Xiao would be left alone again, and the promise she’d made to their parents’ memory.

Then had come that day in the cell, when everything had changed.

’"I know," he’d said, his voice so gentle it had broken her heart all over again. "From the very first day... I knew."’

She’d expected rage, demands for explanation, perhaps even execution despite his weakened state. Instead, he’d touched her cheek with infinite tenderness and spoken words that had shattered her world and remade it in the same breath.

’"I understood."’

He’d known. He’d known she was killing him, and he’d let it happen because he’d understood her impossible choice. The man she’d spent fifteen years loving had forgiven her betrayal before she’d even confessed it, had seen through to the desperate love and loyalty that had motivated her actions.

’That’s when I knew I would follow him anywhere. Even into hell itself.’

’’’

"Mei Ling!" Lin Yue’s voice cut through the spiral of memory, dragging her back to the present. "You’re hyperventilating! Focus on my voice!"

She blinked, suddenly aware that she was gasping for air, her newly enhanced cultivation going haywire as emotional trauma clashed with the foreign qi he’d poured into her system. Lin Yue was kneeling beside her, strong hands framing her face, green eyes blazing with shared grief but also determination.

"He saved us," Lin said firmly. "He saved all of us, and he made sure we were strong enough to survive without him. Don’t you dare dishonor that sacrifice by falling apart now."

’But I don’t want to survive without him.’

The thought came unbidden, carrying with it the weight of fifteen years of devotion. What was she supposed to do now? How was she supposed to exist in a world where his voice would never again call her name, where his hands would never again brush against hers as he passed her books or tea cups?

"I should have stayed," she whispered, the words torn from somewhere deep in her chest. "I should have died with him."

"No." Elder Feng’s voice was like winter wind, cold and absolute. The newly ascended Soul Formation cultivator stood behind them, her pale eyes reflecting their own internal struggle. "You should have lived. Just as he intended."

Feng’s usually perfect composure was cracked, her severe bun disheveled and her obsidian robes torn. But there was something else there too—a pain that mirrored Mei Ling’s own, the grief of someone who had just begun to understand what they were losing.

’She loved him too. In her own way, at the end, she loved him.’

"The sect will demand explanations," Feng continued, her voice growing steadier as she fell back on familiar protocols. "The dimensional collapse will have been detected. We need to prepare our story—a research accident, unstable formations, equipment failure. They cannot know what really happened in there."

’What really happened.’ The words echoed strangely in Mei Ling’s mind. What had really happened? A man had sacrificed everything to save three women he’d claimed to love, pouring his very life force into making them strong enough to survive. He’d chosen their lives over his own, given them power beyond their dreams, and asked for nothing in return but that they live.

’"Hey Mei, you know what? You have the best boobs out there."’

His final words to her, transmitted through their bond in the last seconds before it severed forever. Not poetry, not grand declarations of love, not even proper goodbyes—just the crude, honest affection of a man who’d spent their time together fucking her senseless and treating her like she was precious beyond measure.

’He was a pervert. A lustful, shameless, wonderful pervert who made me feel like I was worth something.’

The tears came again, but different this time—not the desperate, hyperventilating sobs of before, but a steady stream of grief mixed with gratitude. Because he’d given her more than power, more than survival. He’d given her fifteen years of purpose, months of passion, and a sense of self-worth she’d never thought possible.

’I was never just a servant to him. I was his wife. His first wife.’

"The research station’s communication arrays are active," Lin Yue reported, her warrior’s instincts helping her compartmentalize the grief into actionable tasks. "I can reach the sect, report our status. But Mei..." She hesitated, glancing between the other two women. "What do we tell them about the power surge? They’ll sense our advancement immediately."

It was a good question. Mei Ling could feel the foreign qi still settling into her meridians, her cultivation base having jumped from Foundation Establishment to late Core Formation in a matter of moments.

The advancement should have taken years, decades even, and would normally require extensive resources and careful guidance.

’He gave us everything. Even his own life force.’

"Enlightenment through trauma," Feng said after a moment, her voice carrying the authority of someone accustomed to crafting believable lies. "Exposure to the realm’s energies triggered breakthrough cascades. Rare, but not unheard of in extreme situations. The documentation will support it—assuming anyone bothers to look that closely."

But Mei Ling wasn’t really listening to their planning. Her mind was still back in that collapsing hellscape, watching the man she loved pour his very soul into keeping them alive. The guilt was still there, gnawing at her with sharp teeth, but underneath it something else was growing.

Purpose.

’I-I need to fool the other two...’

Unbeknownst to her, it was not just her who was thinking this. The same was true for the other two. All three of these women were thinking the same thing, but due to their characteristics, their ways of thinking were different.

Mei was too emotionally attached. As a maid with high wifely material, her emotions poured out in waves.

For Lin Yan, a warrior who is trained to compose her emotions on the battlefield, she understood the consequences of losing control. She appeared far calmer on the exterior.

For Feng Lin Hua, her heart was filled with confusion as to why he sacrificed himself; there were some things she wanted to know even though she understood why he did it.

All three of them wanted to save the other two so they could keep his words intact and also die with him.