"Eldest Senior Sister, I know you can hear me. I beg you, please come out and save Jin'er."
Upon learning it was her Eldest Senior Sister who had confined her to the cave abode, Su Hua was certainly anxious, but she wasn't angry. Far from it, a flicker of hope ignited in her heart. She understood clearly that even if her Eldest Senior Sister didn't intervene, all she could do was buy time; she couldn't actually save Xiao Jinr.
Unfortunately, the Eldest Senior Sister neither appeared nor responded. Instead, it was Nalan Qianqiu beside her who, seeing Su Hua's frantic desperation, couldn't bear it any longer. She stopped her scolding and tried to persuade her instead: "Junior Sister, how do you expect our Eldest Senior Sister to save her? Xiao Jinr is a Disaster Star of the Daoless Age."
"You understand better than anyone that the Three Thousand Great Daos will never tolerate her existence and will undoubtedly obliterate her without hesitation. It doesn't matter whether Xiao Jinr's existence threatens Heaven and Earth, or whether she endangers all living beings. That's just how it is."
"They can't afford to gamble, they can't afford to lose. They dare not gamble, and they never do."
"Let me put it to you plainly. Even if Eldest Senior Sister intervened today and helped you save Xiao Jinr, successfully preventing her fusion with the Blood Moon and her awakening, the Three Thousand Great Daos still wouldn't let her go. Faced with a potential threat, the Three Thousand Great Daos, and Heaven and Earth itself, would rather kill by mistake than let anyone slip through."
"That Gu fellow is a perfect example. He's so monstrous, so mysterious and unknown, such a huge variable and so difficult to deal with. How many times have the Three Thousand Great Daos suffered at his hands? Time and again, too many to count. Even the Heavenly Dao can't handle him now. I bet just mentioning that Gu fellow gives them a headache. If they could, I believe they'd prefer to let things lie and stop tangling with him."
"Who in all of Heaven and Earth doesn't know that Gu fellow is not to be trifled with? But the key point is, no matter how troublesome he is, they still have to deal with him. They have no choice. After all, that Gu fellow is an Original Sin person of the Daoless Age. Everyone's afraid!"
"Although Xiao Jinr isn't an Original Sin person, she is a Disaster Star of the Daoless Age, even more of a threat than that Gu fellow. If they haven't let him off the hook despite how troublesome he is, how could they possibly spare a mere Xiao Jinr?"
Su Hua wasn't unaware of what Nalan Qianqiu was saying. Yet, even so, she didn't want to give up. Even if the hope was slim, she wanted to fight for it. Sadly, no matter how she pleaded, her Eldest Senior Sister still gave no response.
"Eldest Senior Sister, I'm begging you... please!"
Su Hua didn't know if her Eldest Senior Sister could save Xiao Jinr, but she knew that if she intervened, the chances would be much greater than her own. Most importantly, she knew her Eldest Senior Sister had always doted on her. So, she kept pleading desperately.
As expected.
In the end, the Eldest Senior Sister couldn't hold back any longer. An ethereal voice drifted out from within the cave abode.
"Little Junior Sister, why must you save that girl?"
"Why?" Su Hua was momentarily taken aback. After a pause, she said, "Perhaps... because of a hope."
"A hope?"
"Yes, a hope. I've lived two lives. Whether in my past life or this one, everything has been predestined by karma. So, from the day I was born, I was shackled by fate... In this life, the next, perhaps for all my lives and deaths, I may never break free from the chains of fate."
The Eldest Senior Sister responded, "You are like that. Who isn't? All living beings are the same. Xiao Jinr is no exception."
"Yes, I admit it. All living beings are like that, and Xiao Jinr is no exception. Precisely because of that, I don't want to give up. Predestined karma isn't frightening. Arrangements of fate aren't frightening either. What's truly frightening is knowing it, yet being unable to escape."
"And how could Xiao Jinr possibly escape from her predestined karma, from the arrangements of fate?"
"Because she can't escape, that's why I want to help her."
"You want to help her escape the arrangements of fate?"
"No! Eldest Senior Sister, you misunderstand. I don't want to help Xiao Jinr escape fate's arrangements. I don't have that ability. I just want her to live carefree and innocent, that's all. As long as she can live like that, I'll be happy..." This was indeed Su Hua's true thought, her hope, and a form of spiritual sustenance for her.
Having lived two lives, Su Hua had experienced far too much—light, darkness, evil, kindness, hypocrisy, cunning, and more... She felt people were too complex, and Heaven and Earth were too complex... She herself was trapped in such a life, unable to escape, and she didn't want the innocent Xiao Jinr to fall into such a life as well.
In Su Hua's heart, the pure and innocent Xiao Jinr was like the only sliver of radiance in a dark world, the only patch of pure land in a filthy world. She didn't want this world's only sliver of radiance, its only patch of pure land, to be eroded and devoured by this darkness, this filth, this complex world.
This was her hope.
Nalan Qianqiu might not understand, but the Eldest Senior Sister seemed to. After a moment, a sigh came from within the cave abode.
"Why must you do this?"
"Eldest Senior Sister, don't you often say that a person must have hope to live? Without hope, one is just a walking corpse. My hope is for Xiao Jinr to live, to live carefree and innocent. As long as she lives, I am happy. When I see her smile, I smile too... I believe Eldest Senior Sister must feel the same as I do. You also hope the innocent Xiao Jinr lives, don't you?"
After a period of silence, the Eldest Senior Sister's voice came again: "I cannot save her."
These words instantly extinguished the hope that had just rekindled in Su Hua's heart. She knew that if her Eldest Senior Sister said she couldn't save her, then she truly couldn't be saved.
But such an outcome was something Su Hua simply couldn't accept. She stood there in a daze, feeling despair, and murmured, "Is there... really no way at all?"
"Little Junior Sister, the crux of the problem now isn't just that the Three Thousand Great Daos won't tolerate Xiao Jinr. It's also that Xiao Jinr herself cannot tolerate herself. The Three Thousand Great Daos don't want Xiao Jinr to become a threat, and Xiao Jinr herself doesn't wish to become a threat either. As you said, Xiao Jinr is innocent and pure, her heart kind and gentle—so pure she harbors no distracting thoughts, so kind she can't bear to trample even grass and flowers. How could such a Xiao Jinr possibly wish to become an existence that threatens Heaven and Earth and endangers all living beings?"
Hearing her Eldest Senior Sister's words, Su Hua's heart gave a violent jolt. Only now did she realize that she had been solely focused on how to save Xiao Jinr, completely overlooking how Xiao Jinr herself felt. She also clearly remembered that within the crimson light column, Xiao Jinr had been struggling desperately. But her struggle wasn't for survival; she struggled because she didn't want to awaken, she only wished for death.
Thinking of this, Su Hua collapsed to the ground. Her peerlessly beautiful face turned ashen, sinking into deep despair. She closed her eyes, tears flowing. The last sliver of radiance in her heart seemed to be slowly eroded by darkness, the last patch of pure land gradually devoured by filth.
"Junior Sister, don't lose heart just yet. While I cannot save Xiao Jinr, that doesn't mean no one else can."