188: Chapter 188 Please...forgive me?

As he spoke, Qin Feng took a step forward, closing in on Ruan Fengjiao. His powerful pressure forced the young girl to involuntarily take half a step back.

He lowered his voice, his tone carrying a magical quality that seemed to see right through a person's heart: "That is because the higher-ups in your Sect are constantly whispering in your ears, telling you how despicable the evildoers of the Hehuan Sect are, and that they should be put to death by everyone. Their purpose is nothing more than to make you forget how you are bullied and exploited within your own Sect, understand?!"

Ruan Fengjiao shook her head in a daze: "No... I don't understand... How could Revered Master and the Elders have such a purpose..."

"Perhaps your simple mind truly cannot contain such things."

Qin Feng sneered disdainfully, his tone calm yet every word piercing the heart: "Simply put, this is a clever management trick. The Sect's higher-ups set up an 'enemy group' for you that is heinous and cruel, thereby guiding you so that all your hatred and resentment can be successfully transferred to the outside!"

"As long as you think every day about killing the evildoers of the Demonic Path and completing the so-called grand cause of eliminating demons and defending the Dao, you will selectively forget the injustice the Sect inflicts upon you, forget how the Elders withhold your cultivation resources, and forget how the Core Disciples of the Inner Sect unscrupulously ride on the heads of you Outer Sect Disciples to act recklessly!"

"Because your attention is all being drawn to the so-called 'Great Righteous vs. Demonic Cause'."

"This is nothing more than a brainwashing tactic used by your Sect's higher-ups to weaken the sharp class conflicts within the Sect, dilute your resentment over the Sect's injustices, and thereby make it easier to manage you bottom-tier Disciples!"

"Do you understand now? Poor Miss Ruan."

Hearing these words that could be called shocking and that completely overturned her decades of understanding of cultivation, Ruan Fengjiao was struck as if by a bolt of lightning. She stood frozen in place, her mind buzzing.

"No... it's not like that... it's not..." She shook her head, her face pale and her eyes unfocused. She was plunged into extreme self-doubt, retreating again and again: "Revered Master... Revered Master cares for me very much... The Sect wouldn't deceive us like this..."

Qin Feng watched her faith collapse, seeing her on the verge of breaking down, and a cold sneer of success flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He did not give her any chance to breathe or think, suddenly taking a step forward and firmly grabbing Ruan Fengjiao's somewhat cold, jade-like hand.

"Ah—!"

Suddenly having her wrist grabbed roughly by the man, Ruan Fengjiao struggled in a panic, only to find that Qin Feng's palm was like an iron clamp forged from ten-thousand-year black iron, immovable.

"Brother Qin, let me go..."

"Let you go? Look into my eyes!"

Qin Feng shouted in a low voice, his tone carrying a power that struck straight at the soul.

Ruan Fengjiao instinctively raised her head, colliding with those deep, cold, yet self-deprecating and weary black eyes.

"Miss Ruan, you grew up in the Xuanqing Sect since you were young, possess excellent Aptitude, are loved by your Revered Master, and are protected by your fellow Disciples. You think you are the light of the Righteous Path, right?"

Qin Feng stared fixedly at her, his tone calm yet every word heavy, carrying a suppressed indignation: "But do you know what I faced the moment I opened my eyes?!"

"The moment I opened my eyes, I was just the lowliest, most bottom-tier Menial Laborer in the Servant District of the Hehuan Sect! Every day before dawn, I had to get up to work. If I didn't finish, I would be whipped. I ate leftovers worse than what pigs or dogs are fed. Every night, lying on a damp pile of straw, all I heard were the desperate cries of my companions who couldn't endure the torture!"

"In order to survive, in order to have a full meal, I had to work day and night, struggling desperately just to live!"

"Because I didn't want to be worked to death, didn't want to be inexplicably slapped to death by someone, I had to desperately use every means possible to Cultivate. It was only with great difficulty that I became an Outer Sect Disciple of the Hehuan Sect, gaining a glimmer of a chance to control my own destiny."

Qin Feng's palm exerted a little force, pulling Ruan Fengjiao closer. His voice trembled slightly, a resonance between his acting and his emotions: "If it weren't for this mission to Sunset City, I wouldn't even have known in this lifetime that the sky outside the Sect was so vast, and the world so wide..."

"I am just an ordinary person who has always struggled to survive. Who have I harmed? Which innocent person have I killed?!"

"What? Just because I was born in the Servant District of the Hehuan Sect, I have become the heinous Demonic Cultivator and evildoer that you speak of, who deserves to be killed by everyone?!"

"Miss Ruan, I treated you as allies. Even in front of the Cloud-Piercing Eagle, to save you, I nearly used my own body to take the beast's sharp claws! But what about you?!"

Qin Feng pointed to his own chest, his eyes slightly red, his voice filled with humiliation and questioning: "That good Senior Brother of yours plotted against me from behind, wanting my life. Afterwards, he still stood on the moral high ground, spat on me, and called me a damned Demonic Cultivator!"

"Do you think this world, treating me like this, is fair?! "

With the last sentence, Qin Feng almost roared it out, shaking stone chips from the depths of the cave, which fell rustlingly, echoing wildly in Ruan Fengjiao's ears.

Ruan Fengjiao was dumbfounded. The man before her was not some heinous Devil Head; he was just a low-tier Cultivator struggling with all his might to survive. Yet what had they done? They had exploited his trust; they had even almost joined forces to kill him.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Tears finally burst out uncontrollably, sliding down Ruan Fengjiao's beautiful cheeks. Endless guilt, remorse, and the despair of her worldview collapsing flooded over her like a tide.

She bit her red lips tightly, crying like a pear blossom in the rain, apologizing somewhat incoherently: "Brother Qin... I'm sorry... I didn't know you lived so bitterly before... I really didn't know Senior Brother would do such a base thing... It was my fault... We are the ones who failed you..."

Watching Ruan Fengjiao cry in such heartbreak, the coldness in the depths of Qin Feng's eyes did not fade in the slightest. Indoctrination is not something that can be accomplished by a simple apology; he had to completely shatter her pride and her final line of defense.

Qin Feng slowly, bit by bit, released the hand gripping her wrist. He turned around and sat back by the bonfire with a sense of disinterest, picking up an iron skewer to turn the beast meat, which was already roasted golden and dripping with oil. His voice returned to its initial coldness and indifference: "Enough, put away your cheap tears. You should go. While I haven't changed my mind about wanting to kill you for revenge, get out of my sight."

"I don't want to see anyone from your Xuanqing Sect again. Your talk of benevolence and morality only makes me feel sick."

The cold dismissal was like the sharpest whip, lashing again and again at the depths of Ruan Fengjiao's already guilt-ridden heart. She looked at the man's back, which appeared somewhat lonely, desolate, yet incredibly stubborn under the firelight. She wanted to leave, but her legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, unable to take a single step.

If she just left like this today, she would live her whole life in the shadow of betraying an ally and being hypocritical and selfish. Her Dao Heart would also be completely tarnished at this moment, with no possibility of further progress.

"Brother Qin..." Ruan Fengjiao gritted her teeth, looking at that figure in black robes, a flash of determination in her beautiful eyes.

"Thud." A dull sound of impact rang out in the quiet cave. Without the slightest hesitation, Ruan Fengjiao bent her previously proud knees and knelt heavily on the hard, damp stone floor.

"Brother Qin, all the faults, all the mistakes, are mine alone." Ruan Fengjiao lowered her head, two lines of tears falling onto the cold ground, her voice trembling yet incredibly firm: "I was the one who agreed to form an alliance with you, but I didn't do what an ally should do. Instead, I shrank back at the critical moment, nearly causing you to die without a burial place."

"I know I was wrong. No matter how Brother Qin wants to punish me, whether it be hitting or scolding, even if you want my life, Fengjiao will have no complaints and is willing to bear it!"

"I beg you... forgive me... will you?"