[HSRGSS] Chapter 114: Love and Worthiness

Jingliu watched Lucian leave for the study, then sat alone at the stone table in the courtyard, lost in thought.

Thanks to the warm sunlight and the quiet surroundings, before Jingliu realized it, she had leaned on the table and drifted into sleep.

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"You will never be able to take my sword in your lifetime."

"We have been master and disciple long enough."

"It's time to say goodbye, my dear disciple."

"NO!"

Jingliu jolted awake from a fleeting dream of Lucian walking away, never to return.

Just the thought of being without Lucian beside her filled Jingliu's heart with a strange unease, reluctance, and sorrow.

'It must be because I am still not strong enough...'

Jingliu, with sweat rolling down her face, thought in distress.

'Yes, that must be it. I cannot even take one strike from Master's sword. I only drag him down. I am not worthy of staying by his side...'

After all, her mother had once been weak and captured by abominations, used to threaten her father. In the end, her father compromised and laid down his sword, and they both perished together.

Needless to say, when one side was frail, the other would inevitably be dragged down.

Jingliu had always known this truth ever since the death of her parents, which was exactly why she never dared to go further in her relationship with Lucian.

It was not because she did not want to—it was because she did not dare.

Jingliu's mind was a mess at this moment, tangled with countless thoughts.

Just then, the corner of her eye caught an unusual movement at the edge of the doorway.

Jingliu turned her head and saw a fluffy figure clinging sneakily to the red-lacquered doorframe, half the figure's body peeking out before darting back.

A large, bushy purple tail swayed nervously left and right, betraying the figure's panic.

It was none other than Baiheng.

Jingliu moved silently toward Baiheng, her steps light as a breeze gliding over water.

"What are you mumbling about here?"

Stopping behind Baiheng, Jingliu asked in a cool, even voice.

"Whoa!"

Baiheng jumped in fright, spinning around so suddenly her fox tail practically stood on end.

Upon seeing it was Jingliu, Baiheng's tension burst like a punctured balloon—her pretty face flushed bright red, the color spreading from her cheeks all the way to her delicate fox ears.

"You scared me, Jingliu! I thought it was Lucian... I wasn't ready yet..."

'Ready? Ready for what?' Jingliu wondered inwardly, raising her eyebrows.

In the end, she did not speak, only fixed her gaze on Baiheng with her clear, icy light-red eyes that pierced through everything like a frozen lake. Her gaze swept silently over Baiheng's burning cheeks, then down to her restless, twitching tail.

"We're close, so I won't hide it from you..."

Baiheng spoke in a somewhat shy tone.

"Actually… I'm getting ready to confess to Lucian. I was practicing just now..."

"Lucian, I… I wuv—Ouch!"

Baiheng bit her tongue, then yelped and stuck out her small, pink tongue in pain.

At the word 'confess,' Jingliu's brows furrowed without her realizing it.

"Why choose this moment? Instead of indulging in love affairs, would it not be better to train harder? That way, there would at least be a greater chance of survival."

Jingliu knew Baiheng harbored feelings for Lucian, but recognizing them did not mean permitting her to cut ahead.

'I treat you as my closest friend, and yet you want to become my master's wife first?' Jingliu thought with rising frustration. 'No, that cannot happen. I must persuade her otherwise.'

"But that's exactly why!"

Baiheng's eyes shone brightly, her tone firm.

"Since we're about to fight an Emanator of Abundance, I have to hurry up! What if... What if I die tomorrow? If I disappear without even telling him I love him, wouldn't that be a huge regret? A regret all the way back to my great-grandma's house!"

She even waved her fist for emphasis.

"And what if the dream he told us really comes true? What if I end up with nothing left, not even a body to revive? In that case, I'll never have a chance. That's why I need to treasure the time I still have to confess."

Baiheng's voice grew softer, laced with the fragility and stubbornness of a small creature, but her eyes remained unyieldingly bright.

Jingliu felt something stir faintly in her chest, as if a small ripple had spread across her frozen heart, yet her expression stayed unchanged.

"Are you ready? Are you really sure about this?"

In the end, Jingliu only asked this calmly.

"Mm!"

Baiheng nodded hard, her fluffy tail wagging furiously as if to cheer herself on.

However, the next moment, her round, gleaming eyes fixed firmly on Jingliu—her gaze carried a sharpness unlike ever before, as if it could peel away the cold mask of sword aura Jingliu wrapped herself in.

"And you, Jingliu?"

Baiheng leaned forward slightly, her foxian intuition keen, her voice lowered like a pebble dropped into a deep pond.

"Are you still going to wait?"

Upon hearing this question, Jingliu's fingers curled ever so slightly.

"If I cannot keep up with his steps, I will only be a burden, a weakness..." Jingliu finally lifted her eyes, though her gaze was unfocused. "In that situation, there will be no lasting bond. I will wait until I can truly take his sword—until the day I am worthy of him."

"Worthy?"

For once, Baiheng's eyes widened in rare seriousness, and with a sharp flick of her tail, it snapped audibly in the air.

"Is love something about worthiness?"

Baiheng stepped closer, almost pressing against Jingliu, tilting her head up with blazing determination.

"Love means love! Why add so many rules? We foxians don't live long—who knows when our time will be up!"

Baiheng's words spilled out like rapid-fire arrows—striking like sharp fragments, carrying undeniable clarity.

"I don't care about forever! All I know is, right now, I love him, and I want to tell him! If I can live happily even for one day, that's enough!"

"I just... I just want to have it once, and that's enough. I don't want to die someday with the word 'love' still stuck in my heart, never spoken aloud!"

"You know, that'd be too miserable, dying with regrets..."

At Baiheng's words, Jingliu instantly fell silent.

As the courtyard filled only with the rustling of leaves in the wind, that single phrase 'dying with regrets' struck a heavy crack in Jingliu's heart.

Yes.

Why cling to that unreachable 'worthiness'?

Jingliu soon remembered her nightmare from when she was eleven.

In that moment, she suddenly no longer wanted to wait.

If Baiheng was going to act, then she had to be faster, or the next time she saw Baiheng, she might have to call her 'master's wife.'

"He… is waiting for you at the other courtyard."

Jingliu turned abruptly, swift as a startled gust of wind, leaving only this behind—her voice sounded calm, yet carried a faint, hidden urgency.

"Huh? He's waiting for me?" Baiheng's fluffy tail spun like a windmill in excitement. "As expected, nothing can escape him…"

In the blink of an eye, she dashed off like an arrow, her light footsteps and faint scent quickly vanishing into the air.

Jingliu took a deep breath, filled with a strange, unfamiliar determination.

In the next moment, Jingliu turned sharply and strode quickly in the opposite direction without hesitation. Her pace grew faster and faster, until she was almost running, her robes fluttering wildly in the rush.

"Sorry, Baiheng, but I will always be one step ahead of you."