22. Suling's Purpose

In the starry night, Universe stood before a pond, deep in thought, and didn't realize that someone was standing behind him.

He was so lost in thought that even as the person didn't mask their movement, but Universe remained unaware.

Suling, who stood behind him, let out an exasperated sigh. 'He took a very hard blow, didn't he,' Suling thought.

Jinglin, puzzled by her friend's behavior, looked at Universe curiously. She had never seen her friend act like this before.

Thinking back to the time when Suling became anxious upon hearing news of Universe, Jinglin started imagining something else, but she couldn't have been more wrong.

On the other side, feeling helpless, Suling finally couldn't hold back and said, "If you like to cry like a girl so much, then why did you kill those people in the first place?"

Universe, who was lost in thought, was suddenly awakened by the voice. Turning around, he found Suling standing behind him, having been there for an unknown amount of time.

He became a little wary of her. Looking around, he asked, "What are you doing here? No one is allowed to enter the clan late at night."

While talking, he slowly removed his sword from its sheath.

Seeing this, Suling wasn't angry; instead, a smile appeared on her face.

"Are you sure you can defeat me in your current state?" Suling asked, taking a step forward.

At that moment, Universe wasn't in his best condition, and his hands were trembling nonstop. This made Suling sigh even more.

Not wanting to alarm Universe further, she stated her purpose for coming there.

"Look, I'm not here to fight you. I came for another matter." Hearing this, Universe breathed a sigh of relief, but his sword still pointed at Suling, showing he wasn't letting his guard down easily.

"If you didn't come to fight, then just go. I don't have time to hear your matters right now," Universe said, looking into her eyes.

For a moment, Suling saw endless pain in his eyes, but then it returned to normal. Suling was sure she wasn't imagining things.

Her body shook a little in shock. 'How can such a young person have this much pain inside him? It can't possibly be only about killing those beasts,' Suling thought to herself.

In order to bring him back to his senses, she knew she had to do something different. After thinking it over, she came up with a plan. Meanwhile, Universe was becoming impatient, his grip on his sword tightening.

Before he could lash out at her, she hurriedly spoke, "Yu Zhou, come with me to a place. I just want to show you something."

Universe wasn't naive enough to listen to her words. Once again, he shouted loudly, "I told you to go away! Why don't you listen? Or do you have another motive for coming here?"

Suling was exasperated; her face turned red with anger. 'I'm trying to help you, idiot,' she calmed herself down.

She spoke again, "Yu Zhou, trust me. I don't have any other purpose. It will only take 5 minutes, and you can leave after that."

Seeing her sincere eyes, Universe hesitated and finally relented.

"Alright, I'll give you 5 minutes. Now tell me where you want to take me."

Hearing his tone, Suling became angry but controlled herself. She knew his situation was different now.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Okay, come with me."

Then she silently led him out of the clan. Just as silently, Universe followed her outside.

As for Jinglin, she was at a loss about what was going on. To understand the situation more clearly, she started following behind them as well.

After walking out of the clan, they made their way to the peripheral side of the city, where the slum area was located. Universe was confused the whole time and couldn't understand what this girl was trying to do by coming here, but he didn't let his guard down.

Upon reaching the slum area, they stood in front of a dilapidated house, mostly broken down. Inside were an old man and an old woman, eating a dirty rice ball.

After looking at them for a while, Universe couldn't understand her purpose, so he turned towards her. Suling understood and started speaking in a hushed tone.

"Do you see these two people? Do you know who they are?"

Universe shook his head in confusion. 'How am I supposed to know them? This is the first time I've come here,' Universe thought, waiting for her answer.

"Their names are Chou Ji and Mu Lan. They were small-time merchants in this Spring City, and they had a son who was 20 years old. Their life was filled with happiness until one day..."

Suling paused for a moment, as Universe's interest was piqued. She continued,

"One day, their son went to another city to sell his merchandise. Halfway there, some bandits caught him and tried to take everything from him. I don't know exactly what happened, but he was found dead by the next caravan passing through in the morning. After hearing this, they were both broken and lost everything in just one night."

After finishing, she turned to Universe and asked, "So tell me, did they do the right thing by killing him? Did he deserve to die that night?" With each word, her eyes grew redder.

"Ask yourself, Yu Zhou, whether what they did was right or wrong."

Universe also felt emotional, shaking his head. "No, he didn't deserve it."

"Another question: is killing those bandits a good thing or a bad thing?"

Universe was so absorbed in her story that he replied without hesitation, "kill."

Finally, something clicked in his head. Universe understood Suling's purpose. "But why? They don't know each other that well. Why is she doing this for me?" Universe started to make sense of it all.