My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion
Chapter 132 - 112: You Dare to Behead My Corpse?

Chen Yi had severed his Separative Self-Attachment and no longer knew whether she was beautiful or not. Zhou Yitang, however, had long ceased to care whether Chen Yi looked good or not.

She was a true cultivator, had already severed her Three Corpses, and in the Sword Tomb, her arm had been cut off along with them.

For someone like her, who had achieved mastery in cultivation, beauty or ugliness made no difference—it was merely skin-deep. In her eyes, he was without exceptional features; his appearance mattered not.

Zhou Yitang did not reach out to touch him but simply stared silently at the man entangled with her through two lifetimes.

She felt a heavy, stifling air in her chest that grew especially oppressive as she watched him.

The weight of their karmic bond pressed down on her heart. Zhou Yitang still remembered the day he died—a day when she let out a breath of relief.

It was no empty sentiment; she truly felt relieved then.

That was why, upon hearing about Yin Tingxue’s affair, she felt a certain shared affliction.

"Sever your Self-Attachment, cut your Three Corpses,"

Zhou Yitang murmured softly to herself,

"and then you will belong to me."

At that moment, all past entanglements would truly be settled.

He would follow her to Yin Sword Mountain, and they would journey together on the path to eternal enlightenment.

As for the Chen Yi who would emerge after severing his Three Corpses, would he still be the same as before?

Having severed her own Corpses, Zhou Yitang understood: both yes and no.

The Three Corpses are merely desires; once removed, a person remains the same person, with the same sentiments—except without desire.

In truth, she harbored no desire for him, only a deep attachment.

She was a stubborn woman. He had once led her through a summer of blooming peonies on the mountainside; her fingertips trembled, yet she feigned indifference, nodding ever so slightly. Even later, when he broke her sword, she could not help but frequently recall the stunning brilliance of that moment.

Zhou Yitang stopped looking at him, closed her eyes, and sat in silent meditation.

Half an hour passed.

Chen Yi gradually woke up, rolling over on the ground.

After severing his Separative Self-Attachment, he often felt an inexplicable dizziness.

"I shouldn’t have followed her in here."

Chen Yi muttered under his breath.

He thought, after enduring the calamity at the Heavenly Altar, that he could resist Yu Zhen Yuanjun’s profound Taoist skills; yet he still fell into her trap.

Truth be told, perhaps he shouldn’t have clung to old feelings, nor worried about letting down the little fox or Min Shaoxia. Perhaps back then... he should have broken her sword!

Still, though he entered with her, Chen Yi did not regret it.

He had broken her sword, hurt her once, and didn’t want to hurt her a second time.

"Powerless, are you?"

Her voice rang in his ears.

Chen Yi grinned, shamelessly replying,

"Do you think Master could forgive me this once?"

"No."

Zhou Yitang answered calmly.

"Have mercy."

Chen Yi’s thick-skinned persistence was unmatched.

The one-armed woman stood up without sparing her disciple another glance.

"Zhu Yu..."

The tone of her voice was so intimate that it bordered on cloying.

Zhou Yitang furrowed her brows, reprimanding him without turning back:

"You should have thought of a contingency plan before coming in."

Chen Yi pressed his head, deflated, then chuckled wryly:

"What contingency plan? All I can do is fight my way through."

The one-armed woman snickered lightly.

Clearly, she didn’t take his words seriously.

For a moment, Chen Yi was silent. He did have a contingency plan, but whether it would work was uncertain.

The reason he entered wasn’t for calculation but more likely a reckless impulse—not wanting to break her sword again.

"Not getting up?"

Seeing him still lying on the ground, the one-armed woman asked.

Chen Yi slowly got up and warmed his hands over the flames, unconsciously glancing at Zhou Yitang. Even though he couldn’t tell whether she was beautiful, he still felt that her beauty was striking.

Watching her, Chen Yi was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, finally murmuring softly,

"Actually... I miss you."

His words, abrupt and seemingly unconnected, reached her ears, yet Zhou Yitang did not rebuke him; instead, she answered with a simple

"Mm."

"I can guess why you want to sever my Three Corpses."

"Mm."

Zhou Yitang nodded slightly, her expression unchanging.

"I also know you can’t forgive me."

"Mm."

Zhou Yitang remained impassive.

"That day, in the heavy rain, when I broke your sword, you cried endlessly among the blooming peonies. To be honest, I really wanted to hold you just once. But I didn’t—I didn’t—but I wanted to hold you so badly."

Zhou Yitang hesitated for a moment before finally replying,

"...Mm."

Chen Yi slowly stood up, shook his head, thought for a bit, then laughed freely,

"Let’s go. If the Three Corpses are to be severed, so be it.

At least this time, I won’t let you wait until after my death to endure spring and autumn alone."

Watching his somewhat desolate figure moving ahead, Zhou Yitang, for a split second, couldn’t even utter another "Mm."

She hadn’t felt so unsettled in a long time.

His voice burned in her heart like that one kiss.

Memories of the past seemed to rush back all at once—waiting by his grave for countless days, through the winters’ nights, the summers’ days, as wild vines grew over and over.

The Ruoque Sword trembled instantly, re-centering her wavering thoughts.

Zhou Yitang pressed her lips together, silent, then rose to follow him. She didn’t want to look back anymore.

So don’t stop—keep walking, sever his Three Corpses.

It’s said that the Buddha once guided the Heavenly Demon Mara outside the Grove of Solitude but could never guide the endless attachments of living souls.

...............

Outside the door of the tomb’s coffin chamber.

Beyond the darkness, something stirred.

The long-slumbering Kui Beast slowly opened its eyes; crimson irises shifted, as if assessing something.

Two intruders... had entered the main chamber.

The Kui Beast exhaled a heavy breath through its nostrils.

It propped up its four limbs and began to move one deliberate step at a time, its eyes intent.

A female cultivator... Taoist and Martial Dual Cultivation, her Primordial Spirit secure, extraordinary...

A martial artist, suppressed to the Sixth Rank, and... stripped of Separative Self-Attachment, leaving only Innate Self-Attachment?

The Kui Beast’s lips curled into a sinister and terrifying smile.

"What an... exquisite..."

Its voice, unused for ages, was strange and distorted.

"...exquisite vessel!"

Speaking a complete sentence, the Kui Beast conjured an overwhelming surge of malevolence.

Yu Shun banished the four ferocious tribes; each beast had its own fate. And here it had remained, in this lightless underground palace for millennia, guarding nothing but a long-dead woman!

It yearned to leave, to see what the world had become, to search for its exiled kin.

And the first step was to seize this... magnificent vessel.

...............

Her attachment was terrifying.

Chen Yi kept walking, lost in thought.

Though his words earlier came from the depths of his heart, she still remained unmoved.

Chen Yi bitterly smiled.

He couldn’t help wondering if Zhou Yitang’s stubbornness had a hidden weak point, just as he did, just like her living sword.

Surely it must. Stubborn people always have a weak spot—a point of vulnerability that makes them retreat involuntarily.

For Chen Yi, it was Yin Tingxue’s plea to "be kinder to me." For Zhou Yitang, what could it be?

Walking forward felt like advancing toward an execution ground. The closer he got, the more restless his heart became.

Each breath felt as endless as eternity.

His thoughts grew more chaotic.

It seemed... as though a voice had entered his mind.

"Do you truly want this... to let her control you?"

A strange voice, sounding like someone else’s yet also his own.

After severing Separative Self-Attachment, Chen Yi couldn’t distinguish between the two.

"Do you truly want this... to be rid of your Three Corpses?"

The voice then laughed mockingly,

"To sever your Three Corpses and cease being who you are."

As the words fell, inexplicably, a wave of fierce intent surged within Chen Yi.

Though he had already severed his Middle Corpse, strange killing intent still arose.

The one-armed woman walked ahead of him, entirely unguarded; her silhouette swayed before his eyes.

"She wants to strip you of your Self-Attachment, yet her own Self-Attachment runs far deeper than yours does."

The voice questioned him,

"By what right does she strip you of your Self-Attachment?!"

The words wrapped around Chen Yi like an invisible veil.

Chen Yi drew the Hou Kang Sword.

In the pitch-black darkness, a pair of crimson eyes appeared, staring directly at him.

"Strike!

Use the Wisdom Sword to sever lovesickness!"

In this primal chaos, the Kui Beast hissed its demonic tone—a technique once feared by ancient civilizations, capable of defiling even the most virtuous.

Then it heard a response:

"Wisdom Sword to sever lovesickness...

What manner of filth dares to sever my inferior corpse?!"