This Is What a Villain Is Like

Chapter 171: Chapter 93: Who Would Joke About Their Own Reputation? What Do You Take Me For?

"I’m afraid my junior sisters have met a terrible fate. It would be pointless for me to go looking for them now."

Upon hearing this, her eyes dimmed slightly as she blamed herself.

Jiang Lan looked at her. "How do you know it’s pointless if you don’t even look?"

"Or you could go find that Ye Ling. Prove your innocence to the world, or prove his. Helping him clear his name would be better than following me around aimlessly like this."

Ling Zhuyun stared at him, stunned. She saw no hint of humor in his eyes.

"Young... Young Master Jiang, you don’t want me to follow you, do you?" she asked softly, raising her eyes. For some reason, her voice was much weaker now.

"In your current state, you’re useless to me. I have no intention of cleaning up your messes," Jiang Lan said.

"I’m sorry..." Ling Zhuyun said, filled with guilt.

Jiang Lan’s gaze suddenly fell on her face. He looked like he was about to lose his temper.

He then took a deep breath to calm himself before saying, almost word by word, "What good does ’sorry’ do?"

"You know perfectly well that I have a grudge against that Ye Ling. He’s tried to kill me time and again, and I want to kill him too. But even when everyone thinks he’s connected to the Blood Immortal Sect, you still insist on standing by his side, choosing to believe him. If that’s the case, why are you still following me? Are you waiting to jump out and stop me when I finally go to kill him?"

"Go to him. Help him clear his name. Prove his innocence."

"The debt between us is paid. You don’t have to follow me around out of some sense of gratitude. I don’t need your help to obtain the Purple Mist True Monarch’s inheritance either. Go do your own thing. Don’t get in my way, alright?"

"I..."

Ling Zhuyun’s eyes widened. She froze, completely stunned. She never expected Jiang Lan to suddenly say all this to her.

Every word landed on her heart like a heavy blow, making her head buzz. Beneath her veil, her fair face turned faintly pale.

After saying his piece, Jiang Lan’s own emotions seemed to be affected.

He looked at Ling Zhuyun coldly and continued, "I’m not the one who caused you to be wrongly accused. I’m not the one who made people suspect you of colluding with the Blood Immortal Sect. It was that Ye Ling—my enemy."

"In the great hall just now, I was the one who protected you. I was the one who backed you up. But what’s the result? You’re still completely preoccupied with him, worrying about his situation and convinced he’s innocent. Heh. What do you take me for? Thin air?"

"Ling Zhuyun, you’re a good person, but I’m not. I don’t care if that Ye Ling is connected to the Blood Immortal Sect or not. From the day he tried to assassinate me, it was destined that between him and me, it would be a fight to the death."

"If you have any consideration for me, then stay out of the feud between us and don’t mention him in my presence. And if you don’t? That’s fine too. In that case, just consider what I did in the great hall an act of pointless sentimentality on my part."

With that said, Jiang Lan paid her no more mind and turned to leave.

A buzz shot through Ling Zhuyun’s mind. All she could do was stare blankly after him.

Beneath her veil, her flawless face was pale, and her delicate frame trembled slightly at his words.

’Right... Her focus had been on whether Ye Ming was truly connected to the Blood Immortal Sect.’

’But she’d forgotten that Jiang Lan and Ye Ming already shared an irreconcilable hatred. It had nothing to do with whether Ye Ming was involved with the Blood Immortal Sect at all.’

’She had chosen to believe his enemy right to his face, even speaking in his enemy’s defense... What must he have thought?’

"I’m sorry..."

Ling Zhuyun bit her lip, her fair hands clenched tight.

’She didn’t understand why she felt an unprecedented sense of panic, even greater than when she’d heard her junior sisters might have perished.’

It was not until a moment later, when she noticed that Jiang Lan had already gone far, that she suddenly came to her senses, transformed into a Divine Rainbow, and hurriedly chased after him.