The Mighty Mage-Chapter 398: Illness

Luo Meng’s breathing grew erratic, his hands trembling as he took an unconscious step forward, only to be stopped by Long Yifan.

"You heard her," Long Yifan said, his voice dangerously low. "It’s over."

Luo Meng clenched his jaw, anguish twisting his features.

For years, he had fought to stay by her side, believing that if he held on long enough, she would one day look at him the way he wished. But now, all of that had shattered.

Desperation flashed in his eyes. "Jin, I—"

"She has made her decision," Long Yifan interrupted, stepping between them. "Leave."

Luo Meng was desperate and hated Long Yifan to his bones.

Why can’t Long Yifan just stay silent? Does he truly need to tell the truth?

He was so furious that he pushed Long Yifan away with force.

"It’s all because of you!" He shouted.

Long Yifan barely moved as Luo Meng shoved him, his expression unchanging, unreadable.

The force of the push did little to shake his balance, but the act itself was enough to make the air around them grow heavy with tension.

"Because of me?" Long Yifan scoffed, his voice laced with quiet amusement.

"You’re mistaken, Luo Meng. This was always your doing. Lies, deception, stealing credit for another’s actions—you wove this illusion, thinking it could last forever. But illusions fade. And now, the truth stands before you, unshakable."

Luo Meng’s chest heaved, his hands balling into fists.

His heart pounded against his ribs, the bitter taste of defeat creeping up his throat.

He turned back to Gu Jin, desperation clinging to his every movement.

"Jin, listen to me. I may not have been honest about everything, but my feelings—those were real! I did everything for you!"

Gu Jin’s gaze was calm, and distant, as if she were looking at a stranger rather than someone who had once stood by her side.

"Feelings built on deception are not worth anything," she said, her voice unwavering.

"Luo Meng, I might have been indebted to you, but that debt no longer exists. You owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing in return."

Luo Meng took another step forward, but this time, Long Yifan’s hand shot out, gripping his shoulder with an iron hold.

"Enough," Long Yifan said, his patience thinning.

"She has made herself clear. Do not disgrace yourself any further."

Luo Meng felt the weight of Long Yifan’s grip like a vice, solid and unrelenting.

But it was nothing compared to the weight of Gu Jin’s words. His body slumped slightly, the fight draining from him.

His lips parted as if to say something—one last plea, one last desperate attempt—but no words came.

There was nothing left to say.

A bitter chuckle escaped him instead. "So that’s it, then?"

Gu Jin gave a small nod. "Yes."

Luo Meng exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his disheveled hair.

For the first time, he saw it clearly—this was an ending.

Not the one he wanted, not the one he had envisioned, but an ending nonetheless.

He took a step back, his gaze lingering on Gu Jin, memorizing every detail of the person he had spent years chasing.

Then, he stood up and pointed toward her,

"You think are some amazing person Gu Jin? You are nothing but pathetic! Your face is always cold and you rarely have any emotions!

I may have a habit of pleasing but that was only because I don’t know. I don’t understand what you need!

Have you seen yourself? I have chased you for 4 years! Almost 4 freaking years! But you! You never once saw me as more than a disciple.

Heck, I don’t even know if you see me as a disciple, because if you did, you wouldn’t have rushed to cut off all of your relationship with me!

I think you still like him, right? That is why you never accepted me. All of this act of breaking the ties when knowing the truth is nothing but a facade!

Now what? After breaking the ties with me, you will get together with him, right? I bet you must be dying to sleep with him-"

Snap.

Long Yifan’s fingers tightened around Luo Meng’s throat like a steel vice, cutting off his breath in an instant.

His eyes darkened, his presence exuding an oppressive force that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who dared to meet his gaze.

"I would choose your next words carefully," Long Yifan said, his voice low, lethal.

"Or you won’t live to regret them."

Luo Meng’s hands flew to Yifan’s wrist, clawing at his grip as his air supply dwindled.

His mind screamed at him to fight back, but his body was betraying him, succumbing to the raw power emanating from the man before him.

Gu Jin’s expression remained impassive as she watched the scene unfold.

There was no flicker of pity in her gaze, no hesitation.

If anything, there was only a detached finality, as though the person gasping for air before her no longer held any relevance.

She sighed softly. "Let him go, Yifan."

Long Yifan didn’t move, his grip unwavering.

"He insulted you," he stated, his voice sharp, edged with barely contained fury. "And he thinks he can walk away unscathed?"

"Let him say whatever he wants, I want to listen." Gu Jin ordered, her words were laced with coldness.

She wasn’t asking...she was announcing her verdict.

Long Yifan loosened his grip and shoved Luo Meng backward.

He staggered, nearly collapsing to his knees, his body wracked with violent coughs as he sucked in desperate gulps of air.

His face burned with humiliation, his pride shattered into irreparable pieces.

However, he wasn’t done yet. His feelings have been bottled up too much and he needed a place to vent it.

"Don’t think I will see you as some goddess, just because you gave me the chance to say the truth! Gu Jin, I may have loved you, but you have your flaws too.

Maybe even god was bored with your indifferent attitude and hence he let you suffer so much.

And Long Yifan let me tell you a secret. You might not know this, but our dear Gu Jin has a weird fetish."

A creepy smile appeared on Luo Meng’s face and Gu Jin who was looking toward the window, finally turned to look at Luo Meng.

Sensing her gaze, Luo Meng was excited and he continued,

"Do you know, she can’t sense many of the emotions. Disgust is one of them. If she feels disgusted by something, she would simply throw that person away.

Not because, she feels disgust, but because she can’t feel that emotion anymore. Do you think she looked cool when she had a cold expression on her face?

Hahaha! Lie! She doesn’t have a cold personality at all. She has a mental illness. She is losing touch with emotions."

Long Yifan’s hands trembled and his pupils widened, "What did you say?"

Luo Meng relished the shock on Long Yifan’s face and enjoyed how still Gu Jin became. For the first time, he felt as if she was giving him a proper glance.

"Yes. In the past 4 years, she has visited a few psychiatrists and healers secretly."

His voice was laced with cruel satisfaction, his lips curling into a smirk.

"She isn’t emotionless because she’s cold, Yifan. She’s emotionless because she’s broken."

Long Yifan’s hands clenched into fists, his breathing slow and controlled, but the fury in his gaze burned like a wildfire threatening to consume everything in its path.

"Shut up!"

"Why should I? I will tell you. She has a broken soul. She would never be able to heal. In fact, she will most properly lose all of her emotions soon." Luo Meng continued with a smile.

Gu Jin, however, remained impassive. There was no flicker of surprise, no anger, no denial. Just an eerie, unsettling silence.

Luo Meng took a step forward, emboldened by her lack of reaction.

"You thought I never noticed, didn’t you? How you never flinched, never showed even a hint of disgust no matter how vile the situation?

At first, I thought you were just exceptionally composed, but then I started to realize—you weren’t ignoring the feeling. You simply couldn’t feel it at all."

Long Yifan finally moved, stepping protectively in front of Gu Jin, his stance rigid, as if shielding her from Luo Meng’s venomous words.

"Enough."

Luo Meng laughed hollowly.

"Oh, does it hurt, Long Yifan? To realize that the woman you’re so desperate to protect is nothing more than a hollow shell?"

He turned back to Gu Jin, tilting his head.

"Tell me, Gu Jin, how does it feel to know you’re slowly becoming a machine? To know that one day, there might be nothing left of you?"

Gu Jin finally spoke, her voice calm, almost indifferent. "Are you done?"

Luo Meng’s smirk faltered slightly. "What?"

"I asked if you were done," she repeated, stepping forward until she was close enough for him to see the chilling emptiness in her eyes.