The last piece of the puzzle finally fell into place, and I hadn't expected it to be like this.
Somewhere deep inside me, I felt something shatter. Scenes from the past months that I had never given much thought to flashed across my mind: the binding technique that Bai Ye told me to modify, replacing my spiritual power with his; the paleness on his face that I had always thought was a trick of the light; his routine meditation sessions growing longer and longer every day; his "holding back" during that fight against the Jade Temple Keeper …
He had combined that binding technique with a dual cultivation technique, taking part of the power from Twin Stars from me every time that we shared those intimate moments, bearing the consequences for me without me knowing. There was no retreat. There never was. The drastic growth of my power didn't help him reach any breakthroughs. It was only helping him reach his death.
Why? Why did he do this?