Yue Chenqing laughed.
“Xihe Jun, you asked the right person! Every year, Chonghua has those idle people who compile ranking lists. There are all kinds of lists, and I especially love reading them! If you’re talking about the most beautiful woman ten years ago, then it was definitely Su Yurou.”
Mo Xi had always known very little about women. As for those peerless beauties who remained hidden in their chambers yet whose names spread throughout the world, he had never been interested in them either. Therefore, the name Su Yurou only sounded vaguely familiar to him, but he could not recall who she was.
“Have you seen what she looks like? Is she somewhat similar to Miss Hongshao?”
Yue Chenqing shook his head repeatedly.
“Miss Su always covers her face with a veil. Very few people have ever seen her true appearance. I’m a junior, so naturally I’ve never seen her real face.”
When he reached this point, he sighed regretfully.
Mo Xi asked:
“Then later, did she marry the cold-tempered man mentioned by the Imperial Preceptor in the illusion?”
“Ah? Yes, that’s right.”
Yue Chenqing thought for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise.
“Her husband really does have that kind of temperament. Could it be that the woman the Imperial Preceptor was talking about was her?!”
“……”
Mo Xi and Murong Chuyi exchanged a glance.
Even Yue Chenqing could easily recall that woman…
Clearly, finding information about her would not be difficult. Most likely, Li Qingqian had already learned about her from someone else.
But why had he never gone after her?
Mo Xi asked:
“Who did she marry?”
“……”
Yue Chenqing slapped his forehead.
“No way… I’ve already said this much. I thought you two already knew whose wife she was! Fourth Uncle, Xihe Jun, you two… don’t tell me you’ve never read Chonghua’s Beauty Powder Record?”
Mo Xi: “……”
Yue Chenqing helplessly said:
“Then what about Chonghua’s Wealthy Figures Record?”
Mo Xi impatiently said:
“Who did she marry?”
“Alchemist Jiang Fuli!” Yue Chenqing was speechless. “The wife of Chonghua’s number one merchant, and you two don’t even know that???”
Mo Xi’s expression darkened slightly.
No wonder.
The two hardest places to enter in Chonghua were Murong Chuyi’s workshop and Jiang Fuli’s alchemy chamber.
Mo Xi did not know much about “Miss Su,” but he had heard some things about “Madam Jiang.”
It was said that Madam Jiang had an extremely weak constitution. She spent most of her time secluded inside Jiang Manor’s alchemy chamber recovering her health. Whatever storms occurred outside, she remained completely unaware.
Li Qingqian had previously been cautious and had not dared to make a move against the Jiang family. But now that his sword body was damaged and only his violent demonic aura remained, he would surely break into Jiang Manor.
Thinking of this, Mo Xi immediately stood up. He glanced at Gu Mang, who was sleeping beneath a pile of bamboo warriors beneath the corridor, and said:
“I’ll make a trip to Jiang Manor. Murong, I’ll trouble you to look after him…”
Before he could finish speaking, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out.
The three of them looked up together.
In the eastern market of Chonghua, flames suddenly erupted. Thick smoke and raging fire shot straight into the sky.
Yue Chenqing was shocked.
“What—what happened?!”
Mo Xi said:
“Let’s go take a look.”
Yue Chenqing hurriedly nodded and followed Mo Xi out.
But when he turned around, he saw that Murong Chuyi had not moved. He was still sitting beside the stone table, and had even summoned a bamboo warrior over, seemingly giving it instructions.
Yue Chenqing hesitated.
“Fourth Uncle, you’re not leaving?”
Murong Chuyi glanced at Gu Mang and calmly replied:
“Did you not hear Xihe Jun say he wanted me to watch over the criminal? I cannot leave.”
Yue Chenqing thought about it and realized he was right, so he stopped insisting.
Once they left Yue Manor, Mo Xi and Yue Chenqing immediately encountered large groups of commoners fleeing in panic. Men, women, the elderly, and children were all among them. Imperial guards and cultivators guided them from both sides.
“Go to the Peace Bureau! Take everyone to the Peace Bureau!”
The flames on the eastern side grew fiercer and fiercer, already illuminating a vast portion of the sky.
The imperial guards rode the wind and stepped on swords, moving through the night like shooting stars as they repeatedly rescued civilians from the sea of fire.
Although they were far away, they could still hear waves of crying and screaming, as well as the shouts of cultivators.
“Capture him!”
“Send reinforcements! Take down that demon!”
The “demon” needed no explanation.
It was undoubtedly Sword Demon Li Qingqian.
Yue Chenqing exclaimed:
“Why isn’t this Li Qingqian going to Jiang Manor? Why is he killing people elsewhere instead?”
Mo Xi thought:
Perhaps Li Qingqian was not avoiding Jiang Manor.
Perhaps he had already gone there, but had not found the person he wanted.
He said:
“Let’s go to the eastern market first.”
When they arrived at Chonghua’s eastern market, they discovered the situation was even worse than expected.
The entire marketplace had been ignited by demonic flames.
The crimson fire looked like enormous red peonies covering the sky, while rolling black smoke surged upward toward the heavens.
Within the sea of flames, every now and then several cultivators would fly out on their swords, carrying severely injured civilians who could no longer move.
“The fire is getting bigger and bigger! Hurry and put it out!”
“If this continues, the fire barrier won’t be able to hold…”
Everyone was in chaos.
The troops stationed in the imperial capital had already arrived for support. Many soldiers from the Northern Frontier Army were also there.
When these former members of the Wangba Army saw Mo Xi, their eyes lit up.
“Marshal Mo!”
Someone whispered:
“He’s here, he’s here. The stepfather is here.”
Even after so many years, the former Wangba Army soldiers still privately liked calling Mo Xi “stepfather.” But unlike the disgust from the beginning, it had now become a harmless joke.
Their “stepfather” wore black battle clothes fluttering in the wind, golden edges shimmering. His long legs carried him toward the battlefield filled with smoke and flames.
The eastern market burned fiercely.
The flames reflected in his dark eyes.
“Dad… no, wait, Marshal Mo, there’s an evil demon causing trouble here…”
Mo Xi nodded.
“Handle the rescue yourselves. Leave the rest to me.”
Everyone froze.
They did not know what their “father” intended to do.
Mo Xi was a fire-element cultivator. Could he actually extinguish fire?
Just as everyone was struggling desperately, they suddenly heard Mo Xi’s deep voice.
“Tun Tian, summon.”
It was like the cry of a whale echoing from the depths of the ocean.
A completely white staff appeared in Mo Xi’s hand.
The top of the staff was decorated with gold and silver, embedded with an extremely precious whale spirit stone. A deep blue radiance flowed endlessly from it.
Yue Chenqing was shocked.
The physical form of Tun Tian’s weapon?!
Tun Tian was Mo Xi’s strongest divine weapon. Usually, with only a command, it could summon the power to move mountains and fill seas.
Because Tun Tian was too domineering, Mo Xi usually only summoned its barrier for defense. He rarely called out the staff itself.
The reason was simple.
A defensive barrier only required the giant whale spirit form.
Summoning the staff meant preparing to cast a spell.
Mo Xi’s slender, pale fingers gripped the staff. He merely pointed toward the raging sea of fire.
“Turn into rain.”
A young cultivator gasped.
“I… damn…”
Forget whether he was a real father or stepfather.
A father was still a father.
A fire cultivator could actually extinguish flames?!
A beam of blue light shot from the staff into the sky.
In an instant, it transformed into a gigantic whale that pierced heaven and earth. It swept its tail, opened its enormous mouth, and charged toward the battlefield.
At that moment, violent winds erupted. Sand and stones flew everywhere.
Many cultivators could not withstand the overwhelming spiritual pressure and fell to their knees, their faces filled with pain.
Even Yue Chenqing coughed repeatedly, his eyes blurred.
The blue whale spirit collided with the dragon-like sea of fire.
A tremendous explosion of water and flames erupted.
The waves and fire splashed hundreds of miles away.
The endless night instantly became as bright as day.
Then—
A torrential rain poured down.
In moments, it swept across the entire Chonghua imperial city.
Amid the storm, Mo Xi’s face was as cold as carved jade. His eyes reflected both blue water and crimson flames.
His black imperial guard coat fluttered violently in the wind.
In only a moment, the raging fire was subdued.
The flames that had seemed like an army of thousands instantly surrendered before him and fell into silence.
The sea of fire became nothing more than a ruined field covered in scorched smoke.
Those cultivators who had witnessed this scene could only stare at his back in shock, unable to utter a single word.
Only different thoughts echoed in their stunned minds.
The male cultivators thought:
It’s over. The women of Chonghua are going to go even crazier for this man.
The female cultivators thought:
Ahhhhhhhhh!!!
The Wangba Army cultivators thought:
Our stepfather is terrifying when he gets angry!!
Amid the collapsed ruins and swirling smoke, a figure slowly turned around.
Li Qingqian was indeed causing trouble in the middle of the fire!
At this moment, demonic energy had already crawled all over his face. His eyes were blood-red, as though covered with hundreds and thousands of crimson spiders. His expression looked even more distorted and deranged than before. Mo Xi could no longer find even a trace of the former Grandmaster Li—the “Benevolent Sword, Severing Water”—in this face.
Sword spirits often assimilated with their sword wielders, and Li Qingqian had already been completely consumed by the haze of the Liao Kingdom’s Imperial Preceptor.
When Li Qingqian saw Mo Xi, he bared his teeth and shouted coldly, “Mo Xi! You protected Chonghua once, but do you think you can protect it every single time? Do you think you can stay awake day and night, guarding this city at all times?! Hand over that woman surnamed Su! Otherwise, I will make sure your Chonghua never knows peace again!”
Yue Chenqing shouted, “So that’s it! Turns out you don’t have the ability to break into the Jiang residence! So instead, you’re throwing a tantrum here and causing trouble for innocent people!! How shameless can you be?!”
Li Qingqian threw his head back and laughed. “I’m shameless? Isn’t the shameless one that woman surnamed Su? A beauty who brings disaster! Back then, so many girls died in the mountains because of her, and now she’s acting like a cowardly turtle, hiding inside the Jiang residence while the city burns with raging flames, refusing to show herself! Hahaha… Hongshao… Hongshao actually died for someone like this for nothing! This kind of vile woman—a coward—!”
Among the cultivators present were also medicine cultivators from the Jiang residence. Hearing this, one of them angrily shouted, “Nonsense! My Madam is in secluded cultivation and knows nothing about what is happening outside her window. She is nothing like the person you describe! Watch your mouth!”
“She’s not that kind of person? Then what kind of person is she?” Li Qingqian laughed madly. “I would like to see for myself! What kind of beauty does she possess that could make that Imperial Preceptor obsess over her to such an extent?”
The medicine cultivator angrily replied, “You are not worthy of appearing before Madam!”
“Madam… hehe, what kind of Madam? She’s nothing but a vile woman!” Li Qingqian looked completely insane, venomous liquid dripping from his fangs like the poison of a serpent that could kill a person within five steps. “I insist on seeing what this woman truly looks like. I insist on destroying her face and throwing her before that Imperial Preceptor of the Liao Kingdom…”
When he mentioned the Imperial Preceptor of Liao, the viciousness twisting his face became even more vivid than the flames soaring into the sky.
“That beast… hahaha, that lovesick fool… before him, I will tear her apart! I will rip apart that beautiful face of hers!!!”
“He killed my Hongshao, so I will make the person he loves suffer a fate worse than death!!”
His furious roar pierced through the clouds and shook the heavens. His emotions were like rapid war drums and frantic strings, gathering to their peak, about to erupt—
Mo Xi warned the people around him, “Be careful.”
Black energy swirled and surged around Li Qingqian’s body. Another violent rampage was about to begin. Mo Xi stepped forward, and the light of the Heaven-Devouring Authority Staff suddenly blazed brightly. The others also became fully alert, ready to unleash their attacks the moment they were needed.
However, at that moment, a faint sigh like drifting smoke suddenly came from the end of the street.
“Stop.”
“…”
It was an exceptionally beautiful and enchanting voice. Even without seeing her appearance, just from that voice alone, everyone could tell she was an extraordinary woman of breathtaking elegance.
Everyone turned around in shock, and a path naturally opened among the crowd.
At the end of the road stood a graceful figure dressed in white silk. A light veil covered her face, and beneath the lingering rain, she held a purple bamboo oil umbrella. She approached gracefully, like the goddess Luo emerging from the water.
Li Qingqian’s pupils suddenly contracted.
The people from the Jiang residence exclaimed in shock.
“Madam? Why have you come here?”
“Madam, it’s dangerous! If anything happens to you, how will we explain ourselves when the shopkeeper returns?”
Madam Jiang said, “If not for the message sent by the Yue residence, I would not even have known something this serious had happened. Were you planning to hide this from me forever?”
As she spoke, she walked calmly from the end of the long street toward Li Qingqian’s Sword Demon form.
Yue Chenqing was quietly startled.
“The Yue residence…?”
Ah, it must have been his Fourth Uncle who sent the message afterward.
Thinking about this, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.
Everyone said his Fourth Uncle was cold-blooded and ruthless, unable to distinguish right from wrong, someone who only cared about the final outcome of matters. Yue Chenqing knew those words were not entirely false. His Fourth Uncle had sent word to Madam Jiang, clearly intending for her to appear and stop Li Qingqian’s rampage.
Although this was indeed the most effective method, it was also undoubtedly pushing Madam Jiang into a dangerous situation.
—“The Mad Immortal never cares what must be sacrificed to achieve his goals. Even if it is the life of someone closest to him, he will not take it to heart.”
This was how people throughout Chonghua judged Murong Chuyi.
Yue Chenqing disliked hearing such words. Deep down, he always believed his Fourth Uncle was someone who considered everything carefully and always had his reasons for doing things.
But such calm and rational consideration was, in itself, cruel.
Madam Jiang stopped before Li Qingqian and calmly looked at him.
“You are…” Li Qingqian’s eyes flickered. “You are Su Yurou?!”
“That is right. I am.” Madam Jiang replied. “You came here seeking revenge against the Imperial Preceptor of Liao. You came specifically to find me, correct?”
Li Qingqian gritted his teeth. “Yes! I want to see… what exactly you look like, that so many girls from Weeping Woman Mountain were buried alive and died because of you!”
Everyone thought Madam Jiang would refuse.
Unexpectedly, after a moment of silence, she only said:
“If you wish to see my face, then I will show it to you. However…”
“However what?”
Madam Jiang said, “There is something I wish to tell you first. This matter can only be told to you alone. I do not wish to tell anyone else. It has nothing to do with them.”
Li Qingqian’s eyes moved restlessly as he examined her from head to toe, as if trying to determine whether she carried any magical artifact capable of suppressing demons.
Finally, he gritted his teeth.
“I am not afraid of your tricks. If you dare deceive me, I will tear out your heart myself, rip it into two pieces, and eat it—”
“I have nothing on me except this umbrella.” Madam Jiang said. “However, after hearing what I have to say, your mind may collapse, and you may not be able to endure it. Think carefully whether you truly wish to listen.”
Li Qingqian froze.
Then he suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha! You don’t need to provoke me! Speak!”
Madam Jiang said, “Then come closer and listen.”
Thus, everyone watched as Li Qingqian leaned closer. Madam Jiang bent slightly forward, and beneath the fluttering veil, only her lips moved as she whispered a few words.
The madness and cruelty on Li Qingqian’s face instantly froze.
When Madam Jiang straightened herself and quietly looked at him, the cold light and shock in his eyes left everyone around them deeply startled.
“What did she say to him?”
Someone whispered.
“I don’t know…”
Li Qingqian stared at Madam Jiang as if he had seen a ghost.
After a long moment, his face turned deathly pale, and he took a step backward.
“No… impossible… how could this be?”
Madam Jiang said calmly, “There is not a single false word in what I said.”
After a brief silence, Li Qingqian suddenly screamed with all his strength, his eyes almost splitting apart.
“You’re lying!! You vile woman!! You’re lying!!! Every word you say is a lie!!!! You—you—”
“Were you not the one who wanted to see my face?” Madam Jiang said. “After you see it, you will know whether I was lying.”
Madam Jiang walked before Li Qingqian. From this angle, no one except Li Qingqian himself could see her appearance.
She raised her delicate white hand and slowly lifted the silk veil covering her face…
There was no sound.
The silence was as though they had fallen into the depths of an endless ocean.
Then suddenly, at a certain moment, it was as if a tightly stretched string had finally snapped—
“You… you really…”
Madam Jiang said, “Do you believe me now? The thing you hated was wrong from the very beginning.”
Li Qingqian suddenly staggered backward two steps.
He threw his head back and laughed.
“Hahaha… ridiculous! I am truly ridiculous!! All this time… I actually… I actually thought…”
His anger and shock shattered his mind completely. Under such overwhelming emotions, Li Qingqian suddenly bent down and vomited a mouthful of black blood.
Blood stained his lips and teeth.
He collapsed onto the ground, looking as if his entire being had been shattered. Laughing and crying at the same time, he pointed at Madam Jiang. His chest rose and fell violently, his eyes terrifyingly red.
“So it turns out… it was this way!! Hahaha!! Hahaha!!!”
“…”
“I understand now… The Imperial Preceptor… he actually did it because… because…” Li Qingqian could not finish his sentence.
His pupils contracted violently. Black blood covered his lips.
Suddenly, he threw his head back and roared:
“Absurd!! Truly absurd!!! Hahahaha! How absurd…”
“I hated for so long… and everything was wrong! Everything was wrong!!!”
The Sword Demon knelt on the ground, raising his head toward the sky.
His tragic cries echoed one after another. Each roar was more miserable than the last, each one filled with deeper pain…
Finally, he collapsed onto the ground, his entire body convulsing as black energy violently poured out from him.
Li Qingqian covered his eyes with his hand and murmured through sobs:
“Everything was wrong…”
His obsession finally scattered.
Lying on the ground, his mad laughter gradually weakened. Like the cawing of a dying crow circling a tree, it slowly became dull, then hoarse.
In the end, he curled up on the ground, like a ridiculous joke reaching its final curtain.
No one had expected that a Sword Demon overflowing with murderous energy would lose his lifelong obsession and dissolve into a pool of filthy blood simply because of something Madam Jiang said and because of one face…
Li Qingqian had truly disappeared just like that.
“H-how could this…”
“What exactly…”
The crowd fell into complete silence.
Everyone stared at Madam Jiang in shock and disbelief, as though they wanted to tear apart her veil with their eyes and uncover her secret.
What kind of story had this woman whispered into Li Qingqian’s ears?
Only a few sentences—yet they were more devastating than any legendary divine weapon, effortlessly taking away his life.
What exactly had Madam Jiang said to that Sword Demon?!
Under all those frightened and astonished gazes, Madam Jiang remained calm.
She glanced at the Sword Demon body slowly dissolving on the ground without the slightest surprise, lowered her veil, and slowly turned away.
“Madam…”
Madam Jiang said, “He no longer has any lingering obsession, so he can no longer take human form again. Today, I have caused trouble for everyone here. My heart is filled with guilt and regret.”
As she spoke, she lowered her head and gave a slight bow toward the cultivators present.
“As for the damage to East Market, once my husband returns, I will explain everything to him and make arrangements for compensation as soon as possible. … I shall take my leave first.”
She paused for a moment, then glanced at the servants from her residence.
“You all return with me.”
“…”
“Let’s go. Nothing will happen anymore.”
“But, Madam—”
“Go.”
Her soft and graceful figure gradually moved farther away. Delicate and slender, she seemed almost as though she were walking on stilts. Amid the gazes of everyone present—some filled with admiration, others filled with shock—her figure slowly disappeared into the distance.
The wet and ruined remains of East Market were silent.
Some people stared blankly at Madam Jiang’s departing back. Some cried bitterly over their burned-down homes. Others remained frozen, staring at the filthy blood left behind after Li Qingqian’s disappearance…
Yue Chenqing murmured, “Just how beautiful was her face? Why did Li Qingqian become like this the moment he saw her? Why did his obsession disappear? Was Madam Jiang truly that much more beautiful than Miss Hongshao?”
Mo Xi said nothing.
His sword-like brows were slightly furrowed as he stared at the mottled traces of blood on the ground.
He knew this matter was not so simple.
The reason Madam Jiang could disperse Li Qingqian’s inner demon in an instant was absolutely not because she was merely “beautiful.” There had to be some other reason.
Otherwise, he would not have kept repeating those words:
“I hated the wrong person.”
What exactly had he hated wrongly?
Seeing that Mo Xi’s expression was troubled, Yue Chenqing cautiously called out:
“Lord Xihe…”
Mo Xi shook his head.
“Everyone has their own secrets. Unless it becomes necessary, do not investigate further.”
“Oh… alright…”
“You should return to the Yue residence. I will go report back to His Majesty.”
Yue Chenqing acknowledged him and was about to leave.
But from the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed something.
His footsteps abruptly stopped.
He walked toward a small house in East Market that was still emitting burnt smoke.
The little house was poor and dilapidated. At a glance, it clearly was not the residence of any wealthy family.
However, pasted onto its doors and windows was a golden, dazzling spiritual talisman—
The Yue family’s Vajra Unbreakable Talisman.
Looking more carefully, he discovered that it was not only this house.
Many nearby households had the exact same talisman attached to them.
Perhaps because of the protection of these talismans, although the houses had still been ravaged by the flames and were barely standing, they had at least not been completely swallowed by the fire in an instant. The residents inside had also all been successfully rescued.
But…
Yue Chenqing raised two fingers and removed the golden talisman that had already exhausted all its spiritual power.
He slightly frowned.
How strange.
The Vajra Unbreakable Talisman was the Yue family’s most expensive tier of talisman paper. When there were incidents involving flower thieves, everyone wanted to buy one, but not everyone could afford it.
His uncle had even chased away some small cultivators who caused trouble in the markets because of it, while his Fourth Uncle simply could not be bothered to care.
Then these talismans…
Who had given them to these people?
After only a brief moment of thought, Yue Chenqing thought of someone.
A pale, frail figure dressed in lotus-white robes, sitting in a wooden wheelchair with a soft blanket covering his knees.
—Jiang Yexue.
That was right.
Jiang Yexue had always been overly concerned and long-winded. A sickly person who could barely even take care of himself, yet he possessed a heart far too soft.
The Vajra Unbreakable Talismans in these poor households were likely made and given by him.
This thought made Yue Chenqing feel uncomfortable.
On one hand, he himself felt that the way his Fourth Uncle and father acted—turning a blind eye to matters unrelated to themselves—was somewhat cruel.
But on the other hand, ever since childhood, he had heard countless people in the Yue residence curse Jiang Yexue, saying that Jiang Yexue had no great abilities and only knew how to sell the Yue family’s secret techniques to win people’s hearts and gain reputation for himself.
Yet if Jiang Yexue had not kindly given these common people the Vajra Unbreakable Talismans…
Then in today’s disaster, who knew how many innocent people in East Market would have died?
Caught between these two conflicting thoughts, Yue Chenqing suddenly did not know what he should feel.
And with the endless noise surrounding him, his thoughts only became more chaotic.
Vaguely, he wondered—
This time, between his Fourth Uncle and Jiang Yexue…
Could it really have been his Fourth Uncle who was wrong?