The cave was damp, crawling with soft-bodied insects everywhere. With the lightning and thunder outside, the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive.
Wu Yuru was tied up, unable to move her entire body, with only her mouth capable of speech.
She began to curse.
Using the most venomous words, her hair disheveled, she resembled a madwoman.
Wu Yuru knew very well that if anyone else had come, she might have had a chance to survive. But now that it was Lian Yue—this woman she had attempted to assassinate so many times—she was undoubtedly doomed. She might as well curse to her heart’s content.
“Wei Lian Yue, you slut! Aside from lying on the bed, spreading your legs to serve men and making them risk their lives for you, what other skills do you have?”
“Looking at your hypocritical face makes me nauseous, makes me want to vomit. Why don’t you just die!”
“…”
But no matter how Wu Yuru cursed, she noticed that Lian Yue remained calmly standing. When lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating her face, one could see her curved eyebrows and eyes, as if she were completely unfazed by the crude insults.
After cursing for a quarter of an hour, her voice grew hoarse, and she felt utterly drained. Only then did she cease her tirade and finally ask, “What exactly do you want?”
Lian Yue replied matter-of-factly, “To kill you, of course.”
It didn’t sound like a joke.
Having vented all her rage, the fear of death gradually crept in, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
After shaking for a while, anger once again overpowered her fear, and she spat out, “You slut, you’ll die a miserable death!”
Lian Yue lowered her head and let out a contemptuous laugh. “But even if I die a miserable death, even if my end is tragic, you won’t be around to see it. Meanwhile, I will clearly witness how horribly you die.”
Wu Yuru squirmed in terror, staring at her. “What do you intend to do?”
Compared to death, the unknown torment was far more terrifying.
She feared being turned into a human stick.
Lian Yue glanced down at her from above, sighing regretfully. “Actually, we had no grievances between us. After Lu Xun’s death, you could have taken your Yangguan Road, and I my Single-Plank Bridge, never crossing paths. Wouldn’t that have been ideal?”
“But you insisted on sending assassins after me, seemingly just because I received Lu Xun’s favor.” She sounded puzzled. “His harem was filled with women—who among them hadn’t been exclusively doted on by him for a time? Why do you only hate me and not that lust-driven scoundrel of a man?”
Upon hearing this, Wu Yuru was so enraged she nearly vomited blood. She snarled viciously, “What are you pretending for? Aside from you, he never favored any other woman. How dare you act as if you knew nothing, playing innocent after reaping the benefits? You’re utterly shameless!”
Lian Yue pursed her lips, carefully observing the other’s expression.
Her eyes were burning with hatred, seemingly not lying.
Living as a widow in name only.
No wonder she harbored such deep resentment.
Lian Yue skipped over the topic and shifted to verification. “Lu Xun once told me that you had an affair with Yang Jian of the Hongnong Yangshi, that you were intimately involved and even exchanged letters. He claimed to have all the evidence. Tell me, were you afraid that your affair with Yang Jian would be exposed and condemned by everyone, so you spread rumors about me and Gu Quan having an affair?”
These words struck deeper than any blade.
Just imagine: the man she loved not only knew about her affair with another man but didn’t care in the slightest, instead revealing her secrets to her rival…
Tsk, tsk.
It was nothing short of trampling her dignity into the ground.
Wu Yuru indeed broke down: “He actually knew? Why didn’t he expose me? How could he tell you these things?”
“Right, I found it strange too.” Lian Yue shook her head, “He insisted on telling me.”
The woman’s voice was filled with anguish: “You deserve to die, he deserves to die, all of you deserve to die! I truly regret not killing you directly that day!”
Hearing this, Lian Yue smiled sarcastically: “Do you hate that Gu Quan appeared and saved me?”
“So what if I do?”
“Haven’t you ever wondered why, as Lu Xun’s beloved concubine, when you tried to have me beaten to death, none of his trusted generals came to help me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Only that fool Lu Heng would listen to you.” Lian Yue didn’t answer directly, “Now that you’ve fallen into my hands, you still don’t understand that even without Gu Quan, you couldn’t have killed me.”
Wu Yuru’s face turned sallow, her eyes blazing with hatred: “Who do you think you are!”
Lian Yue tilted her head and smiled contemptuously: “I never think of myself as anyone special. Rather, it’s you, Wu Yuru—you pride yourself on your noble birth, but do you really think you’re somebody?”
She continued, “Look at your methods: spreading rumors, tarnishing my reputation, destroying my virtue. Someone as noble as you only knows how to use such lowly tactics—it’s quite shameful. But haven’t you considered that since I’ve already become a concubine, would I even care about these things? What does it matter if I’m called promiscuous? What does slut-shaming achieve? Your rumors have no power over me. To survive, I can use any means necessary. To achieve my goals, I can humble myself and wield the power of men for my own use.”
Wu Yuru stared at Lian Yue’s cold face, her whole body beginning to tremble, involuntarily shuffling backward.
At that moment, the young woman calmly drew a dagger, waving the blade before her: “But since you want me dead, I’m quite displeased.”
Wu Yuru’s face turned pale, her eyes filled with extreme terror as she shrieked: “You—what are you going to do?”
Her voice was torn, trembling with fear.
Lian Yue scoffed lightly: “Didn’t I say earlier? I came to kill you. What else would I be doing now?”
No one is unafraid of death.
Wu Yuru was afraid too. Her emotions had been manipulated by Lian Yue earlier, with hatred overshadowing fear. Now that her anger had dissipated, only the terror of facing death remained.
Seeing the killing intent in the young woman’s eyes, her will to survive surged.
“No, no, no, you can’t kill me!”
She pleaded in a trembling voice: “Don’t kill me, I was wrong, I beg you. Don’t kill me, I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll kowtow and apologize, just don’t kill me, please, I beg you.”
Seeing Wu Yuru like this, Lian Yue suddenly found it all very dull.
She had been cursing so fiercely earlier, seeming so defiant, yet in the end, she begged for mercy and softened.
But Lian Yue was never one to return good for evil—she held grudges better than anyone.
Lian Yue smiled: “I’ve wasted enough words on you. It’s time for you to die.”
She acted swiftly.
The sharp dagger plunged into the major artery, blood gushing out, drenching Lian Yue entirely.
Wu Yuru’s eyes widened, glaring at her with venom. She hadn’t yet drawn her last breath but could no longer speak.
Lian Yue wiped the blood from her face, her eyes as cold as a frozen pond. “I have no taste for torture and murder. I killed you only because you repeatedly sent assassins after me—it was an act of self-preservation. As for your affair with Yang Jian, it has nothing to do with me. Since I care nothing for my own chastity, I certainly wouldn’t care about anyone else’s. I won’t spread word of your affairs. You may rest in peace.”
Wu Yuru lay twitching in a pool of blood, her eyes wide and unblinking, until soon she moved no more.
Never before had she imagined that she would be killed by someone she saw as nothing more than an ant.
Wu Yuru died with everlasting regret.
Lian Yue walked out of the cave.
The rain outside continued to fall, but the assassins were gone.
They were mere hired killers—once the deal was done and payment received, they had all departed.
Lian Yue stood quietly for a moment, feeling no satisfaction after her revenge, only a profound emptiness.
The enmity between her and Wu Yuru could indeed be called a rivalry between women, sparked by a man. But if one looked deeper, it was more accurately a conflict born of class division.
Those in high positions, holding power, find it hard to suppress their murderous impulses.
As for Lu Xun giving Wan City to Gu Quan, perhaps it was out of hatred for Yang Jian, who had caused the death of his elder brother Lu Yu. Learning of Wu Yuru’s affair with Yang Jian, he may have wished to prevent the city from falling into his enemy’s hands.
As for entrusting Gu Quan to look after her, Lian Yue felt it was merely a convenient arrangement.
She never believed she possessed such charm that a man would go to such lengths for her.
A tethered horse snorted in her direction, pawing at the damp earth with its front hooves, drawing her gaze.
Covered in blood, the young woman stepped into the rain, cleaned her dagger, then untied the horse, mounted it, and rode away from the scene of conflict.
Her clothes were soaked, and her body was cold, but fortunately, she could now circulate a small amount of inner force, which helped her endure.
When she reached a riverbank, seeing no one around and taking advantage of the darkness, she securely tied the horse nearby, removed her clothes, and stepped into the water to wash.
The water was bone-chillingly cold. Her teeth chattered as she shiveringly scrubbed away the bloodstains, her body growing warmer with the effort.
Just as she finished and was about to climb ashore, Lian Yue’s ears caught a faint sound.
Thinking that Yang Jian might be nearby, her heart pounded. Silently, she pulled her dirty clothes into the water—if she were unlucky enough to encounter him, she could escape through the water without worrying about being unclothed.
“Moon Consort.”
A very familiar voice.
Lian Yue was in the midst of putting her clothes back on underwater when she turned and saw a figure standing on the bank.
He looked at her curiously. “What are you doing in the water on such a cold day?”
It was Shao Qing.
Holding an umbrella, leading a horse, with a sword at his waist, his clothes fluttered in the cold wind as if he were strolling leisurely through a courtyard.
Recognizing him as an acquaintance, Lian Yue sighed in relief but also felt deeply embarrassed.
Her ink-black hair floated on the water’s surface, her clothes half-draped over her shoulders, revealing her smooth right shoulder. In the misty rain, her silhouette seemed elusive, like a lotus flower adrift in the water.
The young woman asked urgently, “Are you alone on the bank? Is there no one else?”
Shao Qing smiled. “There’s no one else.”
She said angrily, “Turn around. I—I need to put my clothes on.”
Shao Qing only then noticed the young woman was completely unclothed beneath the water. Though usually irreverent, his ears flushed crimson now as he silently turned away to count the branching points on tree limbs.
Trained martial artists inherently possessed sharper vision than ordinary people, capable of seeing as clearly in pitch-black nights as in broad daylight. Even with his back turned to Lian Yue, Shao Qing couldn’t prevent his mind from recalling the glimpse of pale shoulders he’d caught.
Tch.
Filthy.
He inwardly cursed himself.
Seeing he had turned away, Lian Yue tilted her head for a glance before immediately emerging from the water. Wringing out her garments to dry herself, she retrieved fresh clothes from her leather pouch. After draping her damp, loosely-wrung hair over her shoulders and ensuring she was properly dressed, she finally relaxed.
Tossing the wet clothes into the bag, she approached Shao Qing and feigned curiosity: “National Preceptor Shao, why are you alone here? Shouldn’t you be assisting Marquis Gu in attacking Xiang City?”
Noting she was fully clothed, Shao Qing tilted his umbrella over her head and cleared his throat: “Moon Consort, I should be asking you that. A delicate woman like you should be safely in Ruyang—what brings you to this desolate mountain forest?”
Lian Yue fabricated effortlessly: “What else could it be? That Wu Yuru simply won’t let me be. Even with Xiang City fallen and her fleeing in disgrace, she still hired assassins. I was merely shopping in the streets when someone abducted me and brought me to these deserted woods. When the assassins were about to deliver me to Wu Yuru, they argued over payment and started fighting among themselves. That’s when I stole a horse and escaped.”
Plausible, with complete beginning and end.
It didn’t seem like falsehood.
Shao Qing handed her the umbrella and grasped her slender wrist, sensing no physical distress. He didn’t probe the veracity of her tale.
“Your body is fine,” he stated.
Lian Yue relaxed inwardly when he pressed no further.
Shao Qing continued: “It’s unsafe out here. Yang Jian is searching nearby. Come back to camp with me tonight. Tomorrow I’ll send word to have you returned to Ruyang.”
The military camp was less than two li away—he’d only come here hunting game.
How coincidental to have found this dangerous woman.
Upon returning, Shao Qing yielded his tent and bedding to Lian Yue, joining the soldiers for the night.
Exhausted, Lian Yue fell deeply asleep the moment she wrapped herself in the warm blankets.
She dreamed of Lu Xun.
Truthfully, Lu Xun was quite handsome. When he abducted her, he was about twenty-nine—compared to Gu Quan and Yuan Jing, he lacked their rakish charm but carried more mature steadiness.
Lu Xun laid her on the bed, his rough warm hands kneading her waist as he coaxed gently: “Don’t worry, with all the serving concubines in my household, I’m very experienced in bed matters. Relax, Xiao Yue, I won’t hurt you.”
Lian Yue believed him.
But that night he was an absolute beast, completely without finesse.
Lian Yue turned over, pulling the blankets over her face as she muttered: “That dog of a man! A thirty-year-old virgin pretending to be experienced!”
He’d deceived her utterly.
Yes yes they’re all virgins [dog emoji]
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