After Infusing Love Poison to the Cold Sword Sovereign - Chapter 43

The golden-haired woman before them had the appearance of a fully grown adult tall in stature, with exquisite facial features, bright eyes, and gleaming white teeth. Her thick, dark braids shone with a glossy luster, exuding the vitality of youth.

Yet, on this adult face, the expression was that of a child no older than three her gaze clear yet vacant, radiating an innocence so pure it was transparent.

This woman or rather, this girl, judging by her mental age had smudges of dirt on her forehead, likely from kneeling too long on the prayer mat. Unable to wipe away the dust herself, she simply stood there dumbly, struggling to call out for her mother.

“Mama, I listened to you. I made my wish.”

Jin Ruyun stared blankly at her daughter, her lips trembling soundlessly. After a few feeble attempts, her mouth suddenly twisted, and thick streams of tears rolled down the deep wrinkles of her face, splattering onto the ground in tiny puddles.

“My sweet child my precious, how did you end up like this.”

Jinhua blinked in confusion at the aged woman before her. Though her voice was that of an adult, her tone was that of a naive child, creating a jarring contrast. “Mama, why are you crying?”

“…”

Jin Ruyun looked helplessly at her daughter. The childish voice echoed in her ears, and her nostrils flared slightly as her quiet sobs escalated into uncontrollable, heart-wrenching wails. “Waaah!”

Suddenly, she pulled Jinhua into another tight embrace, burying her face in her daughter’s shoulder and weeping openly.

“Mama?” Jinhua didn’t understand. She simply stood there, bewildered, as her mother held her, her vacant eyes staring straight ahead, mindlessly repeating the same word. “Ma…”

The woman’s cries intertwined with Jinhua’s clear, childlike voice each sound piercing, each syllable soaked in grief. It was as if, in this moment, the world of this mother and daughter had shrunk to just the two of them.

Wu Ruo stood silently to the side, her clenched fists having loosened at some point. She exhaled slowly, saying nothing.

Luo Qingyi approached her and spoke softly, “Don’t look anymore. If you keep watching, you won’t be able to bear it.”

“True.” Admitting the truth in those words, Wu Ruo turned to her and said frankly, “After learning the reason for the Miaojiang’s destruction, I should be furious. I should be enraged. I should drive my sword through the one responsible and offer her blood in sacrifice to the souls of my fallen kin.”

Her tone shifted, her voice lowering. “But right now, the strongest feeling in my heart is envy. Envy that Jinhua has a mother who loves her so deeply. Familial love is truly remarkable to have someone in this world willing to give everything just to bring you back. How many people are blessed with such devotion?”

Luo Qingyi met her gaze intently and countered, “It’s not just familial love. Romantic love can be the same.”

“Romantic love?” Wu Ruo glanced at her, lips curling into a faint, mocking smile. “You’re not about to say you’d also give everything for me, are you?”

Perhaps the sarcasm in her voice was too sharp, because Luo Qingyi merely responded with a quiet “Mm,” adding a simple “I would” before falling silent again.

Wu Ruo let out a mocking laugh. “Luo Qingyi, have I ever told you not to make promises you can’t keep?”

“I can keep this one,” Luo Qingyi replied.

Wu Ruo averted her gaze, ignoring Luo Qingyi’s nonsensical words. She didn’t believe a word of it Luo Qingyi’s credibility was zero, so her words naturally held no weight.

With a tilt of her chin toward the mother and daughter, she asked, “And what do you think of them?”

Luo Qingyi pondered for a moment before answering, “I remember when you saved me and I was recuperating in Miaojiang. One day, you went down the mountain, and I stayed behind in the village. That day, a Miao woman brought demonic cultivators into Miaojiang, and I discovered them. After I eliminated the demonic cultivators, she died, drained of blood by them.”

She added, “That woman was Jin Hua. She wasn’t malicious she had been deceived by the demonic cultivators. She thought they were righteous cultivators from renowned sects and only wanted to return home in glory, but she never expected such a tragedy.”

“…” Wu Ruo sighed. “Thank you.”

“Hmm.” You just wanted a reason to forgive Jin Hua, didn’t you?

Luo Qingyi parted her lips but didn’t continue.

Emotionally, Wu Ruo couldn’t bear it, but as the Holy Maiden of Miaojiang, she had to avenge her people.

Perhaps, the moment she heard Jin Ruyun’s plea “Kill me, but don’t hurt my child” the hatred she held for Jin Hua had already quietly dissipated.

Jin Ruyun released Jin Hua, her eyes brimming with scalding tears. Though she was speaking to Wu Ruo, her gaze lingered on her daughter. “You’ve forgiven her, haven’t you? You’re here for revenge, right? Please, kill me instead, don’t kill her.”

Jin Hua, confused by the situation, let out a dazed syllable and tried to turn her head. “Ah?”

Wu Ruo watched as Jin Ruyun covered her daughter’s eyes and assumed the posture of a Miao envoy, slowly raising her hand.

“The ancient teachings say: ‘Those who betray shall be left to the wilderness, their bodies devoured by serpents and scorpions, their blood drained. Only by offering their flesh to the Gu can the wrath of our ancestors be appeased.'”

Wu Ruo flicked her wrist lightly. A small black scorpion crawled slowly up her arm, while insects and ants emerged from the cracks in the brick floor, one after another, in swarms, creeping up from the vast earth.

The Red Temple stood amidst the mountains and forests. Apart from the paved path in front, the surrounding wilderness was all soil perfect for serpents, insects, and Gu creatures to dwell.

“As for Jin Hua, considering she was unaware and died an innocent death, then.”

“Ah Ruo!”

Luo Qingyi suddenly called out to her, her tone serious and urgent. “Give me your hand. Conceal yourselves, a large number of demonic cultivators are approaching!”

“!”

This was the first time since waking up in Zhiyuan Immortal Sect that Wu Ruo had heard Luo Qingyi speak so gravely.

She suddenly realized that ever since Luo Qingyi had severed a piece of her own Dao Bone to refine it for her, her cultivation must have been affected. In a situation like this, if Wu Ruo acted recklessly, disaster could easily strike.

Now that demonic cultivators were approaching likely reinforcements this wasn’t the time to deal with traitors.

“Hold my hand tightly,” Luo Qingyi said. “We’ll leave after the demonic cultivators pass.”

Without hesitation, Wu Ruo grasped her hand. Spiritual energy began to spread around them, slowly enveloping the two. They settled onto the branch of a large tree, ignoring Jin Ruyun, who stood waiting for death.

The latter remained oblivious, covering Jin Hua’s eyes while still holding her daughter, occasionally letting out a sob or two.

“Huh?” Jin Ruyun rubbed her eyes. The witch envoy and that terrifying figure who had been right in front of her just a moment ago had vanished into thin air under the bright daylight.

“Could it be she didn’t come to claim my life? Even someone as heinous as me can be forgiven if I sincerely repent?”

Her hands trembling, she roughly wiped away the tears streaming down her face. “My dear we’re saved. It doesn’t matter that you’ve become like this. Mother will raise you again, take you to eat the candied hawthorns you loved so much as a child.”

Jin Hua, still clueless, heard the words “candied hawthorns” and cheered happily, “Yay!”

She obediently reached for her mother’s hand, her face lit up with the bright, carefree smile only a child could wear. But just as their hands touched, a vicious surge of dark energy severed the connection!

“Hehe.”

Unaware of what was happening, Jin Hua looked at her mother in confusion, thinking she had been the one to pull away. But upon closer inspection, a bloody red mark now marred her wrist!

Jin Ruyun was frozen in shock. Blood gushed from the wound on her right hand, and eerie black mist seeped out from the injury like steam rising from a hot spring.

It was demonic energy.

Though she had been forced into the demon realm, she had stubbornly resisted learning demonic cultivation, clinging instead to the Miao border’s gu techniques as if they could redeem her soul.

But because of this, she had no idea how to treat a wound tainted by demonic energy.

“You! Your Excellency.”

Her hands shaking uncontrollably, Jin Ruyun slowly lifted her head, though every movement felt forced. Her vision was still filled with the half-collapsed brick wall of the Red Temple, but an oppressive, bone-chilling aura now blanketed the area for miles around.

Groveling, she hunched her back and fawned, “I wasn’t trying to run, I wasn’t. Right Envoy, I only came to scout the Red Temple for you, to see if it truly lives up to the legends.”

Her voice abruptly shifted mid-sentence, turning from sycophantic pleading into a sharp, truncated cry of pain.

In an instant, vast legions of demonic cultivators materialized, encircling the Red Temple in layer upon layer. From the dark mass of the demonic vanguard, a wide path slowly opened, and a graceful figure emerged at a leisurely pace.

The woman wore extravagant robes, her sheer veils swaying as she idly teased a red spider in her palm, watching as the creature spun silk around her fingertips before suddenly dropping.

“Elder Jin, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Recognizing the figure, Jin Ruyun’s legs trembled violently, as if sieving grain, before she collapsed to her knees with a thud, slamming them against the brick pavement hard enough to nearly crack it. “Forgive me! Not the Right Envoy, Protector Lan! Protector Lan!”

Jin Hua stood dumbly where she was, tugged at by her mother’s desperate grip urging her to kneel. But she wrinkled her nose at the dirt, refusing to bow, and just stood there stubbornly. “Huh?”

Jin Ruyun panicked. “My dear, kneel down kneel down now!”

Lan Ting gave a cold smile, twirling her right hand in the air to reveal crimson nails and a spider of the same color spinning silk on the back of her hand. She lifted her leg haughtily, the scarlet heel of her shoe tapping sharply against the blue brick road with a rhythmic “thud-thud.”

“Elder Jin, oh? Out for a stroll with your precious daughter, are we?”

She quickly closed the distance to Jin Hua, first delivering a vicious kick to Jin Ruyun before letting out a chilling laugh. Circling behind Jin Hua, she sneered, “Finally meet again, what a rare occasion. I thought after we all went to the demon realm, I’d never see my old acquaintances again.”

Her voice suddenly turned razor-sharp: “All this time hiding in that little courtyard the Right Envoy fenced off for you in the demon realm too afraid to step out. What guilty conscience are you nursing? Afraid of running into someone coming to settle the score?”

“It’s my fault, it’s my fault.” Jin Ruyun knelt on the ground, her already bandaged forehead slamming back onto the pavement with a dull thud. “I’m sorry. It’s all my doing. I was blinded, it’s my fault. I’m the sinner of Miaojiang, it’s all because of me.”

BANG!

Jin Hua was still standing there, dazed, when a brutal flying kick struck between her legs. Her body gave way uncontrollably, and she crashed to the ground with a sickening crack, blood streaming from her head.

“Kneel!”

Lan Ting planted her foot on Jin Hua’s body, driving her heel mercilessly into the other woman’s shoulder until it gouged out a bloody hole.

“It’s all your fault you and that wretched daughter of yours! And you call yourself an elder of Miaojiang? Do you even know what that means? Do you understand that as an elder, protecting your people is your duty?”

“Not only did you fail to protect them, you actually.” Lan Ting took a heavy, shuddering breath, her voice rising to a piercing shriek. “You actually invited that madwoman here, let her bring those demonic cultivators to slaughter our families! You opened the door for them, you led them in!”

“You heartless, treacherous bastard! Just because your own daughter died, you wanted everyone else to join her in the grave! You lunatic, if you wanted to die, why drag all of Miaojiang down with you?!”

“That madwoman one slash, then another, and another muttering ‘not this one,’ ‘not this one either’ She just kept killing, one after another, until not a single soul was left breathing in the entire Miao village.”

Jin Ruyun knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her aged face, repeating “I’m sorry” over and over like a broken record but nothing could quell the fury before her.

“Bet you never thought I’d still be alive, did you?”

Lan Ting’s laughter was icy, her smile bearing no resemblance to the steady, reliable girl she once was. Now, she looked every bit the true demonic cultivator sinister and terrifying.

“Chuncao and the others escaped under my cover. I was the only one left. I knelt before that madwoman, kowtowed a thousand times until my head split open, until my forehead went numb. I begged on my knees, told her I was willing to undergo demonic qi baptism, that Miaojiang was full of useless, outdated fools, that I’d always longed for the demon realm, that I yearned to become a true demonic cultivator. Who knows which line struck a chord with her? She agreed, threw me into the Blood Gu Pool, and said if I survived, she’d report to the Demon Lord and appoint me as a Guardian.”

“The Blood Gu Pool hurts so much, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts more than slashing my own wounds with a sword a thousand times. The pain woke me up several times, only to knock me unconscious again. So many times, I thought I was truly dead, yet here I am. I survived, I survived!”

“And you? You wouldn’t dare. Hahahaha! You traitorous snitch, you worthless scum, of course you wouldn’t dare! All you dare to do is cling to your precious medicine puppet daughter, treating the demon realm as your utopia, smugly playing the role of the doting mother you imagine yourself to be!”

By now, Lan Ting was trembling with fury. Her chest heaved violently, veins bulging on her arms as her crimson nails sharpened and elongated in an instant!

Swish!

“You hide, you’ve always hidden, you don’t dare face me because you fear my revenge, fear I’ll kill you, right? Hah, I’ve finally caught you. Hahaha!”

With deliberate grace, she smoothed her skirt and slowly crouched down, then suddenly seized Jin Ruyun by the throat, her razor-sharp nails digging in.

“Then go die with your daughter.”

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