i

Yao Yao! You must wait for me! I’m coming! 

At this moment, Leng Jun Yu’s subordinate exclaimed nearby. “Prince Rui, we have found the secret passageway that will lead us up Sheng Nu Mountain!”

“Alright, let’s go!”

—–

The snow on the ground was dyed with the fresh colour of blood. The four chopped limbs were lying in the pool. A white face with huge black eyes was staring straight at Le Yao Yao. Since Nian Sulan had no limbs, she moved like an earthworm as she struggled up.

Nian Sulan crawled towards her. “You’re the one who turned me like this. It’s all your fault. Give me back my life. Give me back my life…” she whispered.

“N-no! That’s not true! I never wanted you to harm you! I didn’t….ahhh!!” Le Yao Yao objected.

Le Yao Yao suddenly woke up from her nightmare. She sat upright and stared outside the window.

It was pitch dark outside. Le Yao Yao couldn’t help but remember what happened earlier this afternoon.

Is Nian Sulan already dead? Is that why she was haunting her in her dreams? She wants to get revenge because she died unjustly? 

Thinking of this, Le Yao Yao’s heart felt congested. Si Mu Han kills as if human lives were worthless to him. He knows he has the power to take away a life with a simple sentence. Because of him, people die without an intact corpse! 

At first, he seemed so considerate and kind towards her. She actually believed he wasn’t such an evil man. But after the Nian Sulan incident, Le Yao Yao realized Si Mu Han was a monster. So, she had to escape as soon as possible!

Thinking of this, Le Yao Yao stood up and looked around the room. There were actually no one around.

That was great news to her. If she didn’t try to escape now, then when?

Le Yao Yao hastily put on the snow white fox overcoat and the fox fur hat. She made sure to conceal all of her black hair.

After all, the snow white overcoat went all the way down to her toes. She could blend in with the snow. If she remained still, people may not be able to detect her.

When Le Yao Yao was covered top to bottom, she didn’t dare to exit from the main doors. Instead, she opened the window and climbed out.

All she could think about was the house that Si Mu Han showed her earlier today. As long as she found that house, she would be able to go through the secret passageway and escape!

The moment Le Yao Yao imagined being with Yu again, it was like she had been injected with chicken blood. She was no longer scared and hopped out of the window.

She had to go through the wintersweet trees before getting to the house. But suddenly, Le Yao Yao heard a crisp slap in the air. It was especially clear on this silent night.

Le Yao Yao instantly halted her steps and lowered her body to hide in a bush. Her eyes were looking around to locate the source of the sound.

Then, she saw two still figures ahead of her. One of them was in black while the other was in red.

The moonlight was bright enough for her to see the figures clearly. The man in black had a scar across his face. He was Qing Feng. She had seen him before.

As for the lady in red, Le Yao Yao would recognize her even if she had turned into dust. It was the Hong Luo Chang woman. She had seen her once at the brothel. At the time, she was fighting with Leng Jun Yu. Hong Luo Chang only managed to escape because her appearance had distracted Yu.

Then, earlier today, Hong Luo Chang appeared to chop off Nian Sulan’s limbs. Le Yao Yao could still picture her sword dripping with blood. Her smile was evil and stunning at the same time.

Anyhow, Hong Luo Chang had just slapped Qing Feng across the face. Le Yao Yao was confused.

Why are they still outside? It’s the middle of the night. Why did she slap him for? 

But Le Yao Yao didn’t really care to know. She only wanted them to disappear so she could continue on her path. This was the safest route to the house.

Very few people would come to see or admire the wintersweet trees at night. So, Le Yao Yao had to be patient and wait until they leave.

Hopefully they will hurry up. Le Yao Yao was worried Si Mu Han will notice she went missing.

At this moment, the two figures began to talk. Originally, Le Yao Yao was going to zone out their conversation, but she heard herself being mentioned. So, Le Yao Yao immediately focused all her attention on them.

“Qing Feng, why did you do that? That woman is clearly not our lady (furen in Mandarin). She only looks like our lady. Why did you bring her here to lie to our leader?”  Hong Luo Chang’s voice was filled with fury. She looked enraged.

Qing Feng was silent for a moment. Then, he hissed. “Do you think I want to do this? When our lady passed away, you weren’t present. Our leader almost died from heartbreak. He would’ve killed himself if we hadn’t stopped him. If I didn’t tell him about the pill that could bring a person back to life, our leader wouldn’t have been able to live until now. Hope was the only thing that kept him alive.”

“But that was a lie! There’s no such thing as coming back to life. How could such a pill exist?”

“Yes, you’re right. But to our leader, it was hope. He was like a living corpse!” Qing Feng roared. Then, he paused before he continued.

“But, I knew the lie wouldn’t be able to last for long. Our leader will discover sooner or later that it won’t work. So what happens then? Luo Chang, have you ever thought about what would happen once our leader realizes everything was a lie? He would kill himself. Leader saved our lives when we were little. Our lives belong to him. How could we let him die like this?”

“But how could you bring in a fake!? Leader will eventually figure it out, right?”

“I don’t care if she’s a fake. As long as our leader believes she’s real, that’s good enough. At first when I went to the talent show to scoop the hearts out of those maidens, I never expected to see a woman who looked the same as our lady. At the time, I thought our lady truly came back from the dead. It wasn’t until after I fell off the cliff and miraculously survived that I realized that woman is not our lady. She just happens to look like her. I thought to myself, if I was able to survive and live on, I will definitely kidnap this woman for our leader. At least, our leader will be able to live again. If he has the will to live, our evil cult will grow stronger and more powerful.”

Hong Luo Chang didn’t say a word. But when Le Yao Yao heard all this, she almost yelped out loud.

Le Yao Yao immediately covered her mouth with her little hands.

No wonder she thought Qing Feng looked so familiar at first! She couldn’t remember where…

Based on what he said, he was the one who kidnapped her during the talent show! 

He kidnapped her because she looked like their dead lady. 

What the f**k! 

Le Yao Yao wanted to kick Qing Feng in the balls. If it weren’t for him, she would be on her way to her hometown waiting for get married. But her logical side told her she must calm down. Right now, she was in the enemy’s territory. For a weakling like herself, she had to hide to remain undiscovered. That was the only way she would be able to escape.

The rest of the chapter will be posted on my site. Unfortunately, the bots have figured out my method because it is too predictable. Check the announcement post of 245 for the whole chapter later. I didn’t realize novelonlinefree had caught on. I won’t be using this method again. So please read the announcement.