Chapter 26: The One Who Wants You Dead
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Western Suburb Estate.
Piaoxu lay bound on the bed, a strip of cloth stuffed into her mouth. The guards outside were keeping a strict watch, while Lu Lanxi crouched on the roof, observing the movements around her.
It was not dark yet. She could not act rashly, or she would alert the enemy. She wanted not only to kill Li Ao, but also to leave the entire Li family trembling with fear. A nest of vermin like this had to be eradicated root and branch. Otherwise, even if Li Ao died, there would simply be another Ma Ao, another Zhang Ao. She had to make an example of him...
“Dong, dong, dong—”
The watchman’s drum sounded.
Lu Lanxi frowned. The time was almost right.
She was dressed in black, elegant and efficient, with a veil covering her face. Beneath the darkness of night, no one could make out her features.
“Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!”
Lu Lanxi slipped into the inner room and made a hushing gesture toward Piaoxu on the bed.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here to save you, but now is not the time. You must cooperate with me.”
Piaoxu nodded fearfully.
———
“Get lost! Don’t help me.”
A rough voice rang out. Li Ao was drunk and slurring his words.
“Young Master, it is already late. You should return to the manor. The autumn examinations begin tomorrow.”
“You insolent wretch. Since when do I need you meddling in my affairs?”
“This old servant would never dare. I only fear that tomorrow’s important business may be delayed and the Chancellor will hold us accountable...”
“Get out of my sight!”
Li Ao was in a foul mood that day. Liang Ruoxue had humiliated him thoroughly, leaving him utterly disgraced.
Liang Ruoxue had deliberately challenged his bottom line.
Yet he could do nothing to Liang Ruoxue, so he could only vent all his anger and resentment on other helpless women.
———
“Where is the beauty? Where is she? Tonight, I’m going to teach her a proper lesson. I’ll make her cry to Heaven and plead with the earth, and neither will answer her.”
“Young Master, the girl is in the side room of Autumn Breeze Court.”
“Fine. You may all leave. No matter what happens or what sounds you hear, none of you are to come to Autumn Breeze Court and disturb me. Tonight, I’m going to tame this wild horse properly. If anyone ruins my pleasure, I’ll see him dead.”
Li Ao burst into laughter—smug, arrogant, and utterly fearless.
The steward of the estate and his attendants had no choice but to leave the grounds.
Creak—
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The door opened.
Li Ao stepped inside and saw, beneath the feeble candlelight, the graceful silhouette of a woman. Her figure was enticing, her long hair as black as ink, and his blood immediately began to boil.
“Little beauty, I’ve been longing for you. Do you really not know who I am? You still think you can escape my grasp? No matter how fierce your temper, you’ll end up becoming my woman obediently.”
Muttering and cursing, Li Ao staggered toward the bed.
From inside the wardrobe, a pair of terrified eyes stared fixedly at the woman lying there.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle, very gentle. I’m the most tender and considerate of men.”
Just as his hand was about to touch the woman on the bed, Lu Lanxi moved like a phantom. She seized Li Ao’s wrist with one hand and drove her fist into his eye with the other.
“Ow! You little vixen, you’ve got spirit. Looks like I underestimated you. A rose with thorns is the one that makes a man itch to touch it.”
Lu Lanxi gave a cold laugh and swept her hand through the air. The faint candlelight went out instantly.
The entire room plunged into darkness. Not even a hand could be seen before one’s eyes.
“Oh? Then let me show you what real spirit is.”
Lu Lanxi kicked him hard in the chest. Li Ao was sent tumbling across the floor, and the pain brought him abruptly closer to sobriety.
“Who are you?”
“How dare you provoke me? Are you tired of living?”
“I’m the one who’s here to take your miserable life.”
Dressed in black, she smiled contemptuously. Her eyes were icy and piercing, and her voice was cold enough to chill the bone, like that of a ghost.
“Hah! Know your place! Since you’re bent on dying, I’ll send you to meet the King of Hell.”
Li Ao’s eyes turned sinister. He grabbed the long sword from the table and launched himself into a desperate battle with Lu Lanxi.
Lu Lanxi drew the long whip coiled around her waist. Sword and whip flashed through the darkness in a storm of steel and blood.
She darted around Li Ao incessantly, every lash striking him with brutal force.
As he fell onto the defensive, Li Ao gradually began to panic.
After several exchanges, he was covered in wounds. At some point, the long sword in his hand had already fallen into Lu Lanxi’s possession.
Both his legs had been injured by the whip. He could only scramble backward in desperation. He tried to shout, but no sound came out.
He watched helplessly as Lu Lanxi approached him with the long sword in hand, her steps graceful and her posture alluring enough to ensnare the soul. A pale gleam shone along the blade, while drops of blood struck the floor one after another.
The blood on the sword was not Lu Lanxi’s.
It was Li Ao’s.
His face was deathly pale, and his entire body trembled. In all his years of life, this was the first time he had felt the breath of death.
The woman before him was like an emissary from hell. Her eyes glowed crimson, her features were both demonic and bewitching, and her attacks were merciless.
“You’d better let me go. My father is the Chancellor, and my maternal aunt is the Empress. If you kill me, you won’t live either.”
Drip. Drip.
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“Are you truly not afraid to die?”
Drip. Drip.
The sound of blood falling was like a death knell. Li Ao trembled uncontrollably, terror driving him nearly mad.
“Don’t kill me! As long as you spare me, I can give you a position of power. Whatever anyone else offers you, I’ll pay twice as much—no, ten times as much. You could even follow me. I guarantee you a lifetime of wealth and glory.”
“Ah!”
Lu Lanxi’s hatred had seized complete control of her. She swung her sword down with savage force, severing half of Li Ao’s blood-soaked arm. It fell at her feet. With a look of disgust, she kicked it out into the courtyard.
“Tell me. How many women are still in the estate?”
Lu Lanxi’s voice held no warmth.
“There are no more. Truly, there are no more...”
Li Ao’s pupils contracted. Terrified and stammering, he spoke through pain that had nearly killed him.
“You’re still lying to me?”
Lu Lanxi gave a mocking laugh and swept her sword through the air. A bloody hole opened in Li Ao’s thigh.
“Ahhh!”
“There really are no more! When you say women, do you mean the living or the dead? If you mean the living, there’s only the girl we brought back today. But you must have already released her, right? If you mean the dead, they’re all thrown into the dry well in the courtyard. My lady, please spare me...”
“In the courtyard? The dry well?”
A chill instantly pierced Lu Lanxi to the heart. Her fingers tightened around the long sword, and a murderous aura surged around her.
“Yes, yes! They were all disobedient, worthless women who brought death upon themselves. You can’t blame me. Whenever a woman obeyed, I released her.”
“Never underestimate a disobedient woman.”
“I wouldn’t dare! I wouldn’t dare!”
“Heroine, spare my life! I have no other faults. I simply cannot live without women. I swear, if you let me go, I’ll mend my ways completely. I’ll never harass another innocent woman again.”
“A dog can never stop eating filth.”
Lu Lanxi’s voice rang out, cold and terrifying.
The moment she thought of Bai Zhi being humiliated and tortured to death by him, her heart bled.
She raised her sword and brought it down, severing Li Ao’s manhood. Blood drenched Li Qinian’s clothes and splattered across Lu Lanxi’s face.
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