Chapter 242

Prologue

The torrential rain, accompanied by the roaring thunder, blew the dilapidated windows of the small, broken temple's side room back and forth, making them rattle! Three young women were curled up inside, their bright red wedding dresses appearing exceptionally eerie in this pitch-black, gloomy temple that reeked of decay.

There were no lamps in the room. Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the broken temple, and each bolt of light, sharp as a sword, seemed to strike directly into the ground. The blinding white light and the deafening thunder made the youngest-looking woman shrink back in terror.

Tugging hard on her eldest sister's arm, Qing Mo sobbed, "Eldest Sister, what do we do now? I'm so scared!"

Another flash of lightning streaked by, finally allowing them to see the women's appearances. All three were in the bloom of youth, each with her own grace. Their beautiful left profiles were enough to make any woman jealous and any man admire them, but unfortunately, their right cheeks had been slashed with two deep knife wounds, almost ruining the entire side of their faces. In this night of thunder and lightning, they looked quite hideous.

Gently patting her youngest sister's shoulder, Qing Ling, her face ashen, murmured, "Once we cross this mountain, we will be out of the Haoyue Kingdom. Is there really no way for us to escape the fate of being gifts?!"

"I won't accept this!" Her stubborn eyes fixed on the rain-swept, lightning-filled sky outside the temple, Qingfeng bit her lower lip until it almost broke and bled.

Slowly raising her head and leaning against Qingfeng's shoulder, Qing Mo whispered sensibly to comfort her, "Second Sister, don't be afraid. I heard that Prime Minister Lou, whom you are to marry, is a rare gentleman of virtue, and his literary and martial skills are both outstanding. He... he shouldn't treat you badly." The most pitiful one was Eldest Sister, who was to be sent into the palace. Legend had it that the Qiongyue King was temperamental, bloodthirsty, and tyrannical; how could the gentle and quiet Eldest Sister endure that!

Qingfeng scoffed, "Who cares!"

Turning around, she took her eldest sister's hand in one hand and her youngest sister's in the other, and Qingfeng growled fiercely, "I hate this! By what right can the Qiongyue ruler do whatever he wants with just a word? By what right must the Qing family bear the burden of the Emperor's incompetence?! By what right, after he killed our parents, must we still be offered as tribute to please Qiongyue?! By what right?"

Gently stroking Qingfeng's face, which had become distorted by her shouting and hatred, Qing Ling sighed softly, "Just because Qiongyue is the hegemon among the Six Kingdoms, and all nations pay homage to it. Just because the Emperor is the ruler of a nation, and if the ruler wants a subject to die, the subject must die. Who told us to be nothing but women with no strength to truss a chicken?" Fate had never been in their hands!

Shaking off Qing Ling's hand, Qingfeng stood up abruptly, turned her back, and replied unwillingly, "So what if we are women? I just won't go to Qiongyue!"

Looking at her second sister's stubborn back and then at her eldest sister's worried face, Qing Mo said timidly, "Even though we've ruined these faces that everyone admired, they still want to send us to Qiongyue. Second Sister, we have no way to change anything, do we?"

Gently stroking her cheek, which still pained her to the core, Qingfeng took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and replied, "Even if it means death, I, Qingfeng, will never let myself be manipulated! Especially not by that person, who is a foolish ruler with hands stained by the blood of our parents!"

Qing Ling was startled and said urgently, "Feng'er, what are you trying to do?"

Slowly turning around, Qingfeng clenched her hands into fists and said firmly, "Sister, I want to stay in Haoyue, to stay by our parents' side, even if all that remains is my corpse!"

As if in response to Feng'er's words, a bolt of stark white lightning struck down. The light shone on Feng'er's face, and Qing Ling saw her persistence and determination.

Enough. Grasping Qingfeng's hand tightly, Qing Ling suddenly felt a sense of relief and smiled faintly, "Alright. Sister will accompany you. Living on has no meaning for me anyway." Not having to think about everything they would face in the future was perhaps a liberation.

Qing Mo, who had been half-crouched on the ground, also stood up quickly, grabbed their hands, and said urgently, "Whatever my sisters do, I will do. No matter what, Mo'er will never leave you!"

Qing Ling hesitated, looking at the innocent Mo'er with a heartache. She perhaps still didn't understand the meaning of death; she was only fifteen years old!

Meeting Mo'er's pure, large eyes, Qingfeng's heart also felt like it was being cut by a knife. But thinking of how she was to be given to that cold-blooded butcher famous on the battlefield, Qingfeng immediately shuddered and said, "Eldest Sister, Mo'er is so innocent and kind; leaving her alone in this world will only bring her suffering. Let's just have our family reunion right here in this broken temple today!"

Looking at the three pairs of hands intertwined, Qing Ling suddenly felt a warmth in her heart. As if to convince herself, Qing Ling nodded vigorously and said, "Alright! A family reunion is best!"

The three of them looked up at the roof beam and smiled at each other with a tacit understanding. This was the first time they had smiled since their parents passed away, because after today, they would never be separated again.

Nimbly untying the red silk sash from her waist, she stripped off the gorgeous red dress, leaving only a plain white undergarment. Lightly tossing the red silk over the roof beam, the three of them stood on the dilapidated square table and put their necks into the red silk without hesitation.

Qing Ling glanced at her sisters beside her, closed her eyes, and whispered, "Feng'er, Mo'er, in the next life, we will still be sisters!"

"Yes!" Qingfeng and Qing Mo nodded vigorously.

The three of them held hands and kicked the square table away. The red silk snapped taut, and three vibrant lives gradually faded away.

The soldiers escorting the Qing sisters to Qiongyue were resting in the main hall of the broken temple. Seeing that the rain was about to stop, it suddenly began to pour again, and the lightning and thunder grew more frantic, as if they wanted to smash this already swaying temple to pieces.

One of the young soldiers shrank his neck. It was still spring, and in all his years, he had never seen such heavy rain in spring. He glanced casually at the side hall where the Qing ladies were, and this look scared him half to death. Under the white light of the lightning bolts, three straight shadows were swinging back and forth in mid-air, their clothes fluttering!

Letting out a strange cry, the soldier tumbled and crawled to Li Xu, exclaiming, "Ghosts? There are ghosts!"

"What?!" Li Xu was startled. Following the soldier's gaze, the three swaying shadows also broke him out in a cold sweat. The Qing ladies had hanged themselves?!

Li Xu hurriedly got up and kicked open the door to the side hall, only to see red clothes all over the floor and three pairs of crimson embroidered shoes dangling before his eyes. Li Xu retreated a step in fear and shouted in a panic, "Quick! Quick! Get them down!"

A group of soldiers scrambled in a panic and finally got the three women down. All three had dark complexions and their eyes were tightly closed.

Li Xu stared at Qing Mo, who was on the far left, and asked urgently, "How is she?"

The soldier carefully felt Qing Mo's breath, swallowed hard, and replied, "She? She's dead."

Li Xu pointed his trembling finger at Qingfeng and asked urgently, "This? What about this one?"

After checking her breath, the soldier withdrew his hand. Seeing the pale face of Magistrate Li, the soldier was too scared to answer, only shaking his head gently.

They were all dead? Li Xu broke out in a cold sweat. These Qing sisters were the tribute candidates personally selected by the Qiongyue King. Now that they were dead, how could he keep his life?! He feared the Haoyue Kingdom would not escape its doom. Just as Li Xu was in despair, the soldier suddenly shouted, "Magistrate, the eldest Qing lady still has a pulse." Although it was very weak, she was definitely still alive.

"Really? That's great! Quickly put her on the carriage and call a doctor!" Finally, one was still alive.

Li Xu directed the soldiers to scramble to put the wedding dress onto Qing Ling, having no mind to pay attention to the other two corpses on the ground.

The thunder outside the broken temple grew louder with each clap, and the blinding white light was like swords. The corpses on the ground looked even more lonely and cold. The soldier was scared, but he couldn't bear to see the two poor women exposed in the broken temple, so he picked up the wedding dress from the ground and carefully covered them with it.

Just as he was about to get up and leave, a red light, different from the lightning, flashed by, and the two people on the ground who had no breath suddenly opened their eyes—

"Ah—" The soldier's scream echoed through the broken temple!

Li Xu, who had already walked outside the main hall, shouted impatiently, "What are you screaming about again?!"

"She? They?" This time, the soldier couldn't even speak, only crawling out of the side hall in a pathetic manner.

Could two female corpses really scare him like this? Li Xu was suspicious and walked into the side hall again, only to find that the two women who had been lifeless just moments ago were miraculously breathing slightly in their chests and abdomens. Although their eyes were still tightly closed, their complexions were not as purple as before.

"Heaven truly protects, Heaven truly protects!" Li Xu was ecstatic; they were not dead. His life was finally saved! "Come here, come here, take them away."

In the wind and rain, the soldiers carried the two out of the broken temple and were about to send them to the carriage where Qing Ling was, when Li Xu suddenly shouted, "Wait."

These three people were disfigured and had committed suicide; if they didn't die this time, who knew what they would do next! There were still more than ten days of travel from here to Qiongyue! After some calculation in his heart, Li Xu said in a deep voice, "Separate them, put one in each carriage, and do not allow them to meet again. Also, put Mizui Powder in the water they drink; we must deliver them to the Qiongyue Kingdom alive!"

"Yes!" The three were immediately stuffed into three carriages. Before reaching Qiongyue, they would have no chance to meet again, nor would they have any chance to step out of the carriages.

Qing sisters, don't blame me; if you must blame someone, blame yourselves. Who told you to be so beautiful, who told you to be so talented, who told you to be famous throughout the Six Kingdoms? The women the Qiongyue Kingdom named, let alone disfigured, even if you were dead, you must die in Qiongyue. Everything is fate!

Boundless darkness, deathly silence, coldness, and fear tortured her. Qingfeng clenched her fists, her nails sinking deep into her flesh; only pain could keep her calm now. The dark space was like a black hole, swallowing her up.

Suddenly, the darkness around her was gradually replaced by crimson. That red, mixed with the smell of blood, rushed toward her bit by bit—

"The Qiongyue Emperor taking a fancy to you is your good fortune. If you are lucky enough to receive favor, your Qing family will also have glory. If you refuse, then wait for your family to be exterminated!" The cruel voice echoed in her ears over and over again. Qingfeng's body trembled uncontrollably. She didn't want any favor; she only wanted her family to be intact!

(End of chapter)