Chapter 230: Is Qingyangzi being horribly tortured just to uncover the truth of Lady Twelve's gruesome death?

Zhui Yu: "Of course."

Miss, you've also seen her—although she's been tortured to this state, her mouth is still this stubborn; furthermore, she always says these things, so she's quite a tough woman.

Li Qingluo's eyes turned completely cold: "That's because we haven't yet reached the place she fears and hurts most deep inside."

Zhui Yu smiled: "Yes, but no rush. Because Your Highness is about to strike her where it hurts most."

Right, the prince said that since you've come today, you should learn a bit about how to interrogate and pry open mouths, Miss—hurry and look—

After saying that, Zhui Yu felt embarrassed on behalf of her master.

Your Highness really—how could there be such a pursuit of women in the world!

Even though I myself am inexperienced, I still want to mutter about it in my heart today.

In other words, the miss is naturally of the same ilk as their master and hasn't been scared off; otherwise, an ordinary woman would have been frightened to death by the Dali Temple's reputation, let alone come to walk around this prison.

Back then, their highness said at the gate of the Jinling magistrate's prison that he would teach people how to torture and interrogate; little did they expect that day would actually come.

Zhui Yu secretly picked her nose in her heart.

Leng Dian led people out of the darkness, carrying a set of blades.

Unfurling the fur, the blades lay thick across the floor; a rough count showed at least fifty knives of various sizes and shapes.

Que'er swallowed, unable to hold back: "Could it be that they're going to slice her flesh with lingchi?"

Zhui Yu nodded excitedly: "Of course, of course—these young women's skin and flesh are tender, often the easiest to cut."

"Our Dali Temple's executioners are so skilled that a single cut hardly draws blood; even after a thousand cuts, they can make a person wish for death yet keep them alive!"

Que'er's face turned pale.

Li Qingluo, however, said: "Wrong."

She stared at Prince Su, noticing his expression was off.

He never intended to really give that poisonous woman lingchi; he must have some other plan……

However, until the poisonous woman was tied to the pillar, Duan Rongshi never spoke again.

The executioner stepped forward and asked: "Your Highness, should we cut the face first or the body?"

If we cut the face, one slash would utterly ruin her appearance.

To cut the flesh on her body, we'd first have to strip off all her clothes; regardless of how much flesh is to be cut, with all the guards in the room having seen her, she would henceforth be considered not innocent.

Duan Rongshi, propping his chin, asked Ku Lianqiao: "I give you a chance to choose—do you want to keep your body, or keep your face first?"

The poisonous woman Ku Lianqiao finally changed expression, furiously cursing: "Duan Rongshi, you beast! Using these vile, shameful tactics, you might as well just kill me——"

Leng Dian stepped forward and delivered a slap.

The blow split Ku Lianqiao's mouth corner instantly, blood pouring out.

"Bold criminal woman! Do you dare to utter the personal name of our Prince Su, Your Highness?"

"If you dare to be insolent again, the first thing we'll cut off is your tongue!"

Ku Lianqiao glared, eyes wide with anger, yet she dared not shout recklessly anymore.

Duan Rongshi: "Kill you? Killing you would be too easy on you."

"My greatest pleasure in life is to torment you, who deserve death ten thousand times, making you endure unbearable pain—wanting to live but unable, wanting to rest but unable—until finally, seeking death yet unattainable, you must trade truth for a chance at release."

"So rest assured, I will not let you die."

"First I'll give you a hundred cuts, then hang your blood-soaked body beneath the bell tower so all of Jinling City can gaze upon your 'Beauty Bathing in Blood' picture."

"If you're still not satisfied, I'll chop your hands and feet into minced meat, boil it into soup, and make the person you care about most drink it……"

"You say, do you want to give that foul Daoist Qingyangzi, or your fellow sect brothers, a taste?"

Ku Lianqiao's expression shifted slightly: "You… you… you, stop threatening me! Though few know, I know the relationship between Prince Su and that Daoist is far from superficial acquaintances!"

"When you were young, you were once inseparable friends; after he became Daoist Qingyangzi, you often appeared at that temple……"

Duan Rongshi: "So you admit, from the start you approached that Qingyangzi with ulterior motives?"

"Did you hear that? Qingyangzi."

"Bring him out."

With a clank of heavy chains, a person covered in bloody, mangled flesh was dragged out from the dark corner.

Upon seeing that person's face, Ku Lianqiao let out a sharp scream: "Ah——!!!"

For this person is none other than the already tormented, worse-than-death Qingyangzi.

Qingyangzi's left hand had been stripped of flesh down to the bone; even the bones of the whole palm were gone, leaving only a forearm bone worn down to a sharp point.

If his arm still had the strength to lift and kill himself, it would not be a bad weapon.

But now he probably lacks even the strength to kill himself; he can only let his head hang, dragged out by the jailers like a dead dog and thrown to the ground.

Seeing the once charming, extraordinary young Daoist now reduced to this state, Ku Lianqiao could not accept it.

She began to hoarsely shout: "What have you done to him!? Why is he like this!? Are you deceiving me or not? This is all fake, you're putting on a show for me!!"

"Qingyangzi, get up, get up——you scoundrel, you aren't Prince Su's man, are you? How could you be tortured into this state? Are you doing this for the sake of that Lady Twelve, deliberately taking revenge on me?"

"Answer me——"

However, no matter how she hoarsely shouted, Qingyangzi lay motionless on the ground.

Leng Dian stepped forward, seized Qingyangzi's whole head, and exposed his bloody face.

"Daoist, can you hear?"

"This woman knows everything clearly from head to toe."

"She knows things no one else in the world knows, and she knows you once were inseparable friends with Your Highness."

"She had figured you wouldn't suffer any hardship in Your Highness's hands."

"But she never calculated that you would, to protect her, believe in her innocence, take her place, and end up like this—neither human nor ghost."

"A lofty, idle Daoist would not do this; instead, he lowers himself to the mundane world for such a demoness."

The Daoist priest no longer even cares about his family's qi fu ritual, yet he insists on taking the blame for killing the Pei family's twelfth daughter for this demoness—is it really worth it?

She's been using you from start to finish...

Hearing those words, Ku Lianqiao was about to go mad.

I, I didn't... I'm not...

However, Qingyangzi's clear eyes always just quietly gazed at Lianqiao.

It seemed as if everything he did was without regret or resentment.

Lianqiao's heart ached and tears streamed down.

Why... why...

Qingyangzi moved his lips, but when he opened his mouth, it was just a blank darkness—he couldn't utter a single word.

Leng Dian chuckled: "Oh, I forgot. As it turns out, the Daoist priest's tongue was cut off long ago."

Just a few days ago, it was even made into a side dish and sent to this demoness.

How does it taste? That plate of braised pork tongue...

Leng Dian gave a strange curl of the lip, yet made Lianqiao turn her head and vomit from nausea.

As she vomited, she also bitterly whispered: "I never imagined... you would be such a responsible man."

It's all my fault, all my fault...

Duan Rongshi seemed to have run out of patience.

He suddenly flicked his finger lightly and coldly said: "Move."

Since they're both stubborn, let this ill-fated couple watch how each other is tortured.

Having said that, the executioner raised his knife and walked toward Lianqiao.

Meanwhile, the person holding the big cleaver in the other hand pressed Qingyangzi's other hand to the ground.

Lianqiao watched the scene in panic, continually looking at Qingyangzi, and saw that his eyes still held deep affection for her; her bitterness instantly flooded her like seas and mountains.

Just as the cleaver was about to fall, Lianqiao let out a startled cry and finally shouted: "I'll speak——!"

I'll speak...

The poison that afflicted Pei Shi'er Niang was indeed administered by me!

I and Qingyangzi are deeply in love and were to be wed soon, but at this time I learned that he still had an unmarried young lady whom he had never written a divorce letter for.

I was driven by jealousy, and plus the fact that Minister Pei went to the Daoist temple and caused a ruckus that day, so I impulsively did this...

But Pei Shi'er Niang's death really has nothing to do with me——

Lianqiao, voice trembling with tears, spoke the truth, and for the first time admitted she had put poison in the chestnut cake.

However, Prince Su did not fully believe her words.

He remained expressionless, still moving his finger: "Continue."

Having said that, a cleaver fell, and instantly blood spattered everywhere; Qingyangzi's entire arm was chopped off.

His eyes widened, he instantly broke into a sweat, mouth open, silently groaning.

Immediately afterward, he fainted and collapsed to the ground.

Prince Su, impatient, ordered him to be dragged away.

"Tomorrow, continue cutting off the legs."

"Until finally we turn him into a human pig and soak him in a water tank—what do you think?"

Prince Su asked Lianqiao.

But Lianqiao, stimulated by that scene, was already on the verge of madness.

"What else do you want to know!? You ask me to speak——why, why must we cripple him——"

"You beast——you're not even human——do you have any feelings, any flesh and blood!?"

"In this world, no one will ever sincerely treat you——"

"You are nothing but a Yama demon!!"

"Wuuu wuuu wuuu wuuu......"

Prince Su: "I can grant him a quick death. But I said before, as long as you speak the truth."

"If your words please me, perhaps I can also, in consideration of your past acquaintance with Qingyangzi, grant special clemency to let the two of you truly meet one more time while alive."

"Will you speak, or not?"

Lianqiao thought of Qingyangzi's suffering, all because of herself, and instantly her guilt and anguish could no longer be contained.

Her strength long exhausted, she replied with a heart full of endless sorrow: "I... I will say everything......"

Prince Su: "Is the Maitreya poison from your sect?"

Lianqiao bitterly shook her head: "No... it's a poison from the Western Regions, certainly unrelated to my sect."

Prince Su: "But you know this poison."

"So the Maitreya poison that Pei Shi'er Niang had taken before her death—was it thanks to you?"