Chapter 437: The Prince of Su's liver and intestines are torn apart inch by inch, Luo'er's life and death undetermined!

Li Qingluo's face turned pale instantly.

She quickly got up, wanting to return to her room.

However, as soon as she reached the doorway, her chest felt flustered and she could barely support herself.

After taking two more steps, her legs went soft and she collapsed completely onto the ground.

"Luo'er——"

At this very moment, in a small village hundreds of li away,

the fire in the cowshed blazed fiercely, growing stronger until no one dared to approach.

The people in the other rooms all ran out.

Even the true owner of the farmhouse came running back.

After seeing this, they slapped their thighs, suppressing panic, and rushed forward into the cowshed.

However, the first thing they dragged out of the cowshed was still that old yellow ox.

When they wanted to save more people, no one was willing to go back in and risk it.

After all, they were just unrelated prisoners.

It wouldn't be worth sacrificing one's life for these prisoners.

Even the constables could only stand with hands on hips and sigh.

They shook their heads, indicating there was no hope.

When they rushed over, they only saw Li Chao Jing, who had originally run to lie under a big tree outside the cowshed because of the child's mischievous nature, still there.

He was still snoring loudly asleep.

He was utterly unaffected by these noisy, even horrific sounds.

As for the other three people in the fire……

They could no longer be saved.

The screams in the fire grew more shrill with each cry.

"Save me——"

"Ah——"

"It hurts so much, so painful——"

"Liu Caoer, you lunatic!!"

"Even as a ghost I won't let you go——ah!!"

"Mother, you don't love me the most? Zhu'er loves me too……hehe!!"

"Haha……"

"Hahaha……"

"Li Kechuan, you destroyed me. I will destroy you as well……"

"We owe each other nothing now!"

"Haha……"

"Luo'er——Mother is sorry to you……"

"Sorry……"

Another sigh, then no more sound.

The voice gradually faded.

The fire crackled and burned, also dragging the two neighboring houses into this blaze.

The farmer's family sat on the ground, slapping their thighs and wailing loudly.

Even the people from the second and third rooms came over.

They looked at the soaring flames, their eyes showing shock.

"It's the elder sister-in-law and the younger brother Chuan……"

"And also that Liu Caoer!"

"They three actually……"

"The main branch is finished, the main branch is truly completely finished now!"

"No one is left—doesn't that mean the line is extinct?"

The second and third branches also feel terrible right now, after all, everyone is related by blood.

Soon, the horizon gradually brightened.

Far away in Yangzhou, Li Qingluo suddenly, without warning, her whole body went limp.

In a daze, Li Qingluo seemed to hear Duan Rongshi's voice.

She strained to prop herself up on the ground and looked back.

In the dim dawn, the courtyard gate was shoved open forcefully.

Duan Rongshi, dressed entirely in frost-white, burst in.

Li Qingluo opened her mouth to speak, but found she had no strength in her throat.

She shook her head hard.

She felt the same suffocating sensation as when facing death in her previous life.

She gasped heavily, clutching her chest.

When her whole body was embraced by Duan Rongshi, she was completely unable to move.

"Luo'er!"

"Luo'er?"

"Luo'er, I'm here."

"You, quickly look at this king—"

Duan Rongshi grabbed Li Qingluo's hand and pressed it to his own face.

"It is this king's fault."

"The king's mistake, the king is wrong about everything."

"The king should not selfishly let you make concessions time after time."

"Moreover, the king should not have hidden it from you, waiting until the matter ends to tell you the truth."

"You hit me, you hit this king—"

He grasped her hand and forcefully swung it onto his own face.

Yet even with a crisp "snap" sound, her palm had already lost feeling.

Not only that.

Her limp hand, even now held by him, merely hung uselessly.

Duan Rongshi watched this scene, and an inexplicable, overwhelming panic suddenly spread in his heart.

At this moment, his face bore the terror he had never shown since his mother, Consort Zongzheng Qingyue's death.

Even if mountains and rivers collapsed, he never feared.

Even if Emperor Yan were to kill his own son, he had never truly feared in his heart.

All things in the world, to him, have been indifferent and carefree since the year he turned six.

His only obsession in living is one.

To uncover the truth behind his mother's death.

To avenge his mother.

To make everyone who harmed his mother suffer unbearable pain.

At six years old, he stood in the pitch‑black inner courtyard of the deep palace, looking up at the sky, holding nothing in his hands.

Only his outstretched hand repeatedly grasped at the elusive cold wind.

He has walked step by step to today, crawling, rolling, enduring and lying in wait…

Living is simply living.

He never knew, beyond the endless darkness, what other flavors life could hold.

Pleasure, joy, happiness, sorrow… he no longer experienced any of the world's complex emotions.

Until she rashly barged into his life.

At the foot of Qingsong Mountain, he saw her eyes, bright as stars on an otherwise unremarkable face.

Since then, they have been deeply imprinted in his mind.

In the Qinhuai River, she floundered in the water, yet her tenacious struggle to survive stirred a faint ripple and surprise in his otherwise dead‑silent heart.

Later, Yi Zhuang.

On the snow‑blocked mountain cliff.

She repeatedly made him look at her with new eyes, and through their growing companionship, quietly tugged at his heart long frozen and dust‑free.

He never knew he would become so emotionally entangled over a woman.

Repeatedly losing his mind, repeatedly losing emotional control.

Anger, joy, delight… even disgust, now fear, sorrow…

He once again felt these uncontrollable emotions; though unfamiliar, they made him feel as if he finally sensed being alive.

At this moment, regret seeped into his heart like poison.

He regrets that he came too late.

He regrets that during these days he only thought about advancing Duan Rongyin's affairs, pushing the Ximen rebellion to its peak, exposing the Empress's faction's conspiracy to the world.

Yet he overlooked her anomalies and changes.

He regrets that he did not immediately retrieve her the moment she left.

Even his selfishness may have deeply wounded the heart she pretended not to care about.

"Luo'er!"

"Look at me, okay?"

Seeing her gaze gradually dissipate, Duan Rongshi felt a heavy sinking in his heart.

Despair and pain, like millions of blades, at this moment pierced his chest mercilessly.

Because he realized that this time she was certainly not merely fainting again or about to sleep.

He could feel that she seemed about to dissolve in his arms.

And indeed, that was the case.

What is Duan Rongshi saying?

In fact, Li Qingluo could no longer hear anything at all.

She seemed to have become deaf.

Aside from being able to vaguely see him, all sensations had gradually vanished.

Duan Rongshi, helpless, did not know what to do.

He could only lower his head, letting his tears burst from his eyes like a string of beads broken free, falling onto her face.

"Luo'er, I beg you…"

"Please don't abandon me…"

"I have only you now."

I only have you!

Luo'er...

You let me, who finally got to see the light again, how can I bear to return to darkness?

Luo'er... you're just going to sleep again, right?

Luo'er... answer me... answer me!

Please...

Li Qingluo could only vaguely make out some of his words from the movement of his lips.

She was also very sad.

But it's a pity, she seems unable to even shed tears.

She knew that this time, she was not merely going to fall asleep again.

Because this time is completely different from every previous fainting.

Li Qingluo felt the loss of her life.

This feeling was all too familiar to her.

In her previous life, she simply waited for herself to die like this.

But this time, she no longer had any resentment or unwillingness.

Those grudges and hatreds, she had already personally avenged herself in this life.

She only regretted...

Regretting that she would have to abandon her grandmother.

Regretting that she hadn't been able to indulge in her grandmother's embrace enough to enjoy more happiness.

Regretting that she and her grandmother hadn't even finished their last meal together properly.

Regretting that, across both lives, she and her grandmother had only this year of grandparent-grandchild affection.

She only hoped that Madam Liu would give birth to a son.

She hoped that Li Jingchuan could live a few more years.

She hoped they could all stay by grandmother's side, accompanying her for a long time until a hundred years.

She hoped that the Twelfth Lady would marry a good husband.

She hoped that Princess Nanping would forever be happy and joyful, no longer troubled by love.

She hoped that Que'er would become a strong maiden.

She hoped...

She hoped that Duan Rongshi could forget her.

Just pretend we never met, and then it wouldn't hurt.

She reluctantly caught a glimpse of his face from the last glimmer of light.

She could only strain to remember him firmly with her last look.

Coming back in this life, gaining these precious feelings was also worthwhile.

Finally, Li Qingluo seemed to see Duan Rongshi frantically gesturing, as if saying: "If you leave, this king will chase you to hell and drag you back!"

Li Qingluo shuddered and was instantly pulled completely back into darkness.

Is it that chaotic place again?

Whenever she loses consciousness and falls into deep sleep, she ends up here.

But each time, she cannot move.

It's like floating on water, she can only drift lightly.

But this time, can she move?

The person in his arms closed their eyes completely, and Duan Rongshi, as if gone mad, held her tightly.

Luo'er!

Luo'er—

He shouted her name with bloodshot eyes, hoarse and exhausted.

Li Qingluo!

Come back—

"This king orders you to come back!!"

"Do you hear me? You are not allowed to leave—"

He kept patting her pale cheeks.

He placed her hand on his own neck.

He lifted her into an embrace.

But it was all in vain.

Li Qingluo had no consciousness left, as if she were dead.

Duan Rongshi touched the face of the person in his arms, and thinking of the grief, he finally could not help spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Zhui Yu and the three others were overcome with grief: "Your Highness—"

Just then.

The Cloud Crane Immortal and Jin Ning, Nan Gongdi and Luo Fan, together with Pei Lao Furen and a few others finally rushed here urgently.

Seeing the scene before her, Pei Lao Furen nearly fainted.

Jin Ning's complexion also suddenly changed.

The Cloud Crane Immortal hurried over: "Prince Su, Your Highness, quickly put the person down!"

Quick—!

After they snatched the person down, Immortal Yunhe quickly set up his copper bell talismans and other battle arrays.

But after the formation completed a round, her face turned completely pale.

Jinniang said: "There's still a pulse and breath."

"But how does it look…"

Yet it looks like a face of death?

This person, looking at them, indeed has no vitality left.

Basically, they no longer resemble a living person.

Immortal Yunhe: "It's too late…"

If she had only lost her corporeal soul earlier.

Now, she has also lost three ethereal souls.

What on earth has happened to her?

The long-extinguished darkness, like mountains and seas, surged upon everyone in waves…