Chapter 575: She Meets a Man, Then Falls in Love with Him

Even though at that time the emperor already had an Empress and concubines, as well as princes and princesses.

But in the emperor's heart, seeing them was like seeing a row of wooden stakes, feeling no emotion at all.

If not for the suffering the Empress Mother had endured, and not for the grievances the emperor himself suffered in childhood, the emperor would not wish to uphold the modest honor of the Empress and the Crown Prince.

In the emperor's heart, the only person truly cared about in this world is indeed Yue'er!

Therefore, in a moment of folly and intolerance, the emperor threatened Xie Huaiyuan, ordering him to personally bring your mother to the emperor's side.

Although the great mistake was not consummated, it indeed forced your mother farther away, even swearing in the Empress Mother's name that she would leave DaChu.

Since her departure, the emperor's illness has grown increasingly severe.

Often, overwhelmed by longing for your mother, the emperor began to cut gaping wounds on his own body with a knife.

Only a painfully clear anguish can keep the emperor from doing a foolish act that would tarnish your mother's reputation.

The emperor is not a good person, the emperor knows.

But for some reason the emperor's secret was still discovered by the Qin King.

The Qin King deceived your mother and brought her back.

When the emperor first saw your mother, he was naturally overjoyed, so even though he knew the Qin King's vile schemes, the emperor merely turned a blind eye and did not intervene.

The emperor perhaps still harbored some expectation in his heart.

Thus, the emperor truly... is sorry for your mother.

It wasn't until the emperor discovered that the Qin King had a witch by his side, intending to cast a gu spell on your mother.

At that time, many bizarre incidents had already occurred in the court; some officials were inexplicably wiped out, even entire clans perished strangely. Therefore, the emperor was also investigating MiaoJiang witch gu matters.

Suspecting the Qin King, before the emperor could subdue him, he noticed signs of internal gu poisoning on himself.

At that moment, a witch from MiaoJiang stood by the emperor. She was the Union Harmony Sect's Holy Maiden, who had long admired the emperor, so the emperor employed her to investigate the matter thoroughly.

She discovered that the gu toxin in the emperor would make him grow increasingly irritable day by day, eventually causing a fatal brain explosion.

The emperor was terrified, yet could not act rashly.

Because the mother gu was in the hands of that witch beside the Qin King.

The emperor originally planned a covert move, but was a step too late; your mother still fell victim to the Qin King's plot.

The Union Harmony Sect's Holy Maiden said that the gu toxin on Yue'er was the Ten Thousand Emotions Poison. From then on, whenever she meets a man, she will fall in love with that man.

Moreover, she will be unable to control herself, constantly lustful, becoming a wanton woman.

That is the emperor's Yue'er.

If she were to learn the truth, how painful and unbearable it would be.

The emperor knows that when she awakens she will surely kill herself, to prevent herself from becoming a state she herself cannot accept.

Therefore, the emperor is resolved to pay any price to save this matter!

The emperor had the Union Harmony Sect's Holy Maiden inject your mother with a needle, causing her to fall into a deep, unawakening sleep for a period of time.

During this time, the emperor devised a plan to capture the Qin King, using him to threaten the witch beside him. It was the name you mentioned on the mountain today—Zuliya.

She was already pregnant at that time.

So, there was some hesitation, and she did not dare to press the emperor too hard.

It was said that to cure Yue'er's gu toxin, one must use the heart‑blood of her closest kin, the one with the nearest blood relation, to draw out the Ten Thousand Emotions gu insect, and the blood‑donor must personally swallow the insect.

Thus, Yue'er would remain safe and would forget this episode.

At that time, Yue'er's only closest blood relatives in the world were my elder brother and her child—namely you, Rong Shi.

But you are far away in DaLiang, and the emperor could not bring you over in time, so he disregarded the Union Harmony Sect Holy Maiden's objection and had her personally draw half a bowl of heart‑blood for him.

The gu insect was indeed successfully drawn from Yue'er, but Zuliya was also full of scheming.

Perhaps knowing the emperor would later settle accounts with the two of them, she had beforehand placed another binding gu toxin on both Yue'er and herself.

This gu toxin left even the Holy Maiden helpless.

Because Zuliya had used her own hair, skin, and blood to feed and forge the gu toxin into an extremely sinister concoction. If she dies, Yue'er dies.

Her injury, Yue'er's injury.

But if anything happens to Yue'er, she remains completely unharmed.

At that moment the emperor was ready to tear out her heart, yet dared not act. He truly feared Yue'er would thus meet a fragrant, jade‑like death.

Including the emperor himself, he could not rid himself of the gu toxin at that time.

The emperor released the heart‑blood, and added the vile gu the two had previously placed on him, so his temperament has become increasingly uncontrollable year by year.

The Holy Maiden said that perhaps because the emperor swallowed the gu insect drawn from Yue'er, combined with the gu insects already in his body, the two types of insects have been colliding inside him for years, devouring his mind, causing his temperament to become polarized.

The most ruthless side grows ever stronger.

The most selfish, intolerable side also becomes increasingly extreme.

This has forged the current self: both brutal and heartless, yet also cowardly and incompetent.

The emperor understands everything in his heart. He is no longer the former Zongzheng Langri, but a monster tormented by gu toxin!

If Yue'er and the Empress Mother learned that the emperor would become like this... they would surely be very disappointed.

In recent years the emperor has become increasingly unable to control his blood‑thirsty murderous rage, yet he does not even dare to kill the Qin King. Because the emperor... also fears death.

He fears that the mother gu is in the Qin King's hands; if the Qin King dies, the emperor will also meet his end.

The emperor realizes he has long been a puppet in his hands. Moreover, that treacherous couple exchanged their wild offspring for the emperor's princess, and he did not even know.

Later the emperor learned that he cannot leave the bounds of Nan'an Imperial City and its surrounding hundred miles; otherwise the gu insects in his body would instantly crawl into his brain, causing him to explode and die.

Now that word has reached the emperor that Zuliya is dead, and the Qin King and his son have both fallen at your hands, you have avenged Yue'er.

Unfortunately... the emperor is still alive.

Rong Shi, this is your uncle's unbearable life.

Now the emperor still clings to life and fears death... incompetent and foolish.

"It is I who utterly destroyed Great Chu."

"I am unworthy to be a ruler of a state. I am also unworthy to be your uncle, unworthy to be Yue'er's brother."

"I should have died long ago."

"Kill me."

After saying that, Zongzheng Langri lifted his head with a heart as dead as ashes, waiting for Duan Rongshi to personally slit his throat and take his life.

However, upon hearing Zongzheng Langri's words, Duan Rongshi abruptly stepped back several paces.

Then he quickly turned and strode away.

Li Qingluo did not immediately pursue him.

Instead, she fixed her gaze on the Chu emperor and asked, "Are all your words true?"

Zongzheng Langri was already too weak to argue with her.

He merely said lightly, "If a single word is false, then even after I descend to the Yellow Springs in death, I shall never see Yue'er!"

Li Qingluo looked at him, words failing her.

She thought: You were never going to see her anyway!

Her mother consort likely had already left the netherworld, gone to enjoy her truly carefree days.

But knowing the circumstances behind Zongzheng Langri's current state, Li Qingluo's feelings were also quite complex.

For a moment, she truly did not know how to strike again.

"So, the mother consort does not know what you have done for her?"

Zongzheng Langri shook his head.

"Why should she know?"

"This is what an older brother like me ought to do for her."

"But I never imagined that I would still end up causing her death!"

"I dared not keep her in Great Chu back then, for I had already realized that Great Chu was about to collapse utterly."

"Yet when I heard of her misfortune, I still could not believe she had left the world like this, thereby separating us in yin and yang!"

"And at that time, my cowardly self dared not wage war against DaLiang to seek justice for Yue'er!"

"Even since then, I have begun to suffer nightmares every night."

"In that studio, all the portraits of Yue'er that you saw were painted by me each time after I woke from a nightmare."

"Only by seeing her face could my heart calm down, and only then could I feel that I was still alive."

"I know, I am not a thing."

"I have developed such intense feelings for my own younger sister."

"But I also do not know how to control it; perhaps I was born a monster."

Li Qingluo shook her head.

This was a sigh for the Chu emperor's entire life.

"Then I ask you, what is the matter with the Union Harmony Sect's holy maiden you mentioned?"

"Why is there no such person by your side now?"

"Could it be that you killed her?"

Zongzheng Langri gave Li Qingluo a sideways glance.

"I am ruthless and cold-blooded, but the few to whom I am truly sincere in this world are scarce."

"Back then, she counted as one of them."

"Even if I have lost all humanity, I still cherish that sincerity—how could I kill her?"

"It was she who, back then, said she would go find a way to relieve my pain and cure the illness and poison afflicting me. Thus she left Great Chu."

"But once she left back then, there was no word from her, and she never returned."

"I also sent people to search for her, but they only said that she never returned to MiaoJiang back then, instead heading toward the Western Regions."

"But no matter how hard we searched, we found no trace of her."

Li Qingluo: "Perhaps she also feared you would kill her to silence her, so she took the opportunity to leave."

Zongzheng Langri ground his teeth: "If you won't speak, you can shut your mouth!"

"Enough, cut the nonsense."

"Since the sword is in your hand, then you kill me in place of Rongshi!"

"But before I die, I still want to know one thing, so I implore you… to go ask Rongshi clearly on my behalf."

Li Qingluo found Duan Rongshi by the hidden river in the innermost chamber.

She hurried over and softly called out, "Ah Shi?"

Duan Rongshi jolted awake.

He turned his head to look at Li Qingluo behind him and said, "Luo'er, you say if the mother consort knew what he did for her back then, would she still hate him?"