“Xiao Yuan…” he looked at her intently, “tell me the secret of the Xiao family’s treasure.”
She was taken aback. Tell him? Her mother's instructions... The first time she disobeyed her mother's teachings, she received such a heavy lesson, but now... she hesitated.
She looked up at him, as if trying to see into his heart through his eyes.
Telling him the secret was indeed extremely dangerous for her—if he betrayed her, she would lose both the treasure and her lover! Losing the treasure was bad enough, as it brought her nothing but pain. But… losing him…
She wrapped her arms around his graceful neck, "Love me... Yi Chunjun... let me know how much you love me..." She stood on tiptoe, licking his Adam's apple, his chin, his lips...
Unable to contain himself, he scooped her up in his arms and strode toward the bed.
Her body tensed under his thrusts, her soft cries escaping her lips… Mother, I'm sorry, she had disobeyed her teachings once again. This man who had entered her body had also entered her life!
Holding him tightly, in that moment of becoming one with him, she deeply understood the feelings of her father who had told her mother the whole secret. If holding the blade and handing him the hilt was considered being a lovesick fool, then… she was too.
Chapter 74 of "The Smiling Flower": If Betrayal
The sound of raindrops pattering on the bamboo pole and window frame blended with her dream. Xiaoyuan hugged the quilt tightly, habitually drawing warmth from it... She opened her eyes listlessly. The dim yellow sky outside the window made the room gloomy. She stared at the empty bed beside her, her heart feeling empty as well.
He left... without waking her.
She's been sleeping a lot ever since she got pregnant, and last night she... was too tired, so he should have woken her up! After all, he'll be away for more than a month, and she should have seen him off!
Both of his senior uncles, Pei Junwu and he, went, so they should be safe. Although he had 30% of the power given to him by Senior Uncle Lan, his kung fu was not what it used to be… Even if he were as powerful as before, she was still worried!
Somewhat disappointed, I rolled over, and a sharp pain shot through my arm.
Xiao Yuan sat up in a panic, his hand trembling as he rolled up his sleeves, his heart pounding... He had taken the Moon King's Seal!
Last night, she told him all the secrets.
White clouds gather beside the tomb of King Xiao, the moon hangs like a bow over the cold waters and verdant mountains. The wolf star sings its dawn in the east, its crimson blood reflected sadly in the river.
Having this incantation alone is useless; even if you reach the treasure trove, you still can't open the Gate of Severed Souls. To open that gate, only on the autumnal equinox, on the night Sirius is at its brightest, can you pour the blood of the Xiao family into the bright hole in Sirius that shines through the Milky Way, and place the "Moon King's Seal" embedded in her skin into the crescent-shaped groove that only appears when activated by the blood. Only then can the gate be opened.
After learning all this... he didn't say anything to her, and may even have deliberately knocked her unconscious, taking away the Moon King's Seal and her blood. She dared not think about what that meant!
She believed him!
She told him all her secrets because she trusted him!
But……
She wavered, looking at the wound on her arm, a deep worry rising in her heart! Please don't, please don't... He could lie to her a thousand times, ten thousand times, but he mustn't lie to her this time, because she couldn't afford to lose!
Without saying goodbye to Xiao Ji, she packed a few simple belongings and ran out of the bamboo forest. She knew that if she truly believed him, she should wait patiently for his return in the bamboo forest, but she couldn't! She couldn't bear the torment of blindly waiting! No! She had to find him; she had to see it for herself!
Although he was the most important person in her life, and the one she should trust the most… he had given her too many surprises! Only when doubts surfaced did she realize how little she knew about him! She also knew he wasn't just Master Lan's apprentice, or the owner of Ruilan Pavilion. He possessed the highest imperial token, he could casually produce ten thousand taels of gold—who exactly was he?
She... doesn't know!
The so-called "Cold Water and Green Mountain" was actually easy to find; it was simply the Cold Green Mountain by the Jialing River. What should have been a journey of a few days had taken her almost half a month, partly due to her pregnancy. She subconsciously procrastinated… The closer she got to the Cold Green Mountain, the more panicked she became. If he had truly betrayed her trust, then… she really didn't know what to do.
Few people travel this road anymore, and even if they do, it's usually family members coming to collect a body. Xiao Yuan coldly watched them pass by, dressed in mourning clothes, with a mixture of disdain and pity… One could imagine how much blood had been spilled on this road recently, how many unclaimed corpses lay scattered there. She could almost smell the lingering stench of blood in the soil.
After walking slowly for two more days, she finally saw the Hancang Mountain standing by the river. It wasn't very high, nor did it extend into other mountain ranges; it stood alone and indeed resembled an abandoned imperial tomb.
She looked on hesitantly, feeling completely lost and suddenly terrified.
A cacophony of voices faintly drifted from the mountain pass, jolting her awake. She leaped onto a dense tree and hid behind its thick branches.
Those who came down from the mountain were all low-level martial arts novices. Xiao Yuan didn't recognize them, or perhaps he hadn't noticed them during several important events. Their clothes were hardly impressive, their steps were heavy, and their manners were quite coarse... After several calamities, these were probably the only characters left in the martial arts world.
They stopped noisily at the fork in the road, right under the big tree where she was hiding, and she could hear them clearly.
"Brothers, farewell! Let's hurry back and gather our forces, and chase after them all the way to Western Xia! We must intercept Palace Master Mieling and the treasure before he emerges from seclusion!"
"I also have a few words to say! The Palace Master of the Extinction Palace is highly skilled in martial arts and has many capable men by his side! We must unite and take advantage of the moment when he has exhausted most of his strength with the major families to strike him successfully!"
"Gu Biaotou is right! In terms of strength, the major families far surpass the Palace Master of Mieling Palace, but they all wanted to monopolize the treasure and killed each other, which allowed the Palace Master of Mieling Palace to get a great deal and steal the treasure! We must learn from this and unite as one. Even if everyone gets a share, it's better than nothing!"
Xiao Yuan could no longer hear what they were saying... All she could hear was the phrase, "The Palace Master of Mie Ling has taken the treasure."
She didn't know how she got down from the tree or how she got up the mountain.
Impossible! She walked on blankly, her mind filled with those three words: Impossible!
He couldn't betray her! He couldn't lie to her! He knew perfectly well that if he did, he would no longer be her husband, the father of the child in her womb!
His eyes, his kisses, his body... Impossible! Everything about him seemed impossible to her!
He couldn't possibly lie to her! He couldn't possibly abandon her for the sake of the treasure!
When she saw the "Tomb of Lady Xiao Wangshi Baiyun" open in the mountain hollow, revealing the stone steps leading to the mountainside, she still couldn't believe it. She kept telling herself it was impossible!
Without a torch, she descended into the darkness to the mountainside... By the sunlight shining through the Milky Way, she could clearly see the wide-open Soul-Severing Gate and the huge, empty inner chamber.
Everything was gone... The treasure trove, as large as a hill, was empty; her heart, her eyes, everything she had—was all gone.
She didn't even want to cry!
What's the point of crying now that we've reached this point?!
She lost! She lost! She spun around in the empty stone chamber, laughing hysterically… She had lost to the gold and silver treasures that had once been piled up here! The laughter was shrill and endless. She looked up at the stone wall of the dome, carved into the shape of a silver river, and collapsed in despair.
Sigh... She laughed; she used to think of herself as a lucky person!