Hibiscus as a Painting

Chapter 166

Zi Jin looked into Madam Yu's eyes and slowly pushed the gold hairpin deeper into her flesh. Jun Lin's face was deathly pale. He bit his lip tightly, lowered his eyes, and stared wide-eyed as Zi Jin pushed the gold hairpin into his flesh.

“Hehe…hehe…” Madam Yu’s face revealed a maniacal laugh, “Kill him! Kill him with your own hands! His life, his person, everything he has, were all given to him by you. He deserves to die by your hand.”

Zi Jin's hands trembled slightly: "Have you thought this through? For that antidote... you're even willing to abandon your own son, Yu Su'er!"

Jun Lin suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with shock. He seemed to want to turn his head to look at Madam Yu, but he didn't even have the strength to turn his head.

Madam Yu's frantic eyes stared blankly at Zi Jin: "You remember everything... You remember everything and you still treat me and Lin'er like this?... How cruel you are... How cruel you are..."

"It's not that I'm heartless... it's you! It's you who's heartless! Look... look at what you've done for your son?! He's already the Crown Prince of Yue Kingdom... how much more do you want to be satisfied? How much more do you want to stop!" Zi Jin's voice was devoid of emotion.

"Was it for him?! Wasn't everything I did for you?! I wanted to help you get everything back! I'm already in this state! What use are these material possessions to me now? I just wanted to help you take back what you've lost! Am I wrong? What did I do wrong?!" Madam Yu shouted, her eyes bloodshot.

Zi Jin sneered: "Help me take back what I've lost? Ha... If you have no selfish motives... why did you instruct Jun Lin on how to treat me? Jun Lin's personality has changed drastically since his return. Can you say it wasn't your doing? He arrived in Shanzhong Town a month ago, secretly mobilizing troops, yet you created the illusion of his recent arrival right before my eyes! You had Bao Xian repeatedly hint to me how good Jun Lin was to me. Were all these plans for my sake? Ask yourself honestly, do you really intend to take this world from me?"

“You clearly remember that it wasn’t my wish for the world to be given to Lin’er, it was yours!” Madam Yu stared intently at Zi Jin with her bright eyes.

"I won't shed a tear until I see the coffin!" Zi Jin's eyes were filled with determination. She suddenly pulled out the golden hairpin in her hand and thrust it into Jun Lin's chest...

"Nalan Fengjin!" Madam Yu cried out shrilly.

The hairpin pierced her robe and stopped at her chest. Zi Jin slowly turned her head: "Have you thought it through?"

"The antidote...is in the sandalwood hairpin on my head."

Jun Lin stared at the blood slowly flowing from the wound, the love in his eyes gradually fading away, replaced by hatred, an overwhelming hatred.

Zi Jin slowly stood up, then, as if utterly exhausted, discarded the blood-stained gold hairpin in her hand. Zi Jin walked to Madam Yu's side, took the sandalwood hairpin from her hair, put it in her bosom, and walked unsteadily toward the cave entrance.

"Jin'er..." Madam Yu's cloudy eyes stared fixedly at Zi Jin as she walked away step by step, "You... really have no feelings for Lin'er at all?... Can everything in that mountain town... be faked?"

Zi Jin turned her head, staring blankly at Jun Lin's bloodless face. The warmth that had graced his handsome features was gone, replaced by a faint hint of hatred in his dim, lifeless phoenix eyes. Zi Jin softly replied, "No."

In the sea of suffering, love and hate surge; in this world, fate is inescapable… Though we are destined to be together, we cannot be close. We should believe it is fate…①

Jun Lin... Hate me... You... Will eventually have the throne... Clinging to my heart... It's better to forget each other and go to the ends of the earth.

As she passed Dugu Xihui, a bright light flashed before her eyes. Zi Jin slowly bent down, swiftly ripped a jade pendant from his body, put it in her bosom, and then picked up the sword from the ground and gripped it tightly.

Dugu Xihui watched Zi Jin's every move, and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

Zi Jin turned her face and gave Dugu Xihui a cold look: "This jade pendant is mine, not your wife's."

“Little mute…hehe…you can’t escape. ‘Bu Ri Valley’ is now impregnable. You can’t go anywhere.” King Anle smiled wickedly. “Little mute…you can’t escape anymore.”

Si Kou Xunxiang's warm, jade-like eyes were fixed on Zi Jin's every move, a strange emotion hidden in their depths. Her pink lips parted slightly, but no sound came out.

Zi Jin turned around abruptly, a cold smile on her lips, glanced silently at the people lying around her, and strode out of the cave.

"Where are you going, Miss?" A sword blocked Zi Jin's path.

Zi Jin stopped in her tracks and sneered, "Wutong, what is the meaning of this?"

Wutong's beautiful face, with thick eyelashes like fans and dark eyes as clear as autumn water: "Miss, Wutong has changed her mind. Wutong cannot let you leave."

Zi Jin's eyes turned cold: "Only when I leave can you live the life you've always wanted with Bao Xian."

"Miss, don't try to fool me again! Brother Bao doesn't even see me. Only when you die can he see me!" Wutong's eyes were filled with bloodthirsty madness.

"Here? He wants to kill me right now?... I think you've gone mad," Zi Jin said coldly.

"Wutong isn't crazy. Wutong knows that as long as I kill you in front of him, even if he doesn't love me, he will hate me. If I can't have his love, then I'll make him hate me."

Wutong's increasingly frantic gaze made Zi Jin's heart race with panic. It would be a lie to say she wasn't afraid of death; everyone had been poisoned with "Loulanzi," and without an antidote, within ten hours they would not only lose their martial arts skills but also the strength to lift a hand. Having planted this hidden danger with Wutong, she could only save herself now. She shouldn't have trusted Wutong so much in the first place: "Wutong probably doesn't know that Anxi has a blood pact with his master. Protecting me at every turn was out of necessity, but there is absolutely no romantic feeling between us. You know he..."

Before Zi Jin could finish speaking, Wu Tong thrust her hand towards Zi Jin's face. The first move was clearly a killing blow.

Startled, Zi Jin raised her sword to block Wu Tong's attack. Wu Tong's swordplay was incredibly precise, the clanging sounds of their swords clashing echoing throughout the room. After three moves, Zi Jin knew she was no match for Wu Tong. It was only during her exchange with Wu Tong that Zi Jin realized that if Prince Anle had harbored even the slightest murderous intent, she would have been severely injured, if not killed, in a single blow.

Wutong suddenly smiled eerily, and her left hand, which had been behind her back, suddenly released a hidden weapon. Zi Jin was shocked and for a moment forgot to dodge.

In the critical moment, Zi Jin felt a figure rushing towards her, shielding her with their body at the last second.

Zi Jin was forced back by the person who had come to her rescue, and she heard a muffled groan of pain from the person who had saved her. In a flash, the scent of medicinal powder released by Wu Tong hit her face, startling Zi Jin to the extreme.

With a flick of his sleeve, the powder vanished instantly. He then picked up Zi Jin and flew out of the cave. A commotion erupted outside the cave as the man swiftly bypassed the crowd and flew out of Ximei Garden.

"There are horses hidden to the southeast!" Zi Jin said urgently in the darkness.

The man, somewhat unsteady on his feet, flew towards the place Zi Jin had indicated, and found a black steed under a large tree.

The man carried Zi Jin and flew up, slightly out of breath: "I'm afraid I won't be able to see you off."

Hearing the voice, Zi Jin was startled and looked up abruptly. A breathtaking sight greeted her: snow-white hair, scattered like snowflakes, and a face so close it seemed like a dream. Instantly, Zi Jin's eyes welled up with tears: "How could it be you..."

Si Kou Xunxiang lowered his eyes and said softly, "If you want to leave... then leave."

"Over there! Over there! Chase after them!" The noisy footsteps in the distance interrupted Sikou Xunxiang's words.

Zi Jin plunged two silver needles into Si Kou Xunxiang's wound, pulled his hands up and made him wrap them around her waist, then pulled hard on the reins: "Let's escape first." After saying that, the two sped away.

After rushing through countless narrow paths and snow-covered forests, the land gradually turned green. As dawn broke in the east, Zi Jin finally stopped.

“Once we cross this canyon, we’ll be safe.” Zi Jin gazed at the sunrise in the distance, a genuine smile spreading across her face.

After a long while, there was no response from behind. Zi Jin's face instantly turned ashen. She wanted to dismount, but Si Kou Xunxiang's hand was tightly gripping her waist, his face resting on her shoulder, which was slightly cool. Zi Jin's fingers trembled slightly as she touched her shoulder, only to find that her clothes there were covered in blood. Her hand trembled uncontrollably as she checked Si Kou Xunxiang's breathing, which was extremely weak.

Zi Jin took out an ice jade bottle from her bosom, poured out a blood-red pill, and stuffed it into Si Kou Xun Xiang's mouth. Zi Jin casually touched the hairpin on Emperor Zai Chu's hair, gently patted the horse, and then suddenly stabbed it. The already exhausted horse charged madly into the canyon.