La cúspide del mundo de las artes marciales

Capítulo 21

My first instinct was to back away, tripping over the red railing in a panic and nearly falling backward. Seeing him reach out to help me, I blurted out, "Enough! I'm of no use to you whatsoever... Please, Alliance Leader, have mercy and let me go..."

Ruan Bicheng froze a few steps away, her brows furrowed tightly. "You think I want to use you?"

"Otherwise what?" I blurted out, "Besides using her, what other reason would the Alliance Leader have to treat a demonic cult witch like this? Don't you hate the demonic cult the most? You even swore to eradicate the demonic cult in your lifetime to avenge the old Alliance Leader..."

"How do you know all this?" he suddenly interrupted me.

I immediately stopped talking, but he pressed me closer and asked, "How did you know about the oath I made?"

"I..." With nowhere to retreat, I plopped down on the red railing, my mind reeling. Too much talk leads to mistakes, and a quick tongue can be fatal...

"You seem to know a lot about me?" He stared intently at me.

I avoided his gaze and simply said, "How I know is not important..."

"It's very important to me!" The leader grabbed my shoulders, pressing me against the red railing so I couldn't get up. "Your tone of voice, your expression, and your way of dealing with people are just too much like someone else. She also likes to put her hands behind her back, looking all old and smug. She loves to eat walnut shortbread, and she always finishes it all. She always looks at people with a smile. She secretly learned embroidery behind my back."

He pulled a small purse from his pocket. It had a crab-green base and was embroidered with two ugly, fat butterflies, along with his name. "Red thread for wings, green thread for bellies, I thought only she could come up with such a color scheme..."

Red and green... I'm probably the only one in the world who likes this ugly color combination...

He looked into my eyes and said in a low, deep voice, "She's afraid of me too, and she always cries when I look at her while I'm talking to her."

His pale fingers brushed against the corner of my eye, the icy touch sending shivers down my spine.

I hate it when he talks to me like that, with his rhetorical questions and urgent sentences; I can't handle it every time.

He asked me, "Who exactly are you...?"

Who am I?

Who is it?

I looked at him, and in the soft moonlight, I reached out and hooked my arm around his neck. With tears welling up in my eyes, I smiled flirtatiously at him. "Alliance Leader Ruan, what exactly do you want from me that makes you so affectionate and go to such lengths? I was almost moved by you."

I moved closer to him little by little and laughed, "Unfortunately, I am Su Xie, the demoness Su Xie of the Demonic Sect."

He just stared straight at me, his eyes dark and intense. "You're still suspicious of me? You think I planned all this?"

"What does the Alliance Leader want me to do?" I met his gaze without flinching. "To be moved to tears? Or to fall in love with you? What about your little cousin? Would you abandon her for me?"

He pursed his lips tightly and remained silent.

I couldn't help but lean against his chest and laugh, laughing so hard I couldn't hold back my tears. He couldn't, couldn't bear to, and dared not. He was the leader of the martial arts alliance, and so many people were watching him. He had too many grand plans to consider.

"So what does it matter whether I am her or not?"

He remained silent.

I pushed him away and stood up, turning my back to him and not looking at him, and said with a smile, "Instead of wasting your time on me, Alliance Leader, it would be more useful to kidnap our young master."

Just as I was about to go back to my room, he suddenly said, "I'm sorry..."

I involuntarily stopped in my tracks, and heard him speak softly behind me: "When I was in the Demonic Sect, I heard Young Master Ruan talk about you, which led me to misunderstand something..."

I never expected that it would be that naive and clueless Ruan Lianhua who let it slip. I took a deep breath and said it was alright.

He then said, "I did have ulterior motives for getting close to you."

"Oh?" My eyes were red and I didn't dare to turn my head. I asked, "What could a little vixen like Su Xie possibly have that would make the Alliance Leader harbor selfish motives?"

"Miss Su, please don't misunderstand." He seemed to regain his composure in an instant, speaking with a distant and indifferent tone: "I just heard that Miss Su has come back from the dead, and I wanted to ask what kind of elixir Miss Su took?"

"Who told you?" I turned to look at him, frowning. "Young Master? Or... Bai Zhi?"

He paused for a moment, then said, "It was Miss Bai who said it; she heard it when she was a slave in the Demonic Sect."

As expected of Lotus Sister, I couldn't help but laugh. "Let me guess, did she also mention that I have a life-saving elixir? And did she tell me a lot of interesting and refined stories about me?"

Ye Baizhi is such a treacherous person; she'll definitely find an opportunity to slander me. But I don't understand what Ye Baizhi's intention is in saying I have a elixir that can bring the dead back to life. Does she want to use the Alliance Leader to kill me? But how could she know that the Alliance Leader would kill me for a elixir?

Seeing his silence, I was surprised and asked, "I don't understand why the Alliance Leader went to such lengths just to get this life-saving elixir?"

I don't remember anyone other than the old alliance leader who has turned to bones, who else is worth Ruan Bicheng going to such lengths to please this vixen in order to obtain this elixir.

He paused for a long time before speaking: "To be honest, Miss Su, my entry into the Demonic Sect this time was not only to save Shao Ting, but also for the legendary elixir that can bring the dead back to life. I inquired about it with Miss Bai, which is why she told me about your rumor of being able to bring the dead back to life."

So she used this scheme to make you misunderstand that I have a life-saving elixir, so she could use someone else to do her dirty work?

I was still puzzled, "The Alliance Leader needs this pill for..."

He looked at me through the moonlight, then suddenly sighed and said, "What I owe her is the best three years of my life."

Who is it?

These words stuck in my throat, I couldn't swallow them. I didn't dare ask, I was terrified, I didn't even dare to think about it. It felt like my heart was being squeezed tightly. One sentence from him could make me cry like a coward. This kind of person is too scary.

He calmly looked at me and said, "Aren't you going to ask who I am?"

I forced a smile and said, "I'm sorry, Alliance Leader, I don't have that kind of pill. Perhaps you could ask the Young Master and the Priest..." As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that my words were trembling. I turned around abruptly and said, "I'm tired... I'll take my leave now."

As he stepped into the room, he hurriedly said, "Su Xie, you don't have to marry the prince of Licheng."

I leaned against the door, my fingertips slowly picking at the openwork carvings, as I listened to him say, "It wasn't the Licheng Palace that captured Young Master Ruan, but the Queen."

Queen? I was stunned and puzzled.

He took a slow breath and said, "When I came to pick up Mingxiu, I learned that the King of Licheng was unaware that the Queen had imprisoned Young Master Ruan without his knowledge. The Queen seems to have ulterior motives, but it seems that she will not harm Young Master Ruan at present."

I nodded. He was about to say something more when I suddenly heard footsteps on the path.

"Someone's coming." I didn't turn around, but urged him to hurry up.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Be careful," before darting onto the roof.

A moment later, a female official came along the path, holding a lantern and shining it on herself, and asked, "Are you Miss Su Xie?"

I quickly wiped my face with my sleeve, turned around and grinned, "That's me."

The female official held up a lantern and looked me over before saying, "Princess Jinglian invites you to come over."

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I didn't know why Jinglian had called me over. I followed the female official through a winding road until we stopped at a temporary palace. She stepped forward to announce my arrival and then turned around to beckon me inside.

The dim light shone on the gauze curtains, and I could only see Jinglian sitting in front of the dressing table with her hair down, her back to me.

I stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Su Xie greets the princess."

Jinglian didn't turn around, but said coldly, "You all go down. I want to speak with Su Xie alone."

The female official paused for a moment before bowing and withdrawing.

The door creaked shut, and the vast hall fell silent, a silence that made one uneasy.

Jinglian sat there motionless, then suddenly called my name, "Su Xie."

I got up and went over, asking, "How are you? You actually went back..." but then I couldn't finish my sentence.

I saw in the dim bronze mirror that Jinglian was crying, tears streaming down her pale face and red eyes.

“Jinglian…” I didn’t know how to start, so I put my fingers on her shoulder, and she trembled like a withered leaf.

"Su Xie... I'm getting married." She turned to look at me, her eyes lifeless and withered, like a dying butterfly.

The vibrant and proud Princess Jinglian is gone.

I stood there for a long time, unsure how to comfort her, and finally managed a forced smile, saying, "Actually, the Little Prince isn't a bad person..."

She grabbed my waist, buried her face in my arms, and burst into tears.

"I don't understand! Why should I be sacrificed to protect his empire... Why can't I marry the person I love! I don't understand anything about empires and people, I'm just selfish, I just want to go fishing at sea with the person I love..." She looked at me with teary eyes, "Su Xie, I'm so bad, aren't I... My father dotes on me and loves me, but I'm not even willing to do one thing for him, I must be utterly wicked..."

I have no idea.

I don't know if sacrificing one person to achieve the greater good is right or wrong. There are too many things in life that we have no choice but to do. Her father gave her unparalleled favor, but in the end, he couldn't even grant her the simplest thing.

Her peerless hero, her stunning beauty...

I suddenly felt extremely sad, and tears kept falling down my face.

Jinglian looked at me, her eyes red and swollen, "Why are you crying? It's not like I'm asking you to marry that fatso..."

Once the tears started flowing, I couldn't stop them. I plopped down on the ground, grabbed my sleeve, and started crying.

Jinglian was startled by me and said in a panic, "You... what's wrong? You don't really like that fatso, do you...?"

I ignored her, crying my eyes out, muttering under my breath, "What do you know! What's wrong with the Little Prince! The Little Prince is so great! He wouldn't just dump you without a word! I'm crying because I'm pathetic, still clinging to the past even after being dumped..."

Jinglian seemed a little lost, her tears still wet on her face as she knelt down to look at me, and cautiously asked, "Were you dumped?"

I became increasingly sad.

She kindly comforted me, saying, "Then you should dump him too. What's the point of having such a heartless person?"

"You're not allowed to talk about him!" I retorted stubbornly, wiping away my tears with my arms crossed. "I can curse him, but you can't!"

Jinglian curled her lips, about to mock me, when someone not far behind her suddenly sneered without any courtesy: "You really are shameless."

My pores instantly bristled, and I fell silent for a moment. Then I heard a smug voice behind me, saying with a half-smile, "Little Su Xie, who made you act so shamelessly for once?"

Twenty-five

The voice behind me was so enchanting and agonizing that it made my heart pound and my tears and snot instantly shut up. I turned around abruptly and met Yan Shu's smiling eyes, which were very close to mine. He was leaning over and looking at me from behind.

"Hmm?" His loose hair swayed in front of him, some of it brushing against my forehead, tickling and tingling.

I was so startled that I braced myself and took a step back, biting my tongue as I said, "You... how did you get here?"

Yan Shu squatted down and tilted his head slightly to look at me. "Oh, it really is tears. Su Xie can actually shed tears?"

"Haven't you ever seen someone moved to tears by a deeply moving moment?" I quickly pulled on my sleeve and wiped my face.

He bit his lip and looked at me with a smile, "You can get deeply in love too? Didn't your sincerity get eaten by dogs long ago?"

Bitch...

He smiled gently, stepped over me, looked at Jinglian, and asked, "Who is she...?"

"And who are you?" Jinglian helped me up, looking displeased, and asked me with a stern gaze, "Who is this strange-looking person? Do you know them?"

It's so weird and strange... I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Then Yan Shu raised an eyebrow, stood up, stared at Jing Lian, and said with a half-smile, "Yan Shu, priest of the Saluo Sect."

Jinglian sneered, looked him up and down, and said without any politeness, "So you're a priest of the Demonic Sect. I knew you didn't look like a good person, with such a vulgar and obsequious demeanor."

A true man! Jinglian is a real man!