El amor es venenoso

Capítulo 25

Caesar gritted his teeth, opened his eyes, and felt an excruciating pain in his left cheek. He screamed and covered his face, asking, "What happened to my face?"

"Don't worry," Qin Wen comforted him. "It's not very serious, it can be cured."

Even someone as brilliant as Caesar could see through her lie at a glance, and his heart sank: "Give me a mirror."

Where is there a mirror here?

Caesar hurriedly rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a finely crafted makeup mirror. Qin Wen was taken aback: "Why do you carry this with you?"

Caesar didn't answer her. He looked at his face, his expression changed drastically, and he smashed the mirror to the ground. Glass shattered, and he roared, "Damn it! Which bastard dared to plot against me! He ruined my face! I'll tear him to pieces!"

Qin Wen was startled by him and quickly took two steps back to maintain a safe distance: "It's nothing. With Xiao Li's medical skills, she can definitely heal you without leaving any scars."

Caesar's face was still contorted with rage as he stared fiercely at the still-open vortex. He snorted coldly, leaped onto the wall, and climbed up to the ceiling at lightning speed. This time, he didn't even need the suction cups and jumped into the vortex in the blink of an eye. Qin Wen was dumbfounded.

Wow, that's amazing! How many years would it take her to reach that level?

Before she could react, several suction cups were thrown out of the vortex and landed at her feet: "Come on up, this is the top of the tower, our transvestite friends have been waiting for us for a long time."

After much effort, Qin Wen finally managed to climb into the vortex. Unlike the sculpture exhibition hall downstairs, this place was brightly lit. Four flying apsara sculptures embedded in the walls held lotus lanterns. There was a bluestone floor, an altar made of obsidian, and behind the altar, a tall statue of the evil god Kshatriya, which was full of terror and domineering power. The carved eyes seemed to have some kind of awe-inspiring power, making people feel fear involuntarily.

On the beautiful altar lay a girl, bound like a dumpling with hemp rope, a stone stuffed in her mouth, struggling and making muffled noises. Qin Wen's heart ached at the sight, and she roared at the black-clad man with his back to her, "Min Enjun! You damned transvestite! If you dare lay a finger on Xiao Li, I'll make sure you suffer a terrible death!"

The high priest, dressed in a black cloak and wearing a black hood, slowly turned around, her alluring face still bearing a smile that could topple kingdoms.

"Welcome, both of you. Mr. Caesar, I'm sorry you accidentally triggered the mechanism. I'm deeply sorry for your face."

Caesar was trembling with rage and was so impulsive that he almost rushed forward immediately, but Qin Wen quickly hugged his waist: "Caesar, calm down!"

"How can you expect me to stay calm!" Caesar roared. "He ruined my face! My most prized face!"

"Xiao Li is still in his hands!" Qin Wen really wanted to punch him in the face. A grown man was whining about such a small scar! She stood in front of him, glaring fiercely at Min Enjun, and said, "What exactly do you want?"

“It’s very simple.” Min Eun-joon smiled seductively. “You two are lackeys of the Demon Buddha, demons who came to destroy Mano Kingdom and my Shaluo Cult. I will re-execute the Five Senses Sealing Punishment here, sealing your souls forever, to avenge the people of Mano Kingdom!”

Although his voice was gentle, Qin Wen still shivered: "You're crazy! You're a lunatic!"

“Mad?” Min Enjun laughed, his laughter icy. He turned around and gave Yin Li, whose face was full of terror, a deep look. “That’s right, I went mad a long time ago. More than two thousand years ago, when I saw you, you witch, I went mad.”

Caesar suddenly sneered: "You orchestrated this expedition to the Holy Buddhist Kingdom Cemetery, didn't you?" Qin Wen was secretly startled upon hearing this. She remembered that Xiao Li had told her that she had a premonition that what had happened was like a terrible conspiracy, with a mastermind secretly manipulating things behind the scenes.

Min Enjun laughed: "That's right, I planned all of this. From having you kidnap Qin Wen, to the revenge in Saka City, to forming an alliance with you to retrieve the Triple Treasure Chest, everything was within my expectations. Even..." His gaze suddenly deepened, like the cunning and sinister Salang snake in a desert oasis, "Even Situ Xiang and Yin Li coming to rescue you was all my doing."

"So you've been putting on an act all this time!" Qin Wen said through gritted teeth. "Why did you go to all this trouble to deal with us? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just kidnap us and bring us here?"

A terrifyingly ruthless look appeared on Min Eun-joon's face: "I won't let you die so easily. I'll make you taste the most terrible fears and pains in the world!"

Caesar snorted coldly, his face full of disdain: "You think you're so smart?"

“Whether I’m smart or not is meaningless to me,” Min Eun-joon said. “As long as I achieve my goal, that’s enough for me.”

"Why hire 'Blood Wolf'?" Qin Wen asked with a gloomy face. Min Enjun's lips curled up. "Right now, I'm just an ordinary person. I don't know martial arts or magic. The road to Mano Kingdom is very dangerous, so I need to find myself some bodyguards. It's just a pity that they are too incompetent. In the end, I still have to rely on myself."

"How shameless!" Qin Wen gritted her teeth.

Caesar's face darkened: "Then what about Manra? Was Uncle Manra also acting on your orders?"

Min Enjun smiled sinisterly: "Mara is very loyal to you. I have been in contact with him for a long time. I gave him the information on Garuda and Qin Wen. I also told him that the time is ripe and the revenge plan can be implemented."

Caesar felt a chill run down his spine. He realized that his self-proclaimed intelligence had long been a trap set by this man, and he had been completely manipulated by him. Qin Wen gritted her teeth so hard they almost shattered. She suddenly felt that everyone here was like a puppet on a string, and this feeling of being controlled was infuriating.

"We won't let you succeed." Qin Wen patted herself and found that she had nothing but a flashlight. However, Min Enjun didn't know martial arts, and with her and Caesar there, it might not be difficult to save Yin Li.

However, there was one person who concerned her deeply.

Why haven't Situ Xiang and Miller shown up yet?

“I’d love to see how you’re going to stop me.” Min Eun-joon laughed, picking up a ceramic jar from the ground, wisps of steam slowly escaping from it. He produced a chemical experimental straw from somewhere, sipped a little yellow liquid from the jar, and dripped it onto Yin Li’s face. Immediately, a thick smoke rose from the obsidian stand, accompanied by a hissing sound.

Fear filled Yin Li's eyes. She wanted to escape but couldn't move. She wanted to scream but had a stone stuck in her mouth. She had never felt so desperate.

"Run, Xiaowen!" she cried in her heart. "This man is insane! Get out of here quickly! At least one of us must survive!"

Qin Wen's heart skipped a beat, and goosebumps rose all over her body.

It's sulfuric acid! That's sulfuric acid!

"Stop!" she shouted excitedly. Min Enjun turned to look at her, pleased with the fear on her face. "If you don't want her beautiful face to be corroded by sulfuric acid, carve a Kshatriya emblem on your own arm." His finger landed on Yin Li's arm, where a Buddha image was carved into the skin with a knife. It was entangled by Salang snakes. The bleeding had stopped, but the wound was still shocking.

Qin Wen felt a pang of heartache. Before she could speak, Caesar grabbed her waist, pointing his gun at the pottery jar in Min Enjun's hand: "Only a fool would be threatened by you!"

Gunshots rang out, and Caesar was very confident in his marksmanship.

With a crisp knocking sound, the bullet fell to the ground. Caesar and Qin Wen were both shocked to find that the pottery jar was completely undamaged!

Min Enjun said smugly, "You'd better not waste your energy. This pottery jar is a treasure of Mano Kingdom. It won't be damaged even by bullets or artillery fire." As he spoke, he sucked up a tube of sulfuric acid and dripped it onto Yin Li's long hair. The hair immediately made a piercing sound, and a burnt smell filled the entire hall.

"Stop!" Qin Wen almost cried. "Don't hurt her! I'll do as you say!"

"Wen!" Caesar cried out in alarm and quickly pulled the trigger, trying to break her arm. But at this critical moment, he ran out of bullets. He threw the pistol to the ground, his face ashen.

Qin Wen took out the knife she carried with her from Caesar's coat. Just as Caesar was about to stop her, a cold gust of wind suddenly descended from the sky. He dodged to the side and saw that what fell was a Salang snake, as thick as a palm, all red, raising its head in a domineering posture, flicking its black tongue at him.

Caesar's face was ashen, his body stiff. The Salang snake's eyes flashed red, flickering on and off. Caesar stared at it, his palms sweating profusely.

"Caesar! Don't look into its eyes!" Qin Wen's voice rang out, but it was too late. Caesar felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a heavy object, and the surrounding scenery suddenly changed, transforming into a large hall where a ball was being held. The surroundings were all Rococo style.

The furniture and architecture, the men and women at the ball all dressed in Rococo-style clothing, each wearing a mask, the symphony orchestra playing a beautiful serenade, and the air filled with a faint, sweet fragrance.

Where was he? Caesar weaved through the crowd, trying to find an exit. People chatted happily, seemingly oblivious to his presence. He looked up and saw a huge oil painting on the wall in front of him. It depicted a beautiful woman in a Rococo ball gown, with a gentle and loving smile on her face, like an angel.

Caesar stared blankly at her, muttering, "Mother..."

He remembered clearly that in his father's adventure journal, there was an old photograph of a woman wearing a Rococo-style dress, holding a lovely baby. On the back of the photograph was written: "My beloved wife, Angelina, and my beloved son, Antonio."

That was the only news he had about his mother.

The woman in the painting smiled even more brightly. To his astonishment, she stepped down from the painting, stretching out her arms to him like a mother calling to her child. Caesar couldn't help but walk over and be pulled into her tight embrace. Nestled against her chest, he heard her heartbeat, so familiar. Long, long ago, he too had slept in her body like this, feeling that warm heartbeat.

“My child, sleep.” The woman stroked his head, her eyes flashing with a fierce red light. “Once you’re asleep, you won’t know anything.”

"Caesar!" Qin Wen called his name anxiously. He was staring blankly into the eyes of the Salang snake, motionless, as if his soul had been sucked away. She was extremely worried, but because of the snake, she dared not take a step forward.

“It’s so much quieter without the disturbance of this Shang king.” Min Enjun seemed to let out a long sigh. “You should recognize this snake, right? It’s the Salang Snake King. The magic in its eyes can send the wicked to hell and the good to heaven. Qin Wen, no, Kui Ji, it seems I have another hostage in my hands.”

Qin Wen clenched her fist so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh, and bright red blood flowed down between her fingers, dripping onto the ground and planting a string of alluring plum blossoms.

"Okay! I'll carve it!" Qin Wen unfolded her Swiss Army knife and used the smallest blade to slice across the skin of her arm. The piercing pain made her hand tremble, but she did not stop. She continued to cut, one slice after another, and blood gushed out, leaving hideous bloody marks on her snow-white skin.

Tears welled up in Yin Li's eyes. Enough, Xiao Wen, enough! Don't make such a sacrifice for me!

With the final slash, Qin Wen's hand loosened, and the knife fell into a pool of blood. Her clothes were soaked with cold sweat. She clutched her wound, barely managing to support herself, her face as pale as paper.

"Is that enough?" She gritted her teeth, panting heavily. "Tell me what else you want me to do. If I even flinch, I'm not a Qin!"

"Good, very good." Min Enjun put down the pottery jar and clapped his hands admiringly. "Kui Ji is indeed worthy of being called Kui Ji, she really has courage. It's just a pity that we have an irreconcilable feud, otherwise, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a confidante like you?"

"Enough with the nonsense!" Qin Wen walked towards him step by step, her voice fierce. "Didn't you want to use some kind of sensory-blocking torture? Come at me then, and release Xiao Li!"

Min Eun-joon raised the corners of his lips: "Don't worry, neither you nor she can escape this calamity. However, the only person with the authority to enforce this supreme punishment is the most noble person in Mano Kingdom, and that person is clearly not me."

Footsteps sounded behind me, so familiar, so eerily familiar that they sent chills down my spine.

Yin Li's pupils dilated in an instant. At that moment, she seemed to hear her heart turning into glass, peeling away bit by bit.

Qin Wen didn't turn around, but merely turned her head slightly, saying in a surprisingly calm tone, "Situ Xiang, you've finally arrived. No, perhaps I should call you, Ebony King!"

29. If only life were as beautiful as our first meeting.

When Yin Li saw Situ Xiang, her heart shattered. She had her doubts; fragmented nightmares and memories raged in her mind, but always seemed to be kept outside by a door. At this moment, she suddenly understood that the one who closed that door was herself—not that she couldn't remember, but that she didn't want to.

That memory is too painful, too heavy.

Those vague memories that had flashed through her mind in the past have now become exceptionally clear. In that magnificent palace, at the grand banquet, she, dressed in white, played the konghou and chanted Buddhist music. When the song ended, she and Kui Ji knelt before the throne. The lavishly dressed Ebony King descended step by step and stood before her. She looked up and saw his face, handsome and resolute.

That face was exactly the same as Situ Xiang's.

In another dream, she was locked in a closet, surrounded by darkness. She was hungry and thirsty, and her whole body was filled with fear. Just then, the closet door opened, and the Ebony King carried her out.

He forced her to become his concubine, but she refused. So he locked her in a cupboard until she changed her mind. But before she could change her mind, he softened.

At that time, the Ebony King she saw was exactly the same as Situ Xiang.

In her final dream, she lay on the obsidian altar just as she was now in this temple. The Ebony King held a dagger, its sharp blade blinding her eyes, cutting off her nose, ears, and tongue. Finally, he picked up a clay pot filled with a highly corrosive liquid and poured it over her.

She was enveloped in burning pain and despair, and even now, the memory still sends chills down her spine.

The last face those blinded eyes saw was exactly the same as Situ Xiang's.

He is the Ebony King.

With tears blurring her vision, Yin Li could no longer speak. If she could, she truly wished she would never have to remember. To know nothing was such a blissful thing.

If only he were just Situ Xiang.

Those eyes were still so beautiful, like deep blue water, just like when we first met half a month ago. But the look in them had changed; they had become cold and cruel.

"Why do you know I am the Ebony King?" Situ Xiang's face was cold, completely different from the person Yin Li knew. "Your memories have indeed returned."

Qin Wen endured the pain, her voice low and hoarse: "No, although I have some fragmented memories, I haven't remembered your face yet. You're the one who exposed yourself."

Situ Xiang didn't speak, but looked at her coldly. As expected, she had noticed what he had done.

“You saved Masha in a strange way,” Qin Wen said. “I originally thought you were just keeping a low profile, but in that Buddhist temple, when the door leading to the cemetery opened, I saw a mural. The mural was small, in a corner, and blocked by a sculpture, easily overlooked, but unfortunately, I saw it. The mural depicted the method of treating poisoned people. At that moment, I already vaguely guessed that even if you weren’t the Ebony King, you were still connected to this country.”

Situ Xiang gave a sinister smile: "So I was seen through a long time ago. It seems I'm a real failure."

Looking at this man who exuded an air of evil, Yin Li suddenly felt very distant from him. The Situ Xiang she knew was gentle and humorous, but this man only made her feel icy cold.

I remember she once said in the den of the international prostitution ring that it was a loss for Hollywood that he didn't become an actor. Now it seems that it was true. His disguise was so seamless!

A dull ache began to throb in her shoulder socket. She closed her eyes, her heart breaking.

"Your Majesty, welcome back." Min Eun-joon bowed deeply. "This grandest sacrificial ceremony requires your personal wielding of the knife."

"I know." In the blink of an eye, Situ Xiang was already in front of Qin Wen. Qin Wen instinctively threw a punch, but he caught it and pressed her behind him. A sharp pain shot through her, and she screamed in agony, unable to move. He said coldly, "I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The meaning of my reincarnation is to avenge my people and kill these two witches!"

A few minutes later, Qin Wen was also bound like a dumpling and thrown onto the obsidian altar, next to Yin Li. Min Enjun chanted in an incomprehensible language as he walked over, carrying a triple treasure box, and placed it between the two. The box glowed faintly, yet concealed an ominous hint of blood.

"Your Majesty, your dagger." Min Enjun walked over with a jewel-encrusted short sword and respectfully handed it to Situ Xiang. He took it, muttered incantations, and slowly drew the blade. The icy blade gleamed with a dazzling light that stung Yin Li's eyes.

It also hurt her heart.

Qin Wen's expression changed drastically, and she cried out anxiously, "Situ Xiang, have you forgotten? You said you would protect her, that you would protect her with your life for the rest of your life!"

Situ Xiang paused, his eyes suddenly showing a hint of panic, but he quickly regained his composure, looked at her calmly, and said, "That was just something I said offhand. I could say something like that a thousand times to make you trust me. Do you really think I'd believe it?"

Qin Wen was furious. Gritting her teeth, she said fiercely, "You're despicable! Didn't you tell Xiao Li anything true before?"