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"Damn it!" Li Hai suddenly stopped swinging his sword, simply placing the blade in front of the men. They seemed terrified and immediately stopped in their tracks. Upon closer inspection of the sword, I realized they were afraid of the image reflected within it—their true form: a group of long-weathered, blackened skeletons. They dared not approach further, and we could not move an inch; we remained frozen in place. I was drenched in cold sweat, and Li Hai's face was deathly pale.

The wound at the corner of my eye seemed to have clotted, but the pain still prevented me from opening my left eye. All around me were the chilling screams of Tsukihime and countless pairs of bloodshot left eyes. I had almost lost all hope of escaping this barrier alive.

"Lin Xiao, are you alright?" Li Hai asked me quietly.

"I'm fine, what's wrong with you?" I asked.

“This sword can be hidden inside the user’s right arm, which is why I was able to deceive them. Besides, I was putting in a lot of effort to resist from the very beginning of the ceremony, so fainting was fake!” Li Hai replied.

"So what do we do now?" I asked again.

"I don't know, we can only take a gamble." Li Hai glanced at me, and before I could react, he had already grabbed me.

"The sword arises from the heart, and the sword resides in the heart, rise!" With a loud shout from Li Hai, I felt myself being pulled into the sky, my feet leaving the ground. Looking up, I saw the sword in Li Hai's hand rapidly ascending, carrying Li Hai and me like a rocket.

The wind howled past my ears, and the tribespeople were getting smaller and smaller. Before long, we had flown away from the altar and were heading towards another forest below.

With almost no warning of landing, Li Hai and I crashed heavily to the ground. Fortunately, the branches in the woods cushioned the impact, so I wasn't injured, but I felt like I had been thrown to the ground.

I struggled to my feet, but when I looked at Li Hai beside me, I froze. The joy of my escape vanished instantly. Li Hai was vomiting mouthfuls of blood, as if every drop of blood in his body was being squeezed out. The blood splattered on my face made my body temperature drop to freezing.

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Forty-Four: The Masked Man's True Identity

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Forty-Four: The Masked Man's True Identity

"Li Hai, what's wrong?" I hurriedly helped Li Hai up and asked. But at this moment, Li Hai could barely speak. He just waved his hand weakly, and after a long while, he said intermittently, "The flying...flying sword carrying people just now... consumed... consumed too much of my power!"

"Really? What do we do now?" I looked at Li Hai, whose face had turned deathly pale, and felt an unprecedented fear in my heart. I didn't know that if even Li Hai couldn't hold on at this moment, then the two of us would probably really perish in this barrier.

I helped Li Hai up. Although I didn't know where the way out was, I relied on my limited sense of direction and led him eastward, hoping to return to the grassland we had entered from.

After walking for nearly three hours, it was getting dark. The already difficult mountain path became even more rugged. I gritted my teeth and tried my best to support Li Hai's body, which was almost unconscious. Seeing that he was close to falling into a coma, my confidence in being able to get out of there sank lower and lower, like a stone thrown into the sea.

"Li Hai, don't sleep! Talk to me!" I could feel his body growing weaker and weaker.

"Hmm..." Li Hai groaned softly, then leaned forward.

"Watch out!" I quickly grabbed him. It seemed he couldn't walk on his own anymore. Without thinking, I carried him on my back. His chest was pressed against my back, but I couldn't feel the rise and fall of his breath.

"Li Hai, hang in there! We'll definitely find a way out!" I almost choked up, feeling something stuck in my throat. Although I knew Li Hai probably couldn't hear me anymore, I kept repeating it, hoping to encourage him and myself.

After walking for a long time, or perhaps only a few minutes, the concept of time had become dulled by the physical and mental strain. My legs were starting to swell from the long trek. I realized that despair was so suffocating, like being choked. The smiling faces of Fang Lei, Li Yang, and A Bao flashed before my eyes, as distant as the horizon.

I gently laid Li Hai down, wiped the sweat from my brow, and glanced at the still unconscious man. Just as I was about to continue, a figure flashed before me. Looking up, it was the masked man who had kidnapped Bai Yun and led us into the barrier!

It was like finding a needle in a haystack! I stepped forward, intending to grab him. But he was much faster than me; before I could even react, he was already in front of me.

"Do you want him to die?" the masked man asked me in his hoarse voice.

"What do you mean?" I immediately abandoned my idea of punching him and asked back.

"So, if you want him to live, you'd better come with me!" The masked man coldly uttered these words before turning and walking towards a denser grove of trees.

Although I knew the masked man in front of me was a dangerous person, I immediately gave in when I thought of Li Hai and Bai Yun, who might still be in his hands. I carried Li Hai on my back and followed closely behind.

The trees deep in the forest were almost all towering giants. What was even stranger was that these trees had countless aerial roots hanging down from their branches. But they were not banyan trees. The leaves were all like eyes. The thousands upon thousands of leaves stared at me like countless eyes, making the hairs on my neck stand up.

The masked man led me to an unusually large tree, its trunk so thick that even ten people couldn't encircle it. And on this trunk, entwined by layers of aerial roots, was… Yue Ji? No, it should be Yue Wa! Her entire body had almost become one with the tree trunk, only half of her body visible. Even from her right eye socket, from which her right eyeball had been gouged out, a vine-like aerial root had sprouted. Dark green moss clung to the cracks in her skin, while her skin itself was a snow-white, making the green plants appear even more eerie and sinister, possessing a bewitching yet terrifying quality.

"You must be Lin Xiao!" Yuewa said, but her tone made it sound like she was meeting me for the first time, even though we had already met once!

"Yes." I nodded, still somewhat doubtful.

"Hello, nice to meet you, I am Tsukihime." Her voice was low and deep.

"What? You're Tsukihime? Then..." I asked in surprise.

“I am the real Moon Princess; what you saw before was just Moon Child!” Moon Princess replied.

"That's Yuewa, and you're Yueji?" I felt like my mind was completely confused. They looked exactly the same, and I started to wonder if this was also one of Yuewa's schemes.

“That’s right!” Yue Ji said slowly, “I am the true princess of the Moonshadow Clan. I am the eldest daughter, and she is my younger sister, the second of the twins. When she came to me, I was soft-hearted and disregarded the clan rules to take her in. I thought that she was, after all, my own sister, and it wasn’t her fault that she became the second one. Moreover, on the other hand, I always felt as if I owed her something. She was only born a few minutes earlier, yet our fates were completely different. Alas…”

Yueji sighed and said, "I never thought that a moment of weakness would lead to such a terrible mistake. One day, she led me into this Moon Tree Forest, and when I wasn't paying attention, she actually... she actually stabbed me in the back!"

When she said this, Tsukihime's voice clearly wavered. I could feel her grief and indignation, and perhaps more so, the sadness of not wanting to believe it. When you are hurt by your own family, the most painful thing is not the physical pain, but the pain in your heart.

After a long while, when Yueji had calmed down, she said again, "I will never forget her triumphant and arrogant laughter after I fell, and what she said to me: 'Sister, it's my turn to be the treasure of the whole clan. I want to see the whole clan submit to someone they originally thought was an omen of misfortune! Isn't that interesting?'"

"Then how come you didn't die?" I asked.

"Not dead? Do you think I'm still alive?" Yue Ji asked with a touch of melancholy. "Back then, I thought I was going to die too, but I couldn't die! I couldn't let my people be controlled by her, so after she left, I used my last breath to use magic to assimilate myself with this ancient tree, thus preserving my last bit of life. But the price was that I could never leave this place again. I'm forever bound to this tree, and my body has to endure the pain of being gnawed by ants. But I believe that one day, I will find a way to see the light of day again!"

"Isn't that Yuewa afraid that some of her people might come here and see you?" I asked, puzzled.

"Of course she wasn't afraid, because this Moon Tree Forest is a forbidden area that only the clan leader can enter. Besides, perhaps she was convinced that I was dead, so she never came back!" Moon Princess said, "I thought I would live like this forever, half-human and half-ghost, until one day..."

Suddenly, Tsukihime's only remaining left eye shone brightly, as if it were the joy of a withered tree being reborn in spring. At that moment, I noticed that her whole body was radiating light.

"Until one day, a man came to this forest, a man who wasn't from the Moonshadow Clan. His name was Zhao Yun. It was the first time in five years I'd seen a living person, and at that moment, I suddenly felt that my mother hadn't abandoned me. He told me he was an outsider who had been rescued by his own people in an accident. Perhaps out of boredom, or perhaps by divine arrangement, he had entered this forbidden land by chance. He was surprised that I looked exactly like the Moonshadow Clan's princess. At the time, I was afraid it was some kind of trick set up by Moonwa, so I concealed my identity and said I was Moonwa, the princess's sister, who had been punished and imprisoned here for making a mistake. I begged him not to tell anyone what he had seen. Later, he came almost every day, staying by my side at all times, and even wanted to beg Moonwa to release me." At that moment, I began to believe him, to believe he wasn't sent by Yuewa. But I knew he couldn't help me escape alone, because my people wouldn't believe him, and he might even be killed by Yuewa before he could tell them the truth. So, I lied, telling him that if he could get me one thing, I could regain my freedom! He was so happy and excited then, like a child! He said he would definitely get that thing for me, that he loved me and wanted me to be his wife, that he wanted to be with me forever. Looking at him, I knew that from that moment on, whether I could become the princess of the Moonshadow Clan again was no longer important. All I wanted was to be with him forever after I regained my freedom.

"So, did he get what you wanted?" I asked.

"I asked him to retrieve the Moonshadow Clan's most prized treasure, a crystal eyeball. Legend has it that it was the eyeball Princess Senluo gouged out herself before her death. With it, I would have enough magic to escape. But I never imagined that our parting that day would be our final farewell. No matter how much I longed for him, how many sleepless nights I spent, I never saw him again." Yueji's voice began to choke. "Ten days later, he finally came. But it wasn't him, it was my sister Yuewa! When she appeared before me, I knew he was probably doomed!"

"Is Zhao Yun dead? Why didn't Yuewa kill you?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, he's dead. Yuewa killed him with her own hands! She said that if it was something she couldn't have, she would never let anyone else have it! She didn't kill me; she tortured me! She said I stole what was hers—it's the same with a princess's status and with love! She wants me to live this humbly for all eternity! To prevent my magic from returning, she even gouged out my right eye! The right eye is where the soul resides. Without a soul, even with the strongest spiritual power, a body is like being imprisoned in a cage, a cage made from one's own body!" Yueji said through gritted teeth. At this moment, it seemed that all the blood ties had been worn away, leaving only endless hatred.

When even the strongest bond in the world—family—disappears, what should we believe in? Ourselves? Or God? I can't imagine what it would be like if my older sister and I became enemies.

"Then, I want to ask you, did you kidnap my friend Baiyun?" I asked.

"Yes, but Yuewa took her away halfway there," Yueji replied.

"Why did you kidnap her?" I asked angrily.

"I only meant to lure you here; I never expected that Yuewa would discover us and steal you away!" Yueji replied apologetically.

"Lead us? Why? And who is he?" I asked, pointing to the masked man who had been standing behind me.

"Because I want your help! Although the method is a bit impolite, I really have no ill intentions! As for him, you can keep an eye on him yourself!" Yueji glanced at the masked man.

The masked man slowly removed the mask from his face, revealing a slightly weathered yet quite handsome face. This face! Isn't it... An Ran?

"An Ran?" I called out the name in confusion, but a fierce, almost hateful glint flashed in the man's eyes. Something's not right! If this person is An Ran, then whose remains are in the abandoned building? Although I haven't received Fang Lei's mitochondrial DNA report, it should most likely be An Ran. Could I be wrong?

"I am not him! I am An Xin, An Ran's twin brother!" An Xin replied coldly. Why did everyone think she was that carefree rich kid? Even if they had the same face, so what? She would always be herself, even if she was the second son abandoned by her own father!

Anxin? Then that skeleton must be An Ran! And the person who killed him might be the cold, even cruel Anxin in front of us!

"An Ran? Did you kill him?" I stared straight at the face in front of me that looked exactly like An Ran's. I wondered what he felt when he made the move? Did he feel like he was actually killing himself?

"I didn't mean to kill him." An Xin didn't look at me, but gazed into the distance. Yes, she didn't really want to kill him, but his words had enraged her too much. The anger that welled up from the bottom of her heart and rushed to her head made her completely lose her reason. Extreme hatred, hatred for why he had a face exactly like hers? So, she grabbed an axe beside her and smashed it without thinking.

One, two, three… Splattered slightly blood, landing on his face. That face, exactly like his own, he hated it! So he had to destroy it, destroy it! As the red blood and yellowish-white brain matter gradually replaced that face, he felt a strange mix of excitement and loss.

**********

I'm so annoyed, let me rant: I've been feeling really down lately. I did get some small recognition at work, but I'm naturally lazy, and now having to take responsibility is a real headache! And then there's my love life—I'm still single. My friends call me a "single aristocrat," damn it! Do they really think I want to be like this?! And my mom's been pressuring me, it's torture. Parents are all like that. Before, they were terrified I'd start dating too early, they'd get nervous about even a guy's phone call. Now, they're nervous about me not getting a single call!

What frustrated me even more was that after my friend read my book, she said to me, "You've worked so hard writing all this, how come you've never been on a bestseller list?" I was furious! Such a dismissive attitude!!! I almost strangled her then and there! (That sounds a bit violent.)

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Forty-Five: The Deal

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Forty-Five: The Deal

"Then, what about Hu Rui, Zhang Yuqiang, and Jiang Tao? Did you do that too?" I pressed.

"Yes," Anxin answered readily.

"Why? Do they have a grudge against you?" I asked.

“Because there aren’t many people in this world who know that there’s not only An Ran, but also An Xin. They are three of them. Since we’ve come this far, I’m not afraid to tell you that the An family’s tomb raiding business has never stopped over the years, and the mastermind behind it all is An Zhengdong,” An Xin replied.

"Is that the old man?" Although I had no evidence, I could guess something from his eyes.

“You already knew.” An Xin wasn’t surprised at all.

“I don’t know, I’m just guessing. Almost everyone in the An family died in that fire, but you said their tomb-robbing business continued unabated. I think outsiders can’t possibly control such a family’s affairs. An Ran survived because he wasn’t there, but he was just a child. How could he possibly be in charge? So, there must have been an adult from the An family in charge.” I stated my analysis: “Although I can’t be sure who Old Gentou is, his burned face always makes me feel that he has a connection to the fire.”

"Hahahaha~~~!" My words made An Xin suddenly burst into a few crazy laughs, as if she were mocking someone. After a long while, she said, "That's right! How could those old geezers possibly let outsiders do business? Even I, the second son who clearly has An family blood, can't do that!"

"Then who replaced An Zhengdong in that fire back then?" I asked hurriedly.

"You're so smart, how could you not guess?" Anxin's face showed a strange smile.

"Could it be..." I tried hard to recall the people from back then, and immediately guessed: "It's Xu Li?!"

"That's right. Actually, it's also Xu Li's fault for being so foolish as to mishear the time of the elopement. He sneaked into the An family home to find An Zhengxi. Even more so, he saw something he shouldn't have. At that time, An Zhengdong had already gone mad because of Mu Wanrong and An Zhengbei's affair. In his rage, he killed Mu Wanrong and An Zhengbei, gouging out Mu Wanrong's left eye to punish her infidelity. Just then, Xu Li climbed over the wall and sneaked in! What a perfect opportunity! Of course, he wouldn't miss it! So, he hardened his heart and killed Xu Li. He originally planned to stage the murder scene so that Xu Li had come to elope with An Zhengxi, only to be caught by An Zhengbei and Mu Wanrong, and then killed them in a fit of rage, before committing suicide out of guilt. He even prepared a fake suicide note, but unfortunately..." "Man proposes, God disposes!" An Zhengnan, who was supposed to return home tomorrow, actually went home a day early! Even worse, An Zhengnan's martial arts skills were no less than his own, making killing him not so easy. During the struggle, one of them accidentally knocked over the oil lamp, and just like that, a fire that burned everyone and all the evidence was ignited. Although he escaped the fire afterward, his appearance and body were severely damaged, becoming the old man you see. At that time, the police never imagined that the corpse so similar in build to An Zhengdong was actually a completely different person." An Xin slowly recounted the whole story, his tone calm and indifferent, as if he were simply recounting a trivial tale, not about his family.

When people make a mistake, they often either try to make up for it by doing one good deed after another, or they try to cover it up by doing bad things. An Zhengdong's mistake was a case of one wrong step leading to another.

"Where is Old Gen now?" I asked, remembering that we couldn't find him before we jumped off the cliff.

"Heh," a hoarse, grating laugh came from An Xin's throat. It sounded so familiar, like... the sound of Old Gentou's burned voice! Could it be? I stared blankly at An Xin in front of me. What kind of hatred, or perhaps what kind of indifference, could make him kill his own father?

“He deserved to die, didn’t he? He should have died in that fire thirty years ago. He’s lived for another thirty years!” An Xin said with a look of disdain. “Fortunately, he is my father, so my build is similar to his. Even after spending so many days together, you haven’t noticed.”

After he said that, I took a closer look at An Xin and found that his build was indeed very similar to Lao Gen Tou's, except that Lao Gen Tou walked with a limp because his feet were burned in the fire.

"It's a pity. I originally wanted to impersonate An Ran to inherit the family business, but I didn't expect this old guy to have such sharp eyes. He saw through me at a glance. Since he loves his precious son so much, I had no choice but to send him over to reunite with his son." An Xin said with a regretful expression.

“Then what about An Yi? An Zhengxi said that he is the one in charge of the An family,” I said.

"That illegitimate son? He was just a pawn that An Zhengdong used on the table. Unfortunately, he died without ever knowing that the real mastermind was actually his most hated uncle. Even more foolish, he continued to dream of inheriting the An family business, completely unaware that An Ran, whom he outwardly fawned over but secretly longed to kill, had long been replaced by me! Heh, don't you think he was incredibly stupid?" An Xin became more and more excited as she spoke, her eyes flashing with an almost manic excitement: "As for Zhang Yuqiang and Jiang Tao, although they were important spies planted by the An family, they knew far too much. And then there's Hu Rui!"

An Xin's face revealed a cruel, bloodthirsty smile. "He was unlucky," she said. "I initially thought he might have seen both An Ran and me. But when I killed him, I realized he hadn't seen us at all. Of course, better to kill a hundred innocent people than let one guilty person go free!"

"Do you feel happy when you kill someone?" I suddenly asked him. This is something I've always wanted to know. Is it really true that some people can only find release by killing others?

"Happiness?" Anxin blinked and said, "It should be called exhilaration!"

"Do you need to get your pleasure this way? The other person has lost a life!" I know my lecturing is like talking to a brick wall, but when I see the light shining in An Xin's eyes, I still can't understand.

“Killing isn’t satisfying, but when you can’t even die, you’ll know how satisfying it is to let the person who made you wish you were dead die in front of you.” Tsukihime, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, suddenly interrupted, staring at me with her only eye as if she wanted to devour me alive. “Now you don’t have time to discuss anything else with others. The important thing is to help me get that crystal eyeball back.”

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you." I flatly refused Yueji's request. It was clear that she and Anxin were on the same side, and I didn't want to help someone who treated killing like child's play.

“That’s probably not up to you,” Anxin said. “If you don’t want your friend to die in front of you.”