Chapter 50: Ji Family, Your Ancestor Has Returned

The night was silent and eerie.

Deep within the gloomy, damp water prison, the acrid stench of decaying corpses filled the air. Several filthy rats scurried across the mottled floor, licking up dried bloodstains.

In the innermost corner of the cell, a woman whose face was as pale as paper was securely bound by heavy iron chains. Her tendons in both hands and feet had been severed, leaving her like a lump of lifeless flesh, soaked in ice-cold, blood-red water.

She had suffered from a weak heart since childhood, and now she could finally live a healthy life!

Amidst Shen Yuejiao's laughter, another voice echoed from outside the iron door.

"Jiaojiao, why waste words on this bitch? Use the dagger the master gave you to gouge out her heart, and let's see how she curses then!"

Shortly after, a matronly woman of noble and luxurious bearing walked to Shen Yuejiao's side.

"Three years! Our Jiaojiao can finally use this bitch's heart!"

"Mother, why are you here?" Shen Yuejiao asked.

Hearing this, Zhao Zhulian, the head matriarch of the Shen family, said through gritted teeth, "I came to see how this bitch dies!"

Upon hearing these words, the last glimmer of hope in the depths of Shen Liuli's eyes was utterly extinguished.

She raised her head, looking laboriously at Zhao Zhulian, and asked word by word, "Wh-why? I am also your daughter; why treat me like this?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Shen Liuli's words, Zhao Zhulian spat harshly.

"Pui! You are no daughter of mine; you are merely a beast raised by the Shen family! If your heart hadn't been useful to Jiaojiao, do you think I would have brought you back from the countryside to the Shen family and pampered you with fine food and drink?"

Shen Liuli's eyes darkened, her vision blurring into a haze.

For three years, she had repeatedly questioned the heavens.

Both were daughters of the Shen family, yet why could Shen Yuejiao stand aloft and enjoy every grace and favor, while she was locked in this sunless water prison to endure three full years of torture?

Over these past three years, she had been forced to provide a drop of heart's blood to Shen Yuejiao every single day, and carve a slice of flesh from her own body every month for Shen Yuejiao's consumption.

All of this—every bit of it—was solely to keep Shen Yuejiao alive!

How Shen Liuli hated them!

The hatred in her heart erupted completely.

With her eyes split to the corners, the blood vessels in her eyeballs burst, sending two trails of bloody tears streaming down.

Clenching her fists tightly, she mustered the very last ounce of strength she had. Every wound on her body burst open, and blood gushed endlessly from the gash across her chest.

"Zhao Zhulian! Shen Yuejiao! Even if I die, I will never let Shen Yuejiao have my heart!"

She was unwilling! Unwilling to end up merely as a vessel to nourish Shen Yuejiao's heart!

Seeing this, Zhao Zhulian panicked instantly. "Oh no, the bitch is trying to kill herself!"

"Jiaojiao, while she still has a breath left, use the dagger to gouge out her heart! If she dies before you take it, the heart will be ruined!"

Panicking as well, Shen Yuejiao leaped directly into the water without another word, gripped the dagger tightly, plunged it into Shen Liuli's chest, and brutally carved out her heart!

"Ahhhhh!"

With her chest torn open, Shen Liuli let out a heart-rending scream.

Glaring with bloodshot, resentful eyes, she finally breathed her last. Even her final curse was choked off in her throat by the sweet, sickening taste of fresh blood.

Zhao Zhulian helped Shen Yuejiao up and instructed the servants coldly, "Someone, throw this bitch's corpse into the mass grave. I want her devoured by wild dogs so she can find no peace even in death!"

Soon, Shen Liuli's corpse was wrapped in a tattered reed mat and carried out through the back gates of the Shen residence under the cover of night.

Shen Liuli's semi-transparent soul floated in mid-air, following the two servants all the way to the mass grave on the outskirts of the city.

She watched helplessly as the two servants dumped her corpse onto a mound piled high with white bones.

After the servants left, countless wild dogs drawn by the scent of blood rushed forward, gnawing at her mangled flesh.

As she gazed at this scene, Shen Liuli's eyes turned as dead as ash.

So from the very moment she was plotted against and lost her chastity by the Shen family three years ago, she was destined to meet this very end!

It was only hateful that she had ultimately allowed Shen Yuejiao to succeed in digging out her heart.

If only she had died a little sooner.

At the very least, she wouldn't have let the Shen family get their way.

Just as Shen Liuli was drowning in sorrow and despair, a violent and overwhelming force burst forth, blasting the countless wild dogs away into the distance.

Startled, Shen Liuli looked closely.

She saw a man clad in black robes and a mask standing quietly not far from her corpse.

Shen Liuli was bewildered.

Who was this man, and why was he here?

Under Shen Liuli's gaze, the man in black walked over with heavy steps. Then, he crouched down and gently, meticulously picked up her shattered corpse.

Two trails of silent tears fell.

"I searched bitterly for you for six years, never imagining you were right under my very nose."

"It's all my fault. If only I had recognized you sooner, how could you have ever come to this?"

The man in black reached out and stroked the remaining half of Shen Liuli's face, his gaze hollow and powerless.

Shen Liuli froze.

She drifted forward, coming to the side of the man in black.

Who on earth was he? Why was he crying for her?

He had searched for her for six years—could it be that before she lost her memories, she had known this masked man?

After a moment, the man suddenly raised his hand to his mask.

The mask slowly slid downward.

Shen Liuli stared fixedly at that half-mask, desperately wanting to know who the man before her truly was!

Yet at that very instant, an invisible force suddenly erupted within Shen Liuli's body. Before she could clearly see the man's face, her vision blurred, and the masked figure slowly dissolved into a hazy shadow.

No!

Let her look, just a glance would do.

She needed to know who this man, so deeply devoted to her, actually was!

Unable to see the man's face, Shen Liuli was anxious to the point of tears. She kept widening her eyes, trying to clear her vision.

No matter how hard she tried, however, darkness eventually enveloped her, and even her consciousness began to slowly dissipate.

Before losing consciousness entirely, she heard only the man's gentle, water-soft murmur.

"A-Li, you must live well, and wait for me to come find you..."

"!!!"

A sharp, violent pain in her jaw gradually coaxed Shen Liuli back to consciousness.

Before she could fully process it, a teasing voice sounded right beside her ear.

"Heh, awake?"

"So fragile? This prince hasn't even done much yet, and you suddenly stopped moving..."

She forced her eyes open, and an enlarged, handsome face greeted her vision.

"Ah!"

Crying out in shock, Shen Liuli sat up abruptly, scrambling backward to put some distance between herself and the man.

Dazed, Shen Liuli swept her gaze around.

A cramped, austere meditation room came into view, and she and the man before her were currently stark naked beneath the covers, locked in a tense stalemate.

Wasn't she already dead?

Why had she woken up here?

Clearly, Shen Yuejiao had gouged out her heart, her corpse had been thrown into the mass grave, and over half her flesh had been devoured by wild dogs.

In the end, a masked man had driven away the dogs and held her tightly in his arms.

Regrettably, she had lost consciousness and returned here before she could clearly see his unmasked face.

Subconsciously pulling the quilt up to shield the expanse of her chest, Shen Liuli eyed the man warily.

With a trembling voice, she demanded, "Wh-who are you?"

The man chuckled lightly, reaching out to pinch her chin.

"You don't know who this prince is, yet you clung to my body all through last night? You nearly broke my waist in two..."

"I—"

Shen Liuli's face flushed crimson.

She understood the man's implication, realizing that some unspeakable events had transpired during the night.

Just as she was about to press for answers, an angry shout suddenly pierced the air from outside the door.

"Shen Liuli, you shameless bed-crawling wretch! Not even the monks of Yunchan Temple are spared from your vile antics! It's one thing for you to act dissolute normally, but how dare you pull such a lowly stunt in the solemn and sacred Yunchan Temple!"

Unfazed, Shen Liuli's expression turned icy as she walked over and pulled open the door of the meditation room.

Meeting her head-on was a vicious slap swung by Zhao Zhulian!

Striking out while raining down curses, Zhao Zhulian screeched, "Bitch, the Emperor himself is at Yunchan Temple! How dare you pull such a base stunt—how do you expect the Shen family to show their faces?!"

With a cold glint in her eyes, Shen Liuli abruptly caught Zhao Zhulian's wrist and countered with a crisp, decisive slap across Zhao Zhulian's face!

*Slap—!*

The blow sent Zhao Zhulian stumbling back two steps, leaving her utterly dumbfounded.

Clutching her stinging cheek, Zhao Zhulian stared at Shen Liuli in sheer disbelief.

Gritting her teeth in rage, she cursed, "Bitch, how dare you hit me? I am your mother!"

"Mother?" Shen Liuli sneered.

She retorted sharply, "Does someone who opens and closes her mouth to curse her own daughter a 'bitch' deserve the title of mother?"

"No matter what, I gave birth to you, and raising a hand against me is unfilial!"

Driven to fury, Zhao Zhulian raised her hand to strike Shen Liuli again.

This time, however, Shen Liuli gave her no opportunity whatsoever.

As Zhao Zhulian lunged forward, Shen Liuli lashed out with a swift, powerful kick straight into Zhao Zhulian's soft abdomen, sending her flying backward out of the doorway in a single blow!