“You’re Hui Ling’s daughter… which means you’re also my daughter?” Yue Tianhong said with a mixture of shock and joy.
“I would rather have died at birth than have a father who’s worse than a beast.” Jin Xue’er said with a smile, revealing endless hatred and desolation.
“Let me finish telling Hui Ling’s story.”
“The younger daughter was saved, but the elder daughter died of illness in her arms. Hui Ling felt as if she had lost half her life. If not for the younger daughter needing care, she might have buried herself in the yellow earth alongside the elder daughter long ago. When the younger daughter turned seven, Hui Ling had been tormented by heartache until she was thin as a stick. For two years, she barely slept. Whenever the deep of night fell, she would cry bitterly facing the direction where her daughter was buried. The tears left two deep grooves on her cheeks—grooves that held not just tears, but also the blood-water of hatred.” Jin Xue’er’s eyes moistened. “Day by day, Hui Ling tortured herself, neither human nor ghost. The younger daughter could no longer bear watching Hui Ling suffer a life worse than death. On the evening of her seventh birthday, she stabbed a dagger into Hui Ling’s heart.”
“That was the only time in two years the younger daughter saw Hui Ling smile, as if she had finally found release.” Jin Xue’er closed her eyes slightly and smiled. “She finally slept and could go find the elder daughter to reunite in another world.”
“The younger daughter who had personally killed Hui Ling knew no more joy from that day forward. The blood of matricide caused her to wake from nightmares every night. Do you know how much she wanted to go find Hui Ling and her sister? How many times she lingered by the riverside, needing only to close her eyes and leap, and the suffering could end?” Jin Xue’er said with absolute resolve. “But no! The chief culprit who had tormented Hui Ling’s entire life and destroyed her sister’s life was still living freely outside, even living an unimaginably prosperous life. How could she just let him go… At that moment, what flowed before the younger daughter was not river water, but a source of hatred as deep as the sea.”
“The younger daughter joined an opera troupe. Thirteen years later, she saw her enemy. He watched the stage performance and praised the younger daughter profusely. Upon learning of the younger daughter’s background, he was even willing to take her as his goddaughter. Good! The abandoned daughter became a goddaughter—how wonderful, what tremendous irony!” Jin Xue’er lowered her head slightly, laughing uncontrollably. “Actually, it’s quite clear—I am that younger daughter, and the enemy is Yue Tianhong. I agreed to accompany Yue Tianhong back to his hometown to worship ancestors, but before that, I used the silver he gave me to hire an assassin. I invited the villains who had participated in persecuting Hui Ling back then onto the sea vessel one by one. I wanted these people to repay their blood debts with blood.”
“Oh, right. The Netherworld ghost ship—heh, actually I purchased an identical ancient ship in advance and set up trap mechanisms and hidden passages inside. Then I had the assassin hide aboard the ship, waiting for the right moment to make his appearance.” Jin Xue’er glanced at the dark, gloomy hold. “I also prepared the life-demanding blue papers to lead these villains together into hell.”
“The depths of the icy cold sea are the execution ground for you villains to atone. The murder scheme went smoothly. The only thing I didn’t anticipate was the appearance of the Great Realm’s Ghost-Catcher. But regardless… the murder scheme has begun—either death or no rest.”
“This is the reason I’m killing you on this hopeless sea, Yue Tianhong! Do you understand now?”
“I…” Yue Tianhong’s face was ashen. He slowly knelt before Jin Xue’er. “I have no words to justify myself. Everything you said is right. Your mother and daughter’s suffering was all caused by me… If Hui Ling truly has a soul in this world, she would absolutely never forgive me. My sins are truly deep and heavy.”
“Hmph, I’ve seen your false pretenses more than once already.” Jin Xue’er said coldly.
“When you mentioned the villains who persecuted Hui Ling, you were referring to Shan Jie and Ji Ming?” Li Si said.
Jin Xue’er nodded. “Shan Jie’s father was the one who beat Hui Ling back then—the son must repay the father’s debt. Ji Ming was the matchmaker who introduced Yue Tianhong to Miss Pei. His sins are grave.”
“What about Xiao Lu?” Li Si asked again.
Jin Xue’er looked sorrowful. “Xiao Lu, I wronged him. He treated me with true sincerity, but unfortunately, the person he loved wasn’t an ordinary girl—she was a demon carrying a blood debt. I discovered that the assassin was actually Xiao Lu’s twin brother Xiao Chuan. Xiao Lu learned about my murder scheme through his brother and urged me not to seek revenge. I only put him off. After we boarded the sea vessel, he suddenly told me he would notify Xiao Chuan to stop this murder scheme. I had waited more than ten years for this revenge—I couldn’t just abandon it. Between Hui Ling and Xiao Lu, I could only choose the former.”
“So I killed Xiao Lu. The killing process was not much different from what God-Catcher Li described.”
Jin Xue’er smiled miserably. “I guess that night Xiao Lu knew I would kill him, yet he still smiled so happily, right up until the moment the long needle pierced into his brain.”
“What I owe in this life, I can only repay in the next.”
“So it really was you who killed my brother! You madwoman, my brother treated you so well, yet you had the heart to kill him. You’re just like Yue Tianhong—both cold-blooded and heartless creatures.” Xiao Chuan’s eyes seemed to spew flames of fury as he cursed.
“From the moment I personally killed my mother, my blood had already grown cold, my feelings had already been severed. The only purpose of living is revenge! Anyone who obstructs my revenge, no matter who they are, must die!” Jin Xue’er said frantically.
“You used the blue paper hints about the evil deeds Yue Tianhong committed to make him feel his sins were grave and only seek atonement. Then you used the trick of evil spirit possession to make Yue Tianhong die at Hui Ling’s hands. But you were equally worried the blue paper clues wouldn’t be discovered, or that Yue Tianhong would have no remorse, so you spent ten thousand taels to buy his life.” Li Si sighed. “Is that right, Xue’er?”
“Yes.”
“You deliberately left rouge marks and bloody fingerprints on the life-demanding blue papers to remind Yue Tianhong.” Li Si said. “Including raising the deep-sea Huilin in the bottom hold—that was also to awaken Yue Tianhong’s memory of ‘Hui Ling.'”
Jin Xue’er nodded.
“There’s still something I don’t understand—the origin of the Netherworld ghost ship. If no one was steering it, how did it appear from the sea?” Li Si was puzzled.
“God-Catcher Li has something he doesn’t understand?” Jin Xue’er said slowly. “Actually, the ghost ship did have crew members. After Yue Tianhong’s sea vessel approached, the crew took a small boat to another sea vessel, letting the ghost ship drift to the side of Yue Tianhong’s vessel and stop. That’s how the ghost ship’s appearance was created.” Jin Xue’er revealed the truth behind the Netherworld ghost ship’s sudden appearance.
“I see.” Li Si rubbed his nose. Some strange fragrance seemed to float in the icy cold air.
Li Si said earnestly, “Miss Xue’er, your murder scheme has been exposed, and Xiao Chuan has been captured. It’s time to let go. Even if Yue Tianhong is selfish and despicable, he is ultimately the only relative you have left in this world. Must you exterminate him completely without leaving any room?”
“Relative? What a joke! How is he my relative? He’s my enemy! My mother and sister were my only relatives, and Yue Tianhong killed them.” Jin Xue’er bit her white teeth tightly. “If not for God-Catcher Li, the murder scheme would have succeeded long ago. It was only you I overlooked.”
“Was I the only one you overlooked?” Li Si suddenly said something inexplicable, leaving Jin Xue’er stunned. “What do you mean by that?”
“The murder scheme was exquisite, but I fear it only made wedding garments for others.” Li Si said mysteriously.
“Making wedding garments for others—what exactly are you saying?”
Li Si said in a deep voice, “Actually, the murder scheme’s greatest oversight wasn’t me, but him.”
Li Si moved aside half his body, revealing Xiao Chuan behind him.
Jin Xue’er stared at Xiao Chuan and said in confusion, “Xiao Chuan?”
Xiao Chuan looked completely bewildered. “I killed everyone I was supposed to kill. Being captured by you was just momentary carelessness. How can there be any talk of oversight?”
“Even now when we’re face to face, you’re still pretending.” Li Si’s mouth curved upward. “Let me ask you—are you really Xiao Chuan?”
Xiao Chuan’s eyelid twitched as he laughed loudly twice. “If I’m not Xiao Chuan, could I be Xiao Lu?”
“That requires careful consideration. Let me lay out all the overlooked clues from the murder case one by one, and your true face will become self-evident.”