But Chi Fengli shook her head and said, “You mean Xuan Qiong? She and Guihai are innocent. Moreover, she was brought here by me.”

Tie Ci: “…”

“My husband needs someone capable and meticulous to assist him, but I don’t have that kind of talent. Xuan Qiong does. Later when I became disabled, my husband needed Xuan Qiong even more. I must treat her well.”

Feiyu couldn’t help but say, “What if that assistance extends to the bedroom?”

“That would also be perfectly natural. Xuan Qiong originally could have married my husband. Even after I married him, she could still be with him. She and my husband have maintained their brother-sister relationship for my sake all these years, refusing to take things further. This is all for me.”

“Then what about your daughter? Why does your daughter favor her?”

“Pingzong was born from me. Although her temperament has many inadequacies, deep down she’s still a good child. She knows gratitude and appreciates Xuan Qiong’s devotion to her father and care for herself. It’s natural that she would be closer to her.”

“Why was your daughter raised by the islanders?”

“She cried and made too much noise when she was little. Guihai, due to his martial arts practice, cannot tolerate clamoring sounds and would always hit her. So we sent her to be raised by the islanders.”

“Because she was too noisy, so you abandoned her? Whose idea was that?”

“Xuan Qiong was also thinking of our good. At that time we quarreled every day, and she was the one who mediated between us.”

“What about your husband then? His heart seems to have strayed to the ends of the earth.”

“Xuan Qiong has never married in her entire life, disregarding her reputation, pledging to follow him unto death, her reverence and love for him reaching the ultimate degree. He’s not made of stone or wood – it’s only right that he would be moved and show some care and affection.”

Listening to these calm, magnanimous, and peaceful answers one by one, Feiyu smiled and said, “Madam is truly the model of an ideal wife in the hearts of men everywhere.”

Tie Ci glanced at him, and Feiyu immediately added, “Of course, that doesn’t include me.”

Tie Ci ignored him and said, “Since Madam’s heart is as broad as the ocean and can tolerate and endure everything, then why did you spare our lives earlier just because of those two sentences?”

“I merely wanted you to die with understanding.”

“Then why did Madam tell us everything as soon as we asked?” Tie Ci smiled. “It’s as if you’ve been waiting too long for finally having a chance to answer, and also as if you’ve rehearsed these answers like self-hypnosis countless times. Who are you hypnotizing? Yourself?”

Chi Fengli thought for a moment, understanding the meaning of hypnosis, then shook her head and said, “That’s just how the reasoning goes.”

“Yes, it all sounds reasonable.” Tie Ci said. “But people’s hearts and emotions don’t grow according to reason’s design. No matter how dignified and proper the reasoning sounds, it’s still a square little box. When you forcibly stuff a soft, burning heart into it, it will hurt, feel unwilling, and break.”

She pointed to the cracked wheelchair, then to the mottled traces on the ground, and finally to Chi Fengli’s legs.

Chi Fengli’s brows twitched, anger flashed in her eyes, and without any visible movement, Tie Ci felt her shoulder to abdomen burn with searing heat, as if struck by an invisible fire whip.

The strike made her body sway.

Feiyu frowned.

Tie Ci pressed down his hand, afraid he might lash out recklessly in his fury.

Feiyu stared at Chi Fengli and said softly, “I can feel the fire in her heart about to ignite… We could still leave if we wanted to. Playing with fire is too dangerous.”

Tie Ci remained silent.

Yes, this female boss appeared peaceful, but the longer someone suppresses themselves, the more unpredictable their behavior becomes. Once they suddenly explode, how could the two of them escape with their lives?

But she wanted to try.

“You go. I’ll cover for you.”

Feiyu laughed dismissively and ignored her.

Across from them, Chi Fengli’s gaze turned cold as ice, her heart like ice and flames burning together.

Tie Ci didn’t retreat a step, staring at Chi Fengli’s abdomen and saying, “Reason has trapped you, binding your repression and pain tightly. Over the years, it has transformed into a tumor inside your body…”

Chi Fengli was startled.

“…You don’t have long to live.”

A long silence.

Feiyu suddenly said coldly, “You were once an immortal couple, loving husband and wife, until someone interfered.”

Tie Ci said, “That person is also a green tea bitch.”

Feiyu said, “Taking a concubine would have solved everything. But the green tea bitch pretended to be noble, unwilling to lower her status, and enjoyed keeping the man dangling. After all, a wife is not as alluring as a concubine, and a concubine is not as alluring as a stolen lover.”

“Guihai Sheng probably also enjoyed this kind of coy game. Neither would marry the other, neither would wed, each appearing to think of you, deep in righteousness and affection, while you became the jealous legitimate wife, unfairly burdened with a debt of obligation.”

“Because of this debt of obligation, you couldn’t make a fuss or be dissatisfied. Perhaps you did lash out before – after all, rumors say you have a fiery temperament.”

“But once you lashed out, you became unreasonable, the most irrational person. You discovered that your husband’s heart would drift even further away. Even your daughter began to side with her.”

“You couldn’t change others, so you could only change yourself. Like a small knife scraping skin and flesh, you could always carve yourself into the shape others wanted.”

“You carved yourself into the shape others wanted, but still couldn’t win back your beloved’s gradually departing heart.”

“Stop talking,” Chi Fengli suddenly said.

“But that coldness, favoritism, exclusion, and harm continued, that cluster of heart-fire kept burning. Your martial arts are different from others – if you can’t burn those who should be burned, then you can only burn yourself.”

“In the deep of night, hearing your own blood sizzling as it’s scorched by that burning fire.”

“With no other choice, you could only suppress that fire downward. Your leg meridians suffered torment day and night until you slowly crippled your own legs.”

“Stop talking!”

“But meridians can reverse flow, fierce fire can be channeled downward, but accumulated emotions are like sand in a pouch – they won’t disappear, they’ll only grow larger day by day, wrapped with new pain.”

“Sand in an oyster shell becomes a pearl over time; sand in a human heart becomes a goiter over time.”

“Don’t! Say! Another! Word!”

Chi Fengli’s voice wasn’t loud, but suddenly a violent wind arose from the ground. In the sound of the wind, the entire ground was shaking, doors and windows of surrounding buildings rustled, and after a moment, with a thunderous crash, all the windows fell simultaneously, landing right at the two people’s feet. The moment they crashed down, the hard wooden frames of the window panels crumbled into powder.

Chi Fengli’s deep red sleeves billowed in the wind, rising high behind her like a pair of crimson cranes spreading their sharp beaks.

Wood chips were swept up into the sky, sparks gradually appeared in the wind, flickering red like countless fierce beasts hidden in the hazy sky. The lamps under the eaves, half-withered leaves, and weeds covering the ground gradually caught fire, and the air filled with choking smoke.

Those sparks gradually merged into clusters in the air, like countless fiery meteors whistling toward the two people.

Neither Tie Ci nor Feiyu moved.

Originally, both had been standing opposite Chi Fengli with a person’s distance between them, but from the moment Chi Fengli erupted, they stood tightly together, both grasping the other’s hand.

Not holding, but grasping – the kind of grip where they could execute a major grappling move at any moment to throw the other behind themselves.

Obviously, because they were evenly matched, neither succeeded in the grappling move, resulting in this awkward hand position.

Additionally, Feiyu’s foot had retreated slightly while Tie Ci hadn’t moved.

With their abilities, they couldn’t defeat Chi Fengli, but escaping wouldn’t be a problem.

Tie Ci could even teleport instantly.

Feiyu wanted to pull her away, but Tie Ci was unwilling.

She wanted to try harder.

Ghost Island had no ghosts. Whether it was the White Earth God or the corpse-hiding customs, they were just deliberately spreading fear to make people afraid and obediently pay money.

All the supernatural phenomena on the island were merely the result of these three peerless masters’ interventions.

But this Ghost Island’s exploitation of surrounding merchant ships, the pirates that always appeared when needed in this area, and this trio of Guihai – it all made her feel it wasn’t so simple.

She wanted to know the inside story. She wanted to break up this trio. She didn’t want anyone on her nation’s territory to act tyrannically, placing themselves above the court and the people, sucking the blood of innocent citizens to satisfy their private desires.

Countless fire clusters pressed toward the two people.

Chi Fengli’s gaze fell on their awkward interlocked gesture.

The next moment, the fire clusters stopped in mid-air. All around was dim and hazy, with only those clusters of tiny flames emitting fierce red light.

In the smoke, Chi Fengli was slowly coughing, gradually curling into a ball.

Tie Ci gazed at her somewhat hunched figure, remembering when her master had once spoken of the legendary Chi Fengli.

She had once split a peninsula with one sword, once burned sea trenches with fierce fire, once danced in flames while half a mountain turned to ash because of her.

She had once been a spirit born of red flames, her eyes blazing hot like fire.

That red shadow that had once illuminated half the sky like sunset glow had fallen after many years, the flame totem fading red on her pale forehead.

Love, when you meet the right person, is the brilliant light you shine on each other; when you meet the wrong person, it’s the glacier that extinguishes the fire of life.

Tie Ci spoke again.

“Xuan Qiong has manipulated your husband in an imperceptible way, and your daughter too. She wants to control your family’s entire life.”

“You’re in such pain, yet she may not be satisfied. She doesn’t want you to have peace.”

“At this point, what else could make you even more miserable?”

“That would be destroying your daughter’s entire life.”

“Knowing full well that casually finding some unreliable person on the island for Pingzong is inappropriate, she still uses her silver tongue to strongly advocate for it. She’s so skilled at rhetoric and acting – can your proud and straightforward daughter withstand her hypocritical manipulation?”

“Madam Guihai, you may be willing to suffer in this marriage, but are you willing for your daughter to repeat your life’s mistakes?”

The smoke cleared, and Chi Fengli’s somewhat weary voice came through.

“You’re very eloquent, as eloquent as she is. It really disgusts me.”

Tie Ci: “…”

Life was precious – how could she not chatter?

Finally managing to crack open a fissure in that heart, she had to keep stabbing at it.

Chi Fengli suddenly said, “Come with me.”

She patted Feiyu’s leg, and he could walk again. Feiyu sighed with some regret.

Tie Ci chuckled internally.

Chi Fengli led the way, driving her wheelchair out the door. The two had no choice but to follow. As Chi Fengli moved forward, she said, “Pingzong trusts Xuan Qiong very much and has a stubborn temperament. Since she’s taken a liking to this little thief, my opposition would be useless. If you can make Pingzong understand, I’ll let you go.”

Tie Ci said, “We don’t need Madam to let us go – we can leave on our own. What we want is Madam’s friendship.”

“Friendship?” Chi Fengli looked back at her in surprise and said, “Do you know how nauseous I find that word?”

Tie Ci thought about it and felt a bit nauseous too.

Green tea bitches always used the banner of friendship while being mistresses.

“If you succeed, I’ll grant you one request.”

“Thank you, Madam.”

It was fortunate that Chi Fengli’s temperament had been worn smooth over the years, otherwise there would be no room for bargaining.

Chi Fengli stopped in front of a small courtyard, gazing at the lights in the small building for a long time before saying, “You two go in. I don’t want to see her perfunctory manner toward me.”

Before stepping through the door, Tie Ci turned back and asked Chi Fengli, “Madam, I know you deeply love Master Guihai, even willing to send away your own daughter for this love, only to have someone take advantage. Do you regret it now?”

Chi Fengli didn’t answer.

It wasn’t until the two entered the door that Chi Fengli, who had been staring at a clump of green grass on the ground, finally said softly, “No, I can’t be the only one with regrets.”

Author’s Note:

Alright, that’s all for today’s update. My heart aches for my saved drafts, give me some votes to comfort me, meow.