“She escaped?” Shen Langhun was shocked. To escape from the heavily guarded Wangting Manor would undoubtedly be as difficult as ascending to heaven. Xue Tao actually managed to escape from here?

Guan’er nodded and said in a low voice, “My master was very angry. He… slapped Miss Xue and accidentally injured her face.” She pointed to her chin, “Here.”

Shen Langhun coughed, “Yu Konghou was indeed completely deranged from beginning to end. What happened next?”

Guan’er said in a low voice, “Then a piece of skin was torn off from her chin. After it healed, it looked very ugly. Miss Xue ignored my master completely. My master was very angry. One day he had the Venerable Master replace a piece of skin from his body to Miss Xue’s, then transfer Miss Xue’s scarred skin to his own face.” She said sadly, “My master… truly loved Miss Xue very much, which is why he did such a thing. As a result, Miss Xue’s skin matched my master’s extraordinarily well. That scar quickly faded, but Miss Xue threw the skin my master had given her into the furnace and burned it.”

The candle on the ground gradually melted, leaving a pool of wax tears. The firelight slowly dimmed, and everything gradually fell back into darkness. A’Shui listened quietly to this sad, insane, chaotic story… From when had she become numb to all kinds of sorrow? Only… only when feeling disappointed in Tang Lici would she feel heartache, and only then would she know her heart was still there? Like now, she didn’t know where her heart had gone… Her chest felt hollow and empty, as if her soul had left her body long, long ago.

“I see, so this is the secret of Wangting Manor.” Shen Langhun’s voice wasn’t pleasant or distinctive, yet it was reassuring. “Doesn’t this passage lead to the surface?”

Guan’er said in a low voice, “It originally led to the garden, but Eastern Princess had people block the door with stones.” She bit her teeth and suddenly said fiercely, “But I know there’s another way – another way to get out! It’s just that I can’t open it alone.” She pulled A’Shui’s hand, “Follow me!”

Dark tunnels, flickering lamplight.

Cold, damp brick walls. Even with the most luxurious and beautiful tables, chairs, and beds, with the most exquisite clothing, with bright mirrors and precious jade, rouge and beautiful gems – what did it matter?

A thin silhouette was stretched long by the lamplight, with long black hair hanging down all the way to the bed – who knew how long it had been since it was cut? Brown clothing that couldn’t be distinguished as men’s wear or women’s dress covered twisted and deformed legs. She sat on the bed with her back to the doorway. Though Zhu Yan had broken into Wangting Manor to find her, she didn’t seem very happy.

Muffled explosive sounds came from far to near. That person’s footsteps gradually approached. Xue Tao sat in the darkness, quietly looking at the green bricks on the wall.

The brothel didn’t have many people blocking Zhu Yan. All the sounds of weapons along the way were from Zhu Yan’s long halberd breaking through mechanisms and walls. Xue Tao listened quietly, two tear tracks on her damaged face glimmering in the weak candlelight.

Amidst the strange silence and fierce explosive sounds, singing came from afar – Yu Konghou’s voice, singing something unknown.

With a tremendous crash, fierce winds suddenly arose at Xue Tao’s doorway. The tables and chairs in the room were all struck by that blazing inner energy and began shaking constantly, cracking with several fissures. Xue Tao turned around and saw a person standing at the door – tall and sturdy, long halberd pointing to the ground, with an aura that could overturn rivers and seas, pointing at the sun to break the sky. She saw he had lost an arm. Before she could speak, the visitor swept with his powerful arm, caught her up, and left like a whirlwind.

The room was instantly empty. The luxurious and brilliant tables, chairs, and beds toppled to one side. The cabinet doors were blown open by the whirlwind, revealing the exquisite and elegant, brightly colored dresses inside. Following that strong wind’s departure, the bean-sized oil lamp in the room flickered slightly and extinguished itself.

No one blocked him at all. Zhu Yan just took Xue Tao away like that.

A person slowly walked over from the other side of the tunnel, holding a candlestick.

A candle was inserted in the candlestick – a red candle that dripped wax tears step by step as he walked.

Yu Konghou still wore that “Xifang Tao” style peach-colored women’s dress, his hair loose, walking quietly to Xue Tao’s room. He looked at the chaotic room for a long time, then slowly crouched down to pick up a woman’s garment scattered on the ground.

He didn’t have anyone block or pursue Zhu Yan.

Reaching up to touch his injured cheek, he actually hadn’t expected Zhu Yan would give up killing Wanyu Yuedan and turn back to rescue Xue Tao. If Zhu Yan hadn’t come this time, if he had truly brought Wanyu Yuedan’s head, he indeed planned to kill Xue Tao and give Zhu Yan a corpse he had longed for. But Zhu Yan had broken in. According to his nature, he should have killed her before Zhu Yan found Xue Tao – if he couldn’t have something, no one else should want it either. But in reality, it wasn’t like that.

Zhu Yan had risked his life to break in, and Xue Tao’s tears burst forth. He didn’t feel jealousy or resentment in his heart, but rather felt calm. In this situation, she must have fantasized for many years, must have greatly anticipated her beloved coming like a hero to save her, to rescue her from this hell… He couldn’t bear to destroy this fantasy, though it would have been easy for him to do so.

It had been a long time… since he’d seen his cousin’s happy expression. Though he couldn’t see Xue Tao’s happy expression at this moment either, he was imagining it. Because of this imagination, he delayed for that very short period of time. Zhu Yan had already broken through layer upon layer of mechanisms and reached Xue Tao’s door, so he simply didn’t block him and let Zhu Yan take her away like that.

She should be very happy – neither dead nor having encountered her beloved. Yu Konghou imagined Xue Tao’s joy, his heart floating and drifting as if riding the wind, feeling not too bad. He had imprisoned her for ten years. If he continued imprisoning her, she would die… and he would die along with her…

But even with Yu Konghou’s ever-changing thoughts, he couldn’t imagine that at the moment Zhu Yan carried her away, Xue Tao didn’t show joy and laughter, but silently wept.