Chu Father's pupils shrank violently as he stared at the dagger gleaming cold on the floor. His Adam's apple bobbed. He slowly raised his head and looked at the son he'd once cherished most.
Chu Huaizhou's face was paler than a corpse, his lips trembling. "Father…"
"Huaizhou." Chu Father suddenly smiled, but that smile twisted into something terrifying. "Do you still remember what I told you when I taught you archery at six years old?"
Chu Huaizhou's knees went weak, nearly sending him crashing to the ground. "Sh-shoot the horse before the rider…"
"To catch the thief, seize the king first!" Chu Father bellowed, lunging straight at Xie Zhaolin!
Puchi!
The muffled sound of flesh being pierced rang out, chilling in the silence of the secret chamber.
Chu Father's movement froze. He lowered his head in disbelief, staring at the dagger protruding from his chest. Blood gushed down the blade's groove, dripping onto the blue stone floor with a sharp patter.
"S-sorry… Father…" Chu Huaizhou let go of the hilt and stumbled back, his face splattered with blood. "You said… great men… don't get hung up on the details…"
Chu Father slowly turned his head, shock in his eyes fading into a strange look of relief. He lifted his hand, wanting to touch his son's face, but it stiffened mid-air before his body collapsed with a heavy thud.
Xie Zhaolin watched coldly, the corner of her lips curling in ridicule. "Congratulations, Young Master Chu, you survived."
Chu Huaizhou's entire body shook, but he forced out a fawning smile. "Xiuxiu… I-I only did it for you… Now nothing stands between us anymore…"
"For me?" Xie Zhaolin gave a soft laugh. "Then I really should thank you."
She walked forward, her boot pressing onto Chu Father's still-warm corpse with a chilling creak. "If it weren't for the pills and artifacts you handed over, I wouldn't have taken down that evil cultivator so easily." Her finger brushed across his blood-smeared cheek. "Isn't that right, Brother Huaizhou?"
That form of address, the one that used to make Zhang Xiuxiu's heart tremble, now made Chu Huaizhou feel like he'd fallen into an icy abyss. Still, he quickly forced a watery gaze into his eyes. "Xiuxiu, I know you hate me… but that was all Father and Mother's doing! I… I never forgot our vows… Don't you remember how I risked my life to protect you?"
"And what about the talisman?" Xie Zhaolin suddenly asked. "The one I stayed up three nights in a row to embroider for you. Where is it?"
A strangled noise caught in his throat, his eyes darting wildly. "I-I still have it, I—"
"You lost it, didn't you?" Xie Zhaolin's fingers tightened around his throat, watching with amusement as his face turned purple. "Compared to the jade pendant Zhou Zhilán gave you, that crude little thing wasn't worthy of Young Master Chu's status, was it?"
Before her words faded, a sharp pang burst from her chest. It wasn't her own emotion, but the body's lingering instinct—
Zhang Xiuxiu's obsession.
Her eyes narrowed as she felt the suffocating ache pressing down on her heart.
That was why she'd stayed in the Chu residence all this time. She'd suspected Zhang Xiuxiu's obsession was still bound here, still crying out in pain for this faithless man. She had to end it, only then could she fully merge with this body.
"Chu Huaizhou." Xie Zhaolin smiled suddenly, though the smile never reached her eyes. "Do you know why I kept you for last?"
Hope flared in his eyes. "Because deep down you still love—"
Her stomach lurched with nausea.
Love? Someone like him had no right to speak that word.
"Because I wanted to see just how shameless you could get." Xie Zhaolin cut him off coldly. "Even now, you're still putting on a show?"
Chu Huaizhou's expression twisted, then shifted back into a look of false devotion. "Xiuxiu, don't joke like that…"
Slap!
Her backhand cracked across his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.
The other side of his face swelled instantly, his mouth tearing open as blood and broken teeth spilled out.
"M-my cultivation…" Chu Huaizhou's eyes widened in horror. The pitiful spiritual power in his body was vanishing fast. With the black-robed man's death, the stolen cultivation had dispersed.
Xie Zhaolin planted her boot on his chest, grinding into his ruined clothes. "I'm not Zhang Xiuxiu." She leaned down, her black hair spilling forward. "You've known that all along, haven't you?"
His pupils shrank violently as he finally realized the truth.
"You… you're not Xiuxiu?" Chu Huaizhou sat in the blood, clawing at the cracks in the stone floor. "No… impossible…" Suddenly his head snapped up, his eyes burning with madness. "You're lying, aren't you? Xiuxiu loved to joke like this…"
Watching this father-killing coward cling to delusion, Xie Zhaolin felt an absurd fury twist in her chest. The suffocating obsession surged violently. She grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall.
"Do you need me to describe how she looked when she died?"
His gaze went blank. He muttered "impossible" over and over, then suddenly lunged at her, eyes blazing with savage fury. "What did you do to her?!"
Xie Zhaolin easily seized his throat again, watching his frenzy with cold amusement. "Interesting. You killed your father without blinking, but the moment you hear Zhang Xiuxiu's dead, you lose your mind?"
"You don't understand!" Chu Huaizhou roared, veins bulging on his neck. "I could marry Zhou Zhilán! I could kneel to my mother! I could even…" His words caught, his bloodshot eyes locking on his father's corpse. "…even that… but Xiuxiu… Xiuxiu, she…"
He staggered back, his bloodstained hands clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.
"And what about you?!" Chu Huaizhou suddenly clutched her wrist, his gaze burning with sick light. "You're using her body—what does that make you?!"
Xie Zhaolin flicked her hand in disgust. Black flames surged up his arm on contact.
The sound of flesh burning filled the air. He curled up in agony, yet still lifted his head stubbornly, tears streaming down his bloodied face. That grief was too raw to fake. Even Xie Zhaolin had to admit it—he was crying for Zhang Xiuxiu. Truly, sincerely crying.
Absurd.
His trembling hands grabbed her skirt. "Give Xiuxiu back to me… please…" His ruined eyes shone with a pitiful innocence. "You've taken her body… can't you just… let us be together…"
Xie Zhaolin suddenly remembered Yu Xiaotang's tearful eyes—"Senior Sister, please, grant me this."
Grant her? Hah.
She'd granted Yu Xiaotang's wish. But who had granted Ah Xiu's? Who had granted Yuzhu's? Who had granted the countless women wasting away in deep courtyards?
The suffocating obsession inside her roared, and in that instant she finally understood.
"You…" She lifted him by the throat, black qi drilling into his seven orifices. "Someone like you thinks you're worthy of talking about fulfillment?"
The black qi tore into him. His scream cut off, his face twisting in pain, yet strangely… his eyes showed peace.
Xie Zhaolin froze. Then she let go, watching him slump to the ground.
"I see…" she whispered. "You wanted to die all along, didn't you?"
Chu Huaizhou didn't answer. He only forced a broken smile as blood poured from his lips.
The suffocating obsession in her chest finally began to fade. She understood now. Zhang Xiuxiu hadn't wanted revenge. She'd wanted to see this coward admit his weakness and hypocrisy with her own eyes.
"How boring." Xie Zhaolin straightened, black qi swirling in her palm. "Since you're so desperate to see her…"
She caught the last gleam in his eyes.
"I'll make sure you never get what you want. People like you, being scattered body and soul is too kind a fate. You don't deserve reincarnation. And you'll never deserve to see her again."