"Xiu'er!" The moment Chu Lian rushed in, the first thing she saw was Li Xiu'er sitting in the center of the room.
Yet her condition was extremely strange. She was still wearing her school uniform, but she was completely motionless. Her eyes were closed, her breathing was faint, and not only was her life force gradually fading, even her soul showed signs of dispersing.
Surrounding her in a triangular formation were three elderly figures sitting cross-legged—two old men with white hair and beards, and one elderly woman with delicate features, though her hair had long since turned pale with age. Their expressions were tense as they watched Li Xiu'er, as if afraid something might happen to her.
"What happened to Xiu'er?" Gripping Cold Beauty tightly, Chu Lian felt an overwhelming urge to slaughter everyone present. Right now, in her eyes, nothing mattered more than the girl who seemed on the verge of death.
"You've finally come..." When the refined-looking old woman saw her, she seemed to let out a sigh of relief. The hand that had been raised in a delicate gesture slowly lowered, and when she looked up, her clear eyes were filled with hope.
"You? Weren't you the ones who did this to Xiu'er?" Her reaction made Chu Lian hesitate. Could it be that these people weren't the ones harming Xiu'er?
Hearing her question, the old woman's expression turned bitter. She shook her head. "We cherish Xiu'er more than anyone. How could we harm her? It is those beastly descendants who insisted on doing this. We were confined here, unable to leave, and could only watch as they succeeded."
"What do you mean?" Chu Lian wanted to take Li Xiu'er away immediately, but her condition was unclear. She didn't know what consequences might arise from interfering rashly.
She could not afford to take that risk. Xiu'er could not be delayed any longer. If anything happened to her, Chu Lian would never find peace again.
"Xiu'er was originally chosen by the three of us as the successor of the Li family. However, because her constitution is too special, we were not confident we could safely awaken her talent before the age of fourteen, so we never made it public."
"Those people couldn't detect her talent and assumed she was useless. It truly disappointed us!"
"We saw everything Xiu'er went through over the years. It pained us deeply. But if her talent couldn't be awakened, nothing we did would matter. And since we were imprisoned here, we no longer had any authority to speak or interfere in the affairs of the Li family."
"We feared they might do something harmful to her, so even when we knew she was being bullied, we didn't dare reveal her talent. We thought that if she could endure just a little longer, her status would undergo a complete transformation."
"But we never expected those beasts to somehow learn that Xiu'er's constitution made her especially suitable to be a ghost bride. If she were married off to that powerful ghost cultivator, his blessing could lift the Li family's curse and restore its former glory."
"So they fabricated a lie—claiming they would marry her off to a prestigious family in exchange for their support. Afraid she might refuse, they even used Ruoxue as leverage."
"Originally, this plan wouldn't have been carried out so soon. But today..." At this point, Chu Lian already understood everything.
In the end, it was because they had acted too hastily. Xiu'er had said she needed more time, but Chu Chu and Liu Yanran's visit today made them realize the Chu family had taken notice, forcing them to act ahead of schedule.
"Those people... and the Ten Thousand Ghosts Senluo Formation..." Now Chu Lian finally understood why everything had felt so strange.
"Li Kui is indeed Li Kui—but only a weak version summoned from the underworld, lacking his original power. It would be difficult for him to truly threaten you. He was merely a test..." The old woman's explanation made everything clear.
"Then what about Xiu'er?" Now that she understood the cause, what about the outcome?
"Her three souls and seven spirits still remain in her body, but only as the faintest trace. Her true soul has already been drawn into the domain of that ghost cultivator. As for her condition there, we do not know. Someone must go down and see for themselves."
As she spoke, she pointed behind Li Xiu'er—at an inconspicuous black vortex. Only then did Chu Lian realize it was a passage to another world.
"However, if you go, your physical body cannot be used. Much of your strength will be suppressed. And the one you will face is a ghost cultivator far beyond Heaven rank. Are you certain you can save her?" The old woman's expression was grave.
"Why not? I can save her. I will save her. I have to save her." Chu Lian was not someone who trusted others easily. But the moment the old woman pointed out Xiu'er's location, she had already sensed where she was.
As for why Xiu'er was there, how that person had opened a passage into this protected place, or why they wanted her to go—did any of that really matter?
If she kept thinking, by the time Xiu'er's three souls and seven spirits fully dissipated, even she would no longer be able to save her.
"Then... be careful." The old woman's gaze flickered as she spoke.
"No need for your concern." Chu Lian blinked, forcing herself to calm down, and reverted Cold Beauty back into its jade form.
She walked over and sat beside Li Xiu'er in front of the vortex. Wrapping her left arm around the girl's frail body, she interlocked their fingers with her right hand, holding a certain object between their palms. Then she closed her eyes and extended her consciousness into the vortex.
It was something she had once asked Xiu'er to obtain for her at Mount Li—a special token between them. She believed that with it, she would be able to call her back.
The next moment, the world spun violently, and she lost consciousness. In her fading awareness, she thought she heard her mother's voice...
"Lian'er!!!"
Li Mingxue, who had rushed over in haste, saw Chu Lian lying there with her eyes closed and unconscious. After a moment of silence, she raised her head without a word.
An overwhelming aura erupted from her body, instantly destroying the small house.
"You still lost. The soul of Overlord Xiang Yu and Xiu'er with the Spiritual Illusion Body—haha, with the two of them as sacrifices, how could the Li family's curse remain unbroken? You refused to act and even imprisoned us here—so what? In the end, you still lost."
The old woman who spoke no longer had the gentleness she showed earlier. Her eyes turned sinister, and her laughter was hysterical, as if she had just won something incredibly important.
"Yes... I lost..." Li Mingxue lowered her head. Her long black hair fluttered in the wind, while the girls still fighting behind her seemed to have become nothing more than a backdrop.
Looking at the people before her, her smile was tinged with bitterness. "I truly lost. I never expected you to do something like this, nor did I imagine you would be this deranged."
"Deranged? You're wrong. This is merely a necessary measure to ensure the Li family's everlasting prosperity. Minghao and Tianming have already left—left this place and gone to live in other cities under new identities."
"Don't bother trying to find them. We've spent great effort altering their physical forms. Aside from us, no one will recognize them. Even the memories of their appearances have been erased."
"Even the threads of fate have been disrupted at the cost of our remaining lifespan. Divination and tracking techniques will no longer work. From this day forward, no one in this world will ever find them again."
"Haha, haven't we planned everything perfectly? Even these details have been handled. Just give up. They will carry the Li family's seed and let it bloom once more. The Li family's glory will be rebuilt through them."
"Using the soul of the Overlord and the Spiritual Illusion Body as a trade to obtain a supreme physique—Tianming will become a true peerless genius. As long as everything succeeds and no accidents occur, in ten years, he will surely reach the Heaven rank. And when that time comes, it will mark the Li family's resurgence."
"Mingxue, oh Mingxue... though you are of the Li family, aside from strengthening the seal for us, what have you actually done?"
"The Li family painstakingly nurtured you into the youngest Heaven-rank powerhouse in history."
"And yet you turned your back on us completely—just because we arranged for you to unite with your brother and produce the most outstanding offspring."
"Why? Why? With you in the Li family, combined with your brother—whose talent may not be exceptional but who carries the purest Li lineage—the bloodline you would produce would undoubtedly allow the Li family to surpass all others and rise to the very pinnacle!"
"But for the sake of so-called freedom, so-called love, and the life you desired, you destroyed all of it."
"But it doesn't matter. Your mistake will be repaid by your daughter. She is a descendant of the Overlord—we paid a great price to learn that."
"We began this plan the moment she started getting close to Xiu'er. After they returned a few days ago, the plan was already set in motion."
"You didn't know, did you? Such a flawless plan... seeing your defeated expression now truly satisfies us..."
As the old woman spoke, she laughed—laughed until tears streamed down her face, until her body bent over. After so long, after so long, they had finally regained the upper hand.
As long as the Li family's lineage endured, as long as its bloodline continued, as long as they could break free from this cursed fate—what did it matter how much they sacrificed?
From another perspective, they were indeed utterly detestable people. Yet from the standpoint of preserving a family's legacy, they had not necessarily done wrong.
The entanglement of it all was so complex, so chaotic—who could truly sort it out? Who could say with certainty who was right and who was wrong? It was far too difficult.
"Actually, the Li family's curse isn't that difficult to resolve..." Li Mingxue slowly raised her head, her gaze calm as she revealed the truth. "As long as Xiu'er and Lian'er sleep here together and share a dream, this problem can be solved."
"What you consider complicated and impossible may not be so difficult in someone else's hands."
"It's just a pity—you were unwilling to wait. You would rather believe that your own method would yield a better result than trust in any other possibility."
"Xiu'er and Lian'er have gone to the Nether City..." The calm surface in her eyes shattered instantly, and killing intent surged like towering waves, pressing down so heavily that the three Heaven-rank experts, who had been putting on airs, could barely breathe.
They stared at her in shock, unable to understand how, in this world where power was restricted, Li Mingxue could still unleash an aura far beyond the Heaven rank. Could it be that she...
"If they suffer even the slightest harm, even if it means being expelled from this world, I will slaughter the Nether City to its very core. As for your so-called transaction—it is all void."
She cast a deep glance at the vortex that restricted one's power upon entry. The killing intent in her voice was chilling to the bone.