Xue Qitian's vomiting of blood quickly made the clever people realize: he was injured!
The expressions of the crowd were subtle.
Yet even so, no one dared to act rashly. The gap in cultivation was simply too vast, and the wrath of a high-level cultivator was not something just anyone could endure.
Over there, Jin Xiang was hoisted into the air. She struggled desperately, trying to pry open the massive hand locked around her throat, but it was useless! The man had completely lost his mind, his entire body reeking of an overwhelming, crushing murderous intent.
She could not breathe!
Her entire face turned a dark, bruised purple.
When death truly approached, she grew terrified.
Truly terrified!
For the sake of this man, she had feigned gentleness, suppressed Xue Lihua, and schemed against her own daughter, only to end up with nothing in the end. Years of forced endurance and resentment erupted like a volcano, completely beyond control! She had thought she could throw herself into the fire like a moth for the sake of love, fearless and unrepentant until death.
Yet at the very last moment, she discovered she did not possess Xue Lihua's courage. She wanted to live. Having finally seen the light, Jin Xiang looked desperately for help toward First Elder—the old man who had secretly harbored feelings for her for many years became her final straw.
First Elder did not disappoint her either. Wrinkling his aged face, he rebuked, "Li Ce, stop this at once! The Jin and Li families have been allied for many years; we cannot let minor trifles ruin that. She is merely a woman, what is there to be so furious about? Even if you kill her, Xue Lihua is not coming back. Are you truly content to ruin the magnificent foundation of the Li family? Since when did you become so impulsive?"
First Elder spoke with righteous indignation, entirely devoid of any trace of selfishness.
Yet Xue Qitian caught the interaction between him and Jin Xiang, and smiled with bitter irony.
Meanwhile, Li Ce had completely lost his mind and could no longer take in any words.
His mind was filled only with the image of Lihua being humiliated. He wanted to kill; he wanted nothing more than to kill! He gazed coldly at First Elder.
It was this very person! Li Ce remembered that when he first brought Lihua back, this man had kicked up the biggest fuss.
At first, he had intended to take Lihua as an equal wife.
The higher-ups, led by First Elder, had fiercely opposed it, and so the matter was dropped.
Now that First Elder spoke up again, it was as if he had poked a hornet's nest, stepping directly on Li Ce's most explosive nerve.
"Get lost!" he roared in fury. If not for these people, he and Lihua would never have reached this point.
Today, no one could stop him!
Having lost face in front of the entire clan, First Elder's old face flushed crimson. Realizing that further talk was useless, he secretly sent a message to the Jin Family, hoping Jin Xiang could hold on a little longer.
Trembling all over, Jin Xiang wept in panic. Her mind raced frantically, and suddenly thinking of something, her eyes lit up as she threatened, "Mm-mm-mm... No... You cannot kill me... If I die... you will never see Xue Lihua's... daughter again... *cough*..." She played her final trump card, and it was surprisingly effective!
"What?! Lihua's daughter?" This heavyweight bombshell caught both Li Ce and Xue Qitian completely off guard.
Xue Qitian hurried down from his flying craft and glared coldly at Li Ce. "Let go of her and let her make it clear!"
This time, Li Ce did not object. His heart was stirred beyond measure—did Lihua truly leave him a child? He had always thought Li Yue'er was his only daughter. Jin Xiang's words had caught him completely unprepared.
"Speak! What is the meaning of this?" He stared fixedly at Jin Xiang, terrified of missing a single word.
First Elder's expression changed drastically. "No, you cannot!" If it came out, it would truly be the end! He anxiously tried to stop her, but Xue Qitian kicked him flying with a single strike.
"Utter a single half-word of nonsense, and—hmph!" Xue Qitian's eyes were frosted with ice, brimming with murderous intent.
Terrified to the point that her legs turned to jelly and her mind was in chaos, Jin Xiang finally blurted out the secret she had hidden for so many years.As it turned out, during the first three years after Li Ce sent Xue Lihua into Fangfei Courtyard, he had put on a cold front in public while secretly looking after her and missing her all the time. All of this had been witnessed by Jin Xiang. Although she kept a calm facade, she was consumed by a mad jealousy. Even after Xue Lihua left, Li Ce still refused to touch her, driving her to the extreme limit of hatred. To break the deadlock, she slipped an aphrodisiac and hallucinogenic drug to Li Ce, but when the drug took effect, he ran out and spent the entire night entangled with Xue Lihua.
When Jin Xiang found him, she had no idea why he had passed out. Furious, she ordered Xue Lihua never to speak of what had happened. Pale-faced, Xue Lihua had readily agreed at the time. When Li Ce woke up and saw Jin Xiang beside him, he simply assumed she was the one from the night before. Filled with internal remorse that he kept hidden, he even thought to himself that Jin Xiang apparently had such a wonderful side to her after all, and that he would try to accept her from then on—after all, his life wouldn't fall apart without Xue Lihua.
Therefore, ever since that incident, Jin Xiang clearly felt that Li Ce treated her much better.
Yet the reason behind this could never be spoken aloud. Li Ce also seemed to have truly forgotten about Xue Lihua, but Jin Xiang did not dare to let her guard down, constantly sending people to keep an eye on her rival. Before long, she discovered that Xue Lihua was pregnant.
At first, Jin Xiang had wanted to get rid of that child; only she was allowed to bear Li Ce's children. In the end, however, an accident befell Xue Lihua.
At the time, Xue Lihua had lost the will to live. Fearing that she might actually die and thereby cause Li Ce to remember her, Jin Xiang told her about the pregnancy. Since she refused to live, she would be kept alive so she could be thoroughly tormented.
With this thought in mind, Jin Xiang ultimately spared the child's life.
As her belly grew day by day, Xue Lihua grew more and more attached to the child within her.
The child was her weakness!
Jin Xiang was overjoyed. With a vulnerability to exploit, she could now completely control this proud woman.
And indeed!
For the sake of the child, Xue Lihua endured no end of humiliation without ever telling Li Ce.
When Li Dai was born, Jin Xiang and the First Elder concealed the child's existence and slaughtered everyone who knew the truth.
When Jin Xiang heard Li Dai asking about her father, she "kindly" arranged a few occasions for her to secretly see Li Ce.
What Li Dai saw was her father holding Li Yue'er and playing with her, filling her with incomparable envy.
Under such deliberate guidance, Li Dai came to believe that her father hated her and her mother, causing her to become timid and lacking in self-confidence.
Jin Xiang achieved the desired result and felt a sense of gratified satisfaction in her heart.
Even Xue Lihua had no inkling of the things Jin Xiang had done.
Another three years passed just like that.
Seeing that Li Ce truly no longer cared about Xue Lihua, Jin Xiang stopped paying attention to them altogether.
She had to win over Li Ce; how could she possibly have any spare time to deal with that wretched woman? Besides, Li Yue'er had been molded and trained by her for many years, so even if she did nothing, that mother and daughter would not have an easy time of it.
Everything was within Jin Xiang's calculations!
The only thing she failed to calculate was Li Ce's love!
Precisely because of this, Jin Xiang was unwilling to accept her defeat!
Anyone who spent years making such an effort, only to end up with nothing in the end, would go mad.
Jin Xiang transitioned from a calm narration to a ferocious and distorted expression at the end.
Yet everyone present felt that this woman was simply derided in the head!
The young disciples of the Li Family in particular turned pale.
They had never imagined that a woman's cruelty could reach such an extent!
Humiliating Xue Lihua and suppressing Li Dai were things the crowd could still understand; Jin Xiang hated them, which was only human nature.
But to scheme against even her own biological daughter was worse than a beast.