Li Ce trembled all over. Disbelief, heartbreak, grief, remorse, and a complex whirlwind of emotions flashed through his eyes, finally turning into a heavy sigh: "It is I who failed her!"
Xue Lihua—what a proud woman she was. Yet he had ruthlessly broken her wings and betrayed her affections.
The time they spent traveling together was the happiest period of his life, with her by his side every single moment.
But as the days passed, his heart grew increasingly panicked.
He feared that the day she discovered the truth, she would leave without the slightest hesitation. That was something he could not bear. Yet what he feared most came to pass: upon learning that he had a wife, she indeed wanted to cast him aside without a second thought. Her gaze had been so distant and so complex. At that time, he thought that even if she hated him, he would not let her leave to become another man's wife—so he forcefully imprisoned her!
In his household was his wife, Jin Xiang.
He knew all too well what kind of woman Jin Xiang was.
Exquisitely gentle, yet vicious to the extreme.
Her gentleness was reserved for him, while her malice was dealt to his Lihua.
Because he favored Xue Lihua, Jin Xiang tortured her; and because Lihua pushed him away, he ultimately lost her.
That was Jin Xiang's way.
He loathed this woman, yet could not rid himself of her.
Their relationship sustained the alliance between the Jin Family and the Li Family.
To protect Xue Lihua, he gave her the cold shoulder, though she did not care.
He grew angry, yet he did not even know what he was angry about! Jin Xiang's countless schemes had also put her through agonizing hardships.
He tried to help in secret.
Yet that only made Jin Xiang target her all the more.
He was driven to distraction.
In the end, they had missed each other.
Perhaps, with a relationship built on deception, she had resolutely made her escape early on.
No matter how well he disguised it, he saw the estrangement in her eyes, and he had fled in utter defeat! It was then that he realized she no longer cared for his love. It was precisely because he knew this that he felt so unwilling to let go! How could this be? She was merely an ordinary mortal, while he was a lofty cultivator. To become his woman—was that not the greatest honor imaginable?
What was she so proud of? Was her self-esteem really that important?!
Out of pure spite, he thought: since you do not want it, then I will not give it.
From then on, they became strangers. He stopped paying attention to her affairs, deliberately ignoring her, banishing her from his mind.
And just like that, ten years had slipped away! Ten years of apathy, ten years without a single thought of her.
Had it not been for that raging fire, he would have almost forgotten her completely.
She was dead!
Only then did he realize how deeply he loved her. During this time, he had been walking about like a corpse. He had thought that no one connected to Xue Lihua would ever appear in his world again, but he never expected her father to come. The appearance of Xue Qitian made everything fall into place in an instant. He finally understood where her pride came from, and why she had allowed herself to be burned alive.
He did not know whether she still harbored any feelings for him, yet she had been so stingy as to leave him nothing at all, never even mentioning who her father was—perhaps fearing that her status as a concubine would stain her father's illustrious name.
She probably hated herself for being blind and choosing the wrong man. Since she had chosen wrongly, she chose to end that mistake all by herself.
Only now!
Did Li Ce feel that he finally understood the woman named Xue Lihua.
And precisely because of this sudden understanding,
the love he had so fiercely hidden and buried erupted like a volcano, completely beyond his control!
It was a heart-wrenching agony!
"Father-in-law!" Li Ce's expression was numb, his entire being seemingly drained of life as he aged a dozen years in a single instant. "Please forgive me!"
"Forgive?" The man burst into loud laughter, a frantic look in his eyes. "What qualification do you have?"
After hurting his daughter and driving her to her death, how could he still utter such words? He wished he could chop him into a thousand pieces, imprison his soul, and condemn him to eternal damnation.
"I... I..." Li Ce's mind was in utter turmoil. The pain had reached its absolute limit, leaving him unable to speak.
Brief though their exchange was, the people present were no fools and vaguely guessed the truth of the matter.
Li Ce's reputation for romantic escapades was widely known. Now that the girl's father had tracked him down on his own doorstep, he must have done something outrageous—like taking everything he could get and running away! Of course, that was what the younger disciples of the Li Family were thinking. After all, they had no idea who Xue Lihua was, viewing the whole thing as a mere scandalous romance without the slightest inkling of the gravity of the situation.
Unlike the relaxed juniors, however, the elders all changed expression one after another.
They had a deep impression of who Xue Lihua was.
An incomparable beauty, possessed of a natural nobility!
They should have guessed it long ago; her background was no simple matter. But now that she was dead, it was too late for regrets. The elders were filled with remorse, having missed a golden opportunity to forge ties with a powerhouse. Yet, even more than regret, their hearts were gripped by fear.
Because of Xue Lihua, they had already made an irreconcilable enemy of a powerhouse—the kind of feud where one side must die.
One by one, they began to tremble with dread.