The cold aura emanated from her, freezing the unique softness of a woman within the harsh cold, keeping others at a distance.
It was this severe demeanor that made Xi Fuhong uneasy.
“Xi Fuhong,” the woman, dressed in bright red, appeared strangely enchanting against her cold demeanor.
She stepped forward, squinting at Xi Fuhong for a moment before waving her sleeve and saying, “Take her away.”
“Wait!
What are you doing?
Why are you capturing me?!”
In the wilderness, Xi Fuhong’s panicked cries added to the desolation of the mountains.
She saw the men around her advancing, and in fear, she retreated a few steps, but there was an ambush behind her as well, leaving her nowhere to hide.
The woman who had given the order mounted her horse and left without looking back.
Suddenly, Xi Fuhong was struck in the abdomen, a numbing pain shot through her limbs to her head, and she fainted.
In a daze, she realized she was being placed on a horse and taken away.
Before closing her eyes, she saw Li Jiang Mountain fading into the distance.
When she regained consciousness, it was from a bucket of cold water being poured over her, the chill piercing her bones.
She gritted her teeth and looked around, seeing a damp and filthy place, with rusty iron bars in front of her, her feet on cold stone slabs, and her hands chained.
She didn’t know what crime she had committed to be treated this way…
“Miss, she’s awake.”
A young boy holding the empty bucket said respectfully.
Xi Fuhong looked up and saw the woman she had seen on the mountain, the one who had ordered her capture.
“Yes.”
The woman maintained her usual cold demeanor, not even glancing at the boy as she stepped forward and asked, “Where is Gui Po?”
Hearing the name of the old woman, Xi Fuhong’s eyes widened.
Could she be an enemy of the old woman?
“Speak, where is Gui Po?”
The woman’s deep voice was magnetic, but her cold tone was terrifying.
“…Are you…
the old woman’s enemy?”
Xi Fuhong asked hoarsely, closing her right eye as water dripped down.
The woman didn’t reply, just snapped her fingers twice.
The servant immediately left and returned with a long wooden box, which he respectfully handed over.
Without turning her head, the woman opened the box and took out a long red leather whip, which she swung a few times, producing sharp cracking sounds in the air.
“Where is Gui Po?”
the woman asked again.
“You and the old woman…
ah!!”
Xi Fuhong suddenly cried out in pain.
The five-foot-long whip lashed across her waist, the pain almost causing her to faint.
The woman retracted her hand, her face still as cold as ice, indifferent to Xi Fuhong’s cries of pain.
The young servant beside her was sweating in fear, standing outside the cell, trembling.
“One more word of nonsense, one more lash.
Speak, where is Gui Po hiding?”
Her tone was calm yet commanding.
Xi Fuhong bit her lip, determined not to shed tears.
She wasn’t a criminal and didn’t need to beg for mercy, and she truly didn’t know where the old woman was.
If she did, why would she be wandering the vast Jianghu?
Seeing the woman playing with the whip, her sharp gaze fixed on her, Xi Fuhong understood what it meant to be ruthless.
“I really…
ah!!”
Another lash landed.
“Who is Emerald Exquisite to you?”
The woman changed the question, still toying with the whip, not letting Xi Fuhong off.
Shaking her numb hands, Xi Fuhong felt cold sweat trickling down her face.
She tried to think about the woman’s question.
Who was Emerald Exquisite?
Her consciousness began to blur.
Since the cold water was poured on her, her whole body had been in pain, initially just her legs, then her hands, and after a few lashes, her entire body was trembling uncontrollably.
This time, Xi Fuhong chose to remain silent.
She knew that speaking would only earn her more lashes, so she might as well keep quiet.
Unfortunately, the woman wasn’t as kind as she thought.
After waiting for a while, the woman suddenly swung the whip, delivering three consecutive lashes to Xi Fuhong’s thighs.
The instant pain of torn flesh hit her head, and before she could cry out, she fainted.
The dungeon returned to its usual silence.
The young servant was pale with fear, standing behind the woman without daring to make a sound.
In front of him, the woman with a straight back, devoid of any feminine weakness, was the head of the Luo Family Manor, Luo Qingcheng, also the junior sister of the current Martial Arts Alliance Leader.
“Throw water on her to wake her up,” Luo Qingcheng said calmly, and the young servant immediately fetched water to wake Xi Fuhong.
Now, she couldn’t be described as anything but miserable, her clothes soaked, her face haggard and pale, her waist swollen and bruised, her thighs a bloody mess.
It was enough to make anyone sigh, thinking she must have committed a grave crime to suffer such torture.
If she had any crime, it was that she shouldn’t have lived these ten years, she should have starved to death in front of the ruined temple.
“Listen,” Luo Qingcheng said, lifting Xi Fuhong’s chin with the whip handle to make her look directly at her.
“Harboring a criminal has no good end.
If you don’t tell me where Gui Po is, then you’re an accomplice, and I won’t spare any of you.”
“…I…
really…
don’t know…”
Each word was spoken with difficulty, each sentence was the truth.
Luo Qingcheng stepped back and suddenly laughed, but the smile was full of disdain and disgust.
“Gui Po is a notorious figure.
You’ve been in her valley for ten years, and you still don’t understand?”
Xi Fuhong was stunned by these words.
Notorious?
When did the old woman become notorious?
In the ten years she spent with the old woman in the valley, the old woman treated her well, giving her a place to live and food to eat.
Although she wasn’t like a mother in the books, she raised her to adulthood.
How could she be a villain?
“…You’re lying…
the old woman didn’t…”
Xi Fuhong glared at the woman in front of her, feeling she was talking nonsense.
Luo Qingcheng smiled, squinting her eyes coldly.
“You’re truly foolish, deceived by her for so many years and still treating her as family.
Since that’s the case, I’ll tell you all about her evil deeds.”
“I don’t want to hear it…
the old woman didn’t do anything bad…
you’re lying!”
She would rather endure the whip than listen to the woman slander the old woman.
In her heart, the old woman was family, the only person she was close to and trusted.
It didn’t matter what people outside the valley said, as long as she believed the old woman was good, then she was good!
“Ten years ago, the Ouyang Family was wiped out because Gui Po couldn’t have the man she loved, so she took seventy-four lives from the entire household.
She killed everyone in the Ouyang Family and stole their family heirloom, the Black Dragon Tail Ring,” Luo Qingcheng said.
“She must have heard about the secret treasure from the Ouyang Family and coveted it, so she took the key.
But the key needed another to work, so she hid in the valley to avoid the righteous pursuit of Jianghu.
Last year, Master Baili released news, and Gui Po must have gone to find the other key.”
In the dungeon, besides Luo Qingcheng, the young servant and Xi Fuhong were both stunned.
She never imagined the old woman had such a past, nor did she think the old woman would kill.
Now, hearing the woman’s clear words, her chest felt heavy with pain.
“You’re lying…
the old woman didn’t…
didn’t…”
“The righteous sects are all searching for Gui Po.
If what I’m saying is false, then are they all fools?”
Luo Qingcheng sneered, looking down on the foolish woman in front of her.
Even though she was taken into the valley by Gui Po, she still harbored Gui Po’s evil deeds!
And the Black Dragon Tail Ring…
“But you gave the ring to Emerald Exquisite, Shi Cuiyan?”
Luo Qingcheng observed her, deliberately slowing her speech.
Xi Fuhong, who had been in shock, suddenly snapped back to reality.
She looked anxiously at Luo Qingcheng, stammering.
Emerald Exquisite was Sister Cui?
How could that be?
Wasn’t she the daughter of the Shi Residence, with a father who was a lifelong friend of the old woman, living on Li Jiang Mountain…
