216: Chapter 214 The Last Candle

The stone statue in front of Li Shan was as hideous as a demon crawling out of Hell.

The statue was about the height of a person, pitch black all over, with a distorted face, wide-open eyes, and a gaping mouth that revealed two rows of sharp fangs.

Its body was covered in dense runes; these runes were not carved, but grown, embedded into the statue like blood vessels, with a faint, dark red light flowing within them.

At the feet of the statue was a massive pool of blood.

The blood in the pool had not been poured in all at once; it had been accumulated drop by drop over the past three days.

Every drop came from a member of the Fox Clan, and every drop carried the Spiritual Qi, vitality, and Lifespan of the Fox Clan.

Li Shan stood by the pool of blood, holding a bone knife in his hand.

The blade was ghastly white, ground from the bone of some unknown Yao Beast, and the hilt was wrapped in blackened cloth soaked with the blood of countless people.

He slit the wrist of the Fox Clan member before him, and fresh blood gushed out, dripping into the pool.

That Fox Clan member's cultivation had been placed under a Seal; she knelt on the ground, trembling all over, daring not to struggle or scream.

Behind her, hundreds more Fox Clan members knelt.

There were old ones, young ones, men and women.

Some were weeping softly, some were shedding silent tears, and some had hollow eyes, as if they were already dead.

In front of them lay a pile of corpses.

Those corpses were the first batch of Fox Clan members to be bled; once their blood was drained, their lives ended.

The bodies were piled together, not yet disposed of.

After finishing with this Fox Clan member's wrist, Li Shan walked toward the next one.

His movements were slow and careful, as if he were performing a delicate task.

Every cut was just the right depth, neither too much nor too little, precisely slicing the blood vessel without severing it.

He was not in a hurry. He had plenty of time.

The blood in the pool grew deeper, and the runes on the statue shone brighter.

The dark red light radiated from within the statue, bathing the entire secret chamber in blood-red.

The statue's eyes lit up—not with reflected light, but with its own glow, blood-red and eerie, like two ghost lamps.

Its mouth also began to move, opening and closing, as if chewing on something.

The blood dripping into the pool was absorbed by it, transformed into an invisible force that traversed space and distance to descend upon another person thousands of miles away.

Li Shan felt that power, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

He could sense that the aura of the target in the distance was weakening bit by bit. It was not injury, nor poison, but the draining of Lifespan.

His curse was severing her Lifespan, cut by cut, like harvesting wheat.

The more blood in the pool, the faster the severing.

Every corpse of the Fox Clan behind him represented decades, or even centuries, of her Lifespan being severed.

He calculated that he had already severed thousands of years of her Lifespan.

Thousands of years of Lifespan were enough for a Nascent Soul Cultivator to wither and die of old age.

"Xue Ji is dead," he said, his voice low but clear. "Kill all the remaining Fox Clan members. I am going to report to the Second Prince."

His subordinates acknowledged the order and drew their blades.

The Fox Clan members finally broke down; some knelt on the ground kowtowing, some huddled in corners clutching their children, and some threw themselves at Li Shan's feet, grabbing his legs and begging for mercy.

Li Shan looked down at the Fox Clan member; she was a young woman, appearing to be in her early twenties, her face streaked with tears and her eyes full of terror.

"My lord, I beg you, spare my child. She is only three years old, she knows nothing..."

Li Shan did not answer.

He lifted his foot, kicked her away, and turned to walk out of the secret chamber.

Behind him, screams rang out—one, two, ten, a hundred.

The sound of blades hacking into bone, the sound of blood spurting, the sound of bodies hitting the ground.

Li Shan did not look back.

He passed through the long corridor, walked along the gloomy passage, pushed open the heavy wooden door, and stepped into the night.

The night wind blew against his face, carrying the stench of blood.

He took a deep breath and felt that the air was sweet.

The Second Prince sat on a soft couch in his bedchamber, with a pot of wine and a full, untouched cup on the table before him.

He was waiting. Waiting for Li Shan to come and tell him the good news.

He knew Li Shan would not disappoint him.

That old fox, despite his appearance of a sage with the bearing of an immortal, was more ruthless than anyone at his core.

Curses were things that required human lives to fuel.

Li Shan was not short of human lives.

He had plenty of Fox Clan members, plenty of blood, and plenty of Lifespan.

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

The door was pushed open, and Li Shan walked in.

He walked up to the Second Prince, bowed, and smiled.

"Your Highness, Xue Ji is dead," he said, his voice suppressing excitement. "A total of over three thousand Fox Clan members were consumed to sever six thousand years of her Lifespan."

The corners of the Second Prince's mouth finally turned up.

He picked up the wine cup, drained it in one gulp, set the cup down, and looked at Li Shan.

"Good!" he said. "What reward do you want?"

Li Shan shook his head. "I do not want a reward." He paused, his smile deepening. "However, I have a daughter, sixteen years of age, of outstanding beauty and well-versed in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I wish to offer her to Your Highness to serve by your side."

A flicker of malice flashed in the Second Prince's eyes.

That malice vanished as quickly as it appeared, too fast for Li Shan to notice.

He laughed, a hearty laugh.

"Very well," he said. "Send her to see me."

Li Shan smiled too.

He slowly backed out.

The door closed behind him, and his footsteps gradually faded away.

The bedchamber fell silent, leaving only the sound of flickering candlelight and the occasional chirping of insects outside the window.

The Second Prince leaned back against the chair, closed his eyes, and tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest.

He wore a smile, but it did not reach his eyes.

Not long after, the door was pushed open again.

A woman walked in.

She was dressed in a bright red gown, the hem dragging on the floor with a rustling sound.

Her face was caked with thick powder, her eyebrows drawn long and thin, her lips painted bright red, and two spots of rouge applied to her cheeks.

Her hair was piled high, adorned with pearls and jade, jingling as she walked.

Her appearance was not bad—her features were regular, and her skin was fair—but compared to Xue Ji, she was far inferior.

Her eyes lacked the innate allure of Xue Ji, nor did she possess the charm that was carved into Xue Ji's very bones.

Her beauty was constructed, built up with powder and highlighted by her clothes.

Standing before Xue Ji, she would be like a painted village hen.

She walked up to the Second Prince and knelt down, keeping her head lowered, not daring to look at him. "This humble woman, Li, greets Your Highness." Her voice was trembling, whether from nervousness or fear, it was unclear.

The Second Prince did not speak.

He watched her, his gaze sliding from the top of her head to her face, from her face to her neck, and from her neck to her chest.

The neckline of her gown was very low, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin. Her chest was full, straining against the fabric.

Her waist was slender, a mere handful. Her hips were rounded, and as she sat on her heels, her gown pulled tight, outlining an alluring curve.

Her legs were long; as she knelt there, the gown fanned out, revealing a portion of her lower leg—fair, smooth, and without a single blemish.

The Second Prince's gaze lingered on her for a few moments, then he raised his hand and gave a light wave. An invisible force lifted Li's body, pulling her up from the floor and bringing her before him.

She hovered in mid-air, her gown lifted by the wind, revealing even more skin.

Her face flushed, whether from shyness or fear, it was unclear.

She bit her lip, not daring to look at the Second Prince.

The Second Prince reached out, grabbed her collar, and tore it violently. The gown ripped from the neckline down to her waist, revealing the red undergarment underneath.

Li let out a cry of alarm, instinctively covering her chest with her hands. The Second Prince did not stop; he tore again, ripping the undergarment off as well.

Li's body was completely exposed before him—fair, full, and delicately curved.

She stopped covering herself, her hands falling to her sides, her head lowered, her face flushed with red.

The Second Prince pulled her into his embrace, one hand wrapping around her waist, the other wandering over her body.

Li's body trembled slightly, her breathing grew rapid, and low moans escaped her lips.

The Second Prince lowered his head, kissed her mouth, pried open her teeth with his tongue, and probed inside.

Li's hands wrapped around his neck, and she pressed her body against him.

The candlelight flickered, casting the shadows of the two figures intertwined together.

Sounds of moans, gasps, and the creaking of the bed drifted out from behind the curtains, echoing through the empty bedchamber.

The guards outside the door kept their heads bowed, eyes straight ahead, pretending to hear nothing.

Li Shan stood in the shadows in the distance, listening to those sounds, the corners of his mouth slowly curling upward.

His silhouette slowly faded into the night, like a drop of ink falling into water, vanishing from sight.

Thousands of miles away, in Qingyao City.

Yun Ming sat by the bed, holding Xue Ji's hand.

The Xue Ji on the bed had completely changed into a different person.

Her face was covered in wrinkles, dense and layered, like crumpled paper.

Her skin was dry and sallow, devoid of any luster, clinging to her bones like a thin shell.

Her hair was gray and sparse, like withered grass in autumn, scattered on the pillow; a few strands had already broken and fallen onto the bedside.

Her eyes were half-open and half-closed, the eyeballs murky and yellow, her pupils dilated and unfocused.

Her lips were chapped and purple, slightly parted, revealing the sparse teeth inside.

Her hands were bony and thin, veins protruding, nails blackened, looking like withered tree branches.

Her entire body was huddled under the quilt, like a candle about to burn out, its flame weak and ready to extinguish at any moment.

Yun Ming held her hand, channeling his Spiritual Qi into her body bit by bit.

The Spiritual Qi traveled along her Meridians, attempting to repair the damaged areas.

But her Meridians were too fragile, as brittle as paper; if the Spiritual Qi used even a little force, they would tear.

He could only compress the Spiritual Qi to the gentlest degree, sending it in strand by strand, as carefully as feeding water to an infant.

The Spiritual Qi entered her Dantian, where the Nascent Soul hung, covered in cracks, dim and gray, like a glass bead about to shatter.

Fragments were constantly falling from the surface of the Nascent Soul, dropping into the Dantian and dissolving into nothingness.

With every piece that fell, Xue Ji's aura weakened by a fraction.

Yun Ming's Spiritual Qi enveloped the Nascent Soul, attempting to stabilize it and prevent it from continuing to shatter.

But the cracks continued to spread, as if something was prying it open from the inside, growing wider and deeper.

He could not understand what on earth had happened to make Xue Ji turn into this state.

Yesterday, she was still perfectly fine, sitting beside him, listening to him tell stories.

She was still laughing, still making trouble, still acting spoiled.

Overnight, she had become like this.

The door was pushed open.

Shen Yizhi walked in.

He walked to the bedside, glanced at Xue Ji on the bed, frowned slightly, then withdrew his gaze and looked at Yun Ming.

"I know what happened."