Chapter 263 Resurrection

When Shen Qingci woke up, he felt a splitting headache and his whole body was sore and weak.

She struggled to open her heavy eyelids, only to be met with an unfamiliar, dim light.

This appeared to be an abandoned woodshed, filled with the damp, musty smell and the stench of rotting wood. Her hands and feet were tightly bound to a cold wooden chair with rough hemp rope, rendering her unable to move.

Not far away, a tall figure stood silently by the window with his back to her. He was dressed in black, seemingly blending into the dim night, and exuded a chilling, murderous aura.

Shen Qingci's heart sank suddenly.

She took a slow breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in her heart, and asked in a cold voice, "Who are you?"

"After going to such lengths to kidnap me here, what...do you want?"

The figure slowly turned around.

On his face was a hideous and eerie bronze demon mask, revealing only a pair of unfathomable eyes, like an icy pool, which were staring intently at her.

A strange sense of familiarity flashed through Shen Qingci's mind.

She felt like she had seen those eyes somewhere before.

Just as she was deep in thought, the man raised his hand and slowly removed the mask from his face.

Beneath the mask was a face that she knew all too well!

"Huo Yunzhan?!"

Shen Qingci exclaimed in surprise, her clear phoenix eyes filled with disbelief, shock, and horror!

But as soon as the name left her lips, she immediately denied it.

impossible.

It could never be Huo Yunzhan!

She witnessed Huo Yunzhan's death with her own eyes! From personally plunging the dagger into his chest, to watching him be fatally stabbed by his mother and wife, and finally, watching helplessly as his head fell to the ground on the execution platform!

She checked every single thing.

It was confirmed that it was the real Huo Yunzhan, and that he was completely dead.

How can someone who is already dead be brought back to life?

unless……

Shen Qingci's pupils suddenly contracted!

She stared intently at the man before her, and a thought she had long since ignored began to grow uncontrollably and wildly in her mind—

If... if the person in front of me isn't Huo Yunzhan.

That……

who is he?

Having the same face as Huo Yunzhan, yet not being one of Huo Yunzhan's people, there is only one possibility left in this world!

Shen Qingci's heart skipped a beat!

She looked at him, her voice filled with disbelief and a tentative question: "Huo Yunting...you...you're not dead?"

Upon hearing this, the man finally slowly curled the corners of his lips into a smile.

He laughed, a low, hoarse laugh filled with endless mockery and chilling coldness.

“Sister-in-law,” he looked at her, his eyes filled with complex and indescribable emotions, “you are indeed exceptionally intelligent.”

“No wonder,” he said, his voice tinged with genuine admiration, “that he could single-handedly manipulate the arrogant Huo family, the Liu family, and even… the lofty Emperor Yongming.”

As Shen Qingci looked at him, the raging storm in her heart slowly subsided and calmed down.

She looked at him, a mocking smile playing on her lips: "Likewise."

"Aren't you the same, Lord Marquis?"

"You staged a brilliant escape by faking your death, fooling not only your own brother and your wife, but even Chu Jichen didn't notice a thing."

"If you hadn't shown yourself today, perhaps no one in this world would ever know that the one who truly died on the battlefield was not you, but someone else entirely?"

“What I did,” her voice suddenly turned cold, “was to avenge myself and the hundreds of innocent souls who died unjustly in my Shen family. But in the end, it was also indirectly avenging you, wasn’t it?”

“After all,” her eyes were full of coldness and disdain, “your good brother, for the sake of your title of Marquis of Yongning, did not hesitate to plot to kill you, and then impersonated you to take everything away from you.”

“Even…” a cruel smile curved her lips, “she slept with your wife.”

"And your good wife, after discovering that the person beside her was not you, not only did she not feel the slightest grief, but in order to keep her position as the Lady of the Marquis, she chose to turn a deaf ear and accept what had happened."

“These things,” she looked at him and asked, enunciating each word clearly, “can you tolerate them?”

Upon hearing this, Huo Yunting's expression remained unchanged, but a glint of unfathomable light flashed in his unfathomable eyes.

He did not answer Shen Qingci's question, but instead slowly walked to the window and pushed open the wooden window that was already covered in dust.

The cool moonlight poured in instantly, casting a long, lonely shadow of his tall figure.

Shen Qingci looked at him, her heart filled with endless confusion and vigilance.

Why didn't Huo Yunting die?

What exactly happened on the battlefield in the western frontier?

Why did he choose to appear at this particular time? And why did he go to such lengths to abduct her here?

Was it to avenge Huo Yunzhan? To avenge the Huo family, which had long since fallen apart? Or... was it at Liu Wenyuan's behest?

However, if it is for revenge, judging from the strength he just displayed, neither he himself nor the mysterious force under his command that was able to kidnap her from Yuanbao and Yelan without her noticing should be underestimated.

Since he has the ability, why did he have to wait until now? Until Huo Yunzhan is dead, the Huo family is destroyed, and everything is almost settled?

There must be something fishy about this!

Moreover, after abducting her, he immediately removed his mask and openly revealed his identity to her.

Shen Qingci's mind raced through a thousand thoughts in an instant, and she could only think of two possibilities.

Either he was certain that she... could not possibly leave this place alive today! Only the dead can keep a secret forever.

Either he has enough leverage to make him feel emboldened and simply doesn't bother to hide anything anymore!

Since Huo Yunting was fully aware of everything that happened in the capital, he naturally knew that Chu Jichen was now standing behind her.

He shouldn't be so arrogant as to think that with his limited power, he could contend with the entire Chu Jichen and make her... unable to escape.

So that's... the latter?

Shen Qingci's heart sank suddenly!

She slowly raised her eyes, and in those clear phoenix eyes, there was no longer any trace of the panic from before, only a cold, all-knowing calm.

"What do you want?" she asked bluntly. "You kidnapped me to blackmail Chu Jichen?"

"You told him?" Her voice held a hint of certainty. "What do you want to exchange me for with him?"

Upon hearing this, Huo Yunting finally turned around slowly.

He looked at her and gave her a meaningful smile, a smile that contained no malice but rather full of approval.

“Talking to intelligent people,” he said slowly, gazing at the clear, cold moon outside the window, “is so much easier.”

"good."

He looked at her, nodded slowly, and said in a calm voice, each word like a knife: "I told him."

"Moreover," a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes, "Chu Jichen... he has already arrived."