"Bang!"

The blood phoenix exploded when it was only three inches away from Jiuchen's eyebrows.

The splattering blood suddenly solidified in the air, and each drop reflected Jiuchen's terrified face.

A wrinkled hand slowly withdrew, and the "Xu Zhen" standing in front of Jiuchen began to tear his own skin.

The human skin mask was peeled off inch by inch, revealing the face underneath that Jiuchen was very familiar with.

"Ah...Ali?" Jiuchen's voice was trembling so much that it was almost inaudible. She staggered back three steps, "This is impossible..."

She suddenly turned her head to look at "Ali" who was lying on the ground not far away, only to see that the face was twisting and changing, and finally turned into Xu Zhen's old face.

He seemed to have lost all his life force and was no longer breathing.

"Surprised?"

Ali threw the human skin mask on the ground, making a crisp "pop" sound.

The mask bounced twice on the ground, revealing densely packed runes on the inside.

Ah Li walked forward slowly, "You think... you can control everything by using my apprentice to monitor me?"

Jiuchen stumbled backward, and her red skirt was caught on her own.

Her eyes kept moving between Ali and Xu Zhen's body on the ground, "Impossible... I saw you with my own eyes..."

"Watching 'Ali's' soul being sucked out?"

Ali suddenly laughed, "That was just a good show I put on using Xu Zhen."

Jiuchen's lips trembled, "Ryan! Shi Zhengfeng!"

She tried to call for help, but found that they stood there with empty eyes, obviously under control.

A-Li sneered, "Five hundred years, Senior Sister. Do you think everyone is your pawn?"

He raised his eyes, his gaze like a knife, "It's a pity you forgot that the person who knows you best... is me."

"You...what do you mean?" Jiuchen's voice began to tremble.

Ali took slow steps forward, and each step made Jiuchen unconsciously step back.

"Two years after your death, on New Year's Eve, I slaughtered all 213 members of the Shi family. The government hunted me for three months, and I was shot by seventeen arrows. I survived by hiding in a cave and eating rats."

"A year later, I returned to the Imperial City in disguise, intending to assassinate the Imperial Master and General Han."

Ali's eyes grew dark. "I was hiding in General Han's mansion and heard him and the deputy general talking about what happened back then. It turns out you killed those ninety-nine villagers and my sister yourself."

Jiuchen's face turned pale instantly.

Ali continued: "I could have exposed you, but I wanted to see..."

The corners of his mouth curled up cruelly, "When you are resurrected, what expression will you have when you know the truth?"

"What's the truth?" Jiuchen's voice was filled with fear.

A-Li suddenly chuckled: "If you wait one more day, you will see Shi Yue, who has resigned from the position of Imperial Master, coming to you with a marriage certificate."

Jiuchen's eyes widened, "You... are talking nonsense!"

Ali pulled out a piece of burnt silk from his sleeve and said, "This is the marriage certificate written on the golden silk given by the emperor."

Jiuchen took it and saw that it said:

[I, Shi Yue, wish to marry Jiuchen. The seal of the Imperial Master is also stamped below.]

Ali continued, "The Imperial Master never truly abandoned you. For those three years, he would stand on the cliff outside Xingyu Village on the fifteenth of every month."

"In the spring of the first year, he planted the camellias you loved in the Imperial Master's Mansion, but he didn't dare to send them to you. During the Mid-Autumn Festival of the second year, he personally made mooncakes with lotus seed paste that you loved, but he ended up feeding them to the dog."

"The most ridiculous thing is that when he heard the news about you practicing the formation on a living person, he was choosing a betrothal gift for you."

Ali's voice suddenly softened. "After you died, his hair turned white overnight. The next day, he was ordained as a monk in a temple, becoming a sweeping monk. Until the day he passed away, he was still clutching the prescription you wrote for his health."

Jiuchen staggered and knelt on the ground, his fingertips deeply embedded in his palms, blood dripping through his fingers.

"You're lying..." Her voice was hoarse, as if squeezed out of her throat, "This is impossible..."

Ali slowly squatted down and looked at her at eye level, with pain surging in his eyes.

"Senior Sister, do you know that when I realized you never loved me, and that those gentle looks and sweet promises were just to use me... the pain I felt was a hundred times more intense than what you're feeling right now."

Jiuchen's pupils suddenly contracted, his lips trembled but he couldn't utter a word to refute.

Ali continued, "For five hundred years, I've wondered every day, when you touched my face and said 'I like you', were you laughing at my stupidity in your heart?"

"Then why didn't you tell me earlier!"

Jiuchen suddenly jumped up, his five fingers forming claws and going straight for Ali's throat.

Ali easily grabbed her wrist with such force that it almost crushed her bones.

"Because on the day you are resurrected, I want you to hear with your own ears that you hate the wrong person. You have already received all of Shi Yue's love. Your five hundred years of revenge plan is a joke."

Jiuchen's whole body began to tremble violently, and the blood color in his eyes gradually faded, revealing the most primitive confusion and pain.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, only big tears rolled down.

"No..." She shook her head like a lost child, "It's not like that..."

A trace of pity flashed in Ali's eyes, and then returned to its coldness, "Now, it's time to end."

A blinding white light suddenly appeared in his palm, and Jiuchen's body began to fall apart.

The resentment that had plagued her for five hundred years was peeled away bit by bit, revealing the purest essence of her soul.

"A-Li..." Jiuchen finally said sincerely, "I'm sorry..."

Her soul turned into a point of light and sank into the Jiuchen Bracelet.

The entire banquet hall was in deathly silence, and the guests had already fallen unconscious.

Shi Heng's parents, grandmother, Shi Yining, and Lina all had pale faces, their lips an unnatural bluish-purple color, and the faint rise and fall of their chests showed that they were still struggling on the brink of life and death.

"The soul-devouring incense is corroding their souls."

A-Li kicked Shi Zhengyang's unconscious arm with the tip of his shoe. "It can only last three minutes at most. Shi Heng, now it's your turn to choose."

He grabbed Gu Youran's wrist and dragged her to him. "Save these ants... or take your bride away?"

"three."

Ali's voice echoed in the silent banquet hall.

The guests on the ground twitched at the same time, and dark red blood oozed from the corners of their mouths.

"two."

Their skin turned gray at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if their vitality was being drained away by some invisible force.

"one."

"I'll save them!" Shi Heng's roar almost tore his throat.

Ali suddenly burst into laughter, with a crazy sense of joy in his laughter.

"You'er, did you hear that?" He pinched Gu Youran's chin, forcing her to look up. "Just like five hundred years ago..."

Gu Youran's nails dug deep into her palms, and blood dripped down the snow-white wedding dress.

"very good."

Ali put a dagger that shone with a cold light into her hand and whispered in a voice as soft as a venomous snake, "Now, pierce his heart and I will detoxify them."