Chapter 230: In order to find out the truth about Twelve Sister's tragic death, Qingyangzi was brutally tortured.

Zhuiyu: "Of course."

"As you can see, young lady, even though this woman has been tortured like this, she still keeps her mouth shut. Not only that, but she always says the same things. She's quite a tough woman."

Li Qingluo's eyes turned completely cold: "That's because she hasn't reached her deepest fears and pain yet."

Zhuiyu smiled and said, "Yes, but there's no rush. His Highness is about to deliver the most painful blow to her."

"By the way, the Prince said that since you're here today, you should learn how to interrogate people and pry their words out. Look, young lady—"

After saying this, Zhuiyu felt embarrassed for her master.

Your Highness is really something! Who in the world pursues a woman like this?!

Even though I'm inexperienced myself, I still want to keep these thoughts to myself today.

It's only because the girl was naturally compatible with her master and wasn't scared away; otherwise, most girls would have been terrified by the reputation of the Dali Temple, let alone come to this prison to take a look.

Back then, their prince said at the prison gate of the Jinling government office that he would teach people how to torture and interrogate people, but unexpectedly, this day has actually come.

Zhuiyu silently picked his nose in his mind.

Leng Dian and his men emerged from the darkness, each carrying a pair of knives.

Unfolding the leather, one finds a dense array of knives spread out on the floor; a cursory sweep reveals at least fifty knives of varying sizes and shapes.

Sparrow swallowed hard and couldn't help but ask, "Does it mean they'll cut our flesh into pieces and torture us to death?"

Zhuiyu nodded excitedly: "Of course, of course, these young girls have tender skin and are often the easiest to cut."

"The executioners in our Dali Temple are incredibly skilled. They can cut so hard that it's hard to draw blood, and even after a thousand cuts, they can still inflict excruciating pain but not actually kill the person!"

Sparrow's face turned pale.

Li Qingluo said, "That's not right."

She stared at Prince Su and noticed that something was wrong with his expression.

He never intended to actually torture that poisonous woman to death; he must have had other plans...

However, Duan Rongshi did not utter another word until the poisonous woman was tied to the pillar.

The executioner stepped forward and asked, "Your Highness, shall we cut off the face first, or the body?"

If you cut your face, one cut will completely disfigure you.

To cut flesh from her body, one must first remove all her clothes. Regardless of how much flesh is cut, once all the guards in the room have seen it, the woman's chastity is forever lost.

Duan Rongshi, however, propped his chin on his hand and asked the bitter forsythia, "I'm giving you a chance. You can choose for yourself. Do you not want your body, or do you not want your face first?"

Poisonous Woman Ku Lianqiao finally changed her expression, angrily cursing, "Duan Rongshi, you beast! Using such despicable and shameful methods, you might as well have just killed me—"

Leng Dian stepped forward and slapped him across the face.

The blow caused the corner of the bitter forsythia's mouth to split open instantly, and blood flowed out.

"You audacious woman! How dare you address His Highness Prince Su by his name?"

"If you dare to be disrespectful again, the first thing I'll cut off is your tongue!"

Ku Lianqiao glared angrily, but dared not shout again.

Duan Rongshi: "Kill you? Wouldn't killing you be too easy for you?"

"My greatest pleasure in this life is to torment you who deserve to die, to make you suffer unbearable pain, unable to live and unable to rest, until in the end you have to exchange the truth for a chance to be released in order to die."

"So don't worry, I won't let you die."

"First, I'll cut you a hundred times, then hang you bloodied under the bell tower, so that the whole city of Jinling can watch your 'Beauty Bathing in Blood'."

"If you are still not satisfied, I will chop your hands and feet into minced meat and boil them into soup for the person you care about most to drink..."

"Tell me, do you want that stinky Taoist priest Qingyangzi, or your fellow disciples to have a taste?"

Ku Lianqiao's expression changed slightly: "You...you...don't try to scare me! Although not many people in the world know about the relationship between you, Prince Su, and that Taoist priest, I know that the two of you are definitely not just casual acquaintances!"

"You two were close friends when you were young, and after Qingyangzi became a Taoist priest, you often visited that Taoist temple..."

Duan Rongshi: "So you admit that you approached Qingyangzi with ulterior motives from the very beginning?"

"Did you hear that, Qingyangzi?"

"Bring him out."

With a heavy clanking of chains, a man covered in blood and gore was dragged out of a dark corner.

Upon seeing the person's face clearly, the bitter forsythia let out a scream: "Ah—!!!"

Because this person was none other than Qingyangzi, who had been tortured to the point of wishing he were dead.

Qingyangzi's left hand had been stripped of flesh and bone, and even the bones of his entire hand were gone, leaving only a sharp arm bone.

If he still had the strength to lift his arm and commit suicide, it would certainly be a suitable weapon.

But at this moment, he probably didn't even have the strength to commit suicide. He could only hang his head and be dragged out by the jailer like a dead dog and thrown on the ground.

Seeing the once dashing young Taoist priest reduced to this state, Ku Lianqiao could not accept it.

She began to scream at the top of her lungs: "What did you do to him?! Why did this happen?! You lied to me, didn't you? It's all fake, you were just putting on an act for me!!"

"Qingyangzi, get up, get up! You bastard, aren't you one of Prince Su's men? How could you be tortured like this? Did you do this to get revenge on me for that Pei Shierniang?"

Answer me—

However, no matter how much she screamed, Qingyangzi remained motionless on the ground.

Leng Dian stepped forward, grabbed Qing Yangzi's entire head, and exposed his bloodied face.

"Taoist priest, did you hear that?"

"This woman was perfectly aware of everything from beginning to end."

"She knows things that no one else in the world knows, that you and His Highness were once close friends."

"She was certain that you wouldn't suffer much at His Highness's hands."

"But she never considered that you would become this inhuman being in order to protect her, believe in her innocence, and take the blame for her."

"He would rather be a high-ranking, leisurely Taoist priest than fall into the mortal world for such a vixen."

"The Taoist priest is now disregarding the fate of his family, insisting on taking the blame for killing the twelfth daughter of the Pei family for this demoness. Is it really worth it?"

"She's been using you from beginning to end..."

Hearing these words, the bitter forsythia was about to go crazy.

"I...I didn't...I'm not..."

However, Qingyangzi's clear eyes remained fixed on the bitter forsythia.

It was as if he had no regrets about everything he did.

The bitter forsythia shed tears of sorrow.

"Why...why..."

Qingyangzi moved his lips, but when he opened his mouth, it was completely black, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Leng Dian chuckled: "Oh, I forgot. It turns out the Taoist priest's tongue has already been cut off."

"Just a few days ago, it was made into a snack to go with drinks and sent to that witch."

"Is it good? That plate of braised pig's tongue..."

Leng Dian curled his lips into a strange smile, but Ku Lianqiao was so disgusted that she turned her head and vomited.

As she vomited, she murmured bitterly, "I never knew... you were such a responsible man..."

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault..."

Duan Rongshi seemed to have lost all patience.

He suddenly flicked his finger slightly and said coldly, "Make your move."

"Since they're both tough nuts to crack, let's let this ill-fated couple watch how they're tortured."

After saying that, the executioner raised his knife and walked towards the bitter forsythia.

Meanwhile, another person holding a large cleaver pressed Qingyangzi's other hand to the ground.

Ku Lianqiao watched this scene in panic. She kept looking at Qingyangzi and found that he was still gazing at her with affection in his eyes. The bitterness in her heart was overwhelmed by the overwhelming feeling...

Just as the cleaver was about to fall, Ku Lianqiao cried out in alarm, finally stopping it with a shout: "I said—!"

"I said..."

"The poison that Pei Shierniang was given was indeed administered by me!"

"Qingyangzi and I are deeply in love and will soon be married. But just then I learned that he had a fiancée before, and he has never written a letter of annulment."

"I was driven by jealousy, and on top of that, Minister Pei caused a scene at the Taoist temple that day, so I acted impulsively and did this..."

"But Pei Shierniang's death truly has nothing to do with me—"

With tears streaming down her face, Ku Lianqiao revealed the truth, admitting for the first time that she had poisoned the chestnut cake.

However, Prince Su did not entirely believe her.

He moved his fingers slightly, expressionless: "Continue."

As soon as he finished speaking, a cleaver fell, and blood splattered everywhere. Qingyangzi's entire arm was severed.

His eyes widened, and he instantly broke out in a cold sweat, groaning silently with his mouth agape.

Immediately afterwards, he fainted and collapsed to the ground.

Prince Su, clearly impatient, ordered his men to drag him away.

"Tomorrow, we'll continue cutting off legs."

"Until finally turning him into a human pig and soaking him in a water vat, what do you think?"

Prince Su asked about the bitter forsythia.

Ku Lianqiao was nearly driven mad by what she had just witnessed.

"What else do you want to know?! Just ask me—why, why did you have to cripple him—"

"You beast—you're not even human—do you have any feelings, any flesh and blood?!"

"In this world, there is no one who will truly care about you—"

"You're a monstrous demon!!"

"Waaaaah..."

Prince Su: "I can grant him a quick death. But as I said, you must tell the truth."

"If your words satisfy me, perhaps I can grant you two a special favor and allow you to see each other again before you die, considering that you once knew and associated with Qingyangzi."

"Will you tell me, or not?"

When Ku Lianqiao realized that Qingyangzi's suffering was all because of her, she could no longer suppress the guilt and pain in her heart.

She was completely exhausted, and filled with endless sorrow, she replied, "I...I'll tell you everything...that's it..."

Prince Su: "Is Maitreya's poison from your sect?"

Ku Lianqiao nodded bitterly: "No... that's a poison from the Western Regions, of course it has nothing to do with my sect."

Prince Su: "But you know about this poison."

"So, the Maitreya poison that Pei Shierniang took before her death, was it thanks to you?"