Chapter 22 The Southern Frontier Holy Son Obsessed with Gu Poison 22

“Xie Rong, Liu Zhanyi told me before he died that you are the true Holy Son of Southern Xinjiang,” Jin Jiuzhou said. “He left Southern Xinjiang two years ago just to make you happy. He said that you were always unhappy in Southern Xinjiang because of your mother.”

Xie Rong looked puzzled.

He was unhappy in the southern border region because the main storyline was still a long way off, he was bored, and he wanted to torment the protagonist.

As for Liu Zhanyi, he was someone outside the plot, so he naturally couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him.

"The Valley of Mysteries has been repaired. Let's go back and take a look."

"What's so interesting about it?" Xie Rong's eyes crinkled, and she smiled maliciously. "Do you miss that place?"

These men are just despicable; they still can't forget the places where they suffered.

Jin Jiuzhou remained silent.

"Let's talk about it after you've recovered," Lu Yi stepped forward and held Xie Rong's hand tightly. "Xie Rong, nothing is more important than your health."

Xie Rong shook off his hand, "My illness is incurable, I don't want to be treated anymore."

Knowing it was a system, why did he still drink that bitter medicine? Wasn't that just torturing himself?

Xie Rong was extremely annoyed and kicked the two impatient men out.

At first, Lu Yi thought he was just throwing a tantrum again, but Xie Rong not only refused to take his medicine, he also refused to eat.

Xie Rong really wanted to die, and in just one day, he could no longer see clearly.

He got up in the middle of the night, and although the room was clearly filled with candles, he stumbled and fell to the ground in the dark, all because he wanted to go and see the nest of snake worms that he had been raising in the cellar.

Lu Yi silently carried the person back to the bed and closed his eyes in pain.

[Protagonist's Pain Level +5]

"I'm going to die, why are you so sad?" Xie Rong asked curiously. "Why?"

"Xie Rong," Lu Yi hugged him, his voice trembling and hoarse, "I love you, don't you really know?"

"I know," Xie Rong said softly, without a trace of sadness, even a hint of excitement, "but what is 'liking'? You understand it yourself, don't you? Why should I understand? If I understood, wouldn't I suffer just like you?"

Lu Yi looked at him and smiled bitterly: "Yes, it's enough that I understand it myself."

His suffering is enough.

"If you like the pain I cause you, could you suffer even a little bit more?" Xie Rong glanced at the pain level on the system panel. "I need just a little bit more."

"..."

Lu Yi smiled slightly. "Okay."

[Congratulations, host! The protagonist's pain level is full. The countdown will end and the protagonist will leave this world immediately.]

"Why are you being so obedient?" Xie Rong patted his head. "Then can you do one more thing for me?"

Two days later, an inconspicuous carriage stopped at the south gate of the palace.

Inside the carriage, Xie Rong was wearing a cloak, with only his pale arms showing, tightly clutching a large pottery jar.

The jar contained baby snakes that had been raised in Bishan Village for the past six months, and even Lu Yi wouldn't allow them to touch them.

"We've arrived?" Xie Rong pricked up one ear.

“Hmm,” Lu Yi picked him up and jumped off the carriage.

Now that the palace is completely under the emperor's control, assuming that Lu Yi has returned to the palace to continue serving, he immediately sent people to pick him up.

Lu Yi refused. If Xie Rong hadn't insisted on coming to the palace, he would have preferred to stay in Bishan Village for the rest of his life.

It was the dead of night, and all the lights in the palace were out.

The once-popular Cining Palace is now deserted. Even when the masters inside cover their faces and scream and curse, the guards outside remain indifferent and unmoved.

A tall figure draped in a cloak stopped in front of the Cining Palace. The guards glanced at the feathered token at his waist and then silently opened the door for him.

Everyone in the palace knows that the commander who has returned to the palace to assume his new post has brought back a young boy. If anyone dares to glance at him, this once-straightforward commander will, like a lion being eyed by its mate, use his fists to warn and severely punish the man who is peeking, completely disregarding the rules of the palace.

Xie Rong, his steps weak, slowly crossed the threshold while clutching the large pottery jar in his arms.

The palace doors closed again. He slowly curled the corners of his mouth, quickened his pace, and finally saw the Empress Dowager by the bedside.

The Empress Dowager's white hair was disheveled, and no palace servants were there to comb it for her. Hearing the footsteps, she didn't even raise her head and angrily rebuked, "Which palace servant is so ignorant of the rules!"

The next instant, she was viciously grabbed by the neck by a pair of delicate hands.

The other party was determined to kill her!

"Didn't you want to find the Holy Son of Southern Xinjiang? Now that I've come to find you, why aren't you happy?" Xie Rong said softly.

The Empress Dowager's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to let out a strained cry.

"Old man, go and be buried with my snake baby!" Under the cloak, Xie Rong's cheeks were flushed with excitement, and his fingers tightened their grip. "Dare to touch my child, I'll strangle you to death, and that would be too lenient for you!"

The Empress Dowager rolled her eyes, her struggles gradually weakened, and finally she lost all life.

It is truly lamentable that she, who ruled from behind the curtain for ten years, died at the hands of a young man who had no reputation whatsoever in Shangyunjing.

Xie Rong shook her off, knelt on the ground, clutched her stomach and laughed, laughing louder and louder until she couldn't stop.

[Host, please note that there are ten minutes left in the countdown.]

Xie Rong stopped laughing, expressionless, and knocked over the candlestick by the bedside, the flames licking wildly at every corner of Cining Palace.

[Host, what are you doing?] The system asked, puzzled.

"Can't I decide how I die?" The fire was about to engulf him, but Xie Rong smiled and rubbed his cheek against the pottery jar in his arms.

His snake poison and his medicine slaves will all die with him!

"Xie Rong!" The man had just finished dealing with the emperor in the imperial study and turned back to look for Xie Rong, only to see the Cining Palace engulfed in flames. Ignoring the guards outside who were trying to stop him, he rushed into the fire and picked up Xie Rong.

Unexpectedly, Xie Rong experienced a sudden burst of energy and regained his strength, clinging tightly to the pillar beside him and refusing to leave.

“I set the fire myself,” Xie Rong raised an eyebrow at him maliciously, coughing incessantly from the thick smoke. “To tell you the truth, the Gu poison of those idiots in Shangyunjing has not been cured at all. When I die, I will take them down with me.”

"All of you will die with me," Xie Rong said with a grin, though he was still struggling to breathe.

He waited quietly for the man to get angry, for the man to tear off his mask, for the man to rebuke his wickedness.

[Attention, host, there are 10 seconds left until the countdown ends.]

Ten, nine, eight...

Lu Yi still showed no anger, but simply hugged him and murmured, "I'll stay with you, as long as I'm okay?"

[Seven, Six, Five...]

Xie Rong closed her eyes, leaning against Lu Yi's chest. Her pupils gradually dilated, her eyelids turning a deep, blood-red hue. She gripped Lu Yi's clothes tightly, laughing maniacally, "I want you all... to die with me... Why... Why only me..."

[IV. III. ...]

Lu Yi closed his eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "Actually, I've always wanted to ask you, when you look at me, is the hatred in your eyes directed at me, or is it through me to someone else?"

"If it were someone else, would they treat you very badly?"

"If it were me, if my suffering could ease your suffering..."

In this life and in all future lives, I will cherish it all.

[…II. I.]

[Warning! Warning! The protagonist is dying, and the world is about to collapse.]

[Successfully detached from the world.]

[Soul fragment successfully captured.]