Chapter 172 Control: Even in death, she would be bound to him. ...
After those hands covered my mouth, the shameful and embarrassing sounds outside finally disappeared, along with the clamor in my heart.
Wen Yizhan stared blankly at the head in his arms; at this moment, his world consisted only of the person in front of him.
What are you doing?
A pale face suddenly appeared in the room, and Xiaoyun asked, puzzled.
Wen Yizhan immediately woke up, and Jiang Yuhuo also heard the clear question and quickly covered Xiaoyun's mouth.
In her haste, Jiang Yuhuo only remembered that ghosts have no physical form after her hand passed right across Xiaoyun's face. She made a shushing gesture, and Xiaoyun obediently shut her mouth.
Her voice wasn't loud, and it was squeezed into such a narrow hole, so it shouldn't have been easy for someone outside to hear it. But Li Shichuan's cultivation was profound, so it was hard to guarantee that he wouldn't notice.
The two people and the ghost huddled in the cave, listening to the sounds outside. The two people outside were engrossed in their lovemaking and did not notice the noise coming from the corner.
Li Yanluo's voice echoed in the tomb chamber, her breath coming in short gasps and carrying a sweet, charming laugh, "Open your eyes, brother. Look at my face, look at your own sister, look at the mess you've made as her brother. Open your eyes and look at this room full of ancestral portraits. This isn't a nightmare, it's real. Your brother is inside me."
A low, suppressed growl, like that of a wild beast, rang out, followed by a long, drawn-out sigh from Li Yanluo.
“My dear brother, isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? Your sister has granted your wish, so why are you sad and shedding tears? You said we are the closest people in the world.” Li Yanluo giggled, her pleasant yet eerie laughter echoing like silver bells throughout the tomb. “We did the most intimate thing in the world in front of all the ancestors of the Li family.”
The laughter abruptly stopped, replaced by a seductive voice tinged with hatred. "Hehehe... Ha, what a coward! You didn't even have the courage to open your eyes and look at me. For so many years, you kept me trapped by your side, forbidding me from marrying anyone else, finding others to be my substitutes. Didn't you ever think this day would come? Did you think that if you closed your eyes and ignored everything, the gossip would disappear? Did you think that as long as you didn't go all the way, we would still be pure siblings? How ridiculous. Were you happy? Were you in pain? This is how you've made me all these years."
"And I've had enough!"
By the end, Li Yanluo almost screamed.
Those sharp questions sent chills down Jiang Yuhuo's spine. She glanced at Wen Yizhan silently; his expression was calm, as if he didn't care at all.
There was no sound from Li Shichuan inside the tomb. If Jiang Yuhuo were to peer out of the cave, he would see that the man in black robes lying on the coffin bed was covered in silk threads. The transparent silk threads were like needles piercing into Li Shichuan's body, and the other end of the silk threads was held in a pair of soft, fair hands.
Li Yanluo sat on Li Shichuan's lap, and with a flick of her slender fingers, the hand that had been gripping her waist loosened. Instead of getting up, Li Yanluo leaned down and placed her hands on Li Shichuan's neck. "Brother, why don't you use your own reasons to explain yourself?"
"Oh, I forgot, you can't speak right now." Li Yanluo chuckled, flicking her fingers to pull out a few threads that were stuck to Li Shichuan's lips.
Li Shichuan's lips twitched, but he could only utter indistinct sounds, "...Yanluo, untie me..."
“Undo? I’ve been using this puppet technique on you for years. Whenever I feel like I can’t take it anymore, I’ll plant another layer on top of you, layer upon layer. I can’t undo it.” She continued to mutter to herself, “At first, I wanted your gaze to stay on me. I hate those who steal your attention. I hate Gongsun Chan, and I hate Wen Ruoxin even more. But you always have to deal with them. I wanted to use the puppet technique to control you.”
"But later I discovered that I was the one being controlled. Anyone I had even the slightest affection for would be immediately sent away, the arranged marriages would never happen, and the outside world was full of dangers... Only by my brother's side was I safe. You made me have to depend on you to live, and you made me fall in love with you. In such an environment, what other path could I take besides loving you? I could only endure the discomfort while convincing myself to fall in love with my brother."
“When I was thirteen, I wanted to go to Kunlun to learn swordsmanship. I can still remember the way that Kunlun cultivator wielded his sword to kill the demonic beast when he passed through Yanling. But you said that I could learn at home, that you could teach me anything at home. You knew that the swordsmanship of aristocratic families was no match for that of Kunlun Mountain, but you were afraid, afraid that I would have someone else on my mind after I left home.”
As if remembering something, Li Yanluo's soft gaze suddenly turned cold and sharp. "The day Gongsun Chan came to kill me, she used the magic she learned in Tianque. When she beat me so badly that I could only lie on the ground begging you to come quickly, you have no idea how much I hated her! I don't hate that she is your wife, I hate that she has had several more years of freedom than me, I hate that she has experienced a world that I can't see!"
“I should have blocked her with my sword.” Li Yanluo tightened the silk threads in her hands, twisting the person beneath her until he was covered in blood. “You ruined me, brother.”
"So, I will destroy you too. In front of the ancestral statues filling the room, I will shatter your last mask, and in front of the family you value most, I will tear open the deformed and ugly heart beneath your skin."
Li Shichuan closed his eyes in anguish, tears streaming down his face, sobbing incoherently, "I'm sorry... A'Luo, I'm so sorry..."
Li Yanluo's hand caressed the handsome face beneath her, a face that resembled her own. Tears soaked her fingers, and she wiped them on Li Shichuan's lips, letting him taste her bitterness. "You've wronged more than just me. Did you really hide Wen Ruoxin here? Then you should apologize to her too. I was originally going to find her first and destroy her soul. I love you, how could I allow you to leave room for another woman? But you came so quickly, I had no choice but to deal with you first... I know you've actually fallen for her a little. As you wish, I won't destroy her, I'll only destroy you, okay?"
Li Yanluo whispered in his ear, as if speaking sweet nothings, but her hands were tightening the silk threads inch by inch, "Let's die here together... Brother, A'Luo doesn't want to go to the Netherworld alone. You love me so much, you'll come with me, won't you? Let's go to the Netherworld and be husband and wife. We've done everything, we're truly husband and wife now..."
"No..." The silk threads burrowed into Li Shichuan's mouth again, allowing him only to utter whimpers. He struggled desperately, but the thousands of silk threads attached to his body tightened more and more, until blood blossomed on his body. When the threads around his heart and forehead burst, he would die completely. At the same time, Li Yanluo wrapped some of the silk threads around her neck, and the threads that had burst inside Li Shichuan's body pierced her neck.
Even in death, she would stay bound to him.
Blood ties, threads... she and Li Shichuan can never be separated.
Realizing something was wrong outside the cave, Jiang Yuhuo rushed out without thinking, but she was still a step too late.
On the coffin platform, Li Yanluo's neck was arched high, her body arched backward, as if frozen in the most unrestrained moment of pleasure. But a hole had been blown around her long, snow-white neck, and her lower body was covered in blood. Li Shichuan was even more gruesome, his entire body blown into a bloody mess, with hardly a patch of unblemished flesh. His disheveled clothes were soaked in blood, a thousand threads intertwined, turning the room's enchanting atmosphere into a scene of carnage.
Jiang Yuhuo sent his spiritual energy into Li Yanluo's body. The healing power of the mermaid pearl forcefully brought the already lifeless body back to life. Although he didn't know how long it would last, as long as it was enough for her to find out the truth, that was fine.
Li Yanluo opened her eyes a crack and saw the person who had suddenly appeared in the tomb. She no longer had the strength to be angry, and could only say with difficulty, "It's you..."
Jiang Yuhuo placed his palm against her neck, continuously channeling spiritual energy into her. "Tell me, where did you get your spirit-summoning wood? Also, who were you dealing with in the demon cave that day?"
Li Yanluo didn't see the other person, so her gaze turned to pity. "How pitiful... You knew nothing... Yet you dared to marry into the Li family, cough cough... You're liked by that little madman... You can't escape now, cough... Let's die together, then you won't suffer anymore..."
A transparent thread shot straight towards Jiang Yuhuo's forehead, forcing her to leap away. This slight deviation caused Li Yanluo to lose her protective spiritual energy, and she almost instantly stopped breathing. This time it was absolute death; Jiang Yuhuo watched as her body gradually became transparent.
Li Yanluo did it on purpose; she didn't want to tell her at all, nor did she want to live another moment.
Jiang Yuhuo closed her eyes and took out the spirit-summoning wood. As the black wooden body slowly floated into the air, Jiang Yuhuo's hand holding the sword trembled involuntarily. At the top of the wood was carved a small bird, exactly like the dove-shaped staff that Jia Qianyang had used.
"careful!"
Suddenly, Wen Yizhan's exclamation rang out behind her. Jiang Yuhuo turned around abruptly and saw a blood-red rune flying towards her heart. She quickly summoned a spiritual energy barrier and unleashed her sword intent, pulverizing the rune.
In the direction from which the runes flew, Li Shichuan, his body already mangled and bloodied, sat up from the coffin platform, cradling Li Yanluo's nearly vanished body in his arms, and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "After I finish doing the last thing for the family, I'll come to be with you."
Jiang Yuhuo grabbed the dove-shaped staff. "Her puppetry skills can't kill you?"
Li Shichuan tore off the silk threads binding him and slowly straightened up. His face was expressionless, and even his features were indistinguishable, but his words remained calm: "You're still alive and kicking outside, how can I die?"
Li Yanluo's puppetry not only couldn't kill him, but Li Shichuan was also aware of it when she planted it. He tolerated her revenge, but he never expected her to be so ruthless. The moment Li Yanluo died, the puppet threads all over his body also lost their effectiveness.
But he cannot die yet; he has not yet captured this winged man who has delivered himself to his doorstep.
A golden net-like seal appeared out of thin air on the dome of the main tomb. At the same time, the blood-red runes that Jiang Yuhuo had just shredded quietly turned into blood threads and wrapped around her feet.
Just as Li Shichuan was about to activate the seal, a cold sensation pierced his back.
He turned around and saw Wen Yizhan's gloomy eyes, an expression rarely seen on his face. Li Shichuan had always thought Wen Yizhan was different from them. Now, it seemed there was no difference. Li Yanluo was dead, and he no longer needed to go to great lengths to choose a gentle clan leader for the Li family.
Why won't you let her go?
"I've said it before, she's destined to be used by the Li family." Li Shichuan showed him no mercy, and with two bolts of purple lightning in his palm, he slashed at the person behind him.
"If you refuse to be a member of the Li family, then stay here with her forever."
To everyone's surprise, Wen Yizhan not only did not dodge at all, but even pushed the sword in his hand to stab it in even harder.
The child, born with a sword-like spirit, plunged a sword into his own father's body.
The two bolts of purple lightning were struck by another white rainbow, diverting most of their power away, leaving only a small portion to fall on Wen Yizhan.
As the lightning struck, Li Shichuan saw that Wen Yizhan's shoulder had been pierced, his skin charred and covered in blood. But this usually gentle child had become fierce, ignoring the pain and forcefully pulling out the sword, and thrusting it at his heart again. The spiritual energy gathered at the tip of the sword could turn his heart into dust in an instant.
So, she already hates him to this extent.
Li Shichuan raised his hand, but seeing the white figure behind Wen Yizhan, he hesitated for a moment. In that split second, a tremendous sword aura pierced his heart, pinning him to the tomb wall.
Li Shichuan is dead.
Wen Yizhan collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
The blood threads binding Jiang Yuhuo disappeared, and she landed back on the ground. Without even sheathing her sword, she immediately went to Wen Yizhan's side to heal his wounds.
Someone carried her sword as they approached.
Jiang Yuhuo was about to thank him when he turned around and froze.
"Xiaoyun, why are you crying?"
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