Chapter 43, Forty-Third Calculation
In the damp and dark secret chamber, Zhu Huantang was suspended in the center of the chamber by six iron chains as thick as his arms. To prevent him from escaping, two more iron hooks were added to his collarbone.
Zhu Huantang slowly woke up and vaguely saw Jiang Linzhi fiddling with bottles and jars on the side of the secret room.
Jiang Linzhi heard him wake up, walked over and brought the dark blue liquid in her hand to his lips, feeding him to drink it, and asked with concern, "Are you feeling better?"
Lu Huantang finally regained consciousness. The unknown liquid had already slithered into his body like a snake, and the belated realization filled him with panic and unease. The moment he struggled, the iron hook on his shoulder scraped against his lung, causing him excruciating pain, veins bulging, and blood flowing from his nose. He tried to circulate his qi, but his acupoints were sealed, and he couldn't lift anything.
Jiang Linzhi crossed his arms and laughed, "Don't move, what if you get hurt?"
Zhu Huantang frowned as he looked at Jiang Linzhi and asked, "Did Lord Zhang and the others hurt you? Did he lock us up here?"
Jiang Linzhi wiped the blood from Zhu Huantang's face, and after a long while, he said softly, "That kind of trash could hurt me? I told you to leave, but you wouldn't, so I locked you up here. It's just the two of us here, are you happy?"
The rare tenderness now seemed strange to Zhu Huantang. How could Jiang Linzhi's meager witchcraft possibly defeat the crossbow formation? What did Jiang Linzhi mean by that?
There are many people in the Wu tribe who are skilled in disguise and illusion, but their eyes and demeanor are not Jiang Linzhi's. Could this person not be Jiang Linzhi?
Thinking of this, Zhu Huantang, fearing for Jiang Linzhi's safety, disregarded his pain and lunged forward, trying to grab the woman in front of him, angrily saying, "You're not Jiang Linzhi, what did you do to her?"
Seeing the blood gushing from Zhu Huantang's collarbone, Jiang Linzhi quickly grabbed a handkerchief to stop it and laughed, "You like Jiang Linzhi so much? I am her, no, I should say she is an actress I played."
Zhu Huantang was shocked and couldn't say a word.
Looking at Zhu Huantang's shocked expression, Jiang Linzhi said, "If you were to look through the list of officials in the Ministry of Personnel, you would know that Jiang Linzhi is the name bestowed by the Emperor of Sui upon the Regent's mother, Lady Jiang. It is also thanks to the fact that people in the world are unwilling to let a woman become famous. Even if she does become famous, it is always by various nicknames, never her full name. So I am just an unknown nobody living under her name, borrowing this name."
Seeing Zhu Huantang's incredulous expression, Jiang Linzhi continued, "I was originally an assassin raised by a small tribe. I was born bloodthirsty and highly skilled in martial arts, so they used me to conquer a lot of territory. When the Jiang family quelled the rebellion, the tribe sold me out, but Jiang Linzhi took me in and taught me everything. To repay her kindness, I risked my life to find the Crimson Flower for the Sui Kingdom and then guarded the border, killing countless Wu Kingdom soldiers. Everyone likes me and respects me."
"Is this the Zhu Yan you brought back?" It turns out she was the source of all the disasters.
At this crucial point, Jiang Linzhi became somewhat agitated, "Of course, it wasn't me, and no one else had that ability either. I know that everyone in your Wu Kingdom wants to kill her, but if Zhu Yan were in Wu Kingdom, wouldn't you all be doing the same thing as us?"
Jiang Linzhi touched her back with her hand and sneered, "Those Sui people who didn't get a share of the spoils also wanted to kill me. They formed a suicide squad specifically to kill me. When I got tired of killing, a dagger pierced my back. Instinctively, I retaliated with a slash. By the time I saw it, I had already severed half of Jiang Linzhi's neck. I was betrayed by Jiang Linzhi. What's the difference between her and those who hired me to kill? Just wearing a mask of morality!"
Jiang Linzhi's eyes were filled with tears and hatred. She slightly raised her chin, like a proud lion, took a deep breath, forced back her tears, and continued, "She took advantage of my momentary lapse in concentration to sever my meridians and cast a curse on me, binding me to my own mistakes for all eternity. If I die, Zhu Yan will die. Disgusting! How utterly disgusting! I hate that thing to death. Now that it's bound to me, Jiang Linzhi is truly vicious!"
“But there will always be people who don’t get a share of the benefits and will rebel. There will always be people who come to kill me. So the royal family found someone to kill the soldiers who knew the truth back then, and let the royal family who knew the truth protect me.”
Jiang Linzhi was completely absorbed in her story, alternating between crying and laughing, gesticulating wildly like a madwoman. "Later, the powerful families of your Wu Kingdom, for profit, agreed to send some capable but disobedient individuals every year to ensure the long-term success of the snuff bottle trade, on the condition that the smugglers secretly give them the white medicine." Jiang Linzhi took out the Xia family's secret letter and held it up in front of Zhu Huantang. "It was a highly profitable deal, so the royal family of Sui Kingdom naturally agreed. They were just worried about having no one to amuse me, so they gave me the list. Including you, there are already sixty-two people."
With the written agreement in black and white, plus the private seals of the three great families of Wu, there was no way to refute it.
Jiang Linzhi gently stroked Zhu Huantang's face, his movements tender and affectionate, but his eyes were devoid of any emotion. He said, "I treat everyone with sincerity, but they don't trust me. It wasn't me who killed them, but their suspicion and manipulation of me. I've given you countless chances, so many times. If you hadn't lied to me, I would have given you my life, but what was the result?"
Jiang Linzhi's eyes were as cold as a deep pool: "You're all the same."
Seeing that Zhu Huantang remained unmoved, Jiang Linzhi took a step back and revealed another trump card, "Some of your predecessors were stunned after hearing what I said, but you are indeed different."
"However, I heard you're still looking for your master?" Jiang Linzhi stabbed this trump card deep into his heart.
Sure enough, Zhu Huantang's pupils contracted slightly, and he asked in a deep voice, "Where is he?"
Jiang Linzhi smiled and said, "I've lived this long thanks to your master for keeping me company. Don't worry, he won't die. As long as you make me happy, I can let you see him." After saying that, he turned and left, ignoring Zhu Huantang's questioning.
Zhu Huantang still doesn't know what Jiang Linzhi is trying to do. He's tried to provoke her, tried to feign deep affection, even tried to commit suicide, but she always heals him with a smile. That smile is like a mask on her face, so much so that he can't tell the difference between reality and illusion now.
She would also feed Zhu Huantang strange potions every day, which would cause him excruciating headaches, making him feel like his meridians were about to burst. Whenever he couldn't take it anymore, Jiang Linzhi would throw him into ice water to "help" relieve his pain and, incidentally, torture him.
The luminous pearl in the secret room shone all day long. After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Linzhi removed the iron chains from Zhu Huantang's body and put a lion chain around his neck.
Such humiliation wasn't great, but being imprisoned with no clear direction for what would happen next was unbearable for Zhu Huantang. He arrogantly raised his chin and provocatively said, "Hey, is that all you've got?"
Using an obvious provocation, Jiang Linzhi casually cast a spell, instantly healing the blood hole on his collarbone. She said, "How could I bear to? You're the most interesting one among them." Jiang Linzhi kissed his cheek like a lovestruck young girl, making Zhu Huantang feel uncomfortable all over. "I brought you a gift."
Jiang Linzhi clapped his hands, and a person covered in silver needles appeared at the entrance of the secret chamber. His joints seemed inflexible, and he walked straight forward.
More than ten years had passed since they last met, yet Fan Qi's appearance remained unchanged, exactly as Zhu Huantang remembered her from his childhood.
This was the best person to Zhu Huantang, the one who would carve a wooden sword for him even when he was strict, the one who would stay with him all night when he had a fever, the one who would teach him how to roast snakes and rabbits in the wild. Thinking of this, Zhu Huantang's eyes reddened, and he roared, "Kill me! Let him go!"
Fan Qi walked up to Jiang Linzhi and stopped. His eyes, like glass beads, stared blankly at Zhu Huantang, devoid of any emotion—he no longer recognized Zhu Huantang.
Jiang Linzhi stood up and pressed the needle against Fan Qi's body, but Fan Qi felt nothing and stood there blankly. Jiang Linzhi said, "Let him go? He's the one who won't let me go. For Jiang Linzhi, he abandoned the Wu Kingdom, became a prisoner of war, a deserter, and was willing to be a nameless guard by her side. Whenever he's lucid, he shouts and threatens to kill me. It's better to be quiet like this."
Zhu Huantang asked, "Where is Master's son?"
Jiang Linzhi shrugged, thinking to himself that Fan Qi, that old scoundrel, had no scruples and told Zhu Huantang everything.
"You really know a lot about this. No wonder you joined Jiang Jinyi's faction. If you take his head back, not only will you be able to crush the Marquis of Wanhu, but you can also trample the three great clans under your feet. How about I let you go? If you kill him, I'll let you go. What do you say?" Jiang Linzhi suddenly became playful and waited patiently for Zhu Huantang's reaction.
"If you want me dead, you can kill me. With my current abilities, I can't kill him." Zhu Huantang couldn't hide her anger. Even the face that had been putting on a show just now completely collapsed, simply because she held Fan Qi's life in her hands.
"So you agree?" Jiang Linzhi danced with joy like a child who had just received a toy. "I'll let you go once your martial arts surpass Jiang Jinyi's. Don't disappoint me this time!"
Then she turned to Fan Qi and said, "Bring all the martial arts manuals over to your precious disciple so he can practice them."
It would be good if we could get out; once we're out, there's a glimmer of hope.
Jiang Linzhi hasn't been to the secret chamber since then, and Fan Qi has taken over, taking care of Zhu Huantang there. Zhu Huantang tried to remove the silver needles from his body, but Fan Qi pushed his hand away. Zhu Huantang asked him how he had been all these years, but Fan Qi didn't understand and didn't answer.
Jiang Linzhi is indeed pitiful, but he stepped into the wicked world and his identity was discovered by her. He was toyed with like a mouse for four years. Isn't he pitiful? He could have ruled a region, but he was ostracized and plotted against by powerful families and imprisoned. Isn't he pitiful? He only ever loved one person, but she used her weakness against him, leading to his current predicament. Isn't he pitiful?
His grief and anger transformed into a series of palm strikes, relentlessly pounding the stone door of the secret chamber, leaving it completely unmoved except for a speck of dust. Zhu Huantang, however, was undeterred. He practiced his martial arts relentlessly; only through training could he hope to escape. He vowed to kidnap Jiang Linzhi and build her a similar secret chamber, repaying her for everything she had done to him!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
