Chapter 228 Unruly, He Was Like a Beast
"Ah Jing." Lu Xiaojun brandished her sword, blood dripping from it, her narrow eyes already bloodshot with rage. "Ah Jing, kill him! Kill this dog emperor! Kill him to avenge my sister! Avenge her!"
Cui Jin shook off his black robe, looked up at the sky and roared like a beast with a broken voice. He snatched the sword from the shadow guard with his bare hands. Just when everyone thought he was about to draw his sword and stab Mu You, the sword's edge pierced straight towards Lu Xiaojun. Before Wan Qixi could react, his face suddenly felt hot. He wiped it away in a daze, his palm was covered in blood, and a drop splashed on his lips. Lu Xiaojun licked it with his tongue, sucking the taste of blood, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and saw that Cui Jin's sword had already pierced his flesh.
“Ah Jing…” Lu Xiaojun’s vision went black. The tattoos on Cui Jin’s face became increasingly blurry, the runes disappearing line by line, transforming into the familiar face in his memory—Ah Jing’s face. “Ah Jing…why…”
"Why?" Cui Jin tightened his grip on his wrist, drawing the sword. He stared at the blood gushing from Lu Xiaojun's chest. "A-Jing is dead. She died a long time ago. There is no more A-Jing in this world. I am not called A-Jing. I am called Cui Jin. That was my original name. Young Master Lu, your sister is dead, and A-Jing is dead too."
Lu Xiaojun clutched her chest, her knees buckled, and she collapsed to her knees. Suddenly, she let out a snicker, "Yes, you searched every fishing village for my sister. When you found me, your eyes were filled with only disappointment. That's why you left. No one but my sister could keep you here..."
"Protect the Emperor." Cui Jin lowered his dripping sword, leaned close to Lu Xiaojun's ear, and said, "Little Master, everyone has their own path to walk. You and I have chosen different paths, but the end of the path is the same... Now, success or failure is only a sword's breadth away. Don't blame me."
Lu Xiaojun glared at Cui Jin, her eyes glancing at Ajiu out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed Cui Jin's collar with one hand and said in a hoarse voice, "Do you really think you can do it?"
"There's only one sword left, why can't you do it?" Cui Jin's palm touched Lu Xiaojun's blood-stained hand, pressed down hard, and pulled his hand away. "Young master, may you have a safe journey." Cui Jin suddenly grabbed his neck.
"No!" Guan Ye and Wu Shuang shouted in unison.
"Stop!" Mu Yousha shouted, stopping Cui Jin. "Don't kill him."
Perhaps unable to disobey the emperor's order, or perhaps unwilling to kill the young master he had watched grow up, Cui Jin abruptly stopped.
"Don't kill him." Mu You slowly stood up, supporting himself on the armrest of the chair. "Lu Xiaojun... Lu Xiaojun..." Mu You searched for the image of this child in his memories. "Back then, I told Chaoge that your younger brother was just as talented as you, a rare talent in the world. Chaoge said... you are the treasure of the Lu family, her most beloved younger brother." Mu You pondered for a moment. "Chaoge's beloved younger brother, I... can spare your life."
"Just kill me then." Lu Xiaojun raised her head. "If you can't kill me, I will come back to kill you one day. We are sworn enemies, and we will never be at peace. If my sister were in front of you today, she would have killed you without hesitation."
Mu You sighed, "Why do you do this? The dead are gone, and the living should live on if they can."
"Will they all survive?" Lu Xiaojun raised an eyebrow at the others. "Are you really going to let everyone go?"
"Lu Xiaojun, don't force me." Mu You's eyes suddenly lost all pity, and he became indifferent and heartless again.
Lu Xiaojun scrutinized his ever-changing expression and sneered, "You say you won't kill me, but that's just to maintain your last vestige of hypocrisy and create the illusion of a devoted lover. After all, you keep talking about Chaoge, Chaoge, and you've poured that filthy emotion into Ajiu..." Lu Xiaojun could no longer feel the pain of her wounds and laughed loudly, "Ajiu, do you think that God sent him to your side? Do you think that Ajiu is a keepsake left to you by your sister? Do you think that your sister's spirit in heaven will no longer hold a grudge against you? Do you think that being kind to someone can erase all your sins? Mu You, even if you kill everyone in the hall today, you'll still be nothing but a huge joke."
"Kill him," Mu You gestured to Cui Jin, "and let the siblings be reunited."
Cui Jin lowered his single eye and bent down to pick up the sword from the ground.
"No!" Wushuang threw down the sword box. "Don't kill my uncle!"
Guan Ye's ears were ringing. Wu Shuang said, "Don't kill her uncle." She finally... said it.
With a light tap of her toes, Wushuang's green robe swept across Mu Lexiu's bewildered face, appearing like a ray of light in front of Lu Xiaojun. Unarmed, she faced Cui Jinhan's gleaming sword like an impenetrable suit of armor, declaring, "Whoever tries to kill my uncle, I will kill them."
"You...you said..." Mu You pretended to have misheard, "What is he to you? Lu Xiaojun is your uncle? Then...who are you?"
“Wushuang…” Mu Lexiu’s face turned pale with fear. At this critical moment, Mu Lexiu did not know why he would uncontrollably protect Wushuang. Wushuang was a mysterious woman of unknown origin. He only admired her a little. Was it worth risking his life for her? “Wushuang, how dare you! Are you crazy? Get down…”
Lou Cangyu was so frightened that he stood there dumbfounded. His dry lips moved, but he ultimately dared not utter a sound.
"Who exactly are you?" Mu You asked in a low voice.
Wushuang raised her unruly face and said, "He is my uncle, and I am his niece. Is it hard to figure out who I am?"
“Impossible.” Mu You shook his head. “If you are her, then who is Ajiu? She looks just like Shen Bi. She is the hidden gem that Chaoge left me. Who are you? Why do you call Lu Xiaojun your uncle?”
Cui Jin lowered his sword, his single eye fixed on Wu Shuang's face. This face… he had never examined Wu Shuang's face closely before. He knew very little about her, only that she was a mysterious swordswoman who had descended from the heavens. The world was vast and boundless, and it wasn't unusual for rare and extraordinary people to exist. In their few encounters, he had secretly admired this woman's extraordinary abilities, but he had never thought about it deeply. Now, looking closely, Wu Shuang was extremely beautiful, a beauty that seemed unlike that of a woman who could grow up in the mortal world. It was this extraordinary beauty that made her look unlike Lu Chaoge. Lu Chaoge was as fiery and intense as fire, while Wu Shuang was as cold and aloof as ice and snow.
But... Cui Jin's single eye began to hallucinate from the intense gaze. This face... he seemed to have seen it somewhere before, not in Rongdu, not in the inner quarters... it was... it was... Cui Jin suddenly realized—Canglang Island! He had seen Wushuang on Canglang Island.
"Canglang Island..." Cui Jinbao slid his sword, "You're from there too."
Wushuang also came from Canglang Island? Apart from Guan Ye and Lou Cangyu, everyone else's faces were full of shock. Feng Shisan's resolute body twitched uncontrollably. His big, copper-bell-shaped eyes stared straight at Wushuang's old friend's face, his lips parted as if to speak but then stopped.
"Feng Shisan," Mu You whispered, "Canglang Island...Wu Shuang also came from Canglang Island?"
“Yes…” Feng Shisan responded, then quickly shook his head, “No, she’s not.”
“I’ve seen you before.” Cui Jin’s single eye revealed a complex expression. “I brought the meteorite to the island on a treasure ship, and Pei Yuan led the islanders to welcome me. You were among them.”
Despite his injuries, Feng Shisan gritted his teeth and said, "Grand Preceptor, you've mistaken me for someone else. The person you're talking about is Young Master Pei's personal maid. She's always by Young Master Pei's side. On the day we arrived on the island, Young Master Pei was unable to walk properly and wasn't among the islanders who were welcoming us. So how could Jiang Muyun be among them?"
Mu You's heart skipped a beat, and he murmured the unfamiliar name, "Jiang Muyun... Jiang, Muyun."
Cui Jin glared at Feng Shisan with his one eye, staring at Wushuang's face. He became more and more certain that he had seen her on Canglang Island. It was her, it was her. "Although I am blind in one eye, I will never forget someone I have seen. Wushuang, you were among the islanders by the sea that day. You were wearing a straw raincoat and carrying a shell basket, weren't you?"
"Yes," Wushuang replied. "Everyone was terrified that day, but I hid among them and no one noticed. I never imagined that after so long, the Imperial Preceptor would remember me. Wait..." Wushuang turned to look at someone, "Besides the Imperial Preceptor, there was another person who saw me."
Everyone followed Wushuang's gaze and focused on Guan Ye. "Guan Ye," Wushuang raised an eyebrow, "isn't she?"
Gazing at Wushuang's face, Guan Ye had long guessed that there could be such a similar face in the world. She was Jiang Muyun. Jiang Muyun was not dead. In the Zetian Hall, Wushuang finally admitted everything.
"You call Lu Xiaojun 'uncle'..." Mu You pressed, "And...whose daughter are you?"
"How many older sisters does Lu Xiaojun have?" Wushuang threw a disdainful look at her. "Only Chaoge, whom you mentioned."
A murmur of shock rippled through the crowd. Mu You stumbled back several steps, stammering, "Impossible! You are...you are...my...my..."
Wushuang didn't want to look at Mu You any longer. She tore off a corner of her skirt and pressed it against Lu Xiaojun's bleeding wound. "I'm not an object. I'm not yours, and I'm not anyone else's. My name isn't Jiang Muyun. My name is Wushuang. This is the name I gave myself."
"—You're not dead?" Feng Shisan looked utterly astonished. "Ji Fang and I watched you climb to the top of the Heavenly Furnace with our own eyes..." Feng Shisan spread his arms and flailed his arms. "You just jumped into the Heavenly Furnace like that... Jiang Muyun... Wushuang... I saw it with my own eyes, there's no lie... Are you a human or a ghost, or am I already dead, and we're both in the underworld?"
"Pah!" Lou Cangyu spat. "If anyone's going to die, it's you. Don't drag anyone else down with you."
Mu Lexiu muttered to himself, "Xingguo Ward's practice of sacrificing living people to the furnace is indeed true... The sword imprisoning the evil spirit is truly ominous..."
“Since you’re not dead,” Feng Shisan asked suspiciously, “how was the meteorite melted? How was the meteor sword forged? I saw it with my own eyes; I’m not blind, how could I have been mistaken?”
Wushuang sneered, "Most people in this world are foolish, and Pei Yuan is the most foolish of all. He comes from a family of weapon makers, yet he actually believed that sacrificing a living person to the furnace could melt stone? He actually did it... You don't actually think that meteorites can be melted because a living person was sacrificed to the furnace god? Guan Ye, you've asked me many times if it's Jiang Muyun. Are you also obsessed with the method of melting stone? Whether Jiang Muyun is alive or dead, what you're curious about is why meteorites melt?"
"I've never been obsessed with why meteorites melt," Guan Ye said calmly. "Human sacrifice in the furnace is a load of rubbish. Burning hundreds or thousands of people wouldn't melt a meteorite. The meteorite can melt... because..."
"Guan Ye, have you finally figured it out?" Wu Shuang smiled gently, slowly enticing her.
Lu Xiaojun pressed his wound. He was weak but his mind was still clear. He suddenly raised his head and said in a strange tone, "White fire rises, all things melt, white fire... did white fire burn out in the Heavenly Furnace?"
“That’s right!” Feng Shisan roared. “White fire, the old blacksmith said he had never seen such a flame in his entire life, and neither had the workshop owner.”
Mu Chenbi fell into deep thought. "Red bricks build the furnace, the furnace burns silver charcoal, so how is white fire produced? Could it be..." Mu Chenbi looked at Guan Ye, "that someone added something to it?"
Mu Lexiu stared blankly at Wushuang, "But if... Wushuang, no... Jiang Muyun didn't sacrifice himself to the furnace, what else would be added to the furnace? And who added it?"
A chilling silence fell over the hall, and everyone was lost in thought. Wushuang smiled at Guan Ye, as if she knew that Guan Ye had already guessed, and was also curious about how much Guan Ye had guessed.
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