CHAPTER 562: CHAPTER 544 SECRET

Chen Mo was barely alive. Fengyu looked at him with extreme hatred. Although Yuwen Jing was utterly depraved, without Chen Mo as his blade, there were many things he would have been powerless to accomplish.

Inside the side hall, Chen Mo had been subjected to cruel torture. He was drenched in blood, his flesh mangled, and tied to a pillar in the hall, guarded jointly by the Emperor’s Guard and the Forbidden Army. Xie Xun harbored bitter hatred for both Chen Mo and Yuwen Jing, and he repeatedly drained their blood only to treat them and prolong their suffering, leaving them utterly wretched.

When Xie Xun and Fengyu arrived, the guards from the Emperor’s Guard and Forbidden Army stood vigilant nearby, wary of Chen Mo launching a desperate counterattack.

"You truly are an excellent blade, but what a pity you chose the wrong master. Master Miao Yun from the small meditation hall has already been rescued by us—safe and sound. What bargaining chip do you and Yuwen Jing have left to negotiate with me?" Fengyu took a longsword from one of the guards, and with its sharp tip pressed against Chen Mo’s ankle, pierced through without mercy.

Chen Mo groaned. Pain had become a numbness to him. One of the guards hesitated to speak, but Xie Xun shook his head lightly. He understood that Fengyu needed an outlet to vent her rage. Blood gushed continuously from Chen Mo’s ankle. Cold and excruciatingly painful, he could clearly feel his lifeforce draining away. Chen Mo chuckled bitterly; Master Miao Yun had been found, and he and Yuwen Jing indeed no longer had any leverage to negotiate with Fengyu.

After all, for so long, Master Miao Yun had never divulged Xie Xun and Fengyu’s secrets. It was fate—Master Miao Yun had been imprisoned in the secluded small meditation hall, and after the collapse of the Jinyi Guard, they hadn’t remained stationed within the inner palace. Yet, somehow, they had still managed to find her. Chen Mo thought to himself: this must be destiny.

"Kill me!" Chen Mo rasped. "I am the Emperor’s Guard. Xie Xun, we each serve our master; fulfilling our duties is simply what we must do."

"What a noble ’fulfilling our duties’," Xie Xun sneered coldly. "Confusing right and wrong, mingling black and white—all dismissed with just ’fulfilling our duties’? Should I applaud your loyalty and devotion?"

"No matter what, the victor becomes king; the defeated is but a villain. The emperor lost, fell into your hands. I never expected to survive—just spare me the agony!" Chen Mo coughed harshly, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"What makes you think you deserve a quick death?" Fengyu said darkly. "Master Miao Yun was tortured almost to death at your hands for nearly a year. What makes you think you deserve a quick death? I will sentence you to the lingering death—a thousand cuts. You will experience every ounce of agony Master Miao Yun suffered."

Fengyu carved into Chen Mo’s flesh with her sword, slicing his abdomen in several places without letting him slip away. Chen Mo laughed madly; he had long anticipated his fate. The lingering death was no surprise to him.

"How did Yuwen Jing know about Master Miao Yun?" Xie Xun demanded heavily.

Chen Mo did not respond. Fengyu sneered, "If you answer our questions, I might consider giving you an intact corpse."

"Speak or die. Stay silent or die. What difference does it make?"

"Suddenly you’re not keen on a quick death?" Fengyu mocked. The Emperor’s Guard was destined to be solitary; there wasn’t anything in this world that could truly move Chen Mo.

Chen Mo knew the tide had turned against him and ceased resisting further. "Before Xie Zhang’s grand wedding, Miss Feng San had already started searching for Master Miao Yun. The emperor found this suspicious, so he sent people to investigate and learned that Miss Feng San had deep ties with Master Miao Yun. Later, when you traveled to West State, even Xie Xun dispatched people openly to search for Master Miao Yun, mobilizing all the Emperor’s Guards. The emperor concluded that Master Miao Yun must know some secret about you both; otherwise, you wouldn’t have made such a scene seeking her out. The emperor dug into Miss Fengyu’s childhood and discovered that Master Miao Yun had foretold her fate—that she was destined not to live past eighteen. Suspecting that you were desperately searching for Master Miao Yun to break her prophecy, he secretly dispatched Jinyi Guards across Yanyang to find Master Miao Yun. They eventually located her at Lingyun Temple at the border between Sannan and Jiangnan. Early in her time in the palace, the emperor treated Master Miao Yun with courtesy, but when she proved unyielding, he was enraged and ordered her tortured. The emperor wanted to know why Master Miao Yun foretold Miss Fengyu’s fate, and why you were so desperate to find her. For nearly a year, she endured abuse, and the emperor had private audiences with her multiple times. I don’t know if she revealed anything to him. However, I do know she once admitted her wandering travels were all to unravel Miss Fengyu’s fate. That’s all I know."

Xie Xun thought deeply to himself: no wonder Yuwen Jing was so resolute, intent on taking Fengyu down with him. Could it be that he had found a way to break Fengyu’s fate?

"Did Master Miao Yun tell Yuwen Jing how to break Fengyu’s prophecy?"

"Perhaps. After all, the emperor used the Jinyi Guard’s secret drug on Master Miao Yun. Once consumed, no matter how strong-willed, one will reveal everything, leaving no secrets behind. The emperor made sure that each time he used those drugs, all others were excluded from the room. What Master Miao Yun might have revealed to him, I don’t know," Chen Mo said, his bloodshot eyes filled with despair as he gazed at Xie Xun. "I’ve told you everything I know, Xie Xun. Give me a quick death!"

Xie Xun indeed saw no reason to prolong this moment. Yuwen Jing was the true mastermind behind everything; Chen Mo was merely his blade. After torturing Chen Mo for days, Xie Xun had learned all he wanted and saw no reason to keep him alive.

Fengyu gazed coldly at the battered Chen Mo. Truly, the tides had turned. She swung her sword swiftly across his throat, killing him in one clean strike. "Who cares about these secrets? Yuwen Jing must die, no matter what he knows!"