In the woods, two figures stood facing each other, one man and one woman. The man was in his early thirties, dressed in a white robe, with an ordinary appearance and bloodstains on his body.
The other woman was in her late twenties, with skin as white as snow and a graceful figure, though her looks were plain. Her body was covered in blood, and her torn long skirt revealed her snow-white slender legs and upper body skin, which was both alluring and pitiful.
The two stood several metres apart, with several corpses lying beside them and the ground stained with blood.
It was clear that a battle had just taken place here.
“Li Hao, why? Why did you do this?” The woman’s eyes stared coldly at the man in the white robe as she cried out in pain, her voice filled with unbearable anguish.
“To be with you, I ignored my family’s opposition, my father’s opposition, my grandfather’s opposition. When you said you wanted to go on an adventure, I immediately snuck out of the Chao family, behind my father’s back and my grandfather’s back. And what about you? You actually want to kill me?” The woman’s sobs were filled with resentment, unable to accept the reality before her.
“Hahaha, Chao Rong’er, don’t you understand yet?” The man named Li Hao laughed coldly and loudly. “From beginning to end, I never loved you. Everything was just a deception.”
“I approached you only to climb up to your Chao family and get a better future!”
His voice turned icy as he continued. “But your father, your grandfather, they looked down on me, didn’t take me seriously at all, and even sent people to kill me!”
Glancing at the two corpses beside him, Li Hao said coldly, “Since that’s the case, why should I keep pretending with you? If I can’t climb up to your Chao family, I’ll settle for the next best thing and take this Imperial Origin Pearl!”
“To deceive you, I acted for long enough. Even something as small as tricking you into the Qiu Lu Mountains, I planned carefully for three months!”
Li Hao said viciously, “I’ve got the item, and I’ve had my fun with your body. Now, I’m ready to send you on your way, so your arrogant father and arrogant family head grandfather can know the consequences of looking down on me, Li Hao!”
“Third-level Martial Emperor or seventh-level Martial Emperor, what does it matter? In the end, I still played with their daughter and granddaughter, killed their daughter and granddaughter, and took your Chao family’s treasure!”
With that, Li Hao raised the long knife in his hand, surging killing intent billowing out. His foot moved, stirring up a fierce gale as his whole body charged towards the woman.
“Li Hao, I will tear you to pieces!”
Chao Rong’er cried out in hateful fury, an extremely chilling aura spreading from her body. Her gaze locked dead on Li Hao as she crushed a pill in her hand. A burst of power suddenly emerged, enveloping her body. She shot backwards like lightning, pulled by this force.
Bang!
A loud crash rang out as Li Hao’s long knife slammed into the spot where Chao Rong’er had stood, chopping heavily into the ground and blasting out a large crater. Chunks of earth flew up in waves.
But as he withdrew his knife to pursue, it was already too late. Chao Rong’er had vanished from his sight.
In that instant, Li Hao’s body trembled violently. He seemed to freeze, standing there lost and soulless, motionless for a long time.
At that moment, a young man’s figure suddenly emerged from the woods and slowly walked towards him.
“What a heartless and ruthless person. For the sake of profit, you even want to kill a woman who loves you so deeply!” Lin Xiao said slowly as he approached Li Hao.
From their conversation, Lin Xiao had learned that the deceived woman was the Chao family’s young miss, Chao Rong’er.
The Chao family head had given him a map, which was a small favour.
He had also promised the Chao family head that if he encountered his granddaughter and she needed help, he would lend a hand.
Just now, he had been ready to intervene, but when he saw Chao Rong’er holding something in her hand, he held back.
The Chao family’s young miss had a life-saving trump card, so there was no need for him to act.
Though he was not entirely clear on what had happened here.
But seeing the corpses nearby, hearing their conversation, and witnessing the man preparing to kill Chao Rong’er, he could guess the gist of it.
Chao Rong’er was truly a pitiful person. In this region, the Chao family was a major clan, and Chao Rong’er was their pampered young miss. Li Hao was just an ordinary man.
A pampered young miss fell for an ordinary man and sacrificed everything for him.
Yet the man she loved deeply was only using her to attach himself to the Chao family, deceiving her for profit.
When he couldn’t attach to the Chao family, he turned to the treasure in her possession and planned to kill her to silence her.
This was indeed a cruel tragedy.
One could imagine how desperate and hateful Chao Rong’er must have felt as she fled.
Lin Xiao did not think Chao Rong’er was foolish for falling into the trap.
Rather, this man was too cunning.
To lure a woman who trusted him here, he had schemed meticulously for three whole months. It was clear that in daily life, it was not just sweet words and feigned sincerity; it must have been far more elaborate.
Rong’er seemed like an ordinary woman with no emotional experience, so she could not withstand a man’s scheme like Li Hao’s and was deceived utterly.
To encounter true sincerity only to meet a wolf in disguise was more hateful than biting the hand that feeds.
When facing such vile behaviour, even if the victim were not Chao Rong’er, Lin Xiao would handle it if he could.
“I’m heartless and ruthless?” Stunned for a moment, Li Hao burst into laughter. “Hahaha!”
After laughing, Li Hao suddenly turned to glare at Lin Xiao and said, “What does this have to do with you?”
“It has nothing to do with me, but I can’t stand it!” Lin Xiao’s tone was indifferent as he continued walking step by step towards Li Hao.
Clearly, Lin Xiao had already sentenced Li Hao to death.
“So, you’re here to kill me?” Li Hao asked calmly in return.
“Do you have any last words? If not, you can die now!” Lin Xiao wasted no words. A strand of spiritual power formed into a sword in front of him, faint spiritual fluctuations spreading out.
Li Hao was merely a ninth-level Martial Lord, so killing him was a simple matter.
“Such strong spiritual power!” Li Hao was shocked, then said coldly, “But let’s see if you have what it takes to kill me.”
With that, a powerful aura surged from Li Hao’s body, but it was only at the ninth-level Martial Lord stage.
“Shh!”
With a flick of Lin Xiao’s spiritual power, the spiritual sword shot out, piercing straight towards Li Hao.
To Lin Xiao’s surprise, however, Li Hao did not strike back or block. He simply stood there, his gaze fixed straight on the incoming spiritual sword, as if waiting for it to stab him.
Lin Xiao instinctively felt something was off. The man was not a fool; he knew how strong Lin Xiao’s spiritual power was. Li Hao could not escape even if he tried. Without a life-saving trump card, he could not block it.
Even so, he should have made a move or at least cried out in surprise, fear, or unwillingness.
But Li Hao showed no panic at all and gave no sign of acting.
“Shh!”
In that instant, Li Hao’s face turned pitch black. His skin all over blackened as well, and black blood oozed from his mouth, clearly a sign of poisoning.
“Something’s wrong!” Lin Xiao was startled and quickly controlled the spiritual sword to stop.
The spiritual sword had just pierced half an inch into Li Hao’s chest, a trickle of blood flowing out.
But it was not fatal yet.
“You knew you were going to die?” Lin Xiao asked in surprise.
