Seeing that Lin Xiao had not killed him immediately, Li Hao’s face showed a look of disappointment. He said, “You are a smart person too.”
A pained expression appeared on Li Hao’s face. “That’s right, I am already a dying man. I knew long ago that she had a trump card to escape!”
Hearing this, Lin Xiao’s heart could not help but tremble. This matter seemed not to be what he had imagined.
“I knew her father wanted to kill me. I did not want Rong’er to hate her father for life.”
“I also did not want her to grieve for me, to be unable to let go of me for life.”
“I would rather she lose all feelings for me, that she hate me.”
“So this time, in designing her to come here, it was to make her give up on me completely, to rob her of her item, to kill her clansmen, and to strike at her with killing intent.”
“I know you are no ordinary person. Can you grant a dying man one request?”
At this point, poisonous blood was already spilling from Li Hao’s mouth. His body began to tremble, and speaking became difficult. He said, “I beg you, do not tell her!”
Lin Xiao’s heart shook. He could not help but take a deep breath and nodded.
“Puff!” Li Hao spat out another mouthful of poisonous blood. His entire body collapsed, foam at his mouth. He twitched a few times and breathed his last.
His corpse turned completely black, a horrific sight in death.
Yet on his face, there was an expression of relief, a rigid relief in death after the pain.
An inexplicable sadness welled up in Lin Xiao’s heart.
He had been wrong.
He had thought this Li Hao was a heartless and ruthless man who, for his own future and personal gain, had schemed meticulously to deceive Chao Rong’er, to deceive a pure woman who loved him deeply, and after gaining benefits, to burn bridges and kill Chao Rong’er to silence her.
But the truth was not so.
The truth was that Li Hao had been poisoned, knowing he was doomed to die. He knew Chao Rong’er had a life-saving trump card, so he struck at the Chao clansmen and at Chao Rong’er.
All to make her forget him and not harbour hatred towards his family.
Was this heartless and ruthless?
Clearly not.
On the contrary, it was deep affection and loyalty.
No wonder Chao Rong’er loved Li Hao so deeply.
How could a man with such deep affection and loyalty not win a woman’s heart?
True feelings are rare in ordinary days. When one encounters a true love only for it to part, it is no less than the cruelty of fate.
Lin Xiao’s sighing gaze swept over Li Hao’s corpse. With a move of his spiritual power, he drew the Imperial Origin Pearl from Li Hao’s hand into his own.
At the same time, he collected Li Hao’s storage ring and the storage rings from the several corpses nearby.
Then, with a surge of spiritual energy, Lin Xiao incinerated Li Hao’s corpse and the others’ corpses completely clean.
He probed the storage rings of Li Hao and the Chao clansmen. Finding nothing particularly noteworthy, Lin Xiao placed the Imperial Origin Pearl into Li Hao’s storage ring.
Afterwards, he took out the Void Heaven Phoenix Wings and, using some pills to hasten his speed, flew towards the direction Chao Rong’er had fled.
The direction Chao Rong’er had escaped to was to Lin Xiao’s original left, which was westward, closer to the core of the Qiu Lu Mountains.
However, since Chao Rong’er had used her escape item, was badly injured, and had only fled a short while ago, she likely had not gone too far.
Originally, Chao Rong’er had nothing to do with him, but Li Hao had moved him.
He planned to go see Chao Rong’er and return Li Hao’s and the Chao clansmen’s items to her.
As for the Imperial Origin Pearl, Lin Xiao did not know its exact use, but he guessed it was related to cultivating origin power at the Martial Emperor realm.
Though it might be a valuable treasure, it was not that important to him, and he was not reluctant to return it.
It was not out of kindness, but simply his nature.
After flying swiftly for over a thousand li, Lin Xiao began to slow down and continue forward.
Around two thousand li away, Lin Xiao spotted fresh bloodstains, which he suspected were likely Chao Rong’er’s. He began searching and probing the surroundings.
Sure enough, after searching for more than an hour, Lin Xiao found Chao Rong’er’s hiding place in a valley.
At this time, Chao Rong’er was healing in an inconspicuous patch of weeds in the valley. If not for deliberately scanning with divine sense, it would have been hard to spot.
However, it could also be seen that Chao Rong’er was either too gravely injured or too naive, otherwise Lin Xiao would not have found her so easily.
One must know that if Lin Xiao could find her, then Li Hao, who knew her well, could certainly find her too if he pursued.
Lin Xiao also probed that Chao Rong’er’s injuries were recovering quickly, likely due to consuming high-grade healing pills.
For a Chao family with a seventh-level Martial Emperor, possessing high-grade healing pills was not surprising.
Seeing Chao Rong’er fully focused on healing, Lin Xiao did not disturb her immediately. He was not in a rush at this moment.
Another hour passed, and Lin Xiao sensed that Chao Rong’er had stopped circulating the medicinal power to heal. Her eyes began to open.
The next moment, a sobbing cry on the verge of collapse rang out. Chao Rong’er clutched her head and wept bitterly.
Lin Xiao felt somewhat at a loss. Leaving aside whether he knew how to comfort a woman, at this time, whatever he said would likely be futile.
The best approach was to let her calm down on her own.
After she had cried for a long time, Lin Xiao slowly entered the valley.
Chao Rong’er was heartbroken. Only when Lin Xiao drew near did she notice, and she sharply turned her head.
Seeing Lin Xiao’s face, Chao Rong’er instinctively asked warily, “Who are you?”
“My name is Lin Xiao. You could say I am just a passer-by. When I passed through your Chao family, I received hospitality from the Chao family head and took a map from him.”
Lin Xiao was also diverting Chao Rong’er’s attention. Not afraid to say more, he continued, “He asked me, if I encountered you in the Qiu Lu Mountains and could help, to lend a hand if possible.”
“So what?” Chao Rong’er did not believe Lin Xiao’s words and eyed him coldly with vigilance. At this moment, she would not easily trust anyone again.
“So, I killed him!” Lin Xiao said flatly.
Chao Rong’er now believed Li Hao was heartless towards her. By saying he had killed Li Hao, Lin Xiao was fulfilling Li Hao’s wish.
Otherwise, if Chao Rong’er harboured hatred in the future and sought revenge on Li Hao, only to find him vanished, she might spend her life searching the ends of the earth for him, unable to find release.
If she knew Li Hao was dead, then in the future, Chao Rong’er would have no need to seek revenge.
Of course, this would surely leave Chao Rong’er at a loss, without hatred to sustain her, and who knew what her mood would be like.
But long pain was worse than short pain.
At the moment she hated Li Hao, revealing his death was a kind of reconciling shock.
Moreover, Lin Xiao did not have much time to linger in this area.
Of course, just saying this would not make Chao Rong’er believe him. Lin Xiao immediately tossed Li Hao’s storage ring and the storage rings of the dead Chao clansmen directly to her.
Chao Rong’er warily caught the storage rings and probed them with her divine sense. Her entire body trembled as if her soul had left her. “You, you actually killed him?”
