Ashiliren looked at the fake Zuo Qiu and asked once more, “Who exactly are you?”
The fake Zuo Qiu instead quietened down. He first breathed deeply. His hands stopped trembling, and his body stopped trembling.
Then he said word by word, “That’s right. I am Yan Ping.”
Hearing these words, Liren’s delicate body swayed once more, about to faint. Suo Lun quickly supported her.
“Do not touch her…” the fake Zuo Qiu, or rather Yan Ping, pointed at Suo Lun and roared.
Once again, Ashiliren received a fatal blow tonight.
Her devoted and deeply loved husband was actually a spy sent by the Divine Dragon Temple. His purpose was to destroy her own family.
And what was laughable was that she had been heartbroken and utterly devastated by his death, to the point of going to kill the sorceress Yao Meng, merely because she had stood by and done nothing.
To express her grief and devotion, for nearly ten years she had worn a veil, not allowing any man to see her face, signifying absolute fidelity to her husband.
And as it turned out, not only was he not dead, but he had changed his appearance and lurked by her father’s side like a venomous snake, waiting for the moment to strike and bite her younger brother to death, to bite the Ashi Family to death.
How laughable. Was there anything more laughable under heaven?
A moment later, Liren laughed coldly. “At this point, do you still not intend to reveal your true face? Priest Yan Ping? Or perhaps that is not even your real name.”
The fake Zuo Qiu said, “My real name is indeed Yan Ping, and I truly was born in Luoye Village of Qiufeng Settlement.”
Liren said, “Then why did you pretend to be dead ten years ago?”
Yan Ping said, “Because Ashiluo hated me to the bone and regarded me as his greatest thorn in the side. And my work was long-term infiltration to keep an eye on him, waiting for him to transform into a Hell Knight. So, the situation at the time was no longer suitable for me to continue lurking. It just so happened that Ashiluo used a plague to kill my entire family, so I… I took the opportunity to fake my death, returned to the Divine Dragon Temple, completely changed my appearance, and transformed into the likeness of Zuo Qiu.”
Ashiliren looked at the Yan Ping before her, a completely aged, white-haired old man.
“I will look like this for the rest of my life. I cannot go back.” Yan Ping’s eyes looked at Ashiliren, revealing an incomparably obsessed gaze. “Liren, although my coming to your side was arranged by the Divine Dragon Temple, my love for you is forever real. No matter what I become, it will never change.”
Ashiliren sneered inwardly. No wonder at her father Ashimo’s relic castle, this fake Zuo Qiu had always kept his head lowered and dared not meet her gaze.
“Liren, my love for you is real.” Yan Ping repeated once more, his voice almost trembling.
Suo Lun suddenly laughed. “I believe your love for Liren is real, which is why you want to kill her. Because you do not want her to be tainted by any man. You wish for her heart to forever hold only you. And once your true face is exposed, her love for you will be completely annihilated. So you are eagerly trying to kill her, so that you will forever possess Liren’s love.”
“No, that is not it.” Yan Ping shouted loudly, “She is afflicted with the Dragon Yin Severed Meridian and does not have long to live. By then she will suffer boundless, endless pain. I wish for her to depart without the slightest suffering.”
Suo Lun ignored him. Instead, he turned to Liren and said, “Do you still love Yan Ping now?”
Liren had no expression whatsoever. Her heart was already icy and without ripples.
Just as Suo Lun had said, the instant Yan Ping’s true face was exposed, he was instantly annihilated in her heart.
There was not even any hatred, only endless coldness and absurdity.
Moreover, her entire body and soul were now occupied solely by her younger brother, Ashiluo.
Only Ashiluo truly loved her, even though his love was too strange and abnormal.
But the moment she thought of all the suffering her younger brother Ashiluo had endured for her sake, Ashiliren felt waves of suffocating pain.
Suo Lun continued, “Yan Ping, if I am not mistaken, although you married Liren, you never truly consummated the marriage.”
Immediately, Yan Ping’s face twitched violently.
This was the eternal pain in his heart. Ashiliren had an absolute cleanliness compulsion and resisted anyone’s touch.
Even if he had just touched her hand, every hair on her body would stand on end, and her entire body would become incomparably stiff.
Moreover, once touched by the opposite sex, boundless icy energy would completely surge forth.
So for those two years, Yan Ping and Ashiliren were completely in a spiritual love, not daring to have any physical intimacy.
Of course, now Suo Lun was also supporting Ashiliren, yet she did not have such a strong reaction. This was because extreme grief is greater than heartbreak, and she no longer had any reaction to the outside world.
Suo Lun said, “In truth, the emotions between men and women always begin with desire, then develop into affection. But you violated this. You first used forcible methods to make Liren feel spiritually moved towards you, creating an illusion of love. But her body was always resisting you. She accepted you spiritually, but not physically. Because she never truly loved you.”
The moment these words were spoken, Yan Ping’s expression changed drastically. He roared, “You are talking nonsense, you are talking nonsense! Liren loves me. I am the only man she has ever loved in this life.”
Suo Lun shook his head. “No, she does not love you.”
Yan Ping said, “Then why did she marry me?”
Suo Lun said, “Because of her nobility, not only physical nobility, but also spiritual nobility. She felt that love was noble and sacred, possessing uniqueness. So when the Divine Dragon Temple used despicable spiritual techniques to tug at her heartstrings, she felt that the only love of her life had appeared. The nobility of her morality and spirit would force her to accept you, and resist the approach of any other man. Because she felt that any fickleness was a desecration of the spirit. Her moral cleanliness compulsion forced her to love only one person, and to be forever devoted.”
Yan Ping raged, “You are lying, you are lying! My humour, my gentleness, my profound knowledge deeply attracted her. She fell in love with me because of these traits.”
Suo Lun shook his head. “I am sorry, but I am more gentle, more profound, and more humorous than you. Most crucially, I am a hundred times more handsome than you. Yet she is completely unmoved by me. It seems these are not the elements that attract her.”
“You are talking nonsense, you are talking nonsense…” Yan Ping repeated angrily.
Suo Lun’s gaze turned towards Ashiliren. “Miss Liren, we are all ordinary people. We all have the seven emotions and six desires, and we have not been castrated of these functions.”
There were some people who had been castrated of their seven emotions and six desires, such as Princess Zhiyan, and most of the Holy Maidens of the Divine Dragon Temple.
“So, the origin of love for us humans is vulgar. That is the desire to mate and reproduce offspring.” Suo Lun said, “Of course, this desire is not merely about looks and physique, but also includes temperament, inner qualities, and so on. And towards Yan Ping, you did not have the slightest mating impulse. So your resistance to his touch was not due to a special cleanliness compulsion, but because you did not truly love him. He held no physiological attraction for you.”
The reason Suo Lun emphasised these points so heavily was to completely liberate Ashiliren’s heart and thoroughly overturn the assertion that she loved Yan Ping.
There was another purpose as well: to buy time.
Ashiliren suddenly looked at Suo Lun and said, “Then why is it that every time I recall the time I spent with Yan Ping, I feel incomparably happy? Why is it that every time I think of his death, I feel incomparable pain?”
Suo Lun said, “That is because of guilt. Because deep in your heart you already knew that it was Ashiluo who killed Yan Ping, but you did not want to admit it. Moreover, Ashiluo killed Yan Ping’s entire family for your sake. You felt that Yan Ping died because of you, which is why you were in such unbearable pain. If it were due to affection, given your personality, you would have already died for love.”
Suo Lun’s words were despicable yet deafening.
Ashiliren looked at Yan Ping once more. Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. Indeed, she felt no stirring whatsoever, only nausea and revulsion.
“He is right. If I had the strength now, I would kill you without hesitation.” Ashiliren looked at Yan Ping and said slowly.
Yan Ping’s fervent gaze gradually turned icy cold. Then he looked at Suo Lun with incomparable hatred and said, “Lord Suo Lun, when did you guess my identity? It should have been when we met at the Fragrant Pavilion.”
Indeed, it was at that time.
Firstly, at Ashimo’s relic castle, the fake Zuo Qiu had not dared to raise his head and meet Ashiliren’s gaze. This had already aroused his suspicion.
Secondly, at the meeting in the Fragrant Pavilion, after Suo Lun had determined that this fake Zuo Qiu was a person from the Divine Dragon Temple, then since he and Ashiliren were affecting the Divine Dragon Temple’s grand scheme, what the other party should have done most was make Suo Lun and Ashiliren vanish from the world, rather than taking the risk to meet Suo Lun.
But this fake Zuo Qiu did not do that. Instead, he took the risk to arrange a meeting with Suo Lun, advising him and Ashiliren to abandon their plan.
He would not be reluctant to kill Suo Lun. Then it could only be that he was unwilling to kill Ashiliren. Who could be so unwilling to kill Ashiliren? The answer was obvious.
Finally, Suo Lun had always been puzzled. How could Yan Ping, a commoner with an ordinary face, instantly attract Ashiliren’s love?
Through these points, Suo Lun deduced that this fake Zuo Qiu was Yan Ping.
When he confirmed this point, he knew Ashiluo was finished. Regardless of whether Ashiliren’s plan succeeded or not, Ashiluo was certainly finished.
But what he had never expected was that the Divine Dragon Temple’s scheme would be so massive.
Nor had he expected that the Divine Dragon Temple’s ultimate goal in capturing Ashiluo was to capture himself, the Lord of the Demon Star.
And what he had least expected was that at the final moment, Ashiluo had died to protect him.
Ashiluo used his shocking death by disintegration to interpret his loyalty to Suo Lun, the Lord of the Demon Star.
And what was most tragic yet admirable was that Ashiluo did not know that his master, the master he believed in with his life, was right before him.
And that it was actually Suo Lun, whom he regarded as a deadly enemy and as worthless.
……
“Suo Lun, you truly are very clever.” Yan Ping laughed coldly. “After seeing through my identity, you did not tell Liren. Not only that, but you also used our Divine Dragon Temple to eliminate Ashiluo and Ashimo. Next, you probably want to take advantage of the situation to conquer Liren, and then scheme to seize Rouran City. What a fine calculation!”
Suo Lun smiled faintly but said nothing.
Yan Ping took a deep breath and said, “Liren, I am sorry. I did my best.”
Then, he once more placed the golden hanging rope around Ashiliren’s jade neck, about to kill his former wife, the most beautiful woman in the world.
If one were to speak of when he first wanted to hang Ashiliren, he was indeed grief-stricken, trembling all over, and unable to bring himself to do it. He truly wanted to save Liren, but Grand Inquisitor Luo Ge had rejected him without hesitation.
But now his heart was cold. He was eagerly trying to hang Liren.
Because, like Ashiluo, he possessed a terrifying possessiveness towards Ashiliren.
He loved Ashiliren, madly loved her.
But he was destined to no longer possess Ashiliren, so he would kill her.
This way, it would be an alternative form of eternal possession, and no man would ever be able to touch a single hair on Ashiliren’s body again.
“Liren, I am sorry, I am sorry…” Yan Ping muttered to himself as he tightened the hanging rope.
“Clang…” Suo Lun had just drawn his sword.
Immediately, a hand landed on his shoulder.
The red-cloaked Huoya. She patted his shoulder and said, “You cannot even save yourself, do not bring trouble upon yourself. Right now, no one can save Ashiliren.”
Then, over a dozen priests and over a dozen inquisitors completely surrounded Suo Lun and Ashiliren.
Their powerful Dragon Power cultivation suppressed every inch of the area within the venue. Suo Lun could not move a single finger.
And Ashiliren just sat there quietly, allowing Yan Ping to slowly strangle her to death. She was completely expressionless, with no attachment to this world whatsoever.
Watching the most beautiful, most noble life in the world fade away before his eyes bit by bit, dying at the hands of her former husband, Yan Ping.
Suo Lun was burning with anxiety, repeatedly thinking to himself, “Why has he not come yet? Why has he not come yet?”
If this person did not come, Ashiliren would truly perish.
Then Suo Lun would never be able to forgive himself.
And so, several dozen people surrounded Ashiliren and Suo Lun.
Yan Ping used the golden hanging rope to strip away Ashiliren’s vitality bit by bit.
This most beautiful, most powerful woman was about to die before his very eyes.