Chapter 1133: Chapter 628: Can’t Beat Dad (Double Chapter)

"Or is it that... other than killing me, you simply have no idea what else to do with me?"

When the words fell, there was no response.

The tall woman fell visibly silent, yet the look in her eyes remained contemptuous.

After a long while, the corner of her lips hooked up; amused, she said, "A trace of heart-demon born of love—I of course know of it."

"...But you look as though you’ve only just realized," Chen Yi replied with leisurely interest.

A cold gleam burst forth from the vertical pupils of Qin Qingluo’s eyes.

"You also knew that inch of the Medicine Buddha’s Glazed Light couldn’t be untouched, but you couldn’t be sure, still less know it was a wisp of heart-demon. From beginning to end, you only vaguely sensed something was amiss."

He slowly laid bare the workings of her heart, and she answered with silence.

Only after a long time did she smile faintly and say, "Many thanks for the reminder. After I kill you, I’ll look for a way to remove it." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"It’s already too late." His tranquil voice seemed to cut off her train of thought. "From One begets Two, Two begets Three, Three begets the myriad things—this single wisp of heart-demon may long since have transformed into deep affection." Having said so, he gave a mocking snort and drawled, "Hard to imagine, really... that at times, the Prince would pine for me like some resentful woman shut away in the inner chambers..."

Before the words were finished, Qin Qingluo struck without warning.

Her figure flashed like lightning; the lake waters on either side exploded into spray, her killing intent fiercer than at any moment before.

Yet when her fist met Chen Yi’s body, there was not the slightest sense of impact. He was like a gust of wind, a wisp of cloud, dispersing beneath her blow in an instant.

Qin Qingluo’s pupils contracted.

With the slightest turn of her head, she saw Chen Yi standing where she herself had stood a moment ago.

The tall woman’s vertical, blazing-gold serpent pupils flared with an unprecedented viciousness. She let out a laugh as clean and decisive as could be. "And what of it if it’s so?"

At her words, Chen Yi fell silent for a moment. He once more sized up this woman who, from the moment they met, had done nothing but fight. As he had expected, the hatred between them would not melt away in an instant, much less turn into some touching reunion of a parted husband and wife whose broken mirror is made whole. This Vassal King’s eight feet of proud spine would never permit such a thing.

His thoughts drifted in spite of himself. Faced with how things stood now, it would almost have been better to have lost and been captured like in the dream, then live on as a forbidden plaything—that at least would have spared them this situation, as thorny as thorny could be.

"A wisp of heart-demon—seems it didn’t just make me, for a time, pine like a resentful woman in the boudoir; it made you, then, reluctant to strike as well."

As Chen Yi’s mind wandered, Qin Qingluo too felt something stir. But she recovered with remarkable speed, without the slightest hint of inner knot. Smiling, she said:

"So that’s how it is. I did wonder why I could harbor such sentiments toward you. I thought I’d been led astray by Aunt Zhu, then thought it was because I bore that bastard. As it turns out, none of it was about them."

In her words there was no lack of a vassal prince’s airy nonchalance.

Chen Yi’s gaze lowered a fraction. Qin Qingluo’s reaction once again exceeded his expectations; many things meant to manipulate the human heart could not be spoken.

Qin Qingluo was precisely such a woman: even at her most yielding, this rouge-wild mare remained untamed and defiant.

Many methods that worked on ordinary women had never worked on her; even if he struggled to leave the slightest trace, she treated it as nothing at all.

Looking back on all that had passed, Chen Yi suddenly realized that if he had wanted to tame her, three years ago he had been infinitely close to success—only a single step away. Had he but not saved her then, or not passed his heart into the sword for her, or simply let her fall completely into madness, he could have kept her entirely, forced her to submit.

But each time he had chosen the opposite. There are moments when a person doesn’t even know what they’re thinking; a stray notion flashes through the mind, and once thought, it is done—like catching a flicker of light in the utter stillness of all things.

Thinking of this, Chen Yi grew calmer and said aloud, "Thinking back now, I missed many chances."

"Perhaps. I can hardly remember anymore. I only recall you risking your life for trifling gain, yet clinging to your skin when great matters were at stake." Qin Qingluo merely skimmed the memories, then gave a cold laugh. "Back then I still couldn’t fathom it—how could there be such a petty man in this world?"

"And now you understand?"

The tall woman lowered her head to look at him, eyes full of disdain, and went on, "It’s not so hard to make sense of. In your heart, from very early on, there was no such thing as ’hatred.’ All you sought and all you thought of was nothing more than that single word—’love.’ I bore you a grudge for killing that Princess Jing, yet also because of you I sank into depravity with Aunt Zhu. That is who you are." She paused, then, like Chen Yi stabbing at her, sneered, "Had I clearly declared three years ago that I would take you as my consort, you’d probably have come trotting over all on your own."

Her tone was open, without the slightest trace of a knot in her heart, as though she were speaking to a dead man.

"Hearing this from you, many things I couldn’t make heads or tails of in the past, I at last understand. Because of that wisp of heart-demon, I truly did fancy you for a time. But today, I want only your death."

As for what she said, Chen Yi of course understood. Ever since his Enlightenment, he had known what kind of person he was: a genuine starving ghost of lust, ever liable to be ensnared by feelings. His hatred had been but a moment’s thing and had long since turned into desire, exhausted in full.

Qin Qingluo had finally seen through this about him. In fact, back when he passed his heart into the sword, she had already dimly perceived it. Perhaps, when they stood before the Bodhisattva Temple dividing life and death, that had been their first true exchange of hearts.

Chen Yi began to laugh; inexplicably, his mood felt much lighter. He no longer needed to hide or dissemble, no longer needed to twist and turn his words. He said, "In that case, does your residence happen to lack a Princess?"

"According to Yu Law, a Prince may be buried with one principal and one secondary consort. Looked at that way, it really does seem like Heaven reserved this title for you."

Qin Qingluo remained as composed as ever, yet there was a faint change in her voice. She truly seemed to want him dead, yet like a hunter toying with a dying prey, she tossed him a stalk of what looked like saving straw, only to play with him all the more,