Chapter 66: Sinister and Ruthless

He was shouting at the top of his lungs,

"Vile woman! How dare you harm my own younger brother and twist my words? I may have been envious of my virtuous brother once, but you distorted my meaning! Had it not been for your arbitrary interference, he would never have borne the infamy of loose morals. In the end, you even drove him to exile himself from the clan alone. When he walked a thousand miles by himself, how desolate and heartbroken he must have been! To think that I, too, was deceived by a vile creature like you! My poor younger brother, if not for your meddling, perhaps he would not have died in the prime of his youth. You truly deserve to die! Today, I shall use your blood to comfort his spirit in heaven."

He gripped the sword with unwavering steadiness. Before the final words had even faded from his lips, he raised the blade and thrust it toward Lady Wang.

He aimed straight for her heart.

Had this strike hit home, Lady Wang's blood would have spattered the spot instantly!

There was a look of relieved release in his eyes.

Lady Wang let out a piercing scream, her eyes wide with terror.

She had never expected Xie Yuan to attempt to murder her in broad daylight, and she was utterly defenseless. Having just been struck fiercely by Xie Yuan, her head was still swimming, and her limbs refused to obey her commands. She could only watch helplessly as the cold gleam swept toward her.

*Squelch—*

The long sword plunged straight into Lady Wang's chest. The sense of relief on Xie Yuan's face grew even more pronounced as he exerted force to drive the tip deeper into her bosom.

Yet, try as he might, the blade would not move an inch further.

Xie Miaoxuan’s cool voice rang in his ear, "Clan Leader Xie, what are you trying to achieve in such a hurry? Those who know would think you are executing justice for the righteous, but those who don't might suspect you have a guilty conscience and are trying to silence a witness!"

The long sword in his grip was clamped tightly in Xie Miaoxuan’s grasp, unable to advance a single fraction of an inch.

Xie Yuan’s expression froze, then twisted hideously. His eyes turned bloodshot, filled with towering resentment. If only he could push forward by one more inch, Lady Wang would perish on the spot, all past events would be erased with her death, and the green hat upon his head could finally be scrubbed clean.

*Xie Miaoxuan!*

"Let go!" he roared hoarsely, gripping the hilt with both hands like a demon possessed, refusing to give up as he tried to shove forward once more.

"Grand Clan Leader Xie, you haven't even finished your explanation. Why are you in such a desperate rush to kill someone? Isn't this... protesting too much?"

He shouted angrily, "This vile woman has indisputable evidence of illicit affairs, and furthermore, she maliciously framed your father. Her crimes are unforgivable! Today, I am determined to execute her by the sword to comfort my younger brother's spirit in heaven."

Xie Miaoxuan was profoundly sickened by his hypocritical display.

Suddenly, Lady Wang stumbled backward a few paces, a bloody hole already torn through the fabric at her chest.

"Hahaha."

Rescued by Xie Miaoxuan, Lady Wang clutched her chest and suddenly burst into a shrill, desolate laugh.

Xie Yuan wanted her dead, showing not a shred of regard for all their years as husband and wife, yet how had she ever wronged him?

Anyone else in the world might kill her, but he was the very last person who should!

Because her heart belonged elsewhere all these years, she had taken the initiative to procure concubines for him. Over more than twenty years, she had helped him take in nearly twenty concubines alone.

For all these years, she had plotted and schemed for Xie Yuan, working herself to the bone without a single complaint so that he could securely hold the position of clan leader despite his mediocre talent. Yet he wanted to murder her unjustly and obscurely like this.

Lady Wang saw it all too clearly. Xie Yuan did not want to execute her so hastily because she had committed adultery, but because he was terrified that she would expose his true face, making him desperate to silence her.

It was truly as chilling as ever.

Staggering to her feet while supporting herself on the ground, she stood up with a desperate, reckless madness in her eyes and shrieked an accusation, "Xie Yuan, you say I am no good person, but what kind of good person are you?!"

"You are in such a frantic rush to murder me and silence my testimony simply because you are afraid I will expose the evil deeds you have committed all these years!"

After today, her reputation would be utterly ruined anyway. Since things had come to this, she would drag him down to the netherworld to keep her company before she died.

"Shut your mouth!"

Panic gripped Xie Yuan’s heart. He lunged forward recklessly with his sword to strike down Lady Wang. Driven by mad, explosive strength, even Xie Miaoxuan was jolted back by his sudden burst of immense power.

She almost failed to hold him back.

Xie Yuangujng had been standing quietly to the side for a long time. Seeing this scene, his deep eyes narrowed. Shielding Xie Miaoxuan, he delivered a swift, powerful kick straight to the chest of the crazed Xie Yuan, sending him flying backward.

For a long while, Xie Yuan could not manage to climb back up.

Lady Wang desperately swallowed the taste of blood rising in her throat. "Xie Yuan! I truly must have been blind to take a fancy to you. You ask why I wanted to harm the second brother? Wasn't it because you complained to me day in and day out, claiming that he overshadowed your brilliance and left you without any standing in the clan? You were even more terrified that once he entered official service, you would never secure the position of clan leader. As long as he drew breath, you would never get ahead!"

"It was only to help you achieve your desires that I forced myself to submit to Qiongshan!"

"It was you! You orchestrated every bit of this. You reaped all the benefits, and now it is far too late for you to wash your hands clean of it!"

With eyes split wide and the desperate determination of someone ready to be shattered along with the jade, Lady Wang finally paused to catch her ragged breath after spilling the secrets, leaving the surrounding crowd in an uproar.

Xie Miaoxuan waited for a moment, but when she did not continue, she wondered:

Could the other matter be from too long ago, causing her to forget?

She really ought to remind Lady Wang.

At that moment, Xie Miaoxuan produced a small box from her sleeve. Her fingers traced lightly over it, tapping out a subtle, rhythmic sound that was swallowed by the clamor of the surrounding crowd.

Because she was standing directly opposite Lady Wang, the woman caught sight of it clearly.

Lady Wang’s pupils contracted to pinpricks, and her fingertips trembled even more violently.

This was....

An object she had spent years worshipping beneath her household Buddhist shrine.

Locked inside was a portrait of Xie Qi.

She gazed deeply at Xie Miaoxuan, their eyes clashing in mid-air.

In an instant, Lady Wang understood her meaning.

Ah, her beloved....

Xie Miaoxuan’s lips moved silently: *Speak the truth.*

Lady Wang read her lip-reading, and a madness akin to a wildfire rushed up to consume her last remaining thread of sanity.

Swallowing hard, though she had initially wanted to suppress the matter for the sake of her daughter and spare Xie Yuan from utter disgrace, she no longer had the luxury of choice. Inhaling sharply, she raised her voice with unwavering resolve, "Xie Yuan, I am merely an inner-chamber woman; sitting in the Buddha hall day in and day out, how would I ever have the chance to meet Qiongshan? It was you! You were the one who led me to him."

"Xie Qi was clever from a young age. Because of his ominous destiny as a solitary star doomed to bring misfortune, he studied diligently day and night, tying his hair to the rafters and piercing his thigh with an awl, striving solely to—yes, I ruined his reputation, but you are not innocent in the least!"

"Because his destiny as a baleful loner was a fake fate concocted by you and Qiongshan in conspiracy! From the very moment he was born, you racked your brains to find ways to ruin him! The moment you met Qiongshan, you could not wait to stage that witchcraft ritual with him, forcing him to bear the fate of an ill-fated star so that he would be loathed by our late father-in-law and dreaded by the entire clan!"

*Boom—*

The onlookers were stunned to the point of numbness.

What kind of grand drama was this?

First, a murder brought to light a scandal of illicit affairs, and now it had unraveled into a plot involving witchcraft. Xie Yuan, an elder brother, was so insanely deranged just to suppress his own younger brother.

Just how vicious and despicable could a person be!