Chapter 472 321: To Help or Not to Help?
Unexpectedly, the moment Lie Yang saw Xie Xiaoyan, her face was already streaked with tears. She looked utterly pitiful as she said, "Lie Yang, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you. It's just that… I have my own unavoidable hardships! If you don't want to hear my explanation, I'll leave right now. I'm truly sorry for all the trouble I've caused you!"
Lie Yang, who had been seething with rage, felt his hardened heart melt at the sight of her. The fury of being deceived vanished in an instant. He found himself comforting her instead. "Xiaoyan, I… I didn't come to… Ugh!" Not knowing what else to say, Lie Yang slammed his palm onto a massive bluestone boulder beside him. The boulder, as large as a millstone and over a meter thick, was shattered to pieces by the force of his frustrated blow!
Xie Xiaoyan immediately turned pale with fright and stumbled back two steps. She clutched her chest with one delicate hand, biting her lip. Her eyes locked on Lie Yang as she said, "Lie Yang, you… please don't be angry. It's all my fault, all of it! If you really can't let go of your anger, then just hit me. Please don't harm your health over this, or I could never forgive myself. I'm just a lonely, miserable person. Even if I died… no one would feel sorry for me. *Sob*."
Lie Yang's heart felt like it was about to shatter from her crying. He rushed over, grabbed Xie Xiaoyan's hands, and said urgently, "Xiaoyan, please don't be sad. This is your home now! Whatever troubles you have, my Lie Family will stand up for you! Hmph! I'd like to see who dares to make an enemy of the Lie Family! That Ling Xiao dared to kill one of our own—I will certainly send men to eliminate him!"
"Don't!" Xie Xiaoyan's face flushed red as she pulled her hands back. Then, she said in a pitiful voice, "I'm just an ordinary woman from the Mortal World. To have met you, Lie Yang, is a blessing I must have earned over several lifetimes. How could I dare to trouble you further? But… if you don't think I'm too much trouble, or some kind of jinx, then I'll tell you my story."
"How could I possibly think that? Xiaoyan, don't you understand my feelings for you yet?" Lie Yang gazed at Xie Xiaoyan with deep affection, his brow furrowed. "If there is only one woman in this world who can move my heart, it is you! I don't care where you're from or what your past was like. Xiaoyan, you have to believe me! From now on, I will give you the best life imaginable! No one will ever dare to mistreat you again! Anyone who dares to bully you is an enemy of my Lie Family!"
Lie Yang spoke with such absolute conviction that even though Xie Xiaoyan was only using him, she couldn't help but feel her heart tremble. Her emotional defenses nearly crumbled. However, she forcefully suppressed the feeling. Sobbing, she began her tale, telling Lie Yang how her destiny had been decided for her since she was a child, how she had lived cautiously to avoid Ling Xiao's persistent advances, and how, after he assaulted her, she had to endure immense pressure just to go on living.
She claimed that in the end, Ling Xiao still refused to let her go and had even forced her to admit that she had orchestrated the assault herself. Then, with vicious cruelty, he used an Elixir to seal all her meridians, transforming her from a young prodigy into the utterly powerless woman she was today.
He had even threatened her, saying that if she ever dared to speak the truth, he would annihilate her entire Xie Family. She explained that even though the Xie Family had wronged her, she still cared deeply for them.
"Lie Yang," she said as fresh tears began to fall, "the reason I hid all this from you was because I didn't want you to look down on me. *Sob.* And… even though he was so cruel, I don't want to hurt him. After all, his parents were always good to me, and I don't want them to be heartbroken…"
"Enough!"
The veins on Lie Yang's forehead bulged, and his hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. His eyes looked as if they were about to burst into flames! 'He couldn't believe it. Xiaoyan was so kindhearted, yet that Ling Xiao was so utterly depraved! To think he could do something so despicable! And he calls himself a man! For scum like him, dying ten thousand times would be letting him off easy!'
Lie Yang believed Xie Xiaoyan's story for two main reasons. First, in all the time he had known her, she had always given him the impression of a pure and kind-hearted girl, someone who wouldn't even harm an ant. How could a person like that possibly frame Ling Xiao? Second, his own investigation had turned up damning information. Ling Xiao had burst onto the scene out of nowhere and was known for his ruthlessness. In just two short years, countless people had died by his hand. Furthermore, despite being a subject of the Mortal World and bound by imperial rule, he showed open contempt for that authority. The Lanyue Imperial Family had treated the Ling Family generously, yet the Ling Family, from top to bottom, showed not an ounce of gratitude. In fact, they had repeatedly threatened His Majesty the Emperor…
His face filled with shame, Lie Yang took Xie Xiaoyan's hand and said, "Xiaoyan, I misunderstood you. I'm so sorry. Don't worry. He's just a piece of scum from the Mortal World. I swear I will tear him limb from limb and get revenge for you!"
When Lie Yang returned to the family's Elder Council, he was confronted by the Elders, who condemned him for rashly sending Lie Feng to his death over an ordinary woman from the Mortal World.
In response, Lie Yang just nonchalantly laid out his case. "That boy from the Mortal World doesn't just possess a miraculous Array capable of trapping and killing opponents several times stronger than himself—he also has formidable Alchemy skills! That top-grade cosmetic elixir, the Beauty Pill, came from his hands. On top of that, Xie Xiaoyan wasn't originally some ordinary woman. In the Mortal World, she became a Tier Six Sword Master at the age of fourteen or fifteen. While that's nothing compared to a great family like ours, in the Mortal World, she was considered a young prodigy! But that Ling Xiao used a single Elixir to seal all her meridians and turn her into a cripple! I'd like to ask you, esteemed Elders, which one of you has that kind of ability? And there's more. Ling Xiao is rumored to possess countless High-level Sword Skills! Someone once saw him use one that was so powerful it was mistaken for a Divine-level Sword Skill! So I ask you, is a person like that truly of no interest to our family whatsoever?"