297 Casualties

Seeing the way Ling Qiaolian stared at her, Ru went on, "Let's move on to how am I fine right now?"

This was the thing that had been bothering Ling Qiaolian for a while now. Even if the reality of the past was hard for her to digest, this present was becoming harder to swallow.

"You said it yourself that you poisoned me three times before today and each time, I was unharmed." Ru's voice was clear and pleasant to hear as always. But the feeling she evoked wasn't anything pleasant at this point. The same sword that was earlier held against her own neck was now lying right beside Ling Qiaolian's neck as Ru continued with a wink, "You're right. Your poison had no cure. So, my grandfather made that very poison my antidote."

Ling Qiaolian's eyes widened.

"Yes, your thoughts are absolutely correct. To fight poison with poison, my grandfather made me drink poison for years. Until that very poison became a part of my blood. Everyone said I was born with a unique constitution. And now, I'm kind of immune to poisons. In fact, everyone used to say my blood might be deadlier than any poison now."

Ru even had the mood to laugh right now. Her laugh was low but sinister. She touched the jade pendant on her neck which had the character 'Ru' engraved on it. This was the very pendant that originally belonged to her birth mother, Xia Xue.

"Ten years ago, this pendant gave away my identity, right?"

It wasn't really a question. Ru was certain about this point. Ling Qiaolian had already said that she truly believed both Ru and Rong had died along with their Ximen Clan. But if it wasn't for ten years ago when Ru's urge to save Zhiren brought her to Ling Qiaolian's human cage, this madwoman would have never found out that these two last direct descendants were still alive.

"Now, clear up something for me..." began Ru again. "When I was stuck in this cage of yours, why didn't you kill me? Why the obsession to control me? Was it some twisted way of revenge?"

Ling Qiaolian's eyes flashed with a glint as she replied, "Partly." Ru narrowed her eyes at her. "Part of the reason was my revenge. The other part was to attain the power that Ximen clan's Patriarch and Matriarch snatched from me and gave to your mother."

"But you can not attain that power now. Even if Ximen Clan had burned that night, you'd get nothing."

Ling Qiaolian snickered, "That's where you're right. Even after that elaborate plan, I got nothing. Because even though they raised me as a daughter, they never told me that Ximen Clan was divided into four factions and only the head of the clan can control everything that the Ximen Clan had accumulated in its long history."

Ru raised her brows and laughed at her face, "You didn't know that? How dense are you? Every clan had been divided into four factions; Direct Lineage, Main Clan, Branch Clan, and lastly, the outer disciples. I thought everyone knew. While Xia Clan's four factions live peacefully together, others aren't like that. That night you were only able to kill the Direct Lineage of Ximen Clan because you don't even know where the other three factions are. Ha Ha Ha!"

"Let her go!"

Ru stopped laughing as she heard that loud voice and rolled her eyes. "I had been wondering when the biggest hypocrite of the century was gonna show up." She turned around and look at the 'hypocrite' with a smile as she added, "And here you are, Mr. Qin Qu."

Earlier when Ru had heard the explanation from Zhiren, she was already left with a deep impression. No matter how cunning Ling Qiaolian had been, there was no way she'd know of every step of Zhiren's life. Including, Ru's importance in his life. Unless there was someone very close to Zhiren who had been informing her all this while. And who could be better than Xiao Zhiren's best friend, Qin Qu?

Marvelous, isn't it?

However, Ru didn't find it funny at all.

"Wearing the face of a friend to stab in the back. How despicable!"

Qin Qu sneered, "As if you're any better, Mr. Xie Rong. Or should I call you Mr. Alev Knight? Or perhaps, you'd prefer being called Ms. Ximen Ruxue?"

Ru waved her hand offhandedly, "Please, any name is fine as long as you don't add that 'Ms' with it. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Let her go or I'll kill these two!" He pressed a button and a wall lifted up. Behind the wall was a cage with two teenagers tied up.

"Oni-san!" Yuan couldn't help shout out.

Ru rolled her eyes again as she looked at Xiao Zhiyuan and Zhang Han who were both held captive as she asked, "I thought you could handle it, Zhang Han!"

Zhang Han sighed out saying, "I'm not to blame here. I certainly didn't run blindly into someone's arms just because he looked trustworthy!"

Ru could understand what he meant. Yuan must have fallen in Qin Qu's trap because for him Qin Qu was trustworthy. And to protect him, Zhang Han also followed suit only to end up in this mess. For a second, she forgot to even criticize Yuan's intelligence because Zhang Han's expressions were too grave for her to ignore.

She took a moment before asking, "Is she gone?"

Zhang Han was startled. He abruptly looked up and found Ru's unfathomable gaze staring back at him. Something in his heart knew she was asking about Lilith and it felt like someone was tearing his heart all over again but he still managed to answer, "Yes, she is gone."

Ru nodded her head and closed her eyes briefly. She knew Lily was dead and yet she couldn't stop herself from asking for another confirmation.

"Stop delaying, let Ms. Ling go!"

"Mr. Qin, you really think I'll fall for this trick?"

"You don't want them alive?"

Ru shrugged her shoulders, "Every war has its casualties. We can't do anything about that now."

Qin Qu was left speechless by her words but more so because of her indifferent expressions.

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