“What your man has taken from Song Ni, I shall get back from you tonight!” the man exclaimed.
If she hadn’t been injured or ill, she might still be able to put up a fight but presently.….
He was a vigorous young man, this Shui Sheng, locking her hands above her head as he pressed his sturdy body down on her. Xuanji could not free her hands, she twisted her body desperately to put distance between them but she could not escape from the violent assault of his mouth that ran down her neck….
His face, lined with cruelty and perversion, along with the fishy smell emanating from his body made Xuanji so sick to her stomach she wanted to puke.
Noticing that his attention was shifting towards her chest, the pain and despair flooded her heart and she desperately struggled with her all might.
“No! Don’t touch me! Long Fei Li, save me….”
Had Long Fei Li really been intimate with Song Ni? If he hadn’t, why was she being humiliated by this man right now? Yet why was her heart still calling out to him(LFL) at a moment like this?
“As expected, a woman like you must come from an affluent family. Such an exquisite figure, maybe even better than Song Ni….” The man mumbled, his eyes beaming with lust. With one hand he groped her body while he violently ripped her robes with the other.
Abruptly, a raging voice rang through the halls of the temple.
In the next instant, Shui Sheng’s bare body toppled to the ground.
Xuanji wanted to scream but she was so horrified she couldn’t find her voice. With tears spilling down her face, Xuanji gazed frightfully at the pair of arms that had been severed, lying lifeless on the cold floor. The cold glint of the sword was visible under the glow of the moon, and she couldn’t help but shudder despite being pulled into a warm embrace.
Amid her blurred vision, Xuanji could make out the expression of the man that had just arrived. Twin emotions of pain and anger warped his face. His hand that was clutching tightly at her waist was shaking intensely.
“Xiao Qi, it’s all right, everything’s okay…” Murmuring words of consolation, Long Fei Li enveloped her in his arms as his dark eyes swept over Shui Sheng who was trembling on the ground.
“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me…” Shui Sheng pleaded. The agony of having both arms severed made Shui Sheng’s body recoil in pain, fear and terror clearly written on his face.
Long Fei Li had resisted with all his might, else this lowly being of a man before him would’ve already been slaughtered a million times over.
Let him die so easily? No, he wasn’t going to kill this man. He was going to take this man back to the palace, submit him to endless methods of torture, let him get a taste of them one by one before giving him the final deadly blow.
“Long Fei Li, leave! Just go!” Xuanji cried as she staggered to stand on her own.
Her broken, hoarse voice made Long Fei Li’s heart stab with pain. He closed his eyes momentarily and held onto her tighter as he said, “Xiao Qi, I’m not going anywhere. I was in the wrong, I shouldn’t have left you.”
“If you hadn’t been intimate with Song Ni, how could this man… Long Fe Li, I hate you! You said it was up to me to leave or stay didn’t you? Well just let me go!”
Despite losing her memory, being with him brought her so much pain. She was nearly violated by a stranger, she had to endure watching him smile happily with Song Ni, even those clothes that were scattered across the ground…..The heavy pain and hatred weighing down Xuanji’s heart could no longer be suppressed as gasping cries rang from within Long Fei Li’s embrace.
Let her go? How could he? Those words he had spoken were only to deceive himself. It was truly ridiculous! After what transpired at Bixia Palace, when she had grabbed the apex of his sword and stabbed herself in the chest, in that moment he had come to understand that in this life, as long as he was still breathing, he could never let her go, even if he had to lock her up. If he could so easily let go, why had he followed behind her, staring at her sole figure, waiting for her to turn around? But why had he forced her into this current state? The thought that she was nearly r*ped by Shui Sheng made his heart sink into a despairing anguish.
He placed a kiss on her tearful face with great caution. His lips twisted in a bitter smile as he said, “I wasn’t intimate with her, how could I? As for those clothes, Song Ni had intentionally left them in the room of her own volition.”
Song Ni had purposely left her clothes behind. It’s impossible for him to touch that woman! His thoughts were filled with only her(Xuanji), how could he possibly touch other women? They did not pique his desire, only disgust.
“You lied to me! You lied to me again!” Xuanji had her head hung low as she cried and repeatedly hit him with her fists.
Her complexion was pale, her eyes red and swollen. Her body was hot as if she was fevering. Despair swelled in his heart and he wanted to console her but didn’t know what to say.
Her small hand unintentionally jabbed at his wound, causing blood to slowly seep through his layer of clothing….Still, he remained silent, merely inching closer to entangle her lips with his despite her continued beating.
“My heart aches….” Under his kiss, her voice along with her salty tears reached his lips.
“As does mine,” he stated with a bitter smile as he held onto her even tighter. “Had I known that you would bring me such great trouble, even if the Empress Dowager hadn’t killed you that day in Fengjiu Palace, I would have. Empress Dowager….”
Empress Dowager…… Xuanji’s mind was growing heavy and she no longer had the focus to analyze his choice of words to discern his identity. Riddled with pain, she opened her eyes and remarked, “Why are you hurt? How can you be in pain? I am the one in pain so let me go…..”
He had thought that with her memory gone the two of them could start over again but in the end was it really impossible? Looking down at her face, the pain and determination in her eyes were clear to see. But what about him, could she not see his pain at all?
Long Fei Li smiled softly. Extending his hand, he picked the sword up from the ground and placed it in Xuanji’s hand. “Xiao Qi, I’ll pay you back for the pain. Today, all the suffering you have endured, I shall pay you back in full. However, I won’t let you go, even if there’s such a thing as a next life as you said, I’ll never let you go!”
Long Fei Li’s subsequent actions terrified Xuanji as she felt the warmth of his hand over hers.
A sound issued.
It made her recall a similar sound she’d heard before, though only once, it was enough to remember in a lifetime.