Blind and Bereft

Chapter 84 | Withered Corpse

Yihuai's lips trembled, and there were tears in his eyes. "I-I'm the Emperor, why must I do what a maid like you say?"

Jingrui chuckled. "When you die, you wouldn't get to be the Emperor." Her face darkened. "Make them stop."

"Fine!" Yihuai gritted his teeth, and with the most devastated groan, he turned to the battle below. "Stop!" he yelled down at the crowd, his command echoed throughout the hall. At the divine word of the Heavenly Emperor, the Heavenly army suspended their movements.

As if the room had been frozen by winter, everything came back into alignment. Apart from the roaring of thunder and the dripping of blood into puddles, the hall was engulfed in a suffocating silence. All the eyes were pointed her way, and her heart beat fast.

Concealing her fear, she pressed the knife closer onto Yihuai's throat, threatening those below.

Lingyue snapped her gaze to Jingrui, and her eyes were hollowed out. "Y-You aren't you dead?" She shrieked as she backed away, stumbling against the broken table. "You wretch, why did you come out of your grave?"

"Scared, Empress Dowager?" Jingrui sneered. Her words were stained with the deepest hatred. In her life, she had never thought she would be capable of such poisonous resentment. But the Empress Dowager's face rushed every beat of her heart and combusted every veins in her body.

"You are meant to be dead. Impossible. Just impossible. Your immortal essence was already gone when I stabbed you. How are you alive?" Lingyue held her hair into a fist, pulling against it as she paced wildly.

Jingrui's grip on the blade tightened. Every movement of the Empress Dowager fueled every strand of hate she could bore. "You killed Yuansong. You killed my sister, and you killed my master. How could I die?" Her voice shook, and her eyes reddened. "You killed everyone that I loved. Your son even made me stab the only one I gave my whole heart to. For that, I will kill your son, then perhaps, someone like you will finally understand the pain of losing the people you loved most!"

The crowd of deities and loyal guards bellowed out, telling her to stop.

Jingrui flashed them a glare. "Do you think this man before you is worthy to reign as your Emperor?" Her voice raised, as she scanned the dismal faces of the deities. "He trampled upon countless dignity, and he killed the innocents." She shook her head, and a laugh croaked out of her throat. She shot a murderous gaze at Yihuai. "You killed Xiaobai, and you killed the Goddess of Beauty."

Yihuai trembled in her grip. "Shut up now, Maid."

Jingrui gritted her teeth as she forced out a grim smile. "You have always taunted Zhanying how he could never take the throne as he was a disabled blind. Well, now, aren't you a disabled Yihuai? You are cripple, and you are cursed to never be able to reproduce an heir!"

The crowd gasped and muttered amongst themselves. Yihuai watched the respect for him wither away, and he simmered with rage. Yet, his paralysed body couldn't move within her grasp.

Jingrui closed her eyes, trying to calm down her rage. When she opened them again, her gaze met Prince Zhanying within the bloodied battlefield. He looked far away in her blurring sight. Blood stained his white hanfu, dyeing it red. She had always liked how he wore black because no matter how much he bathed in blood, he would always look clean and untainted. Now, he gowned in deep red, the very red that was the colour of the ruler of the world. The colour that came at the price was the bloodshed and war.

"Jingrui," he muttered, his voice bitter. His expression was mixed with worry and anger, and she wasn't sure which one dominated.

In her wearing sight, his face paled as if he were dying. And as she stood above him, she hated him for not taking her antidote. She hated him for being stubborn, and she hated him for not planning properly before walking straight to a bloodbath.

Lingyue was scared to the point blood was drained from her face. Pale like a ghost, she stepped forward with caution. "Maid, let go of the Emperor."

Jingrui snapped her gaze at her, and the burning indignation swept over her once more. "I remembered what happened when I let go last time. Now, I've learnt of the truth, you can't use it to bargain with me anymore."

The Empress Dowager held her hand out in a surrendering manner. Her breathing grew rough as she lowered her voice. "What must I do to make you let go of him?"

Jingrui bit her lips, and she summoned the half-emptied bottle of red liquid in her hand. "Drink it."

Yihuai immediately shook his head. "No! Mother has a cold flow of Qi, she would never be able to stand it! You can't—"

Jingrui broke out into a laugh, and her eyes dug the soul out of Yihuai. "Did you know Zhanying also has a cold flow of Qi?" She raged and clenched her fists. "Your mother wouldn't die today. You'd still have a few days to say farewell by her deathbed."

"My mother is allergic to jincan. She is from a direct Water Clan and is only an Earthly Immortal, she cannot stand the heat. Zhanying has a lot of cultivation to suppress it, and he is not a direct Water Immortal. You don't understand what you are doing—"

"Drink it." Jingrui eyed the poison then Lingyue. The mercy and moral she was taught with had been buried below the wave of bitter hate.

Lingyue's hand trembled as she received the liquid from her. "You better not go back on your words and let go my son, wretch."

"Of course." Jingrui gritted her teeth.

There was fear within Lingyue's face, but no sign of acceptance nor remorse was present. Her long nails pulled off the cog, letting the smell drifted into the thick air.

Yihuai shook his head, tears ran down his face. "No, Mother."

Lingyue laughed, unable to accept her fate. She couldn't even lift a gaze up at her agitated son. "S-So this it, right?" She clenched her jaw, rage burning in her eyes. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the clear bottle as she brought it up to her lips. Millenia of hatred convulsed in her as she jerked the poison down her throat. Her eyes rolled to the back of her scalp as she closed them.

The time ticked in the rhythm of Jingrui's heart and slowly, blood gushed out of Lingyue's lips. Trembling rapidly, Lingyue tumbled down onto the floor. Her body squirmed on the ground, grunting in pain. Her hands shook as she brought it to her face. Red began seeping out of her eyes and nose. Yihuai was screaming as he watched his mother deep in agony. Jingrui clenched her jaw and turned away.

It was what the Empress Dowager deserved. Even if she were to die a thousand times, it wouldn't repent for all that she had done.

The hall was in complete silence when the Empress Dowager suddenly stopped wriggling. Like a dead corpse, she laid against the floor, her eyes wide open, and her mouth hung agape.

A horrific death.

Not a beautiful death like Yuetong or Yuansong. Not even a chance for her as an Earthly Immortal to return to nature.

Just a withered corpse like a dead mortal.

Although Jingrui found her heart ached from the sight of the Empress Dowager, she knew it was what she deserved. The one who killed her sister and master, the one who killed Consort Chen and Yuansong, this was her retribution. This was justice.

In this vast world, Jingrui vowed to never forgive nor forget. No matter how much this might lead her into a path of the abyss, she would take it—only then would the moon become full again.

Jingrui took a deep breath and glanced up at the sky above her head. It was pitch black with inauspicious shooting stars. Dark clouds of the barren storm engulfed the sky. The heavy rain poured against the glass plane, weeping unheard cries of the death.

But there was no full moon.