Volume One, Chapter 85: The Story of Chang Jinlan

Chi Xingwan had been watching “Little Hu” closely. Seeing her look so desolate, she asked gently, “And you? Is there nothing you are attached to?”

“Little Hu” looked bewildered. “Attachment?”

So much time had passed—over a thousand years—that it was enough for her to forget many things. All that remained in her heart was hatred.

“Attachment?”

She gazed at her own hands. Suddenly, it seemed she could see a much smaller pair of hands clasped in hers—a child’s hands.

“I do have an attachment, but who is it?” she murmured, lost in confusion. The six giant serpents finally gave up their assault and hung suspended in the air. Chi Xingwan did not take advantage of her; the massive sword, too, stilled.

Chi Xingwan watched her, probing, “Is it someone in your family?”

“Family?” “Little Hu” looked again at her hands, and the small hands grew clearer. She seemed to hear a child calling her “Mother.”

“Mother, the teacher at the academy praised me today. He said I study diligently and will surely pass the imperial exams one day. Then I’ll win you the title of Lady of Honor.”

“Mother, why did Father die? Why? Mother, what will we do now?”

“Mother, don’t leave me, don’t abandon me, I... I don’t want to die...”

“Aaah—!”

Suddenly “Little Hu” crouched down, clutching her head in anguish and screaming.

“My child! They killed my child and my husband! They killed me! I want revenge, I want revenge!” Blood trickled from her eyes as she glared at Chi Xingwan, her gaze blood-red. “I must get out. I must have my vengeance. No one will stop me!”

“Including you.”

Chi Xingwan stood her ground, calmly regarding her. “I’m sorry, but you will not kill me, nor will you escape.”

“Hmph, such boastful words.”

“Little Hu” sneered and raised her hand to strike at Chi Xingwan, only to find her “body” frozen in place.

Looking down, she was horrified to see her form ensnared by countless golden threads finer than spider silk. The more she struggled, the tighter they wound.

“What have you done to me?!”

Chi Xingwan replied, “However powerful you are, you’re still no match for me.”

“Little Hu” glared at her hatefully. “I will escape. I will destroy this wretched world.”

Chi Xingwan’s expression was filled with pity, yet her words were cruel. “It’s a pity, but this world is not hopeless. Only your world is hopeless.”

“Little Hu” was rooted to the spot.

“Yes, only my world is hopeless. But why? I never harmed anyone in my life—I wouldn’t even kill a chicken. Why did Heaven do this to me? Why was my family destroyed? Why was I buried alive for some despicable man?”

“What is your name?” Chi Xingwan asked.

“Little Hu” was startled, then flew into a rage. “Why should you know my name... My name is Chang Jinlan.”

“What did you do to me?” Chang Jinlan found herself unable to stop from revealing her name, growing even more agitated.

Chi Xingwan merely said, “Don’t be angry. I only wish to talk with you.”

“You’re stalling for time—waiting for the underworld’s envoys, aren’t you?” Chang Jinlan demanded.

Chi Xingwan nodded. “That’s right. But that’s only one reason. I truly want to hear your story, and I sincerely wish to help you find peace.”

“After all, you cannot escape obliteration. At the very least, before you vanish, I hope you can let go of your pain.”

Chang Jinlan gave a bitter laugh. “If you want me to let go, then let me go free. The more I kill, the more I’ll be at peace.”

Chi Xingwan didn’t follow her lead, but quietly asked, “Can you tell me your story now?”

Chang Jinlan’s eyes darkened, and she was compelled to speak.

“I was once just an ordinary peasant girl. When the time came, I married and had a child. My husband was ambitious—he worked hard every day to give us a good life. When our child turned three, we moved to the county town and our days improved.”

At this, a flicker of fondness and warmth shone in Chang Jinlan’s eyes.

“Those were the happiest years of my life. My husband worked as the assistant manager at a restaurant, I took care of our home and made embroidery to sell in my spare time. Our child grew day by day, and when he turned five, we sent him to the academy.”

“The teacher said he was talented, that he could succeed through the imperial exams, maybe even lift the family’s status.”

“Those days were wonderful, truly wonderful...”

Chang Jinlan began to weep again—only, from “Little Hu’s” eyes, it was blood that flowed, not tears.

“But then that man appeared, and ruined our family!”

She screamed in torment, the black aura around her growing denser. Despite Chi Xingwan’s efforts to contain it, some of the miasma seeped downward.

Chi Xingwan grew anxious for Chu Fangfei and the others above, yet she could do nothing to help now.

All her attention was fixed on Chang Jinlan, who was lost in memory.

She returned to that nightmare day.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Her family was out enjoying the lantern festival. Her child, excited, accidentally bumped into a nobleman.

The man smiled and said it was fine. Chang Jinlan saw her husband breathe a sigh of relief, but she herself could not relax. She had the sense the nobleman’s gaze upon her was strange.

She told herself it must be her imagination.

But a few days later, her husband died in a so-called “accident.” Then her child died as well.

She was abducted and delivered to the nobleman’s bed.

Only then did she learn the nobleman was a prince, and that this was his fiefdom—everyone here was his subject.

From that day on, Chang Jinlan became a concubine by the prince’s side. Because of her lowly birth, and the fact she had once been married and borne a child, she was never granted formal status—merely a concubine.

She was consumed by hatred, missing her husband and child every day, cursing the prince’s death with every breath.

At last, the prince did die—of illness, it was said.

Chang Jinlan was overjoyed. She thought, now she could escape—now she could leave this gilded cage.

But reality was far crueller. On the day of the prince’s burial, she was brought to the mausoleum.

They shoved her into a coffin. The princess looked down on her from above.

“The prince favored you in life. Now that he’s gone, you’ll follow him. In the underworld, continue to serve him well, do you understand?”

The coffin lid closed. Nails hammered it shut.

No matter how she struggled, how she screamed, no one came to save her. As the air ran out, she died of suffocation, hatred burning in her heart.

Imprisoned in life, denied release in death.

Chang Jinlan looked at Chi Xingwan with a twisted smile. “So, tell me—what was my crime, that Heaven would treat me so? Why were those I loved murdered, why was I killed as well? Do we deserve such a fate?”