Just at this moment, Qiu Ruoxi and Xiahou Yutong rushed over to Madam Wang!
"Madam Wang, please get up!" Qiu Ruoxi looked at her with aching heart and said.
Right now, Qiu Ruoxi’s heart was full of regret—regret that she had told Madam Wang the King was here!
If she hadn’t said anything, Madam Wang probably wouldn’t have rushed over regardless of the consequences, right?
In fact, Qiu Ruoxi hadn’t wanted to say it at first, but Madam Wang, whether she had sensed something or overheard something, kept chasing after Qiu Ruoxi, questioning and pleading non-stop.
Soft-hearted, Qiu Ruoxi finally told her, but she hadn’t expected that once Madam Wang knew, she would run over without a care for anything.
Xiahou Yutong was trying to persuade Madam Wang at the side as well, but Madam Wang simply didn’t listen, nor did she move at all.
In the next moment, Madam Wang slowly raised her head, fixing her gaze on Ye Xunhuan: "Young Master, must you really kill him today?"
Ye Xunhuan drew in a deep breath, then nodded. "Yes. Today, I must kill him."
It wasn’t that Ye Xunhuan didn’t want to agree to Madam Wang’s plea, but everything was exactly as he had said—he truly had no way to let the King go.
"Is there really no chance of sparing him, not even once?"
"Madam Wang, back then why didn’t he think of showing mercy and sparing my parents, why didn’t he think of sparing my master and all those innocent brothers of mine?" Ye Xunhuan said, wracked with pain. "Now you want me to spare him. All those lives, all that hatred, pressed onto my shoulders alone—how am I supposed to let him go, how am I supposed to forgive him this once?"
Madam Wang fell silent.
Ye Xunhuan was right. So many lives, so much blood-debt was weighing on him. Now that the chance was right in front of him, how could he possibly let the King go?
How could he possibly spare the King?
"Madam Wang, don’t force me. I really can’t do it!" Ye Xunhuan said heavily. "Even if I could, my parents, my master, and my brothers who were killed by him—they can’t!"
"Young Master, can I die in his place?" Madam Wang stared at Ye Xunhuan and spoke each word distinctly.
When Ye Xunhuan heard this, his expression changed slightly. "Madam Wang..."
Not only did Ye Xunhuan’s face change; even the King’s did. "Lan’er, you..."
"Young Master, is that acceptable?" Madam Wang ignored the King entirely and asked Ye Xunhuan.
"Madam Wang, why must you force me like this?" Ye Xunhuan growled low.
"Young Master, though he betrayed me, I don’t blame him," Madam Wang said, her voice full of bitterness. "He has his own bitter reasons that left him no choice. And no matter what, he did save my life. If not for him, I don’t even know if I’d be alive or dead right now!"
"Young Master, I know asking you to spare him puts you in a cruel dilemma. I’m not asking for anything else—just let me die in his stead, is that alright?"
"Use my life to make up for the sins he’s committed—can you?"
"Madam Wang, don’t force Xunhuan..."
"Yu Lan, how could Xunhuan possibly bear to hurt you..."
At that moment, Qiu Ruoxi and Xiahou Yutong also grew frantic.
Seeing Madam Wang’s pleading eyes, those pupils filled with the grayness of death, Ye Xunhuan’s face twisted with pain.
"Madam Wang, I won’t kill you!" Ye Xunhuan drew in a long breath, forcing down the agitation in his chest. "But him—I absolutely will kill!"
"King, are you really going to let a woman do this for you?"
"Ye Xunhuan, I won’t let her die for me!"
As he spoke, the King used all of his remaining strength, gathering his Inner Strength completely into his palms, then with a sweep of his hand, a gentle force suddenly pushed Madam Wang aside!
"Ye Xunhuan, if you’re going to kill me, then do it quickly!" After he used Inner Strength to push Madam Wang away, the King immediately said to Ye Xunhuan, "Otherwise, I might start not wanting to die."
He then turned his gaze on Madam Wang. "Lan’er, in this life I’ve wronged you. In the next life, I’ll stay with you until we’re old!"
"I know you have a mole behind your right ear. I’ve always remembered it. In the next life, I’ll definitely be able to find you!"
As his words fell, a look of fearless resolve toward death appeared on the King’s face. "Ye Xunhuan, if I die, you must at least be gravely wounded!"
"Swish!"
The King suddenly brought his hands together, and a vast surge of power burst forth from between his palms!
Seeing this, Ye Xunhuan’s eyes narrowed sharply!
"Die!"
As the word "die" left his mouth, the sword in Ye Xunhuan’s hand swept out in a vicious arc.
"Swish!"
A blinding white flash, carrying a razor-sharp killing intent, shot straight toward the King.
"No..."
Seeing this, Madam Wang let out a hysterical scream from her throat.
"Boom..."
The blast of force the King sent out with his sweeping hands slammed hard into the sword-light Ye Xunhuan unleashed, producing a shrill, piercing sound, like a volcano erupting, magnificent in its fury!
The sword-light seemed unstoppable, cleaving the Inner Strength apart directly, its momentum undiminished as it continued to race toward the King with terrifying speed.
This time, the King did not dodge, nor did he resist again, letting that streak of sword-light fall upon his body!
"Pfft!"
A dull sound rang out, and the sword-light pierced straight through the King’s body.
"Bai... Bai Hexuan’s... daughter... is... is named Bai... Bai Zhiqing..." The King stared at Ye Xunhuan, his face full of pain, forcing the words out.
"Clang!"
The King’s whole body went stiff and toppled onto the ground, utterly motionless. Blood instantly gushed from the wound on his chest, flooding out and dyeing the ground red in an instant!
In that moment, the King was dead!
Ye Xunhuan had not, because of Madam Wang’s pleading, spared the King. Right in front of her eyes, with a single sword, he took the King’s life!
In truth, even if Ye Xunhuan hadn’t killed the King and had agreed to Madam Wang’s request to spare him, the King was unlikely to live. His injuries were too severe, and he’d been hit by the Butcher’s Blade—there was no way those wounds would ever heal!
But Ye Xunhuan chose not to deceive Madam Wang. Instead, he cut the King down beneath his sword!
The King lay on the ground, in a pool of his own blood. Everyone present almost held their breath, silently watching the scene before them.
"King..."
In the next second, a hysterical scream tore through the surrounding stillness, as Madam Wang ran madly toward the King’s corpse.
In just an instant, Madam Wang had reached the King’s body, and she threw her arms around him.
Tears slid slowly from Madam Wang’s eyes, like beads from a broken string. The anguish on her face was utterly unhidden, laid bare for all to see.
"Why are you so stupid, why did you do this, why..."