Chapter 1076: You're a Beast!

Sha Rulai let Xiang Ming collapse.

The two fingers he had stabbed into Xiang Ming's chest slipped free naturally, then remained suspended in front of him. Spiritual power rippled around them, turning the blood on his fingers into fine strands of crimson mist that dispersed into the air.

Sha Huanli had been utterly stunned by the sudden turn.

Her gaze slowly shifted toward her cold-faced father, disbelief written across her features.

Wasn't Xiang Ming one of her father's most trusted confidants?

Why would her father suddenly kill him?

Niu Youdao narrowed his eyes slightly, gaze flickering as he watched everything unfold.

Hei Yun and the two Demon Fox Elders exchanged baffled looks.

They had gone to such trouble to capture the man alive and return him to the person being coerced, only for that very person to kill him himself.

What kind of situation was this?

Had they known things would turn out this way, they needn't have gone to all that trouble.

When the blood had vanished from his fingers, Sha Rulai lowered his hand.

He looked down coldly at Xiang Ming, whose body was still twitching on the ground. "I don't care whether your devotion all these years was genuine or false, or whether it was merely part of your disguise. I still owe you thanks. Thank you for taking care of my daughter all these years. You truly did care for her attentively. Thank you."

"Uh... uh..."

Xiang Ming strained his neck and made two muffled sounds. Blood welled from his mouth, leaving him unable to speak.

But he had heard Sha Rulai clearly.

A smile spread faintly across his face. The light in his eyes gradually froze, and at last his head tilted to one side.

He stopped moving completely.

"Xiang Ming! Chief Steward Xiang! Uncle Xiang..."

Sha Huanli finally came back to herself and released a grief-stricken cry.

She rushed forward in panic, dropped to the ground, and gathered Xiang Ming's neck into her arms, calling to him again and again as though she might somehow wake him, as though he might still come back to life.

It was useless.

No matter how she called, Xiang Ming gave no response.

His unmoving eyes had lost every trace of life and light.

Sha Rulai let out a long breath. "Huanli, let him go. It's over."

Sha Huanli abruptly released Xiang Ming and surged to her feet.

Almost crazed, she charged straight at Sha Rulai, seized his clothes, and shoved him furiously. "Why did you kill him? Wasn't he your trusted subordinate? Why did you kill him? Tell me! Why did you kill him?"

Her tears had completely broken loose.

Her blatant disregard for him as her father angered Sha Rulai. He rebuked her sharply, "Watch yourself. I am your father!"

"I don't want a father! I want him alive! I want Uncle Xiang alive!" Sha Huanli shoved him again and again. "You even killed him! Sha Rulai, why are you so heartless and disloyal? Are you even human?"

Sha Rulai caught both her shoulders and shook her hard. "Calm down!"

"I won't calm down!" Sha Huanli sobbed and screamed. "Do you know? All these years, ever since I was little, Uncle Xiang was the one who took care of me. Uncle Xiang was always the one by my side. I had no family around me. He was my family! He was like my father, like my grandfather! Why did you kill him? Why did you kill him?"

"Sha Rulai, I want you to pay with your life!"

With that, she suddenly reached out with both hands and clamped them around Sha Rulai's throat with all her strength.

Hei Yun and the two Demon Fox Elders exchanged another glance.

This daughter was actually trying to kill her own father?

Even Niu Youdao found the scene difficult to watch.

He half raised a hand, hesitated as though he wanted to intervene, then thought better of it.

This was another family's private affair.

Besides, Sha Huanli could not possibly kill Sha Rulai even if she tried.

Niu Youdao lowered his hand again and remained to the side, watching.

Their family matters were better left for them to resolve themselves.

Sha Rulai stood there without moving or resisting, allowing his daughter to choke him.

But a vast sorrow appeared in his eyes and across his face.

He seemed never to have imagined that his own daughter would treat him this way.

The daughter he had exhausted himself protecting actually wanted to kill him?

The grief that rose from his very bones, yet was forcibly held under control, could not be described with words.

It was as though his whole being had suffered a world-destroying blow.

Those frail hands wrapped around his neck posed no physical threat whatsoever, yet to Sha Rulai they were more cruel and deadly than any attack in the world.

After a moment, he forced himself to calm down.

His hands slid from his daughter's shoulders to her wrists. With almost no effort, he pried her delicate hands away from his throat and pressed them down.

Suppressing the grief in his heart, he spoke earnestly. "Girl, I know how you feel about him. But you need to understand that I had no choice. Everything he did for you had a purpose. What you saw was only an illusion."

Sha Huanli struggled but could not break free of her father's grip. Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head. "You're still making excuses for yourself. Why is there no good person in your eyes? Why does everyone who comes near me have some hidden purpose in your eyes?"

"The men I loved disappeared one after another under strange circumstances. Do you dare say you had nothing to do with it? Tell me. Were you the one who killed them?"

"And now you've killed Uncle Xiang too. Why don't you just kill me as well? Why must you keep tormenting me like this? What kind of father acts the way you do?"

"You're not my father. You're not human. You're a beast!"

Sha Rulai erupted in anger. "Do you even know what you're saying? Have you gone mad? Since you insist on knowing, then I'll tell you."

"Xiang Ming was never my confidant. He was never my man. He belonged to my master, Luo Qiu. Luo Qiu planted him beside me!"

"..."

Sha Huanli froze.

Her wailing stopped abruptly, leaving her stunned.

Sha Rulai continued, speaking with painful patience. "I know how you felt about him. I know how dependent on him and how trusting of him you became, little by little, ever since you were young. I never wanted to tell you because I was afraid you couldn't accept it. But since you insist on refusing to distinguish right from wrong, then I'll make you face it."

Sha Huanli suddenly screamed as though bitten by a snake. "You're lying! You're deceiving me! I'm not a fool. I could feel for myself whether Uncle Xiang's kindness to me was genuine, whether it was false affection!"

"If he truly belonged to Luo Qiu, would you really have let him remain beside me all these years? If he truly belonged to Luo Qiu, how could you possibly have allowed him to stay with me?"

"Uncle Xiang received profound kindness from you and Mother. He never forgot his debt and remained loyal to you all these years! Sha Rulai, even when you struck him down and he was dying, he was still speaking for you."

"You even slander the dead. Do you have any conscience left?"

Sha Rulai said, "There are many things you simply don't understand. The way your mother and I rescued Xiang Ming back then was itself arranged by Luo Qiu. The entire purpose was to win my trust so he could plant Xiang Ming beside me, let me treat him as a confidant, and use him to monitor me."

"The reason I later placed him beside you was also a way to protect you. Do you understand?"

"I don't!" Sha Huanli shouted. "You're making excuses for yourself. You always have an excuse. Sha Rulai, no matter what you say, I will never believe you!"

"Ahem..."

Niu Youdao, standing nearby, suddenly coughed lightly. "City Lord Sha, forgive me for saying something. I think I roughly understand what Mr. Sha means."

"Precisely because Xiang Ming belonged to Luo Qiu, Mr. Sha pretended not to know. By placing you in Xiang Ming's care, he was effectively placing you completely under Luo Qiu's control. Luo Qiu could seize you whenever he wished and dispose of you whenever he wished. Unless absolutely necessary, he would actually have less reason to move against you. Mr. Sha was protecting you through that arrangement."

"Shut up!" Sha Huanli suddenly roared at Niu Youdao.

"Niu Youdao, you're no good man either! You shamelessly deceived me and deliberately lured us into a trap. Now you're stepping out and pretending to be some righteous person?"

"You're birds of a feather, colluding together. None of you are good people!"

"I'm telling you now, Uncle Xiang's death has something to do with you too. Unless I die here today, I will never let you off!"

"..."

Niu Youdao had nothing to say.

Looking somewhat embarrassed, he rubbed his nose.

He already regretted being unable to keep his mouth shut.

This was another family's business. He should never have inserted himself.

He had tried to help and received nothing but abuse for it. He had brought it upon himself.

And truly, he had no argument to make.

From Sha Huanli's position, and given her present emotional state, he really was no good man.

There was nothing to defend.

At a time like this, trying to reason with a woman, especially one emotionally devastated, was practically courting death.

Of course, Niu Youdao did not particularly care.

He had never thought of himself as a good man to begin with.

In his own words, he had long since stopped being able to tell whether he was black or white.

Sha Rulai suddenly said, "Girl, haven't you always wanted to know who killed your mother?"

"I never wanted to tell you because I was afraid you'd act impulsively, afraid the truth would harm you. But looking at your condition now, I can see that I have no choice."

"Luo Qiu."

"He didn't kill your mother with his own hands, but he personally gave the order for her death."

Sha Huanli stared at him through tear-filled eyes.

"Actually, the moment something happened to your mother, I knew what had happened..."

Sha Rulai slowly began recounting the entire affair.

It began with his late senior martial sister, Kong Linglong.

By then, Kong Linglong had reached a certain age and level of cultivation and had begun thinking about climbing one step higher. Her thoughts turned toward the Wuliang Fruit in Wuliang Garden.

As it happened, one of Kong Linglong's disciples served inside Wuliang Garden.

She began secretly asking that disciple about the Garden's internal situation.

After several rounds of discreet questioning, the disciple suddenly told her one day that someone seemed to be watching him.

Kong Linglong was startled and immediately ended all private contact with the disciple.

Then Luo Qiu suddenly sought her out.

He told her that his daughter Luo Fangfei had been making things difficult for him and implied that, for the sake of fulfilling his daughter's wishes, Kong Linglong should kill Sha Rulai's wife.

Being ordered to do such a thing, combined with what had happened beforehand, made Kong Linglong understand that Luo Qiu had already developed murderous intent toward her.

He could no longer tolerate her.

She knew that after she carried out the killing, her own death would very likely follow.

Even so, she had no choice but to obey.

Before acting, however, Kong Linglong left herself one final move.

Or perhaps she simply did not want Luo Qiu to have an easy time of it.

She secretly left a sealed letter for Sha Rulai explaining the entire chain of events.

By the time Sha Rulai read the letter, something had already happened to his wife.

On the surface, she had been unable to endure the pressure and had hanged herself.

Kong Linglong's fears proved correct.

Soon afterward, her disciple was seized, and the matter of Kong Linglong coveting the Wuliang Fruit was exposed.

Luo Qiu moved with thunderous speed and had her executed.

Sha Rulai had been furious then.

But even more than anger, he felt fear.

Luo Qiu had already begun killing.

Sha Rulai feared he might simply continue until every loose end was gone. It was entirely possible.

The next targets could easily be Sha Rulai and his daughter—or more precisely, his daughter Sha Huanli.

Then Luo Fangfei took advantage of the opening and pressed her pursuit of him.

For the sake of self-preservation, Sha Rulai agreed to remarry and take Luo Fangfei as his wife.

He made one condition: Luo Fangfei had to treat Sha Huanli as though she were her own daughter.

Overjoyed, Luo Fangfei naturally agreed without hesitation.

[End of Chapter 1076]