Chapter 120: Only By Killing You

"Grandfather, why can't A-Ran be the head of the family?" Xuanyuan Yuan finally voiced the question that had been weighing on her heart.

The head of the Xuanyuan family sighed with a heavy heart. "One day, you will understand."

"Kneel in penance for an hour. Tomorrow, you and Mei'er are to go to the Twilight Pavilion!" After saying this, he turned and walked out of the ancestral hall.

Xuanyuan Yuan’s eyes widened. Her grandfather’s intention was clearly to hand the Twilight Pavilion over to Mei'er, and he was determined to marry A-Ran off to Prince Yuan.

Xuanyuan Yuan knelt in the hall, lost in a daze, while Xuanyuan Mei stayed by her side.

"Eldest Miss..." An hour later, Xuanyuan Mei called out several times, but Xuanyuan Yuan remained unresponsive.

Early the next morning, Xuanyuan Yuan bid farewell to her grandparents and set off for the Twilight Pavilion. As she left the Xuanyuan estate, she happened to cross paths with the procession of Prince Yuan, who had come to propose marriage.

Watching the crowd, Xuanyuan Yuan could vaguely hear that man’s hearty laughter.

After this parting, the next time Xuanyuan Yuan saw Prince Yuan was three years later at the funeral of the Old Madame Xuanyuan. She did not know why his gaze toward her was filled with such coldness.

Xuanyuan Yuan let out a sorrowful sigh, suddenly recalling how, when they first met, she had told him she wanted him to be her grandparents' grandson-in-law and her sister's brother-in-law.

Unexpectedly, had he now become her own brother-in-law?

That year, Xuanyuan Yuan and Xuanyuan Ran both turned eighteen—the time the family head had promised to choose a successor.

After the funeral, the family head produced the two swords, Cangyuan and Xingyuan, bestowing them upon Xuanyuan Yuan and Xuanyuan Mei, respectively. He publicly announced that Xuanyuan Yuan would succeed as the new head of the Xuanyuan family, while Xuanyuan Mei would become the master of the Twilight Pavilion.

Xuanyuan Yuan, caught off guard by the suddenness of it all, accepted the Cangyuan sword. She stood up and scanned her surroundings, but she could not find her sister, Xuanyuan Ran.

Xuanyuan Mei also stood up after receiving the Xingyuan sword, feeling a faint sense of unease.

The surroundings grew eerily silent. Suddenly, a thunderclap roared like a wild beast, and black clouds began to press down upon the horizon.

Xuanyuan Yuan felt a tremor of fear. She looked at the old family head and called out, "Grandfather..."

"A-Yuan, run!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than the old family head threw himself against the tombstone of the Old Madame Xuanyuan. Xuanyuan Yuan watched in a daze as he collapsed.

A girl in black, who looked exactly like her, appeared. Xuanyuan Mei drew the Xingyuan sword and stood before Xuanyuan Yuan.

Xuanyuan Yuan stood rooted to the spot, staring at the fallen body of her grandfather, tears streaming down her face in silence.

"Xuanyuan Yuan... sister..." Xuanyuan Ran whispered.

Xuanyuan Yuan finally broke down, shouting, "Do not call me sister!"

"Why? Why can you harbor such hatred?" Xuanyuan Yuan demanded, her voice shrill.

"Xuanyuan Ran!"

"If you want the position of family head, take it! Why force Grandfather to his death!"

Xuanyuan Ran laughed uncontrollably before suddenly stopping, her voice twisted and savage as she shrieked:

"Isn't that exactly what I'm doing?"

"Why should the position of family head be yours alone?"

"Why should the Xuanyuan family belong only to you?"

"Why should everything I want belong to you!"

"That is why I must kill you—kill you, kill you!"

Xuanyuan Yuan did not know that three years ago, on the day Prince Yuan had come to propose to the Xuanyuan family, Xuanyuan Ran had been rejected. After the rejection, she had left the family and traveled to the Western Yan Kingdom.

"Xuanyuan Yuan, you are a disgrace as the eldest daughter of the Xuanyuan family..." Xuanyuan Ran said. "From now on, I am Xuanyuan Ran—without the 'Ran' of a daughter of your Xuanyuan house!"

Xuanyuan Ran began to laugh loudly again.

Her mother was from the Western Yan Kingdom and was skilled in venomous gu. Because she had fallen in love with Xuanyuan Ran’s father, she had planted a "Heart-Bound Gu" within herself—a poison that bound two people together, forcing them to belong only to each other. If one betrayed the other, the victim would suffer agonizing pain until the gu devoured their bones and they died.

This was the reason for the early death of Xuanyuan Yuan’s father.

Xuanyuan Ran’s mother, unable to obtain the love she craved, grew to resent Xuanyuan Yuan’s mother and the entire Xuanyuan family, and thus began her revenge.

The supposed twin birth was nothing more than a scheme. Xuanyuan Yuan’s true twin sister had long ago been killed by Xuanyuan Ran’s mother, and Xuanyuan Ran was a "shadow-forged" substitute meant to replace the sister.

Before she died, her mother had left a gu within Xuanyuan Ran, ensuring that after her sixteenth birthday, she would remember everything and wreak vengeance.

Xuanyuan Yuan listened blankly to Xuanyuan Ran’s words. So, her sister had died long ago. She had been manipulated by evil all along, never understanding the deep meaning behind her grandfather’s actions. Perhaps he had been unable to speak.

"If you are wondering why Grandfather didn't explain all this to you, it is naturally because he could not bring himself to say it..."

Speaking of the old family head, Xuanyuan Ran was filled with immense hatred.

"That old man, claiming he wanted me to marry Prince Yuan—it was only to clear the way for you to become the family head!"

"Why?"

"It wouldn't have mattered if I had married Prince Yuan, but why did he choose you? We look exactly the same! Why did he come to the Xuanyuan family to propose, only to reject the marriage in public?"

"Xuanyuan Yuan, rest assured, once you are dead, he will be next!"

"Soon you will be reunited in the underworld. Don't worry."

Xuanyuan Ran’s face was twisted in a savage grin as she laughed hysterically.

"I will not spare anyone connected to you! The Xuanyuan family claims, 'When the Heavenly Maiden appears, the twins shall rule the world.' Let me take your place and see what this world has to offer!"

With that, Xuanyuan Ran bent down, picked up a candle from before the Old Madame’s tombstone, and threw it toward the back mountain. The fire would burn until the entire Xuanyuan estate was reduced to ash.

"No one can save you, Xuanyuan Yuan!"

Watching the Xuanyuan estate being destroyed bit by bit, Xuanyuan Ran was filled with the thrill of revenge.

"The Twilight Pavilion and everyone in the Xuanyuan family are under the control of my gu..."

"Do you expect her to save your life?" Xuanyuan Ran pointed the tip of her sword at Xuanyuan Mei.

Xuanyuan Mei noticed swarms of poisonous insects crawling toward them.

Xuanyuan Yuan immediately drew the Cangyuan sword and snatched the Xingyuan sword from Mei'er’s hand. She was determined to kill Xuanyuan Ran; even if she had to die, she would drag her down with her.

"Mei'er, run!" Xuanyuan Yuan stood in front of Xuanyuan Mei.

Seeing Xuanyuan Yuan wielding both the Cangyuan and Xingyuan swords, Xuanyuan Ran’s rage boiled over. She kicked up the family head’s discarded sword from the ground and charged at Xuanyuan Yuan.

Prince Yuan, who had remained on Mount Yunyang after paying his respects at the funeral, suddenly saw flames rising toward the sky in the direction of the Xuanyuan estate. Thinking of the girl who had laughed so freely under the maple tree, he gathered his strength and rushed toward the estate.

This was the first time Xuanyuan Yuan fought with true intent, prepared to die in the struggle.

The two were evenly matched in strength, but as the insects swarmed closer, Xuanyuan Yuan found herself with nowhere to turn. Finally, Xuanyuan Ran’s sword lunged toward her throat.

At the critical moment, Prince Yuan arrived and kicked Xuanyuan Ran away.

Seeing the ground covered in venomous insects, he scooped up Xuanyuan Yuan. Her arm had been wounded by Xuanyuan Ran, and the Xingyuan sword dropped to the ground.

Prince Yuan carried Xuanyuan Yuan away, vanishing into the back mountain of the Xuanyuan estate.

As he carried her, Xuanyuan Yuan kicked and punched him.

"Let me go! Let me go, let me go!"

"I have to kill her! I have to kill Xuanyuan Ran!"

She screamed, her heart breaking, as Prince Yuan held her tightly.

"I beg you, let me down..." She cried until she lost her strength, her voice turning into a plea.

Only then did Prince Yuan set her down. Xuanyuan Yuan collapsed onto the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

"And Mei'er..."

"Can we go back and save Mei'er?" she asked in despair, though she knew it was impossible.

In the back mountain, Xuanyuan Mei was surrounded by gu insects. Xuanyuan Ran laughed as she watched the insects crawl onto Mei'er, gnawing at her skin.

"You think that just because Xuanyuan Yuan was saved, you can rest easy?" Xuanyuan Ran sneered at her.

"I don't think one act of revenge is enough. Watching you be torn apart by my insects—how could I ever get enough of that?" She laughed again.

"I will not let Xuanyuan Yuan go!"

"I will not let Prince Yuan go!"

"I won't spare anyone in the Xuanyuan family!"

"Absolutely not!"

"You are all fit only to be played with in the palm of my hand. Hahaha..."

Xuanyuan Ran shrieked in a frenzy. Mei'er, seizing a moment when Xuanyuan Ran was distracted, rolled her body across the swarm of insects and ran to the edge of the cliff, throwing herself off.

"Ahhhhhhh..."

In the Pavilion of Shadows, Mei'er woke up with a blood-curdling scream.

"Xuanyuan Ran, it was Xuanyuan Ran!"

Mei'er buried her face in her hands and wept.

Weishao Qianyu and Feng Jinye could not see the visions within her hypnotized mind; they could only judge by the words she had spoken unconsciously.

All of Mei'er’s previous guesses had been correct. She was a member of the Xuanyuan family and had been close to the sisters.

Feng Jinye’s mother, the Princess of Yuan, was the eldest daughter of the Xuanyuan family, Xuanyuan Yuan.

The master of the Twilight Pavilion was indeed, as they had suspected, Xuanyuan Ran.

After weeping for a long time, Mei'er regained a shred of composure and spoke to Feng Jinye: "Xuanyuan Ran and your mother were not twin sisters."

"Your biological aunt was killed by Xuanyuan Ran’s mother, and Xuanyuan Ran was a substitute created in your mother's image..."

"Xuanyuan Ran’s mother had taken a liking to A-Yuan’s father and used the Heart-Bound Gu to force him to be with her. Yet he remained in love with A-Yuan’s mother, and ultimately died in agony from the poison..."

"Because of this love turned to hatred, she hated the Xuanyuan family and gave birth to Xuanyuan Ran to take her revenge!"

Weishao Qianyu listened in horror, shaking her head. It was too terrifying.

Seeing Feng Jinye’s fists clench so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, Weishao Qianyu turned and held him close.