The moment they stepped into the courtyard and saw there was no one around, Lin Yue could no longer suppress the anger in her heart. She raised her hand and slapped Zhou Wu's bloated stomach hard.
With a muffled thud, she struck with considerable force.
Caught off guard, Zhou Wu felt a sharp pain. Clutching his stomach, he looked incredibly aggrieved.
“What did you hit me for? For no reason at all!”
Lin Yue was utterly exasperated. She glared at him intensely and growled in a low voice.
“You still have the nerve to ask why I hit you?”
“How did I advise you before we went out? Watch your words and actions!”
“The City Lord's estate blocked all news about Zhou Jinyun's ambush on the road. Not a single word leaked out.”
“We live in a secluded private residence and never leave. How could we possibly know about it in advance?”
“Just now, you blurted out a question about Jinyun being ambushed. That single sentence almost gave us away completely!”
“We have endured and planned for so many years, yet it was almost ruined by your big mouth!”
Rebuked harshly by Lin Yue, Zhou Wu knew he was in the wrong. He lowered his head, not daring to argue back.
Feeling panicked and terrified, he asked anxiously, “Then... what do we do now?”
Lin Yue took a deep breath, forcing down her anxiety and regret. Gritting her teeth, she said,
“Regret is useless now. No matter who asks next, we must stick to one story.”
“We'll say we happened to overhear some servants gossiping when we were passing through the estate. Don't say anything extra, don't change your story, and absolutely do not say another word.”
As she spoke, intense resentment and unwillingness surged in her eyes.
“And that useless trash Wang Wu and his men! We spent so much money, yet they couldn't even kill a young girl. They completely ruined the scheme we spent so many years setting up.”
The two stood in the courtyard, their hearts filled with resentment and anger over their failed plans.
They harbored an ambition that had been dormant for years, entirely unknown to outsiders.
The Zhou family of Tianfeng City had once produced an exceptionally brilliant eldest son named Zhou Jinhang, who was Zhou Jinyun's older brother.
In his youth, his talent surpassed everyone in the city. He had broken through to the Houtian Eighth Layer at the age of fifteen, making him a once-in-a-century young genius of Tianfeng City. He should have naturally inherited the position of City Lord.
However, ten years ago, when he went out to the mountains to gain experience, he was ambushed by wicked people. His cultivation was completely destroyed, and one of his legs was brutally broken.
The once-dazzling genius fell from grace overnight, becoming a cripple.
Upon his return, his spirit was entirely crushed. He became depressed and lived in isolation for ten whole years, completely ignoring the affairs of the world, which thoroughly destroyed any possibility of him inheriting the position.
Today, in the massive City Lord's estate, the only remaining heir of the direct line was Zhou Jinyun.
As long as she died, the Zhou family would have no legitimate heir to inherit the family foundation. The position of City Lord would then inevitably fall to Zhou Wen's only brother, Zhou Wu.
This was the true reason why Zhou Wu and Lin Yue had endured for years, plotting in the shadows and hiring assassins.
Boom!
A vast and majestic wave of Xiantian spiritual energy suddenly enveloped the entire courtyard.
Zhou Wu's bloated, obese body was violently thrown back by an invisible force. He was sent flying into the air and slammed heavily against a thick pillar in the courtyard.
Pfft!
Zhou Wu spat out a mouthful of blood. With his internal organs in excruciating pain, he crashed miserably onto the ground.
“You bastards!”
Zhou Wen's ice-cold voice thundered through the courtyard, carrying the disappointment and immense rage he had suppressed for decades.
From the moment Zhou Wu and his wife hurriedly left the main hall, Zhou Wen had grown suspicious and quietly followed them.
Spreading his Divine Sense, he had heard every single word of the couple's argument, their malicious plotting, and their scheme of hiring assassins to kill their niece—no, to kill his daughter.
This was his younger brother whom he had treated with kindness for half his life, a close relative he had poured his heart and soul into supporting.
In the end, he turned out to be a murderer who coveted the position of City Lord, hiring assassins to ambush and take the life of his only daughter.
Years of warmth and half a lifetime of support had yielded nothing but the most vicious betrayal.
Suddenly hearing his brother's voice, Zhou Wu looked up to see Zhou Wen standing in the courtyard. Scared out of his wits, his entire body froze.
Beside him, Lin Yue was also utterly terrified. She instinctively turned around, preparing to leap through the window to escape.
At this life-or-death moment, Zhou Wu completely lost his mind. He scrambled on all fours toward Zhou Wen, tears and mucus flowing as he tried to shift the blame.
“Brother! Brother, spare my life!”
“None of this was my idea!”
“It was all Lin Yue! She was the one who egged me on and directed me to do it!”
“I never wanted to hurt Jinyun. I wouldn't dare! Brother, you must believe me!”
Lin Yue, who was about to flee, froze instantly at his words. Turning to look at the pathetic sight of Zhou Wu groveling on the ground, her eyes held nothing but bone-deep regret and extreme mockery.
She let out a cold laugh, filled with despair. “Zhou Wu, you useless trash! You dare to do it, but you don't dare to face the consequences!”
“Years of planning and calculating step by step—this was clearly a plot we hatched together.”
“Now that we've been exposed, you actually push all the blame onto me alone. Do you think the City Lord will believe your nonsense?”
With those words, Lin Yue gritted her teeth and gathered all her spiritual energy, trying to escape with all her might.
But at that moment, a swift dark shadow cut through the air.
Aunt Lin's figure was like lightning. In an instant, she blocked her path and delivered a fierce kick.
The kick sent Lin Yue flying, and Aunt Lin used her spiritual energy to seal her meridians, leaving her completely unable to move.
Outside the courtyard gate, several figures had appeared at some point.
Ye Ruoqing held Zhou Jinyun's hand tightly. Beside them stood the calm and indifferent Ye Ling. The three of them quietly watched the ugly farce unfolding in the courtyard.
Zhou Jinyun stared blankly at her aunt and uncle, who were lying miserably on the ground, biting each other like dogs as they shifted the blame. Her eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
Though she had disliked her uncle and aunt's hypocrisy and snobbishness since childhood and always felt awkward around them, she had never imagined that these two elders, who usually greeted her with warm smiles, would actually be the masterminds who hired assassins to ambush her on the road and take her life.
Ye Ruoqing's eyes were filled with coldness and disappointment. Looking at the two on the ground, her voice was cold and raspy.
“Zhou Wu, Lin Yue, so this ambush was indeed your doing.”
“I believe my husband and I have treated you with more than enough kindness.”
“You have enjoyed prosperity for half your lives. Cultivation resources, clothing, food, shelter—which of these was not personally provided by my husband and me?”
“Out of brotherly affection, we repeatedly tolerated and indulged you.”
“Even though you were insatiably greedy and lived like leeches in our estate for years, the two of us never uttered a single word of criticism.”
“Yet you harbored such wild ambition and repaid our kindness with enmity.”
“If not for Young Friend Ye stepping in to save her, my Jinyun would have certainly died when she was surrounded and attacked by dozens of bandits on the road.”
At this point, immense lingering dread and sorrow welled up in Ye Ruoqing's heart.
Her arms tightened suddenly, holding Zhou Jinyun in a death grip.
Ten years ago, their eldest son, who possessed peerless talent, had gone out to gain experience in high spirits, only to be secretly ambushed by wicked people.
His cultivation was completely destroyed, his foundation shattered, and one of his legs brutally broken, turning him into a cripple.
After falling from grace, the once-proud genius underwent a drastic change in personality. He resented the cruelty of the world and blamed his own incompetence.
Gradually, he distanced himself from his parents and younger sister, completely sealing himself off in a remote courtyard.
For ten whole years, he had stayed behind closed doors, seeing no one and speaking to no one.
That was the deepest scar in the hearts of Zhou Wen and Ye Ruoqing, a pain that kept the couple awake night after night.
With their eldest son ruined, only their daughter, Zhou Jinyun, remained in the vast Zhou family.
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