Chapter 2178: Restriction
Lu Yin frowned as he stared at Xia Zhitong. If he were truly Young Master Yu, then he would be so disgusted by the sight of this woman that he would absolutely strike her dead.
As for Xia Zhitong, she was staring at Lu Yin with glowing eyes that revealed obsession.
The woman actually liked Yu Hao, though not for anything more than his face. He was the most stunningly beautiful man that she had ever seen. Even if the Xia family had not sent Xia Zhitong to deal with the Yu family, she would have found a way to join Yu City and obtain Yu Hao for herself.
She actually found it very unfortunate that the Xia family’s plot had forced her to anger the former city lord and make Yu Hao lose his mind and go missing. She quite regretted not simply locking him up, as even if he went completely insane, he would still be beautiful and much better looking than any other man.
Fortunately, he had finally returned.
A charming smile covered Xia Zhitong"s face, and despite being surrounded by numerous guards, her bathrobe fell off, and she completely exposed herself as she slowly walked towards "Yu Hao." "You’re back."
Lu Yin was stunned. He had known about Xia Zhitong"s reputation, but in reality, she was even more brazen than anything he could have expected.
Many of the surrounding guards swallowed again as they stared at Xia Zhitong"s body. Clearly, they wanted to jump on the woman.
Lu Yin stared at Xia Zhitong as she walked towards him, reaching out to hold him. Finally, Lu Yin could not tolerate the situation any longer. "Tong Yu."
The moment Lu Yin spoke, all of the guards dropped down. A powerful force smacked Xia Zhitong"s body away, and she fell to the floor, stunned and dazed. She could not comprehend what had just happened, even as a piece of cloth fell down and covered her.
Tong Yu appeared and stood next to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin let out a breath and rose to his feet. He slowly walked over to Xia Zhitong and looked down at her. "Even after all these years, you still haven"t changed."
Only then did Xia Zhitong finally realize that Tong Yu had struck her. Even then, Tong Yu had not been excessive, as Xia Zhitong could still be useful to Lu Yin.
"You- you dare hit me?" Xia Zhitong was astonished.
Lu Yin laughed. "What a joke! You angered my father to death, and you even made my Yu City the biggest joke in the entire Perennial world. You left me, Yu Hao, unable to look anyone in the eyes, and I even tried to kill myself! If I had not been lucky enough to meet my master, I really would have died back then. And yet you ask if I dare to hit you?"
Xia Zhitong"s expression fell. "Yu Hao, do you understand what you are even talking about? You won’t dare do anything to me! I am Xia Zhitong! I am part of the Xia family, as well as a part of Shenwu"s Sky."
"So what?" Lu Yin retorted.
Xia Zhitong just stared at "Yu Hao." "Are you really willing to offend both my Xia family and Shenwu"s Sky? Do you understand the consequences? I’ll be blunt: your grandfather will die in Star Alliance, and the name ‘Yu Hao’ will be stigmatized for thousands of years. I can even rewrite the entire history of Yu City, destroy your Yu family completely, and erase them from history. You know that I can do all of this."
Lu Yin nodded. "You can, but you won’t dare to."
Xia Zhitong let out an angry laugh. "I won’t dare? Yu Hao, just who do you think you are? If not for your pretty face, I would have tortured you to death long ago. If you dare to do anything at all to me, my Xia family won’t let you go! Everything that I do to you will be reported to the Xia family in detail. I’ll remove your skin and hang it up next to you. I’ll gouge out your eyes and place them next to my bed so that you can watch as I play with all kinds of different men. I’ll keep you alive forever without ever letting you rise up."
Tong Yu’s eyes narrowed as Xia Zhitong spoke. This woman was extremely vicious. While Tong Yu had held the position of Judicial Commissioner within the Dark Interstellar Supreme Court and had killed thousands of people, all of those deaths had been simple and direct. Tong Yu had never tortured anyone, but it was clear that Xia Zhitong had a twisted gift for tormenting. It was no wonder why the former city lord had died from his anger.
Lu Yin squatted down to get closer as he stared at Xia Zhitong. "Are you threatening me? That just makes me want to kill you even more."
Xia Zhitong sneered. "If you kill me, the four ruling powers will hunt you down, just like they did to that b.a.s.t.a.r.d from the Lu family! Decades ago, that Lu b.a.s.t.a.r.d was revealed on Dragon Mountain, and you should know what happened to him. Do you think that you’re better than him? Your fate will be much worse, as the Xia family won’t kill you. Rather, they’ll use you as a living warning and as a gift to me."
Lu Yin"s expression grew cold, but Xia Zhitong simply continued, "Of course, there’s another option."
"Tell me," Lu Yin ordered in an indifferent tone.
The viciousness that filled Xia Zhitong"s eyes faded a bit, and the coy smile returned to her face. She rose back up, and the cloth covering her shifted aside to reveal a tantalizing view of her body. The juxtaposition of her pale yet flushed skin formed a very tempting sight. "You’re still my husband, and we can act as if everything tonight never happened. The Yu family is still yours, and you can restore it once again. Though, of course, the outside world can’t know anything about it. Still, I won’t hurt you or take away any of your freedom.”
"If you want, I’ll even accompany you every night. I know that you’ve been obsessed with me. You have been ever since you first saw me. I will always belong to you. What do you say?"
Lu Yin"s eyes flickered. "You won’t take any other men again? Can Yu City be restored?"
Xia Zhitong shook her head. "There’s no way you’re still this naive after all these years. I wasn’t the one who went after your Yu family, but rather Shenwu"s Sky. If Yu City is restored, you’ll be done for."
Lu Yin thought for a moment, and Xia Zhitong continued, saying, "If you don"t want me to be with any other men, I’ll try my best to comply. However, the rumors about Yu City and your Yu family cannot be allowed to change. I won’t lie to you—if you try to change anything major, you’ll only be running towards your own doom. The four ruling powers did this to warn the rest of the Perennial World, and they won’t allow anyone to change that."
"Lord Ba is dead," Lu Yin suddenly said.
Xia Zhitong was startled for a moment, but then she indifferently asked, "Did you kill him?"
Lu Yin nodded.
Xia Zhitong was unbothered. "If he’s dead, then he’s dead. I was getting bored of playing with him after so many years."
"Do you really think that your words are enough to intimidate me?" Lu Yin asked.
Xia Zhitong’s coy smile returned. "If you really wanted to kill me, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. If you were really the same person as the past, I’d have no chance of surviving. Your father’s anger killed him, and there’s no way you’d be willing to let that grudge go.
“However, while I don’t know what you’ve been doing all these years, some of your hatred towards me has clearly faded. Also, I didn’t actually kill your father. He died on his own, and I had nothing to do with that."
Lu Yin found Xia Zhitong’s reasoning quite funny, and he could not help but applaud her. "That’s quite reasonable. How well thought out. You can really overturn reality itself and make all of your vicious and despicable actions seem understandable. You really have an amazing sense of logic."
Xia Zhitong"s expression finally changed. "Just what is it that you want?"
A smile crept across Lu Yin’s face. "Revenge."
Xia Zhitong stared intently at Lu Yin. "Is it worth it? I can give you everything that you want. It’s been decades, Have you really not figured things out yet?"
Lu Yin stood back up. "I’ve spent decades torturing myself, training just to be able to get revenge. Do you really think that I’ll just give it up?"
"Yu Hao, you’re an idiot! Even if you do get revenge, so what? You’ll just be hunted down like that b.a.s.t.a.r.d from the Lu family! I’ll tell you right now that your grandfather isn’t dead. He’s still in Star Alliance. If you dare to kill me, he’ll die too!" Xia Zhitong continued her threats.
Lu Yin just smiled at the woman. "I already know my grandfather isn’t dead, which is why I won’t kill you. However, I will make sure that you suffer the greatest suffering imaginable."
This threat finally scared Xia Zhitong. She had no idea what "Yu Hao" intended to do to her. She had already been used and tossed aside by the Xia family, and she knew that her own reputation had been completely ruined. However, she also enjoyed the pleasures that she had in life, and she had no desire to lose them.
"Yu Hao, you can"t do anything to me! It’s about time for the Xia family rites to begin, and I need to go as well. As soon as our elders learn about what you’ve done, you’ll be as good as dead! Just tell me what you want! Do you want to save your grandpa? I have a way for you to do that." Xia Zhitong was starting to feel a bit desperate.
Lu Yin grew a bit curious. "Just what can you do?"
Xia Zhitong nervously explained, "Everyone who’s part of Star Alliance is an Envoy, and such a group is far from weak. Do you know why none of them have tried to escape? There are many people in that group who are former va.s.sals of the Lu family, and none of them have tried to escape. Do you know why?"
Lu Yin"s expression grew frigid. This was not a question that he had ever really considered. After all, his first time meeting Star Alliance had been on the rear battlefield, and it was impossible for anyone to escape from that place even if they wanted to. That was why he had never really questioned the matter. "Why is that?"
"If I tell you, you need to let me go."
Lu Yin smiled. "Do you really think that that’s possible? That I’ll just let you go free for a bit of information?"
"This isn’t just any random bit of information. There are very few people who know about this in the entire Perennial World, even in the four ruling powers! Only Semi-Progenitors are given this information," Xia Zhitong anxiously explained.
Lu Yin nodded "Tell me."
"You-" Xia Zhitong wanted to keep negotiating her conditions, but Lu Yin suddenly lashed out, slapping the woman onto the floor. The attack was so strong that she nearly lost consciousness, and the force of the attack ran through her entire body and nearly ruptured all of her meridians.
The woman spat out a mouthful of blood, her face pale. She was dazed, as she had never expected to actually be struck.
This was Lu Yin"s first real act of revenge after a.s.suming the ident.i.ty of Young Master Yu. "You’re in no position to try negotiating with me. Start talking."
Xia Zhitong stared at "Yu Hao" in horror. While she did not have much talent as a cultivator, she was still a member of the Xia family, and she had always been much stronger than Young Master Yu. Despite that, she could not understand the attack that Lu Yin had just delivered.
Despite not being very strong herself, Xia Zhitong was quite perceptive, and she had slept with more than a few Envoys. She had been completely helpless against Yu Hao’s attack, and while her teeth had not been broken, the force of the attack had channeled through her entire body and had come extremely close to rupturing all of her meridians. This was a horrifying level of control over a terrifying amount of strength.
While Xia Zhitong had no idea what Yu Hao had lived through while he had been missing, he had completely transformed.
"Talk," Lu Yin ordered in an indifferent tone as he stared down at Xia Zhitong.
The woman had been scared earlier because she had been afraid of Yu Hao’s desire for revenge being so great that he would ignore the consequences. But at this moment, Xia Zhitong felt genuine fear. She did not see any of Yu Hao’s former submissiveness in the man’s eyes at this moment, only cruelty and determination.
"Everyone in Star Alliance has restrictions placed on them by the Celestial Frost Sect. It’s just like how we can’t think about what happened to the Lu family," Xia Zhitong quickly started answering, too scared to ask for any more conditions.
Lu Yin"s eyes flickered. Restrictions? The Celestial Frost Sect? The first thing that came to mind with those two details was the Sealed Cage Technique.
The fact that the Celestial Frost Sect had created the Sealed Cage Technique that had enslaved the entire Daynight clan indicated that they already possessed the ability to create similar restrictions.
It was no wonder why no one was able to escape from Star Alliance.
"How do you know this?" Lu Yin asked. This was a detail that someone like Xia Zhitong should have never been able to learn.
Xia Zhitong trembled as she replied, "I heard it from my uncle."
"Xia Yuan?" Lu Yin"s voice grew cold.
Xia Zhitong nodded.
Xia Yuan was the uncle who had sent Xia Zhitong to Yu City to be married, as well as the lover that Lord Ba had mentioned. While both Xia Yuan and Xia Zhitong were from a branch of the Xia family, Xia Zhitong was actually a member of a side family of the branch family, which was why the Xia family as a whole did not care about her reputation or her relationship with Xia Yuan.