After Luo Qiu left,
the whole rattan bed fell silent.
Mo Yan was lost in thought, feeling restless.
Rustling sounds began to come from the great locust tree.
Their actions earlier had finally woken up the emaciated Xia Wanning.
At this moment, she gasped for breath and with great effort managed to lift her head.
What met her eyes was Mo Yan in his purple - gold black robe.
The woman smiled.
Her smile at this moment was a mix of vicissitudes, remorse, and boundless anger.
Mo Yan looked back and saw that Xia Wanning's expression was extremely terrifying at this moment.
"Why?" Xia Wanning asked.
Mo Yan didn't say a word.
Xia Wanning continued, "You owe your current success in part to me. If I hadn't cooperated with you back then, how could your Divine Sect have developed so well?
"Why? Why did you repay my kindness with enmity?
"You promised me that you would grant me the territory of the Eastern Ze Wilderness. You said you'd make me the empress of the Eastern Ze Wilderness. But why did you renege on your promise and confine me here to nourish your son?"
Mo Yan's train of thought was interrupted.
He looked at Xia Wanning.
Where was there a trace of the former glory of the sect elder on Xia Wanning's face?
Now her face was like that of a seventy - year - old woman, full of wrinkles.
Even her once beautiful and jet - black hair had now turned gray.
Her fair skin was long gone. The skin exposed on her arms and legs was like old tree bark, dry and dull.
She was filled with unwillingness.
She had come to this ghostly realm to inquire about their progress and find out when she could become the empress of the Eastern Ze Wilderness.
But on the third day after she arrived here, she was tied up in this place by a woman.
That woman's spiritual power was extremely powerful. Even Xia Wanning herself was no match for her.
After that,
Xia Wanning lost consciousness. When she woke up again, it was from the excruciating pain. At that time, she felt that the continuous spiritual power in her body was being drained.
She looked around in horror and found that somehow she had been confined in the trunk of a huge locust tree. Her limbs were pierced by countless roots, which kept twining around her, firmly binding her to the tree.
"Elder Xia," Mo Yan said.
That voice was still so familiar.
Xia Wanning looked at Mo Yan.
She had done so much for the ghostly realm. She needed Mo Yan to give her an explanation. Why did he treat her like this?
"Divine Throne,"
"Do you resent me deeply?"
"I've never done anything wrong to the ghostly realm. We signed a contract back then. How could you go back on your word?"
"Oh? Really? What did I say back then?"
"You said that if I helped you overthrow Ye Ling's rule, you'd help me get everything I wanted. You said that when the ghostly realm became the master of the Nine - Continent Continent, I'd be the empress of the Eastern Ze Wilderness."
"Yes, it seems there was such a thing."
"Divine Throne, you lied to me?"
Mo Yan's expression at this moment said it all. Xia Wanning felt deceived and began to struggle violently.
But as soon as she struggled, the roots and ghost vines penetrated deeper into her flesh and blood.
She gasped in pain and had to stop.
Although she didn't dare to move, her eyes were fixed hatefully on the man in the purple - gold black robe.
Mo Yan sighed.
"Elder Xia, you're really pitiful."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think our Divine Sect would share the hard - won territory with you? Yes, you've done a lot for our ghostly realm. Without you, Ye Ling wouldn't have been killed by the four great families.
"If you hadn't cooperated with us back then, you should still be Ye Ling's most beloved female disciple, right?
"It's a pity that you people who have lived for decades just aren't clear - headed enough. You were so stupid as to betray Ye Ling, who saved you from life and death, for a baseless promise. Oh, by the way, wasn't your little follower Ji Qinglin also killed because of you?"
Xia Wanning had no room to refute.
Mo Yan was right about everything.
"But I made these sacrifices for the ghostly realm."
"Shh—" Mo Yan put his finger to his lips. Then, after Xia Wanning stopped speaking, he sneered and asked, "You should be clear in your heart whether you did it for the ghostly realm or for yourself, Elder Xia."
"Are all of you in the ghostly realm so heartless?"
"If you had a conscience, would you have betrayed Ye Ling back then? Elder Xia, don't think too highly of yourself and look down on us in the ghostly realm. Think it over clearly. The people you despise now are just like you in the past."
Xia Wanning said angrily, "Sooner or later, I'll kill you!"
"Kill me? With what? Your spiritual power is almost exhausted. You're just lingering on. Elder Xia, when you made those decisions back then, you should have thought about whether you'd end up like this one day."
"Divine Throne, we're the same kind of people. You can't treat me like this!"
"Precisely because we're the same kind of people, I know your ambition better, Elder Xia. Now that you're no longer of any use, if I still reused you, what you wanted in the future might not be just the Eastern Ze Wilderness."
Xia Wanning's eyes were filled with despair.
She said, "You'll die a bad death one day."
Mo Yan smiled indifferently.
"I'll be waiting."
"A person like you will never get what you want in your whole life. No one will ever love you. Everyone you love and care about will leave you, because you're heartless and faithless!"
Xia Wanning's words rang out behind Mo Yan, making his steps to leave stop at that moment.
Xia Wanning's words hit home.
Mo Yan tightly clenched his fists under his sleeves.
The people he loved had all left him.
These words were like thousands of sharp blades, stabbing straight into Mo Yan's heart.
"Maybe you don't know enough," Mo Yan said.
Xia Wanning saw the terrifying look in Mo Yan's eyes and couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.
"What do you mean?"
"I originally wanted to let you die slowly out of consideration for the things you've done for our ghostly realm. It was my last mercy on you. But you're so ungrateful and dared to speak rudely to me."
"What do you want to say?"
Mo Yan sat down opposite Xia Wanning.
The ghost vines were connected to Xia Wanning's blood vessels, making even the slightest movement excruciatingly painful for her.
"Do you think you're really an orphan?"