Chapter 2: The Soul Returns to the Eastern Realm 2

If the speedboat were attacked, would Elder Mo give her his own life jacket? Hmph!

Zhao Erdong stepped forward slowly, her hand, which had been tucked inside the bag, suddenly emerged, pressing a gleaming dagger against Elder Mo’s lower back.

“Speak. Who is behind this?” Zhao Erdong’s eyes were cold as she looked at Elder Mo. That familiar old face now seemed so utterly strange.

“Master, what are you saying? Please, enlighten me!” Elder Mo’s face betrayed a guilty conscience.

“Conspiring with outsiders to murder the family head—do you know what crime that is?” Zhao Erdong’s voice was calm, yet it carried a chilling undertone that made one’s heart involuntarily tremble.

Elder Mo’s body shuddered. To plot against the head of the family… Should this charge be proven, he would surely be locked in the Zhao ancestral hall and suffer the cruelest of executions.

“Master, you cannot falsely accuse me. I…” His hand reached toward his pocket, where a pistol and a bomb were hidden.

Zhao Erdong gently extended her slender hand and seized Elder Mo’s wrist. “Still claim I’m wronging you?”

Terror seized Elder Mo’s heart. When had this wretched girl discovered him? He’d concealed everything so well—how could she have seen through it? The time was almost up. Was Heaven truly determined to destroy him?

Crack! Elder Mo’s wrist was snapped, his wails piercing the sky.

“Still won’t talk?” Zhao Erdong’s gaze remained icy as she watched Elder Mo, whose expression was shifting; he kept glancing at his watch, then toward the stern.

Zhao Erdong frowned slightly, turning to look at the stern. Activating her divine sight, golden light flickered in her eyes, and the boat’s structure became clear to her.

Everything appeared normal—no, there was something extra. What was that?

Zhao Erdong narrowed her eyes. It was a small box, and a set of numbers was flashing rapidly: ten, nine, eight, seven, six…

A time bomb?

There was no time to think. Zhao Erdong dropped Elder Mo and dove into the sea.

Boom!

Flames soared into the sky. The speedboat was blown to pieces, vanishing amid the vast blue sea.

Cold. A bone-deep cold.

Her body was sinking. She no longer had the strength to struggle. She lifted her hand, gazing at the sacred ring. Forgive me. Erdong cannot fulfill her duty.

Recalling a passage of scripture, she silently recited in her heart: The world has a beginning, which is called the Mother of the world. Once the Mother is found, the children are known…

The sacred ring, once dim, suddenly radiated waves of light. As Zhao Erdong slipped into unconsciousness, she seemed to glimpse a glimmer of dawn before her eyes.

———

“Is it done?” The girl, dressed entirely in red, wore exquisite makeup. She was about sixteen or seventeen, her expression fierce and domineering as she coldly questioned the maid beside her.

The maid looked around nervously, then nodded lightly to the girl in red. “Yes, young mistress, it’s done.”

“Dead?” The girl in red parted her vermilion lips, joy radiating from her beautiful eyes and brows.

The maid nodded emphatically, silent, her lips slightly pale. Clearly, this was her first time involved in killing.

Seeing her state, the girl in red glared fiercely at her. “Useless thing. Leave.”

After the maid departed, the girl in red’s face brimmed with satisfaction. “Zhao Erdong, don’t blame your sister for being ruthless.”

She was the eldest daughter of the Grand Chancellor’s household in the Great Yue Kingdom—Zhao Erqin. Although she was the eldest, she was born of a concubine; her mother, though favored, had a lowly status, originally a mere maid who was promoted for giving birth to the eldest daughter. Zhao Erdong, on the other hand, lacked her looks and was considered a good-for-nothing, yet she was the legitimate daughter born of the principal wife. In the Great Yue Kingdom, where the distinction between primary and secondary wives was strict, no matter how outstanding Zhao Erqin was, she could never surpass the legitimate line.