"Punish! She must be punished!"
In the early spring, the drizzle was steady and cold enough to dampen clothes.
A misty fog rose between the mountains of Ear Mountain. The golden courts and jade pillars, the flying eaves revealed themselves in the lush greenery, resembling the mountains where immortals dwell.
The crowd on the Execution of the Immortals Platform berated a fluffy 'fat' fox that was covered in silver fur and born with heterochromia, strikingly beautiful.
"The Ancestor has repeatedly descended the mountain and broken the rules! For over five thousand years! Her 'masterpieces' can be found all over the world!"
"How can this go on?"
"Heavenly Dao! She must be punished with all the sufferings of the human world! Otherwise, what rules are there to speak of?!"
"Punish! She must be punished!"
The Ancestor was bound by the powerful spiritual energy of the Heavenly Dao, unable to escape.
Facing the resounding calls of the immortals, she rested her chin on the platform and lazily swished her fluffy, snow-silver tail, yawning expressionlessly as her gaze drifted towards the great hall above.
It could be said that the old Heavenly Dao had been opposing her for five thousand years.
Taking advantage of being a few hundred years older than her, constraining her with all sorts of rules, always punishing her, and never allowing her to engage in Dual Cultivation with her fellow Daoists!
This time, retribution was inevitable. She would be reborn into a miserable family, experiencing birth, aging, sickness, death, resentment, enmity, suffering—all in one go.
But the question was—would she be afraid?
She had been to the human world before, not just once, but several times during these five thousand years for visits.
Once this life was over, she would surely set Ear Mountain ablaze and give that old thing a 'gift' for his 5999th birthday.
Above the grand hall, the 'old thing' she mentioned... had the appearance of a deity, dressed in dark clothes, broad-shouldered, long-legged, graceful, and dignified.
He looked at the cold and detached Silver Fox, squinting slightly.
His right index finger rubbed against the knuckle of his left hand for a moment, then he slowly stood up, without a smile, "She will be punished, but..."
The man walked to the front of the platform, grabbed the fluffy fur on the back of the fox's neck...
And with his other hand, he lifted his clothing and before all the onlookers, he directly—
Put it inside his clothes!
The Ancestor: "..."
The crowd: "???"
The man nonchalantly turned around, his cool voice echoed in everyone's ears, "I'll do the punishment myself."
...
A bright light grew increasingly intense in front of her, and before her reincarnation, the man gave the Ancestor a very protective, indulgent look.
The Ancestor hesitated for a moment, closed her eyes, and let a beam of light swallow her...
————I am the line that demarcates life————
"Team Leader Fu, the message from over there says they didn't intercept the person, the criminal might have already left the country..."
"Team Leader Fu, what do we do now? We can't confirm whether to cut the yellow wire or the green wire, the timer has only one hour left!"
The surrounding noise was chaotic, and people were bustling about.
Upon awakening once again, the Ancestor found herself tied up in a dilapidated farmhouse warehouse.
A few police officers in bomb disposal suits appeared hurried around her.
She blinked slowly, gradually recalling.
Her name was Xia Ye.
One of Beijing's wealthy families, the Xia Family, had three sons and finally welcomed a precious daughter, Xia Ye. Tragically, at the age of three, she was kidnapped by human traffickers into a mountain village and held captive for 14 years, becoming the wild girl seen as mad and stupid by everyone.
Today, the police had finally found her, bound in a warehouse.
Though it was supposed to be a rebirth, she only had vague memories from before the age of three in her mind. Her consciousness returned to this body 14 years later, with no knowledge of what had happened in between.
Her spiritual energy was all but gone.
Xia Ye lowered her gaze, looking at the coarse hemp ropes tied around her, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.
Just as she was about to forcefully break the ropes, a cry of alarm descended from above, "Little sister, don't be rash! You have a timer bomb strapped to your back, and if you struggle free by force, it might detonate early!"
Then—
Bits and pieces everywhere.
A bloody mess.
All the team members ascending to heaven on the spot!
Xia Ye lazily raised her eyebrows, her pale face carried a lazy yet charming beauty.
This is what he calls being indulgent?
Just knew that Heavenly Dao couldn't be trusted!
Several police cars were parked in front of the warehouse, and yellow police cordon tape was stretched around the area, forbidding anyone from approaching within five hundred meters.
An old woman with a vegetable basket in her arm stood in front of the cordon line, popping a peanut into her mouth, "Auntie Li, in our poor and remote village, who could possibly be worth kidnapping?"
"It seems to be a young lady from a wealthy family in the city, ah, what a pity, after being kidnapped for over a decade, even the most precious miss would be ruined. Those who can't afford a wife imprisoning her, surely they want to..."
Auntie Li didn't finish her heavily loaded words when a top-of-the-line black Maybach came into view from a distance and drifted to a stop beside them, flinging dirt onto their faces.
The old woman blinked at the car, "Such a nice car must cost five or six thousand, right?"
Auntie Li shook her head, feeling that the old woman lacked knowledge – this car, at the very least, was one hundred thousand!
Two women got out of the car, the older one with a slender figure and a loosely tied bun at the back of her head, gentle and virtuous-looking, but frail as if a gust of wind could blow her over. The younger one was dressed in a pink haute couture suit, clearly a pampered heiress from a wealthy family.
The driver, Wang Dahai, stuck his head out from the driver's seat, "Miss, Mr. Xia asked you to hurry and let him know as soon as there's any news."
Xia Yourong obediently waved to the driver, "Uncle Wang, don't worry, just wait for us here, it's inconvenient with too many people going over to Chief Fu's side."
Xia Yourong was the adopted daughter of the Xia Family. When Xia Ye went missing, the enviable Xia Family was engulfed in shadows overnight, the father Xia Yuzheng took to drinking away his sorrows, the mother Xu He became morose and depressed, and even the three younger brothers, who were quite young at the time, fell ill from yearning.
Later, by a twist of fate, Xia Yuzheng adopted the unborn daughter of his wife's sister – resembling Xia Ye in age and bearing a slight similarity in appearance, Xia Yourong.
Wang Dahai nodded repeatedly, though the miss was an adopted daughter, she had a gentle and kind nature and was sensible and likable in every way.
On the contrary, the one tied up inside the warehouse…
After 14 years of torment, who knows what she had become.
It's truly a twist of fate...
Wang Dahai let out a long sigh and slowly rolled up the car window.
Chief Fu led Xu He and Xia Yourong to the police's temporary surveillance room.
He pointed to the girl tied to a chair on the screen, his attitude very polite, "Mrs. Xia, this is her..."
On the screen, the girl had bombs strapped behind her, and a timer 'ticking' away next to her, but she didn't show any sign of panic, making it hard to believe that this girl, looking so calm and unconcerned, was actually the victim.
Though dirty, one could still make out her delicate and stunning features and her skin, white as curd.
Her eyes exuded a cool, haughty, and demonic charm, which made Xia Yourong feel particularly uncomfortable.
Upon closer inspection, one could notice that the girl had heterochromia, her left eye like a cup of amber under the sunlight, and her right, a deep azure sea.
Xu He was overwhelmingly excited, "These eyes... there's no mistake, it's my Little Tiangao!!"
Xia Yourong, having been by Xu He's side for 14 years and dearly loved, had never seen such an excited expression on her face. Unconsciously, she bit her lip and turned to Chief Fu, "Chief Fu, did you just say the bomb disposal expert couldn't determine which of the two wires to cut? That means she only has a fifty-fifty chance..."
She didn't even realize that as she spoke, her face revealed an indescribable glee.
If Xia Ye could be blown up, that would be wonderful!
Mother could finally let go of that thought forever.
Chief Fu nodded regretfully, "The criminal is very cunning. We're still searching, but with the bomb behind the little girl... there simply isn't enough time..."
Xu He, whose long-lost daughter was only left with a fifty percent chance of survival, couldn't hold back her tears, "Chief Fu, there must be another way, right? I'll spare no expense to save my daughter, even if it means going bankrupt!"
"Mom! What are you talking about!"
The phrase 'going bankrupt' triggered an almost reflexive response from Xia Yourong. Realizing she had lost her composure, she cleared her throat, "Mom, Chief Fu abides by the law, even the poorest citizens will get every effort, it's not good for you to talk like that."
Going bankrupt for a wild girl taken away into the poor mountains, mother must be mad!
Xu He nodded apologetically to Chief Fu, her mood as heavy as could be.
Now only 10 minutes remained until the explosion, and the bomb disposal experts had all retreated from the warehouse back to the surveillance room. Beside Xia Ye, only the pre-installed mechanical wire-cutting arm remained.
The bomb was homemade by the criminal, and after the experts' elimination, only two wires, yellow and green, remained, both equally likely to be safe.
The only one who knows which wire is safe was the criminal himself.
Chief Fu spoke apologetically, "Mrs. Xia, if you have no objections, before the timer ends, we'll let the victim choose one to cut. That way, she'll still have a fifty percent chance..."
Xu He pressed her lips together in grief.
Little Tiangao was the daughter she had fervently prayed for at the Ancestral Temple on Ear Mountain.
She had always believed that her daughter was a gift sent by the heavens to the Xia Family.
One year, when Little Tiangao was just three years old, she watched her brothers play ball. Watching them, she suddenly toddled off naughtily. The moment her brothers left the court to look for her, a large billboard fell from above, crashing exactly where they had been playing moments before.
Later, when the whole family was going on a holiday to an island, Little Tiangao threw a tantrum before departure. To pacify her, they had to cancel their flight. That night, the news reported that the plane they were supposed to take had crashed...
As time ticked by, Xu He's lashes quivered, and she forced out a few words with difficulty, "Let my Little Tiangao choose for herself."
Everyone looked heavily towards the surveillance screen, but the victim herself did not show a trace of agony.
Her cool and defiant eyes stared at the screen while the corners of her lips curled into an attractive arch.
That smile could seduce a person to their demise.
She spoke with an easy tone, "I like yellow, so let's, cut the yellow wire~♡"
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