East Peak Mainland.
High up on the mountain, the wind howled furiously.
Xia Ruoyun was standing motionless on top of the mountain, her hair entangled wildly with the wind. The chilly gaze of hers was fixed upon the group of people in front of her. Among that group of people, there stood a middle-aged man who was dressed luxuriously.
In the eyes of that man was a chilly and emotionless gaze, prompting Xia Ruoyun to shiver all over from head to toe, with a sense iciness enveloping her heart.
"Xia Ruoyun, you have been running away for too long! Let’s see how are you going to be able to escape again this time!"
The middle-aged man laughed out scornfully, a disdainful half smile hanging on his lips. His eyes looked as if he was piercing through his sworn enemy, as though the girl in front of him was not of his own flesh and blood.
"The Ancient Divine Pagoda was passed to me by Grandfather when he was still alive. I will never ever give it away to anybody!"
There was an unmistakable tone of hatred in Xia Ruoyun's voice.
Back in those days, just because of that one sentence uttered by her grandfather: "Whoever marries the daughter of the Yun family will be able to become the head of the Xia family", her so-called father dumped his childhood lover and proceeded to court her mother instead.
Within the same month that her mother got married to him, he actually went ahead and had a second marriage with his ex-lover, making her the second wife of the Xia family.
As the head of the Xia family, having multiple wives was totally normal. There was completely nothing that her mother could do, other than crying her eyes out everyday.
Had it not been for her grandfather who felt sorry for her, her mother would probably have no place at all in the Xia family...
With his face darkening a few shades, Xia Ming said loathingly, "You atrocious lady, the Ancient Divine Pagoda actually belongs to Chu Xue. How dare you talk to me like that after you have stolen her stuff? Don't you ever forget that when she was born, there were the signs of anomaly from the Heavens. The Emperor's Teacher even prophesied that she was the reincarnation of the Ancient Phoenix. Father must have been confused and muddled in his mind to have passed the Ancient Divine Pagoda to you. Now that he is already dead, it is up to me to set this right again!"
"Ha ha ha!" Xia Ruoyun let out a boisterous laugh that echoed for a long time in the distant mountains.
"Did you actually forget that the day that Chu Xue was born was actually my birthday too? Grandfather must have his reasons for handing down the Pagoda to me. But look at you!"
She sneered and continued, "In the interest of getting the Pagoda, you tortured me cruelly. In order to save me, Mother was tormented and persecuted to death by you, dirty swine! Her whole family was also massacred completely by your own hands! How could you still consider yourself as a human being? You did not even hesitate to slaughter your wife just for the sake of another daughter!"
"Humph!!" Xia Ming let out a disdainful snort and said coldly, "She was not worthy to be my wife. It doesn't matter whether the reason was you or not, I would still not have let her continue to live. It was only with her death that the woman that I love could rise up to the throne!"
Woefully, Xia Ruoyun shut both of her eyes in grief. The image of her mother's tragic life was still etched into her mind.
She really had given up!
Given up the consignation that was entrusted by her grandfather and wanting to use the Pagoda to exchange for her mother's life instead. However, it was as if Mother knew clearly what she was going to do and so, she chose to use her own death to protect the Ancient Divine Pagoda.
Even just the mere thought of it now still gave her an enormous sense of heartbreak and pain!
"Xia Ming, with all things that you have done, you will eventually be full of remorse and regret! A man like you who is so treacherous, heartless and perfidious will get your payback and punishment and be looked down forever!"
"Regret?" Xia Ming let out a scoff. "Do you even know about the rumour that is about you?" You, Xia Ruoyun, an arrogant and conceited girl, has provoked an insidious enemy and it was because of this reason that every member of the Yun family was massacred! As for me, Xia Ming, am a faithful and pitiful widower who mourned sorrowfully for your mother. Even Chu Xia was so heartbroken that she passed out multiple times. It was only you, the ungrateful cowardice daughter, who went into hiding after bringing such suffering to the family. Then again.... ha ha ha! Your mother didn't even get to be buried in the ancestral grave of the Xia family! I threw her body into the unmarked mass grave and it was devoured by the pack of wolves there! The Xia family ancestral grave is not a place where a nameless woman can easily enter!"