《Forbidden.Desire》2《Living by Desire》
Chapter Twenty-Five: Bait and Trap
1、【Icy Clarity】
Ancient Shen Manor, secret chamber.
Dim torches crackled in the damp, cold air, illuminating Shen Yanzhi’s face twisted by fear and rage. His limbs were pinned to the altar’s edge by invisible spiritual force. He stared at the figure in black gauze before him, whose eyes were as cold as ice—Sun—and felt his desire for control being replaced by an unprecedented sense of defeat.
“You think… summoning a phantom will make me stop?” Shen Yanzhi spat blood-tinged saliva and let out a hysterical chuckle as the old woman’s figure slowly faded. “Sun, did a century of loneliness never teach you… that the dead have no value?”
Sun stepped forward and lightly traced the wound backlash had left on Shen Yanzhi. Her tone was chillingly calm: “The dead indeed have no value, but pain does. Shen Yanzhi, I will make you spend this life and the next trapped in the illusion of bones being crushed by stones, until your soul withers away.”
Lu Yuan stood behind Sun. The black flames around him gradually subsided, replaced by an unfathomable, eerie glow. He regarded Shen Yanzhi coldly, as though looking at a corpse.
“Sister, stop wasting words. The Blood Jade Marrow’s crack is widening. If we completely purify it in this life, the foundation he laid in the ancient era will collapse.”
2、【Feigned Cooperation】
“Purify? Hahahaha!” Shen Yanzhi suddenly threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing through the chamber with cunning satisfaction. “You think this marrow is merely my tool? No—it is linked to that child’s life! Purifying it is the same as strangling your own unborn child with your own hands!”
Sun’s hand trembled violently; the icy red light in her eyes flickered.
Shen Yanzhi seized the momentary hesitation. Enduring the agony of spiritual force tearing through him, he donned an almost sincere mask. “Sun, I know you hate me. But let’s cooperate… If you pour a century’s worth of spiritual power into this jade marrow, I promise the two of you from that era will survive, and the child will be born safely. I no longer want immortality. I only want you by my side—even if it’s just to watch you.”
It was a desperate gamble, betting on the maternal instinct Sun had carried across a hundred years.
Lu Yuan sensed Sun’s hesitation and grabbed her hand, voice urgent: “Sister! Don’t listen to him! He’s tricking you into exhausting your spiritual power!”
“Lu Yuan… what if it’s true?” Sun gazed at the Blood Jade Marrow on the altar, from which faint infant cries seemed to emanate. A flicker of struggle crossed her eyes. The pain of losing a child in a pool of blood was an abyss she could never cross in this lifetime.
3、【Soul’s Gamble】
To verify the truth of Shen Yanzhi’s words and to forcibly locate the child’s spirit within the jade marrow, Sun and Lu Yuan once again initiated a frenzied exchange of energy beside the altar.
This time Sun’s movements carried a desperate tenderness. She tore open Lu Yuan’s robe, their skin rubbing against the cold stone bed.
It was a lovemaking filled with “illusion and seduction.” Forced to watch, Shen Yanzhi’s crimson eyes nearly burst into flames.
“Lu Yuan… give me a little more… I need to reach the deepest part of the jade marrow…”
Sun straddled Lu Yuan, her long hair cascading like a waterfall, hiding her sorrowful eyes. Lu Yuan growled, gripping her waist tightly as every thrust sent violent spiritual tremors through them. The climax was no longer mere pleasure but a wager of “seizing back and sacrificing.”
“Ah—!”
Sun threw her head back, nails leaving deep blood marks on Lu Yuan’s shoulders. Lu Yuan’s vital energy surged into her like a scorching torrent, then transformed into a pure beam of light that shot straight into the Blood Jade Marrow on the altar.
At the peak of climax, Sun saw it. She saw the tiny, curled-up, translucent soul deep within the jade marrow. It was crying, calling for its mother.
“Child… my child!”
Sun let out a broken scream. Amid the resonance of souls, she unconsciously released her suppression on Shen Yanzhi and threw herself toward the jade marrow with all her heart.
4、【Plot Within a Plot】
At the instant Sun’s spiritual power was most scattered, a vicious glint flashed in Shen Yanzhi’s eyes.
“Now!”
He bit his tongue tip and sprayed heart’s blood onto the jade marrow. The gentle glow instantly turned sinister purple-black, and a tremendous suction force yanked Sun’s soul toward the marrow.
“Hahahaha! Sun! You’re still too naïve after all! Maternal love… truly the cheapest weakness in this world!”
Shen Yanzhi broke free of his bindings and seized the jade marrow.
His physical body in the present world twisted wildly as well; the bruises on his face vanished, replaced by an almost inhuman, powerful aura.
Lu Yuan reacted instantly. Ignoring his own post-climax weakness, he lunged at Shen Yanzhi and the two grappled at the altar’s edge.
“Shen Yanzhi! I’ll kill you!” Lu Yuan’s fists, wreathed in pitch-black flames, smashed into Shen Yanzhi’s face.
But Shen Yanzhi now wielded the jade marrow’s backlash power. He struck Lu Yuan away with one palm and stared madly at Sun, who already had one foot inside the jade marrow’s illusion. “Lu Yuan, look closely! The woman you love is about to become a sacrifice inside this jade marrow! And all of this is because of that dead bastard child of hers!”
5、【Deadly Trap】
Sun felt her consciousness being swallowed by the purple-black vortex.
Inside the illusion, she saw the “child” suddenly transform into Shen Yanzhi’s ferocious grin.
“This is a trap…” Sun murmured in a daze.
In reality, Shen Yanzhi picked up an ancient ritual blade beside the altar and aimed it at the center of the jade marrow. He knew that destroying the marrow carrying Sun’s spiritual power in the ancient era would turn the modern Sun into an empty shell without a soul.
“It’s over. This century-long farce ends today!”
Yet at the moment the blade was about to fall, Sun’s previously weak aura suddenly changed. She raised her head, her once-confused eyes turning cold and mocking once more.
“Shen Yanzhi, did you really think… only you know how to set traps?”
A blackened smile curved Sun’s lips. From her lower abdomen, the faint pulse that had always been there suddenly erupted into a terrifying resentment powerful enough to shake the entire Shen Manor.
The manor walls began to collapse. The Blood Jade Marrow trembled violently in Shen Yanzhi’s hands. The “child” he had dismissed as a weakness had become the strongest killing move in this counterattack. Vengeance had only now truly entered the deepest layer of “plot within plot.”
Next Chapter: “Plot Within a Plot”