Chapter Twenty-One: In That Case, You May Die Now!

Su Jian was perplexed. The system’s description of the Blood Toad Gu shouldn’t be wrong, yet Su Henli before him looked utterly depleted, as if she were on the verge of death. Altogether, the affair was exceedingly strange.

Suddenly, Su Jian recalled Xi Wang, whom he had sent away earlier; the man’s behavior throughout had been odd—not the cowardice born of fear, but rather the calculating manner of someone with a plan.

Su Jian shook off these tangled thoughts; brooding over them would do no good. It was better to seize the moment while Su Henli still clung to a breath of life and question her directly.

At this moment, Su Henli’s eyes were vacant, her state half-alive, half-dead. Su Jian gave her a gentle kick, afraid that even a slight force might send her to the afterlife. It wasn’t yet her time; Xi Wang, the one who escaped his grasp, would surely become a threat in the future. Su Jian needed to plan ahead and find a way to eliminate him for good.

He longed to deal with her decisively, to avoid future trouble, but there was essential information he still required.

Su Jian put on a kindly face and spoke, “My dear senior sister, how did you end up like this? Did your servant turn on you?”

At this point, Su Henli’s cultivation had dissipated; she was now wholly mortal. As her Purple Mansion dried up, the Blood Toad Gu finally quieted. Only now did her complexion recover somewhat. On her pale, twisted face, a bitter smile appeared. She struggled to lift her head, gazing at Su Jian with a ghostly intensity. “Stop pretending. The Gu in my body is your doing, in collusion with Gao Zhengde. Who’d have thought a libertine could possess such means? I underestimated you. Go ahead—kill me.”

Libertine? Su Jian knew well what she implied, but he couldn’t be bothered to argue with someone on her deathbed. Even when his actions were exposed, he remained calm; his attempt at deception had failed, but that was expected.

Su Jian grinned, “Then tell me about Xi Wang’s plot against you.”

Su Henli was silent for a moment, pain etched deeply in her features, mingled with sharp coldness. Her expression shifted again, and she let out a self-mocking laugh.

Su Jian was momentarily stunned. He had always thought of fickleness as a trait of character, but it fit Su Henli’s present state perfectly.

Su Henli spoke softly, “Just think of it as my poor judgment… Misjudged you, misjudged him too, and ended up like this—can’t blame anyone but myself…”

Su Jian clenched his teeth, barely restraining his urg