The Lord of Void and Real
Chapter 561

Chapter 561: Chapter 557: The Secret of That Year (Daoist friends, begging for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month) Chapter 561: Chapter 557: The Secret of That Year (Daoist friends, begging for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month) “Big Brother Shen, as long as you spare him, I am willing to reveal everything I know about the Refining Body Altar.” Ma Xiuxiu spoke and immediately knelt down on the ground.

“Ma Xiuxiu, as I suspected, you are indeed involved with the Refining Body Altar.” Shen Luo said coldly upon hearing this.

“Big Brother Shen, no matter what, as long as you show mercy today, even if it costs my life, I won't hesitate.” Ma Xiuxiu lowered her head further and implored again.

“No…” The Jing River Dragon King was outraged at her words.

“What exactly is your relationship with the Jing River Dragon King? Why would you go to such lengths?” Shen Luo could not help but ask as his expression changed.

“Big Brother Shen, he is my biological father, how could I not try to save him?” Ma Xiuxiu retorted loudly.

As she spoke, she suddenly looked up, her face covered in tear stains.

Although Shen Luo had already guessed it, he was still taken aback to hear Ma Xiuxiu admit it. He never thought that she could be the daughter of the Jing River Dragon King.

“Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? If it weren't for those people's evil deeds, I'd probably be carrying the revered surname of 'Ao' too, right? I'd probably be a sheltered Dragon Girl, having grown up in the Dragon Palace, unaware of worldly matters, right?” Ma Xiuxiu murmured to herself.

However, Shen Luo sensed some strange meanings in her words and asked, “What do you mean by 'those evil people'?”

“People only know that my father, defying the Jade Emperor's decree, changed the schedule and quantity of rain distribution out of his momentary temper, defying the Heavenly Dao and was sent to the Dragon Execution Platform. But who sought the real cause behind all this?” Ma Xiuxiu asked.

Shen Luo was already aware of the events surrounding the Jing River Dragon King's duel with Yuan Shoucheng. However, based on Ma Xiuxiu's words, it seemed like there were hidden facts behind this incident.

“Miss Ma, please make yourself clear.” Shen Luo frowned and urged.

Just as Ma Xiuxiu was about to speak, the Jing River Dragon King stopped her, “Allow me to tell this…”

Shen Luo's gaze shifted to the Jing River Dragon King, but he did not loosen his grip on the Dragon Slaying Sword.

“This was twenty years ago, during that time, jun zhao Ma Wenli had a daughter named Yuan Ran. She was both brilliant and beautiful, and had developed quite a reputation in Chang'an” The Jing River Dragon King's gaze drifted into the distance, his thought seemingly bringing him back to that time.

Through his detailed recounting, Shen Luo heard a version about the divination duel, which was drastically different from what he originally knew.

Back then, during one of his hunting trips, Tang Emperor Li Shimin temporarily stopped at Duke Ma Wenli's home and ended up meeting the remarkable second daughter of the Ma Family. He was so taken with her talent and beauty that he instantly approved of her.

To win over the National Master Yuan Tiangang and the powerful Yuan Family behind him, the Emperor Tang arbitrarily decided to arrange a marriage between the Ma and Yuan Families, giving this second Miss Ma to Yuan Qing, the second young master of the Yuan Family who was also known for his talents in Chang'an.

This was seen as a perfect match by everyone in Chang'an, and they all praised it.

However, no one knew that during a boat trip, the second Miss Ma accidentally fell into the river. The Jing River Dragon King, who had transformed into a human, saved her, and they fell in love at first sight.

Due to the distinction between humans and deities, the Jing River Dragon King did not conduct the traditional proposal and betrothal gifts ritual. However, he did not expect that Emperor Tang would interfere and create this awkward situation.

Second Miss Ma, inhibited by social conventions, although deeply in love with the Jing River Dragon King, reluctantly had to part ways with him. She was forced by her father to marry the Second Young Master of the Yuan Family.

Only when he learned that his beloved was about to become someone else's wife, the Jing River Dragon King could no longer bear it. As the Ma and Yuan Families were preparing for the marriage ceremony, he angrily kidnapped Second Miss Ma back to the Jinghe Dragon Palace.

Originally, both the Ma and Yuan Families and the Great Tang Dynasty Government were shocked and wanted to attack the Jinghe Dragon Palace, but they were stopped by Yuan Qing.

After hearing from Second Miss Ma herself that the two were in love and had promised each other for life, Yuan Qing painfully retracted the proposal and let the couple be together.

Unfortunately, this extraordinarily talented Second Young Master Yuan was also a man of deep sentiment. Even though he painfully let them go, his heart was still attached to Second Miss Ma, and he ended up dying of a broken heart.

If things had stopped there, it would have been a mere unfulfilled love tragedy. However, the events that transpired afterwards twisted this marriage dispute into an entirely different outcome.

“After Yuan Ran and I conducted our marriage rituals, we had a relatively peaceful time which was perhaps the happiest time of my life. Later, the head of the Yuan Family, Yuan Tiangang, to avenge his nephew, Yuan Qing, deliberately disguised himself as the divination master, Yuan Shoucheng, and provoked me into a duel with him. Eventually, he used Wei Zheng's hand to kill me.” As the Jing River Dragon King spoke faster, his expression became more vehement.

“You're saying Yuan Shoucheng was Yuan Tiangang's disguise?” Shen Luo asked with a frown.

He had heard about this from Duke Cheng before, and the Great Tang Dynasty Government was also puzzled about Yuan Shoucheng's identity. However, due to his mysterious identity and his disappearance after the Jing River Dragon King was beheaded, there had been no trace of him since then.

“Who else could it be, possessing such prophetic divination skills and the power to manipulate people's hearts?” The Jing River Dragon King scoffed.

“Not long after that, my mother gave birth to me. But my father was already dead, and we were expelled from the Jing River Dragon Palace. Thankfully, we were saved by my father's old friend, and we were able to survive. Sadly, my mother died of depression when I was seven years old, and we never had a chance to reunite as a family.” Ma Xiuxiu struck the ground with her fist as tears fell.

Shen Luo listened carefully, and although he felt saddened, he still asked:

“Even if you want to avenge your father, you should go after Yuan Tiangang and his Majesty, not take it out on the entire Chang'an City, resulting in countless innocent deaths. Why?”

“Innocent? When Yuan Qing died, how many people in Chang'an gathered on both banks of the Jing River, continuously throwing stones into the water, cursing my parents day and night? When my father was beheaded by Wei Zheng, how many people in Chang'an were overjoyed, celebrating with fire? Did any of them remember that my father had been managing the Jing River for many years, always keeping it calm and stable, diligently bringing rain, never slacking off, thereby protecting their harvests from disasters?” Ma Xiuxiu sprang up from the ground and accused loudly.

At her words, Shen Luo was momentarily lost for words.

“They are all ungrateful and ignorant people who deserve to die.” Ma Xiuxiu seemed to not have gotten it out of her system, and she angrily cursed.

“Miss Ma, even if what you say is true, these events happened twenty years ago. Over these twenty years, many new lives have been born in Chang'an, some are even still in their infancy and know nothing about the events back then. What did they do wrong?” Shen Luo sighed and asked.

“Their crime is being born in this sinful city of Chang'an!” Ma Xiuxiu's eyes chilled over, her resentment still unsolved.

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