Phoenix's Requiem

Li Xiu could tell that Yun Ruoyan was the more passive person in their relationship, but her vehement response to the betrothal pronouncement was still beyond his expectations.

“No, I refuse!” Yun Ruoyan shouted. With an explosive strength born from her shock, she actually managed to escape Li Mo’s grasp. 

“I oppose this conferral, Your Majesty,” she emphasized, leaping out of Li Mo’s lap.

Li Qianxiao had been sipping from a cup of wine. When Li Xiu announced his intentions to betroth Yun Ruoyan to Li Mo, he began to choke, and when Yun Ruoyan refused his father’s offer, he almost spat out the wine in his mouth.

She refused the betrothal?!

Everyone looked on in shock. This ugly girl was actually refusing the Slaughtering King himself?

On what grounds?!!!

“How could she refuse such a betrothal? If anything, Uncle’s the one who should be vehemently opposing this!” the third princess Li Yu’er murmured in disbelief.

“That’s right, isn’t this girl crazy? As legendary a figure as the Slaughtering King…” the fifth prince Li Qianhui added.

Hushed whispers broke out from all around them. Everyone was shocked, except for the couple themselves. Li Mo looked at the girl in front of her, who was always bringing surprises with her wherever she went.

The first time they met, he’d fallen into her yard with a grave injury. Rather than panic or call for her servants, nor leave him to die, she had dragged him into her rooms and treated him while hiding the fact from everyone.

When she approached him, he had been attracted to the faint fragrance emanating from her body. In his delirium, weakened from blood loss, he was unable to control himself and had kissed her on instinct. What he puzzled over was why there seemed to be hints of rot amidst the fragrance.

When Li Mo woke up and saw Yun Ruoyan’s birthmark, he belatedly realized that the smell of rot was because the girl had been poisoned.

This was a highly unusual poison. Li Mo had studied herbs and poisons of all types ever since his youth, but even he couldn’t identify this poison with a single glance. This piqued his interest, and he’d promised Yun Ruoyan to cure her as he left.

After he recovered from his injury, Li Mo began to research the poison in earnest. Finally, in one of the ancient tomes of the palace’s collection, he found a poison that was described in very similar terms as Yun Ruoyan’s experience.

The tome traced the origins of the poison to an ancient shamanic tribe in the Yue kingdom. After travelling to the Yue kingdom and conducting an investigation there, he found that the tribe had long since died out, as had any hope of following the lead further.

The second time they’d met was on the Minghuang mountain, in the royal hunting grounds forbidden to outsiders. At the time, Li Mo was rushing back from the Yue kingdom for an annual venture, one that always failed.

This year, just like all previous years, he failed again. Worse, the old codger had actually struck him a devastating blow. With another grave injury, Li Mo hid in the crown of one of the trees in the forested region.

At the time, spiritual energy was leaking out of his entire body. He couldn’t fight with anyone, and if he didn’t get treatment quickly, he would even lose four-fifths of his cultivation temporarily.

As if predestined, Li Mo found Yun Ruoyan once more. When he jumped down from the crown of the tree and covered them both with his cloak, he was struck by her enticing fragrance and kissed her once again.

This time, however, the hints of rot on her body had vanished. Initially, he thought that this was because of the life quintessence pills that he’d had Li Qianhan send over.

Later, Li Mo hid in the tree and watched Yun Ruoyan fight against twenty or so imperial guards, each move mature and practiced, more the act of a seasoned blademaster than a young girl of thirteen.

When he saw Yun Ruoyan release the Feilai Blade, he was certain that the young girl had had a fortuitous encounter.

That night, Li Mo snuck by her residence and found the qilin that was the previous Beast King’s companion in a pocket dimension. Not only that, he even discovered that Yun Ruoyan was actually a human furnace from the tales of legends! 

From then on, he knew that this second daughter of the Yuns would be a relatively important tool for him in the near future. Yes, just a tool. Just like a cultivation manual that would make him stronger, or a secret recipe for enhancing his cultivation.

But, tonight, the girl that seemed like just an object in Li Mo’s heart had captivated and enthralled him once more.

Li Mo looked at the clear alcohol in his cup. Slowly, the image of Yun Ruoyan’s transcendent beauty seemed to surface. It was this beauty that had, in his rare moment of passion, overwhelmed him and left him adrift in the pond.

Yun Ruoyan, what other surprises do you have in store for me?

Li Mo smiled as he drained his cup once more. Yun Ruoyan had brought him far too many surprises, so much so that he had almost become inured to them. This was why he hadn’t been shocked that Yun Ruoyan would reject the betrothal. However, he was still upset.

Unwilling? How dare she look down on him! Li Mo smiled like the Cheshire cat.

“You don’t want to be betrothed to Li Mo? Why not?” The emperor asked the questions everyone wanted to know the answer to. “Is it that you already have someone in mind?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Has your family found you a suitable partner?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

Li Xiu blinked and stroked his beard. “How strange. As far as I’m aware, your relatives are all in good health, and you’re not forbidden from being betrothed due to a recent death. Why would you refuse?”

Why? Yun Ruoyan hesitated. To everyone else, this betrothal was surely tipped in her favor. In both status and appearance, the Slaughtering King was far above Yun Ruoyan herself.

What was a reason that others would be convinced by? Yun Ruoyan’s head hurt.

“Oh, I’m still underage. I’m only able to be married off next year, Your Majesty,” she replied after finally thinking of a suitable excuse.

“That’s no problem. The marriage can wait until you’re of age.”

“Then, oh, alright!” Yun Ruoyan took a deep breath before responding seriously, “Actually, the reason is…”

“What is it?” Li Xiu craned his neck forward, as did everyone else at the banquet.

“I’m not worthy!” Yun Ruoyan exclaimed loudly.

Oh, that was why! Everyone instantly relaxed.

“No wonder: even she knows she’s not good enough for the Slaughtering King!” One of the young misses tittered.

“Right, it’s not that she’s unwilling, but that she doesn’t dare to be willing.”

“Isn’t that so? Can you imagine such a shocking face next to the Slaughtering King himself!”

“At least I can’t accept it, that’s for sure.”

The crowd nodded in agreement, but Li Mo couldn’t help scoffing. Her face would best any of the females here at the banquet, and yet she insisted on pretending to be ugly. Would this be something that a self-abasing girl would do?

But it did make him a little curious as to why.

Yun Ruoyan turned back as she heard the scoffing laughter, but when she saw that Li Mo’s almost-luminous eyes fixed on the alcohol in his cup, she relaxed.

Thinking back to his two kisses that had come out of nowhere, and how he had forced her to sit in his lap, Yun Ruoyan’s only explanation was that this Slaughtering King actually just had a warped, revolting sense of taste.

Li Xiu had been inspecting Li Mo from afar, ever since the pronouncement. Although Li Mo hadn’t said anything or reacted particularly strongly, Li Xiu’s long years of observing him told him that he was in tacit agreement with the proposal.

“Miss Yun,” Li Xiu advised, “If you miss out on such an opportunity because of your own self-abasement, you’ll regret it for life.” Yun Ruoyan’s brain whirred as she tried to think of an adequate response. She didn’t expect that Yun Ruoyao would actually be the one to save her. 

“Your Majesty, I’m afraid Sister Ruoyan might not be a good fit for the Slaughtering King.” Yun Ruoyao stood up from her seat and bowed.

“Oh? You’re the eldest daughter of the Yun family, I presume. What do you mean by those words?” Yun Ruoyao had been closely scrutinizing Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo all through the party, and she’d caught all their interactions.

This should have been the first time that the two of them had met, and she really couldn’t understand why they seemed so close.

It was said that the Slaughtering King was reclusive and eccentric. Was he only making fun of the ugly girl? And the emperor—how could he suggest such a betrothal so casually?!

Yun Ruoyan already didn’t think much of her; if she were to become the consort of the Slaughtering King, then Yun Ruoyao would forever be beneath her. Anxious and frustrated, Yun Ruoyao began to sweat all over. At least that ugly girl knew to be self-abasing!

“Sister Ruoyan’s self-abasing is only natural. Three years ago, for some reason, Ruoyan suddenly lost her talent for cultivation. Not only that, the birthmark on her face began to grow. In the past three years, Father has recruited the services of talented physicians from all over the continent in hopes of finding a cure. It was only recently that there had been improvement, and Ruoyan regained some of that talent once more.”

Yun Ruoyao sighed as she continued. “But although her talent returned, the birthmark on her face became more and more engorged. Quite recently, during the expedition in the imperial territory, it wouldn’t stop leaking pus. It was only after the Yuns had expended a large amount of medicinal and spiritual herbs on her that her face had recovered to its current state.”

She shook her head sadly, ever the enterprising thespian. “Connecting the Yun family to the Slaughtering King by marriage is a great honor, Your Majesty, but my conscience won’t permit me to allow this without speaking up. If my sister’s condition were to worsen, and if Your Majesty and the Slaughtering King were to find out about this only after the marriage, then my pitiful sister will be the one to suffer most.” Yun Ruoyan raised her head and looked toward Li Xiu earnestly. “Your Majesty, please reconsider!”

Her words were so logical and reasonable that the crowd had firmly aligned itself behind her.