TGCFNM -Chapter 426 Wu Ting Dies

Chu Ling looked into Wu Ting’s eyes, and in an instant, it seemed she understood everything.

“You want to drag the Si family down with you?”

Wu Ting broke free from Chu Ling’s grasp, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at her. “Master Chu, this is my only chance.”

“Your only chance… is that what your ‘friend’ told you?” Chu Ling narrowed her brows, pressing him.

Wu Ting nodded straightforwardly, then turned and continued forward.

Chu Ling sighed helplessly and followed. “Master Lu has been working tirelessly to uncover the truth. Whether eight years ago or now, he hasn’t given up on any possibility. He’s done everything he can. Can’t you think of that elder? He really has done so much.”

Wu Ting gritted his teeth and pressed on, head down.

Chu Ling grew frantic. “Are you sure you can drag the Si family down with you?”

“I’m sure,” Wu Ting said softly. “I know the secret inside the Jade Guanyin.”

Chu Ling’s eyes widened sharply. “What secret?”

Wu Ting didn’t answer, just kept moving forward.

The sound of galloping horses behind them grew louder. When Wan Sanjin and Su He arrived, Wu Ting suddenly stopped.

Ahead was a sheer cliff.

Chu Ling glanced back. The riders behind them had been forced to stop; their faces were pale as they dismounted, unable to take a step, their eyes locked on this side.

Su He also looked on. “The powder made them temporarily powerless. It doesn’t cause injury, and it lasts about half an hour.”

Chu Ling paused, then spoke suddenly: “Do you think… is it possible someone predicted we’d come to save him, and also predicted we’d take action against the Si family?”

Wan Sanjin swallowed nervously. “Master, don’t say that… it’s terrifying. Feels like every step we take, they already know what we’ll do.”

Chu Ling suppressed her thoughts and looked at Wu Ting.

Wu Ting shook his head; he didn’t know either. But… “Master, be careful of anyone suddenly approaching you.”

Chu Ling grabbed Wu Ting’s arm. “Wu Ting, come with us. Master Lu will reopen the case from eight years ago. All of us will work to restore the truth to the Wu family. There isn’t only one path in this world that ends in death.”

“But I have only this path left,” Wu Ting said. Then he suddenly grinned, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth like a crimson thread, dripping onto his clothes and Chu Ling’s hand.

Chu Ling was shocked. As Wu Ting began to collapse, she instinctively caught him.

Wan Sanjin and Su He quickly helped, supporting him.

Wu Ting continued to sink slowly, his eyes starting to glaze over.

Chu Ling immediately checked his pulse, her expression hardening. “Poisoned… it’s entered his lungs. There’s no saving him.”

Wan Sanjin was incredulous. “So… from the moment he escaped prison, he was poisoned?”

Chu Ling’s chest tightened. Her hand gripping Wu Ting’s arm turned rigid, veins bulging.

“That person helped you escape, helped you come here, drew the Si family’s attention. By the time you reached this place, and the Si family caught up… you were meant to die here. If we hadn’t stopped you for a moment, you would have reached the cliff edge and fallen, leaving nothing behind!”

“After you die, the cells you were in… would have already contained the Si family’s crimes—the things hidden inside the Jade Guanyin?”

Wu Ting twisted his stiff lips into a bitter, tragic smile. “Master, I… I caused the death of the Wu family. This is my only chance for revenge.”

“No!” Chu Ling gritted her teeth, eyes reddening. “This is that person’s scheme. Both the Wu and Si families are meant to die.”

“I… I know… but Master, I should atone for the Wu family’s sins,” Wu Ting said, then coughed up a large mouthful of blood, staining his clothes red.

Chu Ling looked at him, angry. “Are you certain the Si family will be killed because of this?”

Wu Ting’s face was pale as he nodded faintly.

Chu Ling froze. The Xuanyuan family, involved in the Courtesan Case, hadn’t suffered at all, because the emperor had lightly let it slide. But would the emperor really completely annihilate the Si family for what they had done?

And in the Jade Guanyin, what exactly was inside?

“Cough… cough, cough cough…” Wu Ting suddenly began coughing uncontrollably, his face turning blue-purple as he spat up a lot of blood. “…M-masters… please… throw… throw me down.”

Chu Ling’s eyes widened, and she shook her head frantically.

She couldn’t do it!

Tears ran down Wu Ting’s face. “M-masters… I beg… I beg you…”

Wan Sanjin’s eyes reddened. “Did they force you to go die?”

Wu Ting grabbed Chu Ling’s hand, his gaze pleading. “Masters… please… the Si family… what they’ve done… must… pay… a price… they’ve… killed too many…”

“I… I was already… meant to die… masters, I beg… I beg…”

Chu Ling choked back sobs, clenching her teeth with all her strength. “I… I and Master Lu will find a way. There will be a way.”

Su He gently patted Chu Ling. “Falling off a cliff and dying in the wilderness is still better than being ground to pieces by the Si family. After all, right now, we have no way to guarantee his body will remain intact.”

Chu Ling bit her lips hard, tears falling despite herself.

She didn’t even know why she was crying—maybe it was just the helplessness of her own powerlessness.

Wu Ting suddenly took a deep, shuddering breath. His eyes went wide, then his pupils scattered, his gaze blank, and the last thread of sound escaped from his chest:

“I… if only… I had met… Masters… earlier…”

Wu Ting’s voice faded, his eyes still wide open.

Wan Sanjin reached out, gently closing Wu Ting’s eyes.

“Thank you.”

A soft voice came from behind, and Chu Ling turned her head.

Ghostly Wu Ting stared at Chu Ling, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Chu Ling did not speak, but looked toward Wu Huan.

Wu Huan slowly stepped forward, her voice tinged with grievance. “Brother, do you know how miserably I died?”

Wu Ting pounded his chest in agony. “I… I know… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Wu Huan grabbed Wu Ting’s hand. “Brother, I hate you. Even if you’re dead, I still hate you. But right now, we need to know more. I want to know who that young master really is!”

“He’s the one who ruined me, ruined you, ruined the Wu family! I must find him!”

Wu Huan recounted everything she knew, then looked at Wu Ting. “I need to know more. I want Masters to help me find that young master.”

Wu Ting opened his mouth and revealed the truth of the past.

Back then, he had become the Jade Guanyin. When he went out, he felt a little dazed, but he didn’t think much of it and went to the gambling house.

After a series of events, Wu Huan died in his place, and their parents had intended to leave the capital with him.

Outside the capital, they were ambushed by a group of masked black-clad bandits. He survived by a hair’s breadth and, on the way back, met the person who had saved him.

After that, the person who saved him taught him martial arts, poison-making, and step by step helped him gain a new identity, becoming a prison guard at the Dali Temple.

But even to this day, he had never seen that person’s true face.

Wu Huan thought of Chu Ling’s words and asked, “His eyes… what were his eyes like?”

“His face looked very ordinary, but his eyes were exceptional. The irises were very dark, and if you looked at them too long, you’d instinctively look away,” Wu Ting said.

Wu Huan confirmed it. This was that young master—the one who had meticulously orchestrated everything, ultimately destroying the entire Wu family.