Once someone saw hope but didn’t know how to reach it, they’d always lose their cool.
This was the situation Sikong Sa found himself in.
He had to verify the truth for himself.
But when Fei Qi heard Sikong Sa’s request, he was utterly perplexed.
‘Since when did I have a glass sarcophagus in my possession? Aren’t you just looking for trouble?’According to the rumours circulating later on, the two had nearly gotten into a fight. In the end, Sikong Sa had forcefully searched Fei Qi’s house.
As reality proved...it really was at his place.
Fei Qi didn’t know how to explain himself...since he had no idea where this glass sarcophagus had even come from, okay?
But Sikong Sa was convinced that Fei Qi had been planning on using this to threaten him. As a result, their alliance fell apart.
The vampires hadn’t dealt with the external threats yet, and now they had internal threats to deal with too.
Though Fei Qi appeared to have given up a lot of his authority, in truth, he still held quite a bit.
Hence, when the two sides were pitted against each other, it could really go either way—neither could confidently say they could beat the other.And the true Vampire Queen, Shi Sheng, still wasn’t making any moves.
But after thinking about it, they felt that it was rather normal. Although she was the Vampire Queen, she held no influence at all. Most people understood that two hands couldn’t beat four fists[1], after all.
Hence, some of the vampires who had been maintaining neutrality began to take sides.
The infighting had officially begun.
But they didn’t know that one of the main causes behind the infighting was the Queen they’d ignored, who had expedited it stealthily quite a few times.
This battle lasted for half a year with Sikong Sa emerging the victor.
Now, all the governing power lay within Sikong Sa’s hands, so all the vampires seemed to selectively forget about Shi Sheng’s existence.
Sikong Sa had also learned more about the resurrection method from other avenues.
“Sikong, you haven’t had a good rest these past few days. Go to bed early today.” Seeing Sikong Sa merely standing beside the bed, Ai Wei couldn’t help but call out to him.
“You sleep first.” Sikong Sa didn’t even turn his head as he spoke before making to leave the room.
“Sikong...”
Sikong Sa left without any hesitation, causing Ai Wei to clutch at the blankets tightly.
He left the room and headed to a brightly lit basement. In the middle of the room was a coffin made of ice.
Within the coffin laid a dried corpse wearing what one could vaguely make out to be a robe in the style of those worn during the Qing dynasty.
Sikong Sa’s gaze was gentle as he looked at the corpse. He reached out to trace her features on the surface of the coffin. “We’ll see each other again soon.”
Sikong Sa remained in the basement for a long time, before returning to his room. Ai Wei had already fallen asleep.
Sikong Sa stood at the head of the bed, his gaze fixated on Ai Wei.
Only once the sky started lighting up did he quietly lie down on the bed and bring Ai Wei into his arms, shutting his eyes.
The next day, not long after Sikong Sa had left the castle, someone came to look for Ai Wei. Seeing the Ai Qiang who was nursing a broken arm, Ai Wei’s expression turned unsightly, rage and hatred in her eyes.
When Sikong Sa and Fei Qi were battling it out, her Second Uncle hadn’t stood with her. Instead, he’d joined forces with Fei Qi to deal with them. He had even wanted to kidnap her to threaten Sikong.
Ai Qiang had a bitter expression. “Xiaowei, I know you hate me. But I did it for the clan.”
“You did it for yourself!” ‘He just wanted more say amongst the other vampire hunters; it wasn’t for the clan!’
Ai Qiang’s expression turned serious. “Xiaowei, regardless of whether or not you believe me, I came today to tell you something.”
Ai Wei felt unwillingness appear as her instincts told her not to listen, but her body didn’t move.
......
When Sikong Sa returned that night, he found Ai Wei sitting in the room alone in a daze. His eyes darkened, and only once he’d put a smile on his face did he walk over.
Enveloping her in a hug from behind, he rested his chin on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. You must’ve had it hard these past few days.”
Ai Wei couldn’t help but tremble, her face turning deathly pale in that moment.
Sikong Sa was standing behind her. He couldn’t see her expression right now, but he could feel her body’s reaction.
“What is it?”
Ai Wei resisted the urge to tremble and forced the tears in her eyes back as she shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just...too much has happened recently. It’s a bit...”
As if she couldn’t continue any further, she lowered her head and began sobbing.
Sikong Sa furrowed his brow slightly but didn’t think too much of it. Turning her around so she faced him, he held and comforted her in a low voice.
“It’s okay. It’s all over.”
Ai Wei clutched at Sikong Sa’s clothes, her fingers biting into his skin through the fabric.
Was it really all over? No.
In the following period, Sikong Sa discovered Ai Wei was acting a bit weird. He couldn’t help but worry. The time would soon come—he couldn’t afford any errors.
He sent people to keep an eye on Ai Wei. If it had been the Ai Wei from before, she might not have discovered anything. But after the talk with Ai Qiang, she’d paid more attention to her surroundings.
This discovery caused her heart to completely grow cold. She had no choice but to believe Ai Qiang’s words.
But she still held onto that tiniest sliver of hope. It was that hope which kept her from breaking that last layer of pretence between them.
On July 15th, the day of the year when yin qi was at its peak...
“Xiaowei, I’ll take you to see something.” Sikong Sa was as gentle as always as he looked at Ai Wei, like she was the woman he loved most in the world.
The last hint of warmth in Ai Wei’s eyes vanished.
With a stiff expression, she nodded, her voice hoarse. “Okay.”
Sikong Sa brought Ai Wei to a mountain. The moon was like a jade plate that hung high in the night sky. Cold, pure moonlight caused the ground to appear covered by layers of silvered frost.
Ai Wei was blindfolded, so she saw nothing but darkness as she slowly walked into a place that held no light.
“Why?” Ai Wei’s voice was very soft, and the wind made it even harder to hear, but Sikong still heard it.
His footsteps paused and the two ground to a halt. “You already knew.”
“Why?!” Ai Wei tore off the blindfold and shrieked her heart out. “Why did you lie to me?!”
Her cry echoed through the dark mountains. With the help of the wind, it travelled a long way, startling many of the birds nesting in the woods into flight. The beating of their wings seemed to add to the gloomy ambience.
The gentleness on Sikong Sa’s face disappeared, replaced by apathy. “Because I need you.”
“But I’m innocent...” Ai Wei’s voice had taken on a hint of pleading. “Sikong... I’m innocent ah! I like you so much, why do you have to treat me like this?”
Sikong coldly looked at Ai Wei, ridicule in his eyes. “Like me? If you liked me, why would you go look for Zuo Lie behind my back?”
Her voice halted, panic in her eyes.
Sikong Sa stepped forward a couple of paces and wrapped his fingers around her neck. “Did you think I was unaware? From your actions, I don’t think you really like me all that much.”
“No... I...” She had looked for Zuo Lie, but he hadn’t been willing to even see her.
Hatred suddenly flared in Sikong Sa’s eyes. “Furthermore... you’re my enemy’s daughter. All this was brought about by your mother’s mistakes!”
“What are you saying...”
‘What enemy’s daughter?’
[1] Can’t beat the numbers advantage. (Or at least it’s very hard to)
