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Chapter 1073: Unrequited Love
“A corpse!” Zu An and Yu Yanluo exclaimed as they exchanged a look. Zu An saw the bitterness in her eyes. They had finally found her husband’s whereabouts, but he was already an ice-cold corpse.
Comparatively speaking, Zu An was a bit happier to hear that news. He hadn’t been all that friendly with Cloudcenter Duke. Now that they had found out the truth, Cloudcenter Commandery’s situation had been decided. His mission could be considered complete.
The two of them looked at the chunk of ice Uncle Ming had dragged out of the water. It was about the size of a person, and there was a man lying inside, sealed in thick layers of ice. However, the ice was clear and translucent, so one could still vaguely make out the face of the one inside. His complexion was pale, but his brows were thick and his face was broad. The hint of prestige he still gave off spoke of the brilliance he’d had when he was still alive.
It was the person Zu An had been impersonating, so how could he not recognize the man? It was Cloudcenter Commandery’s Jian Yanyou!
“Why is he frozen?” Jian Taiding looked at the frozen sculpture before him in confusion. He even reached out his hand to touch it, but he immediately pulled his hand back after he felt its bone-chilling cold.
“This cold pool is extremely cold. It is not all that strange for him to have frozen over.” Uncle Ming leaned against the fire, shivering as he spoke.
“But the cold pool itself has not frozen over…” Jian Taiding still couldn’t dispel his doubts. It would be one thing if the corpse had frozen over when it left the waters, but it was far too strange for a layer of ice to have formed while it was inside the water.
“Do you think it might be due to the residual effects of Frozen Soul?” Uncle Ming remarked. He was practically touching the fire at that point. Only then did he feel a bit of warmth as his body slowly began to recover.
Zu An was alarmed when he heard that name. He had personally experienced Frozen Soul.
Previously, the Imperial Hospital’s Commissioner Assistant Ma An had used that poison to scheme against him. At the time, he had been extremely confident, saying he could poison even master rank cultivators. Did the Frozen Soul their targets were talking about about have anything to do with Ma An?
When he had interrogated Ma An, he had learned that the other party seemed to be someone from the Shadow Group. Were Jian Taiding and Uncle Ming connected to the Shadow Group?
Zu An sneered in ridicule inwardly. The power of this world’s court had tremendous authority, and they had squeezed out most of the world’s sects. But even though there were no more sects on the surface, there were still many organizations in the underground world!
For example, the Shadow Group and the Hub of Freedom were both extremely mysterious.
Just then, Jian Taiding’s voice pulled Zu An out of his thoughts. “That is indeed a possibility. To be honest, that ‘Frozen Soul’ really is powerful. If we had not had the help of that poison, even all of us combined would not have been a match for my older brother.”
Uncle Ming reminded him, “Second master, you need to be more careful. Since that person could give us the Frozen Soul to act against the master, there is a good chance that he will use the same poison against you too.”
Zu An was confused. He thought, That person? Who is Uncle Ming talking about?
Judging from what they were saying, it seemed there was someone else hiding behind the scenes. Was it the same person as the true mastermind he had sensed before?
“Hmph; of course I know the danger of Hu Moupi’s schemes. But as long as I can fully seize this duke position, I will be the emperor in Cloudcenter Commandery. What can he even do to me?”
“You will not have that chance!” a voice exclaimed coldly. Yu Yanluo was already walking over with a frigid expression.
How could she still hold herself back? The corpse of the one who had been her husband in name, but had actually been her good friend, was right before her; and yet, the killer was shooting his mouth off.
Zu An didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with Yu Yanluo’s actions either. They had already gathered the proof they needed. Hiding further was meaningless. It was already time to bring the two to justice.
Either way, Jian Taiding was seriously injured, while Uncle Ming only had eight ranks of cultivation. Having Yu Yanluo by his side would be more than enough to subdue them.
Zu An was about to offer his support when Yu Yanluo gestured toward him, indicating for him to not act too rashly. Zu An immediately understood what she meant. It seemed she wanted to see whether she could get more information out of them.
Jian Taiding and Uncle Ming jumped in fright. When they saw that it was only Yu Yanluo,  however, they both sighed in relief.
“Sister-in-law, why are you here?” Jian Taiding greeted her with a smile. At the same time, he hid the ice chunk behind his own body. “Did you come here alone? It is extremely cold here, which is not good for your condition. What are Maid Xing and the others doing?!”
Yu Yanluo sneered and replied, “It seems you are worried that there might be others here with me.”
Jian Taiding chuckled in embarrassment, saying, “Sister-in-law misunderstands me. I really am just worried about you.”
“It is pointless for you to keep trying to hide things. I heard everything you said earlier. I did not expect you to have really been deranged enough to harm your own older brother.” Yu Yanluo berated him ruthlessly. “Yanyou treated you so well over the years. Not only did you not feel grateful; you even harmed him instead. Do you have no conscience at all?”
When he heard her response, Jian Taiding naturally didn’t feel the need to keep up the act anymore. He said, “My older brother treated me extremely well, but unfortunately, he did not give me what I wanted. What I wanted, he could not give me either.”
Yu Yanluo frowned and said, “ThImpossible. Yanyou took care of you in many different ways and had already turned you into someone powerful and influential in Cloudcenter Commandery. So many people are jealous of your position. What else could he have given you?”
“He could have given me you, sister-in-law!” As he looked at Yu Yanluo’s exceptional appearance, Jian Taiding’s expression gave way to madness.
“Me?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed, momentarily stunned.
Jian Taiding gave his older brother’s corpse on the ground a look, then suddenly felt the urge to talk. “My older brother could have given me anything else, but there was no way he could give you, his wife, to me. Sister-in-law, from the very first day I laid eyes on you, I had already fallen for you. I did not know there could actually be a woman so beautiful in this world. Not even the most gorgeous words can fully describe your beauty. Back then, I already vowed that I had to have you!”
Zu An was speechless as he watched. A famous quote from a movie in his previous world appeared in his mind. What the fuck? You love your sister-in-law?
Even Uncle Ming shook his head inwardly, muttering to himself, “A femme fatale, a true femme fatale!”
Yu Yanluo had suspected that was the case, but she was still so angry her entire body was shaking when she heard the words come out of Jian Taiding’s mouth. She exclaimed, “You despicable being; I am your sister-in-law!”
“I know that!” Jian Taiding’s beard moved slightly. His expression was somewhat warped. “It is precisely because I knew I could not obtain you through other means that I could only use force.
“But after I decided I had to have you, I realized just how powerless I was. I knew I was not strong enough, and so I could only watch as the woman I admired entered the arms of another.”
Yu Yanluo was speechless.
“From that day forth, I studied with everything I had. Whether it was cultivation or politics, I soaked up everything I could get my hands on like a sponge.” Jian Taiding’s tone was grim as he spoke of his bitterness over the years.
Yu Yanluo sighed and said, “Yanyou was excited when he told me you were making progress to do better. You were clearly talented, and yet you remained a hedonistic son. Your older brother was so excited to see you return to the proper path, so of course he helped you without holding back at all. But who  could have thought that you had such motives from the very start?!”
Zu An also cursed silently when he heard all of that. As expected, women were the driving force for change in men.
“What is wrong with me liking you? It was just that I met you after my older brother did!” Jian Taiding looked pained as he continued, “Do you know how it feels to see the woman you cherish to end up with another man?”
Zu An was stupefied. Jian Taiding really knew how to twist words around… You’re clearly lusting after someone else’s wife, so why does it suddenly sound as if that wasn’t what you were doing?
Jian Taiding’s attitude shifted just then. He looked excited as he continued, “Then, later on, when I went drinking with my older brother, he told me the two of you had not actually consummated your marriage. Do you know just how happy I was when I heard that? I almost jumped with joy! From that day forth, I became even more certain that the heavens still favored me. You were waiting for me! That is why I was only motivated by grief.”
Yu Yanluo’s expression only turned even colder. She spat, “Did you think I would feel moved if I heard that? No, I only feel that you are disgusting. You are a freak! Yanyou was blind to have been so devoted to you. You have completely let him down!”
Jian Taiding’s eager and hopeful expression immediately froze and gradually turned grim. He exclaimed, “I have let him down, but you have not?”
“What are you trying to say?” Yu Yanluo replied with a frown.
“Hmph, you have been married to him for so long, but have you even completed your duties as his wife?” Jian Taiding sneered. “Everyone was jealous of his fortune. They all thought that if they could have been the ones to marry  the world’s number one beauty, they might never even want to get out of bed. How could they have known that he had not even touched a single finger of yours, that he was nothing more than a shield to stop the endless masses?”
“Your older brother and I were good friends. He was willing to help me. That is not something you should be concerned with,” Yu Yanluo said indifferently.
“Hah, I could turn those words right back at you. My older brother was so devoted to you; are your actions not letting him down?” Jian Taiding sneered. “Not only did you not fulfill your responsibility as his wife, you have even brought in some crazy stranger to impersonate him and let him sleep with my brother’s wives. Are you bringing any honor to him?!”
Right at that moment, unbeknownst to anyone, Jian Yanyou’s eyebrows trembled slightly.