Chapter 1126: Chapter 1126: A Narrow Escape from Death—9 Lives Lost, 1 Survived
Liang Han’s husband, though addicted to Mei Ji’s ’Body of a Pearl Woman,’ remained lucid. Seeing his wife covered in wounds, barely clinging to life, he recalled their past love and sweetness, feeling a mix of guilt and helplessness.
He picked up Liang Han and slowly walked to the edge of Soul-breaking Cliff, kissed her forehead, then leapt off together.
The Blood Eagles swooped down eagerly, their sharp beaks tearing at their corpses. Soon, the couple was shredded into pieces, becoming a feast for the Blood Eagles.
Mei Ji hadn’t anticipated that Liang Han’s husband would make such a choice. Furious, she gnashed her teeth. She could separate them while alive but couldn’t stop them from dying on the same year, month, and day.
Seeing Mei Ji’s indignant expression, Gong Zhuo, the grand elderly at the time, sharply realized that Liang Han’s young son might not escape Mei Ji’s ruthless hand.
The four elders back then were not the same as the current four elders. The original four elders were promoted by the old clan leader and were relatively righteous in character.
Upon noticing Mei Ji’s increasingly tyrannical and volatile nature, the four elders had previously advised her, but Mei Ji entirely dismissed their counsel. Instead, she assumed they were deliberately opposing her and attempted to seduce them, intending for them to surrender entirely to her charms and serve her.
However, the four elders were all quite advanced in age and deeply familiar with Mei Ji’s ’Body of a Pearl Woman.’ Perceiving her intentions, they deliberately kept their distance from her, which only intensified Mei Ji’s dissatisfaction with them.
Compared to Mei Ji, her sister Liang Han was gentle and docile. The four elders held great affection for her, but her magic power didn’t compare to her older sister Mei Ji’s, so the position of clan leader was passed to Mei Ji.
The kind-hearted Liang Han didn’t care about the clan leader position and simply wanted a peaceful and simple life. Unexpectedly, she met such a tragic end.
Witnessing the horrific demise of Liang Han and her husband firsthand, the grand elderly was both sorrowful and alarmed, acutely aware that, at this rate, the same fate would eventually fall upon them.
The four elders conferred and decided—for their own safety, for the trust placed in them by the old clan leader, and for Liang Han and her child—that they must escape. That night, they seized Liang Han’s infant son, only a few months old, and fled Clan Leader Mansion under cover of darkness.
Mei Ji quickly discovered their betrayal and became enraged. She immediately mobilized all her forces to track them down, publicly accusing Liang Han, her husband, and the four elders of colluding to overthrow her.
The members of the Chang Kong family were either clueless about the truth or bewitched by Mei Ji’s ’Body of a Pearl Woman.’ Coupled with Mee Ji’s status as clan leader, they all harshly condemned the four elders.
Mei Ji privately instructed her confidants to spare no effort in killing the four elders should they uncover any traces of them, leaving no survivors—including the child.
Under Mei Ji’s siege and the relentless pursuit by numerous guards, the second elder, third elder, and fourth elder met their demise one after another.
In addition to her intrinsic Wind Magic, Mei Ji was also highly skilled at concocting and utilizing poisons. During their flight, the grand elderly was poisoned by Mei Ji, losing all his magical power.
Realizing there was no escape, the grand elderly used the last vestiges of his mana to seal the child’s Wind Attribute Magic Crystal Core just before his magic power was entirely depleted.
Such a young child, of course, had not yet activated the Magic Source, but the intrinsic attributes of magic crystal cores are present from birth.
Afterward, the grand elderly ruthlessly destroyed his own Magic Source. Feeling the poison in his body could not be neutralized by the Jade Melting Pill and required a specialized antidote refined by Mei Ji, he understood it was impossible to restore his magic power. Resolving to retreat and concede, he hoped to perhaps found a slim chance for survival amidst certain doom.
At the time, the grand elderly was over fifty years old, but he looked only in his thirties. After destroying his Magic Source, his appearance rapidly aged, finally matching his true age.
A powerless old man traveling with a plain, ordinary child in the desolate outer city did not attract much attention. The grand elderly intentionally dressed both of them in tattered, dirty clothing, creating the image of two wandering beggars.
One night, as the grand elderly and the child took refuge in an abandoned, dilapidated shack, a burly beggar barged in and cursed, demanding the grand elderly leave and make room for him.
Though the grand elderly had lost his magical power, his years of practice had left him with some discreet survival techniques. Dealing with a normal person was more than manageable.
The burly beggar quickly collapsed unconscious on the ground. The grand elderly placed the child aside temporarily, disguised the beggar to resemble himself, and dragged him to the shack’s doorway.
After completing the setup, the grand elderly swiftly departed with the child.
The next day, the beggar woke up dazed and didn’t even think to check his appearance in a mirror, continuing to wander aimlessly until he was soon discovered by Mei Ji’s men, who subjected him to unspeakable torment.
The grand elderly and the remaining elders had evaded capture for several months, during which Mei Ji’s guards persisted in their pursuit, growing fatigued. Killing the last grand elderly was a triumphant moment for them, leaving them no inclination to verify their prey’s authenticity.
However, since Liang Han’s child had never been found, Mei Ji remained relentless, continuing to dispatch personnel to search throughout the inner and outer city. A few-month-old infant was difficult to identify by appearance alone, so Mei Ji resorted to magic to probe for Wind Attribute Crystal Cores in children.
The grand elderly had sealed the child’s Wind Attribute Crystal Core using magic. Despite multiple probes, they narrowly escaped detection each time.
Tragically, other children were not so lucky. Within the Chang Kong family’s collateral lines, several infants were born with Wind Attribute Magic Crystal Cores. Mei Ji’s brutal philosophy—better to kill a hundred by mistake than let one escape—led to the tragic deaths of many infants close in age to Liang Han’s child.
More than a year passed before this blood-soaked hunt came to an end. Mei Ji’s ruthless and vicious actions left a lasting impression on everyone.
In subsequent years, several people dared to oppose her, but all met horrific fates. Their families were entirely eliminated, and their bodies were tossed off Soul-breaking Cliff as food for the Blood Eagles.
Gradually, Midair City became entirely dominated by Mei Ji. No one dared to challenge her anymore. She installed her confidants as the new four elders, surrounding herself with sycophants eager to curry favor. Furthermore, most of the family members and guards with strong magical abilities were enthralled by Mei Ji’s ’Body of a Pearl Woman,’ compelled to serve her loyally.
Far away in the outer city, within a desolate village, the once-proud grand elderly endured humiliation and countless perils to raise Liang Han’s child to adulthood, despite losing his magical power in the process.
