Chapter 280: Piercing Heartache

With a loud bang, clouds of dust billowed in the air. Yun Yang was completely enveloped in the smoke and dust.

He used his hands, legs and mystical Qi to lift everything in the ruins, aimlessly inspecting every inch of the devastated ground.

Fragments of flesh and blood, as well as shreds of clothes, were found...

In such a violent explosion, it was a difficult task, even to find these things.

However, Yun Yang had refused to stop, relentlessly continuing the search. Fortunately, after a while, he slowly came to his senses.

He had often come to the Cirrus House, hence he was able to recognize the location and directions for every room. He knew where every piece of wood and every feature was, even if he had his eyes closed.

By following his mind's eye, he had soon located the original site of the Cirrus House's front door.

He then receded, standing there quietly for a while, with his eyes closed.

He then strode in with large steps.

With a sudden hush, the gravel around the gate disappeared. He then walked forward, looking around like how he had usually arrived at the enormously spacious hall. While entering the door, he instinctively glanced around to observe if there were any repercussions or peculiarity.

After a brief pause, he walked inward again.

Following Yun Yang's path, the gravels along the way began to part. The dust had engulfed the sky, covering the horizon. However, even such a harsh environment posed little obstruction to Yun Yang.

"This was the place that we drank last night. However, all the objects and people are no longer the same and have been separated into two different worlds..."

The ache within Yun Yang was getting more intense.

Yesterday, Yun Zuiyue and Qing Shanxue were still sitting here beaming sweetly, accompanying him to drink. Yet, today ...

He shook his head and once again, cleared the debris in front of him. Clutching onto the slimmest of hopes, he walked inwards once more.

This was where the private room was located. The musical instruments hall was here, and here was a bedroom. Here was...

He continued to search, room by room.

Finally, he saw some dark brown matter in the area where the kitchen used to stand.

"Blood?"

Suddenly, within Yun Yang's eyes emerged a murderous intent which could hardly be suppressed.

He searched frantically, but to no avail.

Eventually, after discovering the location of the underground warehouse and delicately cleaning all the messy rubble and other objects there, Yun Yang came to a complete halt when he spotted something.

This was the place where Yun Yang found the most bloodstains, a place with the highest density of blood stains in the whole of the Cirrus House!

Pieces of fragmented flesh and blood appearing almost everywhere that he could lay his eyes on.

All the flesh, blood and bone fragments were no bigger than a finger.

In addition, there were countless scraps of charred clothing - white, cloth fragments.

The pristine white cloth had been stained with blood, making it even more macabre.

Sniffing tentatively, the faint fragrance of makeup remained on the clothing shreds. As far as Yun Yang could recall, it brought to mind the ones Yun Zuiyue and Qing Shanxue normally used.

Yun Yang had even found supple hair strands within the ruins as he dug messily through the rubble.

In another corner, half of the base remained intact. The base, however, was filled with traces of scarlet blood, together with long, messy hair strands and fragmented skull pieces.

Yun Yang was seemingly struck by lightning.

The only faint hope that had remained in him had been completely broken.

He staggered, ready to keel over at any moment.

A hand materialized just in time to support him. Fang Mofei's muffled voice could be heard, "Be careful, young master."

Yun Yang was dazed, barely hearing the gentle words.

Although the sound was close, Yun Yang felt as if Fang Mofei's voice came from the clouds in the sky, ethereally elusive, ringing true but vaguely indistinct.

He glanced around blankly. With a sudden cough, the corner of his mouth leaked a trail of blood.

The gentle voice of Yun Zuiyue echoed in his mind.

"Young brother, you must have had a hard time."

"Young brother, do eat more."

"Young brother, try this."

It seemed like her gentle glance was still gazing into his eyes.

Even her concerned look and gentle voice before their separation still remained fresh in his memory, "Young brother, do take good care of yourself in the future..."

Her beaming expression and voice were frozen in time, and yet ...

Yun Yang's heart was wracked with pain.

Suddenly, a glint of light could be seen gleaming through the rubble.

Yun Yang impulsively rushed over and pounced on the ground. With both of his hands, he dug out the gleaming object.

His hands trembled as if he was holding the last trace of hope; it was a fragment of jade.

Although it was just a sliver, its tenderness and glimmer reminded Yun Yang of someone's hand.

Yun Zuiyue's hand, to be precise.

Her fairly-skinned wrist had been ornamented with a pair of bangles, emerald in color.

The glimmer actually came from the fragment of jade. It was all rounded, tender and curved. It was obviously a shard of the jade bangle.

He stared at it in a daze. Suddenly, golden stars sprang up and circled before his eyes. His heart felt as if it was on fire. He felt a wave of dizziness wash over him before he fell unconscious.

With a cough, Yun Yang spat a mouthful of blood before he collapsed.

"Young master!"

Upon seeing this, Fang Mofei cried out in panic, grabbing the falling Yun Yang.

...

When Yun Yang woke up, he had already been returned to the Residence of Yun.

He stared at the ceiling in a trance. His eyes were dull and lifeless, taking no note of the sight that lay before him.

There were pieces of memories that were rotating back and forth in his mind. The voices and beaming expressions of Yun Zuiyue and Qing Shanxue kept flashing in front of him, one after another.

"Young brother ..."

"Brother ..."

"Can't you call me sister-in-law? ..."

"Young brother, take care of yourself..."

Yun Yang slowly closed his eyes, tears leaking silently onto his pillow.

Fifth brother's lover, this poor lady. He had failed to protect her after all!

Such an extraordinary beauty had just turned into ashes before him.

Yun Yang recalled last night's meal, remembering the words Yun Zuiyue had told him, thinking of her strange expressions that appeared yesterday ... Had she sensed her doom approaching even then?

Although every sentence was like the ordinary conversation of daily life, if one were to carefully consider them, one could sense that every word was rife with meaning, filled with the vibes of parting.

Not a brief separation, but a farewell of a lifetime!

He gritted his teeth tightly, the throbbing in his heart unquenchable.

"If only I had brought Sister Yue away ... then everything that has happened today could be avoided!"

His remorse had reached its boiling point.

"I'm so stupid!"

"She couldn't have painted a clearer picture for me!"

"Last night's dishes themselves were of great doubt." Suddenly a hope blossomed within Yun Yang's heart. "... Perhaps Sister Yue isn't dead after all ..."

However, thinking of the hair strands at the underground warehouse, the fragmented flesh and blood, the charred white clothing, the fragmented jade bangle, and the familiar faint fragrance...

All of these had relentlessly broken his own fantasy that his sister-in-law was still alive!

"Damn you all!"

Yun Yang bounced instantly from his bed. With his eyes bloodshot, he once again vomited a mouthful of fresh blood. He then let out a mad roar. In a flash, he transformed into a hurricane, disappearing from his residence without prior warning.

"Young master!" Fang Mofei and Lao Mei were utterly shocked upon seeing this. They hurriedly ran to the door, but the trail of wind outside was long gone.

Yun Yang, who had fallen into an unprecedented fury, was charging rapidly away. All that remained in his heart was the seething rage that could only be quelled by violence.

His only objective was to wreak havoc and to kill.

Never before had he felt such an overwhelming urge to take lives!

His heart had already been filled with anger and sorrow. He could no longer care about others.

The so-called scruples, considerations, and contemplations were no longer within his sight, and certainly not in his heart.

Fifth brother, I'm sorry!

I did not manage to protect my sister-in-law!

I have let you down!

Yun Yang could only feel that the blood in his body was about to erupt from every orifice.

He had almost lost his ability to think.

What was left was but the violent urgings of revenge!

A hurricane had entered the royal palace in the silent hours before dawn.

It was serenely quiet inside the royal palace.

The Minister of Imperial Household, Jiang Zhong, could be seen hunched over while carefully examining the work of his subordinates, meticulous and in a proactive manner. He was a dutiful old man who would do his best for everything that was within his sphere of responsibility, repeating them daily.

Therefore, His Majesty had always been assured of him.

A snow-white fly-whisk could be seen gently resting within his arms, appearing to be neat and clean.

His pace was slow, walking as if he was sweeping the floor. It seemed that he was old enough to the extent of not being able to lift his leg. Yet whenever the sweeping noises were made, all the guards and eunuchs would involuntarily hold up their chests and feign attentiveness...

Jiang Zhong, the old man in Yutang's palace.

The Minister of Imperial Household.

His authority within the palace was undoubtedly influential and his position in the imperial household was exceptionally important.

Within Yutang's palace, His Majesty was the emperor of the country while the empress was the ruler of the nine palaces. Even so, there were still people who dared defy their orders in secret despite putting on the front of obeying them when in the open. However, no one would dare to alter or even trying to ignore or neglect the Minister of Imperial Household, Jiang Zhong's commands when he issued them. Not even the slightest bit of slack was tolerated.

For years, countless eunuchs had died under his cruel punishment. Someone once said that for as many wrinkles that appeared on Minister Jiang's face, that was the number of people who had died in his hands.

If one were to observe carefully, the dense wrinkles that had appeared on Jiang Zhong's face were uncountable. Naturally, the number of people who had died at his hand was uncountable as well.

"The sky is going to brighten. It is another new day ..." muttered Jiang Zhong. With his stooped figure, he swaggered towards his own room.

Two small eunuchs followed him respectfully. With each and every step that Jiang Zhong took, they followed accordingly. They did not dare to cross over or lag behind.

The three people then walked through the imperial garden to the row of houses behind, Jiang Zhong's residence.