"He didn't agree?" I asked. In truth, the answer had long been obvious. He had personally thrown his children into hell, while Jing Xiaoman had climbed back up step by step through her own efforts, casting every child who climbed upward alongside her back into hell. She was the ultimate candidate in his heart, so how could he let Jing Xiaoman withdraw?
"Yes. He gave me a thorough tongue-lashing, but I told him that there was no one left for me to kill—I had killed everyone I could. The heirs of the direct line, the heirs of the collateral line, every candidate standing in the position of successor—I killed every last one of them! Except for the babies still swaddled in their cradles, the little boys still babbling their first words, and the children who hadn't yet come of age!" Jing Xiaoman said through gritted teeth.
I shook my head. Just how insane was this Demon Venerable? I had originally thought that, as the supreme ruler of an entire realm, he wouldn't be so warped. Yet the man had actually been able to watch Jing Xiaoman slaughter his own heirs like pigs and dogs! It was utterly beyond reason. And a man like that—could he really be planning to kill his last daughter as well?
"When he heard what I said, Father went mad again and pointed at me, cursing furiously. But as he cursed, he seemed to realize that with no children left who could threaten me, and he squatted down dejectedly, shaking his head over and over." Jing Xiaoman smiled in sudden realization. It was a mocking smile. Clearly, she held a kind of derision and contempt for her father in her heart.
"He was attached to his position," I said expressionlessly. That much was certain. It was