Bone Painting Coroner

CONTENT WARNING: BLOOD & GORE

Mo Ruo couldn’t care too much about proprieties right now and simply tore Ji Yunshu’s outer robes to reveal her blood-drenched back. Blood was still flowing constantly from her wound.

He picked up a silver needle and heated it up on the candle flame, then pierced it on the back of Ji Yunshu’s neck. Next, he placed several more needles on her head, her back, and beside her ear…

Soon after, the wound stopped bleeding.

Mo Ruo suddenly looked gravely towards Jing Rong. “Now, I have to pull out the dagger, but…”

“She can’t die.”

“Jing Rong…”

Jing Rong suddenly howled, “I said, she can’t die! This prince won’t allow anything to happen to her, do you understand?”

Mo Ruo could empathize with his feelings, so he didn’t react to his agitated ramblings. Instead, he calmly described the situation clearly. “Jing Rong, you should be clear as well that when the dagger is removed, the odds that she might either live or die is 50-50. This is not something I can control. If she can get past this hurdle, she is very fortunate.”

Jing Rong’s mind was a complete blank.

Suddenly, Ji Yunshu grunted softly.

Jing Rong immediately pushed Mo Ruo aside and leaned against the bed, holding her bloodless hands. She struggled to open her eyes and moved her pale lips. “You go out. Let… let him remove it.”

“Yunshu…”

“Go out.” If she really couldn’t endure it and died, she did not wish for him to witness the moment of her death.

Jing Rong looked at her, tears pouring down his cheeks.

Mo Ruo coaxed by his side, “You go out first. I guarantee that I will use everything I have to ensure that she lives.” Staunch and resolute. It was a promise!

Jing Rong reached out a hand and tucked away a few strands of hair that had fallen across her cheek. “You once said that, no matter what happened, you would stay by this prince’s side. This prince wants to bring you to the grasslands to ride horses and shoot arrows; I want to bring you to the snowy mountains and the Gobi desert. You said that there are beautiful Gesang flowers there that you wanted to see the minute you opened your eyes. This prince promises to bring you there, but you must also promise this prince to not let anything happen to yourself.” [1]

A smile spread over her lips, but she didn’t have the strength to answer.

Jing Rong released her hand and pushed himself upright, then looked at Mo Ruo. “I’ll trouble you then.”

“Mn.” Mo Ruo had never been so serious.

Jing Rong left the room with Tang Si in tow. With reddened eyes, he looked down to the spectacle on the ground floor. The entire inn looked like a sealed slaughterhouse. Other than those occupied with fighting, there were only corpses streaked with blood.

Jing Yi! Must you really be this ruthless?! Within his sleeves, his hands clenched into a tight fist. He tilted his head to look at Wen Xian, who was still standing guard by the door. “Take good care of the people inside.”

“Don’t worry.”

The next instant, ruthless killing intent flashed in Jing Rong’s eyes. With a single step, he leapt down to the ground floor, snatched a sword from someone’s hands, and started a bloody massacre. He mercilessly killed anyone that came at him.

Tang Si drew out her whip and followed him down. “You had the gall to hurt Ah Ji, so I want all of you to die!” With a wave, her whip wrapped around the neck of someone and strangled him to death. “It’s high time that my whip tasted some blood.” She too, started an endless killing spree.

Inside the room, Mo Ruo told Ji Yunshu, “Miss Ji, you must bear with it.”

“Pull it out.”

“I have already sealed your acupoints to reduce your pain. However, it will still be extremely painful and you must bear with it on your own.”

“Mn.” She’s prepared for it!

Mo Ruo rolled up a towel for her to bite into. This woman had always been frail, a minor ailment would see her bedridden for several days, to say nothing of a dagger stuck in her back. If she could hold on, she would live. If not, she would die!

Mo Ruo drew in a deep breath, uncommonly nervous. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have been as anxious to remove the dagger, but this was Ji Yunshu lying on the bed.

If some mishap occurred, Jing Rong likely wouldn’t survive either. He grabbed the dagger tightly and focused his concentration. Just as he was about to pull out the dagger, Ji Yunshu opened up with a request. “Mo Ruo, can you promise me something?”

“Speak.”

She opened and closed her mouth several times, and spoke with great difficulty. “If… if I died, pl…please tell Jing Rong, he must… must take good care of Wei Yi, and never… never let him know about his own birth origins. If it were possible… send Wei Yi away, even if he had to leave Great Lin.”

“Teacher Ji, don’t say anymore.”

“Also, you must tell Jing Rong, tell him… to live on well and not do anything foolish. Also, tell him, to cremate my corpse and… scatter my ashes in the sea.”

“Teacher Ji…”

“Promise me.”

“Alright, I promise you. But I don’t think that I will have the chance to help you convey that, because you will definitely be fine, and I had promised Jing Rong that I definitely won’t let anything happen to you.”

Ji Yunshu gasped, unable to speak further.

“I’m going to pull it out. Bear with it.”

Ji Yunshu put the towel back into her mouth and bit down firmly. Mo Ruo’s hands tightened on the dagger, then his hands tugged upwards.

“Ah!” A piercing scream rang out from the room.

When Jing Rong heard the scream during his massacre, his blood seemed to boil even more vigorously. The sword in his hands seemed to hunger for blood like a bloodthirsty vampire as strike after strike drew blood and lives.

Fresh blood drenched his entire body, even his face. He was like a wild cheetah seeking more blood. No one had ever seen him in such a state.

In less than the time needed to brew a cup of tea, practically all the killers in the inn had been eliminated, with only two people left. These two immediately threw down their swords in surrender. “Prince Rong, please spare our lives! We were only carrying out orders.”

Jing Rong held that longsword, still dripping with blood. His eyes were bloodthirsty and filled with endless killing intent as he looked coldly at the two people kneeling on the ground. He raised his sword and pointed it at them. “What was the reason for the order?”

The two of them spoke in unison, “To prevent the prince from taking a single step into the capital.”

The minute they finished speaking, Jing Rong drew his sword and flicked his wrist. With a single slash, the two men’s throats were cut open. They were dead! He didn’t allow them a single chance to stay alive.

Fresh blood splattered on his robes. That formerly pale blue set of long robes were now dripping with bright crimson blood.

Lang Po hurriedly asked, “Your Highness, you…” He dared not continue.

Jing Rong coldly surveyed the countless corpses that were scattered throughout the inn. The metallic stench of blood thickly blanketed the whole area.

He tossed the bloody sword into a pool of blood without a care. His eyes narrowed gloomily as he instructed Lang Po, “Throw these corpses into the mountains to feed the wolves. This prince wants them to die with neither an intact corpse nor bones.”

Ah! Lang Po was shocked. When did His Highness become so cruel? However furious he was, he would never have thrown corpses into the wilderness for the wolves.

“Yes!” Although he was surprised, Lang Po still accepted his orders.

[1] First mentioned in c.617, the flowers Ye'er drew for Wen xian were zisang flowers, which drew inspiration from Gesang flowers. Possibly author confused themselves. Again, Gesang flowers mean 'the one in front of you is far better than your dream girl'. http://www.china.org.cn/travel/2011-10/26/content_23727620.htm