"There is a cellar, but don’t tell me you’re naive enough to think you can hide from the Chaos Fire in it?" Madam Zhao’s eyes, like shimmering water, looked at me with a hint of coolness in her expression, "This Chaos Fire, if mishandled, could burn down the entire mountain."

I smiled at her, "Or maybe, if things go wrong, the ancient paintings would burn as well. In that case, if you manage to send me out of the mountain, would I not be burnt to death?"

"Hahaha, I’m so incredibly delighted, I want to recognize you as my goddaughter. Your kind of personality suits me perfectly." Madam Zhao, throwing off her gentle and elegant demeanor, grabbed my hand and laughed boldly, "Come, let’s go play in the cellar. At worst, it’s just a big fire that will burn those lousy bastard’s ancient paintings too."

This Madam Zhao, full of vigor and brilliance, was truly a heroic woman of the era.

Like Hua Mulan, like Mu Guiying!

Not wanting to die, I cautiously reminded, "Before we go in, let’s prepare two large water barrels filled with water."

"One big barrel is enough, why do we need two? Neither of us is fat," Madam Zhao, like picking up a chick, lifted me by the back of my collar.

On the way to the cellar, we conveniently brought down a large barrel filled with rainwater.

In my mind, there was only one thought left: I was wrong!

Not Hua Mulan, not Mu Guiying at all. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

This is the female version of Cheng Yaojin, the female version of Li Kui!

Being carried by her, I actually felt a sense of safety.

In the deep, dark cellar of the Taoist Temple, Madam Zhao and I shared a water tank.

We agreed that once the fire reached us, we’d dive into the water together.

To prevent the water from evaporating too quickly, we drew an Ice Curse on our palms.

Before the fire arrived.

I couldn’t hold back my long-standing curiosity and asked, "Dear sister, why did Zhao Sihai imprison you in the Taoist Temple?"

"Who said he trapped me here?" Madam Zhao casually splashed the water with her fair hand. At this moment, her appearance was no longer that of Xiao Li; it was her own original beauty reflected in the water, "I chose to stay in the painting myself, never to see him again. I even made an Oath Curse, never to leave the Taoist Temple."

The corner of my mouth twitched: it turns out she cursed herself, locking herself in here as her own jailer!

"Alas, I regret it after staying here for too long," Madam Zhao murmured to herself, "It’s not worth it for a scumbag. Alone in the mountains, while he’s surrounded by others."

"Do you mean he married a mortal woman?" I asked.

Madam Zhao laughed coldly, "He’s completely indifferent to his own status and doesn’t care about the mortals’ lowliness, sleeping with ten among the flowers, desiring a hundred, a thousand. In the end, he fathered so many children, I can’t kill them all, one by one!"

"Ah, so that’s it." I originally felt the water was warmed by the approaching fire, but now I felt it icy cold to the bone.

Who could have known this playful and open-minded Madam Zhao was a bloodthirsty fiend?

According to my values, indiscriminately killing innocent people is utterly unacceptable.

But a perfectly mild girl turning into a Demon Head-like existence, isn’t it all caused by a scumbag?

Madam Zhao, word by word, whispered softly, "If I were to survive and get out, I’d definitely slaughter Zhao Zheng and her mother! Of his bastard children that I’ve killed, only that one daughter is left. Zhao Sihai adores that daughter the most, though she’s a twisted calamity with impure blood, just like him, prone to perpetuate."

Uh, isn’t your own character also twisted?

In our previous chats, it never showed; only when Zhao Sihai was mentioned, she turned into a different person.

He was simply a scumbag, utterly destroying a person.

"The fire’s here." Madam Zhao suddenly turned gentle, her voice as soft as the persistent drizzle of Jiangnan.

She gently pushed my head into the water, sinking with me to the bottom of the tank, her demeanor serene and graceful, like a beautiful water lily.