As a result, all of the vines hemming Gong Beichen in scattered, each of them taking a piece of clothing with them. All of the poison bottles and antidotes hidden in his clothes fell and scattered on the ground as well, as well as his sword.
The alluring scarlet robes were torn into pieces, but the inner robes and layer in between were left in tatters too. If it wasn’t for Poison la.s.s hanging around, Gu Qishao would have taken the man’s pants, too. His vines waved the remnants of robes in the air, as arrogant as their master. Staring at a th.o.r.n.y vine still wrapped around his waist, Gong Beichen seemed stuck between fright and humiliation as his face turned red. Cang Qiuying stared at him as her heart headed for despair. Her only solace was the fact that Han Yunxi and the rest didn’t know she and Gong Beichen were lovers.
Gu Qishao had taken to the skies by the time Gong Beichen was shouting and clutching a bottle of antidote in his hands. “Gu Qishao, your poison’s about to break out. I’ll give you the antidote if you spare me!”
The only red robed man who followed Han Yunxi and Long Feiye around was Gu Qishao, Gong Beichen knew that much.
But Gu Qishao kicked his antidote away and snarled, “Who wants your antidote?!”
He had a rare chance to eat one of Poison la.s.s’s personally prepared antidotes, so anyone who interfered was annoying! Gong Beichen only looked at him strangely, like he was seeing a weirdo. Gu Qishao rubbed his chin and said with amus.e.m.e.nt, “So, which piece of skin do I start with first?”
Now Gong Beichen grew terrified. If this was anyone else, he could take it as a bluff, but Gu Qishao’s words only brought him...fear!
Before Gu Qishao could make his move, a wretched cry came from the top of the mountain. Long Feiye and Han Yunxi recognized it instantly as Master Jianxin’s voice! He sped towards the peak with Han Yunxi dragging Cang Qiuying after him. Gu Qishao grabbed onto Gong Beichen and chase after the trio while shouting, “Poison la.s.s, the antidote? Where’s the antidote?”
Han Yunxi was in no mood to fool around now and tossed him a bottle, but Gu Qishao simply hid it in his sleeve and didn’t use it.
--
At the top of Celestial Mountain, they were greeted by a shocking sight. High above the stage for the ranking matches hung Master Jianxin from a torture rack, his body wracked with whip wounds. There was a fresh burn scar on his chest, right over his heart. This injury would have meant nothing to Master Jianxin in the past, but his internal reserves had run dry, so his body was no different from an ordinary old man. How could he bear such a burn? By now, he’d already lost consciousness.[1]
Seeing this, rage filled Long Feiye’s eyes.[2] As he prepared to draw his sword, three black-robed old men flew down from the roof of Nine Xuan Hall to land in front of Master Jianxin.
Gong Beichen remembered then that they had hostages in hand and no need of fearing Long Feiye or Han Yunxi.[3] He shouted hastily, “Martial uncle, save me! Save me!”
Martial uncle?
So the the three black-robed figures were actually elders of Heretical Sword Sect. As a evil sect, it was easy for their members to enter deviation, even if they were elders. Thus, their martial arts skills were limited and not too impressive. However, the troubling thing was the hostages in their hands--more than one to boot.
Seeing Gong Beichen reduced to nothing but a pair of trousers stunned and enraged the elders. They knew that something was going on down there, which was why they started to torture Li Jianxin to lure Long Feiye’s group up mountain. Of course they knew Gong Beichen wasn’t his match, but never thought he’d be so weak to be humiliated!
This was completely shaming Heretical Sword Sect!
The head elder angrily pointed his sword at Li Jianxin’s neck and threatened, “Release Gong Beichen prepare to collect your master’s corpse!”
“You dare!” Long Feiye’s eyes were shooting pure ice, making the head elder wary of provoking him. Still, why should he fear the man when he had a hostage on hand?
“See if I dare or not!” the head elder made his move, but Long Feiye’s whip was faster. It lashed like lightning to send the old elder flying to the side.
This…
All martial arts skills in the world could be definitely with sufficient speed, but that required ample reserves of internal energy, combined with explosive momentum, make it work. Everyone was stunned by the sight and left gaping. Han Yunxi and Gu Qishao were amongst them. They always knew Long Feiye used l.u.s.tbite energy, but never expected him to be so strong. If the dual cultivation had succeeded, would he really have no enemies left in the world?
Cang Qiuying stared at Long Feiye from afar[4] with a heartache so intense she could hardly breathe. Why is such an outstanding, powerful man not with me? Why?[5]
Gong Beichen had been scared by Gu Qishao, but was thoroughly cowed by Long Feiye. He couldn’t help but wonder how horrific it’d be if the man had actually drawn his sword.[6]
While everyone was still reeling, Long Feiye quickly whipped towards the head elder again! The man subconsciously withdrew, but Long Feiye soon followed after him. The second and third elders were too late to catch up even if they tried. All they could do was stand and watch as Long Feiye reached Li Jianxin’s side. Like that, they knew they’d already lost their hostage.
No wonder the sect leader only left Celestial Mountain after ascertaining that Long Feiye wouldn’t come! He gives us no choice but to submit.
The three elders ignored Gong Beichen and Cang Qiuying to fly straight for Nine Xuan Hall. Long Feiye shattered the torture rack with one strike of his palm and roared, “Gu Qishao, come here!”
Seeing him so angry, Gu Qishao was badly shaken. He hauled Gong Beichen with him before tossing the man to one side to catch Li Jianxin as he fell. How could Long Feiye not be furious when his sect had been invaded and his master taken prisoner? Still, he didn’t forget about Han Yunxi. Extending his arm towards her, he said coldly, “Come here!”
Han Yunxi flew up to the stage with Cang Qiuying in tow before shoving her towards Gong Beichen. She quickly grabbed Long Feiye’s hand and the two of them flew towards Nine Xuan Hall. Seeing the “couples’ flight” before him, Gu Qishao finally came to his senses. Why the heck am I listening to Long Feiye’s orders?
--
As soon as Long Feiye and Han Yunxi left, Heretical Sword Sect disciples as well as members of Lockheart Courtyard and the Sword and Scripture Depositories poured out to surround Gu Qishao and his two hostages. Gu Qishao was already in a bad mood, so this only made things worse. As the enemies drew near, he glared at them all and snarled, “Get any closer and this old man will tear off Gong Beichen’s pants!”
All of the Heretical Sword Sect disciples halted at his words to exchange looks. None of them stepped forward, allowing Gu Qishao to calm down. He used his th.o.r.n.y vines to trap Cang Qiuying and Gong Beichen before dragging them after him. To take these two to Nine Xuan Hall was going to be a ma.s.sive pain. He had to figure out a way to deal with them before he could chase after Long Feiye and Han Yunxi.
Gu Qishao wore an ugly expression as he searched for options. Meanwhile, the surrounding disciples simply stared and waited, unwilling to provoke him any further.
“Useless thing!” Cang Qiuying cursed Gong Beichen.
“s.l.u.t! Why didn’t you tell me who they were earlier? What are your motives?” Gong Beichen snapped back.
“You’re the ignoramus!” Cang Qiuying disdained. She had no idea what she even saw in Gong Beichen from the beginning.
“Gu Qishao, let me go and I’ll tell you where they’ve hidden the Honored Elders, alright?” Gong Beichen didn’t want to give up just yet, but if Gu Qishao really tore off his pants in front of everyone, he’d have no face to stay at Heretical Sword Sect any longer.
Cang Qiuying was quick to cave too. “Gu Qishao, only one of the three Honored Elders is in their hands. The other two are in the hands of the Sword and Scripture Depository heads. Help me treat my poison and I’ll definitely tell you where they’re been hidden.”
Although One Night Like One Year had yet to react, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even if she had to fall to Han Yunxi’s hands, she didn’t want to damage her looks!
Gu Qishao’s eyes shone. “You mean to say that not all of the three Honored Elders are at Nine Xuan Hall?”
“Exactly!” Cang Qiuying said quickly. “Gu Qishao, he only knows the location of one Honored Elder, but I know the other two. If you kill him and get me the antidote, I’ll bring you to them.”
“Cang Qiuying!” Gong Beichen roared.
“I really regret working with Heretical Sword Sect! You guys can’t do anything but ruin everything instead!” Cang Qiuying hissed.
“This young master was truly blind to climb on top of an ugly wretch like you!” Gong Beichen said loudly.
Silence greeted his words. Gu Qishao couldn’t help but curse. “Dammit, what kind of tastes do you have?”
Although the other disciples knew Gong Beichen had gotten involved with Eldest Young Miss Cang to solidify alliances with Lockheart Courtyard, they were still surprised to see him admit it verbally. The disciples of the Sword and Scripture Depositories broke into cold smirks, while the Lockheart Courtyard disciples were left ashamed and irritated. Without a word, a few of them began to fight amongst themselves.
Cang Qiuying wanted to bash her head against a wall. She never expected her downfall to be so similar to Duanmu Yao’s!
At this moment, the three black-robed elders suddenly jumped down from Nine Xuan Hall. Undoubtedly, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi had broken through their trap and knew the Honored Elders weren’t in the building. Seeing the Courtyard and Depositories disciples battling amongst themselves, the elders went to stand with the Heretical Sword Sect members. Long Feiye and Han Yunxi landed by Gu Qishao’s side, the former demanding, “What’s going on?”
Before Gu Qishao could answer, Cang Qiuying burst into tears. “I was wrong! I was wrong beyond belief! I know where they’ve locked up the Honored Elders, so I’ll bring you guys there! Right now!”
She was deathly terrified of Long Feiye finding out about her illicit relations with Gong Beichen. [7]
For the sake of her dignity, this was the bottom line!
1. This is where I wondered why HYX took so darned long to fool around with the mooks, even forbidding GQS and LFY to help because...what? She wanted to practice her skills? Avenge herself solo? You do that kind of thing when the stakes are lower, dude. With all the fuss and time they wasted down here, it’s obvious any extra enemies up there would have caught on and started counter-preparations by now. They could’ve flown up and scouted out the situation themselves much earlier, or interrogated their hostages more efficiently, or basically done the sensible thing and move forward with their rescue mission instead of playing all these s.a.d.i.s.tic revenge games. The whole thing ends up making HYX kinda douchey for me, but ehhh, I’ve been feeling off about her in other story arcs too. I think the author can’t decide whether to make her completely bada** or keep some of that inherent doctor’s compa.s.sion she had from the start, and it’s clas.h.i.+ng and contradicting her character in weird ways like these chapters.
2. Soooo who wants to bet that LFY’s brain was filled with nothing but “my wife is awesome!” “that heretical sword sect jerk insulted my wife!” “gqs, hmph, so annoying he might as well do all the work,” and “my wife learned the martial arts i taught her so well kyaaaa” for the past 30 minutes and he’s just now going “oh dang right i’ve got a master to save whups.”
3. Low Watt Bulb #3, did he forget he’s a hostage too…
4. I don’t know what you’re thinking author, she can’t be very far away if HYX’s still dragging her around because HYX sticks to LFY like glue.
5. Wake up woman, you’re already making out with the “outstanding and powerful” Gong Beichen. Y’know, before GQS gave him the smackdown.
6. Dunno if this still holds true but remember that LFY once said his best weapon is the whip, not the sword. So unless you wanna see his impressive, explosive sword awn throwing everyone back again, I’d say his sword skills lean towards more “basic” compared to his whip techniques, lol.
7. What now, is LFY your dad or something? What about the departed soul of your father? Or your mother...whatever unlucky woman that was, sheesh.