Su Xiaoyu!
It had been ages since Han Yunxi heard that name, much less see the child it belonged to. When she first discovered Su Xiaoyu was a spy, she hadn’t the heart to dispose of her but hoped to bring the girl to her side. Perhaps it was fate, but she just couldn’t hate Su Xiaoyu, much less do something so harsh to such a young child.
Thinking back, Han Yunxi would rather have chased off Su Xiaoyu after she regained her memories than leave her alive to become a hostage and suffer so much. Su Xiaoyu had rathered starved or sicken herself to death than become a bargaining chip in Jun Yixie’s hands. Bai Yuqiao had told them as much in her letters. She knew that as an older sister, Bai Yuqiao was using this way to remind them of Su Xiaoyu’s sacrifices and that they had to respect their promise to rescue Su Xiaoyu and treat her kindly.
When Han Yunxi recalled Su Xiaoyu’s puerile face and mature expressions, then the b.l.o.o.d.y puddle they discovered behind Tiger’s Prison, her heart seized up. Little Yu’er didn’t have to know she had an older sister or who that was. But she couldn’t die in Bai Yanqing’s hands!
As Han Yunxi prepared to stop, Ning Jing spoke up. “Han Yunxi, even if I die, Su Xiaoyu cannot! My brother promised Bai Yuqiao and his promises are the Di Clan’s! We can’t break our promise to the dead!”
“I know,” Han Yunxi’s tone was firm. She stopped moving and turned to Bai Yanqing with a cold tone. “You dare?”
“Han Yunxi, if your mother had a whit of your temper back then, she wouldn’t have fallen to those circ.u.mstances!” Bai Yanqing said icily.
“You were the one who killed her!” Han Yunxi said.
“It wasn’t me! For the last time, this old man says that it wasn’t me!” Bai Yanqing said before drawing his sword.
Han Yunxi knew there was no escaping this fight now. She had Ning Jing back away while she held her sword in turn. Seeing this, Bai Yanqing laughed coldly. “La.s.s, your mother had a better sense of propriety than you! Do you think you can beat me?” His gaze was filled with utter contempt.
Han Yunxi scorned him back. “Yes, and I’ll win beautifully! If...you have the guts to yield me three moves!”
“Fine, this old man will convince you thoroughly. If you can’t kill me within three moves, then obey and return with me!” Bai Yanqing agreed easily. As he saw it, Han Yunxi was the type who didn’t cry until she saw her own coffin. She was overestimating her capabilities.
But Han Yunxi’s eyes were calculating. She adapted herself as the circ.u.mstances demanded, advancing and retreating as needed. After following Long Feiye for so long, she’d picked up some of his tempers and didn’t like to waste words or do pointless things. She had ulterior motives for her three moves! Otherwise, why would she waste effort fighting a losing battle?
When it came to two poison experts facing off against each other, it was useless to use toxins because it’d be ineffective for both sides. Only their sword skills remained. Bai Yanqing hadn’t made his move when Han Yunxi stabbed forward with her full ten levels of Nirvana Heart Arts. With some Phoenix energy added, her levels far surpa.s.sed Bai Yanqing’s.
As she drew closer, her sword awn intensified with her sword qi, enough to hurt her surroundings. But Bai Yanqing simply faced her wit his own blade, allowing the sword qi to slash cuts across h is arms and face. When he had stopped dodging to take her attack, Han Yunxi had already come up with a scheme. She wanted Bai Yanqing’s Poison Gu blood! Her first attack had simply caused him internal injuries. This time, she wanted to splatter his blood against her blade!
Eyes sharpening, Han Yunxi released all of her internal energy and Phoenix power to her sword. In a flash, it glowed like a rainbow, completely unstoppable!
“Bai Yanqing, you said you’d yield me three moves. If you dodge, you’re a coward!” Han Yunxi shouted.
Bai Yanqing looked at her in silence. As the ma.s.sive sword qi slashed down from above, Han Yunxi’s sword went for the top of Bai Yanqing’s head. But no matter how Han Yunxi tried, she couldn’t slash him. Heaven knows how much this fellow’s bones had changed? She quickly gave up and deflected her blade elsewhere, her second slash aiming for his wrist! It didn’t slice it in half, but drew a deep cut that shed blood.
Han Yunxi immediately s.h.i.+fted to slash at Bai Yanqing’s eyes, distracting him long enough for her to absorb a single blood droplet from Bai Yanqing’s injury into her poison storage s.p.a.ce.
One drop would be enough!
Despite getting what she needed, Han Yunxi didn’t stop her third slash or relax, but used all her strength to slash Bai Yanqing’s eyes. He shut them instinctively. To Han Yunxi’s surprise, her blade didn’t even penetrate past his eyelids! As things stood, Bai Yanqing’s weak points were all impenetrable by weapons!
The three moves were finished.
Bai Yanqing didn’t die and his injuries quickly stopped bleeding. Han Yunxi didn’t hesitate to turn tail and flee.
“Stinkin’ la.s.s, you’re going back on your words!” Bai Yanqing shouted.
“I don’t need to keep my word with people like you!” Han Yunxi shot back as she ran for her life. She had only been forcing him to make a move! With the item in hand, all that was left was to rely on Lil Thing!
“You’re courting death!” As expected, Bai Yanqing was incensed. He chased after her with sword drawn, but before he reached her, Han Yunxi swerved to meet his weapon face-on. In that instant, even Bai Yanqing heard Lil Thing’s angry roars from within the poison storage s.p.a.ce. He managed to alter the direction of his sword just in time to miss Han Yunxi’s stomach by millimeters.
So close!
Actually, Han Yunxi had long prepared to dodge. If Bai Yanqing hadn’t missed her on purpose, she would’ve skirted out of the way. She wasn’t stupid enough to really seek death just to prod Lil Thing into action. She could feel its anger and waited for her breakthrough to come. But nothing changed in her poison storage s.p.a.ce. Her mind was sharp and clear, while a breakthrough usually left her exhausted until she blacked out. It looked like none of that was happening right now!
For Han Yunxi, who had never lost a bet in her life, this only made her uneasy. Had she made the wrong gamble this time?
Bai Yanqing placed his sword against her neck. She was about to turn away when he used the back of the sword to smash against her head. Han Yunxi lost her footing and saw the world spinning around her before she lost consciousness.
At the same time, Long Feiye’s group had long stopped moving. The sword qi had vanished, leaving them at a loss for where to go. They looked at their surroundings with growing anxiety and fear mixed with anger, the expressions clearly written on their faces. Finally, Long Feiye took out Profound Frost Sword and slashed in front of him. The sword awn glowed rainbow as it sent cras.h.i.+ng waves of power before its strike. However, the woods around them remained still. Long Feiye slashed again, sending the ground shuddering with his power, but the forest still remained unmoved.
He refused to accept this! Slash after slash, he struck at the illusion until there was nothing but sword qi around them. If Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao didn’t have strong internal energy reserves of their own, they would have toppled over by now. In the end, Long Feiye stopped abruptly to spit up a mouthful of blood.
Alarmed, Gu Beiyue shouted at Gu Qishao, “The antidote, quickly!” He had lost his cool too, to forget that they’d poisoned Long Feiye in the first place!
For the sake of giving Han Yunxi a signal, Gu Qishao gave Long Feiye hypertoxic poison. If they didn’t treat him now, he would die! Gu Qishao had been thinking of nothing but Han Yunxi’s safety as well until now. He quickly took out the antidote. Meanwhile, Long Feiye had also lost his wits and forgotten he was poisoned at all.
He ate the pill and sat down cross-legged on the ground, his hands resting on his sword. After a while, he said, “I lost her.”
“Not you, but us,” Gu Qishao sat next to him, completely listless. This was the first time in his life he’d been so trapped. Besides sitting and waiting, there was nothing else they could do!
And how could Gu Beiyue be feeling any less than helpless? He had already walked all possible paths in all possible directions, but was blocked by the woods at every turn. In the end, he realized he’d been doing nothing but going in circles. He too, had lost the princess.
Long Feiye suddenly sprang to his feet and shouted, “Bai Yanqing, come out! If you want the Perplexing b.u.t.terfly Illusion, this crown prince will hand it over! Get out!”
“The Perplexing b.u.t.terfly Illusion’s in this crown prince’s hands! Come out! Target myself if you have anything! Why torment a woman?”
“Bai Yanqing, come out if you’re a man! COME OUT!”
No matter how Long Feiye screamed and cursed, there was no answer. None of them realized that Bai Yanqing had already given up on getting the Perplexing b.u.t.terfly Illusion after losing patience with Su Xiaoyu. Right now, he only had one goal in mind!
Abruptly, the forest around them vanished, reverting to the original surroundings. Everywhere was empty except for the thatched-roof cottage in the corner. This was still the Mu Estate’s rear courtyard.
The matrix formation had been broken. But where was Han Yunxi?
“Han Yunxi!” Long Feiye ran out of the courtyard and searched all over the Mu Estate. Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao silently split off to look as well. Bai Yanqing must have dispelled the maze himself, so he couldn’t have left too long ago!
Long Feiye and Gu Qishao were on the verge of going insane; fortunately, Gu Beiyue still held a shred of rationality left. He immediately ordered all the shadow guards to split up and seal the city gates while transferring forces from outside the city to split up and search the roads. One team was a.s.signed to recruit more helpers while another was in charge to searching the nearby regions around the city. He himself followed Long Feiye, afraid that he might cause some chaos. As expected, by the time he caught up to the man, Long Feiye had already killed all of the Mu Clan guards by the city’s western gates except for one man. He was gripping the last survivor by his neck and dangling him over the city gates.
With a face as cold as frost, he demanded, “Where’s Mu Yuanbo?”
Gu Beiyue exhaled in relief. He knew that Long Feiye still had some sanity left. Otherwise, he wouldn’t think of the Mu Clan so soon. While Bai Yanqing could escape them, the Li Clan’s Mu Family could not. Gu Beiyue only prayed they knew what Bai Yanqing was up to and had clues to his whereabouts.
Otherwise, he had no idea what a Long Feiye on the edge of sanity would do to them in retaliation.