Gu Qishao lowered his voice and asked Long Feiye, “Hey, have you ever been threatened like that before?”
How could Long Feiye ever answer him? He didn’t even answer normal questions, much less ones like these that were just asking for a spanking. He simply treated Gu Qishao as air.
“So you admit it tacitly?” Gu Qishao grinned.
It had to be said that Gu Qishao had ways of making Long Feiye talk. But instead of lowering his voice, Long Feiye simply warned in a frosty tone, “If you want to be castrated, this crown prince will help you after this is all over.”
Han Yunxi was still yelling at Bai Yanqing, so she didn’t hear, but Gu Beiyue caught every word and smiled helplessly. At a time like this, those two can still argue. Besides the princess, Gu Qishao’s probably the only person in the world who can irritate His Highness in two to three sentences.
Before Gu Qishao could reply, Han Yunxi suddenly exclaimed, “Careful, poison’s approaching!”
At the same time, a figure appeared outside the walls and soared into the air. With a flip, it unsheathed a sword and stabbed at their heads. All they could tell was that the attacker was male, wearing all black and a face mask. It was impossible to gauge his age.
The black-masked man had an insanely fast sword and used Celestial Mountain Sword Sect techniques. His battle prowess was impressive! He made no response when the group demanded his ident.i.ty.
Han Yunxi and Long Feiye immediately parted off in opposite directions, each unsheathing a sword. Gu Qishao and Gu Beiyue scattered as well with their weapons drawn. Judging from the high-level Celestial Mountain sword skills, this man might very well be Bai Yanqing himself! He was the only one capable of possessing such deep inner energy and expert sword techniques. Even if Duanmu Yao recovered her martial arts and dressed up as a man to fool them, she could never reach this level!
“Bai Yanqing, you’ve finally shown yourself!” Gu Qishao said icily.
The black-robed man remained silent. His sword seemed poised to stab the center of the spot where the quartet had stood when he suddenly executed a series of flips in mid-air to land on the side!
“What, too ashamed to show your face?” Long Feiye demanded coldly.
Gu Beiyue was a little doubtful. He kept his eyes on their surroundings despite guessing the attacker was Bai Yanqing, wary of anyone else.
“Attack him together!” Gu Qishao said while brandis.h.i.+ng the Moye sword spirit. But Han Yunxi stopped him.
“It’s a trap. He’s a Poison Corpse, not Bai Yanqing!”
Gu Qishao immediately withdrew to stand by Gu Beiyue, while Long Feiye drew closer to Han Yunxi and took her hand. Bai Yanqing’s Poison Corpse had such consummate sword skills. Just...just who was this man?
“Third Honored Elder…” Long Feiye muttered. Han Yunxi and the rest were stunned as they recalled the man.
In other words, Bai Yanqing used such a short time to change Third Honored Elder into a Poison Corpse to attack us?
“Abominable!” Han Yunxi was furious all over. If Third Honored Elder was already a Poison Corpse, that mean he was as good as dead. Now he was simply a puppet under Bai Yanqing’s control. There was no way to defeat a Poison Corpse beyond destroying its body. Third Honored Elder had helped them so much[1] but was kidnapped because of them. Now they couldn’t even promise him an intact corpse. How could their hearts take it?
Han Yunxi felt it was unbearable, much less Long Feiye, who had been taught by the elder since he was young. His sword had already taken on its owner’s rage to resonate with a clamor. Even...even the Ganjiang sword disguised on Gu Qishao’s back was beginning to tremble.
“Bai Yanqing, just what do you want to do? What enmity does my East and West Qin have with your Wind Clan? Speak!” Long Feiye said coldly.
“Hahahahaha!” Wild laughter broke around them from Bai Yanqing, but it seemed to come from all directions, making it hard to pinpoint his hiding spot. At this, the black-robed man took off his mask, revealing himself to be none other than Third Honored Elder!
“Bai Yanqing, why aren’t you coming out?! Have you already been castrated? Haha, it couldn’t have been Mu Xin who did it, right?” Gu Qishao shouted.
But Bai Yanqing was unaffected by their goading. He laughed as before, the sound resounding all around them. Han Yunxi had already shut her eyes to sense for Lil Thing’s presence. If they were close enough, she could definitely find its location.
Third Honored Elder’s gaze was flat like a walking corpse. He suddenly charged towards them. Gu Qishao and Gu Beiyue quickly got out of the way. As Celestial Mountain Sword Sect’s Third Honored Elder, they had to wait until Long Feiye gave the go to kill him. Reluctance shone in Long Feiye’s eyes, but he didn’t hesitate.
“Gu Qishao, I’ll leave it to you!” he said frostily.
Most likely, Third Honored Elder wouldn’t want to cause infighting amongst them either. Gu Qishao immediately acted and soon had vines springing up from beneath Third Honored Elder’s feet. They wrapped around his ankles, but it wasn’t so easy to tie down an expert. The corpse cut off the vines and took to the air with more flying up after him. They surrounded him on all sides, but Third Honored Elder’s sword quickly sliced them apart while pa.s.sing Gu Qishao to attack Long Feiye.
Long Feiye didn’t move, but he did tell Han Yunxi in a low voice, “Yunxi, go ahead and use poison.”
Poison Corpses weren’t immune to all toxins, only most of them. It would be very simple for Han Yunxi to destroy it with one of her own. However, she was currently lost in her own world and didn’t hear Long Feiye’s words.
Gu Qishao immediately used the Moye sword spirit to block Third Honored Elder’s sword, then tried poisons of his own. Unfortunately, they weren’t enough to defeat the corpse. Bai Yanqing’s personally cultivated Poison Corpse wasn’t something Gu Qishao’s level could destroy. Of course, an undying man like Gu Qishao could definitely be the victor of their fight by the end!
However, he wouldn’t reveal his hand like that unless it was an absolute last resort. Not only did he want to hide this secret from Han Yunxi, there was also the fact that Bai Yanqing hadn’t shown himself yet. He couldn’t reveal his ace so soon.
Gu Beiyue didn’t know poisons and kept a healthy distance away, only helping from the sidelines with his flying daggers. All of them hit fatal spots, but the Poison Corpse felt no pain. Gu Qishao alternated between fighting Third Honored Elder with the Moye sword spirit and turning back to tell Long Feiye, “Long Feiye, how about you personally send your family’s Honored Elder off!”
Long Feiye couldn’t bother with waiting for Han Yunxi and had just raised his sword when she stopped him and muttered, “Right in the cottage! I felt Lil Thing there!”
Long Feiye’s movements didn’t stop, but his sword did make an arc in the direction of the thatched roof cottage. Seeing this, Gu Beiyue raced to the cottage’s right side while Gu Qishao dodged Third Honored Elder to run for its left. The three men formed a triangle formation to surround the building while Han Yunxi shot a poisoned needle at the Poison Corpse. It was not only a powerful blow, but also poisonous, and hit Third Honored Elder in his stomach. Whatever poison she used was similar to the one Bai Yanqing had used on the white tigers.
As soon as the needle touched his stomach, Third Honored Elder melted into a puddle of b.l.o.o.d.y water! That was the quickest way to get rid of him--or rather, Poison Corpses! Since Third Honored Elder had been long dead, this was nothing more than a poisonous dead body now. Han Yunxi had no time to feel sad as she turned around. She was certain that Bai Yanqing was inside the thatched cottage surrounded by three men. Amongst them, Long Feiye had the best sword skills, Gu Beiyue the quickest speeds, and Gu Qishao some formidable vines that made an impenetrable defense. Even if the three of them couldn’t kill Bai Yanqing, they had ways to trap him here until he died.
Of course, none of their poison skills could compare to the man, which was why she was in charge of that. They had all made arrangements before their trip here. If possible, she wanted to get closer to Bai Yanqing and sense more of Lil Thing. Perhaps it would give her the breakthrough to rise in levels. As long as she reached rank three in the poison storage s.p.a.ce, Bai Yanqing would no longer be able to imprison Lil Thing. Then all she’d need to do was take Lil Thing’s blood from its toxic fangs and a single drop of blood from Bai Yanqing’s body to finish the Perplexing b.u.t.terfly Illusion supplement. After that, they’d be able to destroy Bai Yanqing’s undying body.
They had been waiting for this chance for ages!
Rather than waiting and hiding from Bai Yanqing for days, it was better to face him in a full-on fight and see just what he was planning. Han Yunxi turned around completely, only to freeze.
How…
How could it be this?
All she did was shoot one poisoned needle into Third Honored Elder’s abdomen, which took but an instant, so why…
Stunned, her mind turned blank as she stared at the scene before her in disbelief. Could someone tell her what was going on?
Long Feiye and the others had clearly been by her side, less than ten paces away. But now she saw nothing but a grove of dark, dense forest! Neither Long Feiye, Gu Beiyue, nor Gu Qishao were around, much less that thatched-roof cottage. Han Yunxi desperately looked around her, only to discovered she was surrounded by forest on all sides. She seemed to be standing in its sole clearing in the center.
How can this be?
“Long Feiye!” she shouted.
No one answered. There wasn’t even an echo!
“Long Feiye! Gu Beiyue...Gu Qishao! Where are you guys? Can you hear me?”
“Answer me, will you?”
“Long Feiye…”
Suddenly, she stopped. Instead of calling for the others, she fumed, “Bai Yanqing! Get out this instant! Just what are you doing? Come out!”
She must have fallen into his Qimen Dunjia labyrinth, or else she’d never end up in such an abnormal place. Of all the precautions they took, why did they forget this one little detail? Bai Yanqing was the head of the Wind Clan with exquisite matrix-weaving skills. Such skills weren’t restricted to use on the battlefields!
Additionally, this skill was their greatest weak point. Back at Lost Void Lake, it was the dispersion of the mists that had given her a chance to find her way out with Long Feiye by using poisons. Otherwise, neither of them would have managed a successful rescue.
What a Bai Yanqing. This is why he never showed his face. He’d long set this matrix in place so we could walk right in! The four of us should have stuck together!
Angry and regretful, Han Yunxi was ready to kill someone, but she forced herself to calm down. Bai Yanqing had set down this maze just to separate them and deal with them one by one! How could Long Feiye or any of the others deal with Bai Yanqing’s poisons? Han Yunxi was almost mad with worry as she clenched her fists and ordered herself to stay calm. Long Feiye and the rest should be trapped in the same matrix as her. Although she was stuck here, her detox system was working normally. The rear courtyard of the Mu compound was only so big. As long as Bai Yanqing used poison, she would definitely sense it!
She had to be calmer than calm and focus on the detox system.
Her theory soon proved to be right as the system picked up on poison victims nearby. However, they were scattered between her right and left.
1. I a.s.sume they mean in conjunction with the other Honored Elders while LFY was injured and such, because I can’t recall any deeds he did specifically.