Since their enemy was sending them poisons from the pathway, it was clear that Cang Qiuzi and Duanmu Yao had already escaped. The poison mists were only a way to keep them in check. If this was just some simple poison, Han Yunxi would have the confidence to face it with her detox system and poison storage s.p.a.ce. But she still had to deal with the matrix pathways changing formation on top of that while detoxifying the poisons, finding them a guide, and leading them out of the matrix. If there was a middleman interfering in any of her steps, she and Long Feiye could be trapped in the matrix indefinitely.
This was a bigger risk now that they had Grand Concubine Yi to protect as well. Truthfully speaking, the maze pathway was their biggest weak point. Thus, Han Yunxi had to be extra prudent before she made any moves.
“I’ll play along with them first and probe them out,” she said at last. Long Feiye nodded, filled with complete faith in her.
Han Yunxi first dispelled the other side’s poison, then picked a new strain of toxin bred from the poison pond in her storage s.p.a.ce that could be scattered into the mists. It was called the Thousand Illusions. Anyone caught in the poison would fall prey to a thousand different terrifying hallucinations and scare themselves to death. Since Thousand Illusions was a new poison, Han Yunxi had only developed its antidote recently. She wanted to see how the other side would deal with this.
The results gave her scare. It took less time needed to brew a cup of tea for their opponent to dispel Thousand Illusions! Naturally, it wasn’t only the creator of a poison that was capable of crafting its antidote, but that took time. Some people could spend a decade without ever cracking a case! But their opponent had done it so swiftly, a testament to their fierce skills!
Han Yunxi couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d take without the help of the detox system. Admittedly, she wouldn’t take long either, but she certainly wouldn’t be this quick! She knew their opponent had better skills than Jun Yixie, but never expected them at this level! What kind of deity were they dealing with now?
Eyes wide, she turned to Long Feiye, who only looked lost. “What is it?”
Instead of replying, Han Yunxi kept trying out more new poisons from the poison pond. But like before, all of them were dispelled within the time it took to brew a cup of tea. She stopped and fell into deep thought. Finally, she took out a poison called Bone Eclipse. It was the very same toxin that Han Yunxi had used on Jun Yixie’s shoulder, and the one he couldn’t cure himself. If their opponent was Jun Yixie’s master, then he would be stuck on Bone Eclipse as well. Otherwise, Jun Yixie’s shoulder should have long recovered by now.
That wasn’t the case when she saw him last at Medicine City.
Fortunately, Bone Eclipse could be dispersed through mist as well. Han Yunxi had only created one dose of antidote for the poison but tossed it away. Now she had to make sure she didn’t poison herself, so she checked that the detox system still had enough ingredients to make another counter. The lucky Han Yunxi created a fresh antidote to match her poison before releasing it into the wild.
Enough time to brew a cup of tea pa.s.sed….
The poison was still there, but Han Yunxi knew she hadn’t won yet. She waited quietly for the results. Compared to the others, Bone Eclipse was a far more difficult toxin. Long Feiye had no idea what was going on, but her serious expression was enough to keep him from disturbing her. He simply waited quietly on the side.
In the end, Han Yunxi ended up waiting for an entire hour, but her enemy still didn’t break through the poison. After some hesitation, she explained the entire situation to Long Feiye. “Maybe we can figure out a way to get out of the matrix pathway.”
“Wait a bit longer,” Long Feiye was still prudent. Han Yunxi nodded. Unfortunately, after another hour, an unlucky thing happened.
Their enemy dispelled Bone Eclipse!
It only took them two hours to craft their own antidote from scratch. Could it be that this wasn’t Jun Yixie’s master? Once again, Han Yunxi glanced towards Long Feiye, her eyes wide with disbelief. Last time they’d met Jun Yixie in Medicine City, when the man was still poisoned. In other words, if Jun Yixie’s master had only solved his poison recently, he could have taken out the antidote in a second instead of spending so long to crack it!
“Perhaps someone not from the Hundred Poisons Sect?” Long Feiye asked doubtfully.
Han Yunxi nodded. “If it’s not Jun Yixie’s master, who else could it be?”
Both Han Yunxi and Long Feiye couldn’t help but think of the same answer. “An orphan of the original Poison Sect?” Han Yunxi guessed.
Besides members of the Poison or Hundred Poisons Sects, who else in this day and age had such terrifying poison skills.
“Say, Long Feiye…do you think my father’s still alive? Just how many descendents of the Poison Sect still exist? Where could they be hiding?” Han Yunxi asked nervously.
Lady Tianxin’s death had been too suspicious. She couldn’t help but suspect foul play!
Long Feiye had sent his share of men to investigate the matter, but there were no other clues besides the ones provided by Lady Lianxin in the past. It was even harder than the Hundred Poisons Sect to track down the Poison Sect. He turned to look at the lake as if wanting to speak, but Han Yunxi suddenly fumed, “I don’t believe such heresy!”
No matter what, they had to leave Lost Void Lake. That meant going through the pathway was the only solution. I have to win! Han Yunxi told herself. She continued to send out poisons.
Long Feiye privately mused that it wasn’t a bad idea to test their opponent more. Meanwhile, Cang Qiuzi had easily escaped the pathway since he was familiar with the Qimen Dunjia formations. However, he had no idea that he and Duanmu Yao had narrowly escaped being poisoned, or that someone else had dispelled the toxins in the first place.
After fleeing for a bit, he finally set Duanmu Yao down when he was certain Long Feiye and Han Yunxi weren’t giving chase. By now the girl was practically out of breath. If he didn’t rescue Duanmu Yao now, saving her would all be for naught. Duanmu Yao held on just long enough to see Cang Qiuzi feed her a pill and stop her bleeding with bandages. Once she recovered a bit, her mind calmed down. She quickly moved to circulate her internal energy, only to realize that there wasn’t a single drop remaining.
How could this…
“No…” her aged face grew even more horrific when etched with her fear. “This…it’s not possible…”
Once again, she tried to circulate her qi, but there was no reaction.
“My dantian…my martial arts…” She stared at Cang Qiuzi in disbelief, but he only smiled at her coldly.
“It’s already good enough that you escaped with your life intact. What else do you want? Yao Yao, you’ll have to thank your martial uncle thoroughly this time!”
“You…you did this on purpose!” Finally, Duanmu Yao grew some intelligence. She was filled with indignation, but lacked the strength to retaliate.
Cang Qiuzi laughed coldly. “Yao Yao, from now on, you’ll have to help martial uncle take good care of Li Jianxin,1 ah!”
Li Jianxin was none other than the master of Celestial Mountain Sword Sect’s real name. Everyone on the peak hailed him as master, while outsiders simply called him the sword sect elder. Cang Qiuzi only dared to use his full name behind his back. He had come with Duanmu Yao for a chance to kill Long Feiye and Han Yunxi, but the situation made him change his mind. He not only wanted to kill that couple, but use Long Feiye’s hand to injure Duanmu Yao as well.
He thus changed the original plan and acted according to his discretion, waiting to rescue Duanmu Yao only after Long Feiye stabbed her in the gut. With Duanmu Yao permanently crippled, the girl would have no choice but to rely on him. In the past, she relied on the love of her sect members backing her to haggle with him. He even had to suffer losses in the face of the Tang Clan incident. Now that she was crippled, she had no right to talk terms with him anymore.
“You’re despicable!” Duanmu Yao raged.
Cang Qiuzi only stood up with a cold tone. “Yao Yao, your martial uncle risked his life to save you, but you repay kindness with enmity. Then I might as well live up to my ‘despicable’ name…” As he finished, he turned to leave.
Now he was simply abandoning her to the wild! Wouldn’t she die from her injuries in a place like this? Furious and aggrieved, Duanmu Yao never expected this day to come. Although she wasn’t willing, she faced nothing but death unless she begged Cang Qiuzi for help. Very soon, she was yelling after him. “Marital uncle, Yao Yao was wrong! As long as martial uncle takes Yao Yao back to Celestial Mountain, Yao Yao will listen to anything you say.”
She could only endure until she returned. Master would definitely find a way to save her and recover her martial arts. Cang Qiuzi finally doubled back. Instead of pulling her to her feet, he asked coldly, “Besides the people from the City of Daughters, what other supporters do you have?”
“None,” Duanmu Yao admitted.
“Then who threw that rock at the end?” Cang Qiuzi couldn’t figure it out. Anyone who could throw so accurately from such a distance had be to formidable. Moreover, they must have been familiar enough with the Qimen Dunjia to remain hidden while rescuing them both. But neither he nor Duanmu Yao had seen anyone after exiting the matrix.
“I don’t know either,” Duanmu Yao had nearly died back there, so she didn’t have time to consider the question at all. Now it remained a mystery.
“Could it be a helper invited by Lady Leng Yue?” she guessed.
“They’re not a simple opponent. Ask Lady Leng Yue another time,” Cang Qiuzi instructed. He had to figure out who that person was. They would definitely be a huge hindrance in the martial arts circles!
Duanmu Yao agreed before Cang Qiuzi helped her to her feet. His hand cirlced around her waist before a boorish grin rose to his lips.
“Martial uncle!” Duanmu Yao’s voice was choked with sobs, but she couldn’t push him away. She knew Cang Qiuzi was an extremely l.u.s.tful man. “Martial uncle, we can…have a good talk over anything we need to discuss, can’t we?” Duanmu Yao pleaded.
Cang Qiuzi didn’t release her, but tightened his grip instead. “Tell martial uncle how you served your master in the past?”
“I never did!” Duanmu Yao grew furious. Although master doted on her, it was always like a father to his daughter. Their relations.h.i.+p was pure and spotless.
“Never?” Cang Qiuzi didn’t believe it.
“Don’t you know better than anyone else what kind of man master is?” Duanmu Yao asked.
“Heheh, then that’s even better. From now on, you’ll only serve your martial uncle alone,” Cang Qiuzi laughed out loud. “Your face is already like this, but your body, ah, is something marital uncle still quite likes.”
Distress filled her features as Duanmu Yao felt her nose sting from the onset of tears. She almost broken down as she shoved at him, but Cang Qiuzi only said coldly, “Do you believe me when I say I’ll leave you to die at the foot of Celestial Mountain?”
Duanmu Yao grew too frightened to resist after that. She allowed Cang Qiuzi to hold her as he pleased as his dirty fingers roved over her body. Helpless, she could only cry and wish that it was senior brother touching her like this, not this man!
Senior brother, save Yao Yao…please save Yao Yao! She cried out in her heart, but Long Feiye couldn’t hear her. Even if he did, he wouldn’t save her now.
Currently, Long Feiye was with Han Yunxi and facing off against an extremely fierce foe! That person was none other than…
1. Li Jianxin (李剑心) – Li is a surname that means “plum tree,” Jianxin is literally “sword heart.”