If they left this territory and then pursued into Yi Kingdom, the difficulty would multiply exponentially.

After crossing this plain, at the border between Emerald and Yi Kingdom, there was Sky Crack Canyon with giant waterfalls and winding mountain paths where people could be intercepted.

So now all nearby border troops were mobilized, determined to rescue the person at the border.

Brocade Robes drifted casually ahead.

He had already received word from home that he could prepare to return, so after helping Gong Yin handle matters, he headed back from Emerald territory. Unexpectedly, when passing through Emerald’s royal city, he caught that soul-stirring aroma.

Heaven knew he was still outside the palace city, half a city away—how he smelled it was beyond explanation, but he just did. Because it was so familiar, his first reaction was: they didn’t watch Little Cake properly, and Little Cake escaped again!

Cake was a unique thing in this world. Little Cake had said ordinary people couldn’t make it even with the recipe, so without a word he followed the scent, finally discovering it wasn’t Little Cake, but the cake itself held indescribable attraction for him. He might not notice if he couldn’t smell it, but having smelled it without being able to eat it, he felt he would surely die, so he simply captured that little chef too.

He saw the distant bonfire jumping conspicuously in the wilderness.

But he didn’t plan to approach, because that direction didn’t match his intended route.

He knew that not far ahead, beyond the plain, there would be canyons and waterfalls. The people behind were driving him toward there, and he also wanted to go there—bringing someone to hide in the canyon would be perfect for cooking.

Just before approaching that bonfire, he turned sharply away, departing at a distance.

…

Jing Hengbo finished vomiting and rested for a while, feeling much better. Her body was still somewhat stiff and numb, making movement difficult, but the stiffness was gradually loosening, indicating the poison wasn’t severe and would resolve without antidote.

In about an hour or two, she could move freely.

She relaxed—this way the Yi Kingdom people outside would also be fine. Best of all, these people could still provide her with cover.

She just didn’t know what that person’s background was, what he came to do. Appearing mysteriously without killing anyone before leaving—what was his real purpose?

Jing Hengbo intuitively felt he was looking for someone, and very likely looking for her and Gong Yin.

She suspected this person was the one who had left those imitation clothes in the palace hall to provoke her, and was also the one who had been working against her around the time of Di Ge’s upheaval.

Who was he?

Today she hadn’t been able to see his true face, only sensing he was young and male.

Jing Hengbo regretted that both she and Gong Yin were injured and ill, only able to preserve themselves. Otherwise today would have been an opportunity to uncover that person’s true identity.

She turned her head, wanting to discuss this matter with Gong Yin, but turning saw him sleeping deeply with closed eyes.

Gong Yin had only just awakened today before encountering this ordeal. Now his strength was finally exhausted. Jing Hengbo tenderly smoothed his disheveled hair, thinking his injuries should heal quickly—please don’t leave any aftereffects, so this old lady could abandon him without psychological burden.

Regarding his “deviation into madness” this time, based on her understanding of his inner energy situation, it was possible. With an extremely cold constitution practicing yang-type inner energy, deviation was indeed very easy—this was common knowledge. But she still felt uneasy, always feeling that with the great god’s abilities, if he chose to practice this way, he should have methods to control it. How could it collapse like this?

Also, what kind of crisis forced him to risk practicing dual-system inner energy? She could see he had an extremely urgent desire to become “powerful.” So what reason forced him to become powerful? Even forced him to push her to become powerful too?

Still that same thought—she absolutely didn’t believe Di Ge’s people deserved such treatment from him.

She gently smoothed his slightly furrowed brow, thinking this stuffy guy would definitely never give her answers. The wise queen could only explore on her own.

Gong Yin’s body automatically rested, but his consciousness still lingered. Drowsily, he reached out to grasp her hand and pointed toward the cart door.

“Mm?” Jing Hengbo looked at him puzzledly.

Gong Yin pushed her hand toward the cart door again.

Jing Hengbo looked at the cart door, suddenly feeling Gong Yin meant to leave first?

He still felt unsafe?

Jing Hengbo knew she should follow his meaning—his experience was always richer than hers. But those Yi Kingdom people’s poison hadn’t resolved yet, she wasn’t good at driving carts, and feared unfamiliar roads. Driving randomly might lead them astray, and then without food, drink, or medicine, she didn’t matter, but Gong Yin’s body was important.

After thinking, she decided not to leave, but checked the cart all around, moved some food up, went to another large cart behind to find ropes, flint, and other necessities, then firmly tied Gong Yin to the seat board.

She had decided: if nothing happened, she’d untie him; if something happened, don’t get out of the cart—carts ran faster than her. She’d drive the cart and run, tying Gong Yin was to secure him and prevent injury.

Having done all this, she was also half-dead from exhaustion. She got out to check on that group’s condition—if they were better, they’d leave quickly.

Suddenly she heard fine crackling sounds, like something being crushed on the ground. She turned back to see patches of ice crystals.

A person suddenly rolled out from behind a tree, covered in frost. As he rolled, the frost flowers continuously shattered, making hissing sounds.

She recognized this was the person who had poisoned them earlier!

He had drunk Gong Yin’s blood and it finally took effect?

But hadn’t he left? Why did he suddenly return? Having an episode near her?

After thinking, she suddenly understood with an “oh”—this guy must have walked halfway, felt something was wrong, planned to return and silence them, just got back here when the poison struck.

Gong Yin’s intuition was good. This guy would indeed return, though he worried too much. The guy did return, but didn’t he collapse?

Delivering himself to their door—quite good.

Jing Hengbo vigilantly didn’t approach immediately, observing from afar. Those frost crystals appearing and melting did belong to the great god’s Prajna Snow abilities. As far as she knew, no second person in the world possessed this.

Frozen like this with faint blue light, the opponent definitely lost mobility.

Jing Hengbo’s heart began itching.

She really wanted to know who this person was.

This person very likely related to her past grievances and future journey. Knowing who he was would answer many questions, eliminate many difficulties, and reduce many obstacles on the future path.

Enormous temptation.

Before deciding, she had already walked over, originally wanting to use telekinesis to remove his facial mask from afar, but with her stiffness unresolved, she could only do it herself.

Her finger touched the mask—pulled!

She remained fully alert, but that person showed no movement, lying like a corpse, barely breathing.

Under the mask was a strange face. She paused, suddenly remembering Gong Yin’s three-layer masks, and sure enough quickly found an opening behind the ear, reaching to pull again.

Having had no movement before, she relaxed slightly now, leaning half her body over.

Just then she heard Gong Yin shout: “Peony!”

She startled, instinctively pulling back her hand. At this moment, she saw the person beneath suddenly open his eyes with a sinister smile.

She desperately retreated!

But crystalline light flashed! Like fierce lightning stabbing eyes, aimed straight at her heart.

Blade light!

Fortunately that shout made her rigidly fall backward. The blade light barely grazed past her heart, scraping a spray of blood from her shoulder!

Jing Hengbo didn’t stop, using her last bit of strength to teleport.

Blood floated like ribbons in mid-air.

The next instant she crashed onto the cart roof with a bang! Then slid down from the roof, landing face-first against the horse’s rear, back toward the horse’s head.

The horse startled, rearing and neighing, then began galloping wildly.

She had no time to think, clinging to the horse’s rear and shouting: “Chrysanthemum! Don’t get up if you don’t want me dead!”

In her shouts, the whip in her hand had already lashed hard on the horse’s rear.

The cart roared forward. Her position was wrong—unable to adjust during the wild gallop, fearing being thrown off, she could only lie low, desperately gripping the horse’s rear.

She faced the cart door. She had secured the door earlier, and the cart itself was fairly sturdy. She silently congratulated her foresight in securing Gong Yin, otherwise with the cart’s sudden violent departure, if the door burst open, he might slide out and be crushed by wheels.

No sound from inside—she didn’t know his condition.

But the situation wasn’t good now, because that person had already risen from the ground and was pursuing.

In the night his figure swayed like wind-blown grass, flashing three zhang at a time—where was any sign of severe poisoning and injury?

Jing Hengbo’s heart filled with great hatred. Since leaving Di Ge, she’d never been fooled like this!

Why hadn’t he been poisoned? Had he not drunk that wine at all?

No time to think properly now. She tightly gripped the horse’s rear, her own rear being numbed by the bouncing horse head. The horse’s rear, being desperately gripped by her, ran even more violently from pain. This was a two-horse cart. Jing Hengbo wanted to move to the other horse, but with her body still stiff, just gripping the horse’s rear was difficult enough.

Her shoulder wound continuously widened during such violent movement, blood streaming endlessly like a floating ribbon behind her. But she felt no pain now—her face and whole body were numb, poisoned numbness and frozen numbness. She stared at the opposite carriage, fearing the door would shake open, fearing to see Gong Yin roll out. Being tied up helped secure him but also removed his freedom of movement—if things went wrong, it could cause disaster.

That person floated along, whether deliberately toying or somewhat affected by poison, he neither quickly caught up nor fell behind, just hanging not far behind the cart. This forced her to drive the horses wildly through the night wilderness, in unfamiliar territory, completely unable to distinguish or recognize directions.

In this tense moment, she suddenly remembered her first meeting with Gong Yin—there had also been a cart and galloping horse, with him alone inside the carriage while she fell rear-first onto the horse, having been driven away by him. Two years later the scene repeated—she wondered what this foretold.

Could it be starting from which scene, ending at which scene…

Thinking this, she shivered and quickly shook off the thought. She suddenly discovered she seemed to be changing again. At Di Ge she was fearless like a newborn calf; leaving Di Ge she was filled with tragic anger but unbroken spirit; now she had many more worries and anxieties. The further forward, the greater her power, the heavier her thoughts.

At this moment she somewhat understood Gong Yin’s mentality. In high position with mountain-like burdens, every step forward left heavy footprints—where was room for the slightest carelessness?

The wheels suddenly hit a rock. The right wheel made a heart-stopping grinding sound, the entire cart body shaking violently. She was so nervous her heartbeat seemed to stop, fearing the next moment to hear a human body crashing against cart walls.

How was Gong Yin?

Inside the cart, Gong Yin had already awakened when Jing Hengbo got out earlier.

His thoughts were drawn by Jing Hengbo. Even sleeping he worried about her. Waking to find himself tied to the seat board, he half-sat up to watch the window, just seeing Jing Hengbo lean down to tear that person’s mask while that person’s shoulder moved almost imperceptibly.

Without thinking, a shout burst out.

Then came a bang, the cart roof shaking violently. That heavy impact nearly shattered his heart, fearing Jing Hengbo had broken some bone in that collision.

The cart then began running madly. He didn’t try to open the door to immediately rescue Jing Hengbo. Once the door opened, Jing Hengbo’s attention would shift, and with his own weakened strength, if he couldn’t catch her she’d fall and be crushed to death.

He first carefully observed the outside terrain through the cart window. When he’d awakened earlier, he’d already surveyed the surroundings. As State Preceptor holding great power, he knew all terrain of the Great Wilderness’s six nations and eight tribes. He deduced this was probably Jade Plain at the Emerald-Yi Kingdom border. Further ahead lay Sky Crack Canyon, Yi Mountain Waterfall, and Yi Mountain belonging to Yi Kingdom.

Then he discovered the cart wasn’t running randomly, but being driven intentionally or unintentionally by that person hanging behind toward the canyon direction.

What that person intended to do became clear to him.

Yes, killing people left too many traces and was easily investigated. Driving a cart into a canyon to let people fall to their deaths was a good method.

After one glance he turned back, struggling to reach ropes under the seat. The cart swayed constantly, ropes slid to the carriage edge, very difficult to reach. His wrists were scraped raw by ropes, but he didn’t look for weapons to cut them.

With Jing Hengbo’s personality, limited in ability but like a mother hen protecting chicks, she liked protecting everyone. Now she thought he was secured and safe in the carriage. If he untied the ropes and made noise bumping around, she’d become tense and worried. Already in mortal danger herself, if she became distracted worrying about him, even without problems it would be difficult.

With great effort he got the rope bundle to hand, feeling behind his neck under his hair for a thin blade.

He still had several hidden weapons that wouldn’t be discovered no matter how often clothes were changed.

The blade cut the rope bundle into sections of several zhang each. One end of this bundle was tied to an iron hook—martial artists traveling needed rope and chained iron hooks for climbing mountains, essential equipment. But one iron hook wasn’t enough.

The cart’s four corners were reinforced with iron edges. He chose the parts nearest him to pry off. The bottom end of a fixed table was also iron—he pried that too.

The blade cut iron like mud. After prying off those iron pieces, he pressed them together, forming hooks.

This required using true power. He always maintained one stream of true power to preserve his vital essence, only usable in life-or-death situations. He was still in recovery—using inner energy would affect healing, but now he didn’t hesitate. His fingers and palms covered with ice and snow, iron hooks gradually took shape, then tied to rope ends.

Manufacturing like this, he assembled four hooks. Due to insufficient iron, the last one only had three claws.

He was drenched in sweat, face pale—now he truly barely had strength left to untie ropes.

The ropes were very sturdy, soaked in tung oil and mixed with iron wire. He hoped they could support the cart’s weight.

“Bang.” Another crash, the cart’s bottom opened a hole. He took the opportunity to throw the cart’s original miscellaneous heavy items through that hole, trying to reduce the cart’s weight as much as possible.

Things rolled to the ground, looking like they’d leaked out.

He rested briefly, opened the cart door latch but first braced it with a stick tied with rope.

Outside, Jing Hengbo didn’t know that during such wild bouncing, he had quickly accomplished so much. She only felt vaguely uneasy, struggling to look back in the darkness, only seeing the heavy horizon. Beyond that horizon seemed to be towering shadows, still distant, but in the fierce wind, earth-shaking sounds seemed to come.

The horses beneath couldn’t be reined in—both horses had gone mad, charging straight forward as if rushing into infinite dark hell.

That shadow still existed, swaying like dance. She seemed to see the corner of his mouth—a mocking yet cruel smile.

The satisfied smile of achieving one’s goal.

That earth-shaking sound grew closer.

Her uneasy premonition intensified.

What was that thing?

Suddenly a phrase flashed through her mind.

“…Past Jade Plain are Sky Crack Canyon and Yi Mountain Waterfall…”

Waterfall!

That earth-shaking rumbling was the sound of a massive waterfall!

Opposite the waterfall was the canyon…

Canyon!

Her whole body went cold.

Looking up again at that swaying shadow, it seemed like a lurking specter waiting to extend guilty hands, pushing her and Gong Yin into the ten-thousand-zhang abyss.

Water sounds like thunder rang beside her ears.

Looking back again, she saw a break line appearing ahead!

In this instant she had no time to think.

Drew her blade, slashed!

Cut the connecting rope between horses and cart—if someone had to fall, let her fall!

A cold light flashed, striking away her blade with tremendous force. Her tiger’s mouth split, fresh blood flowing.

She angrily looked up to see that shadow hanging high and distant at the moon’s edge. A crack in his mask seemed to mock.

She suddenly released her grip, jumped up, and lunged straight at that shadow.

Since you won’t let me cut the rope, I’ll kill you first, then cut it—still time.

Wheels rumbled over gravel—only five zhang left.

A figure flashed, full-power teleportation. The next instant she was at that person’s position, her blade already returned to hand, stabbing without hesitation.

But stabbed empty air.

That person was already gone.

Then her back hurt, mouth opened, spitting stagnant blood.

A figure coldly laughed while flipping away from behind her.

The cart galloped forward with unstoppable momentum, only three zhang from the canyon.

The opposite waterfall was like white silk, reflecting this moment’s moonlight, cold for ten thousand zhang.

Her backward-flying figure was like a broken kite, about to fall into the ten-thousand-zhang canyon before the cart.

Suddenly the cart door banged open, a stick extended toward her hands.

The mid-air figure’s eyes flashed, full of expectation—you finally acted!

Sleeves fluttered, “crack”—the stick broke, still one chi from Jing Hengbo’s hands.

But rope suddenly flew out from the stick, lightning-fast toward Jing Hengbo.

Jing Hengbo reached out, already grasping the rope, quickly winding it around her wrist.

This move, the mid-air figure hadn’t expected. His eyes showed surprise and indignation, then he sneered coldly.

So what if you anticipated the enemy?

The cliff is half a zhang behind you!

Jing Hengbo gripped the rope, just wanting to pull out Gong Yin when she felt one foot step into emptiness.

She was already at the canyon’s edge!

In this instant with no time to think, she actually looked up, facing the cart crashing toward her, both hands lunging out.

She actually wanted to use her own body to forcibly stop the cart!

Inner energy in her body surged for the first time like this. Bright Moon inner energy pierced through her dantian, passed Bright Hall and Heavy Tower, rushing upward violently. In an instant she seemed to hear sounds of breaking through levels.

Hazy radiance surrounded her body. Something inside seemed scattered, but she didn’t know, couldn’t care.

Two fierce neighs—both horses leaped past her sides, plunging into the canyon.

Simultaneously “snap”—the rope between horses and cart broke, the cart body lurching.

“Bang.” Her hand and half shoulder collided with the open cart door first. Crack—the door shattered, flying into the valley.

Her entire arm immediately went numb, palms burning with pain. Her heart instantly sank to the valley bottom, knowing her pitiful true power could never stop the cart.

Now she greatly regretted tying Gong Yin to his position, limiting his freedom. Otherwise he could rush out now.

Unable to save him, they’d die together!

She lunged toward the cart body, wanting to pass through the missing door into the carriage.

Her waist suddenly tightened—she was yanked up, swinging a semicircle in the air. Watching the carriage slide over her head, rumbling and crashing all the way down toward the canyon below.

The crash of those two horses hitting bottom only now arose.

She hung backward in the air, watching the huge shadow slide past overhead like the sky instantly crashing down.

Tears welled in her eyes.

This moment’s agonizing grief—she only wished to fall and die immediately.

But her body pulled upward, and simultaneously she felt her ankle seem to tighten, but in extreme pain and despair she didn’t notice, all attention above.

She swung a circle in mid-air—before her was the cliff wall.

Survival instinct made her unconsciously grab the cliff wall, hanging at the cliff’s edge.

Below came a thunderous crash, a column of smoke shooting straight up. She felt her heart seemed shattered by that sound, spitting a mouthful of fresh blood.

Blood splashed on blue cliffs, hideously vivid.

Gong Yin! Gong Yin!

Regret and anguish now were like angry sea waves, drowning her wave by wave. Her whole body trembled, pain everywhere, wanting only to release her grip and plunge down, to be buried with him at the cliff’s bottom.

But she hugged the cliff wall tighter, slowly raising her head.

She knew since that person had pulled her up at the last moment, he must still want to put on a show.

How could she not take this opportunity to see the enemy clearly?

Even if she died the next moment, she had to clarify the enemy first. She’d already transmigrated once—maybe she’d get dog-shit luck and be reborn for revenge.

At the cliff edge, a pair of black boot tips slowly appeared.

Jing Hengbo spat bloody saliva at those boot tips, laughing twice.

She was actually laughing now, naturally arousing that person’s curiosity. He slowly lowered his face.

Jing Hengbo was too lazy to look at his face—it wasn’t real anyway. She struggled to reach out, eyes confused, murmuring: “Save me… save me…”

She was covered in dust, shoulder bloody, lips stained with blood, looking like she was at the end of her rope, half-unconscious, driven only by a thread of survival desire, earnestly pleading for aid.

That person’s black figure seemed to merge with the cliff body, unmovable as a mountain.

He silently watched her for a long time, asking: “How do you feel?”

Voice hoarse, completely strange.

She shook her head in confusion, only stubbornly reaching forward for his boot tips.

“Don’t think I’m going to save you,” he avoided her fingers, saying lightly. “I just want you to watch with your own eyes as the one you love dies before you. Want you to taste this wonderful flavor, so you’ll remember even in hell. Then I’ll fulfill your wish—let you die together with him.” He smiled soundlessly: “Remember who I am. Next life you can come back for revenge. I am Sang Tianxi, son of Sang Tong whom you killed.”

“I… I…” She gasped, seeming not to hear the last sentence clearly, only obsessed with survival: “I am… I am the Black Water Queen… if you save me… I’ll reward you…”

He was silent, eyes flashing, seeming to suddenly think of something, asking: “Where is the Imperial Atlas?”

She said drowsily: “Pull me up, then I’ll…”

He hesitated, finally putting on gold silk gloves, reaching to pull her.

When pulling her, one leg stepped back slightly, still maintaining a defensive posture.

He pulled up Jing Hengbo, half her body still hanging outside the cliff. He held her like this, saying: “First tell me where…”

Jing Hengbo’s hanging hand suddenly flashed with cold light—a dagger appeared. She slashed down at his wrist!

Striking the very hand that held her!

Cutting off this hand, she would still fall!

That person seemed to have expected this, left hand holding her, right hand already alert, but hadn’t expected her to strike the left hand. Slightly stunned, his extended right hand stopped.

Thinking paused slightly, movement slowed accordingly. But this slowness was almost incalculable by time—in an instant he reacted, naturally releasing his left hand.

Jing Hengbo fell.

Simultaneously she laughed loudly, echoing through the canyon, even covering the opposite waterfall’s rumbling.

“May you be impotent for life!”

That person couldn’t react before hearing sharp sounds behind him, extremely piercing and close.

He seemed to feel that thing had already touched his clothing.

He could leap up, but the cliff under his feet suddenly collapsed.

He could lunge down, but down was the canyon.

He could only sweep back up. Before completely rising, palm wind already rolled out.

Something was shattered with a crack, but sharp wind sounds still penetrated.

“Hiss.” A sound—something heavily struck his lower abdomen.

He let out a fierce howl, involuntarily bending to clutch his lower abdomen—that was truly a vital spot. Due to Jing Hengbo’s weakened control, it missed by three points from destroying a man’s root.

But even so, it had hit the vital point. He trembled, enduring severe pain, pulling out that thing.

It was a blood-soaked wooden stick that had flown out from the carriage to rescue Jing Hengbo, broken by him.

Now inserted in his own lower abdomen. After pulling out, several wooden splinters remained in the flesh.

This wound wasn’t severe but was too critical. He gritted his teeth, also extracting the flesh splinters, but still felt pain, indicating small splinters remained in the flesh, perhaps injuring blood vessels and meridians.

He stared down at the mountain cliff for a while. Mountain mists floated and sank, sky color dark—truly nothing could be seen.

Earlier there had definitely been the sound of the cart crashing to the valley bottom, but his cautious nature made him want to descend the cliff wall to investigate. But now the wound hurt terribly, and he feared leaving aftereffects. While hesitating, he suddenly heard sounds in the distance—a large group of people vaguely appearing on the horizon, seemingly heading this direction.

He hesitated no more, groaning and turning to leave.

The black figure swept past the night like a great bird, scattering fresh blood drops everywhere.

…

Jing Hengbo was falling.

Wind sounds urgent and loud, she closed her eyes, relaxing herself, fantasizing she would soon be reborn.

At this point, no pain, despair, regret, or self-blame existed. She had used her last ability to take small revenge with that wooden stick. About to die in a pile with Gong Yin, they might even be reborn together—actually not a bad thing.

The only regret was never seeing her three close friends again…

Eyes closed, she thought this life’s events would surely flash by rapidly like a movie, giving her a chance to savor her short but brilliant two years of transmigration career. Books all said so.

Who knew her mind was completely blank, nothing there, only hearing enormous wind sounds, enormous water sounds, and the sky crashing down darkly and fiercely.

Suddenly among these sounds came a whoosh, like something flying out.

Then she felt her ankle tighten.

Then her body lurched.

After lurching came swinging, then swinging again, swinging again… She felt like she’d become a giant spider, above the cliff wall, using spider silk to bounce and jump, dissipating the falling impact.

Finally “smack”—her body stopped.

At this moment she didn’t know whether to be wildly joyful or sad.

Saved.

But Gong Yin was dead.

She would have to live facing the enormous torment of causing Gong Yin’s death…

Better to just die!