Tianhun walked toward the corner of the wall, presumably worried that one palm strike wasn’t enough to end a life and wanting to deliver another blade strike to finish the job.
In a flash, Changling’s form moved like lightning, her blade blocking his path. Tianhun’s expression turned stern. To achieve this level with the technique “Shifting Form and Changing Position” meant she was deeply concealing her abilities. Tianhun didn’t dare be careless. Just now, this woman’s blade speed was no inferior to his own. Since she dared to face him directly, she naturally had the ability to escape unscathed.
Tianhun said, “How did the Gouhun Blade end up in your hands?”
Changling held the blade behind her back, concealing her slightly trembling right hand. The moment she stepped into the cell had caused her blood and qi to flow backward. She calmly regulated her breathing without showing any emotion, “I took it from Tianpo’s hands.”
An honest person doesn’t tell lies. This statement from Changling was an outright falsehood. Tianhun said, “Impossible.”
Though he said it was impossible, he clearly believed it somewhat. Changling secretly observed his expression and adopted the posture of someone who had come as a guest, “Remove your mask. I’m quite curious what Tianpo’s older brother looks like.”
Changling didn’t deliberately provoke him. Masters among masters like Tianhun and Tianpo would not fear strong enemies. Moreover, this so-called “strong enemy” before him was merely a paper tiger. She knew very clearly that if they truly fought at this moment, she probably couldn’t last even ten moves. She still needed some time to accumulate internal power—at least for the duration of one incense stick, she couldn’t engage in combat again.
But how could she delay for the time of one incense stick?
Changling used her peripheral vision to glance at Ye Qi behind her. He was still lying on the ground, and she could no longer hear his breathing. Nine out of ten chances, he had already stopped breathing.
She immediately felt some regret. Had she known, she should have made a decisive retreat. But a moment ago, Ye Qi had still been alive after all. She couldn’t bring herself to flee the battlefield at a critical moment. Now look—the person had died directly, and she’d gotten herself trapped as well.
Tianhun looked at her with interest and casually peeled off his human skin mask, revealing a face almost identical to Tianpo’s. Changling’s heart jolted with surprise, but the corner of her mouth affected a nonchalant curve, “As expected, twin brothers.”
Why had that fellow Ye Qi never mentioned these two were twin brothers?
“How did you see through that I wasn’t Fu Liujing?” Tianhun stared at the veil covering her face. “I thought my disguise was flawless.”
“As long as it’s a disguise, there will be flaws.”
“What flaw?”
“I’ve seen Fu Liujing. He doesn’t look like your disguise.”
Changling only told half the truth. Tianhun’s disguise of Fu Liujing had reached the level of perfect resemblance, which is why when she first saw him, she hadn’t doubted. It wasn’t until the moment before striking that she recalled something.
Fu Liujing wore a disguise. She had never seen his true appearance.
If the real Fu Liujing had been imprisoned here for several months, a full beard definitely wouldn’t grow through a human skin mask.
Tianhun hadn’t expected her to give this kind of answer. He frowned, seeming to weigh whether her words were true or false. Suddenly, with a clang, his curved blade pointed at Changling’s chest. Tianhun’s eyes carried a penetrating flavor, “If you’d seen Fu Liujing, you should have spoken up at the start to warn him. Otherwise, how could Young Master He have been killed by my palm strike?”
“…” Just after mocking the other’s flaw, she’d exposed her own weakness.
Changling instinctively tightened her grip on the Gouhun Blade. At least ten different techniques had passed through her mind as she tried to figure out if there was any possibility of killing Tianhun without using internal power. But she had never seen Tianhun and Tianpo’s blade techniques, so she probably couldn’t even put on a bluffing stance. With no other options, Changling lowered her head and revealed a brief smile.
Tianhun hesitated, “Why are you laughing?”
“Don’t you think your own words are full of holes? If I hadn’t seen through you, I would already be a dead soul under your blade right now. But if I’d already seen through you, why wouldn’t I warn this Young Master…”
Young Master He?
Wait, Tianhun just said his surname was He?!
Before Changling could react, she suddenly heard someone laughing heartily.
“Hahahahahaha… Worthy of being the first blade master at Mingyue Zhou’s side! Even such minor details couldn’t escape your notice. I’m impressed, truly impressed!”
The speaker was none other than Ye Qi.
Under Tianhun’s dumbfounded gaze, Ye Qi stood up, his posture so relaxed he didn’t seem like someone who’d been struck at all. Tianhun said in shock, “You’re still alive?!”
Changling was also stunned—struck directly on the heart meridian and still not dead? Was Tianhun’s palm strike just for fun?!
Tianhun’s ego was indeed wounded, “You took my Heart-Crushing Palm, how could you…”
Ye Qi shook out his robes as if nothing had happened. From the opening of his garment, a small section of an inner shirt was revealed—it was actually a suit of bronze-colored light armor.
Changling understood. Tianhun, however, didn’t recognize it, “What is this?”
“Ignorant.” Ye Qi took a step forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Changling. “This is Bronze Armor. Forget your mere palm strike—even the Gouhun Blade cannot damage it in the slightest. On the contrary…” He deliberately paused, “Haven’t you noticed you’ve already suffered a backlash?”
Tianhun’s expression changed dramatically. He immediately concentrated his qi and circulated his energy. Just now, if he hadn’t mentioned it, Tianhun wouldn’t have noticed, but now he suddenly felt the strength in all his limbs and bones dissipating. The more he tried to exert force, the less he could muster. Ye Qi smiled, “No need to struggle. After suffering the Bronze Armor’s backlash, at best your vital energy is greatly damaged, at worst you’ll lose all your internal power. If I were you, I’d meditate and heal on the spot. That’s better than becoming a cripple from now on.”
Upon hearing this, Tianhun’s hands and feet immediately turned ice cold. He didn’t know if it was real or if he was just frightened. But after all, as Dayan’s number one assassin, he wouldn’t simply believe whatever anyone said. He looked at Ye Qi’s blood-soaked garment front, “Stop your alarmist talk! You simply discovered you’d fallen into a trap and are deliberately creating false appearances! Young Master He, that whole body of blood has betrayed you!”
Ye Qi pulled out a cloth handkerchief from his sleeve pocket and wiped away the blood stains as if wiping his mouth after a meal. “First, I occasionally vomit blood when I’m nervous. Brother Tianhun needn’t concern yourself with such details…”
Changling: “…”
“As for the second point…”
Tianhun didn’t have the patience to listen to him count “one, two, three, four.” A ring of blade wind slashed diagonally toward Ye Qi’s shoulder and neck. The blade wind brought up a whistling sound that rushed into the ears. Ye Qi slightly tilted his head to dodge. Between opening and turning his five fingers, he grasped the blade handle in one grip. His other hand flicked a finger against the blade surface. With a “humming” sound, the Gouhun Blade violently trembled. An invisible power seemed to spread through the blade handle. Tianhun only felt his heart pounding like a drum. The blade in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand jun, and he could almost not hold onto it.
Changling’s eyes flashed.
This technique was called “Flicking Dust,” a unique skill created by her Uncle Master Jiagu. If one could infuse true qi into the vital point of an enemy’s weapon and flick a finger, one could instantly increase the sharp blade’s weight several times, thereby causing the enemy to lose their grip. Once upon a time, she had asked her uncle master to teach her this technique, but Jiagu had never agreed. Who would have thought this young man had learned it?
“Second, my surname isn’t He,” the Limitless Whip flew out from his sleeve, circled around Tianhun once, and Ye Qi quickly tightened the whip rope to bind him. He bent his eyes in a provocative manner, “If Young Master He had known early that your prince set an ambush here, would he walk into the trap himself? I’m merely an errand runner, here to borrow the antidote to the Bone-Softening Powder from you.”
As he spoke, a purple glass bottle had appeared in Ye Qi’s hand—it was what he’d obtained from Tianhun during their exchange of moves.
This last statement, like the last straw, crushed the last trace of Tianhun’s momentum. He tried to break free from the Limitless Whip’s restraint, but discovered that the more he struggled, the tighter it bound him.
Changling frowned—Tianhun was confused as the person involved, but as an observer, she could see clearly.
Although Ye Qi’s skills were passable, that interception just now was merely an ordinary technique, and could by no means be called brilliant. Therefore, it wasn’t that he was particularly fast or strong—it was that Tianhun had slowed down.
For a first-rate master, even if suffering internal injury or backlash, at most there would be impediments to movement. Even reaching the point of inadequate strength wouldn’t result in being completely unaware that one’s own movements had slowed by half a beat.
Nine out of ten chances, Tianhun had been drugged with “Gradually Slowing.”
Changling didn’t know when Ye Qi had administered the drug. It might have been while she was dealing with Tianhun, or perhaps even earlier. But under the influence of “Gradually Slowing,” even Ye Qi’s one-finger “Flicking Dust” couldn’t make the Gouhun Blade slip from Tianhun’s hand, which showed how weak that finger’s force had been.
An ominous premonition arose in Changling’s heart: Could the Bronze Armor truly resist the invasion of true qi and internal power?
Ye Qi fastened the whip tail to the iron door in a dead knot. Seeing Changling standing there woodenly, he pulled her elbow and headed outside. Changling felt a chill—even through thick sleeves, she could feel the coldness of his palm.
Seeing that they were about to leave, Tianhun urgently gasped, “Young Master He has painstakingly searched for Fu Liujing all these years, isn’t it precisely to investigate the truth from back then?!”
The truth? What did that mean?
She heard Tianhun continue behind them, “As long as… Young Master He is willing to cooperate with my family’s prince, you can know what you want to know…”
But he seemed not to hear, his footsteps not stopping as he walked forward. Each step was like facing a great punishment. When they were almost at the corridor, he finally couldn’t hold back anymore. With a “wah” sound, he vomited a large mouthful of black blood.
Changling quickly supported him, “How are you?”
“Still can’t…” Ye Qi coughed up another mouthful of blood, “…die yet.”
Changling was about to check his pulse when her wrist was grasped by Ye Qi. He turned her hand over, poured the medicine from the purple glass bottle into her palm, lowered his head to smell it, “This is the antidote to the Bone-Softening Powder. You… cough, take it quickly.”
Changling didn’t understand at first. She saw him glance up at the candle lamps on the wall and only then comprehended. Since the cellar was a preset trap, the candlesticks were probably laced with the powder. As Tianhun waited here to catch his prey, it was impossible he didn’t have the antidote prepared.
After receiving the fatal palm strike, he had first made Tianhun fall into his trap without anyone knowing, and even while escaping, didn’t forget to take the antidote. This person’s meticulousness was truly alarming.
Without another word, Changling placed the pill in her mouth, but didn’t see him take any medicine.
Changling looked at Ye Qi with slightly questioning eyes.
“I… I don’t need to waste this antidote…” Ye Qi’s voice lowered. Really unable to hold on any longer, he sat down against the wall in a wretched state. “If you encounter those sect leaders when you leave, you can give it to them to take…”
From the corridor above, one could faintly hear the sound of people running back and forth. Ye Qi removed his blood-dripping outer coat, then with difficulty removed the Bronze Armor and extended it forward. Changling froze, “You want to give this to me?”
“Originally we agreed it was just accompaniment along the road… who knew the young lady would accompany me to the very end… I have nothing to repay you with. If you take this light armor out and pawn it, it can be pawned for quite a lot of gold…” When Ye Qi said this, he couldn’t help but smile, “At least it’s worth more than that gold ring.”
Seeing he couldn’t hold it anymore, Changling reached out to take it, but didn’t put it on. She still had many doubts, such as “why did you come here knowing it was a trap,” or “what truth are you trying to investigate,” but she didn’t ask any of these. She only said, “You’re the Young Master He who got Mingyue Zhou to Mu Wangbao?”
Ye Qi was already barely breathing, but upon hearing this, he unexpectedly lifted his eyelids in surprise, “How do you know about Mu Wangbao…”
He got stuck for a moment, then Ye Qi realized something was wrong, “You couldn’t be… the person who helped Mingyue Zhou escape, could you?”
“Mm.” Changling frankly nodded, “I told you, I helped him with a small favor.”
If it weren’t for his imminent demise, Ye Qi would definitely have jumped up in great shock and surprise. But he truly had no strength left and could only rake through his disheveled hair, “Miss… you definitely have some misunderstanding about the term ‘small favor’…”
Changling didn’t pick up his thread of conversation, “They call you He Jinzhi. Jinzhi… is that your name?”
“It’s my courtesy name.” Ye Qi wearily closed his eyes, “What time is it now? You should first think about how to use the gold ring to escape…”
“Then what’s your name?”
Ye Qi froze.
He didn’t understand why this girl who had remained indifferent to him the whole way would suddenly care about his name at such a critical juncture.
He raised his eyes to look at her. The veil covered most of her face, but couldn’t hide those extremely bright eyes.
His throat moved slightly.
“My single name is Yu, the Yu from Jinyu.”