Originally thinking that Murong Fei had noticed something and intended to expose it, she never expected him to open his mouth and offer to hand over the opportunity, which truly shocked Changling.
While she was still hesitating, she heard Mo Daoyun say, “Since Young Master Murong has this intention, then it’s decided. Shortly, Young Master Murong and the other qualifiers will draw lots for the next round of competition.”
With those words, he passed the bamboo tube aside, probably worried that the Xixia people would change their minds, and hurriedly turned and left.
After everyone else had dispersed, Changling still couldn’t help but ask Murong Fei, “I wonder why Young Master Murong is yielding?”
“The opportunity was originally the young lady’s. How can there be any talk of yielding?” With those words, Murong Fei clasped his fists slightly and departed.
After walking partway back with Ye Qi, Changling couldn’t help but ask, “I still don’t understand why they suddenly withdrew.”
Ye Qi smiled and said, “The reason… didn’t Murong Fei already explain it?”
Changling was still puzzled. “But after all, this concerns the position of alliance leader. If Xixia had no ambitions, why come in the first place? Even if Murong Fei values jianghu righteousness, how could Wei Shaoxuan agree?”
“Put it this way—why would something as trivial as drawing lots trouble the alliance leader to personally supervise? When Senior Mo appeared just now, I saw that Wei Shaoxuan already showed an expression of understanding. He and Murong Fei should have long guessed that the black lots had been tampered with. Whether they drew or not, the result would be the same…”
Changling asked, “Since they saw through it, why not expose it publicly?”
“What happens after exposing it?” Ye Qi raised his head slightly to look at the sky. “Senior Mo would inevitably scold his subordinates, then cancel the lot-drawing rule and add another round of competition… Think about it—Murong Fei has already fought two matches, while you can still fight once more. Who would they find to compete with you? So, since the result of exposing it would mean they couldn’t even participate in tomorrow’s competition, why not act magnanimous? This way, it also repays your mercy, doesn’t it?”
The moment before, Changling had been surprised by Murong Fei’s “righteousness.” Upon hearing this, she felt that both sides seemed to have quietly fought another round. Seeing Ye Qi smile with complete composure, she looked at him sideways and said, “No wonder you’ve been unhurried all along. Don’t tell me you already calculated this outcome too?”
“Not to that extent, not to that extent.” Ye Qi waved his hand, suddenly remembering something. “By the way, did you give that sachet of Little Qin’s to Old Man Shu yet?”
At this moment, everyone was waiting by Qiong Lake to hear the announcement of the next round’s roster. Most of the Dongxia martial artists also stayed to watch the excitement. Old Man Shu and Mo Daoyun were discussing something with others on the side. Zhou Qin waited and waited. Finally, when they finished talking, Old Man Shu actually returned to his original seat, looking as though he had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Seeing Zhou Qin continuously watching Shu Jun, Fu Yanyang couldn’t help but move to her side and ask, “Why do you keep guarding the old man?”
Zhou Qin was startled. “Where, where did I?”
Seeing Fu Er’s expression that said “you can’t fool me,” Zhou Qin guiltily shrank her neck and said, “I have something I want to give Dean Shu privately… but there’s always someone beside him. I haven’t found a suitable opportunity…”
“Is it urgent?”
“I can’t really say… in any case, I need to give it today. But tonight he’ll definitely be discussing matters with Dean Mo and the others again, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to find him…”
Fu Yanyang touched his chin. “What’s so difficult about that? In a moment, I’ll hide, and you go tell him I accidentally injured myself falling. At… wherever, anyway, wherever you want him to go, that’s where I’ll have fallen. Then you give him the item. Won’t that work?”
Zhou Qin made a low “ah” sound. “That’ll work?”
“Why wouldn’t it work? So many things in this world that can’t be done are all chickened out of.” Fu Yanyang patted her shoulder. “Alright, I’ll hide first. I won’t give you moral support then.”
Though Second Young Master Fu’s trick was underhanded, Zhou Qin got her wish and lured Vice Dean Shu to a corner, handing the sachet to Shu Jun. The moment Shu Jun received the sachet, his eyes widened in disbelief. “This sachet… where did you get it?”
Ye Qi and Changling went back for another round but didn’t see Zhou Qin or Shu Jun anywhere, which was somewhat strange. Just as they were thinking of wandering around to see if they could find anyone, they had only walked halfway when they saw two familiar figures coming toward them.
Those two people had originally been looking around. When they saw Ye Qi, they rushed forward with uncontrollable excitement on their faces, saying in trembling voices, “Young master, we’ve finally found you!”
It was precisely Seventh Uncle and Tao Feng.
When Changling saw them, her heartbeat couldn’t help but quicken. Before Ye Qi could speak, she quickly asked, “Did something go wrong with Divine Physician Ji’s medicine hall?”
Seventh Uncle’s eyes were red. The corners of his mouth twitched, squeezing out a face full of wrinkles—whether crying or laughing was unclear. “No, no…”
Seeing him unable to get out a single word for a long time, Changling said urgently, “Then what happened?”
“Aiya, it’s neither of those things,” Tao Feng couldn’t wait any longer and said with a smile, “The Purple Gold Pill has been successfully refined. We rode at full speed precisely to deliver the medicine.”
This was good news within expectations, yet upon hearing it suddenly, both of them were actually stunned.
Perhaps because they had been plagued by bad luck, this good fortune came so suddenly that they had no way to handle it.
Changling turned to look at Ye Qi, seeing his throat move slightly. Only after quite a while did he manage to speak: “Where’s the medicine?”
Back in the room, Tao Feng closed the door and stood guard outside. Seventh Uncle took out a cloth bundle from his inner pocket, tremblingly placed it on the table and opened it, taking out a palm-sized brocade box and carefully presenting it to Ye Qi.
Ye Qi extended a finger to flip open the lock catch. Inside lay a brown medicinal pill, emitting a faint herbal scent. A long-lost sense of reality returned to his body. He picked up the pill and asked, “Do I… just eat it like this?”
“Otherwise, do you want to mix it with honey?” Changling had already poured water. Seeing him dawdle so much, she almost wanted to stuff it into his mouth herself. But suddenly she heard Seventh Uncle say, “However, Divine Physician Ji gave other instructions. He said this Purple Gold Soul-Reviving Pill is to treat the young master’s stagnation syndrome. After taking the medicine, all the blood vessels and acupoints throughout the young master’s body will have qi flowing with the medicine. The flow rate will also be several times faster than normal. At this time, you must sit quietly while simultaneously circulating your cultivation to supplement it. You cannot interrupt, cannot move around randomly, and absolutely cannot be disturbed by the outside world. Otherwise, not only will it fail to save your life, you could at any time experience qi deviation or blood vessel rupture and die on the spot.”
Changling asked, “Did Divine Physician Ji say how long the cultivation cycle needs to be?”
“At fastest, one or two days. At slowest, three to five days. Divine Physician Ji cannot be certain. He only suggested that the young master should first leave Xiaoyao Valley. He is also rushing toward Yuzhou right now and should be able to reach Longmen Mountain tonight. If he can accompany you while you take the medicine and circulate your cultivation, even if there are any unexpected acupoint reversals, he can provide timely treatment…” Seventh Uncle looked at Ye Qi. “Young master, we should leave the valley right now to meet with Old Ji…”
Changling nodded deeply in agreement. “Right, we don’t need to compete tomorrow anyway. If we leave tonight, no one will say anything.”
Ye Qi closed the medicine box with a “thunk” and said, “No rush. After the martial arts gathering ends in two days, it won’t be too late to take the medicine then.”
Seventh Uncle was shocked. “Young master, this…”
“No.” Changling rejected this outright. “This Xiaoyao Valley is full of people with ill intentions. Never mind two days—staying one more night and who knows what changes might occur… This is a matter of life and death. It cannot be delayed and cannot go wrong. This time, you must listen to me.”
“It’s not that I don’t value my life. It’s just that we’ve waited so long for this martial arts gathering. If we just leave like this, all our previous efforts will likely come to nothing…”
Changling didn’t listen to his rambling at all and said directly to Seventh Uncle, “Don’t waste words with him. I’ll knock him out right now, and we’ll take him out together…”
“Even if we want to leave now, we definitely won’t be able to.”
Changling was stunned. “Why?”
“Originally, I was afraid you’d be distracted, so I didn’t say everything…” Ye Qi lowered his eyes. “When I finished chasing that person today, I discovered several key points. First, he is very familiar with Xiaoyao Valley’s terrain. Second, he dared to attack me in broad daylight. Besides having set a trap beforehand, he also had confidence in escaping… Think carefully—countless people are participating in this martial arts gathering. With one shout from me, a group of helpers could jump out at any time. Wasn’t he afraid of walking into a trap himself?”
“You mean… he’s from Xiaoyao Valley?”
Ye Qi nodded. “Even if he’s not, he must be deeply connected to Xiaoyao Valley. That’s why there wasn’t a single Xiaoyao Valley disciple outside the kitchen hall that day. He escaped without the slightest effort.”
Changling’s eyebrows moved slightly.
“Not to mention that his disguise resembling the eldest young master did have some similarities—he turned and left after you stared at him. At that time, I hadn’t noticed him at all. This indicates his initial target was you.” Ye Qi said in a heavy voice, “You currently don’t even count as a hot candidate for alliance leader. Why would he want to eliminate you?”
This question, Changling hadn’t considered, or rather, she hadn’t had time to think about it.
“There are two possibilities. First, you’re some enemy of his, and he’s come to take revenge on you. But if he truly recognized you, he might not dare to lure you in single-handedly…” Ye Qi frowned. “Then there’s a second possibility—he’s testing whether you and the eldest young master are old acquaintances. If I hadn’t intercepted today, I think he would have said a few more words to you before luring you into his trap. However, since you used the Yue family’s blade techniques on stage today, he should have already gotten his answer.”
Changling pondered, “Even if he knows I’m related to elder brother, so what? I’m not the only person in Xiaoyao Valley related to elder brother, am I?”
“At the lantern festival, you exchanged moves with him, and it seemed like he already knew your moves and broke them one by one?” Ye Qi said, “I suspect that the first move you made casually, he responded to casually. In the heat of the moment, you both used the same set of techniques. At the time, it was just coincidence, but afterward, he would become suspicious and would know you have some connection to Yue Changling.”
Changling recalled the moves from that night—they were indeed subconscious actions based on her mood. But thinking carefully, those were her most skilled grappling techniques, which she had often taught to the generals at her side in the military camp.
Ye Qi continued, “Very few people know that the second young master is a woman, so he probably can’t guess your identity. But you being together with me—that’s different. Because everyone knows I’ve been searching for the second young master’s whereabouts all these years… Judging from your age, saying you’re a relative of the second young master, a disciple, or a comrade from the Yue family army back then would all make sense…”
“Even so, why would he want to kill me?”
“Yes, that’s the key point. Under what circumstances would someone rather risk being exposed than kill a descendant closely connected to the Yue family?” Ye Qi paused, his expression becoming somber. “This can only mean… whatever he’s plotting next is contrary to both your and my existence.”
Changling was stunned.
“In other words, our every move is now under his surveillance. Even if we leave, the result will be the same.” Ye Qi said, “Don’t forget—all of Longmen Mountain is Xiaoyao Valley’s territory.”