The instant Meng Duo’er’s fingers touched the mask by Miss Xiao the Ninth’s ear, she tore it off in one violent motion—only for a pale, ghastly face, corpse-like in every way, to appear before her. She was so terrified she couldn’t help but scream, her legs nearly giving out beneath her!
This face!
This face was unmistakably the face of a corpse—pale without a trace of blood, and marked with patches of decay.
Miss Xiao the Ninth was not Baili Xiaosheng!
How could this be!
This woman—no, this monstrous creature—what on earth was it?
At that moment, the woman stared at her without any expression at all. For the first time in her life, Meng Duo’er felt such terror that her entire body went rigid with fear. She knew she should flee, but the shock was too great—no matter how hard she tried, no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t move at all!
And the corpse-face before her was clearly, slowly, beginning to smile—the kind of smile that looked like a female corpse lying in a coffin gradually baring a ghastly, horrifying grin, enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end!
“Help! Somebody help!”
Meng Duo’er screamed—all she could do was scream. She couldn’t even manage to close her eyes; her eyelids had gone rigid!
Meng Duo’er didn’t recognize the thing before her, but Baili Weisheng identified it at a single glance—this was the poison corpse raised in the Poison Den, Shiliang!
No one had imagined that Miss Xiao the Ninth was actually Shiliang. To think that he and Jun Buli had gone to such lengths to kidnap her—if word of this ever got out, people would laugh their heads off!
Seeing Shiliang smiling, Baili Weisheng knew her master had begun issuing commands to her!
“Meng Duo’er, get out of the way! Quick!”
Baili Weisheng moved to close the distance. In his desperate urgency, he lashed out with a vicious kick aimed at Shiliang’s side—but at that very moment, a hawk suddenly swooped down at his leg, attempting to block him, and at the same time, Shiliang had already raised both hands, black claw-like nails extending toward Meng Duo’er.
Fortunately, Jun Buli acted in that split second, instantly killing the hawk, while Baili Weisheng’s kick sent Shiliang flying!
“Shiliang?”
Jun Buli was equally astonished—this was completely beyond what he’d expected. He’d meant to kidnap Miss Xiao the Ninth to draw out Shiliang, only to discover that Shiliang had been Miss Xiao the Ninth all along!
Surely nothing more absurd had ever happened to him in his entire life!
He was about to pursue her when the beast army ahead—hundreds of thousands strong—suddenly surged forward all at once. Clearly, the white-robed man had made his move.
“Baili Weisheng, she’s Baili Xiaosheng, isn’t she!”
Jun Buli shouted. If Miss Xiao the Ninth was Shiliang, then the reinforcements the Xiao couple had gone to fetch could only be Shiliang’s master—which meant Baili Xiaosheng!
Baili Weisheng landed, and seeing Meng Duo’er unharmed, finally relaxed. He’d been scared out of his wits just moments ago, so much so he couldn’t even get his words out properly—Meng Duo’er had been facing Shiliang, and if Shiliang had gotten hold of her, it wouldn’t just be severe injury, but severe injury combined with deadly poison—a person would be ruined for life!
With Meng Duo’er safe, Baili Weisheng finally calmed down, calling out to Jun Buli, “She’s Baili Xiaosheng—this foul-tempered girl doesn’t even remember me anymore. You wake her up for me. Leave Shiliang to us!”
“Got it!”
Jun Buli replied loudly as well, his gaze fixed ahead, watching the white-robed man seated arrogantly and haughtily on the palanquin. He couldn’t help but recall his childhood.
Baili Xiaosheng had disguised herself as a man since childhood, fooling everyone. Later, his mother and the others had all found out—only he had been kept in the dark.
This one had always been vicious and ruthless by nature.
Grown up now, she was still cross-dressing as a man—that handsome, refined face showed no trace of the scars from her childhood, likely thanks to a mask as well!
“Baili Xiaosheng, your master says the word—I’ll give you one chance to surrender!” Jun Buli taunted.
The white-robed man raised an eyebrow, smiling, murmuring, “Baili Xiaosheng?”
Such an unfamiliar name—who was Jun Buli even calling out to?
“How about this—I’ll give you one chance to surrender. Kneel before my young master’s beast army and kowtow three times, and my young master will let you keep your corpse intact!” she said coldly.
Jun Buli’s eyes suddenly closed. In his entire life, no one had ever threatened him like this.
This time, he would play along with her thoroughly—play until she surrendered willingly!
Jun Buli’s cold eyes narrowed, and instantly, the four great poisonous beasts appeared out of nowhere, lining up beside him!
The four great poisonous beasts swelled entirely in size, growing as large as heavenly guardian statues descending from the sky—each one alone rivaling the size of a hundred of the opposing flying beasts!
Seeing this, the white-robed man was clearly shocked. The Xiao couple had only said this brat knew some sort of technique that could make beast armies disappear—she hadn’t quite believed it.
She hadn’t expected that he could also summon a beast army of his own, and judging by these four alone, they were clearly different from ordinary beast troops—they seemed to be poisonous beasts!
“How about you kneel to me instead!” Jun Buli said coldly.
“Don’t even think about it!” the white-robed man said coldly, finally taking things seriously. She pulled out a phoenix-tail sheng and raised it to her lips to play!
“Hehe, the phoenix-tail sheng—so it’s true after all!” Seeing this, Jun Buli felt even more certain this person was Baili Xiaosheng!
She was playing the phoenix-tail sheng to summon the two poisonous beast-dogs from within the ice.
The moment the sheng’s music rang out, the surface of the ice lake began to stir. Jun Buli sneered, unconcerned—back then, if his mother hadn’t told him to conceal his identity, he would have long since dealt with those two dogs in the ice lake himself!
The ice-lake poison dogs—was he supposed to be afraid of those?
He’d originally thought of sending the Henggong Fish down, but on second thought, he instead pulled out the white jade flute and began to play!
Seeing this, the white-robed young man involuntarily stopped, crying out in shock, “The white jade flute is in your hands?”
At the same moment, the Xiao couple, who had been hiding off to the side the whole time, couldn’t help but step forward, the patriarch bellowing furiously, “Who exactly are you? Why is the white jade flute in your hands!”
Jun Buli paid them no mind at all. As the melody of the white jade flute completely reversed the tide of the confrontation, the disturbance in the ice lake grew fainter and fainter, and soon vanished entirely!
Undoubtedly, this dealt the white-robed young man a tremendous blow to her confidence!
Unwilling to concede, the white-robed young man played the phoenix-tail sheng again. Jun Buli, in rather good spirits, patiently indulged her—neither of them realizing that this was the first time in a hundred years that sheng and flute had played together.
Meanwhile, back at the edge of the ice lake, Meng Duo’er was still frozen in place. Baili Weisheng, being the thoughtless sort, having confirmed she was safe and unharmed, promptly ignored her and went chasing after Shiliang.
Only, once he realized he could defeat Shiliang but had no way to actually restrain her, he turned back.
“Meng Duo’er! Hey, wake up!”
“Meng Duo’er, are you being an idiot? Nothing’s wrong, say something!”
…
As he called out to her, he glanced back to see Shiliang chasing after him again, and Baili Weisheng grew anxious—he wasn’t afraid of Shiliang, but he had no desire to keep fighting her endlessly either!
He couldn’t die, and neither could Shiliang—there was no point in fighting on and on!
To control Shiliang, to finish off Shiliang, only Baili Xiaosheng could do that, so he had to trap Shiliang first, then go help Jun Buli.
Seeing Shiliang chasing closer, Baili Weisheng, exasperated, gave Meng Duo’er a shove. “Damned girl, can you do me a favor? Being this timid, how are you supposed to run with me!”
That shove finally jolted Meng Duo’er awake—only, at the very same moment, she came face to face with Shiliang’s pale visage closing in from behind Baili Weisheng!
“Ahh—” Meng Duo’er screamed, and in that moment of sheer terror and danger, instead of fleeing, she instinctively shoved Baili Weisheng out of the way!