Jing Hengbo raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t your country need a reincarnated queen? Are you willing to let me go?”

“Compared to keeping a queen,” Yelu Qi smiled, “naturally it’s more important to kill an ambitious schemer who brings disaster to the country.”

“Who? Gong Yin?”

Yelu Qi smiled without answering.

“I have some Soul-Fixing Spider on me,” she blinked, looking a bit troubled, “and apparently can’t walk more than three zhang away from Gong Yin.”

“What Soul-Fixing Spider? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Yelu Qi laughed. “If you really had that on you, how could you have gone to the marketplace earlier?”

“Maybe he can control that thing remotely? Just because you don’t know about something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, right?” Jing Hengbo protested indignantly.

Yelu Qi stepped back, looked at her complexion, and shook his head with a laugh. “Gong Yin detests all kinds of poisons and wouldn’t raise such creatures. I think what you have isn’t a Soul-Fixing Spider, but something else.”

“What?”

“First tell me about how you and Gong Yin first met.”

Jing Hengbo told him, then propped her chin and said, “Does he have mind-reading abilities? How could he guess I would teleport to the main hall and wait for me there?”

Yelu Qi smiled. “Was your room directly facing the stairs? With the main hall right below?”

“Yes.”

“When you encountered him, did you have brief physical contact? Or get close?”

“Does licking count…” Jing Hengbo saw Yelu Qi’s expression turn strange and quickly waved her hands. “Don’t think too much. Physical contact wasn’t much. But getting close did happen.”

Gong Yin had once pressed against her mirror’s secret door—that was quite close.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive,” Yelu Qi laughed. “When you’re with him, do you feel particularly oppressed and have difficulty moving?”

“Yes, I felt the atmosphere was especially heavy at the time.” Jing Hengbo’s eyes lit up.

“That’s it then.” Yelu Qi said, “It’s actually quite simple. Gong Yin’s Prajna Snow internal energy has controlling effects by nature. He applied his true force to you, and your teleportation speed had already slowed down then, though you didn’t know it yourself. After you teleported, he immediately left your door, descended directly from the top floor to the main hall. His speed was fast, yours became slow, so he arrived a bit earlier than you, landing on the only empty table. And after he applied his true force to you, your qi mechanism was affected after teleporting—within three zhang, you would inevitably only approach him. ‘Walking into a trap’ describes exactly your situation.”

“How could he guess I would teleport to the main hall…”

“Even a pig could guess that.” Yelu Qi commented bluntly. “That was your best choice at the time.”

Jing Hengbo sighed, finally understanding the master’s tricks. Competing in wits with a master was really exhausting.

Her eyes immediately brightened. “Then since there’s no Soul-Fixing Spider, that move he made on my chin was very likely not planting a spider, but removing the restraint he placed on me when he caught me!”

“Finally smart for once.” Yelu Qi nodded with a smile.

Jing Hengbo immediately felt relaxed all over—recently she hadn’t dared think about the Soul-Fixing Spider. Just thinking about having a living creature on her chin made her feel itchy all over.

But Gong Yin was too cunning, deceiving her for so long!

Then again, she rolled her eyes—Gong Yin was cunning, but wasn’t Yelu Qi cunning too? Were his words necessarily true? He said there was no such thing as a Soul-Fixing Spider, which might be true, but had Gong Yin really not placed any restraints on her, someone who could teleport?

There probably were some, just not as terrifying as the fabricated Soul-Fixing Spider.

Whatever. These people had such large brain capacities. Jing Hengbo, who considered her brain only slightly larger than a walnut, really had no interest in continuing to deal with these masters.

“I’ve never wanted to meddle in your country’s messy affairs.” Jing Hengbo flicked her fingers. “For me to help you, three conditions.”

“Please speak.”

“Guarantee I have no future troubles.”

“Once he’s dealt with, no one in Dahuang will be able to harm you.”

“Guarantee me lifelong wealth, honor, and security.”

“That’s what you deserve.”

“Return my suitcase to me.”

“Once the matter is finished, the suitcase will definitely be presented immediately.”

“OK.” Jing Hengbo tossed her long hair. “Deal!”

Yelu Qi looked down at her. The woman raised her face, her red lips curved in an bold smile, her eyebrows extending straight into her black hair, her eyes bright as the first star in the dawn sky.

Devastatingly brilliant.

His heart trembled slightly, suddenly giving rise to a trace of regret, but he immediately extinguished this emotion and smiled. “Excellent, then may Your Majesty…”

His voice gradually lowered, and Jing Hengbo listened intently.

“When the time comes…” Yelu Qi’s voice suddenly changed. “Not good! Gong Yin is coming! Don’t let him—”

Before he finished speaking, the door had already opened silently.

White robes swept the ground like a cool cloud descending silently from heaven.

Gong Yin stood in the doorway.

He had been meditating across the hall when his heart suddenly felt an ominous sign. Thinking that Jing Hengbo seemed too quiet in her room, which didn’t match her habits—she always made various noises before sleeping and would never be quiet for more than a quarter-hour.

The door slowly opened. Gong Yin’s gaze was about to sweep toward the various hiding spots in the room when he suddenly froze.

On the bed…

There was Jing Hengbo on the bed.

But her posture…

Arms spread supporting herself at the bed’s edge, back bent, both legs flipped over her head level with her chin, her whole body twisted into a ball, with only her beautiful, slightly sweaty face facing him.

Even the well-traveled Gong Yin couldn’t help but be shocked by this bizarre posture—this seemed to be some kind of strange body technique? But this position was too peculiar, her head actually emerging from between her legs, and could a human body really be this flexible, folded into such a shape?

This last thought made him shake, and looking at Jing Hengbo’s body again—her inverted legs displayed smooth, taut curves that seemed to press before his eyes… He stepped back slightly, forgetting his original intention to examine the room.

After stepping back, he frowned. “What are you doing? How improper! Put your legs down quickly…” Halfway through speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and he was about to look up.

Jing Hengbo saw this was bad—even such a high-difficulty pose couldn’t stun this guy? Better switch quickly!

“I’ll put them down then…” Her body nimbly flipped forward, turning herself inside-out like a pocket. Taking advantage of the momentum to stretch, she suddenly looked several centimeters taller, making Gong Yin’s gaze focus again.

Jing Hengbo took the opportunity to bend forward, spread her arms, crossed her right leg over her left, raised her head, and leaned slightly forward in a standard yoga “Eagle” pose.

This posture was very impressive and more graceful. Because of the forward lean and leg crossing, her upper body was compressed more severely, and her bent-forward body was presenting certain contours directly to the person across from her.

When Gong Yin looked up again, he saw a deep expanse of snow-white skin, trembling in half shadow and half candlelight, swaying with myriad wonders with each breath…

And her face, snow-jade beautiful with lips like fire, seemed to be offered right before his eyes…

He abruptly stepped back, flicked his sleeve, and was about to close the door and leave.

Jing Hengbo was delighted—success!

The next instant she suddenly felt a cramping pain from her legs to her hips, couldn’t help but scream “Ouch!” and fell forward stiff as a pretzel.

Too eager with the yoga poses—she had cramped up!

Gong Yin, who was about to retreat, instinctively stepped forward, extending both hands to catch her. Jing Hengbo fell into his hands with a thud, and Gong Yin felt softness crash into his palms…

He froze, then his snow-jade cheeks seemed to flush slightly red, and he was about to push her away.

But Jing Hengbo stubbornly refused to move.

Because at this moment she heard a tiny voice in her ear: Help me hold him back!

There seemed to be slight wind sounds above, and Gong Yin seemed to have noticed and was again about to look up.

Jing Hengbo suddenly lunged forward, toppling Gong Yin who was leaning back against the doorframe, and immediately covered his eyes with both hands, laughing coquettishly, “No looking around!”

…

Gong Yin’s face, white as cold jade, seemed to turn slightly green.

Who was looking at you!

But Jing Hengbo felt no guilt, giggling as she covered his eyes tightly.

You weren’t looking around, but you were touching around—I’m still in your hands! Can’t say I’m wronging you.

Wind swept overhead—that should be Yelu Qi, who had been hiding in the ceiling beam, taking this opportunity to escape. Jing Hengbo was thinking his courage wasn’t small to actually leave through the door when suddenly her back hurt and her body sank. A tremendous force stepped down from her back.

Jing Hengbo almost cursed out loud—Damn it, I’m helping you hold back Master Gong and you actually step on my back to escape!

Was he panicking or what?

This step nearly knocked the breath out of her and she couldn’t curse aloud, but her hands involuntarily loosened, and she heard what seemed like a muffled grunt from Gong Yin beneath her.

Only then did Jing Hengbo belatedly remember something—there was a legendary martial arts technique called “striking an ox from across a mountain.”

Could it be that Yelu Qi’s step just now was really aimed at Gong Yin?

Ruthless enough.

A black shadow swept overhead—Yelu Qi was indeed about to escape.

Gong Yin suddenly snorted coldly, and his fingers, pressed beneath Jing Hengbo, flicked.

Two red streams of light shrieked upward, passing extremely close to the chests of the two people pressed together, flashing like fireworks before Jing Hengbo’s eyes before pursuing the black shadow.

“Bang!” A low sound, followed by a faint grunt, and several drops of bright red blood scattered in midair, falling on the deep red painted railing and blending into one color.

Jing Hengbo couldn’t see the trajectory of those red lights at all, only felt a flash before her eyes and coolness at her chest. Looking down, she paled in horror.

The next instant, her furious scream nearly burst Gong Yin’s eardrums.

“Damn it, if you’re going to fight, just fight! Why the hell did you ruin my only bra!”