At this moment the hall was in complete chaos, with smoke and powder continuously falling, making it impossible to see clearly. Jing Hengbo reached out to grab Meng Po Tian but caught nothing – Meng Po Tian was no longer in her original position.

She herself was caught by a pair of burning hot hands, with intense breathing sounds beside her ear. That breath was also scorching, making her face burn hot. She felt it should be Pei Shu and called out loudly: “Pei Shu! Is that you? Quick, see how Po Tian is!”

As soon as she spoke, someone above cried out in alarm, then Meng Po Tian’s voice said: “Pei Shu! I’m here, are you alright?”

Jing Hengbo also felt hot now, her heart beating violently. Alarmed, she thought they’d better not have fallen into some trap. Listening to the voices, she quickly pushed Pei Shu upward, calling: “He’s here!”

There was a crashing sound over there, as if Meng Po Tian was pushing something aside, reaching down with her hand. Pei Shu remained silent the whole time, his intense breathing spraying on Jing Hengbo’s face. She could feel his grip on her shoulder getting tighter and tighter, his fingers almost digging into her skin, as if enduring something.

Her intuition told her something was wrong. She quickly pushed Pei Shu upward. Meng Po Tian above probably caught him and yanked him over with such force that with a “rip,” Pei Shu’s clothes caught on a tilted pillar beside them and tore in half.

Jing Hengbo looked up with some concern, vaguely seeing Pei Shu grunt in irritation and tear off his clothes, tossing them down. The garment fell into the crevice, blocking her view.

Jing Hengbo noticed that the clothing had a strange odor – the same kind she’d smelled earlier. She quickly covered her nose. She heard a “thud” from above, with faint panting sounds, but didn’t know what was happening.

Suddenly she heard someone calling – it was Yélu Qi’s voice from her upper right: “Hengbo!”

She responded and looked toward his position. She felt he was in a more outward location where he could easily escape, unlike her bad luck of being trapped in the narrowest space at the very bottom. She quickly said: “Don’t come in to find me, you get out first! After you get out, quickly figure out how to remove these obstructing beams and pillars, then everyone can escape.”

At this time there were too many things scattered throughout the hall, dangerously propped together. The slightest movement could cause something to fall down, and with everyone positioned in the cramped space below with nowhere to hide, they could easily be injured. Forcing their way out would also implicate others, especially since Ji Wen and Meng Po Tian had ordinary martial arts skills.

Even Jing Hengbo couldn’t teleport because she was tightly wedged in by things all around.

A pile of debris had temporarily trapped a group of great masters. Soon the huge commotion here would attract the palace army’s investigation and encirclement. Leaving early was the sensible thing to do.

Yélu Qi outside naturally understood this logic. He agreed and moved outward. Jing Hengbo heard his voice was also slightly breathless and thought he’d also been affected. And what about Gong Yin – why had there been no sound from him? What was wrong?

When the powder fell, she had been at the very bottom and inhaled the least. At the moment, aside from being somewhat hot and having a rapid heartbeat, she didn’t have too many other symptoms. Worried about Gong Yin, she tried to struggle free from the several pillars that were tightly clamping her legs. As soon as her body moved, there was a tremendous “crash” from above – she didn’t know if it was from her struggling or if something had happened between Pei Shu and Meng Po Tian above. She looked up and saw something sliding down diagonally, heading straight for her head.

She couldn’t help crying “Ah!” and waved her hand. The object moved slightly but because there were too many things around, her teleportation wasn’t successful, and it continued sliding down along the pillar.

Outside, Yélu Qi had agreed to Jing Hengbo and was withdrawing when suddenly a hand grabbed his hand. A voice, slightly panting, sounded by his ear: “Sir…”

It was Ji Wen’s voice. Yélu Qi looked down and in the pervasive smoky haze saw Ji Wen’s upturned face.

The usually gentle and elegant Ji Wen now had slightly flushed cheeks, eyes brimming with water, and every line of her brows and eyes was full of seductive charm.

She was normally reserved, but now she grasped Yélu Qi’s hand. Her fingers were soft as boneless, like a ball of silk cotton quietly climbing up Yélu Qi’s sleeve: “Sir…”

Yélu Qi pulled his hand back. Ji Wen’s fingers trembled. She had a moment of clarity, feeling ashamed. As a woman born of royalty, she vaguely understood something was wrong in her heart and wanted to grit her teeth and control herself. But seeing that person’s painting-like brows and elegant demeanor, her heart swayed like a small boat on the sea, and she couldn’t help leaning closer.

Yélu Qi also felt hot and restless at this time. As Ji Wen’s soft body leaned over, he immediately sensed the fragrance of feminine breath and the smoothness of skin. He couldn’t help trembling in his heart and supported her hand.

In the dim light, one looked down and one looked up, their gazes intertwining in the smoke and dust. Each saw vast oceans. Ji Wen suddenly made a soft sound and embraced Yélu Qi’s waist.

Yélu Qi shuddered. Just then Jing Hengbo’s alarmed cry came through. Startled, Yélu Qi pushed Ji Wen away and looked up to see a chest sliding down from above the tilted beam, heading toward the bottom.

In front of them were various chaotic broken beams and debris from the explosion, crisscrossed and propped together. Yélu Qi pulled out a piece of wood, intending to prop up that chest to prevent it from falling and injuring someone. But unexpectedly, pulling one hair moved the whole body – with a “crack,” something near his waist suddenly sprang out.

That thing was long and sharp, like a spear tip springing out. Yélu Qi held the wood with one hand and grabbed onto debris with the other to support his body. Behind him a collapsed bed blocked his retreat. That sharp object was about to pierce through his waist.

Suddenly Ji Wen silently threw herself forward, tightly embracing his waist.

A muffled “chi” sound.

Yélu Qi could have dodged, but unexpectedly Ji Wen threw herself on him. Hearing this sound, he was alarmed. Reaching out to touch Ji Wen’s shoulder, his hand came away wet and sticky. Knowing it was blood, he felt along her shoulder upward and found a broken sharp wooden stick – apparently a horizontal bar from the bed.

He asked urgently: “How are you?” Then sighed: “Why was it necessary…”

He stopped halfway through, feeling he vaguely heard Ji Wen’s sigh.

He naturally understood that woman’s feelings. Having decided not to accept them, he also didn’t want to trample on them.

It was just that these romantic debts were silently accumulating. If more and more accumulated, how would he unload them in the future?

Ji Wen didn’t moan, biting her teeth in silence. Yélu Qi could feel her body trembling slightly, as if enduring something. After a while, Ji Wen finally let out a long breath and said softly: “It’s nothing…”

Yélu Qi felt something sharp pressing against his chest – it was the tip of that bed rail, which had already pierced through Ji Wen’s shoulder and nearly stabbed into his body.

Penetrating wounds were most prone to infection. He quickly embraced Ji Wen, stepping on more solid ground below and moving downward, wanting to find a safe place to bandage her wound.

Their bodies pressed tightly together, again mingling their scents. Ji Wen let out low moans – whether from pain or inability to control herself, Yélu Qi’s forehead was slightly beaded with sweat – whether from heat or nervousness.

Stepping on a cabinet at the very bottom and confirming nothing else would fall, Yélu Qi finally set Ji Wen down. He hurriedly removed his outer robe, then removed the clean middle layer of inner clothing, took out golden wound medicine from his chest, and bandaged Ji Wen’s wound.

Bandaging inevitably required loosening half of Ji Wen’s clothing. Yélu Qi said “Pardon the offense” and turned his head to undress her. Ji Wen sat leaning against a chest, turning her head to the other side, biting her lower lip, a faint blush rising on her cheeks.

In the dim light, the woman’s shoulder was snow-white and crystalline. The vivid blood was like brilliant coral, burning to behold. Seen hazily, it added several parts of graceful seduction. When Yélu Qi inadvertently glimpsed it from the corner of his eye, he felt his lower abdomen roar like thunder, with fire blazing up, instantly rushing from his dantian and spiraling upward in flames. Suddenly his throat felt dry and he couldn’t help coughing.

While bandaging, his fingertips would inevitably touch her skin. His sensory perception seemed infinitely magnified at this moment – that bit of warm softness felt like friction against his heart.

His palms were somehow sweating. He grasped a piece of wood beside him, ignoring the rough broken edges, pressing his palm tightly against it, wanting to use that roughness and coldness to calm the current heat and tension.

His movements were very gentle and his technique skilled, but since he was working with his head turned, he couldn’t gauge accurately. Several times he nearly touched Ji Wen’s wound, and each time Ji Wen avoided it herself. Yélu Qi apologized repeatedly, but Ji Wen remained silent until his third apology, when she finally sighed softly.

“I always thought you were a carefree and passionate person,” she said. “Now you’re like a timid pedant.”

Yélu Qi smiled slightly: “Is that so? Then it’s good to see clearly earlier.” His hands continued working, quickly finishing bandaging Ji Wen’s wound and helping her put on her clothes. When his hands gripped her shoulders, they each felt the burning heat of skin, and both trembled involuntarily, breathing slightly.

Ji Wen was the injured one with weakened resistance. Feeling alternately hot and cold, she couldn’t help wanting to lean into Yélu Qi’s embrace. Yélu Qi’s hands supported her shoulders, his body leaning slightly back, but there was something behind him blocking retreat. Suddenly his chest felt heavy – Ji Wen was already leaning against his chest, her hair ornaments lightly rubbing his neck as she murmured: “So hot… yet so cold…”

Yélu Qi saw her cheeks were bright red but her lips were white, her palms hot but her whole body shivering with cold. Clearly she had been poisoned with an aphrodisiac and was feverish but also cold from blood loss – this could easily leave lasting problems. After thinking, he had no choice but to remove his outer robe and wrap it around her. His robe was large and he wrapped Ji Wen in it twice, afraid she might become confused and move her hands and feet around. Yélu Qi simply wrapped up her hands too, making her look like a giant cocoon.

At this time he had given his inner clothing to bandage Ji Wen’s wound and his outer robe was wrapped around Ji Wen, leaving his upper body bare. Yélu Qi looked around, wanting to see if there were any undamaged curtains he could wrap around himself for cover.

Hot currents surged within his body. Wherever they passed under his skin, there was a tingling, numbing sensation. It was hard to describe this feeling – it seemed very comfortable yet made one want to scratch and release something. Yélu Qi looked down and saw his skin had suddenly become more transparent than usual, bright and clear as jade. And at his lower abdomen, some patterns were faintly appearing.

He was startled. He remembered having no tattoos or birthmarks on his body – what was this about?

The patterns appeared very slowly. Just as he was staring trying to see clearly, there was another rumbling crash from above, with faint cries from Pei Shu and Meng Po Tian. He didn’t know what had happened, but with this sound, those precariously propped debris crashed down again, with things sliding down.

Yélu Qi had no choice but to embrace Ji Wen and dodge in the limited space, raising his arm to block the falling objects.

He had intended to turn over and use his back to block the falling objects, but because the space was too narrow he couldn’t turn. He had to block with his arm. With a “bang,” a low table shattered against his arm. His arm was jolted inward, pressing the Ji Wen on him downward.

Then her face crashed into his face.

Her lips also hit his cheek.

A moment of silence.

Ji Wen, whose consciousness was somewhat hazy, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

Their eyes met, each shocked, with slight embarrassment and confusion in their shock.

After a moment, Yélu Qi tried to move away. Ji Wen also seemed about to dodge, but her lips seemed to move downward unintentionally, landing on his lips.

In an instant her cheeks flew red like peach blossoms and evening clouds in splendor.

Yélu Qi was stunned again.

…

That tremendous crash came from Pei Shu and Meng Po Tian.

Without probing or entanglement, without the circuitous helplessness of still waters running deep, after Meng Po Tian grabbed Pei Shu, she spread her arms wide and suddenly embraced him fiercely.

“What are you doing?” Pei Shu immediately tried to tear her off him.

Meng Po Tian didn’t answer. She turned her head and blew on his neck.

Pei Shu trembled all over from the tickling sensation, feeling half his body immediately go weak.

The body embracing him tightly had a different fragrance than usual – an intense yet slightly cool scent, somewhat familiar and somewhat special. In his daze he suddenly thought of his hometown from his youth, that impoverished little mountain village where every spring the mountains and valleys would bloom with a kind of wild flower – light in color but intense and cool in fragrance, spreading in great swaths across the hillsides. He remembered the roots and stems of those flowers were edible and had helped him through the most difficult famine years. He remembered those flowers were very resilient and could bloom until early winter. He remembered his adolescent stirrings of attraction had occurred in that sea of flowers. He remembered the little girl in that flower sea who had also swayed bright and fresh like a flower on that barren yellow earth, blooming in his heart.

By nature he didn’t like flowers and plants, disdaining all kinds of rare flowers and exotic grasses. But only now did he know that he too had one kind he deeply loved – those light blue, intensely cool flowers that took root tenaciously in the earth, called badan flowers.

Those flowers whose fragrance he never thought of but always lingered at the edge of dreams.

He didn’t know if he loved their tenacity or the purity of his youth.

The burning heat in his body blazed from his dantian, a line of fierce fire rushing from his lower abdomen straight to his head. His eyes grew slightly red, lost in that sea of badan flowers.

And her breath was so close, lingering only at his neck – like spring wind crossing ten li of passes, in a flash heaven and earth were overturned.

He couldn’t help thinking hazily, how did she know his neck was most vulnerable to teasing…

Before his consciousness could react, he had already embraced her, like many years ago on that barren hillside, holding those clusters of badan flowers.

Meng Po Tian’s outstretched arms were flexible as flower branches, but her body became a pool of spring water, gently melting in his embrace.

No one knew who moved first, but suddenly Pei Shu’s upper body clothing flew off – it had already been torn anyway, so separating from his body was only natural.

His naked, strong, lean torso gleamed with crystalline sweat in the smoky haze.

Whether from the drug’s effect or internal energy, beneath his skin a red muscular coloring emerged, making his skin even smoother and more translucent.

Meng Po Tian’s cheeks burned as she suppressed her pounding heartbeat, like a drowning person clinging to driftwood, refusing to loosen her grip even slightly.

She too was excited and impulsive, not wanting to waste her painstaking efforts.

Perhaps his heart still remained with another, but she had also seen his eyes grow confused for her sake, even if just for a moment.

Even if just for a moment, it gave her courage to abandon restraint and strive once for a lifetime of companionship with her beloved.

She climbed onto his chest, and in an instant their sweat mingled, the wet skin full of heat made contact as if flying to heaven.

…

At the very top of the debris pile was Gong Yin.

He had leaped highest, closest to Shang Yueyue, so naturally he was sprinkled with the most medicinal powder.

Although in that moment he sensed something wrong in the smoke and immediately held his breath, that kind of medicinal powder was still effective when it touched skin.

As Gong Yin fell he swept his arms to disperse the powder. Looking up, he saw Shang Yueyue’s panicked face peering down.

He looked at her once.

That look was like cold ice, cold lightning, like a sword emerging from ice water, quenched with ten thousand zhang of cold light. It made Shang Yueyue’s heart stop and her whole body turn cold. The next instant Gong Yin waved his sleeve and Shang Yueyue plummeted head-first toward the debris and ruins.

Suddenly a figure sprang up, embracing Shang Yueyue and leaping upward. With a roll they had already crossed over the broken roof.

That boy’s figure was agile – naturally it was Yu Wuse.

He carried Shang Yueyue tumbling over the broken roof and fell into the front courtyard of the palace chambers. There, the King of Shang had already arrived with a large group of palace guards, surrounding the chambers completely, but because they didn’t know the situation inside, they didn’t dare enter rashly.

Yu Wuse wrapped Shang Yueyue in his outer clothes, smeared his face with black ash, and shouted: “I’m a palace servant who was serving in this hall and barely escaped with my life! Everyone must not go inside – there are explosive pellets scattered all over the floor! They explode at the slightest touch! Run for your lives!”

Everyone was greatly alarmed, hesitating and not daring to enter. The King of Shang was also shocked. Seeing the degree of destruction to this chamber, he knew these words weren’t necessarily a bluff. Thinking that with visibility unclear, if there really were explosive pellets scattered throughout the hall, rashly charging in would only cause greater losses. He quickly waved for the guards and troops to retreat, his gaze involuntarily turning to a tall, thin old man beside him.

The old man said quietly: “Great King, this place is extremely close to the secret palace. If this should…”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.” The King of Shang said somewhat irritably. “Originally you said great hiding hides in the marketplace – the most obvious place is safest. Even if these people had ill intentions, they absolutely wouldn’t think what they wanted was right next door. But look now – this explosion has collapsed the palace wall next door, making it easy to discover something’s wrong…”

“Great King, please don’t be anxious.” The old man said. “Allow us to go investigate.”

He hurried away. Yu Wuse, hiding in a shadowy corner, had been watching the King of Shang’s movements. He had intended to make the King of Shang’s army give up the search, selling Gong Yin and the others a favor so that when that group wanted to settle accounts with him later, they might be more lenient. Now seeing the King of Shang’s furtive expression and the old man who was obviously a master hurrying away, his eyes flashed.

At this time, why wasn’t the King of Shang rushing to handle the aftermath, but instead letting his subordinate leave? What was the reasoning?

Born to royalty, Yu Wuse was naturally sensitive to conspiracies and schemes. He immediately deduced this was because the King of Shang had something even more important that needed protection.

He stared in the direction the old man had gone, watching that figure flash in the darkness and disappear into an unoccupied palace chamber next door.

…

Gong Yin currently had no time to pursue Shang Yueyue and Yu Wuse.

He was at the top and could try to pull himself up and be first to escape the dangerous area, but his body sank downward.

Because Jing Hengbo was still at the very bottom.

To avoid hitting the chaotically propped debris when falling and causing a chain reaction that would injure others, he fell very slowly, constantly looking for places to land among that pile of miscellaneous things.

He could hear what seemed like cries from Pei Shu and Meng Po Tian below, and also seemed to hear low voices from Ji Wen and Yélu Qi. But clearest was Jing Hengbo’s call from the farthest distance. He didn’t dare make a sound to disturb them, listening intently. It didn’t seem to be a scream of pain, so he relaxed slightly.

The debris was propped together, and through those gaps and smoke, human figures could vaguely be seen, but it was impossible to distinguish clearly who was who.

Gong Yin suddenly stopped.

He looked down at the back of his hand.

Inside his body was a small flame that, starting from his dantian, burned beneath his skin. His tendons, vessels, and flesh seemed to undergo some changes because of this – tingling and unbearable. The skin on the back of his hand showed a more transparent ice-crystal color than usual.

He immediately tore open his collar and looked down, frowning.

The skin had indeed become more lustrous and smooth, like a thin sheet of ice crystal.

Beneath the ice crystal, at his heart’s location, a needle was now faintly visible.

This was the special wonderful effect of this kind of medicine – within a certain time, it would make the skin of those affected more thin, transparent, lustrous and smooth, soft as clouds, helping with male and female pleasure.

Gong Yin immediately fastened his collar tight, thinking he must not let Jing Hengbo pull it open later.

When he looked down again, the smoke had partially cleared. He suddenly saw someone’s half-naked upper body.

That person’s face was blocked by a chest, showing only half the torso and lower abdomen.

Above the lower abdomen, totems seemed to be appearing.

He was stunned.