Baili Xiaosheng stood dazed in the courtyard for a long moment before she came back to her senses, turned, and walked off.
Only after her figure had receded into the distance did Guxi, equally lost in thought, finally rouse himself. It seemed to have become second nature by now—he didn’t even think twice before following after her.
Baili Xiaosheng had no destination in mind. She simply walked straight ahead until there was no more path left, then turned. Guxi followed the whole way, never stepping forward to disturb her, and never intending to leave either.
At last, after wandering in a full circle, Baili Xiaosheng arrived back at the door to her own room.
Guxi let out a soft breath, as if only now feeling at ease. He was just turning to leave when, at that very moment, an unfamiliar voice called out from nearby.
“Miss Xiaosheng, wait!”
People weren’t usually allowed to wander freely into the back mountain courtyard of Duku. Guxi knew everyone who was permitted there—and this voice was, without question, unfamiliar.
Silently, he leapt up onto a rooftop and watched without stirring, his jet-black eyes seeming especially deep and unreadable in the night.
The one who had come was a man of about twenty-five or twenty-six, with a furtive, shifty look about him—anyone with eyes could tell at a glance he was no good.
Strangely enough, though, Baili Xiaosheng showed no surprise at his arrival. She merely looked him up and down coldly and asked, “Coming here this late, you’d better have something urgent.”
This man was called Qin Chu. He had once served under Consort Qin, and Baili Xiaosheng had personally brought him into Duku just a few days earlier. The reason she kept him close wasn’t because his poison arts were especially formidable, but because he had in his possession a treasure—the legendary undying blood.
So-called undying blood never dried up, never clotted—it could be preserved forever. Such blood was exceedingly rare, and it made the finest catalyst for refining poisons and raising poison insects. A single small drop could be used to refine an enormous batch of poison. Of course, even searching for a thousand years, one might never find a single drop of it.
Baili Xiaosheng wasn’t the type to trust strangers easily, and she was especially wary of someone as shifty-eyed as Qin Chu. Still, Qin Chu had genuinely produced a drop of the undying blood, which had let her cultivate a massive batch of poison within a single day.
And according to him, he had no small amount of the stuff in his possession.
Baili Xiaosheng was never one to fear taking risks, nor was she afraid of running into bad people—what she feared was bad people with nothing good in hand. So she had no qualms at all about staying close to Qin Chu.
“Can’t I come find you unless something’s urgent?” Qin Chu teased. His eyes, already small, narrowed into two thin lines when he smiled, giving him an utterly sleazy air.
A chill flashed through Baili Xiaosheng’s eyes. She granted him a single word: “Scram.”
“Miss Xiaosheng, so fierce—careful, or you’ll never find a husband!” Qin Chu, holding leverage over her, wasn’t the least bit afraid, and kept right on joking.
But Baili Xiaosheng wasn’t in the mood to joke with him, let alone let him get away with talking down to her. She was just about to strike when Qin Chu, sensing the danger, wisely begged for mercy. “No, no, no—my mistake, I was only joking. I really do have business with you!”
Baili Xiaosheng paused. She withdrew the fist she’d been about to throw—but without warning kicked out savagely instead, sending Qin Chu flying straight into the wall opposite, where he slammed into it hard and then dropped heavily to the ground!
This man, mediocre in both martial skill and poison arts, had never registered on Baili Xiaosheng’s radar as any kind of threat.
Watching from the rooftop, Guxi’s fine lips curled up unconsciously at the corners—without even realizing that his own fists had been clenched tight this whole time.
She strode over and, before Qin Chu could climb back to his feet, planted a foot on his face. “Speak. What is it?”
“It’s that matter—I know where it is now!” Qin Chu blurted out urgently.
The moment she heard this, Baili Xiaosheng immediately lifted her foot away, delight flashing across her face. “Truly?”
Guxi was puzzled. He had rarely seen Baili Xiaosheng wear such a look of delight—as if she’d spotted some treasure, or received news of her master. Only those things could make her so overjoyed.
What exactly was this “matter” Qin Chu spoke of?
Qin Chu scrambled nimbly to his feet, his expression deadly serious. “I wouldn’t dare lie to you. If you believe me, come with me. If not, I’ll go alone.”
Baili Xiaosheng eyed him suspiciously for a long moment—then agreed without hesitation. “Fine. Lead the way!”
Guxi couldn’t help but frown. Where was this girl planning to go, and for how long, just up and leaving like that? Shouldn’t she at least say something to him first?
Soon, Baili Xiaosheng was following Qin Chu westward. A flicker of displeasure that even he himself hadn’t noticed lurked in the depths of Guxi’s eyes as he followed close behind.
As it turned out, Qin Chu led Baili Xiaosheng to a deep lake tucked away in the mountain forest.
“You’re saying that thing is down there?” Baili Xiaosheng asked, suspicious—she meant, of course, the undying blood.
“Don’t believe me? Try it and see,” Qin Chu said, perfectly composed.
Baili Xiaosheng indeed didn’t believe him, and she didn’t spare him any face about it either. She drew a slender black snake from her sleeve and set it down slowly by the lake’s edge.
This snake had been raised to full size in an instant using the drop of undying blood Qin Chu had given her earlier—capable of sensing undying blood within a hundred li.
But unexpectedly, the moment the little black snake touched the ground, it thrust its head straight toward the lake, as if searching for something. In no time at all, it plunged directly into the water!
Baili Xiaosheng’s eyes lit up at once. In this world, only two things held any pull over her—one was her master, of course, and the other was any catalyst for raising poison!
“How much is down there?” she asked eagerly.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to go down and see,” Qin Chu answered quickly.
The corner of Baili Xiaosheng’s mouth curved up, and without further ado she turned and dove straight into the water. In moments her figure had vanished into the pitch-black depths. Seeing this, Qin Chu’s face lit with delight, a sinister expression crossing his features, and he dove in right after her.
Watching the splashing water, Guxi’s sword-shaped brows drew tight, his fists clenched so hard they creaked audibly. An unaccountable fury rose in him—he himself didn’t know why someone as consistently composed as him should suddenly feel so enraged!
The lake was extremely deep, and it was the middle of the night—the moonlight could only illuminate the surface, nowhere near reaching into the water itself. Which meant no one had any way of knowing what might be happening down in that lake!
But the people in the water knew all too well.
Not long after entering the water, Baili Xiaosheng immediately sensed something was wrong. The lake water was unnaturally cold—not from poison, but from a drug, one that numbed the body’s meridians with cold. Unless one’s internal cultivation was extremely deep, one wouldn’t be able to withstand it for even half an hour.
She had fallen completely into Qin Chu’s trap!
That bastard!
The instant she realized something was wrong, Baili Xiaosheng wanted to leave. The drug hadn’t taken full effect yet—she was still fine. But just as she was about to leap upward, an arm suddenly locked around her waist!
Almost by reflex, Baili Xiaosheng opened her mouth to cry out in alarm—and only as she did so did she realize, belatedly, that she’d been holding her breath underwater this whole time.
But in that same instant, just as the frigid lake water rushed in to choke her, something soft suddenly pressed against her lips, breathing air into her!
In the darkness, unable to see anything at all, Baili Xiaosheng was terrified. She struggled with all her might, striking out with fists and kicks—for the first time in her life, she felt real fear, and forgot she was even capable of using poison.