Chapter 475: Chapter 475. Coincidence or Premeditated 2
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Go. I don’t need your antidote. Death is coming for me anyway; sooner or later makes no difference.”
Qin Tie gestured toward the door, indicating that Xiao Zeyu should leave. He slumped onto the bed’s edge, appearing to age years in mere moments.
“Do you have a picture of your daughter?”
Qin Tie’s display of despair didn’t easily sway Xiao Zeyu. He cut to the chase and asked for a portrait. Even if it were a trap, a prepared portrait would be a likely part of it, but he needed to confirm.
“Of course, it’s right here!”
At the mention of the portrait, Qin Tie’s eyes sparked to life. He hurriedly rummaged through his bag and produced the image.
Xiao Zeyu unfurled the portrait and examined it. The young girl pictured was wearing a pink dress and stood serenely beside a lotus pond. She was gorgeous, her face adorned with a gentle smile. Framed by the backdrop of blossoming lotus flowers, she seemed almost ethereal.
Xiao Zeyu tucked the portrait away and questioned Qin Tie, “Will you join us?”
“I’ll accompany you. The Five Ghosts of Western Yunnan have laid multiple traps on Miaojia Mountain. You’ll need me for guidance.”
Upon hearing Xiao Zeyu’s offer, Qin Tie’s face immediately brightened. He wanted to go along and help navigate the terrain.
“Very well.”
Xiao Zeyu nodded in agreement. Keeping Qin Tie close would allow him to gauge his true intentions.
Miao Family Mountain might be fraught with danger, but it was a risk he had to take. For the sake of Su Qing, the Fifth Ghost had to be eliminated.
Xiao Zeyu rolled up the portrait and handed it to Qin Tie, saying, “Hold onto this for now.”
“Please, take good care of it. That portrait is all I have left of her.”
Qin Tie hesitated but finally agreed, trusting Xiao Zeyu to keep the portrait safe.
“Understood. Keep these antidote pills for now. Use one when you feel the poison acting up.”
Xiao Zeyu produced a few antidote pills and passed them to Qin Tie. If this man was indeed Qin Tie, he couldn’t afford to let him die. Only he could fulfill Su Qing’s wishes.
The only loss would be a few pills if it were a ruse.
“Thank you, young hero. Here’s the ten thousand taels of silver for your trouble. The two issues are separate; you save me, you get paid. You save my daughter, and I’ll grant whatever favor you ask.”
Qin Tie remained obstinate, insisting on compensating Xiao Zeyu for his help. Since that was the case, Xiao Zeyu accepted the silver. It could help with the journey ahead to Miao Family Mountain.
Exiting Qin Tie’s house, Xiao Zeyu took the portrait to the shared room where his guards and Ghostmother stayed.
Exhausted, Ghostmother lay on the brick bed, soaked in sweat.
“Go out and get some food.”
Xiao Zeyu instructed his guards to leave. Ghostmother glanced at him, her eyes wide with fear. She knew he and that fearsome woman, Su Qing, were not to be trifled with.
Terrified by her previous experiences with Su Qing, Ghostmother didn’t want to go through that torment again.
“Is the girl in this portrait at Miao Family Mountain?”
Xiao Zeyu unfurled the portrait of Qin Yu-er for Ghostmother to see. With her remaining eye, she scanned the image, and upon recognizing Qin Yu-er, her eyes flickered. She nodded. Since her mute acupuncture point had been activated, she couldn’t speak. Xiao Zeyu had been helping to deactivate it, but his hand lingered near the point. The moment she made a sound, he could mute her again. He asked coldly,
“Is she still alive?”
“Alive, very much alive!”
Reading his intentions, Ghostmother knew better than to lie. Her voice, husky and strange, confirmed the girl’s well-being.
“Why did you take her?”
Xiao Zeyu maintained eye contact with Ghostmother. He was determined to find out why they had abducted Qin Yu-er.
“To serve as guinea pigs for our experiments. We need many such subjects. The finest poisons come from surviving bites from the Five Venoms.”
Ghostmother’s smile was bone-chilling, her eyes brimming with malice as she looked at Xiao Zeyu.
The thought of girls being exposed to these Five Venoms sent a shiver down Xiao Zeyu’s spine. Seeing the sadistic pleasure in Ghostmother’s eyes, he coldly pressed her mute acupuncture point and uttered with icy resolve,
“I’ll send you and your five ghosts to meet the King of Hell.”
Evil spirits have no place among the living.
Ghostmother could only let out a sinister laugh, treating Xiao Zeyu’s words as the empty threats of a dying man.
You naive fool, you know nothing of the vastness of the world. Miao Family Mountain will be the tomb for you and Su Qing.
Xiao Zeyu found Su Qing sitting by the bed, engrossed in double-sided embroidery in his room. This intricate craft, faster to master than ordinary embroidery, occupied her free time.
One side of the fabric displayed two plump boys playing with a koi fish in water, while the other side depicted a dragon and a phoenix soaring in the sky. The dragon required a regal aura that dominated its surroundings, and the phoenix had to exude an air of noble arrogance, befitting its status as the king of birds. So engrossed was Su Qing in her embroidery that she only looked up when Xiao Zeyu entered the room.
Xiao Zeyu shut the door behind him and approached Su Qing, laying the portrait on the bed. With a teasing smile, he asked,
“Qing’ er, can you guess who our neighbor is?”
“Who?”
Su Qing quickly unfolded the portrait and looked at it, her eyes meeting Xiao Zeyu’s with a frosty expression.
“It turns out Qin Tie is the descendant of Lu Ban we’ve been searching for.”
Xiao Zeyu picked up a teacup from the table and drained it in a single gulp. Noticing Su Qing’s hint of jealousy, he chuckled as he filled her in on the details about Qin Tie.
“What a twist of fate! What’s the girl got to do with all this?”
Su Qing was slightly puzzled. Could Uncle Master’s divination have been so precise? He said they would find Qin Tie to the southeast—could it be true?
But what was the connection between this girl in the portrait and Qin Tie? The way Xiao Zeyu had been holding it, it almost seemed he treasured the image, which irked Su Qing.
Had he forgotten his promises?
“This girl is Qin Tie’s daughter, Qin Yu-er. She’s been taken captive by the Five Ghosts,” Xiao Zeyu shared what Qin Tie had revealed. “Qin Tie has offered that if we help him rescue his daughter, he’d be willing to scale mountains of knives and traverse seas of fire for us.”
“Shuisheng, don’t you find all this too convenient?”
Su Qing stared at the girl in the portrait. Despite her captivating presence, something about her made Su Qing uneasy. She seemed to emit an evil aura.
Given they were en route to Miao Family Mountain, they had to be cautious; anything could be a trap.
“I showed this portrait to Ghostmother earlier…”
Xiao Zeyu spoke in a low voice that only he and Su Qing could hear, recounting his encounter with Ghostmother, including her disturbing smile and demeanor.
Su Qing’s eyes narrowed upon hearing this, their coldness deepening.
“We’ll find out soon enough whether he’s a god or a ghost.”
The night passed quietly. Come morning, Su Qing and Xiao Zeyu were prepared to set off for Yun City.
Xiao Zeyu went next door to fetch Qin Tie. The moment he knocked, the door swung open. Qin Tie was already packed and seemed to be eagerly waiting for him. Upon seeing Xiao Zeyu, he hastily urged him to move along..