Long Feiye, Gu Qishao, Gu Beiyue, and Tang Li met with none other than the very same labryinth that had trapped them before! When the former two entered through the tree, Gu Qishao soon sensed something amiss and said, “It’s the Ten-Directional Array.”
Thanks to their trip-up with the Qimen Dunjia arts last time, Gu Qishao had personally gone to study this technique. Although his lessons were short, his skill wasn’t bad. At least he could tell within 100 steps what kind of formation they were stuck in. The next step after that was finding a way to break it!
Gu Qishao stopped Long Feiye and said, “Stop. Walking any further is futile.”
But instead of stopping, Long Feiye kept moving and said, “The southwest leads to a ‘Death Door.’ In the Ten-Directional Array, nine out of ten paths are dead ends, with the ‘Death Door’ being the only exit.”
Gu Qishao gave a start at his words. The Qimen Dunjia arts had eight categories between Halt, Life, Hurt, Blockade, Scene, Death, Alarm, and Open. There were eight formations corresponding to these pathways, each with eight different directions within. Dangers hid in those pathways. Typically speaking, the Open, Halt, and Life pathways were fortunate, while the Death, Alarm, and Hurt pathways were inasupicious. Blockade and Scene maintained a neutral stance.
Those who knew the occult arts might not be able to untangle a pathway, because it was easy to mistake a Death Door for a Life Death. Once one entered, the consequences were unthinkable. Some more cunning labrinyths turned things around by reversing Life and Death so that Life Doors lead to death and vice versa.
Gu Qishao couldn’t help but wonder when Long Feiye had the time to learn about the Qimen Dunjia, eight-trigrams, and other mystifying tactics as well. Hasn’t he been slaughtering through battlefields for the past three months? But now he’s even learned more than me. We haven’t gone far and he already knows the Death Door is the only way out.
While Gu Qishao was gaping in place, Long Feiye had already pulled ahead. Instead of stopping or answering, he only pressed, “Hurry up!”
The worst thing to do in a maze was separate themselves. Because of a minor mistake last time, they’d suffered a huge loss.
Just as Long Feiye and Gu Qishao entered through the “Life Door” of their labryinth, Gu Beiyue and Tang Li also emerged from their side of the maze. Gu Beiyue had also studied up on seal array formations, so his knowledge was on par with Long Feiye’s. At the same time they escaped, Bai Yanqing sensed the formation breaking and rose up in alarm.
“Someone’s barged in!” he exclaimed.
After the messenger in charge of medicine returned last night, he’d even changed up the two labryinths on purposes. Now that they were broken, it meant intruders had come in from outside!
“Master, who has the skills to break through your formations?” Hao San was surprised as well. He privately added, “Long Feiye and the rest don’t understand these things.”
Bai Yanqing thought it over but couldn’t think of any other candidates who might find his hiding spot. Had them come on purpose, or crashed in by luck? Yet despite his alarm, he didn’t panic. Even those who broke through the maze couldn’t necessarily track them down. If they came from the tree, then they’d have to cross through a massive maze. If they came from the cliff, then they’d meet with 20 different tunnels. A correct choice would lead them here, while a mistake would lose them in a maze. He had picked Clearbreeze Peak as his hiding spot precisely because of the great conditions here. The largest maze in Cloud Realm Continent was located in this spot, the most secret location in the Poison Sect’s forbidden grounds.
Bai Yanqing decided to remain calm and wait. He would rather believe people had barged in by luck than acknowledge someone had tracked him down so soon, or that Long Feiye’s group could grasp the particulars of his personal formations via Qimen Dunjia. Yet very soon, a guard rushed in to report.
“Master, it’s Long Feiye’s group! They’ve found us!”
Bai Yanqing was now truly shocked.
“Who broke through the array? Who?” he demanded loudly.
The Qimen Dunjia was the highlight of his Wind Clan and its longest kept secret. Outsiders could learn the knowledge, but few could break through the Wind Clan’s own arrays. Just how did Long Feiye’s group manage it?
“Long Feiye and Gu Qishao are one group, they came from the tree and have already entered the main maze! Gu Beiyue and Tang Li are in another group and entered from the cliff. They’re still standing in front of the 20 tunnels. This subordinate doesn’t know who broke through it,” the guard replied.
Bai Yanqing had been shaken, but he quickly diverted his attention from the arrays to the prescription formulas. Over the past three months, there had been no sign from Long Feiye’s group. However, recently they’d sent out a few prescriptions and now the men were here. It was obvious that the news had leaked out that way. He turned towards the stone cells angrily and pushed open the door holding Han Yunxi. She had just been helped upright by Fourth Young Miss Ren and was startled to see Bai Yanqing fuming at them. She tightened her grip on Fourth Young Miss Ren’s hand as she sensed a bad omen.
Looks like he’s discovered the problem with the prescriptions. Bai Yanqing won’t do anything to me, but Fourth Young Miss Ren is in danger!
“Stinkin’ lass, you sure have skills!” Bai Yanqing said as he stalked inside.
Han Yunxi shielded Fourth Young Miss Ren behind her and glanced at the open door, hoping to take this chance and escape. Otherwise, the girl would die here. If Bai Yanqing had been willing to talk with her back in the small black room, she’d long find a way to escape. But with the additional burden of Fourth Young Miss Ren here, she had to be prudent! It was impossible to not feel anxious at this moment.
Still, when faced with a human life and the girl who’d helped her so much, she forced herself to calm down and think up solutions.
“Speak, how did you leak out the intel?” Bai Yanqing demanded.
Han Yunxi gave a start. She thought that Bai Yanqing had noticed oddities within the formulas, but it seemed that Bai Yanqing hadn’t discovered their exact method yet!
That means…
That means Long Feiye and the rest are already searching for us here?
Han Yunxi could surpress her alarm, but not her joy. At last, Long Feiye’s group was coming. She just knew he’d be able to figure it out! Definitely! With such good news, Han Yunxi was more determined than ever to escape from this room!
She held onto Fourth Young Miss Ren with one hand while cradling her stomach with the other, meeting Bai Yanqing eye to eye. Her taut nerves thought hard. What now? What should I do?
“Speak!” Bai Yanqing roared.
Once again, he’d been tricked! If he wasn’t prudent enough to leave those arrays at the two entrances, Long Feiye’s group might had snuck up on him completely by surprise.
Han Yunxi found inspiration as she said, “That’s a method my father taught me!”
Actually, Han Yunxi had no idea whether her real father was still alive in this world, but she had no other choices beyond taking a gamble. If her father was dead, then she’d have to think of other ways; if her father was alive, then this was an excellent way to provoke Bai Yanqing. He had tried to pretend to be her father and held resentment for her mother. If Han Yunxi wasn’t mistaken, Bai Yanqing and her mother once had a love-hate relationship that ended in a quarrel.
Only love could make one’s heart irrational; only hatred could ruin one’s heart utterly.
Her real father was Bai Yanqing’s love rival, so anything related to him would be Bai Yanqing’s fatal weakness. Her heart hung in her throat as she waited. If this bet failed, she didn’t know what else she could do to incite Bai Yanqing. Fourth Young Miss Ren hid behind her. Although she was clueless to the details, she could clearly sense Han Yunxi’s tense back. Bai Yanqing abruptly stopped as Han Yunxi’s heart lurched. She was so nervous that her palms began to sweat.
Bai Yanqing narrowed his eyes and stared at Han Yunxi while she clenched her fists and forced herself to stay calm. At the same time, she put on a calm and careless air.
“Your, fa, ther?” Bai Yanqing finally spoke.
His tone made it impossible for Han Yunxi to guess his thoughts. Was he doubting her words? Or doubting the fact that her father had taught her a way to get around the words in the prescriptions? She didn’t know and wouldn’t dare guess, so she simply watched him warily in a silent stare-off.
Unexpectedly, Bai Yanqing broke into a cold laugh. “No wonder! No wonder you didn’t believe me when I said I was your father.”
Han Yunxi was thrilled by the words. Looks like my gamble paid off!
Although she didn’t know whether Bai Yanqing had knowledge of her father’s current status, she was certain he’d taken the bait. She took out a piece of jade from her sleeve and grasped it in her hand before raising her arm up high.
“Bai Yanqing, guess where this Ten-Thousand Year Corpse Jade came from?” she asked with a chilly smile.
The real Ten-Thousand Year Corpse Jade had already been assimilated into a poison teardrop by the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion. It had originally come from Lady Lianxin of the Mu Clan in Medicine City. For the sake of helping Han Congan gain a position as a director in Medical City’s medical academy, her mother Mu Xin had given this jade to Lady Lianxin while seeking her air. Lady Lianxin had tried to extort Han Yunxi with the same piece of jade by lying that she knew of her father’s whereabouts.
But the truth was, Lady Lianxin only knew the corpse jade was a token of affection from Han Yunxi’s father to Mu Xin. She knew nothing else beyond that. Since the corpse jade was an item of the Poison Sect’s direct bloodline, Lady Lianxin had conjectured Han Yunxi had the same blood flowing in her veins.
Han Yunxi didn’t know the identity of her true father, much less his relationship with Bai Yanqing. But she was certain her father was a direct bloodline descendant of the Poison Sect and might even be related to Bai Yanqing. Just which of them had claim to the position of Poison Sect head? Something as magnificent as Ten-Thousand Year Corpse Jade naturally belonged in the hand of a clan leader.
Bai Yanqing would definitely recognize it on sight!
As Han Yunxi clutched the jade between her fingers, she made sure it was well-hidden from sight. Still, its name was enough to drive Bai Yanqing mad!
“So it ended up in your hands!” Bai Yanqing snarled.
Han Yunxi’s gaze turned crafty as she gave a cold snort. “This was a token of affection from my father to my mother. It’s only natural that it ended up in my hands! When I see Long Feiye, I’ll gift it to him!”
Bai Yanqing wants me to be enemies with Long Feiye? I’ll show him our lovey-dovey side instead!
“That’s mine! Give it back to me!” Bai Yanqing suddenly exploded in rage!
Han Yunxi knew this was her chance. She tugged Fourth Young Miss Ren’s hand as she tossed the jade into the depths of her bed. “I’d rather destroy it than give it to you!”
Bai Yanqing dove for it without a second thought, giving Han Yunxi the chance to speed out of the room with Fourth Young Miss Ren!