Chapter 25: Say goodbye to the confrontational CP, and flirt with each other anywhere!

Frost's jaw tightened, and he said solemnly:

"If I'm not mistaken, the medicine is called Soul-Seizing Powder, and it came from the Nanling Mountains. It's long been banned by Dasheng, and therefore circulated only among sorcerers. I only heard of it since I took over the Guyi Bank. This medicine is colorless and odorless, and the pulse of Chinese medicine users is not obvious. Therefore, if it weren't for the power of this blood pill, even if the princess was able to sit up and speed up her blood circulation, I'm afraid it would be difficult to detect the mystery."

Qi Xin opened her lips, the cracked lines crisscrossing them like the veins of a dead leaf. She hadn't had a drop of water in who knows how long, since dressing for the ceremony at dawn. She spoke in a weary voice, hoarse as a dusk drum or a deep bell: "Is there a solution?"

"Besides common aphrodisiacs like nightshade, this medicine also contains alkaline substances like Five Stones Powder to aid stimulation. Therefore, over ten corrosion-resistant materials, such as castor wood powder, have been added to make it difficult for stomach acid to degrade." Shuangjiang frowned. "Perhaps, you could try using my subordinate's wrist blood. Once the blood resonates with others, it will not only heal itself, but its wrist blood can also adjust its acidity and alkalinity according to the human body's environment, thus detoxifying a wide range of poisons."

"You resonate?"

"That's right," Shuangjiang said carefully. "Resonance can be active or passive. In passive resonance, the initiator uses the Night-Eating Gu to temporarily awaken the Blood Surplus' abilities and use them for their own benefit. Normally, those who have undergone blood pill fusion are weak and shouldn't be forcibly inoculated with the Night-Eating Gu. However, at the beginning of the experiment, the Moon Nation's crown prince couldn't figure it out, so he assumed his subordinate was dead and discarded the body along with the mother Gu. Blood Surplus with only the child Gu remaining can also awaken the effects of resonance, but without the mother Gu, the child Gu will enter a dormant period."

"Night-eating Gu?" Qi Xin swallowed and said absentmindedly, "This is the first time I've heard of it. But he didn't plant it on me?"

"My guess," Frost's eyes flickered as he pondered his answer, "is that, on the one hand, he probably feels that those with the Ultra-Zero Bloodline are hard-earned, so he won't waste them recklessly."

"So, what about the other side?"

Frost continued:

"On the other hand, perhaps driven by greed, he wanted to fully resonate with you. However, once a Blood Remnant has been inflicted with the Night-Eating Gu, complete resonance is no longer possible. Furthermore, if a Blood Remnant who passively resonates is inflicted with a more sophisticated Night-Eating Gu, they will resonate with the new master and obey his orders. And he, too, was overly arrogant, believing that you couldn't escape the Moon Kingdom anyway, and that complete resonance with you was only a matter of time. Even the wisest can make mistakes."

Qi Xin nodded expressionlessly and said in a deep voice, "You should save her first."

"Yes, Your Highness." Shuangjiang took two steps forward, cut his wrist with a bone knife, and pressed his wrist bone against Qi Tian's lips, trying to let the blood from his wrist flow in, but it was of no avail.

Seeing this, Qi Xin simply dug his two thumbs into her teeth, exerted force outwards, opened a gap and said, "Hurry up and pour it in."

Frost did not dare to hesitate and quickly poured the blood from his wrist into the crack, drop by drop.

About half an incense stick later, Qi Xin reached out and stroked Qi Tian's cheek, then slid the back of his hand to the side of her neck. After finding that her terrifying body temperature had dropped, he relaxed his tense shoulders.

Qi Xin quickly approached Shuangjiang, took her hand and said, "This time, it's all thanks to Sister Shuang, and also because of Yueguo's life-saving grace before. I have always wanted to thank you."

"Your Highness is too polite. These are all my duties." Shuangjiang pulled his hands out, folded his thumbs on top, and the remaining four fingers on the bottom, nodded forward, knelt on one knee and said:

"If you really want to thank me, why not go find the Seventh Master? When he learns that you're here for Princess Xiangning's sake, he knows that if you're planning to make a desperate move and escape, you'll definitely seek the help of Prince Yuyang. Although Prince Yuyang has been away from government affairs for many years, he cherishes his wife and daughter as his life. An exchange of interests like this is likely to be successful. The Seventh Master said that no matter what decision you make, he will support you without hesitation. That's why he sent his subordinates to help Your Highness."

"You get up first," Qi Xin said as he faced Shuang Jiang. He glanced at Qi Tian on the couch to make sure she was still awake. Then he said, "Don't worry, I will go find him. But I have something else I want to ask you."

Shuangjiang stood up and gestured, "Your Highness, please speak."

"Do you think anyone in the Moon Nation or among the spies lurking within Da Sheng knows how to achieve complete resonance?"

"It's hard to say. To be on the safe side, Your Highness should take better care of yourself."

"I understand." Qi Xin's nostrils flared slightly, he rubbed the knuckles of his index finger with his thumb, and returned to the couch.

Shuangjiang understood what she meant and said goodbye, "I will take my leave now, my lady."

After Shuangjiang left, Qi Xin sat back down on the couch and used his fingertips to stroke Qi Tian's eyebrows, nose, and philtrum from her hairline downwards, finally stopping at her lower lip, which still had some blood on it, and murmured softly to himself:

"Tiantian, perhaps the Imperial Uncle is right. This time, I was truly wrong. I was born alone and cannot control myself, let alone protect you. From now on, just stay with the Imperial Uncle and don't come looking for me again..."

The next moment, Qi Xin felt the lips under his fingertips move, and a question with a hint of breath sounded.

"I am the daughter of a prince, why should I need anyone else's protection?" Qi Tian opened his eyes slowly as he spoke.

Qi Xin suddenly withdrew his hand, clenched his fist and coughed at his lips: "When did you wake up?"

"When you were doing something bad to my face." Qi Tian tilted his body, supported himself with his forearms, and tried to sit up.

Qi Xin quickly found a soft cushion and let her lean on the corner of the couch.

"I just want to hear what you have to say to me secretly." Qi Tian's face was pale, and there were bruises around his eyes. He smiled with a faint smile, with the dejection of someone who had just recovered from a serious illness. "So, you want to part ways with me and never see each other again."

"Tiantian, you don't understand. I am also--" Qi Xin's second half of the sentence, which was already on the tip of his tongue, suddenly stopped, and was replaced with "There is no way" in a clumsy way.

She couldn't figure herself out.

What did you want to say?

For your own good?

The emperor's uncle had said these four words to Tiantian, and the queen mother had also said these four words to her. Now she was almost about to throw these four shackle-like words to her again, hurting her with the appearance that she hated the most?

How, how could this happen?

"Sister Xin, even though I've lived in seclusion in the palace these years, I'm not stupid. How could I not guess what you've been going through all these years? I know you've been harboring secrets all this time, but I didn't ask because I was waiting for you to tell me when the time was right. I hope you'll think of me when you're at your wit's end, instead of carrying it all on your own!" Qi Tian leaned forward more and more as her emotions fluctuated. She grabbed Qi Xin's arms and shook them, saying,

"You said I don't understand, okay, then explain it to me so I can understand!"

Qi Xin really didn't expect her to be so emotional. He thought she was an untouched lotus in the Yuyang Palace. After this incident, he should have backed off.

In this world, who would risk their life to gamble with someone who is the target of public criticism?

But she will.

Qi Xin had no choice but to steel himself and shouted, "Xing'er, prepare the carriage and take Princess Xiangning back to the Prince of Yuyang's Palace."

Xing Er: "Yes, Your Highness."

Qi Tian was not the kind of person who would persist in doing something unreasonable. Seeing that they had ordered him to leave, he left in anger without even looking back.

After seeing Qi Tian off, Qi Xin went straight to the Guyi Piaohao. Shuangjiang was sorting out the account books at the time. Seeing her, he closed the door without a word and turned around to press the latch on the inside of the counter, opening a secret compartment embedded in the wall. Inside was a bronze mechanism that resembled a turtle.

What Qi Xin didn't know was that when Chen Yu pretended to be "Zheng Qi" before, he had operated a secret door with a similar mechanism, and the shape and principle were exactly the same.

Frost placed his hands on either side of the turtle, rotating it back and forth a few times until it aligned with the slot. As the secret door slowly rose, a staircase leading underground came into view, shrouded in darkness.

Shuangjiang blew up two tinder sticks, handed one to Qi Xin and said, "Your Highness, this is your first visit, so the road may be unfamiliar. Please watch your step."

Qi Xin took the fire starter and nodded, then he leaned against the bumpy stone walls on both sides and walked down the stairs shakily.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, she saw sparks flickering in the darkness, and then the round lamps hanging on both sides of her lit up one after another.

Only then did she realize that there were several burly men on her left, with white towels hanging around their necks, hammering the iron sheets one after another, and their biceps bulged into a full arc as the giant hammers were raised.

The people on the right looked thinner. They were all dressed in reddish-brown clothes, with a black belt tied around their waists. They rolled up their sleeves to their elbows and were fighting with bare fists or short spears, all in full swing.

Presumably, this is the place where soldiers were trained and martial arts were practiced that Chen Yu mentioned earlier.

Chen Yu had already changed into a brand new indigo robe, and even donned his long-forgotten chiffon bamboo-patterned tunic. He stood at the end of the central aisle. Judging by his appearance, he had probably just risen from the Guanghan wood-enclosed couch behind him. He extended his right arm, laughed heartily, and spoke:

"Welcome to—"

After saying these four words, Shen Yu's voice suddenly stopped, as if he was under a silencing spell and could not speak. He could only maintain his current posture and froze in place.

"As everyone knows, there's a famous underground gambling city called Shicha in the Jianghu. So, our Marshal Shen, what name should we give our lair?" Qi Xingai put out the fire stick and walked up to him step by step. He leaned forward with his hands behind his back and looked into his amber lychee eyes.

"I didn't expect it. Why don't you make such a big fuss? Don't try to imitate others."

Chen Yu had been worried that something might happen to Qi Tian recently, and that she would be unhappy. Although he hadn't created this momentum, he had unexpectedly eased her worries, which was a good thing. His amber eyes reflected her faint smile, and he looked at her carefully and said:

"How about, Xiaojiu help us think of one later?"

"Then, I'll obey your command." Qi Xin paused, then sat down on the Guanghan wood couch behind him, looking up at him and said, "Tell me, how did you sneak into Qi Ling's entourage?"

"Let's go to the inner room." Chen Yu pulled her up by her sleeve and went behind the screen.

Qi Xin let him pull him along, and spoke leisurely from behind him: "Duke, I don't know, there is something I should say or not."

"When have you ever spoken so cautiously?" Chen Yu led her into the inner room, closed the sliding door, and then turned around to ask.

"I mean," Qi Xin consciously glanced at his expression, "My Lord, you seem to really like being alone in a room with me!"

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The author has something to say: ps——

The data hasn't been good recently (it's never been good!), which makes me a little sad. But it doesn't matter, I've figured it out, haha. Sharing joy is better than sharing it alone. When I first wrote this, I was expressing my true feelings, hoping to connect with everyone across time and space. As for the current market, which is like a mirage, don't force it.