59 Ancient City (XIV)
◎ Soft lips rubbed against her fingertips◎
Li Jintang was speechless. She handed the bottle of medicine away, trying to avoid the topic: "Take the antidote quickly. There's no time to delay."
But he refused to take it: "I don't want things from outsiders."
"This doesn't belong to an outsider," Li Jintang said as he saw him turn around and hurriedly followed him into the house. He spoke almost subconsciously, "He gave it to me, so it's mine..."
Before she finished speaking, she suddenly realized that something was wrong and quickly stopped talking.
This time it was his turn to be speechless.
The young man half-closed his eyes, and there seemed to be some water on his long eyelashes. When he blinked lightly, he looked like a butterfly with wet wings.
After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice neither salty nor indifferent: "You dare to accept something from someone you've known for less than half a day? Aren't you afraid it might be poisonous?"
Li Jintang thought to herself, "You've already been poisoned, why are you still afraid of this?" She raised her head slightly, looked into the man's eyes, and suddenly, decisively, unscrewed the bottle cap, poured out a pill, and stuffed it into her mouth with lightning speed.
"what you do?"
Xie Changyan reached out quickly and held her hand down, but saw that her face changed and she had swallowed the pill.
This is ridiculous...
His voice turned cold: "Aren't you afraid of death?"
"I'm not dead," Li Jintang agreed, stubbornly pouring out another pill and handing it to him. "There's no poison in it. Do you believe it now?"
The girl's slender, white wrist was exposed before his eyes, and he was momentarily distracted. The next moment, he leaned over slightly, took the pill from her hand, and bit it into his mouth, his soft lips rubbing against her fingertips. Suddenly, the night wind outside the window stopped, and a strange sensation spread throughout his body.
Li Jintang hadn't expected him to be so direct. For a moment, she forgot to react and just blinked numbly. After he slowly swallowed the pill, she stumbled and said, "I...I'm going back to my room."
The white robe brushed past the back of her hand. Xie Changyan rushed to the door before her, raised his hand to press against the door panel, blocking her way.
She looked up in confusion, "Do you have anything else to say?"
"You..." His expression was a little complicated, as if he had a lot of questions to ask, and was just about to choose the most important one.
"Why do you want to go alone?"
Is that all you're asking? Li Jintang answered without hesitation, "I have no other choice. This is the only way to get the antidote. I don't want to... I don't want to watch you die."
Xie Changyan seemed not very interested in this question. Before she finished speaking, he asked the next question: "Where did he take you? Did you..." He paused rarely, his expression changed slightly, and his fingers clenched into fists, as if there was something difficult to say.
His voice suddenly dropped. "Have you ever seen the statue?"
The appearance of the statue appeared in his mind. Xie Changyan's hand on the door tightened slightly, and some uncontrollable emotion danced in his eyes.
"He showed me the river lanterns, but I didn't see any statues." After answering his two questions, Li Jintang felt that this man was really strange tonight. He just hoped that he didn't take the antidote too late and the poison had already attacked his heart.
He lowered his head slightly, not knowing what he was thinking. His hand on the door suddenly loosened, and he stepped aside. "Go ahead."
The candlelight in the room flickered, stretching his shadow very long, almost covering her entire body.
Li Jintang bit her lip and walked through the gap he had made. The night wind came in from the end of the porch and blew away the loose hair on her temples.
She walked all the way back to the room, forgetting to close the door. She raised her hands and touched her cheeks, trying to cool them down.
A swaying shadow cast a shadow outside the door, and she immediately became alert. Just as she was considering whether to jump out the window, she heard the shadow speak: "Atang, are you awake?"
It's the sound of Qiu Yan.
Li Jintang suddenly felt relieved and hurried to the door to welcome her in. "Sister Qiuyan, when are we leaving?"
"We've spread bewitching incense around the inn. Although we were prepared, my senior brother and fellow Daoist Nangong still fell prey to it," Qiuyan said, pulling out a veil from her sleeve. "Now they've been awakened by me. Take it with you, and we'll leave."
Li Jintang agreed repeatedly and followed her out of the inn in a daze. When she passed the room with the light on, she stopped and said, "Xie An is still in there..."
"Senior Brother has just come and taken him away," Qiu Yan turned around and said hurriedly, "Qi He might have sent someone to stop us downstairs. Let's get out through the window."
Li Jintang followed her out the window. As they walked, she felt the smell of the veil was a bit unpleasant, so she pulled it off, stopped, and asked, "Are Brother Qu and the others waiting for us there?"
"Yes, it's just ahead." Qiu Yan frowned slightly when she saw her stop, and urged, "What are you still thinking about, Atang? If you don't walk faster, I'm afraid Qi He will send people to catch up with us again."
"You're not Sister Qiuyan," Li Jintang stared at her for a long moment, then took several steps back. She steadied her voice and asked, "Where exactly do you want to take me?"
"Atang, what are you talking about?" Qiuyan looked puzzled. "There's no illusion here. If you don't believe me, you can just come up and pinch my hand to see if I'm real."
Li Jintang stopped where he was, his mind racing. Suddenly, he raised his hand and pointed into the distance, saying happily, "Sister Qiuyan, you're finally here. This person pretending to be you is trying to trick us."
The other party was really stunned. He turned around and looked back, but there was no one there.
Li Jintang took advantage of the situation and turned around to run. After running a few steps, she looked back and said, "Miss Si Yun, you didn't hide your whip well."
The man was slightly startled, and the human skin mask on his face was torn off by her. Si Yun drew out a long whip and chased after him with a sneer.
"Miss Li, no matter how fast you run, can it be as fast as my whip?" she shouted from far behind.
Li Jintang didn't dare look back, only wanting to run back to the inn along the same route. The shadows cast by the moonlight looked like ghosts, darting past her head with bared fangs and claws. Suddenly, with a "snap," a long whip flew through the air, striking directly at her feet, and the splashing gravel tore the hem of her skirt.
She suddenly became panic-stricken and her steps became disordered, but Si Yun didn't know why. He could have tied her up directly with a whip, but the whip only landed at her feet every time and didn't touch her at all.
Suddenly, a beam of golden light passed straight in front of him. Li Jintang quickly turned his head to avoid it, but found that it was not coming towards him.
"Miss Si, your city lord promised to release the people earlier today, why is he going back on his word now?"
Upon hearing this voice, Li Jintang felt greatly encouraged and ran to his side in one breath, with Qiuyan holding his hand to help him catch his breath.
After she recovered, she raised her head and asked, "Sister Qiuyan, I just heard her say that the city lord had placed a spell-binding incense in the inn. Are you all right?"
"We've been prepared for this. Just try to fool yourself with his little tricks," Qiu Yan patted her back to comfort her. Then she glanced at Si Yun and scoffed, "You don't think you've disguised yourself perfectly, do you? I'm telling you, I noticed it the moment you entered the inn. I didn't expose you because I wanted to see what other tricks you have up your sleeve."
Si Yun didn't answer, the long whip in his hand trembled slightly, and he said coldly: "As long as I'm here, don't even think about getting out of here!"
"With you?" Xie Changyan's eyes swept across the long whip, and a hint of contempt appeared in his eyes.
Even if his wound had not healed, he only needed to make a slight move and the whip in front of him and its owner would be reduced to ashes.
"Brother Xie, please don't be impulsive and hurt others," Qu Lingfei said gently, holding his scabbard. "Miss Si, I know you came here on someone else's orders. If you wish, why not leave with us now? The sky is high and the sea is vast. From now on, you can just live a free and easy life."
The city lord had a bad temper and treated her very badly. It would be great if she was willing to leave with him.
Si Yun thought he was mocking him, so he snorted coldly, swung the long whip in his hand, and pounced towards everyone like a wandering python.
But before they could make a move, Si Yun felt a sharp pain in her wrist, and the whip bounced away. Her pupils constricted, and she immediately knelt.
"This subordinate greets the city lord."
After the golden light dissipated, a black-robed figure floated down between the men. Qi He waved his sleeves and said coldly, "You don't want your whip anymore, right?"
"I know I was wrong," Si Yun immediately lowered his head in fear, waiting for him to punish him. "You previously instructed me to keep an eye on Miss Li no matter what. I... I am stupid and can't think of any other way. But I didn't hurt her, so please... please show some mercy."
The city lord's order cannot be disobeyed, but she has clearly followed his instructions, so why is the result still the same?
"We'll discuss this later." Qi He stopped looking at her and turned around. When he looked at Li Jintang, his eyes immediately became gentle, completely different from before. "Tang'er, the river lanterns haven't finished yet. Won't you stay and accompany your brother?"
"City Lord Qi has the wrong person," Xie Changyan calmly stood between the two of them, sword energy flickering from his fingertips. He said with a forced smile, "She's not your junior sister, and she doesn't like to release river lanterns."
Qi He ignored him and continued to look at the girl with a smile, "Tang'er, stay here. From now on, no matter what you want, even if it's the moon in the sky, I will pick it for you."
"I..." Li Jintang hesitated for a moment, then suddenly felt a burning gaze cast upon her. She twisted her sleeves tightly together, and as if guided by some irresistible force, she spoke, "I don't know you, and there's no way I'm staying. I'm going to follow them."
Qi He seemed to have not expected that she would refuse so bluntly. He stood there in a daze, his five fingers unconsciously clenched.
Li Jintang was also slightly stunned. When he turned to look, the spiritual power that appeared at the boy's fingertips faded from his sight.
She...how could she say such a thing?
"I...I didn't mean that," she raised her eyes in a panic, trying to explain: "Thank you for your kindness, but I..."
"If Tang'er doesn't want to stay, I won't force her," Qi He said with a gentle laugh. "But I don't know where you're all going. I'm willing to do my best to escort you."
"Since it's just a small contribution, I don't think it will be of much use. City Lord Qi should save his energy. You'd better think carefully before choosing between beauty and kingdom." Xie Changyan curled his lips and tilted his head slightly. The girl's slightly dull expression was reflected in his eyes. "Atang, do you think we should take him with us?"
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